It wasn’t a good day on the road for the three Manx sides at the weekend with all three suffering defeats at the hands of their English opposition.

In Women’s NC1 North West a slightly under-strength Vagabonds lost 48-7 to league leaders Southport.

The next outing for Vagas is a home fixture against Eccles a week on Saturday.

In the Cheshire Bowl both Ramsey and Southern Nomads lost their respective fixtures on Merseyside.

Nomads went down 39-19 at Ellesmere Port in a game that was tied 12-12 at half-time, with Orry Watterson and Thomas Chadwick crossing for Nomads and George Callister converting one.

In the second half Ellesmere Port ran away with it a little before a late Jacob Halstein try converted by Callister gave Nomads some consolation.

At the opposite end of Wirral, Ramsey battled hard but made too many mistakes to beat a clinical Hoylake side.

The Manx Cup holders got stuck in over the first half and were in front at half-time with tries from Dan Bonwick and Josh Corteen, both converted by Brandon Atchison.

Hoylake were read the riot act at the break by director of rugby Matt O’Neill and they rallied strongly in the second half.

Number eight Jake Woods completed his hat-trick and there were also tries for Matt O’Neill, Jon Webster and Dean Clarke.

Connor Casey had raced in for Ramsey’s third, also converted by Atchison, but it wasn’t quite enough and Hoylake now have one foot firmly in the February final.

Rugby results

(Saturday)

Women’s NC 1 North West

Southport 48-7 Vagabonds

Cheshire Bowl

Ellesmere Port 39-19 PDMS Southern Nomads

Hoylake 38-21 Ramsey