Rugby: Vagabonds Ladies to begin new season at Leigh

'Vagas' men host early league leaders whilst Douglas head to Eccles

Report by Dave Christian:

Vagas Ladies finally get their show on the road this Saturday with a trip to Leigh in the newly and rather confusingly-named Womens NC2 North (South) League. 

Leigh however are old friends and the sides have met fourteen times over the years with Vagas ahead on stats 7-5 on wins, this however is a new season and neither side have yet played so there’s no current form at all to go on.

After a challenging season last year Vagas look to be coming back stronger and have worked very hard over the close season to get themselves ready. 

A new captaincy team of Leona McGovern and Becka Hicks will lead the squad and they also welcome back Lauren Ellison from a maternity break. 

There’ll be a debut in the front row from Lois Mooney but the usual suspects will also be there - Maylnn Campbell was hugely impressive last season and in the back line Bliss Murtagh and Holly Scott will be hoping to benefit from Ellison’s experience inside them.

Vagas won both games against Leigh in the 22-23 season and will be hoping for a repeat at the beginning of this one.

Douglas looking for points at Eccles

Douglas hit the road this Saturday heading for Eccles in Regional 2 North West. Both have lost their opening two games and will be looking for improvement.

Douglas performed well last Saturday and led at half time, they let the game slip away in the second half though and could’ve won it with the last kick of the game. 

Phil Cringle makes five changes to his team with Simon Hoddinott, Wilf Kermode, Bryn Snellgrove, Alex Duncan and Shay Waterworth all returning.

Dropping out this time are Cringle himself along with Craig McGee, Josh Duncan, Luca Simmons and Conor Garland.

This could be Douglas’ chance to seize some initiative.

Vagabonds host early league leaders

After a sluggish start to the season Vagabonds go into round three of matches in Counties 3 ADM Lancs/Cheshire and face the early front runners at Ballafletcher. 

Garstang are two from two and the only team in the standings to have claimed maximum points in their two openers. 

Vagas by contrast have lost both of theirs but had engineered good half time positions before running out of luck in the second half. 

Garstang have also racked up 125 points in their two games which suggests they could be very dangerous - the two sides have met twice previously back in the 2022/23 season and Garstang won both of these which probably makes them favourites for this weekend.

Vagas at home will however be difficult to crack - their set piece scrummage has been solid and will always win them ball. 

Skipper Daniel Bonwick in the ten jersey leads from the front; Cam Findlay is a proven goal kicker and there’s plenty of penetration in the back line. 

That said, Garstang’s record is impressive and on paper they should take the points.

Manx Shield kicks off

The domestic season gets going this Saturday too and the opening game should be a belter with champions Ramsey travelling to Ballakilley Park to take on runners-up PDMS Southern Nomads. 

The post-covid domestic rugby landscape is a poor sight at the moment and the falling away of second teams at Ramsey, Southern Nomads, Douglas and Vagabonds has left the Shield a three-way competition with Western Vikings coming in as the third. 

All three clubs are augmenting their meagre fixtures lists with ventures into the various Cheshire County competitions which are on offer.

Historic stats for the game don’t make good reading for Nomads with Ramsey winning their last twenty games. 

The dearth of matches may however even things up although Ramsey did beat Prenton in a Cheshire game at the end of August.

Finn McGregor leads the men in green this season with Ramsey’s Matt Meechan re-elected in a vote of confidence over the summer. 

I suspect the pace and guile from the Ramsey back line may be too much for Nomads but with no current form to judge, its anyone’s guess how this may turn out.

**

Fixtures 21 September 2024

Regional 2 North West

Eccles v Douglas @ Eccles (2pm KO)

Counties 3 ADM Lancs/Cheshire

Vagabonds v Garstang @ Ballafletcher (1pm KO)

Womens NC2 North (South)

Leigh v Vagabonds @ Leigh (KO TBC)

Manx Shield

PDMS Southern Nolmads v Ramsey @ Ballakilley Park (2.15pm KO)