Rugby: Douglas and Vagabonds to begin new league seasons

Douglas on the road at Waterloo with 'Vagas' to welcome Ormskirk

Two of the Isle of Man's rugby union sides will begin their respective new league campaigns this weekend.

After both enjoying positive seasons in 2023/24, Douglas and Vagabonds are returning to action on Saturday in the Regional 2 North West and Counties 3 ADM Lancs/Cheshire respectively.

For Douglas - who finished comfortably clear of the foot of the table last season - come up against one of the frontrunners in the division from 23/24 in the form of Firwood Waterloo.

The Merseyside hosts finished second in the table last season winning 16 of their 22 clashes with their tally of 80 points nearly double that of Douglas down in tenth (41).

It's a case of deja vu for both teams as this fixture was also the curtain-raiser for both sides in the previous campaign - in a close-fought affair it was Waterloo who managed a narrow 8-6 victory.

Douglas head coach Phil Cringle says they're well aware of the challenges Waterloo could pose but is equally optimistic his side can create opportunities of their own

A largely familiar 18-man squad will make the journey to Blundellsands on Saturday with a couple of new signings set to make their competitive debuts for the club in Namibian international Gihard Visagie and Englishman Harry Cartwright along with two local additions in the form of Will Taylor and Mark Oldfield from Vagabonds.

A new challenge for Vagabonds

Report by Dave Christian:

A new season and a new league begins for Vagabonds this Saturday at Ballafletcher with the visit of Ormskirk for the opening round in Counties 3 ADM Lancashire & Cheshire.

Vagas were at the top end of Division 4 last season and when there were insufficient entries at that level, the remaining teams were dropped into Division 3 and after some chopping and changing to remove geographical anomalies, Vagas have some familiar teams and some less familiar teams to meet.

Ormskirk are probably a bit of both - the two have met 16 times over the years with Ormskirk ahead on stats ten wins to five with one draw. 

They haven’t however met since 2015 and with the way teams changed, especially pre and post-covid, previous stats are really just numbers.

Vagas have lost a couple of players over the summer - Will Taylor and Mark Oldfield both transferred to Douglas and with no new signings of note, they may well struggle. 

Another missing from last season is of course Ross Pulman who has just had leg surgery - losing two arch scavengers like Pulman and Oldfield is likely to be a setback in the forwards. The backline however looks pretty much unscathed and should fare okay.

Most of the teams in Counties 3 were at a similar level last season so this is going to be a step up for Vagas - Ormskirk finished 12th though and won’t be too far away on paper and could be the team to give Vagas a dream start.

Fixtures (7-9-24)

Regional 2 North West

Firwood Waterloo v Douglas @ Waterloo (1pm KO)

Counties 3 ADM Lancashire Cheshire

Vagabonds v Ormskirk @ Ballafletcher (1pm KO)