I think Berwick will be the happier of the 2 teams, but would still fancy Poole to progress if they had a full strength team at Berwick. I'm a bit surprised Poole have stuck with Bowes for so long, normally quick to make changes. 

Unless he was signed off on monday by the medics, surely it becomes a non speedway injury, or illness

I don't think a rider can miss a match due to riding abroad & then not ride abroad, so surely it'd have to count as an injury causing him to miss the Poole match?

To defend Oxford here, they signed two 2 point something reserves, so can't expect too much of them, although Wood has done far better than expected. But he's been more up & down recently. For me their biggest issues are at the top of the team, Masters & Rowe down on last year's form & potential trump card Riss missing a lot of the season. As for Jenkins, in hindsight he may have done better than Kennett, but why would Oxford have signed a rider averaging below 4 in 2026 to replace a heat leader?

can't imagine any scenario where Jenkins doesn't stay at Berwick

But it was acceptable for the paying public to lose out when Klindt didn't turn up for Plymouth last year, or when riders are "banned" for being ill / non-speedway injury, Rushen for example after being injured because he didn't declare the injury when he crashed. In these situations the paying public losing out doesn't bother the powers that be. Although my hope would be, that Lawson / Poole knowing there's no facility would lead to him racing for Poole! If you're cool with facilities here, we'll have to agree to disagree.