What started off looking like being a great month of rugby, February has turned into a bit of a disaster with only three West 1 games played.
Of the games played, Kilmarnock have lost two, including at home Stewartry. This meant these two swap places, with Stewartry now setting the pace in the West 1 Championship battle.
Both only have three games remaining - three bonus point wins, and Stewartry will end on 70 points, but with only 6 bonus points from 15 games to date, this looks ambitious. With three bonus point wins, the highest points tally Kilmarnock can reach is 67, but there is much more to the Championship battle than the top 2.
Glens are four points behind Stewartry, but have six games remaining. A quick glance at the table might suggest that both Garnock and East Kilbride are out of the battle, but this would be a premature assumption.
Glens remaining games include Championship contenders Garnock, Kilmarnock and East Kilbride, as well as Irvine (who have beaten both Kilmarnock and Lenzie this month, helping them to move them 8 points clear of the relegation zone). Six wins for Glens would put them on at least 75 points, which would be an unassailable lead - but with that list of games remaining, would anyone confidently predict 6 wins.
Garnock host Glens on Saturday, where a home bonus point win, followed up with bonus point wins in their remainig games means they to could finish on 75 points.
East Kilbride still have nine games remaining, win each of these and they could finish on 74 points.
These five are all very much in the Championship challenge, and this weekend we have four of them in action.
Leaders Stewartry travel to bottom Club Cambuslang, who are one point behind Strathendrick. Garnock host Glens, whilst East Kilbride welcome Lenzie.
For the Predictor Challenge, we're going with Stewartry against Cambuslang, but the other two matches are harder to select.
When they met earlier in the season, Garnock won 20 - 16 against Glens. They've both lost two games a piece - but Glens have the superior points difference and more bonus points. It'll be a close one, so we're going with home advantage.
East Kilbride v Lenzie, is a 6th v 5th contest. Lenzie only have four games remaining, so are out of the Championship battle, but their remaining games are East Kilbride this week, Stewartry next week, Kilmarnock the week after that and then they finish off the following week with Garnock - they might not be able to win the Championship, but they could have a big say in who does.
It's another close one - so again we're going with home advantage.
The weekends other West 1 game involves relegation contenders Strathendrick who host Annan - both have lost 9 games but Endrick have the better points difference - we're going with a home win.
West 2:
In West 2, we've had four games played in February, with a crucial one in the Championship battle between Dalziel and Strathaven being won by Dalziel 21-19 (the victory coming in the last play of the game).Strathaven are top on 58 points, 9 ahead of Cumnock, whilst Dalziel are another 6 points behind, but Dalziel have four games in hand.
Three games left for Strathaven, and bonus point wins in each of these will mean they finish on 73 points. If Dalziel win their remaining seven games (without any bonus points), they're on 71 points, so if they can pick up three bonus points with those wins then they take the title.
But wins cannot be guaranteed as, for a start, they both have Oban to play - Strathaven have them at home and Dalziel have the trip to Glencruitten to make.
Now if Strathaven win their remaining games with bonus points, and Dalziel do likewise, except lose at Oban (with no bonus point), then they both finish on 73 points and we're down to points difference - which is currently favouring Strathaven.
But of course, if they were both to lose a few games, then Cumnock will be waiting in the wings to steal the limelight - three games remaining, and they can finish on 64 points (but they also have Oban still to play).
First impressions would be a win for Strathaven, but hold on a minute, what was the result in the first game of the season - Clydebank won at Strathaven 21-20, so we certainly can't say it's a guaranteed win for the league leaders this Saturday. We'll still go with a Strathaven win for the Predictor Challenge, but we wonder if the bonus point will be picked up.
Oban have refound some form since the Christmas break with wins over Strathaven, Cumnock and Paisley, so we're going with them for their contest against Cumnock, and we're also going for a win for Dalziel - but this is another one where we need to pay attention to what has already happened this season, as Shire picked up the win when Dalziel visited on 18th January.
This weekends other West 2 game has Helensburgh visiting Paisley. Helensburgh are 7 points ahead of Uddingston in the relegation spot, but the two are scheduled to meet each other on 4th April, where a bonus point win for Uddy would potentially close that gap to two points. Like the title battle, the relegation contest still has some way to go.
We'll go with a Paisley win, but realise that Burgh will be highly motivated.
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