West Region Rugby - Scotland: West 2 Update

Congratulations to Lenzie for winning the West 2 Championship on Saturday with the required bonus point win at Strathaven. They made hard work of it mind you, going down a try and conversion before adding a couple of penalties of their own. It just felt like the pressure of Lenzie needing the bonus point was getting to both teams, as things got a bit scrappy; so much so we managed to have three yellow cards in the first half. Lenzie did manage three penalties, a try and a penalty try in the first 40 minutes, giving them 23-7 lead.

West Results - 23rd February 2019

Lenzie were the stronger of the two teams, but Strathaven certainly weren't for lying down and letting them take the title on their patch and battled well, but Lenzies strength showed in the end with them adding a further three tries, with the bonus point try being met with hearty celebrations on the touch line.

With 16 wins from 16, Lenzie are deserved title winners, having scored over 600 points and conceding only 110.

Strathavens loss gave Uddingston the chance to move back into third spot when they visited Auchenkilns to take on struggling Cumbernauld. Uddy won against Cumbie last week, but at 21-17 it was probably tighter than they were expecting. The Predictor Odds went with Uddy, but Cumbernauld had other thoughts and picked up only their second win of the season with a 27-12 result.

The Club Meeting to agree the league structure for next season is due to take place 6th March, and if Clubs go for leagues of 12 for another season, then we will probably have another promotion spot up for grabs. If that second promotion spot does become active, then Oban are probably favourites, with both Strathaven and Uddingston losing at the weekend.

Oban only have three games remaining, and need a couple of bonus point wins to guarantee second position, and fortunately for them, their remaining games are all at home.

In a mid table battle that probably has little to do with anything other than pride, Paisley hosted Clydebank on Saturday. Paisley have been on a bit of a run recently having won 6 and drawn one of their last seven outings, but we had anticipated this would be a close contest, however a 35-10 home victory makes things look a bit onesided. This result means that Paisley move ahead of Clydebank.

The other West 2 game to be played (Lomond v Wigtownshire was off due to a waterlogged pitch) saw Bishopton hosting Helensburgh. These are two Clubs battling it out at the bottom of the table, so any wins valuable, whilst a win against a relegation contender is probably worth twice as much. This was low scoring and tight, with Helensburgh taking it 8 points to 6, but the lose bonus point for Bishopton could be vital.

Getting back to next seasons league structure, things are a little more complicated at the foot of the table. If we stick with leagues of 12, then we'll probably only have one down (Millbrae already out of the league), though if Hillhead Jordanhill don't get relegated from National 3, then perhaps there will be no further Clubs down. But if it's leagues of 10, then it could be three (or four if Hillhead Jordanhill are relegated) down to West 3. If it's four down, there's going to be big pressure on several Clubs to pick up a couple of wins.

Cumbernauld initially look doomed to relegation, but with eight games remaining (five against possible relegation contenders), a couple of wins would certainly stir things up a bit. This weekend, Shire, Helensburgh and Lomond are playing the three Clubs chasing a possible second promotion spot, whilst Bishopton and Cumbernauld are due to face each other.

There's potentially lots still to play for at the foot of the table, and by next week we'll be much clearer on the mechanics of the run-in.

In the Predictor Challenge for this weekend we're going for wins for the three teams chasing second spot - Oban, Strathaven and Uddingston, whilst in the other two games we have two contests which could go either way.

Clydebank v Paisley is the return leg of last weekends game which Paisley look to have won reasonably comfortably. Guessing this week will be closer, and are tempted to go for Clydebank, but Paisley have the momentum so will go with them.

Cumbernauld v Bishopton is 11th v 9th. Bishopton are having a horrible run of results, nine without a win by the looks of things, so they'll be more than a little keen to get back to winning ways. Cumbernauld have been struggling to score points and win games all season, but crucially they won against Uddingston on Saturday, having run them close the previous week. Their last two weeks results suggests Cumbernauld have found a bit of form, so we're going with Cumbie, but it's likely to be close.