Women’s title in the balance going into Development Men’s and Women’s NTS R3

The Women’s title battle will be going down to the wire in Sunday’s final round of the Development Men’s and Women’s National Touch Series in Oxford.

The home-town team are tied with Revolution on 40 points at the top of the table, but with Wigan just four points behind and with the confidence of winning the Round 2 Cup under their belt, expect plenty of results to be in the balance throughout the day.

Oxford, Revolution and Wigan have been drawn in separate pools in the morning, potentially setting up winner-takes-all knockout clashes in the afternoon.

However, the closeness of the results throughout this competition this season means that none of the other teams in the morning pools should be discounted, not least Thames Valley Vikings and London Eagles, who are both in the overall top five and have the potential to spoil the ambitions of other teams.

Nevertheless, with Wigan needing to finish at least three places ahead of either Revolution or Oxford, it looks like the battle for the overall crown will stay in the West Wildcats region.

The winners and runners-up from each pool, along with the two best third-placed teams, will progress into the Cup knockouts, with the remaining three teams playing a further round-robin for the Bowl.

The Men’s title is PFT’s to lose, the Manchester-based outfit having won both of the Cup titles in Rounds 1 and 2.

PFT beat Galaxy London in extra time in Burton last time out, while in Round 1 they had to withstand a second half fightback from Chester Cheetahs.

Chester are PFT’s closest challenges in the league standings, but with six points separating the teams the Cheetahs will have to finish at least four places ahead of PFT to pip them to the overall crown.

We welcome Titans and Camelot Jesters for their first outing in the Men’s and Women’s NTS this season, Titans travelling from Royal Tunbridge Wells with the Jesters having a shorter journey from Hemel Hempstead.

The morning round-robins will decide who progresses into the knockouts, with the first and second-placed teams in the Cup and the third and fourth-placed teams going into the Plate.

MEN’S

Pool A – PFT, Thames Valley Vikings, Exeter, Titans

Pool B – Chester, Revolution, Cheltenham, St Albans

Pool C – Bristol, Oxford, Nottingham, Camelot Jesters

Pool D – London Eagles, London Vipers, Crewe and Nantwich, Wigan Warriors

WOMEN’S

Pool A – Wigan Warriors, Chester, Cheltenham, bye

Pool B – Oxford, London Eagles, Exeter, London Vipers

Pool C – Revolution, Thames Valley Vikings, Nottingham, Bristol

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