Lenzie had the league sewn up a few weeks ago, so Saturday was a bonus celebration day as they were officially presented with the title. Their guests were Wigtownshire who are fighting their own battle down at the foot of the table, so they weren't going to give Lenzie an easy day.
Lenzie duly delivered their 17th league win of the season (out of 17) with a 45-7 victory. With three games remaining, it's looking like an unbeaten league campaign could be on the cards.
Bishopton took full advantage of Shires failure to pick up any points by gaining a bonus point victory against Cumbernauld. Bish have been struggling of late, with no wins since October, so it was a crucial game for them, as a defeat would have dropped them behind Cumbernauld into 10th spot. The win, however moves them to within two points of Shire. The 10 league restructure mean Bish are still in the relegation spot, so this weekends game against Wigtownshire is another biggie for them.
Their win moves Bishopton 6 points ahead of Cumbernauld, but Cumbernauld do have three more games to play than Bish. Cumbernauld will be disappointed by the result, but they'll need to quickly refocus on their final four games and catching whoever is in eighth place, currently Wigtownshire.
It's tight in the relegation battle as both Shire and Helensburgh are still in the mix, though they would need quite a combination of results to go against them for either to drop to West 3.
Helensburgh lost to Uddingston on Saturday, so to be safe they probably need at least one win, and if that comes this Saturday against Cumbernauld, then that might be enough. However, lose to Cumbernauld and things could get a bit worrying as their two remaining games are awkward encounters against Strathaven.
Lomond are idle for another couple of weeks, but they'll be keeping a keen eye on results are they are only 9 points behind Shire, with three games remaining, so if results go their way, they could still be playing West 2 rugby season.
Hillhead Jordanhills win against Orkney at the weekend means there is no West Club coming down from National 3 this season. Therefore, we have one less relegation place to worry about across the West Region leagues. But with Clubs agreeing to restructure to leagues of 10 next season, we still have three relegation slots to fill in West 2. Currently we have five Clubs fighting to avoid those places. The Championship title race may be over, but the relegation battle will keep things interesting for another few weeks.
In last weekends other games, Strathaven had a big 69-15 win over Clydebank, and Oban won 69-5 against Paisley in their final game of the season. These four Clubs, along with Uddy, will be looking at the next seasons league campaign with a great deal of confidence and planning for a decent summer so they can launch a crack at the title.
This weekend Clydebank host Lenzie (Friday night, 7.15 kick-off), where we're going for Lenzie to make it 18 wins out of 18. Bishopton host Wigtownshire which is a must win for both. There's not a lot between them, but we're going for a home win as Bish have a few players back from injury. Helensburgh host Cumbernauld, again a must win for both. Both lost on Saturday, but we don't need to go that far back to find the pair picking up decent wins against Clubs higher up the league. We'll go with home advantage, but this one could go either way.
In our final game, it's Uddy v Paisley which has the makings of another close one - so again, we'll go with home advantage being the difference.
Media Gallery:
Lenzie v WigtownshireBishopton v Cumbernauld
See also:
Predictor Challenge - 23rd March 2019West 1 Update - 25th March 2019
West 3 Update - 27th March 2019
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