Celtic Cup (rugby union)

This article is about the knockout tournament organized by the Celtic League from 2003 to 2005. For the Irish-Welsh development tournament inaugurated in 2018, see Celtic Cup (2018 rugby union tournament).

Celtic Cup

Sport	Rugby union
Instituted	2003
Inaugural season	2003–04
Ceased	2004–05
Number of teams	12 (2003–04), 8 (2004–05)
Nations	Ireland Scotland Wales
Holders	Munster (2004–05)
Most titles	Munster Ulster (1 title)
Broadcast partner	BBC
Related competition	Celtic League

The Celtic Cup was a rugby union cup competition featuring regional and provincial teams from Ireland, Scotland and Wales that ran for two seasons between 2003 and 2005. The first edition of the competition was won by Ulster and the second by Munster, both from Ireland. After the Welsh teams agreed to join the English Premiership clubs to form the Anglo-Welsh Cup for the 2005–06 season, the Celtic Cup was discontinued. A separate competition under the same name was inaugurated in 2018 for Welsh and Irish development sides.

Formation

Following the inception of Welsh regional rugby ahead of the 2003–04 season, the format of the Celtic League tournament was changed so that each team would play each other twice, home and away, with the side that accumulated the most points during the season winning the title. This was a change from previous seasons, which culminated in a knock-out format competition leading to a final. In a bid to attract broadcasters, sponsors and the public by having a "showpiece" final, the Irish, Scottish and Welsh unions agreed to launch a new knock-out cup competition, naming it the Celtic Cup.

2003–04 season

In the inaugural season, the competition was contested by all 12 Celtic League sides and ran concurrently with the league on four weekends between September and December 2003. The tournament was a knock-out format, played over one leg with the first team drawn in each fixture hosting the match. Due to the number of teams competing, eight teams contested the first round in mid-September, while four teams (Edinburgh, Munster, Ulster and Cardiff Blues) were given byes to the quarter-finals, where they would meet the winners from the first round. The winning teams from the first round were Connacht, Glasgow, Leinster and the Llanelli Scarlets.

The quarter-finals took place on the first weekend of October, with Edinburgh, Glasgow and Connacht winning their games. Ulster and Leinster drew their game 23–23 after extra time, but Ulster progressed having scored three tries to Leinster's two. The semi-finals took place in mid-November and saw both the away teams win, as Ulster beat Glasgow and Edinburgh beat Connacht. The final was played at Murrayfield Stadium in Edinburgh on 20 December 2003, and saw Ulster beat Edinburgh 27–21 to win the Celtic Cup.

Preliminary round

Quarter-finals

Semi-finals

Final

20 September – Llanelli

Llanelli Scarlets

40

3 October – Llanelli

NG Dragons

6

Llanelli Scarlets

12

19 September – Galway

Connacht

14

Connacht

26

15 November – Galway

Borders

21

Connacht

25

Edinburgh

26

3 October – Edinburgh

Edinburgh

33

Cardiff Blues

16

20 December – Edinburgh

Edinburgh

21

20 September – Bridgend

Ulster

27

Celtic Warriors

9

3 October – Glasgow

Glasgow

19

Glasgow

18

Munster

14

15 November – Glasgow

Glasgow

13

Ulster

20

3 October – Belfast

Ulster

23 (3t)

20 September – Dublin

Leinster

23 (2t)

Leinster

35

Ospreys

21

Final

20 December 2003 14:30 GMT

Edinburgh	21–27	Ulster
Try: Webster Lee Blair Con: Paterson (3/3)	Report	Try: Best Frost Con: Humphreys (1/2) Pen: Humphreys (5)

Murrayfield, Edinburgh Attendance: 17,174 Referee: Nigel Williams (Wales)

2004–05 season

The format of the competition was changed for the 2004–05 season. It was moved to April and May to run after the conclusion of the Celtic League competition, and only the top eight teams from the league took part, again in a straight knockout format. The quarter-final fixtures were based on the teams' finishing positions in the Celtic League, with the league winners Neath-Swansea Ospreys hosting the eighth-placed side Ulster, second-placed Munster hosting seventh-placed Edinburgh, third-placed Leinster hosting sixth-placed Glasgow and fourth-placed Newport Gwent Dragons hosting fifth-placed Llanelli Scarlets. In this way, the tournament was similar to a play-off system, although the Celtic League and Celtic Cup remained trophies in their own right.

