With the excitement of the 6 Nations and the Cheshire Plate all behind us, the domestic season gets back underway this Saturday afternoon.

The Manx Shield resumes with a game between Western Vikings and Southern Nomads at Ballakilley.

Ramsey currently top the standings and have a 15-point lead, but Vikings and Nomads are in second and third place and they had a proper ding dong at Ballakilley last time out.

The game was finely balanced at half-time with Nomads running away with it in the final 20 minutes.

Vikings held Ramsey to 7-0 at half-time last Saturday in the Cheshire Plate final, losing 28-0 in the end. They tackled hard, scrummaged hard and ran hard for the whole game but leaked three tries between 50 and 60 minutes which cost them the game.

What will matter this week is what the injury cost was from that game.

Jack Goodwin left the field early with an arm injury and Sam Tarpey also departed early although he may have been suffering with the cold.

With a full-strength team Vikings should make Nomads work for the points as they aim to bounce back from being ‘nilled’ by Vagabonds in the cup recently.

Fixtures: Saturday, March 23

Regional Two North West

Winnington Park v Douglas @ Winnington Park

Manx Shield

Western Vikings v PDMS Southern Nomads @ Ballakilley ko 2.15pm