Game of the day in the Manx Shield is undoubtedly at Ballafletcher where defending champions PDMS Southern Nomads visit Vagabonds B.
Nomads are short on game time since their Cheshire Bowl defeat at Winnington Park and will want to put in a decent performance on Saturday.
They will be missing midfield playmaker Conor Stephens who departed for Douglas, but they are boosted by the return of combative back-row man Rob Keelan who would be a welcome addition to any side.
Vagas put in a solid shift against the Nomads second string last Saturday and new skipper John Cannan will want to keep momentum going. However, his selection will be at the mercy of the first-team selectors.
Director of rugby Matt Rockwell is a former skipper of Vagas B himself and he will know better than most about team selections. On paper, it should be a Nomads win.
Elsewhere in the Shield Castletown make the long trip north to the Mooragh Park, but without their talisman Matt Quine who has sadly decided to hang up his boots after suffering another serious knee injury last weekend.
The Manx Shield will undoubtedly be a poorer place without Matt’s boundless enthusiasm and his passion for Castletown Rugby Club.
Hopefully his side will put on a show for him, but it will need to be a good one as Ramsey B were sharp last week.
Douglas B make the short trip to Peel to face early league leaders Western Vikings.
While the Douglas game was cut short last week, the team put in a good performance. With new coach Carl Murray trying to make sure that the B team plays a full part in first team preparation, Mark Shortland’s lads could be real contenders this season.
Vikings stuck to a good game plan last week and ran in three tries in the end. They did, however, suffer at the hands of the Ramsey backs and Douglas may therefore be too much for them.
In the final game Noa Nomads face Emerging Nomads at King William’s in the intra-club derby.
While there’s always plenty of banter around these games the competition is serious on the pitch and this really could go either way. Nevertheless, Emerging should start as favourites.
Fixtures: Saturday, September 24
South Lancashire/Cheshire Division One
Douglas v Sefton @ Port-e-Chee ko 2.30pm
South Lancashire/Cheshire Division Two
Vagabonds v Eagle @ Ballafletcher ko 3pm
South Lancashire/Cheshire Division Three
Wallasey v Ramsey @ Wallasey ko 2.30pm
Shimmin Wilson Manx Shield – all ko @ 2.15pm
Vagabonds B v PDMS Southern Nomads
@ Ballafletcher
Ramsey B v Castletown @ Mooragh Park
Western Vikings v Douglas B @ QEII
Emerging Nomads v Noa Nomads
@ King William’s College
l Round-up of Saturday’s Manx Shield games in Tuesday’s Isle of Man Examiner.