West 2 fixtures through the Autumn Test have been a bit sporadic, as have been our updates during this spell. Through November, we’ve only had 11 games played with no significant change at the top of the table.
The table is still led by Lenzie who have 11 wins from 11 games, followed by Uddingston and Oban Lorne. Both Uddy and Oban have a game in hand on Lenzie, but there’s a bit of a gap opening up between them.
This weekend Lenzie host Wigtownshire, who last weekend were involved in a close fought encounter with Strathaven, which Strathaven won 21-17.
When Shire and Lenzie met earlier in the season, it was a comfortable 40 points to 7 win for Lenzie, but Lenzie should not take this one lightly as Shire beat Oban only a couple of weeks ago. We’re going for a Lenzie win in the Predictor Challenge in this one.
Second-placed Uddy welcome sixth-placed Clydebank in what's the first competitive game for both since the start of November. League positions suggest a win for Uddy, but that’s what we thought when they met earlier in the season. We were proved wrong in that one and received an appropriate amount of grief as a result, but sorry Davie, we’re going for an Uddy win again this time around.
Saturday sees Oban welcome Helensburgh for their “derby” game. Helensburgh got off to a slow start to the season, but they now have three wins to their name. For a team down the bottom half of the table, their points difference isn’t too bad, suggesting they’re not losing by too many when they are losing - a small change of fortune could therefore make a big difference.
For Oban, November saw one win and one defeat, so this becomes a must win for them if they wish to maintain their title challenge. Home win for us.
Strathavens win at Wigtownshire on Saturday moved them up to fourth, ahead of both Clydebank and Wigtownshire. There looks to be little between the Clubs currently contesting this mid-table battle, with only 12 points splitting fourth to ninth.
Strathaven this week host 8th placed Paisley. Paisleys recent results have included a narrow win over Lomond, a draw against Millbrae and a loss away to Helensburgh, whilst in the same period Strathaven have picked up three wins. It should be close, but Strathaven have the feel of a team growing in confidence, so a home win for us.
We’ve had to go back to October to find Bishoptons last competitive game, where they had the misfortune of facing Lenzie and then Uddy in consecutive weeks – two heavy defeats in both these games. Despite this, they’re only five points behind Strathaven in fourth place. This weekend they host Loch Lomond, who are contesting the automatic relegation places, so on first looks, this should be a home win. However, Lomonds recent performances have picked up, a comfortable looking (though it sounds a bit fiery) win against Cumbernauld on Saturday, comes on top of victory over Clydebank at the end of October, whilst there were narrow defeats to Wigtownshire, Paisley and Strathaven.
A soft pitch at Holm Park will be right up the street for Lomonds pack, whilst the long rest Bishopton have faced will not be in their favour – we’re going for an away win in this one, though we’re not expecting a big scoreline.
In the final West 2 game of the weekend, we have the two bottom Clubs facing each other, with Cumbernauld visiting Millbrae. They’ve both played only 8 games, with one win apiece. Millbrae are scoring on average 16 points a game and Cumbernauld 10, so we can’t see this being a try-fest.
Recent scorelines probably suggest Millbrae are slight favourites, but as ever, it will be dependant upon how many players they have available – they’re still in negative points territory having suffered 12 points worth of penalties for non-fulfilments. We’ll go with a home win – but that’s as much down to home advantage than any other sort of analysis.
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