Three semi-finals on Saturday across the two competitions gives us the line-up for finals day on 7th December.
The Shield final is to be contested between Allan Glens and East Kilbride who had victories over Cambuslang and Strathaven respectively, whilst Glasgow Uni Medics join Lochaber in the Bowl final with a victory over Birkmyre.
West 1:
It was a chilly, breezy day at Bellsland on Saturday, so perhaps not too big a surprise that it was a scrappy affair, but a home win for Kilmarnock against Annan sees them move onto the same points as Glens at the top of the table.A couple of tries for Kilmarnock in the first half gave them the lead at half-time, but two quick fire tries not long after the restart for Annan, meant Kilmarnock were then chasing the game. This didn't seem to put Kilmarnock off their stride too much and they came back to claim the win as well as the try bonus. In addition, some strong defence in the closing minutes also prevented Annan from picking up a lose bonus point.
The results means both Glens and Kilmarnock are on 30 points, though Glens do have a couple of games in hand.
A home win for Stewartry against Irvine keeps them in third place, 6 points behind the leaders, whilst Lenzie had a tight win away at Strathendrick to move them into fourth place ahead of East Kilbride.The lose bonus points for Endrick and Annan are important for both in the relegation battle, but equally it should give them confidence coming into this weekends fixtures that they are not too far off the pace. Crucially, they face each other this Saturday.
There's a couple of big games coming up this weekend in the Championship battle, where we have a choice about what will be game of the day - Glens v Garnock or Stewartry v Kilmarnock. The Championship table could look very different at 4pm on Saturday afternoon.
East Kilbride, like Garnock, have lost only one league game this season, so they'll be looking for a win when they welcome Cambuslang to keep their title hopes alive.
In the final game we have fourth place Lenzie hosting bottom side Irvine. The league table suggests a home win, but Irvine will look at how close Endrick ran Lenzie at the weekend, and perhaps feel they can get something out of the game.
West 2:
With Strathaven playing in the Shield semi-final, it was an opportunity for the chasing pack to the close the gap on the league leaders, and they each duly obliged.
There were wins each for Cumnock, Dalziel, Oban Lorne and Paisley, but perhaps crucially, both Cumnock and Paisley miss out on try bonus points.These results mean there are only 7 points between first place and fifth, so there's lot's to play for. But gut feel suggests it's between Dalziel (who are are still unbeaten), whilst Strathaven and Oban have only lost one game a piece.
This weekends big game sees Dalziel hosting Oban - which looks like being an absolute cracker.
As we've seen, it's tight at the top, but it's also tight at the bottom of the table. Uddy are struggling this season and well off the pace, but the likes of Clydebank, WD, Wigtownshire and Helensburgh need to keep an eye on National 3. Carrick are bottom with West only four points off the drop zone - two down to regional league certainly changes the dynamics of our own relegation battle.
As a results, WD will be disappointed to pick up only a lose bonus point in their game against Paisley on Saturday. The Coatbridge side were leading for a big chunk of this one, and a win would have given them a bit of breathing space at the foot of the table. This should give them a bit of extra motivation for this weekend, when they travel to Uddingston.
Wigtownshire also picked up a lose bonus point when they gave Cumnock a bit of scare. It was a tight one, with one try each, but Shire lost out 13-19. The single point moves them ahead of Helensburgh.
West 3:
There may have been a few tight scorelines in West 1 and 2, but they all went pretty much as expected according to the Predictor Challenge, however things were just a little different in West 3 where three of the four games went against the Predictor entrants.We'll start with the one the Predictor got right. Loch Lomond had a comfortable win against Shawlands, which puts them ahead of Lochaber at the top of the table - Lomond are six wins from six.
Mulls win at Cumbernauld moves them to the top of Conference 2. The Predictor had Cumbernauld as firm favourites, and with only 14 in the travelling party, it was probably also a bit of an unexpected result for Mull as well.
Our Predictor entrants also went strongly for Cowal in their home game against Lanark, but it was Lanark who took the victory, 48-14.
Lomond and Lochaber have a bit of clear ground at the top of Conference 1, but Conference 2 is much closer. Mull are top on 30 points, with Uni Medics and Birkmyre four points behind, though Uni Medics do have a game in hand.
Bishopton are another 6 points behind in fourth, so not out of the competition for a play-off place.
This weekend we have a couple of crackers - the top two in Conference 1 face each and the top two of Conference 2 face each other - that should certainly make it an interesting Saturday on the field as well as in the Predictor.
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