With a chill in the air, the twinkle of Christmas lights along the streets and Christmas exams just around the corner we are entering the final couple of weeks of action in the SSI/IRFU Men’s and Women’s Rugby Competitions before the festive period.
A very successful Men’s Rugby League has been up and running since October and Division 1 is on a knife edge with three teams still in with a chance of capturing the title. Last year’s champions IT Carlow are joint top on fourteen points with Athlone IT, with IT Carlow playing their final league game tomorrow at home to Dublin IT. Garda College will host Athlone IT tomorrow in what is a huge game with both teams having two games left, the winner of this game will be in a position to win the competition in the final round next week.
Waterford IT and Limerick IT will meet in the final of Division 2 at 2pm tomorrow Wednesday November 23rd at 2pm in WIT Arena. Waterford IT topped Division 2 B with wins over IT Tallaght and IT Carlow B, while Limerick IT saw off Limerick City rivals University of Limerick and Mary I and also IT Tralee in topping Division 2A. Limerick IT will be looking to go one better than the same stage last year where they lost out to Dublin IT in the final.
On Thursday night November 24th at 7pm Ulster University Jordanstown is the venue for the Men’s Rugby Division 3 final as Ulster University Coleraine take on Athlone IT ‘B’. Ulster University Coleraine topped Division 3A, a group that contained IT Sligo, Letterkenny IT and Ulster University Jordanstown before defeating Dundalk IT in the semi-final last week on a 14-10 score line. Athlone IT ‘B’ recovered from an opening round loss to Galway Mayo IT in Division 3D to top the group after wins over Maynooth University and NUI Galway. In the semi-final last Wednesday, the midlands college defeated University of Limerick ‘B’ on a 24-5 score line.
After Christmas the draw for Men’s Rugby Cup competitions namely Brendan Johnston Cup, Tier 2 Cup and Tier 3 Cup, will take place in the Aviva Stadium on January 25th. (Full details on Cup draw will be forwarded to all clubs in December)
In Women’s Rugby Division 1 University of Limerick have hit the ground running this season and sit top of the table with three win’s from three games and look certain to qualify for the semi-finals at this juncture. The three other teams in the semi-final shake up currently are, NUI Galway on 11 points, Dublin City University on 9 points and University College Cork on 5 points. A full round of fixtures in Division 1 this week sees UCC v NUIG, Trinity College Dublin v IT Carlow and DCU host UCD in a Dublin derby.
Division 2 of Women’s Rugby sees current champions University of Limerick ‘B’ out in front with maximum 15 points from three games. Athlone IT, IT Sligo and DCU ‘B’ sit joint second on 5 points each. With a couple of re-arranged fixtures coming up before Christmas a clearer picture for qualification will be visible with Waterford IT and Maynooth University only a win away from moving right into contention also.
Thank you to all fixtures organisers and sports officers for your continued support and help in ensuring all games are played and we continue to develop our competitions each season.
