At the end of the one-day portion last season Pat’s were sitting in last spot with their finals chances looking slim.

But in 2017-18 they’re now the team to catch, as their junior talents constantly up the ante on their more experienced opponents.

If Pat’s get the better of Rugby Union in the second day of their fixture at The Scots School then they will almost certainly hold the lead over the holidays.

It won’t be an easy task for the Saints. Their score of 285 last week certainly means Bulldogs need to be focused with the bat but The Scots School deck certainly offers those with the willow plenty of assistance.

Pat’s captain Adam Ryan returns to the Saints squad this week.

“I was pretty happy with the score the boys put up last week. Now it’s all about how we handle ourselves in the field,” Ryan said.

“We’ve put the runs on the board, and that’s always a good thing, but when you take a look at that Bulldogs batting lineup there’s definitely going to be little room for error.”

The absence of Ben Parsons and Tanvir Singh also puts a dent in the Saints’ bowling stocks.

Few teams have had an answer for the Saints’ bowling this season.

Their tally of 69 wickets to date puts them 12 ahead of nearest rivals Bulls, and has played a big part in their three bonus point victories.

However, despite their position on the ladder, Rugby boast the third largest tally of runs this year at a competitive net run rate.

Ryan said the match is evenly poised at the halfway mark.

“I don’t think we’ve scored enough runs to be considered favourites,” he said.

“Scots has traditionally been a bit of a batter’s deck. If we had posted this sort of score at somewhere like the Sportsground then I definitely would have been more confident.”

The match shares some resemblance to last season’s two-day meeting between the clubs at The Scots School.

The main difference is on that occasion Pat’s continued to bat well into the second day, determined to give their younger players crucial minutes in the middle even if it risked a draw (which ended up being the result).

The experience from that game showed in crucial knocks from both Bailey Brien (61) and Ben Mitchell (91) last Saturday.

“Both teams batted really well last year for that draw,” Ryan said.

“Obviously we wanted to go for our runs more this time. It’s going to be a tight finish to this one.”

A win for St Pat’s Old Boys will give them their first undefeated regular season record against Rubgy Union since 2012-13.

Bulldogs currently sit just three points outside of the top four.