2018–19 Celtic Cup

2018–19 Celtic Cup
Countries	Ireland Wales
Date	7 September 2018–21 October 2018
Champions	Leinster A (1st title)
Runners-up	Scarlets A
Matches played	25/25
Official website
www.irishrugby.ie

The 2018 Celtic Cup is the inaugural edition of the Celtic Cup rugby union competition, which features development regional and provincial teams from Ireland and Wales. It ran for six weeks from September 2018 until October 2018. Leinster A won the inaugural edition, beating Scarlets A in the final.

Formation

The Irish Rugby Football Union and the Welsh Rugby Union created a new development competition, the Celtic Cup, for the emerging professional players from the four Irish provinces and four Welsh regions, announcing the tournament in August 2018.

The tournament, which features development squads from Pro14 teams Connacht, Leinster, Munster, Ulster, Cardiff Blues, Dragons, Ospreys and Scarlets, aims to provide a learning environment for development players, coaches and referees by recreating the week-to-week challenges presented by senior professional rugby.^[1]

2018 season

The first season of the Celtic Cup ran over seven consecutive weeks in 2018. The eight teams were divided into two conferences of four Welsh regions and four Irish provinces. Each Irish province played each of the Welsh regions and against two Irish provinces. Similarly, the Welsh regions played each of the Irish provinces and two of their Welsh counterparts, giving each team three home and three away fixtures. Derby matches were held on the opening and closing weekends of the pools stage, with the four inter-conference rounds in a block from rounds 2 to 5. The top-ranked province from the Irish conference then played the top-ranked region from the Welsh conference in the Celtic Cup Final.^[2]

Conferences

Ireland Conference
Team	P	W	D	L	PF	PA	PD	TF	TA	TB	LB	Pts
Leinster A (Q)	6	6	0	0	263	109	+154	38	15	5	0	29
Munster A	6	5	0	1	208	147	+61	25	9	4	0	24
Ulster Ravens	6	4	0	2	165	141	+24	21	20	3	0	19
Connacht Eagles	6	0	0	6	119	214	-95	17	31	2	1	3
(Q)= qualified for final Updated: 19 September 2018 Source: Irish Rugby

Wales Conference
Team	P	W	D	L	PF	PA	PD	TF	TA	TB	LB	Pts
Scarlets A (Q)	6	3	0	3	213	143	+70	29	18	5	2	19
Cardiff Blues A	6	3	0	3	150	147	+3	21	20	4	2	18
Ospreys Development	6	2	0	4	118	244	-126	17	36	2	0	10
Dragons U23	6	1	0	5	151	242	-91	23	32	2	0	6
(Q)= qualified for final Updated: 21 October 2018 Source: Welsh Rugby

Pool Stage

Round 1

7 September 2018 17:30

Munster A	24–16	Connacht Eagles
Try: Coombes 17' m Hart 40' c Con: Johnston (1/2) 40' Pen: Johnston (4/4) 50', 52', 68', 74'	Report[3]	Try: de Buitléar 24' c Con: Fitzgerald (1/1) 25' Pen: Fitzgerald (3/3) 6', 39', 42'

Irish Independent Park Referee: Jonny Erskine (IRFU)

7 September 2018 17:00

(1 BP) Ulster Ravens	28–43	Leinster A (1 BP)
Try: Hume (2) 15' c, 67' c Rea ?' c Sexton ?' c Con: McPhillips (4/4) 16', ?', ?', 68'	Report[4]	Try: Byrne 24' c Penny 30' c O'Brien 33' c Kelleher 40' c Silvester 51' m Sheehan 76' c Con: Byrne (5/6) 25', 31', 34', 40'+1,77' Pen: Byrne (1/1) 61'

Gibson Park Referee: Joy Neville (IRFU)

7 September 2018 19:00

(1 BP) Ospreys Development	41–36	Scarlets A (2 BP)
	Report[5]

Brewery Field

7 September 2018 19:15

Dragons U23	21–37	Cardiff Blues A (1 BP)
Try: Lawrence 32' c Basham 68' c Rosser 74' c Con: Botica (3/3) 32', 68', 74'	Report[6]	Try: Fish (2) 10' c, 36' m T. Williams (2) 24' m, 42' m Summerhill 45' c Con: Shingler (2/5) 10', 45' Pen: Shingler (2/2) 3', 7'

Rodney Parade

Round 2

14 September 2018 19:00

Ulster Ravens	15–45	Scarlets A (1 BP)
Try: Luney 54' c Hall 65' m Con: Houston (1/2) 55' Pen: Houston (1/1) 7'	Report[7]	Try: Baldwin 25' c Lewis 28' c Williams 34' c Hardy 43' c Ellis-Jones 47' c Conbeer 62' c Con: O'Brien (6/6) 26', 29', 35', 44', 48', 63' Pen: O'Brien (1/1) 10'

Shaw's Bridge

15 September 2018 13:00

(1 BP) Leinster A	57–10	Cardiff Blues A
Try: Patterson (2) 16' c, 33' c Foley (2) 24' c, 42' c Kelleher 29' c A. Byrne 46' c Dowling 71' c Con: H. Byrne (5/5) 17', 25', 30', 43', 47' Patterson (1/1) 34' Hawkshaw (1/1) 72' Pen: H. Byrne (1/1) 9'	Report[8]	Try: Bennett 65' m T. Williams 76' m

