And two of those have been to Alexandra.
The Armadillos famously accounted for the Rams in the 2023 final in Wanaka, and upended them again under lights at the same venue last season.
Upper Clutha’s only other loss in the past three seasons was in a White Horse Cup defence against Wakatipu in 2024.
That all adds spice to tomorrow’s feature contest at Molyneux Park.
Alexandra’s only premier outing this season resulted in a 36-12 thumping against Wakatipu.
New coach Andrew Fisher believes tomorrow’s game will give a truer impression of where Alexandra is at.
“Molyneux Park is our fortress and we’ll be ready for the Upper Clutha challenge.”
Alexandra drew the bye for last weekend’s White Horse Cup centennial celebrations at the Queenstown Events Centre, where they played an Invitation XV, winning 43-12.
“We essentially approached it as another preseason encounter,” Fisher said.
“It was a chance to try a few things. We came through injury-free, so will be fielding our best XV on Saturday.”
Upper Clutha coach Mark Evans has made a few changes in the pack, inserting experienced leader Lachie Carrick at lock and introducing Frenchman Eliot Durand at prop and Juniper Seumenicht at lock.
“Alexandra have proven a bogey team for us, so we’ll need to produce our finest rugby on Saturday,” Evans said.
In their two outings to date, against Matakanui Combined and Maniototo, Upper Clutha have scored 16 tries while conceding just one.
Cromwell travel to Queenstown to tackle competition co-leaders Wakatipu, eager to make amends for the 52-0 drubbing dealt to them late last season.
Boosted by the return of midfield back Hayden Todd, Cromwell have beaten Arrowtown, albeit by one point, and Matakanui Combined, and should prove competitive for the home team.
Wakatipu rallied late to hold out Arrowtown in a thriller last weekend when they were without star players Rube Peina and Anton Huisman.
Huisman is still sidelined with an Achilles tendon strain, but Peina could be back in action.
In a contest that could go either way, Arrowtown will host Maniototo at Jack Reid Park.
To coach Aidan Winter’s frustration, Arrowtown have lost two games, against Cromwell and Wakatipu, in both of which they were ahead with fewer than four minutes to play.
Maniototo transformed themselves from an unco-ordinated unit against Upper Clutha in the White Horse Cup contest last weekend into a tigerish opponent, scoring all seven points after halftime after conceding all 31 in the first half.
Bob Howitt
