Competitive club rugby is just six weeks away! Connacht Rugby today confirmed the fixtures for the upcoming Connacht Senior League and Cawley Cup with both competitions set to get underway on the weekend of the 14th/15th of August. Fixtures for the Curley Cup, the J2 Cups and the U21 Women’s Rugby Initiative will follow in the next couple of weeks. This comes after the full season plan for men’s Senior & Junior rugby was released last week.
There are some exciting changes in the Connacht Senior League and the corresponding Connacht Senior Cup. The five Senor clubs will compete in both competitions. The Senior League will be played as a precursor to the AIL which is in line to start on October 2nd. Teams will play each other once only in the Senior League with each team playing two home games and two away games. The team who top the table at the end of the 5 rounds of matches will be crowned the Senior League champions. However, in a change from the norm the Senior League winners will now also qualify for the IRFU Bateman Cup semi-finals, but that’s not all. The Senior League winners will also qualify directly for the Connacht Senior Cup Final, a move that is sure to add extra excitement to the league.
The remaining four teams will compete in de facto quarter-finals and semi-finals post-Christmas for the remaining place in the Senior Cup Final. The pairings for the Senior Cup quarter-finals will be determined by finishing positions in the Senior League. i.e. 2nd vs 5th & 3rd vs 4th. The teams who finish 2nd and 3rd in the Senior League will have home advantage in these cup quarter-finals. The overall rationale for structuring the Senior League & Senior Cup in this way is to spread games equally across the season. This ensures senior teams don’t play more than 4 weekends in a row without a break.
Fixtures for the Cawley Cup have also been confirmed. The Cawley Cup will again follow a pool based format which was introduced ahead of the curtailed 2020/21 season. The eight J1A teams will be joined by Dunmore RFC and NUIG RFC from J1B. The 10 teams will be split into two pools. Teams will play each other once only in their pool. The top two teams in each pool will qualify for the Cawley Cup semi-finals. The 3rd & 4th placed teams in each pool will qualify for the Cawley Plate semi-finals.
The Curley Cup and J2 Cups will also follow the pool based system again in the 2021/22 season. The fixtures for both competitions will be released by mid-July once all entries are confirmed. The Cawley Cup will get underway on the weekend of the 14th/15th of August while the Curley Cup and J2 Cups will kick off a week later. The Junior Leagues are then set to return from early October with fixture details to be announced in due course.
CLICK HERE TO ACCESS THE ADULT MEN'S SEASON PLAN 2021/22 Connacht Senior League Fixtures Round 1 14.08.2021
Sligo RFC v Buccaneers RFC
Ballina RFC v Galway Corinthians RFC
Round 2 21.08.2021
Buccaneers RFC v Ballina RFC
Galwegians RFC v Sligo RFC
Reserve Weekend 28.08.2021
Round 3 04.09.2021
Galway Corinthians RFC v Galwegians RFC
Sligo RFC v Ballina RFC
Round 4 11.09.2021
Ballina RFC v Galwegians RFC
Buccaneers RFC v Galway Corinthians RFC
Round 5 18.09.2021
Galway Corinthians RFC v Sligo RFC
Galwegians RFC v Buccaneers RFC
Cawley Cup Fixtures Pool 1
Round 1 15.08.2021
Creggs RFC v Castlebar RFC
Buccaneers RFC 2nd XV v Monivea RFC
Reserve Weekend 22.08.2021
Round 2 29.08.2021
Monivea RFC v Creggs RFC
Castlebar RFC v NUIG RFC
Round 3 05.09.2021
NUIG RFC v Buccaneers RFC 2nd XV
Monivea RFC v Castlebar RFC
Reserve Weekend 12.09.2021
Round 4 19.09.2021
NUIG RFC v Monivea RFC
Buccaneers RFC 2nd XV v Creggs RFC
Round 5 26.09.2021
Castlebar RFC v Buccaneers RFC 2nd XV
Creggs RFC v NUIG RFC
Pool 2
Round 1 Score Score 15.08.2021
Tuam RFC v Connemara RFC
Sligo RFC 2nd XV v Westport RFC
Reserve Weekend 22.08.2021
Round 2 Score Score 29.08.2021
Westport RFC v Tuam RFC
Connemara RFC v Dunmore RFC
Round 3 Score Score 05.09.2021
Dunmore RFC v Sligo RFC 2nd XV
Westport RFC v Connemara RFC
Reserve Weekend 12.09.2021
Round 4 Score Score 19.09.2021
Dunmore RFC v Westport RFC
Sligo RFC 2nd XV v Tuam RFC
Round 5 Score Score 26.09.2021
Connemara RFC v Sligo RFC 2nd XV
Tuam RFC v Dunmore RFC
Semi-finals W/E of 6th/7th Nov. 2021
Final W/E of 11th/12th Dec. 2021