This Saturday sees a rest week for rugby sides involved in the English Clubs Championship and those in the Ravenscroft Manx Shield.

But Southern Nomads and Ramsey have no such luxury as they both travel away in Conference Two of the Cheshire Bowl.

On paper, Nomads have the slightly easier fixture if such a thing exists. Ellesmere Port are no strangers to Isle of Man sides: under their old name Shell Stanlow, they visited the island on a number of occasions to play Douglas, Ramsey and Vagabonds.

This season they find themselves in Vagas’ league Counties Three ADM Lancs/Cheshire and after three matches are in fifth place after losing only once.

But in the Bowl they lost to Hoylake in the opening round and will need to make up for that if they want to challenge.

Nomads were dogged last week against Ramsey when, despite the latter having most of the possession and territory, Nomads only lost by five and never gave up.

Tony Quinn and Will Taisia both got on the end of counter-attacks and punished Ramsey’s errors, and their third try from Finn McGregor came from hard running and fast hands.

The squad at Ramsey last week was missing a few though. Mark Young wasn’t present nor was Sami Benbatoul and these guys if available this week could make the difference.

Ramsey face a somewhat daunting trip to Hoylake. The Terns top the same league as Vagas and Ellesmere Port, and are three from three in the league and one from one in the Bowl.

Admittedly their win last week was a walkover against Thornton Cleveleys, but that doesn’t make Ramsey’s task any tougher.

The Mooragh Park selectors will have a nervous wait this week. Rory Nicholson and Ivo Morrey both took knocks in the game against Nomads last Saturday plus Eddie Lord and Josh Corteen were already in the treatment room.

The good news last week were the solid performances from Nathan Robson and Conor Goodall: this new half back partnership looked like it was seasons old at times.

A solid shift from skipper Matthew Meechan at number eight helped a little too, but Ramsey will need everyone on tip-top form to pull off a win at Hoylake this week though.

Saturday, October 8:

Women’s NC One North West

Southport v Vagabonds

@ Southport ko 2pm

Cheshire Bowl

Ellesmere Port v PDMS

Southern Nomads

@ Ellesmere Port ko tbc

Hoylake v Ramsey

@ Hoylake ko 2.30pm