Rugby: Douglas hunting rare away win at Northwich

In-form Vagabonds face tough test at league leaders

Report by Dave Christian:

Douglas hit the road to Northwich in Regional 2 North West looking for something that’s been a rarity for them this season, an away win. 

Douglas currently hold seventh place in the standings to Northwich’s ninth, plus of course in the Port-e-Chee leg Douglas came out 32-13 winners.

Northwich have won five from 16 while Douglas seven from 17 - tellingly, the points for and against are really close which suggests that the game could be close.

Douglas remain without Simon Hoddinott who is training for the London Marathon and wing Charlie Henthorn is a concern too (ankle). 

The players with the recent good form Kyle Martin, Jonty Cope and Harry Hewson are all available and John Dutnall could potentially return to the squad too., which is all good news.

Vagabonds travel to league leaders

'Vagas' face a massive challenge this weekend in Counties 3 ADM Lancs/Cheshire when they travel to meet league leaders Garstang. 

The Lancashire outfit has lost just once in 14 outings and has a scoring average of almost 40 points per match, they currently have a nine point lead at the top of the table too. 

Garstang won the earlier leg at Ballafletcher 42-24 and they won’t have any fears ahead of this one.

'Vagas' beat Dukinfield last week by doing what they needed to do just when they needed to do it, they worked hard in defence as well as attack and everyone grafted. 

While that may have been enough to beat Dukinfield I suspect that it won’t be enough to take Garstang.

Mitch Wells from the front row and Archie Benson from the back line both look to be long-term casualties however they appear to have gotten past Dukinfield without picking up any other knocks, although Cam Findlay was pretty much held together with tape! 

They did have a couple of Vikings in the squad last week but its not clear whether Ed Knight or Harry Goodwin will be available again.

A losing bonus point would be a result from this game, hopefully 'Vagas' can bring one back, anything else would be an outstanding result.

Ramsey travel to Vikings in Manx Shield

Although Ramsey won the last game 51—22, it was only 20-17 at half time and Vikings had fought their way back in. 

Vikings however may not be quite so thick on the ground for this game, Ramsey will see the return of Sam Corlett and Jake Richmond who were both away last weekend and this will add a lot more zip to the backline and they should be too quick for Vikings.

Elsewhere, at Ballakilley Park, Southern Nomads take on Douglas Casuals in what could be a tight game. 

'The Casuals' last outing was a win away at Ramsey and they were good for it too.

This game is likely to be determined by player availability - Nomads meet Ramsey next week at the Mooragh so they’ll want to put on a show against the Casuals.

**

Fixtures 

Saturday, 15 February 2025

Regional 2 North West

Northwich v Douglas @ Northwich (1.30pm KO)

Counties 3 ADM Lancs/Cheshire

Garstang v Vagabonds @ Garstang (12.30pm KO)

Manx Shield

Western Vikings v Ramsey @ QEII (2.15pm KO)

Friendlies

PDMS Southern Nomads v Douglas Casuals @ Ballakilley Park (2.15pm KO)

Ramsey U16 v Keighley U16 @ Mooragh Park (2.30pm KO)