It's shaping up to be another big weekend of club action. The gordon West Cup returns with four semifinal spots up for grabs while in there's an intriguing top-of-the-table clash in Championship 1 and Women's Premiership.
In the Energia All-Ireland Dungannon and Ballymena renew rivalries while their is an historic first AIL clash taking place in County Fermanagh.
Gordon West Cup Quarterfinals
We’ve reached the last eight of the Gordon West Cup with four ties down for decision on Saturday afternoon.
Grosvenor and Virginia are the pacesetters in Championship 3, and with home advantage, both will be expected to continue their cup exploits and make the semifinal draw.
Virginia will be hoping for a second win over Ulster University in as many weeks at Deerpark, while Grosvenor will welcome Cavan to Gibson Park.
Monaghan fell to a 30-15 defeat to Belfast High School Former Pupils two weeks ago at Greenisland, and they’ll be hoping that home advantage this time around can help them to a more favourable result this time out.
In the final tie of the round, Provincial East side Ophir, welcome Donaghadee to Jordanstown.
There is also one tie in the Gordon West Plate with PSNI hosting Donegal Town at Newforge.
Omagh Hopeing to Bounce Back
Second placed Portadown travel to third place Omagh in the big game in Championship 1 this weekend.
Portadown have slowly built-up momentum since an early season defeat to Ballymoney, and following Omagh’s defeat to Dromore last week, Portadown took full advantage to jump into second spot in the league.
Leaders Dromore will hope to build on last week’s win against Omagh when they take on Cooke at Shaw’s bridge.
Ards host Ballymoney, and Limavady entertain Lurgan in two games that will go to the wire, while Bangor and Belfast Harlequins clash at Upritchard Park with both chasing that elusive first win of the season.
Top v Bottom in Championship 2
Strabane have now been joined by Carrickfergus at the top of Championship 2, and both face tricky derby assignments this weekend.
In the North-West, Strabane travel to Rugby Avenue to face bottom of the table Coleraine, but on derby day, league positions go out the window. Carrickfergus will face a stern test of the promotion credentials when they make the short journey to The Glynn to take on Larne.
Academy have closed the gap on the top two and are waiting in the wings if their rivals were to slip up, but they face a tricky test themselves as they go to Letterkenny.
Fourth placed Lisburn host Randalstown while City of Derry entertain CIYMS at Judges Road.
Click here for all of this weekends domestic fixtures.
Rivalries and Derbies the Standout Fixtures in AIL
There’s sure to be a huge crowd at Stevenson Park where third place Dungannon welcome Ballymena in Energia All-Ireland 2A.
Ballymena fell to their first defeat of the season last week and currently sit one point above their great rivals.
There’s another huge derby clash in Fivemiletown, where Clogher Valley take on Enniskillen for the first time ever in the All-Ireland league.
Only a points difference of plus ten separates these two neighbours at the top end of Division 2B with both having returned four wins from their opening five matches.
Having not faced off against each other for a number of seasons, Saturday's first ever meeting between the two as senior clubs is sure to generate great debate within the Fermanagh/South Tyrone rugby fraternity .
Enniskillen Aiming to Keep Promotion Drive Alive
After last week’s win over Cooke, Enniskillen will be hoping to stay top of Division 1B against MU Barnhall at Mullaghmeen. Cooke meanwhile will be hoping home comforts can help them to victory over Ballincollig at Shaw’s Bridge.
On Sunday the big game is at The Dub where the top two in Women’s Premiership put their unbeaten league records on the line.
Queens University and Banbridge have returned three wins from three outings, so something has got to give on Sunday. Kick-off at The Dub is at 2:00pm.
All Energia weekend fixtures are available here.