Battle royal looms between eight evenly matched sides
THE Central Otago premier rugby competition gets under way tomorrow with eight teams contesting what promises to be a tight championship this season.
Defending champion Wakatipu should lead the way again, but all clubs will give a good account of themselves and there do not appear to be any easybeats.
Wakatipu heads down to take on Matakanui Combined at the Omakau Domain. Brad Robertson has taken over the head coaching role for the Queenstownbased side and it will be hard to top again.
Matakanui Combined has picked up a few players to bolster its ranks. Its impressive No 8 Dean Sinnamon will be keen to continue his form from last season and lead from the front.
Clyde Earnscleugh travels to Wanaka to take on Upper Clutha in what will be a tight game. The Clydebased side has picked up a few players from the Cromwell club, in a winwin for both clubs.
Both of these sides finished off the pace last season and more will be expected from them this time around. Upper Clutha has had excellent numbers at trainings.
Maniototo plays host to Arrowtown in Ranfurly and this promises to be a good battle again. Arrowtown has been in the running over the last few years and nothing will change in 2018.
The host side has lost the services of promising Otago Country lock Willie Miller, who is headed back to Kaikorai in Dunedin. The talented Angus Gibb in the midfield is a player to watch.
There will be quite a difference in the Maniototo side this season, with a few regular names missing from the team sheet. There will be no Dowlings or Hores and it has been a very long time since that has been the case.
Cromwell heads down the gorge to take on Alexandra at Molyneux Park. Cromwell — champion in 2016 and runnerup last year — will be front runner again under the guidance of Matt Ludeman and assistant Simon Harper. It boasts some very good numbers and should be too strong in this encounter.
Bevan Passmore has taken over the coaching role at Alexandra, with Matt Fowler, and it has also picked up a few players to strengthen its playing stocks. It will be looking to finish higher than its lowly position from the last two seasons.