ALL the weeks of speculation, prognostication and prediction are behind us now. Four teams started this journey one week ago. Today only two remain.

Mariners Rugby Football Club stared down the challenge that Police offered last week and they squeaked by 10-8.

The margin of victory means little now for skipper Gavin Corcoran. His men are in the final. He proved the pundits, including this scribe, wrong. Well done! The Greens have had another one of those seasons. They have won key games but they have given away many more because of an inability to sustain concentrated effort in the final third of the game when it matters most.

But against Police they managed to do that and they have reaped their just rewards.

They are already ahead of the game in some respects. They have the distinction of winning the Nicholl Shield some years ago under then captain Keith Beattie. Like this season, that year was a less than stellar one for the Greens, but they pulled it together and were the proud first time winners of the Nicholl Shield.

But league champs Teachers Rugby Football Club stand in their way on Sunday afternoon in the Nicholl Shield final. On paper at least they are a formidable bunch as their dominance of the league and most cup competitions this season demonstrates.

However, they do possess a "glass jaw" and if Mariners can focus their force and harness their effort, they can succeed. Henry Adderley's men have all the pressure on them. They have done well despite a slew of injuries to key people, but that is not surprising given the depth and numbers that they possess.

In this regard they are similar to Mariners who boast one of the deepest benches. What Teachers have on their side is a legacy of winning with which the Greens cannot compete. But in one material aspect, the Nicholl Shield, it is the Greens who are way ahead.

Past league glory means little now. All of the pre and post-season domination will not help the Reds now. In fact it could harm them.

While they did well to get past a determined Renegades team 7-0 in their semi-final encounter, Teachers can take little consolation from that as they face the Greens.

Renegades have a mental block. They believe in the Teachers' myth and as a result they have not beaten the Reds in more than two seasons.

That is not true of the Greens. While their mercurial nature sees them play solid one week and then make a hash of things one week later, Mariners are separated from Renegades by one rather important detail.

Mariners have beaten Teachers in league and cup play and are capable of doing so again. The question Corcoran's men have to ask themselves as they strap their knees, tape their ankles and don their jersey's before Sunday's final, is whether they believe, somewhere in the deepest recesses of their collective psyche, that they deserve to be the winners of that trophy.

To which skipper will Bermuda Rugby Football Union president John Williams be making that trophy presentation? Smart money will err on the side of history - it will be Mariners by a whisker!