There's been plenty of talk about the Lions, pro rugby and now some meanderings about a Super6 semi-pro league (not exactly sure how this differs from the Premiership apart from the number of teams), but that's only idle chit chat before the main event - competitive grassroots rugby is back.
This season see's 12 team leagues for West 1 & 2, so fingers crossed we get a decent winter, else we'll be playing to the end of May.
The number of games that have already been called off in the Cup competitions is a bit of a worry, and to add to these woes we see there's a game off in West 2 for this weekend.
Unfortuantely we've lost the rights to Paul the Octopus for this season, so we've dusted down the crystal ball and here's the results as foretold:
West 1:
Greenock were well beaten by West 2 Cumnock in the Shield, whilst Cambuslang don't appear to have taken part in the competition, so not sure if that's an indication of issues with putting a team on the field. We're going with Cambuslang, and if we're right, then it looks like another long slog for Greenock.
Stewartry failed to field a team in the Shield whilst Carrick look like carrying on from last season (having already scored over 100 points this season), so a comfortable away win.
East Kilbride failed to field a team in the Shield, whilst Helensburgh have had a win and a loss in the Shield. EK looking to field two teams this weekend, but we'll need to keep an eye on the numbers available for the 1s. Will go home win.
Oban failed to field a team in the Shield whilst Garnock beat Helensburgh. Oban struggled a bit last season, so we're going for a Garnock win as they already have a competitive win under their belts.
Annan had a comfortable win against Irvine in the Shield, whilst Kilmarnock had no game as WD couldn't field a team. They were close last season, so will go home win.
Allan Glens lost out to Carrick in the Shield, whilst Irvine beat Strathaven before losing to Annan. There were big investment plans at Irvine last season, but don't know if these have come to fruition. Will go home win.
Our pick for promotion this season is Carrick. East Kilbride have the potential to be challenging, but withdrawing from the Shield might suggest issues with depth of squad.
West 2:
According to SRU website, Uddingston v Millbrae is off. Uddingston 2s have a game, so looks like Millbrae unable to field a team.
Paisley had a good win against Lenzie last week in the Shield, whilst Birkmyre were well beaten by Uddingston. Will go comfortable home win.
Strathaven lost to Irvine in the Shield, whilst Clydebank scraped a win against Loch Lomond. Expect this to be tight, but we're going away win.
Lenzie lost out to Paisley in the Shield whilst Loch Lomond lost in the closing stages to Clydebank. Again, probably going to be close, so again, go with home advantage.
Cumnock had a good win against Greenock in the Shield, whilst Strathendrick suffered against Carrick. Endrick looked good last season in winning West 3 - will go away win.
Cumbernauld lost to Helensburgh in the Shield, whilst Waysiders failed to field a team against Kilmarnock. Both teams struggled last season, and it could be more of the same this season. Will be close, so will go with home advantage.
We expect this league to be much tighter than West 1. Uddingston and Strathendrick played a good style of rugby last season in West 3 and we won't be surprised for both to be in the mix again this season. Paisley and Clydebank were comfortable runners up in West 2 last season, so we're expecting promotion to be between these four - if we have to pick one of them, we'd go with Paisley.
West 3:
This seasons West 3 is made up of the bottom four of last seasons 3, West 4 and Lochaber switching from the Calie leagues. Last season, West 4 saw numerous call offs as Clubs struggled to field teams for away journeys, so the increased travel this season probably isn't going to help.
Moffat struggled in West 3 last season, so a first outing of a 4 hour bus journey to Fort William might limit who's available to play. Will go home win for Lochaber.
Both Bishopton and Hyndland struggled in their respective leagues last season, so we're not expecting any fireworks. Hyndland lost to Police Scotland in the Bowl last week. Will go home win.
Police Scotland - Glasgow won against Hyndland last week. Glasgow Uni Medics were the strongest team in West 4 last season, but they had a number of non-fulfillments. If it's not too early in the season for the students to be back from their holidays, it will probably be an away win.
Lanark were close to winning West 4 last season, whilst Cowal struggled and then withdrew. Will go home win.
Shawlands v Isle of Mull - Last season there wasn't much between these two in West 4. It'll probably be close, so we'll go with home advantage being the deciding factor.
Winners for this league might come down to who can get a team to consistently travel. Lanark and Uni-Medics were the pick of the pack last season, so we'll go with these two competing at the top again, with Lanark being the eventual winners.
