Thursday, 21 March 2019

West 2 Update - 20th March 2019


The title and sole promotion spot in West 2 was decided a couple of weeks ago with Lenzies win at Strathaven.  However, they're still on for the "Grand Slam", having won 16 from 16.  Meanwhile, at the foot of the table, there's still plenty of action to come.



With Clubs agreeing to leagues of 10 for next season, there will be three relegated down to West 3 at the end of this season, and currently that's Bishopton, Cumbernauld and Loch Lomond.



At the weekend there were only two games completed and they both have an impact on the relegation battle.  Oban had a big home win against Bishopton (58-5), whilst Cumbernauld won away at Clydebank (24-10).  The bonus point win for Cumbie moves them ahead of Lomond, and are now only 1 point behind Bish.

Bishopton in ninth, are seven points behind Wigtownshire in 8th, but Bish only have two games remaining, so if they lose on Saturday, they'll be playing West 3 rugby next season.

Cumbernauld have struggled for most of the season, but with three wins in their last four games, they've managed to get themselves into a position where they could still be playing West 2 next season.  They're 8 points behind Shire, and both have five games remaining.

Lomond are 9 behind Shire and have three games remaining, but don't play again until 13th April.

To keep things really interesting, the way the fixtures have fallen we find that the four relegation contenders have several games to come against each other.


There's a wee proviso here - if Hillhead Jordahill get relegated from National 3, we'll be looking at four Clubs down, which then pulls Helensburgh into the battle as they're only three points ahead of Wigtownshire.

This weekend we have Cumbernauld visiting Bishopton.  It's a must win for the two of them, but more immediately for Bishopton, as a loss means they're relegated.  Bishopton had a decent start to the season, but we have to look back to 13th October to find their last league win.  When the two  met at the start of the month, it was Cumbie who won 27-8.  The stats are in Cumbernaulds, but as we say, this is a must win for both Clubs, so there will be plenty of tension - we'll go an away win, but it could be tight.

Wigtownshire have to travel to Lenzie this Saturday for what will be a difficult challenge.  We're going with Lenzie continuing their progress towards an unbeaten league season, but Shire shouldn't be too concerned about this as they have some more important games to come; Bishopton next week and Cumbernauld the week after.

Helensburgh have an away game at Uddingston which leagues positions suggest should be a home win, but Uddy have struggled since the Christmas break, including a loss to Cumbernauld and a big 41-5 defeat at Helensburgh.  Uddy look to have taken their foot of the gas since their hopes of the league title disappeared, whereas Helensburgh have used the threat of relegation as motivation - therefore we're going for Burgh to win this one.

The relegation battle has plenty of life left in it, and will probably take several more weeks to sort out.

This weekends other two games sees Oban host Paisley and Strathaven host Clydebank.

The second half of the season has seen Paisley regain some of their form from last season, which has seen them move well clear of the relegation battle and are now only three points behind Uddy and four behind Clydebank.  We'll go for the win for Oban, but Paisley aren't to be taken lightly.

There's not much between Strathaven and Clydebank (it's 3rd v 4th), though Strathaven are scoring more points and conceding fewer.  We'll go with home advantage, but there's not much for either to play for, so it could go either way.

West 2 Updates:


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