The Irish Rugby Football Union (IRFU) have announced the return of the ‘A’ Interprovincial Men’s Championship with the first round next Saturday the 16th of November with the Connacht Eagles taking on Leinster “A” at Creggs RFC grounds with a KO at 1pm.
This will be a great opportunity to see professional rugby being played outside of the bigger stadia, getting up close and personal to the players.
The competition is being run with a similar points-scoring system as used in the URC. A Championship winner will be declared after the final round of matches in May and the IRFU will be commissioning a legacy trophy to mark the 150th anniversary celebrations. Welcoming the news, IRFU Performance Director David Humphreys commented: “We’re delighted to kick-start the Men’s Interprovincial Championship which will provide a host of players with a further means of developing in a meaningful competition. With the success of the Emerging Ireland tours, coupled with the return of an ‘A’ international against England next year, it is vital that we continue to provide players at provincial and Club levels with opportunities to impress outside of the traditional URC and EPCR fixture windows.
“Discussions have been ongoing for some time to provide players with meaningful games and all four provinces are unanimously supportive of this competition. It is also great to see provinces taking matches around their local Clubs. It is anticipated that as the competition progresses over the coming seasons these fixtures won’t clash with Energia All-Ireland League fixtures for the most part, thus potentially also offering players from the Club game with an opportunity to impress. This competition will form another important part of the representative pathway from Energia AIL to URC levels for Academy players upwards over the coming seasons.”
A big crowd is expected and supporters are asked to arrive early and take directions from club stewards on site. Some parking may be available within the grounds and when full, parking will be on the roads outside the grounds.
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