A fortnight today will be a big day for the farming area of Ngamatapouri.
Hidden up in the hills of the Waitotara Valley, a group led by Henry Matthews has been building a rugby club from scratch.
And in the afternoon of Saturday, March 21, Ngamatapouri RFC, decked out in a dark green jersey with boar logo, will run out on to its home-built home ground to play its first match against Celtic.
The club did exist in the 1960s but folded long ago. The new incarnation has entered in the senior grade (second tier) of the Wanganui club rugby competition.
Matthews had the idea to put the team together after an influx of younger workers to the area on the back of a growing manuka industry.
Local man Roger Pearce was given the coaching role and the pieces of the puzzle started to fit together.
"Both Henry's father and my father played for the Ngamatapouri team in the '60s," Pearce said. "It's really Henry's brainchild."
The team has at least 20 at training and its recruitment has been impressive.
The Boars have nabbed Wanganui rep Bryn Hudson, who played for Coastal in the Taranaki premier competition last year.
"That was a bit of a coup for us," Pearce said. "We've definitely got some good players, but there's a wide range of players - some guys have never played rugby."
The new field, carved out of land owned by David Peat, has been given the all clear by the Wanganui Rugby Union. It has been built by locals over the past few months. Next to it is an old homestead that will be used as changing rooms for teams, while showers are being built in the next fortnight. The Ngamatapouri Hall just down the road will be used for after-match functions.
The club has even got a bus that will clock up many kilometres on some of the longer away trips to the North Rangitikei clubs.
Pearce said a bit of recontouring of the ground was needed.
"We've sort of all got our own gear and machinery in the farming game up here these days," Pearce said. "The bit of land that's there, it was flattish but there was a bit of a swampy area."
When the club was active half a century ago it had no field of its own so "home" games were played in Wanganui.
A patch to call theirs was desired for the second coming of the club.
"It's really creating a community spirit up here and having something for the community to go along and enjoy and watch," Pearce said.
There was a lot of interest from former residents and he expected many others from the city to take a trip up the valley over winter to check out a game.
"I think a lot of people are intrigued about what's going on out here and whether we can make it a success," Pearce said. "This is a very small community - we've only got a dozen or so farms up here."
As to how the team will fare, it will be a matter of wait and see. Pearce said a semifinal berth was a good starting goal. "We want to be taken seriously."
Wanganui Rugby club liaison officer Paul Kenny said Ngamatapouri was a welcome addition to the club rugby scene.
"I went up there on Monday with a couple of other guys," he said. The facilitieslooked good and he would be interested to watch the club's development. "They've done some reasonably good recruiting," Kenny said. "They've done their homework and I'm sure they're going to be a fantastic host."