There’s a proper rugby feast at Ballafletcher this Saturday with both Vagabonds men’s and women’s teams in action and, of course, all the best from the Six Nations in the clubhouse afterwards.

Vagas women’s side get the ball rolling with a very early 11.45am kick-off against Winnington Park in Women’s NC2 North (South).

The Cheshire outfit lie in second place in the league standings but only on points difference from Eccles.

Vagas are fourth but aren’t a million miles away from the top three and while the odds are against it, they could still mathematically claim a promotion place.

They lost by only 11 points in the away leg and will be bolstered by that performance, especially with home advantage.

Vagas lost out to the league leaders Eccles by only three points on January 18 and a couple of weeks earlier they went down at home to Leigh by only two.

The whole squad will know that tight results like this mean they’re very close to turning a corner.

The key ingredients are all there.

A front five which wins ball, a backline capable of finding the gaps in a defence and a back row that is destructive in both defence and attack.

Maylyn Campbell is obviously a key player for them but in the Leigh defeat Becky Dunne and Leona McGovern in the backline created so much with their passing game.

A big crowd and home advantage will make all the difference for them this week.

At 1.15pm the men will trot out to face Dukinfield in Counties Three ADM Lancashire/Cheshire.

Vagas are 11th with two wins from 13 outings.

The Cheshire side were the league’s early whipping boys and while they recorded a walkover win in week one, their first win on the field wasn’t until December 14.

Since then, however, they’ve picked up the pace and currently lie in ninth with four wins from 13.

The two clubs are no strangers to each other with RFU stats showing that they’ve met 24 times over the years with Vagas currently leading the stats battle 12-11, although the last three meetings have all gone Dukinfield’s way.

Vagas have some thing of a gruelling run-in to the end of the season and injury cracks are already appearing.

Mitch Wells remains out and is joined on the sick list by Archie Benson (knee) and Leo Marques (cheek).

This, however, is a game which coach Franzy Germishuys will want to win and Tom Gascoyne could well return to either back row or centre to help cover.

The big crowd and carnival atmosphere at Ballafletcher should help the men as well as the women with both sides aiming to keep the points in the island.

- The Isle of Man Ten-aside competition should get underway this weekend at Ballakilley Park, Port Erin where, Southern Nomads will host Western Vikings and Ramsey in mini round robin competition.

With domestic rugby still suffering post-Covid the ten aside is intended to keep some rugby going but in a format that should make it a little more interesting to the players.

There’s no set playing order but the action is expected to get underway at 2.15pm.

DAVE CHRISTIAN