Celtic Cup (rugby union)
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| 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.
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.[1]
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.[2] 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.[3] 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.[4]
| 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 | |||||||||||||
