By Angus Hayman

After Riverview’s surprise loss to Kings last Saturday, Newington can now claim the premiership outright with victory over the only side to have beaten them this season. Riverview, meanwhile, have the chance to force a share of the title by pipping Newington for a second time. 

It sets up a genuine winner-takes-all-or-shares-all showdown at Newington, where Back to Newington Day is expected to draw a huge crowd, although, depending on which rumour you’ve heard, anything from multiple thousands to the population of a small European nation has been tipped to descend on Stanmore this Saturday afternoon.

For Tim Rapp, Newington’s Director and Head Coach, the mood is understandably positive. But with the job not quite finished, there is no shortage of motivation.

“We’re very, very happy, but we’re also very excited about the potential of winning it outright,” Rapp told Rugby News.

That balance has been the focus during the week. Saturday’s results went Newington’s way, with Kings doing them a favour by knocking off Riverview, while the Newington players took care of business themselves with a narrow win over Joeys.

There was certainly plenty to celebrate, but Rapp said the maturity of his squad meant the players quickly understood that the celebrations could only last so long.

“As much as they love celebrating on Saturday post game, by the time I’d gotten into the sheds and had a yarn with the boys, they’d already spoken about enjoying the moment that day or that evening, but fully focusing on the Monday about making sure that it is an outright Premiership,” he said.

It is a useful quality to have when the prize is this close.

Newington have already beaten almost every side in the competition, but there is one glaring omission from the list: Riverview.

The visitors handed Newington their only defeat of the season earlier in the year, leaving the reigning champions with one final piece of the puzzle to complete.

“The boys have got a little bit of a knot in the tummy about that, they certainly want to try and fix that up,” Rapp said.

There is also a simple mathematical incentive. Riverview can no longer win the Shield outright, but victory at Newington would force the two schools to share it. Newington, naturally, have no interest in that arrangement.

This time, Rapp believes his side is better placed to finish the job. The match is at home, the squad is fit and available, and the occasion happens to fall on Back to Newington Day.

“Everybody is available and fully fit, so we’ll pick our best team possible, a luxury we didn’t have last time we played” Rapp said. 

“And it’s Back to Newington Day, and the boys just love playing for their community.”

The annual celebration will see old boys and past players flood back into the school, reunions take place and the campus takes on something of a festival atmosphere.

Then, when the First XV takes the field, everything else stops.

There is an added incentive this year, too, with Newington’s First and Second XI football sides also playing for championships earlier in the day. Three premierships in one day is therefore on the menu, although nobody at Newington will be counting their chickens just yet.

For Rapp, that makes Saturday a celebration of the school’s sporting community, rather than simply a rugby match with a trophy attached.

“It’s a wonderful opportunity from a Newington College sport perspective because it’s not just rugby; it’s football as well,” he said. “Hopefully we can land all three.”

And with a crowd expected to turn Back to Newington Day into one of the biggest school rugby occasions of the year, there should be no shortage of noise when the whistle blows.

But the First XV will have the biggest job.

Riverview will arrive knowing they have already solved the Newington puzzle once, and now have one final opportunity to do it again. Newington will arrive with momentum, home-ground advantage and one hand already on the Shield.

The difference is that one more win turns that hand into two firmly wrapped around the trophy.