If we were to go by the Predictor odds, there was only one close contest in West 1 on Saturday and that would be at Stewartry where Kilmarnock were the visitors. The Predictor showed that the majority of us (and by some margin) expected the top 3 Clubs to win their games – 87% for Glens, 96% for Greenock and 86% for EK.
Well, guess what, the unexpected nature of sport struck again as league leaders East Kilbride lost out on their travels to Irvine. Following the scores on Twitter, Irvine were leading 16-10 at half-time, but a couple of early tries got EK into the lead so surely that would be enough to prove the 86% correct. But Irvine weren’t having any of that, replying with a try of their own as well as a couple of three-pointers, with the winning kick looking to have come pretty close to the final whistle (you can see more via RefCam).
This is now their second defeat of the season, which drops East Kilbride down to third spot – their two defeats have at least yielded them lose bonus points, which means they are only two behind Greenock and Glens who are joint leaders.
Both Greenock & Glens had big wins, Greenock 74-6 at home against Strathendrick, and Glens 76-16 at home against Annan. The Glens result is impressive as Annan were fourth prior to the game and had been running a pretty tight ship defensively, conceding only 143 points in 7 games.
Unlike EK, Annan aren’t picking up as many bonus points so now find themselves 8 points off the pace in fifth place. Annan will need to pick up a win this weekend to keep themselves in the hunt, but they’re away at Irvine who have lost only once at home so far this season. As EK found out on Saturday, this is no gimme. We’re going for an away win as Annan now know not to take this fixture lightly.
This weekend's big game though will be at Torrance House where East Kilbride host leaders Greenock. Who knows how this one is going to go. In the past few weeks, Greenock have had a couple of big wins, but they have also lost to Garnock and drawn with Kilmarnock, whilst EK lost to Irvine at the weekend and were run close by Cumnock.
Both defences are pretty tight, but Greenock are scoring far more. We’re expecting it to be tight, so would normally go with home advantage being the deciding factor, but Greenock just seems to be a bit more clinical. We’re going to go against our rule and are opting for an away win.
Glens this week make the trip to Kilmarnock, who over the past month have picked up a couple of wins in addition to their draw against Greenock. They did however lose 50-27 at Stewartry on Saturday, which means these two swap places in 8th & 9th. Glens will be favourites for this tie, but Kilmarnock's result against Greenock shows what they’re capable of.
Garnock moved up to fourth place with a 46-13 win away at Cumnock which leaves them only four points from top. They have a tricky tie against Cambuslang on Saturday, but Garnock should have enough to take the win. However, despite being behind for long periods on Saturday against Dalziel, Cambuslang showed plenty of bottle and fight to come back and claim a bonus point win. If this is close going into the last 20 minutes, Garnock could be in for a shock.
Following their home win against in-form Kilmarnock, Stewartry make the trip to Motherwell to play Dalziel. They’ll be looking to build on the weekends' result, which could see them move ahead of Irvine. However, for 30 minutes on Saturday, Dalziel were the dominant team and should probably have been further ahead at half-time than they were. Both Dalziel and Cambuslang created far more chances than the 28-20 scoreline suggests, so if they can convert a few more of their opportunities, they will cause more problem for opposition teams. If both Dalziel and Cambuslang can find a more clinical edge, we could be in for a couple of shocks.
In the final game this weekend, we have 11th place Strathendrick hosting 10th place Cumnock. They’ve got a couple of wins apiece, but like Dalziel, they’re just not scoring enough, averaging under 20 points a game. They both suffered heavy defeats at the weekend, but have both run East Kilbride close in the not too distant past. We’ll go with home advantage on this one, but it should be close.
With only four points between the top 4, bonus points are looking increasingly important as we don’t get the feeling anyone’s going to run away with the league, as all the teams look capable of taking points off one another. An unexpected result (and we’ve had a few of these already this season), or missing out on bonus points will make a big difference to both the top and bottom of the table.
Submit your entry to this weeks Predictor Challenge here.
Refcam video - Irvine v East Kilbride
West League Update - 29th October 2018
West 2
West 3
See also:
Fixtures - 3rd November 2018
West 2 Update - 23rd October 2018
West League Update - 29th October 2018
West 2
West 3
See also:
Fixtures - 3rd November 2018
West 2 Update - 23rd October 2018
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