West League Update - West 1 - 02 April 2018

With Carrick playing their semi-final National Shield match, it was an opportunity for their nearest challengers for the West 1 championship and sole promotion spot to the National league to close the gap on the leaders.

West Results 31st March 2018

Both Glens and Garnock took full advantage with bonus points wins: Glens winning 45-7 at home against Kilmarnock, and Garnock on the road at Annan 62 nil.

* League table since revised, see footnote.
After this weekends games, each of the title challengers have played 16 games so have six remaining. Carrick are in the driving seat being 7 points ahead of Glens in second, but their remaining games include East Kilbride and Glens away, whilst they have Oban to visit this weekend who are battling to avoid a dreaded 11th place finish. So a few hurdles still to overcome.

In addition to Carrick, Glens also have East Kilbride to play away, whilst Garnock have East Kilbride away this weekend.

Garnock might look to have the "easier" run in, but they’re coming from a point further behind, whilst also having to face the three Clubs battling to avoid that second relegation spot (Cambuslang, Oban and Irvine), so don’t expect "easy" games here.

As with each of the West leagues, it’s a great battle but West 1 has the added spice of only one promotion spot, so it’s winner takes all.

If Carrick continue to win, it’s their title, but lose a couple of games and it’s game on with Glens and Garnock.  And for those who like long odds, I wonder what price you'd get on a combination of results that would give the title to East Kilbride - mathematically, they can still win the title.

In the relegation battle, Helensburgh lost 64-15 on their trip to Oban, and now find themselves 17 points behind 11th spot.  This was a crucial win for Oban, as both Irvine and Cambuslang (ref cam footage) lost with neither picking up a bonus point, meaning that Oban are now five points behind Irvine (with two games in hand) and six behind Cambuslang (and three games in hand).

Cambuslang have no game this weekend, so Irvine and Oban have the chance to close the gap.  However, with games against Allan Glens and Carrick, we’re not expecting either to win, but bonus points could be crucial come the end of the season, so any points will be welcome.

In National 3, Dalziel lost again and now find themselves at the foot of the table as their two main rivals picked up points.  Relegation for Dalziel will mean two down from West 1 (unless there’s some sort of restructuring in the West leagues to balance the numbers and fix this seasons fixture pileup).

West 2 Update
West 3 Update

Footnote:
The SRU website is showing updates to the West 1 league table on 5th April.
Cambuslang are now two points better off, which moves them to 8 points ahead of Oban.

Edits:
05/04/18 - Footnote added re Cambuslang points amendment.
06/04/18 - Link to refcam footage added (Stewartry v Cambuslang)