Premier rugby will return to the Ratana Pa for the first time since 2017 on Saturday.
It's been a regretful absence, but Harvey Round Motors Ratana will finally get to play in front of their whanau again as the Tasman Tanning Premier match with Black Bull Liquor Pirates will be on their home ground at the Pa.
Ratana had to take their home games to Marton Park last year as the new drainage at the Pa ground, which famously runs 'downhill' from north to south, was not up to Wanganui Rugby Football Union union playing standards.
It was a race to get ready, with WRFU club development officer Paul Kenny scheduling Ratana's first two games of the season away to McCarthy's Transport Ruapehu and Byfords Readimix Taihape, along with the Easter break, to give the club more time.
The Ratana Premier's assistant manager Rawiri Mateparae said they should be all set for the 2.30pm kickoff on Saturday.
"They looked at it a few weeks ago, and they've looked at it again and it's all good to go. That's all I can say.
"We miss our home, for our family and our fans."
Ratana's last competition game at the Pa was in the final round robin weekend of the 2017 season, where they lost narrowly to Wanganui Car Centre Kaierau 31-27.
The 2018 season was a hard one for the predominantly young Ratana team under new coach Steelie Koro, registering only one victory when they beat Settler's Honey Ngamatapouri 31-26 up the Waitotara Valley in June.
Five time champions in the last 18 years, there was a time when Wanganui club teams feared travelling into the Pa to play the locals, not to mention their ardent supporters on the sideline.
Although going back home is not going to bring about an immediate turnaround, the team may rate their chances against the likewise winless Pirates, who are going through a rebuilding phase themselves from the side that made last year's Premier final.
Ratana did get hammered by defending champions Ruapehu (91-3) and perennial contenders Taihape (56-0), but Pirates have also struggled out of the gate with defeats to Ngamatapouri (52-22) and Kaierau (48-0), when they had to play with 14 men for a somewhat contentious red card.
However, new coach Danny Tamehana and assistant Denning Tyrell could be awaiting reinforcements, while Mateparae did not want to make a prediction.
"Each game is different, just got to play game after game."
The homecoming aside, there are a couple of big matches for the third round of the competition after the Easter break, with only two teams still defending unbeaten records.
Kaierau will host Border at the Country Club, with the Waverley team smarting after having to give up the Grand Hotel Challenge Shield on their home turf to Dave Hoskin Carriers Marist.
Only a long range penalty goal just missing by fullback Nick Harding, who had nailed a similar matchwinner the week before with Taihape, prevented an understrength Border from keeping the shield, while they had players out with injury, suspension and a couple making a trip over to the Sydney Cup.
Kaierau, who beat Marist in their opening game before over-running old rivals Pirates by a surprising scoreline, will want to show they are truly ready for a banner season.
The other big clash is up at Rochfort Park, where Ruapehu will be trying to overcome a recent piece of surprising history for the home side which has won four Premier championships since 2012.
Once the beatable little cousins – losing 23 times in a row in fact – since 2015 Taihape have defeated Ruapehu in the first round of games every year.
They were in good tryscoring nick against Ratana with new halfback Tyler Rogers-Holden and hooker Dylan Gallien getting hat tricks, while pivotal first-five Dane Whale got a double.
However, wherever Taihape's attacking playmakers would like to set the tempo, they have to overcome Ruapehu's unbreakable loose forward combinations, with Campbell Hart and Jamie Hughes, backed by the likes of Jackson Campbell, able to take over a match whenever they see fit.
The other game sees Marist bringing the Challenge Shield home to defend against Ngamatapouri, with the hosts trying to become the first team to hang onto it in 2019.