WE’RE coming towards the end of the season and that brings with it all of the highs and lows for the clubs chasing promotion or trying to stave off relegation.

Mind you, with the exception of London Irish, most of our local clubs appear to be out of promotion contention or, indeed, have any relegation issues.

Exiles are 10 points adrift at the foot of the Aviva Premiership table, and really need to complete the double at Harlequins on Saturday to keep their hopes of survival alive – that opening-day win at Twickenham seems a long time ago as they’ve since been cut adrift below Worcester.

Redingensians Rams currently sit third in the National Two South table, but 19 points behind second-placed Chinnor.

Having comfortably seen off Taunton Titans, two weeks ago, they travel to eighth-placed Bury St. Edmunds on Saturday, having beaten them 29-17 at home back in December.

That win kicked off a run of five straight wins and they really have had a good season – I am sure the club will be happy with the results as this will be the highest they have ever been in national rugby.

As for my boys Reading, we are still on a high from our excellent, 24-17 away win at second-placed Buckingham a fortnight ago.

We’ve got the Southern Counties North bottom side Drifters – who have not won a match this season – visiting Holme Park this Saturday, so we really should be confident of a win.

This game could help us get the extra bonus points we need to get us above our local rivals Reading Abbey and set up a good finish to the season.

The will and determination is there and the boys know they can do it, so lets hope we see another excellent performance.

Abbey make the short hop to Thatcham, who’ve really come on leaps and bounds over the past few seasons and are currently sitting a very respectable fourth in the table.

This could be a hard game for Luke Harding’s men, but, if they can keep producing what they did two weeks ago when they beat Reading 8-7, anything could happen as there’s a lot of local pride to play for in this match.

And, good luck to sixth-placed BB&O Championship battlers Berkshire Shire Hall, who are off to Harwell this Saturday.

I think we can all agree we’ve had enough rain to sink the county in recent weeks and it has played havoc for training and matches alike.

Let’s hope it will stop raining and the grounds dry out so we can all see some fast-flowing rugby for the remaining weeks of the season.

Enjoy your rugby this weekend.