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Last Saturday saw the first major event of the Irish Touch Rugby season with the 2026 Men’s and Women’s Interprovincial Championships taking place at the Sport Ireland campus. Connacht entered strong teams in both competitions with the Women taking an excellent Silver Medal. Players from Connacht’s two Touch Rugby clubs, Racoon West of Galway City and Buccaneers Touch from Athlone, formed the backbone of both Connacht squads.
After the initial round robin stage where each province played each other once, Munster Women topped the table with three wins from three with Connacht pipping Leinster for second place on scoring difference. The women from the West began with an impressive 4-1 win against Ulster before going down 3-2 to Munster. A 1-1 draw against Leinster in the final round robin game qualified Connacht for the final against Munster on score difference. The final proved to be a tight and tense battle with Aoife Purtill putting Connacht in front before Tania Rosser equalised soon after for Munster. There were no further scores so the side finished level at 1-1 at the end of normal time. The game then proceeded to a ‘drop-off’, a two-minute period of extra time where both sides dropped down from 6 players to 4. Munster took control at this point and two tries from Eileen Russell and Eimear Gorman secured the title for the Southerners.
Despite finishing on the losing side, Connacht’s Aoife Purtill deservedly took home the Tournament MVP award for the second time having previously won it in 2024. Aoife was also joint top scorer with Eileen Russell of Munster and Cara Summerbell of Leinster on 3 tries.
In the Men’s competition, the four provinces were joined by a strong London Irish side containing English-based players who are either Irish-born or Irish qualified. After the round robin, London Irish topped the table with Ulster in second place. The Connacht Men had a difficult afternoon in what was a ferociously tough competition. They started brightly with a 2-2 draw against Leinster before going down 4-2 to table toppers London Exiles. Connacht could still stay in contention with a win against Munster but they went down to a narrow 2-1 defeat. In their final game, Ulster got the better of Connacht by 5-3 consigning the men in green to fifth place. The best performer for Connacht on the day was Joshua Fowden while Cillian Daly led the scoring for the Westerners with 3 tries.
The inaugural Touch Interprovincial Championships were held in 2024 and they are now a firm fixture in the Ireland Touch Association (ITA) calendar. This competition showcases a very high standard of Touch as well as helping to identify and develop the next generation of international players. With the European Touch Championships coming up in Vichy in July both Ireland Men’s and Women’s Open Head Coaches, John Ennis and Mike Cowan, were watching the action on Saturday with interest.
The Interprovincial Championships is the brainchild of main organiser Brian Leveau and he was delighted with the quality of the sport on display. I thought the standard of the games was through the roof and having the Men’s and Women’s games side-by-side was really cool.
Ireland Men’s Open player James O’Donnell of London Irish concurred. ‘Interpros 2026 was the highest standard of touch at a domestic competition that we have ever had. It is fantastic to see so many under 18s and under 20s playing at the Opens level, especially in the women’s division. Huge credit to Brian and all the organising team for orchestrating the event.’
Anyone who wishes to catch a further glimpse of high-level Touch Rugby in Ireland can come along to the Sports Ireland Campus on Sunday February 1st between 10:00am and 3:00pm for the 2026 Mixed Interprovincial Championships. See www.irelandtouch.ie or Ireland Touch on Instagram and Facebook for more details on this or anything to do with Touch Rugby in Ireland.
Anyone wishing to get involved in Touch Rugby here in Connacht can contact Racoon West Touch on Instagram or Buccaneers Touch Rugby on Facebook.
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2026 Women’s Touch Rugby Interprovincial Championship Results
Ulster 1 Connacht 4
Scorers: Aoife Purtill 2, Amelie Birrell, Neasa Newell.
Connacht 2 Munster 3
Scorers: Eimear Murphy, Aoibhín Tynan.
Connacht 1 Leinster 1
Scorer: Risa Egerter
3rd Place Play-off: Leinster 2 Ulster 1
Final:
Munster 3
Scorers: Tania Rosser, Eileen Russell, Eimear Gorman
Connacht 1
Scorer: Aoife Purtill
Referees: Tonka Selby, Delwyn Ledingham, Brad Goodey
Connacht Women: Aoibhín Tynan, Aoife Purtill, Eimear Murphy, Emerald House, Georgia Codyre, Katie Harmon, Kelsi McGrath, (captain). Molly Copelin, Neasa Newell, Risa Egerter, Amelie Birrell.
Top Scorer: Aoife Purtill, 3 tries
MVP: Aoife Purtill
2026 Men’s Touch Rugby Interprovincial Championship Results
Connacht 2 Leinster 2
Scorers: Seb Caldwell, Joshua Fowden
London Irish 4 Connacht 2
Scorers: Ben Layden, Cillian Daly
Connacht 1 Munster 2
Scorer: Ben Layden
Connacht 3 Ulster 5
Scorers: Cillian Daly 2, Joshua Fowden.
3rd Place Play-off: Munster 6 Leinster 4
Final:
London Irish 4
Ulster 2
Referees: Brad Goodey, Feidhlim Byrne, Frank Ennis
Connacht Men: Matt Kennerson (coach) Ben Porter, Cian Copelin, Cillian Daly, Conor McNamara, Conor Murphy, Garry Ennett, Jac Griffiths, Jack Gordon, Joshua Fowden, Darren Curran, Nigel Burke, Paul Gavin, Ben Layden, Michael Forde, Gavin Gleeson, Seb Caldwell.
Top Scorer: Cillian Daly, 3 tries
MVP: Joshua Fowden
