West 4 - Mid-season Report

Half way through the season, and we find Glasgow University Medics top of West 4 - unbeaten in seven games, averaging nearly 40 points a game at 265, whilst conceding 121. 

The Uni boys are five points ahead of Isle of Mull.  Mull though have played two games more and only have five leagues games of their campaign left, so have little room for mistakes.  It probably means the nearest rivals to the Uni are Lanark, who are currently third - 10 points behind - but they've got a game in hand.  Lanarks only league defeat has been on their visit to the Uni, but they have an impressive defensive record (63 conceded in 6 games - with 36 of those against the Uni).

The second half of the season kicks off this weekend, and interestingly we have the Uni boys traveling to Mull in a 2nd v 1st encounter, with Lanark making the journey to Shawlands in a 4th v 3rd contest.

Wins for Mull and Lanark would see a nice little competition building in the league, and as ever, bonus points will be crucial, so keeping up the try count will be important.

There's been quite a bit of disruption in the league with often a couple of teams not having a game, as both Glasgow Alphas and Glasgow East withdrew early on.  The problem has been further compounded as Clydesdale have only managed to fulfill three games.

Non-fulfillment of fixtures is a growing issue across the country, and will no doubt be one of the big talking points in the Review Group being set-up by Murrayfield to identify the appropriate way to move the community/league/semi-pro game forward.

We're seeing big numbers of games not being fulfilled in senior male leagues across the country, as well as at youth and school levels (despite all the positive spin).

The various Championship Committees appear to be taking different approaches to how non-fulfilled games are managed. 

The approach taken with Clydesdale is that no points have been deducted, but if we look at the West Reserve leagues, we see games being awarded, whilst in National Leagues, points are deducted. 

The West Region Championship Committee has seen a number of changes this season, so perhaps a new, more understanding approach is being adopted to the Clubs struggling to get teams on the pitch, but some sort of consistency of approach across the game would be useful.