After struggling through the first part of the season, Joeys head into Saturday’s clash against Riverview full of confidence on the back of three straight wins. 

While Kings may have wrapped up the GPS title, both schools still have plenty to play for in one of schoolboy rugby’s best rivalries. 

“It’s always a big game and always really exciting for the boys,” coach Greg Thompson told Rugby News. 

“The team is fit and healthy and confident on the back of a few good wins, so we’re in a good place.”

After claiming the first XV premiership in 2022, Joeys couldn’t catch a break in the early rounds of the season. 

Following consecutive draws against Scots and Shore, the defending premiers lost three tight matches against Newington, Riverview and Kings. 

But since then, Joeys have won three straight matches on either side of the school holiday break and look like a different team to earlier this season. 

“We were always close and never had any major blowout losses. I think the biggest margin we lost by was 7 points,” Thompson said. 

“So we were always in and amongst it. We got a few big bodies back in recent weeks and that’s given the side a lot more confidence and a bit more experience. 

“That win against Scots was really important. That gave the boys the belief that they were good enough to win and they’ve probably played with a little bit more freedom since then. 

“Obviously the competition has been won and Kings have done a great job there, but knowing that, I think it’s taken the pressure off and now the boys are playing with a bit more freedom.”

While the 2023 campaign hasn’t gone exactly to plan for this current group, Thompson said the players will learn a lot from this season’s experiences. 

“As a coach, we talk about developing both the player and the person and I think we’ve done that this year. 

“These boys are going to go through adversity throughout life and at times things aren’t going to go their way. So to work through a difficult period and see the other side, it’s an important lesson. 

“There’s a lot more you can get out of a rugby season than just winning the competition.”

Riverview are second on the GPS ladder, two competition points ahead of Joeys. Iggies fell short against Kings last week but have won five of eight matches heading into Saturday’s local derby. 

“It’s always a very big day against Riverview,” Thompson said.  

“From experience, you need to try and take the emotion out of it a little bit. 

“At the end of the day, the boys still have to play rugby and if they get so pumped up and so emotional about playing their last game at home or their last game for the school, it’s easy to forget that they’ve got to go our there and catch, pass and tackle. 

“The boys are well aware of the importance of the game to the school, to the Old Boys and to our wider community and I know they really want to go out there and produce a good performance.”

Riverview beat Joeys 26-21 when the two sides met last back in early June but Thompson said he was confident his side could reverse the result on Saturday against a classy Iggies’ outfit. 

“They are a well coached, smart and well drilled team. They take the right options more often then not and they always stay in the fight. 

“Traditionally, these matches are always pretty close and I’m not expecting Saturday to be any different.”

“There are no weaknesses in their team so we need to focus on doing what we do well and then seeing where that gets us on the scoreboard. 

“Having some of those bigger bodies back has allowed us to play a bit of a different style to earlier in the year. 

“Now we should be able to go wide when we want to go wide and go through them when we want to go through them and hopefully that proves the difference.”

In the rounds other matches, Scots host Kings and Shore take on Newington.