This afternoon's Citizens Shield final between Old Boys and Maheno has a prince and the pauper feel about it.
The royalty as far as victories are concerned, Old Boys has won the Citizens Shield for the past five years, losing only eight games with a winning rate of 88%.
This season, rugby pauper Maheno has fought its way to the final, winning 50% of its games, including a 20-20 draw with Old Boys and a 24-21 win over the frontrunner.
In the previous five seasons, the club won only five of the 70 games played.
It has taken coaches Mark Wilson and Nick Anderson the past two seasons to turn the trend around.
Experience, confidence levels and heart cannot be measured, but they are obviously there, as the side this season has won eight of its games and drawn two while losing six.
With the added experience and the dramatic rise in confidence backed up by a relentless defence, the results have improved. Now the final and the biggest of the hurdles has to be faced this afternoon.
Old Boys has all the attacking flair and skill to beat most teams if it is allowed to use these talents.
But the side has displayed an inability or unwillingness to combat the pick and go tactics which Athletic Marist employed so skilfully last week and it took a bit of individual magic to give Old Boys the winning try a couple of minutes from fulltime after it had blown a 23-point halftime lead.
Athletic Marist roared back to lead 35-34 in the dying stages.
Does this mean that there is a vulnerability in the side which has not been obvious in the past?
Its record under captain Ralph Darling, who is now in his ninth season as captain, is an impressive one.
Over the past five seasons when it has won the top trophy, the side dropped only six games - a trend that continued in 2016 with two losses and a draw from 16 games.
Old Boys has selected a powerful pack led by Darling, Unga Kefu and tighthead Jeremiah Shields who had been sidelined with injury.
Locks Lio Havili and Sale Pi'i are powerful ball runners while loose forwards Kennett O'Neill, Maene Mapusaga and Samisoni Tongotongo are line-breakers.
The duel in the backs between two Heartland representatives in Old Boys halfback Inoke Naufahu and opposite Robbie Smith will be one of the features of the contest.
First five-eighth Seti Talalelei and fullback Harry Frost, both of whom have been under an injury cloud, have been named to start and complement a potentially dangerous foursome in Lemi Masoe, Siua Ngalo, Una Ofa and Omega Masoe.
The only changes in the Maheno forward pack involve Andrew Fisher moving from the flank to lock, replacing Brenton Scott, and lively flanker Marcus Balchin returning to the openside flank displacing Simon Thorp who moves back to No6.
The major change in the Maheno backline has resulted in regular fullback Luke Crisp being relegated to the bench and replaced by youngster Zac Johnston, normally a halfback. By 4.30pm, all will be revealed.
Will, as Mark Twain wrote in The Prince and the Pauper, the prince be replaced by the pauper?
The curtain-raiser is the Presidents grade final for the Burns Shield, between Valley and Kurow, at 1pm.
- Terry O'Neill
Citizens Shield
The final
Old Boys: Harry Frost, Omega Masoe, Siua Ngalo, Lemi Masoe, Una Ofa, Seti Talalelei, Inoke Naufahu, Samisoni Tongotongo, Maene Mapusaga, Kennett O'Neill, Sale Pi'i, Jeremiah Shields, Unga Kefu, Ralph Darling (c). Reserves: Leone Latavao, Cavanagh Saumanaia, Sione Halelele, Palavi Tahaafe, Kilifi Fangupo, Meko Roberts, Sam Wicks.
Maheno: Zac Johnston, Carn Parata, Lachie Kingan, Craig Smith, Adam Johnson, Chris Jennings, Robbie Smith, Hayden Tisdall (c), Marcus Balchin, Simon Thorp, Luke Bliss, Andrew Fisher, Dan Towler, Kieran Byrne, Robbie Richardson. Reserves: Andrew Morley, Grant Donnelly, Blake Johnston, Isaac Webster, Brenton Scott, Luke Crisp, Ricki Chellew.
