Teachers and Police go into this weekend’s final round of the season in a match-up that will end with the victorious team crowned champions.

Teachers, who crushed Mariners 34-0 to go top, can afford a drawn match, given their two-point lead, but such complacency may come at a price against a Police side still smarting from an enthralling 22-22 draw with Renegades on Sunday.

In their previous encounter, Renegades demolished Police up front and there were plenty of scores to settle. Nevertheless, Police could only manage to field a makeshift team, owing to injury and unavailability. This meant that Roedolf van der Westhuizen, the Police coach. was obliged to dust off his World Rugby Classic boots and started alongside Sean Field-Lament, the club chairman whose “retirement” was interrupted for supposedly a one-off game that could have clinched the title.

Renegades were fielding a strong side with the return of John Quigley at centre bolstering a dangerous-looking back division. Both teams set the tone early with some committed tackles underlining the intensity of play. Police gained early ascendancy and they looked to expose Renegades out wide, set-piece ball by Adam Richards and Ben Beasley being quickly shifted quickly to their danger men on the wings.

The strategy paid dividends as Tommy Edwards opened the account with a strong finish and Dan Cole knocked over the conversion for a 7-0 lead. From the restart, Police’s forwards set up a good platform and the ball was recycled out to the speedster Neville Zuill, who fought his way over for an unconverted try.

Police were in control and looked to close down the first half with a 12-point lead, but Renegades were not reading from the same script and ground their way into the Police 22. Recycled ball led to Alex Donkervoet powering through some weak tackling for a converted try deep into stoppage time. The 12-7 half-time score did not reflect the Police dominance and they were left to ruminate on their last-minute loss of concentration.

Renegades used their surge in momentum as a launch pad for the second half and their gnarly set of forwards began to make inroads. A few big runs out of midfield by a reinvigorated Quigley ensured that Renegades were on the front foot. A chance to reduce the arrears to two points was squandered when a presentable penalty-goal attempt came back off a post. Still, the black-and-whites pounded away and it was all that an increasingly desperate Police defence could do to repel the surging runs of Jahan Cedano, Mike Williams and Connor McGlynn.

Renegades had the tryline in sight and, after play was stopped so that Tom Edwards could receive treatment for a blood injury, Police finally yielded to the inevitable. From the scrum restart, Renegades pounded away before Tom Healy, the scrum half, shifted the ball to the blind side for wing Angus Warnich to glide over in the corner. Rich Cumbers sliced the difficult conversion to leave the score level at 12-12 approaching the final quarter. But Police maintained their composure and stuck to their game plan.

They were rewarded when a surging run by Patrick Graham brought the boys in blue down to the Renegades five-metre line. A cynical killing of the ball resulted in referee John Weale awarding a penalty, but a quick tap was taken by Van der Westhuizen, who ploughed through several Renegades tackles to score in the corner. Again, a difficult touchline conversion was missed, but Police had regained the lead at 17-12, arguably against the flow of play.

Renegades’ confidence remained high despite the setback and, with Peter Dunkerly controlling lineouts, they soon worked their way back into a scoring position. Quick recycling again exposed the Police defence on the blind side and Donkervoet scored his second out wide on a three-on-two overlap from ten yards out. Place-kicking would continue to prove hazardous for the unlucky Cumbers, but Renegades had to fancy their chances from 17-17 to make the squandered points an irrelevance.

They duly took the lead for the first time when a strong run down the middle by Quigley sucked in the defence, leaving Warnich free to touch down for a second time and secure a bonus point that had looked unrealistic given Police’s fast start.

Renegades had 12 minutes to protect, or build on to, their five-point advantage after Cumbers’s horror show with the boot continued, but Police found enough in reserve to muster a final riposte.

Their title aspirations evaporating, with Teachers expected to beat Mariners in the second game, Police lifted their intensity through a resurgent pack. A series of controlled recycling churned out kept Police moving over the gainline before a run by Cobus Vermaak and quick ball and allowed John Stathakis to be sent through a hole from just outside the Renegades 22.

As had been the theme throughout the game, Cole’s conversion was inches wide of the right upright to leave two exhausted teams sharing the points.

Teachers did not waste their opportunity to move into first place so that they could force a winner-takes-all scenario this weekend. Owing to a league ruling that this result would count double because of an earlier postponement, Teachers had the necessary motivation and, despite this being a much improved Mariners outfit these days, the result was rarely in doubt.

Mariners were not helped by the loss of Tony Ward, their talisman back-row forward, to a suspected shoulder injury. His absence was immediately felt as Teachers gained dominance in the forwards with strong runs by Taeshon Desilva and Anthony Cupidore, while Bobby Hurdle controlled the lineouts.

The first try came after 20 minutes from series of strong forward drives, with Peter Otin crossing over. The conversion was knocked over by Shauntino Simmons, but Teachers had only an unconverted Harry Andrews try to show for the rest of the half.

Mariners, for whom the form of Chakote Wainwright, Rory Dublin and Jamel Easton bodes well for their long-term future, had their resistance broken in the final quarter when Teachers ran in four more tries through Patrick Richardson, David Porter, Aldo Campbell and Corey Boyce, who scored the try of the day from all of 90 metres.

In women’s action, Mariners and Teachers played to a competitive 1-1 draw, with Gilliam Smith scoring for Teachers and Denika Borden responding. In the other game, Police, the league champions, beat Renegades 6-4. With both teams looking to play expansive rugby, supporters were treated to a ten-try display. Police got three tries from Isabel van der Westhuizen and single efforts from Joanne Godfrey, Joanne Hickley and Jeane Hofmeyer. Rebekah Kasumu scored twice for Renegades, with Melissa Franklin and Kacie Birch touching down once each.