The 2010–11 Magners League was the tenth
Celtic League season and the fifth with
Magners
Magners Irish Cider is a brand of cider produced in County Tipperary in Ireland by the C&C Group. The product range includes the cider varieties: Original, Light, Berry, Pear and Rosé. The cider was originally produced as Bulmers Irish C ...
as title sponsor. The regular season began on 3 September 2010 and finished on the weekend of 6–8 May 2011. During these stages, each team played every other team both home and away and were awarded points according to the standard
bonus point system. This was the second season to follow the play-off structure to determine the Magners League champion, with the top four teams qualifying for the semi-finals. The winner of each semi final advanced to the
Grand Final
Primarily in Australian sports, a grand final is a game that decides a sports league's premiership (or championship) winning team, i.e. the conclusive game of a finals (or play-off) series. Synonymous with a championship game in North Ameri ...
, which took place 28 May and was hosted by the team that finished highest in the table following the regular season. The title was won by Munster who defeated Leinster by 19–9 at
Thomond Park.
This was the final season of the Celtic League sponsored by Magners. The following season would see RaboDirect, the Irish subsidiary of Dutch financial company
Rabobank
Rabobank (; full name: ''Coöperatieve Rabobank U.A.'') is a Dutch multinational banking and financial services company headquartered in Utrecht, Netherlands. The group comprises 89 local Dutch Rabobanks (2019), a central organisation (Raboban ...
, take over the sponsorship. At the same time, the league rebranded itself as
Pro12.
The twelve teams competing were the four Irish provinces,
Munster
Munster ( or ) is the largest of the four provinces of Ireland, located in the south west of the island. In early Ireland, the Kingdom of Munster was one of the kingdoms of Gaelic Ireland ruled by a "king of over-kings" (). Following the Nor ...
,
Leinster
Leinster ( ; or ) is one of the four provinces of Ireland, in the southeast of Ireland.
The modern province comprises the ancient Kingdoms of Meath, Leinster and Osraige, which existed during Gaelic Ireland. Following the 12th-century ...
,
Connacht
Connacht or Connaught ( ; or ), is the smallest of the four provinces of Ireland, situated in the west of Ireland. Until the ninth century it consisted of several independent major Gaelic kingdoms (Uí Fiachrach, Uí Briúin, Uí Maine, C ...
and
Ulster
Ulster (; or ; or ''Ulster'') is one of the four traditional or historic provinces of Ireland, Irish provinces. It is made up of nine Counties of Ireland, counties: six of these constitute Northern Ireland (a part of the United Kingdom); t ...
; two Scottish regions,
Edinburgh Rugby
Edinburgh Rugby (formerly Edinburgh Reivers, Edinburgh Gunners) is one of the two professional rugby union teams from Scotland. The club competes in the United Rugby Championship, along with the Glasgow Warriors, its oldest rival. Edinburgh play ...
and
Glasgow Warriors
The Glasgow Warriors are a professional rugby union side from Scotland. The team plays in the United Rugby Championship league and in the European Professional Club Rugby tournaments. In the 2014–15 season they won the Pro12 title and beca ...
; four Welsh regions,
Cardiff Blues
Cardiff Rugby () are one of the four professional Welsh rugby union teams.
Based in Cardiff, the team play at Cardiff Arms Park. Originally formed in 1876, from 2003 to 2021 the first team was known as the Cardiff Blues before rebranding back ...
,
Newport Gwent Dragons,
Ospreys and
Scarlets
The Scarlets () are one of the four professional Welsh rugby union teams and are based in Llanelli, Wales. Their home ground is the Parc y Scarlets stadium. They play in the United Rugby Championship and in European Professional Club Rugby c ...
; and two new Italian entries
Aironi and
Benetton Treviso
In May 2010, the Ospreys were fined £100,000 and docked 4 points from the 2010–11 season following their postponement of the away fixture at Ulster in the
2009–10 season. However, in September 2010, following an appeal by the Ospreys, the four point deduction for the 2010–11 season was overturned, although the £100,000 fine was upheld. Instead, the four point deduction was suspended for two years.
A new broadcast deal saw games broadcast live on terrestrial television channels in Scotland and Ireland in addition to the established terrestrial coverage in Wales. The deal will be in place until the 2013–14 season.
Teams
Table
Fixtures
All times are local.
Round 1
Round 2
Round 3
Round 4
Round 5
Round 6
Round 7
Round 8
Round 9
Round 10
Round 11
1872 Cup 1st round
Round 12
1872 Cup 2nd round
Round 13
Round 14
Round 15
Round 16
Round 17
Rearranged fixtures
Round 18
Round 19
Round 20
Round 21
Rearranged fixture
Round 22
Playoffs
Semi-finals
----
Grand Final
Individual statistics
Note: Flags to the left of player names indicate national team as has been defined under
IRB eligibility rules, or primary nationality for players who have not yet earned international caps. Players may hold one or more non-IRB nationalities.
Top points scorers
Top try scorers
Notes
Television coverage
Coverage moved back to free to air television. Ulster's matches were televised only in Northern Ireland on
BBC Two Northern Ireland
BBC Two Northern Ireland is a Northern Irish free-to-air television channel owned and operated by BBC Northern Ireland as a variation of the BBC Two network. It is broadcast via digital terrestrial transmitters and from the SES Astra 2E satell ...
apart from their away matches in Aironi, Cardiff Blues, Ospreys and Newport Gwent Dragons. They also televised the Round 10 match between Scarlets vs Leinster as a replacement for the scheduled Ulster vs Newport Gwent Dragons match which was postponed.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Celtic League
2010-11
2010–11 in Irish rugby union
2010–11 in Welsh rugby union
2010–11 in Scottish rugby union
2010–11 in Italian rugby union