Rather than continuing with the automatic home advantage for the highest-seeded teams remaining in the semi-finals, the fixtures were instead decided by a draw. Munster beat Leinster in Dublin, and the Scarlets won at home to the Ospreys. The final took place on 14 May at Lansdowne Road and saw Munster beat the Scarlets 27–16 to win the second Celtic Cup.

	Quarter-finals				Semi-finals				Final
	22 April – Dublin
	Leinster	33
					29 April – Dublin
	Glasgow	24
					Leinster	17
	22 April – Limerick
					Munster	23
	Munster	24
									6 May – Dublin
	Edinburgh	14
									Munster	27
	22 April – Newport
									Llanelli Scarlets	16
	NG Dragons	19
					29 April – Llanelli
	Llanelli Scarlets	49
					Llanelli Scarlets	23
	22 April – Swansea
					Ospreys	15
	Ospreys	23
	Ulster	16

Final

14 May 2005 17:30 IST

Munster	27–16	Llanelli Scarlets
Try: Horgan 6' c O'Gara 22' c Mullins 76' c Con: O'Gara (3/3) Pen: O'Gara 39' Drop: O'Gara 40'	Report	Try: Phillips 34' c Con: C. Thomas (1/1) Pen: C. Thomas (3) 12', 42', 59'

Lansdowne Road, Dublin Attendance: 11,500 Referee: Joel Jutge (France)

FB 15 Shaun Payne RW 14 Paul Devlin  64' OC 13 Mike Mullins IC 12 Rob Henderson LW 11 Anthony Horgan FH 10 Ronan O'Gara SH 9 Peter Stringer N8 8 Anthony Foley (c) OF 7 David Wallace BF 6 Alan Quinlan RL 5 Paul O'Connell LL 4 Donncha O'Callaghan TP 3 John Hayes HK 2 Frankie Sheahan LP 1 Marcus Horan  28' Substitutions: HK 16 Jerry Flannery PR 17 Gordon McIlwham  28' LK 18 Trevor Hogan FL 19 Denis Leamy  64' SH 20 Mike Prendergast FH 21 Paul Burke CE 22 James Storey Coach: Alan Gaffney

FB 15 Barry Davies RW 14 Garan Evans OC 13 Matthew Watkins IC 12 Tal Selley LW 11 Aisea Havili  55' FH 10 Ceiron Thomas SH 9 Mike Phillips N8 8 Andy Powell  55' OF 7 Gavin Thomas BF 6 Simon Easterby (c) RL 5 Chris Wyatt  64' LL 4 Vernon Cooper TP 3 John Davies HK 2 Matthew Rees  70' LP 1 Phil John Substitutions: PR 16 David Maddocks HK 17 Aled Gravelle  70' LK 18 Adam Jones  64' FL 19 Gavin Quinnell  55' SH 20 Chris McDonald FH 21 Gareth Bowen WG 22 Salesi Finau  55' Coach: Gareth Jenkins

Demise

At the end of the 2004–05 season, the Welsh regions signed a deal to join the English Premiership clubs in an Anglo-Welsh Cup competition from the 2005–06 season. With clashing fixtures in the two competitions, the fallout led to the Irish and Scottish sides withdrawing from Celtic competition at the end of May. Talks between the three countries in June led to an agreement to reinstate the Celtic League, but not the Celtic Cup.

For the 2009–10 season, the Celtic League adopted a play-off format similar to that used for the 2004–05 Celtic Cup, but involving the top four teams in the league at the end of the season rather than the top eight. However the Celtic Cup name was not revived and the winners of the play-offs were instead crowned the overall Celtic League champions.