Siulagi Lafi off-loading to Vaovasa Afa'sua during last weekend's 125-0 massacre of Ratana at Spriggens Park.
Utiku Old Boys have had far more problems this week than worrying about the juggernaut that is Black Bull Liquor Pirates coming to Memorial Park tomorrow for the last round robin weekend of Tasman Tanning Premier.
Raising a combined score of 199-0 from their last two games, with Wanganui Car Centre Kaierau and Harvey Round Motors Ratana being swept away, Pirates with their host of Samoan imports appear far more dangerous than the team Utiku, still eighth place, lost against 36-15 at Spriggens Park in May.
Utiku are known to grow another leg when playing in Taihape, where they picked up two of their three wins this season, but coach Matt Gilbert's squad of predominantly farmers have been busy grappling with the freezing elements at their homesteads.
Ruapehu District Council said snow in the wider area is falling at about 2-3cm per hour yesterday morning, and on Pungatawa Rd back from State Highway 1, Gilbert was able to confirm it as his family was totally snowed in.
Suffice to say, with the highway closed from Hunterville to Waiouru, the evening practice at Memorial Park was cancelled.
"None of the boys will be able to get into town. Or want to, to be fair," said Gilbert.
"The station boys stayed away on Tuesday because they were afraid of getting stuck."
While conditions are expected to improve by tomorrow, the majority of Gilbert's team may yet have a task getting beyond their own driveways.
"Worst case scenario - we won't be able to get out, the boys won't be able to come down."
The game could be seen as somewhat of a dead rubber, with Pirates now safe for the Top 4 but needing McCarthy's Transport Ruapehu to stumble at home against Settler's Honey Ngamatapouri before they could improve to third, while Utiku are unlikely to overtake Kaierau as they are facing the badly shaken Ratana at the Country Club.
But even facing such strong foes, Utiku would never want to just give up their intensity before or during a match, with Gilbert wondering if that happened to Ratana and especially Kaierau - who shook off their 74-0 Pirates mauling to beat Utiku and then all-but defeat Ruapehu at the Country Club.
"It's always been a real mental thing with Pirates.
"As long as you stay with them. If you get behind 10-15 points, it opens up.
"Obviously they started to click as a group, those boys.
"To be honest, the wet, horrible snowy weather might work in our favour.
"If we can go at them in set phases and stave them for possession."
Coming off the bye week, Utiku have been stung from losing both their hard-working flankers in the Kaierau loss with Regan Collier (fractured ankle bone) and Matt Crawford (dislocated shoulder) likely gone for the season.
The Anderson brothers Jake and Brad will assume those roles.
"Brad was outstanding for 60 minutes against Kaierau," said Gilbert.
While Pirates and Ruapehu's matches will sort the final third and fourth positions, the big clash is for first and second up at Waverley, as well as the $500 bar voucher which comes from holding the Grand Hotel Challenge Shield at the end of round-robin.
The Shield has been a little frisky this year, changing hands six times, the second of which was Dave Hoskin Carriers Marist taking it off Waverley Harvesting Border 30-22 on May 13 - Border's only defeat this year.
Since that time, Marist lost the Shield to Pirates and regained it from Ruapehu, all on Spriggens Park, while Border were untroubled aside from the scrappy 18-18 draw with Pirates on June 10.
Eager to win the championship in their 100th season, Marist have cultivated an all-round that rivals the 2016 champions in Border, with both teams getting back to full strength after injuries and the June midweek representative games.
Marist lock Sam Madams will be determined to make a statement in his return to his old stomping grounds at Dallison Park - facing Border's former Fijian test player Sekonia Kalou.
Marist's Cameron Crowley and Border's Nick Harding are the form fullbacks of the competition, with goal kicker Harding leading the points table on 166, followed by a group that includes Marist first-five Mitchell Millar (130).
Border's midfield combination of James Forsyth and speedster Kaveni Dabonaise will want to shut down Marist playmaker Steelie Koro, while he in-turn would like to get a hold of them for some signature front-on tackles.