Energia Park Referee: Rob O'Sullivan (IRFU)

15 September 2018 14:00

Ospreys Development	7–52	Munster A (1 BP)
	Report[9]

St. Helen's

15 September 2018 14:30

Dragons U23 (1 BP)	53–38	Connacht Eagles (1 BP)
	Report[10]

CCSE Ystrad Mynach

Round 3

21 September 2018 19:00

(1BP) Connacht Eagles	22-27	Ospreys Development
	Report

Dubarry Park

21 September 2018 17:30

(1 BP) Munster A	34-17	Dragons U23
	Report

Irish Independent Park

22 September 2018 14:30

(1BP) Scarlets A	10-16	Leinster A
	Report

Parc y Scarlets

22 September 2018 14:30

(1BP) Cardiff Blues A	3-7	Ulster Ravens
Pen: Jones	Report[11]	Try: Sexton 20' Con: Lowry 21'

Cardiff Arms Park

Round 4

28 September 2018 19:30

(1BP) Leinster A	53-7	Ospreys Development
Try: Penny 3 B Byrne 2 O'Brien Foley A Byrne Con: Frawley 4 Hawkshaw Pen: Frawley	Report[12]	Try: Morgan-Williams Con: J Thomas

Energia Park Referee: Jonny Erskine

29 September 2018 14:00

(2BP) Cardiff Blues A	32-33	Munster A (1BP)
	Report[13]

Cardiff Arms Park

29 September 2018 14:30

Ulster Ravens	27-19	Dragons U23
Try: Sexton (2) Con: McPhillips Pen: McPhillips (5)	Report[14]	Try: Smith Gasson Benjamin Con: Botica (2)

Eaton Park

29 September 2018 14:30

(1 BP) Scarlets A	35–19	Connacht Eagles
	Report

Carmarthen Park

Round 5

5 October 2018 19:00

Ospreys Development	19 – 39	Ulster Ravens
Try: Morgan-Williams Cross Morris Con: Evans Thomas	Report[15]	Try: Cooper Stewart Marcus Rea Ah You Sexton Con: Houston (4) Pen: Houston Drop: Houston

St. Helen's

5 October 2018 19:30

Munster A	40 – 29	Scarlets A
	Report

Irish Independent Park

6 October 2018 14:30

Dragons U23	29 – 48	Leinster A
	Report

CCSE Ystrad Mynach

6 October 2018 TBC

Connacht Eagles	12 – 26	Cardiff Blues A
	Report

Galway Sportsground

Round 6

12/13/14 October 2018 TBC

Leinster A (1 BP)	46 – 25	Munster A
	Report

TBC

14 October 2018 TBC

Connacht Eagles	12 – 49	(1 BP) Ulster Ravens
Try: Kelly Lane Con: Mitchell	Report[16][17]	Try: Sexton (2) Baloucoune (2) Cooper O'Toole Montgomer Con: Houston (6) Stewart

Galway Sportsgrounds

12/13/14 October 2018 TBC

Cardiff Blues A (1 BP)	42 – 17	Ospreys Development
	Report

TBC

12/13/14 October 2018 TBC

Scarlets A (1 BP)	58 – 12	Dragons U23
	Report

TBC

Grand Final

TBC 19:15

Leinster A Irish champions	15 – 8	Scarlets A Welsh champions
Try: R Kelleher (2) Con: C Frawley Pen: C Frawley	Report	Try: J Sebastian Pen: J Wilson

Parc y Scarlets

References

1. "Celtic Cup Announced".
2. "New Celtic Cup format agreed".
3. "Report | Munster A Beat Connacht In Celtic Cup". Munster Rugby. 7 September 2018. Retrieved 15 September 2018.
4. "ULSTER A 28 LEINSTER A 43". Ulster Rugby. 7 September 2018. Retrieved 15 September 2018.
5. "Ospreys Development 41 – 36 Scarlets A". Ospreys Rugby. 7 September 2018. Retrieved 15 September 2018.
6. "REPORT | DRAGONS A 21 CARDIFF BLUES A 37". Dragons Rugby. 7 September 2018. Archived from the original on 11 September 2018. Retrieved 15 September 2018.
7. "ULSTER A 15 SCARLETS A 45". Ulster Rugby. 14 September 2018. Retrieved 15 September 2018.
8. "REPORT: LEINSTER 'A' 57 CARDIFF BLUES 'A' 10". Leinster Rugby. 15 September 2018. Retrieved 15 September 2018.
9. "Munster A Win In Ospreys". Munster Rugby. 18 September 2018. Retrieved 18 September 2018.
10. "Dragons U23 53 v 38 Connacht Eagles". Dragons Rugby. 15 September 2018. Archived from the original on 17 September 2018. Retrieved 17 September 2018.
11. "Ah You and Ulster hang on for win", Belfast Telegraph, 24 September 2018
12. "REPORT: Leinster 'A' 53 Ospreys Development 7".
13. "Munster a Edge Past Cardiff".
14. "Dragons slayed by McPhillips", Irish Independent, 1 October 2018
15. "Opsreys Development 19 - 39 Ulster Ravens", Ospreys Rugby, 5 October 2018
16. John McMurtry, "Celtic Cup: Tournament Wrap", The Front Row Union, 18 October 2018
17. "Baloucoune bags hat-trick to pile misery on Eagles", Irish Independent, 15 October 2018