The 2022 GPS season begins in Sydney on Saturday and before the opening kick off, we’ve got the inside word on the six schools and what to expect from the first XV competition in the months ahead.

Shore 

Last premiership: 2006

Trial Form: Defeated St Augustine’s 82-0; Defeated Knox 23-19; Lost to Waverley 46-19; Defeated Oakhill 46-19; Defeated Trinity 32-3; Lost to Scots 36-24. 

Draw: Joeys (H), Kings (A), Riverview (H), Newington (A), Scots (A).

Season Preview:

“We’re a fairly skilful side so we’ll try to move the ball around as much as we can,” first XV coach Hadley Jackson told Rugby News. 

“But in this competition, if we’re going to be competitive, we’ve got to be really strong in defence so that will be the main focus for us.

“If we can defend well, then get some ball in good field position, then I’m confident we’ll be able to move the ball around and score some good tries.”

Kings

Last premiership: 2020

Trial Form: Defeated Waverley 19-0; Lost to Joeys 24-14; Defeated Riverview 20-5; Defeated Scots 22-14; Defeated St Augustine’s 17-14; Defeated Newington 26-19. 

Draw: Riverview (H), Shore (H), Newington (A), Scots (H), Joeys (A)

Season Preview:

“We’ve played some really positive rugby but then we seem to follow that up with some less consistent footy and that has hurt us at times throughout the trials,” first XV coach Hugh Perrett told Rugby News. 

“We’re a big effort team, all the boys are working really hard and when they get it right, they look really good. But then sometimes we follow up that good work with silly mistakes and that’s what we need to avoid throughout the season.”

“We’ve got the potential to be a contender, but we’ll need to cut down our error rate and our defence needs to be more accurate,” Perrett continued. 

“Our strategy and game knowledge is fairly good, but sometimes our execution in both attack and defence lets us down.”

Newington

Last premiership: 2015

Trial Form: Drew with Scots 21-21; Defeated St Augustine’s 48-7; Lost to Waverley 22-14; Lost to Knox 43-44; Lost to Kings 26-19. 

Draw: Scots (A) Joeys (A), Kings (H), Shore (H), Riverview (H).

Season Preview:

“We’ll always try to play plenty of rugby at Newington. We want to stick to the strengths of our group and I think the fitness levels of the boys is really strong after the last few years,” first XV coach Tim Rapp told Rugby News. 

“We’ve had a focus on playing faster and moving the ball well and our fitness levels allow us to do that.

“We want to move the ball around and make the most of all of our attacking threats, whether that be running with the ball in hand, passing or kicking.

“We also want to encourage our bigger bodies to move their feet and to pass the ball, it’s not just about trucking it forward and recycling.”

Joeys

Last premiership: 2019

Trial Form: Defeated Kings 24-14; Defeated Knox 48-26; Defeated Scots 26-24; Defeated Riverview 29-24.

Draw: Shore (A), Newington (H), Scots (A), Riverview (A), Kings (H)

Season Preview:

“Like usual, we’ve had a big focus on our set piece and on our defence. We’ve also made sure the boys are nice and fit so that we can play an up tempo, fast style,” Joeys first XV coach Tim Andersen said. 

“We want to be as clinical as possible and like in previous years, be the hardest working team in the competition.”

“We were a little up and down through the trials but I think we’ve been a lot more consistent in recent weeks. It’s been a challenge with all the illness and injuries but I think we’ve been tracking in the right direction.

“The comp is going to be very even. Through the trials, we saw different teams winning every week and I think that means it’s going to perhaps be one of the more even comps we’ve seen for a while.”

Scots

Last premiership: 2017

Trial Form: Drew with Newington 21-21; Defeated Barker 22-10; Defeated Stannies 49-15; Lost to Kings 22-14; Lost to Joeys 26-24; Defeated Shore 36-24. 

Draw: Scots (H), Riverview (A), Joeys (H), Kings (A), Shore (H). 

Season Preview:

Opposition coaches Hadley Jackson (Shore) and Tim Rapp (Newington) had the following to say on their trial matches against Scots: 

“Scots started very strongly and got away to a lead and it took us a little while to get our intensity up to where it needs to be,” Jackson said of his side’s 36-24 defeat to Scots.

“When we did though, we played some really good footy. Now that we know the level that we need to be at, we need to make sure we play like that from the kickoff.”

Rapp continued: 

“The draw against Scots was a really pleasing outing for both sides, we both had a genuine crack and played good, hard footy. They are a tough, physical team with speed out wide.”

Riverview

Last premiership: 2011

Trial Form: Lost to Knox 33-24; Defeated Waverley 22-8; Lost to Kings 20-5; Lost to Barker 33-31; Lost to Joeys 29-24

Draw: Kings (A), Scots (H), Shore (A), Joeys (H), Newington (A)

Season Preview:

Kings coach Hugh Perrett said the following of Riverview ahead of the two side’s round one clash: 

“Riverview are a really improved team. We played them a couple of weeks ago and it wasn’t a pretty game. The conditions were horrible and it wasn’t a great spectacle,” he said. 

“But I watched their game against Joeys and they look to have cleaned a lot of things up and they are looking a lot sharper. 

“We’ll need to have a much better mindset heading into the match compared to the last time we played them because they are a different team now, they’ve improved a fair bit.”