The Celtic Challenge is a cross-border

women's rugby union Women's rugby union is a full contact team sport based on running with the ball in hand. The same laws are used in men's rugby union with the same sized pitch and same equipment. Women's rugby has become popular recently. These days, women's r ...

competition that will be held annually, launched in 2023. Designed to develop players for the Celtic nations of

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

and

Wales Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...

, the inaugural pilot edition featured a double round robin between three teams, one from each participating union. From 2024 the competition will involve six teams, two from each participating union. Beginning with the 2024–25 season, the competition will maintain its six-team setup, transitioning into a full home-and-away

round-robin format Round-robin may refer to: Computing * Round-robin DNS, a technique for dealing with redundant Internet Protocol service hosts * Round-robin networks, communications networks made up of radio nodes organized in a mesh topology * Round-robin schedu ...

. The winners will be determined by standings at the end of the season. The three participating unions fund the competition, with further development funding from

World Rugby World Rugby is the governing body for the sport of rugby union. World Rugby organises the Rugby World Cup every four years, the sport's most recognised and most profitable competition. It also organises a number of other international competit ...

Teams

Current teams

Previous teams

Nine clubs have been involved in the league since its inception in the 2023 season. Below, all former clubs are listed along with the number of full seasons they've competed in.

Champions

The winners and runners up of each edition are listed below:

Summary of winners

History

2023 competition

The first edition consisted of six matches in a double round robin: The competition involved 3 teams: * 1 teams from Ireland, the Combined Provinces XV. * 1 teams from Wales, the Wales Development XV. * 1 teams from Scotland, the Thistles.

2023–24 competition

In November 2023 it was announced that for the second season, the competition would expand to six teams and twenty one matches. In December it was announced that the 2023–24 competition will run from December to March 2024 and will be contested by six teams: *2 teams from

, the

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and the

Wolfhounds Wolf hunting with dogs is a method of wolf hunting which relies on the use of hunting dogs. While any dog, especially a hound used for hunting wolves may be loosely termed a "wolfhound", several dog breeds have been specifically bred for the purp ...

. *2 teams from

Brython Thunder Brython Thunder are a Welsh women's rugby union team based in Llanelli. Founded in 2023, the team competes in the Celtic Challenge, the international competition between Scottish, Welsh and Irish regional teams. History The Welsh Rugby Union (W ...

and

Gwalia Lightning Gwalia Lightning is a Welsh women's rugby union team based in Cardiff. Founded in 2023, the team competes in the Celtic Challenge, the international competition between Scottish, Welsh and Irish regional teams. History The Welsh Rugby Union (WRU) ...

. *2 teams from

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 ...

The teams will play each other once, either home or away, across five rounds before play-offs to decide a champion in March 2024.

2024-25 competition

The six teams from the 2023–24 season returned for the 2024–25 season. The competition was expanded into a full double round-robin, in effect creating a Women's Celtic League competition. As a result, the end-of-season play-off was removed and standings will be decided by table standings at the end of the season. Each team will play 5 home matches and five away matches.

Notes

References

{{Women's rugby union Women's rugby union competitions in Europe Recurring sporting events established in 2023 Women's rugby union competitions in Ireland Women's rugby union competitions in Scotland Women's rugby union competitions in Wales