UNCHARTED territory lies ahead as the new league season swings into action for North West clubs on Saturday.

Upwardly mobile Altrincham Kersal step up to North One, the highest level ever attained by the Timperley-based club.

The club have benefited in recent seasons from their close association with Sale Sharks, and I see no reason why that situation should change.

However, I suspect their old rivals and travelling companions Stockport will be hoping for some spin-off now that Sharks have left Heywood Road and Carrington and set up a training complex at Headlands Road.

Sharks' former community manager Wayne Morris, who is now working alongside another Sale old boy, Phil Winstanley, at Premier Rugby, will continue in his role as player-coach, while former Sale Jet Will Harrison will again be to the fore as they sample the rarified atmosphere of North One.

Harrison has been an inspirational leader in the promotion drive while Rob Worsfold, another Heywood Road old boy, has continued his try-scoring exploits. He was the division's leading try grabber with 18 in league outings last season.

Although they were the best team in North Two by some distance, they will still find life tough at the top.

They should hold their own, however, and could eventually follow in the footsteps of Macclesfield who advanced to, and survived in, the National Leagues.

The club who have caught many unawares are Bowdon. For a long time the Clay Lane outfit seemed happy to bob along in the lower echelons but their promotion in a play-off last season means they will venture into regional rugby for the first time in North Two, where they will be keeping company with the likes of Lymm, Oldham, Stockport and Winnington Park.

It would have been unthinkable just a few years ago to regard Bowdon as ahead of Broughton Park and Rochdale in the pecking order but that's what has happened with the relegation of those two clubs.

Interestingly, they have been placed in the South Lancashire and Cheshire first division, where they will come up against more fallen heroes in the shape of Wilmslow.

Broughton Park had the strongest side in the North back in the 60s, when I first started covering games at the old Chelsfield Road ground.

They were a much-feared outfit then because they had a real physical presence and they enjoyed nothing better than travelling to Pownall Park to take on the Jet-set.

In fairness to Wilmslow, who bore the nickname of the Wah-Wahs with considerable fortitude, they may have demonstrated excellent elocution and been urged on by plummy voices shouting `Play up, chaps,' but they had plenty of steel, too.

Indeed, even Sale could not guarantee beating Wilmslow on their own uneven patch and the major club's most embarrassing defeat came about when Steve Smith, recruited from Wilmslow to the annoyance of local officials, made his Sale debut against his old club.

They got similarly hot under the collar when Smithy resurrected his England career by switching his allegiance from Cheshire to Lancashire.

Like Broughton Park, Wilmslow have gone through difficult times and knocking sides like Harlequins and Bath out of the National Cup, and in their own backyards, too, is a distant memory.

With only one automatic promotion place up for grabs, it should be an interesting league with a string of traditional derby clashes.

Newly-promoted De La Salle did their best to sidestep more of the see-saw, because they seem to win North Lancashire One every other year while being relegated from NL&C in between.

They will have derby games against familiar sides like Aldwinians, Tyldesley and Trafford MV but will be less enthusiastic about long treks to rugby outposts like Workington, Wigton, Upper Eden, Egremont and Carlisle.

Quite apart from players having to be sure of being off work on Saturday morning, the cost of travel is becoming prohibitive for clubs who receive little financial support.

A feature of recent seasons has been the emergence of new amateur sides out of clubs that went down the professional route.

Orrell Anvils set the trend and were quickly followed by Manchester Wanderers, who have already won three promotions and are now just two more away from the regional leagues, and Sale Amateurs, who won promotion last season at the second attempt since their formation, to stay closely on Wanderers heels. Tweet