Two Manx rugby sides face off-island trips this Saturday as the opening rounds of the Cheshire Bowl and Plate get under way.

In the Cheshire Bowl, Douglas Celts will be aiming to build on their Manx Shield win last season with a trip to New Brighton, while in the Cheshire Plate, PDMS Southern Nomads travel to Wallasey after they beat Western Vikings 43-3 in a preliminary round on Friday.

Douglas’ Shield win last season had given the Celts some impetus and while they need to keep a conveyor belt of players available for the first team, they’ll have ambitions of their own and a Bowl win would be a great fillip for them.

New Brighton are likely to be a big step up for the Celts though and actually played in the same division as Douglas’ first team last season.

Nomads will be keen to wrestle back that Shield title from Douglas and they too will be aiming for a good run in their Cheshire competition.

They are of course previous winners and with Wallasey being in the bottom tier of the national league structure, Nomads will fancy their chances.

Fixtures: Saturday, August 26

Cheshire Bowl

New Brighton v Douglas Celts @ New Brighton ko 2.30pm

Cheshire Plate

Wallasey v Southern Nomads @ Wallasey

Dave Christian