By MARK CASHMAN

The race for the NSW GPS title is poised for an enthralling finish after St Joseph’s College and The King’s School broke away from the chasing pack on the weekend.

Joeys scored seven minutes into extra time to grab a 12-7 win over St Ignatius College at Riverview, while King’s were pushed all the way by Newington College in their 29-14 victory at Stanmore.

King’s and Joeys are now on six points, four points clear of St Ignatius College and The Scots College on two points.

Joeys has the better for and against average on +82 with King’s on +64 but both schools have to negotiate games against Newington (Joeys) and Shore (King’s) before the game likely to decide the 2020 title on the following Wednesday at Hunters Hill.

The evenness of the competition this year suggests that those games are far from ‘givens’ though.

Forwards coach, Hugh Perrett, the big Newington side really took the game to King’s in the early stages of the 150th anniversary match.

“They weren’t happy with their effort the week before so we were prepared for a big effort from Newington and that’s the way things turned out,” Perrett said.

“We managed to weather that storm and then played some good footy at the back end to the game that gave us the game.

“I didn’t think that we played that well because there were too many handling errors but in terms of a result it was what we wanted.”

Perrett, a multiple Shute Shield winner with Eastwood, works closely at King’s with head coach James Hilgendorf and the vastly experienced John Warr (scrums).

Shore are yet to win a game this year but Perrett is aware of the threat that they will bring to the table on Saturday.

“We’re mindful that they will be up for this game to get some pay out of their season,” Perrett added.

“The group is just thinking about Saturday against Shore and then worrying about the game after that.”

King’s have been together since October last year when they started preparations for a tour of the UK and Italy.

They played seven games on tour taking on Wellington College and Warwick School in England, Blackrock College and the Belfast Academy in Ireland, St David’s in Wales. 

Then came games in Italy against Rome Under 19s and the best performance of the tour against Benneton Treviso Under 19s.

“The tour has certainly helped with our combinations as this season has played out,” Perrett said.

In the other game from the weekend The Scots College broke through for their first win of the season with a 45-12 win over Shore.

All the scores:

ST JOSEPH’S COLLEGE 12 (Dowling, Jolliffe tries; Dowling conversion) d ST IGNATIUS COLLEGE 7 (Easy try; Cressey conversion) at Riverview.

THE KING’S SCHOOL 29 (Usher, Blackmore, Penisini, Little tries; Wilson 3 conversions, pen goal) d NEWINGTON COLLEGE 14 (Penitani 2 tries; Taukamo 2 conversions) at Stanmore.

THE SCOTS COLLEGE 45 (Davis 2, Koti, Hansen, Cogan, Wong, Clifton tries; McMullen 5 conversions) d SHORE 12 (Steel, Austin tries; Murray conversion)

How they stand:

St Joseph’s 6 (W3 +87)

King’s 6 (W3 +64)

St Ignatius 2 (W1 -3)

Scots 2 (W1 +2)

Newington 2 (W1 -31)

Shore 0 (W0 -119)

IMAGE: SUPPLIED