Whichever team wins gets their name inscribed on the much-treasured White Horse Trophy for 2025. No complications there. It will sit resplendent in the winner’s trophy cabinet till next season.
But which team finishes top of the competition and therefore earns the right to host both the semifinal and the grand final — there’s the rub!
Upper Clutha, who have lost only three of their past 39 matches across three seasons, go into tomorrow’s game with a three-point advantage over Wakatipu.
Win or draw, Upper Clutha will secure top spot.
However, the two clubs could finish dead level if Wakatipu win without a bonus point while Upper Clutha sneak a bonus point for finishing within seven points of the men from Queenstown.
That would leave them both on 50 points, each scoring eight bonus points. So then what?
It seems points for and against, across the whole season, would then come into the reckoning.
Remarkably, after 11 rounds, Upper Clutha have scored 359 points and Wakatipu 357. However, when it comes to points conceded, Wakatipu have a clear advantage — 144 against 198. So on differential, Wakatipu have a clear advantage.
Adding to the intrigue is the fact Wakatipu stole the White Horse Trophy off Upper Clutha in 2024 with a handsome 35-20 victory at Wanaka while Upper Clutha claimed it back this year, winning 17-10 at Queenstown.
Each team has registered five victories since that trophy game in early May, Wakatipu scoring 23 tries and Upper Clutha 21.
The foul weather that plagued last weekend’s matches should not handicap tomorrow’s contest, the latest depression expected to clear the deep South today with sunshine forecast for tomorrow.
Meanwhile, Alexandra are guaranteed to finish third regardless of the outcome of their contest against Matakanui Combined at Omakau.
Alexandra have been the competition spoilers the past two years, eliminating Cromwell in the semifinals in 2023 and Wakatipu last season.
That promoted them to two grand finals, both against Upper Clutha. Dramatically, against the odds, they defeated Upper Clutha in 2023 but lost decisively to the same opponent last year.
The Maniototo-Arrowtown game, scheduled for Jack Reid Park tomorrow, has been cancelled, which does not affect Maniototo who are secure in fourth place and will therefore contest the semifinals.
Arrowtown were struggling to put a full team together and, because of the All Blacks test on Saturday, wanted to play the game on Friday night. That did not suit Maniototo, so the game has been abandoned.
The Matakanui Combined-Alexandra game will go ahead at Omakau.
Maniototo club members are in mourning this week after the death of their patron, Mike Dowling, who played a major hand in the establishment of the club and its clubrooms.
