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 Leinster Rugby () is one of the four professional provincial club rugby union teams from the island of Ireland. They compete in the United Rugby Championship and the European Rugby Champions Cup. The team represents the Leinster Branch, one of t ...

won the inaugural edition, beating

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 ...

A in the final.

Formation

The

Irish Rugby Football Union The Irish Rugby Football Union (IRFU) () is the body managing rugby union in the island of Ireland (both Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland). The IRFU has its head office at 10/12 Lansdowne Road and home ground at Aviva Stadium, where a ...

and the

Welsh Rugby Union The Welsh Rugby Union (WRU; ) is the governing body of rugby union in the country of Wales, recognised by the sport's international governing body, World Rugby. The WRU is responsible for the running of rugby in Wales, overseeing 320 member clu ...

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 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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

Dragons A dragon is a magical legendary creature that appears in the folklore of multiple cultures worldwide. Beliefs about dragons vary considerably through regions, but dragons in Western cultures since the High Middle Ages have often been depict ...

Ospreys The osprey (; ''Pandion haliaetus''), historically known as sea hawk, river hawk, and fish hawk, is a diurnal, fish-eating bird of prey with a cosmopolitan range. It is a large raptor, reaching more than in length and a wingspan of . It is ...

and

, aims to provide a learning environment for development players, coaches and referees by recreating the week-to-week challenges presented by senior professional rugby.

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.

Conferences

Pool Stage

Round 1

Round 2

Round 3

Round 4

Round 5

Round 6

Grand Final

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:2018-19 Celtic Cup Celtic Cup (2018 rugby union tournament) 2018–19 in European rugby union 2018–19 in Irish rugby union 2018–19 in Welsh rugby union