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Paul Munyuki Sports Reporter
THE big boys of schools rugby are this afternoon expected to bring the curtain down with potentially explosive battles at the Dairibord Schools Rugby Festival with hosts Prince Edward facing bitter rivals Churchill Bulldogs in the main game. The thrilling duel between the St John’s College Rams and the Falcon College Mad Dogs on Thursday set alive the festival.

St John’s College last-minute converted winning try set the bar high for today’s clashes. Both Prince Edward and Churchill are unbeaten so far, the Tigers emerging 27-10 over Midlands Christian College in their opener before they came from behind to grab a 28-10 win over Kyle College.

The Bulldogs would like to write their own piece of history and finish unbeaten at the festival for the first time in a number of years and they made their intention known first with a 22-5 win over Marlborough on Tuesday.

But their big win came on Thursday with a rather sweet 28-10 win over bitter rivals, dosing the St George’s College Dragons fire early in the first half where they did most of their job.

Bulldogs coach Geoff Madhake has already claimed a win over Shuan de Souza’s Tigers this year as Churchill emerged winners over Prince Edward in the Blue Bulls/Cheetahs Super Rugby pre-season curtain raiser at the National Sports Stadium.

“We have a psychological advantage going into Saturday’s game because remember we have a win already over them, but we are not going to relax because Tigers, as they are one of our biggest rivals in schoolboy rugby.

“It is not going to be an easy game but our play during this festival has improved with each passing game and we hope to put up a better performance against PE than we did against George’s.

“It is really going to be a blood, sweat and tears game considering that Prince Edward School snatched about five players from us or is it that they just decided to move but all the same they crossed floors to our rivals. “But I hope we will play some good, running rugby on the day,” said the former Young Sables assistant coach.

However, Tigers coach de Souza wants the best from his boys and cannot afford a second straight defeat at the hands of Churchill in the main game of the day at their favourite hunting ground — Jubilee Field.

Action will start at 8am, with Gifford taking on Midlands Christian College at 8am, but explosive encounters are billed to start around lunchtime when Cyprian “Supa” Mandenge’s unbeaten Eaglesvale face St John’s College — who are also yet to taste defeat — at 1.50pm.

This would be followed by Kyle’s clash against St George’s College at 3pm. Kyle are under pressure to perform given that they have not won a game at the festival this year losing to big boys PE and Falcon College, while St George’s only win came at the hands of Hellenic on Monday.

Prince Edward and Churchill will close this year’s show with a 4pm date.