Clareville should be packed to the rafters for the national league men's hockey match between defending champions Capital and the Central Mavericks this Sunday.
It will be the first time a national league game has been played in Wairarapa and it will give the sporting fraternity an opportunity to watch ahost of Black Sticks and Junior Black Sticks in action.
Among those juniors will be Dalefield's Dane Lett, one of two Wairarapa players in the Capital line-up. The other local is Jesse Workman, a New Zealand Maori rep who was named 2010-11 Wairarapa Senior Sports Personality of the Year.
Capital have four Black Sticks in their squad, Blair Hilton, Matt L'Hullier, Steve Jenness and Kyle Pontifax, and Sunday's match will be their last before they leave on a three-week tour of Europe.
The appearance of L'Hullier and Jenness will be worth the price of admission (a gold coin donation) alone as they are veritable excitement machines - L'Hullier for his expertise at the drag flick and Jenness for his speed and finishing abilities. It will be a huge surprise if their names don't feature prominently on the scoreboard.
Capital will start favourites but the Central Mavericks can be labelled as dangerous underdogs.
They will probably have three Black Sticks in their side, including Nick Wilson, who was named in a world side last year.
The match will get under way at 4pm but those wanting to revel in the opportunity of watching so many world class players at the one venue can turn up at 1pm when the two sides will run through their training routines.
