Wairarapa-Bush rugby has fallen foul of the summer drought.
Plans were to have premier division and senior reserve interclub matches kick off this Saturday but the difficulties created by the hardness of the grounds means that only premier division games will start then.
WBRU spokesman Doug Bracewell said the prolonged dry spell meant several club venues were not yet available for play.
"Getting the season under way has required a great deal of co-operation from clubs with some of them actually having to concede home advantage," Bracewell said. "The safety of players is of paramount importance, that's clearly the main priority."
The various venues throughout the Wairarapa-Bush region have been inspected and Bracewell said this process had revealed that Memorial Park, Gladstone, Martinborough, Greytown and Carterton were those which could be utilised over the first two weeks of interclub play.
The withdrawal of Masterton Red Star through a paucity of players has left 10 teams in the premier division grade and the council of clubs has decided the first round of that competition should be devoted to the Chris Kapene Memorial Cup, the winner being the team with the most points at the end of that round after which all points will be forfeited.
It will then be back to square one for the championship proper which will conclude with a grand final.
As luck may have it, the first of the Kapene Cup matches to be played at Memorial Park this season will feature neither of the two Masterton-based sides, Marist or Pioneer.
Instead, it will have last year's beaten finalists East Coast up against Bush Sports.
The draw for the first two rounds of premier division play is:
March 23: Carterton v Eketahuna at Carterton, East Coast v Bush Sports at Memorial Park, Gladstone v Pioneer at Gladstone, Greytown v Marist at Greytown, Martinborough v Puketoi at Martinborough.
March 30: Carterton v East Coast at Carterton, Greytown v Bush Sports at Greytown, Marist v Puketoi at Memorial Park, Martinborough v Gladstone at Martinborough, Pioneer v Eketahuna at Pioneer.