Canterbury Rugby Club’s season reaches a pivotal stage on Saturday when they entertain probably the one side capable of denying them the title.

With 13 wins out of 13 in National League 3 South and South East, leaders Canterbury are nine points clear of second-placed Tonbridge Juddians and victory at Merton Lane would send them into the mid-season break in a near unassailable position.

A crowd of around 400 to 500 is expected – around twice Canterbury’s average – and chairman Giles Hilton (pictured) says no-one at Merton Lane needs reminding of the game’s significance.

To add to the intrigue, TJs’ coaching duo Peter Dankert and Benn Smith were both previously at Canterbury, while the visitors are also likely to field several former Merton Lane favourites, including Pat Sykes, Jimmy Stanford and Carl Ambrose.

Mr Hilton said: "Saturday is a big day but the pressure is more on them. If Judds were to lose and Dorking and Tring, the two teams behind them, make up ground by four or five points, they could probably only afford one more slip-up.

"We, on the other hand, have quite a big lead over the teams in third and fourth.

"It’s in our hands and for the boys to have got this far still unbeaten speaks volumes of their determination."

Judds will arrive at Merton Lane having lost twice in the league this season – the first of those was a 32-10 defeat to Canterbury on the second Saturday of the season.

Mr Hilton added: "They will be a tougher nut to crack than they were earlier in the season because they were new to the league and what I remember about when we first came up was that we took three to four games to find our feet."