Country Rugby

This weekend has match-ups which are pivotal to the final outcome of the season.

Zingari-Richmond and Southern will play for a new trophy this weekend, the Eric Watson Cup.

The third and final round of the Citizens Shield in North Otago club rugby  begins tomorrow and, as expected, every other side is chasing Old Boys.

The top four all have important games this weekend as they look to solidify their finals spots. Second-placed Clutha Valley is hosting fourth-placed Heriot. Valley is 10 points ahead of its West...

Maniototo withstood Clyde Earnscleugh’s  challenge for the White Horse Cup, winning 16-8 in front of a big crowd.

North Otago will test itself against some real high-fliers tomorrow afternoon.

The game between Town and Country, played last weekend for the first time since 2008, would be rated as satisfactory, although the attendance was slightly on the disappointing side.

Now that the Topp Cup is locked away in the trophy cabinet for 12 months, the Central Otago premier  competition heads into the business end of the season with round nine his weekend.

There will be something a little  special at tomorrow afternoon’s match between Upper Clutha and Arrowtown at Tarras.

This week there is yet another break in Southern Region club rugby as all roads lead to the annual Topp Cup clash.

The traditional Town-Country fixture, not played since 2008,  will take place tomorrow at the Maheno Domain starting at 1pm.

There is a fresh look about the Central Otago side that will vie for the Topp Cup against Southern at Milton on Monday.

Maniototo heads to Arrowtown tomorrow with a bit of fire in the belly, hoping to avenge the loss it  suffered in the first game of the season.

Some teams will be looking for redemption and to right the wrongs of the first round when the second round of games get under way tomorrow while others will want to carry the momentum forward.

Clutha and Clinton face off this weekend for a very special trophy.

The Citizens Shield playoffs may not be until July 22 but things began to warm up at premier level last Saturday and some good old parochialism reared its head as public interest began to grow.

Is this another example of a philosophy of looking after No1 which is beginning to invade our sporting activities?

After having last weekend off because of duck-shooting, games get back on track in what could be described as the "Battle of the Neighbours" round in the Central Otago premier competition.

With the Southern region competition taking a break this weekend for duck-shooting, it it time to have a look at how the teams are tracking.