Photo: Getty Images It is five years since Upper Clutha stole the White Horse Cup off Cromwell in the Central Otago premier club rugby competition. Now Cromwell, who have strung together 11 straight victories this season, including a 21-12 success at home against Upper Clutha, are hoping they can return the gesture at Wānaka tomorrow. The forecast is for rain, easing in the afternoon, which hopefully will not spoil what should be a cracker of a contest. ‘‘Hopefully, the rain will stay in the hills,’’ Upper Clutha coach Mark Evans said. ‘‘Luckily, we had the bye two weeks ago when torrential rain fell, so our field is in excellent shape at this stage.’’ Both teams have lost key players to injury. Upper Clutha will be without speedy outside back Jack East and French prop Maxime Valentin, who were injured in the game against Arrowtown last weekend. Cromwell have lost their inspirational captain, lock Stefan Blakeborough, who strained his Achilles tendon playing against Alexandra. The encouraging news for Cromwell, however, is that the injury is not as bad as first thought and Blakeborough is hoping to be back for the playoffs starting on July 18. ‘‘The team was really banged up after the game against Alexandra,’’ coach Rodger Dawson said. ‘‘But apart from the skipper I think they’re all going to front up on Saturday.’’ Dawson acknowledges that taking on Upper Clutha, who have won 48 of their past 52 games, represents a major challenge, but he is confident of a good showing. ‘‘It’s all about fine tuning at this stage of the season,’’ he said. Upper Clutha coach Evans is confident his team’s defence will be prepared, his players having conceded only 11 tries in 10 outings this year. Meanwhile, they have scored a whopping 56 tries at an average of almost six a game. Cromwell, in turn, have scored 44 tries while conceding 30. But they possess the competition’s most accurate goalkicker in Brendon Laing, who has amassed 110 points in 10 outings. A victory tomorrow would virtually guarantee a home semifinal and should ultimately lead to hosting the final on July 25. Meanwhile, Wakatipu, a clear third in the competition, head to Ranfurly to play Maniototo, a team desperate for a victory that would promote them to fourth place. Wakatipu comfortably beat Maniototo 28-14 at home back in May but have struggled to win in Ranfurly in recent seasons. Maniototo took a long time to hit top form this season but a powerful scrum and enterprising back play has helped them register convincing victories over Arrowtown and Matakanui Combined in recent weeks. Alexandra will be searching for just their third victory of the season when they tackle strugglers Matakanui Combined in Omakau. Arrowtown have the bye this weekend. — Bob Howitt
