A few years ago the Celtic League was a bit of a farce because of the fact that with International commitments some of the bigger teams were pretty much unable to compete on a lot of weekends. Thankfully this situation is somewhat resolved these days but unfortunately there still are weekends when many players are […]
The Celtic Cup kicked off this evening with an exciting match between Leinster and Glasgow. Leinster managed to go into a commanding 21 points to 3 lead in the first half, but some excellent counter attacking early in the second half saw Glasgow come back to level terms of 21 - 21. Leinster then managed, thanks to man of the match Gordon D’Arcy to score another try to put Glasgow away.
With the IRFU finally agreeing to using the Celtic League as a basis for qualification for Europe and the restructuring of the league so as not to run on International weekends, things were looking good that the competition could put its rocky past behind it and work toward the future. However the WRU have set their sights on taking part in an Anglo-Welsh Cup, which means they want to move some of the fixtures putting the IRFU’s commitment to using the league as a basis for Heineken Cup qualification in doubt.
The Celtic League organisers have announced the line-up for the Celtic Cup semi-finals. The open draw means that the winner of the Munster V Edinburgh game will travel to play the winner of Leinster V Glasgow away.
Last night saw the final round of this year’s Celtic League and the results for both Leinster and Munster see them playing the same teams again in the first round of the Celtic Cup. Ulster have also qualified for the Celtic Cup and also the third Irish Heineken Cup spot.
Ulster beat the Llanelli Scarlets by 16 points to 3 to seal eight spot in the Celtic League and more importantly guarentee themselved Heineken Cup Rugby next season.
Today continued to be a busy news day with the announcement from Leinster that they would be signing England and Wasps prop Will Green. The signing is clearly intended to strengthen up Leinster’s front five which has come in for a lot of critism recently.
This weekend is crucial for Connacht and Ulster with regard to their Heineken Cup chances and both sides seem to be prepared for that. Ulster look like they are well on their way to having a big crowd at their game V Llanelli. Should Ulster win they will be certain of a Heineken Cup place next season, but if they lose, it is quite possible that they could miss out on the Heineken Cup. Coach Mark McCall has named a side that is unchanged from the one that lost last weekend to Cardiff.
>Following this weekend’s Celtic League matches things are as tight as ever for the third and fourth placed Irish sides in the competition. Ulster lost on Friday night against Cardiff despite having a huge amount of posession. Thankfully for Ulster today Connacht also lost against the Ospreys in Galway. Connacht may end up rueing not getting a bonus point with a missed conversion with only a few minutes left being the difference between them getting the point and not getting it.
Today has been an extremely busy day in terms of Irish Rugby news with changes happening all round, mainly to do with Declan Kidney’s switch from Leinster to Munster.