The Alexandra Armadillos face the unbeaten Upper Clutha Rams tomorrow in the Central Otago Premier Rugby competition final (Saturday July 15).

Club manager Dai Johns said he was predicting a win for the team who last won the final in 2015.

“Our boys will be good. Upper Clutha have gone through all season unbeaten and then they’ll lose the final… this happens quite a lot in sports. That’s my prediction anyway.”

The Alexandra team has had four good wins in a row, and Dai said despite a “few sore bodies” after the semi final, the team was building towards another big performance.

“It will be a big crowd, the club is putting on a 50 seater bus to take over supporters… and there are a number of vans and cars heading over to Wānaka too.” 

The Armadillos played the Cromwell Rugby Football Club (the Goats) last weekend to make the final, coming away with a 25-21 win in the final few minutes at Molyneux Park.

Fans packed the embankment to support the Armadillos. PHOTO: Katrina Maxwell 

Dai said the home crowd was amazing and the team was buzzing after the game.

“It was awesome… there were 500 plus people there, we've never seen anything like it at a home game.”

“In the last five minutes it was very good when we scored, then the final four minutes were very stressful.

“Our defence all year has been really strong and we managed to hold them off.”

Alexandra were leading at half time 17 -14, but fell behind to 20- 21, then a try scored by hooker Adam Cosgriff with only minutes left on the clock got local fans up on their feet.

Halfback Ryan (Chugga) O’Neill was named man of the match and scored a try in the first half, 28 minutes in. 

Ryan O’Neill  PHOTO: Katrina Maxwell

The Upper Clutha Rams triumphed 20 -13 over the Wakatipu Premiers in the other tightly fought semi final.

The Rams have won twice against Alexandra this season, securing a 12-5 victory in Alexandra and a 40-7 win in Wānaka. 

In 2022 the Rams lost the semi final to Wakatipu, and Alexandra placed sixth out of seven in the competition last year. 

Kick off is at 2.30pm at the Wānaka Showgrounds. All the best to the Armadillos, The Central App will bring you a game update early next week. 

Blue skies and high cloud on the afternoon of the rugby semi final at Molyneux Park. PHOTO: Tyla O’Neill