"We've always thought of our own ground as our dungeon," said Ruapehu coach Chris Winter.
"But we gave away starts."
It has shown time and again in 2014 that there are no easy matches, or periods of games where teams can survive being lackadaisical, which is why Ruapehu's concentration on the road is all the more impressive.
"Every week, I think if you're off the ball for even 30-40 minutes, you can't make it back," said Winter.
"The last couple of years, we've thought wherever we play, it doesn't matter. If we keep 'thinking it's their home ground', it gets the nerves up a bit.
"In the last few years we have been [at Spriggens], we've always lost a few games before we won there."
Even in their undefeated 2013 season, Ruapehu were still held to a 16-16 draw with Pirates at Spriggens Park before returning to win the final at that ground 16-13 through a dying seconds penalty by Zyon Hekenui.
After a run of injuries that saw the youth brigade step up in recent wins over Spiers Food Marton, where they had only 16 men, then Marist last week, Ruapehu are welcoming back lock Sonny Woodmass, hooker Roman Tutauha, prop Karl Parker and midfielder Logan Vaughan.
While noticeably lighter, captain Peter Rowe has fully recovered from his bout of pneumonia, having even covered lock for his team.
Meanwhile, in a year notable for horror injury lists, Pirates are still waiting on the return of standout No8 Lasa Ulukuta from his broken thumb, along with back Lee Ashford, while hooker Junior Tume with his bruised Achilles will be a big miss.
Pirates coach Phillip Morris is also sweating on all this wet weather, the game being the main event of a double bill as Marist and Taihape go on first to possibly turn the park into a mud pit.
He was also waiting to hear yesterday afternoon if they would be able to train on the wet ground, with a gym and boxing session standing as backup.
"Two big games, we're hoping for the wind to blow it dry," said Morris.
"We've put ourselves in this position with some poor efforts [against Taihape, Ratana].
"Really, we've got a dream home run. It's about getting our attitude right and preparation right.
"I've given up the [points table] calculations. I sit down at night to work it out, but then I just throw the papers up."
Ruapehu vs Pirates kicks off at 2.35pm after Marist vs Taihape goes on as the first half of the double bill at 1pm.
Meanwhile, Border find themselves in familiar territory of once again challenging for the bouncing rubber ball that has been the Grand Hotel Challenge Shield.
The Shield changing hands eight times in 2014 is already a record and if Border could make in nine down at Marton Park, they would need only get past Marist next weekend back in Waverley to pocket the $500 sponsors voucher, as they have the bye on July 19.
However, that's putting the cart before the horse as Border have won the Shield twice and promptly lost it in both their first defences this year, while victory is in no way guaranteed as the Cornel Mason-inspired Marton have made keeping the prize their No1 priority for the rest of the season, following their big effort to take it from Taihape at Memorial Park last Saturday.
In the other game, Kaierau host Ratana at the Country Club, with Ratana in a must-win situation to try and stay on the heels of the current top four.
