Cup goes to Upper Clutha in thriller
After a break by Jake Burtenshaw, Upper Clutha's Milan Martinovich stretched the ball over the line in the last phase of play for his team to snatch the White Horse Cup off Wakatipu in a nail-biting top-of-the-table clash at the Queenstown Recreation Ground on Saturday.
Brodie Flannery's conversion sealed a 17-10 win for Upper Clutha.
Just four minutes before, a sideline penalty by Wakatipu's Rube Peina, bringing the score to 10-10, looked to have done enough the keep the coveted cup — and the John Reid Memorial Cup — in Queenstown.
Astonishingly, the first half had been scoreless with Wakatipu fortunate not have been behind.
Ten minutes into the second half, Flannery finally succeeded with a penalty after two missed attempts.
The game was interrupted for about 20 minutes after Upper Clutha fullback Henry Schikker collided mid-air with a Wakatipu player, and Schikker appeared badly concussed before coming around.
Unfortunately, he also became the second Upper Clutha player to be yellow-carded after prop Blair Kennedy in the first half.
Wakatipu finally got on the board in the 60th minute, fullback Matt Saunders scoring after a great off-load by Conner Hamlin, and Peina converting from wide out.
Upper Clutha replied with a nice solo try by flanker Joel Turnbull after bursting out of a maul.
Flannery converted before the game had two scoring manoeuvres in the tense last four minutes.
For Upper Clutha, regaining the White Horse Cup was revenge for surrendering the cup to Wakatipu in their only loss last season.
It was also their best performance this year, coach Alex Dickson said, coming off their only loss this season to Alexandra the week before.
"I thought we played more rugby than [Wakatipu] and we defended really well when we had to.
"I thought hooker Scott Cunningham was good, Jake Burtenshaw was good once again and Andy Horne made some massive tackles."
Wakatipu coach Jordan Manihera said his side was "pretty lucky" to have even been eyeing a draw four minutes from the end.
"We just didn't deserve to win on how we were playing and conducting ourselves around the field."
Aside from dropping the ball and conceding too many penalties, Wakatipu might also rue turning down too many kickable penalties considering Peina's skill off the tee.
He and fellow co-captain Tom Ria were Wakatipu's two best players on the day.
Upper Clutha face a formidable Maniototo in their first White Horse Cup defence this Saturday while Wakatipu start the second round with a bye.
Maniototo made it four wins from six games by defeating Arrowtown 30-12 at Ranfurly to comfortably position themselves in the top four.
Midfielder Joe Browett scored two tries, and the player of the day award went to prop Mike Shaw.
Arrowtown began the season with a massive win over Matakanui Combined, but four losses and a draw have left them languishing in sixth place, 11 points short of the top four.
Alexandra continued their surge towards the summit with a 57-15 thumping of Matakanui Combined at Molyneux Park.
Man of the match was openside flanker Sam Chapman, with other outstanding performances coming from lock Joshua Scobie and winger Jake Denniston.
The win pushes Alexandra into second position, just one point behind Upper Clutha, the only team to defeat them in the first round.
— Philip Chandler
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