Celtic Challenge: Round 9 Highlights

There is now just one round of the Celtic Challenge’s regular season remaining, and both the Wolfhounds and the Clovers have home semi-finals to look forward to over the weekend of March 21-22.

The two Irish teams will complete the league phase of the cross-border competition next Saturday with a derby clash at the UCD Bowl (kick-off 3pm). Tickets are on sale now from Ticketmaster.ie. There will be live coverage on the TG4 Player and the Celtic Challenge YouTube channel.

The Wolfhounds are the defending champions and current table toppers, and have racked up eight bonus point wins in nine matches. Since returning from injury, new Ireland captain Erin King has scored five tries in seven appearances.

Young second row Aoibheann McGrath has matched King’s try tally, helping the Clovers to put together seven victories in a row. Denis Fogarty’s charges have won in Glasgow, Ystrad Mynach, and Edinburgh in the last four rounds.

Based on the current standings, the Clovers are set to host Gwalia Lightning at the semi-final stage, while Brython Thunder, in fourth place, would travel to Neill Alcorn’s Wolfhounds.

It was announced recently that the first ever Celtic Challenge final will take place at Edinburgh’s Hive Stadium on Saturday, March 28 (kick-off 3pm). Tickets are available to buy here.

The Wolfhounds made a quick return trip to Wales, eager to bounce back from their 14-0 defeat to Brython Thunder. Facing third-placed Gwalia, head coach Alcorn welcomed back the likes of captain Aoife Dalton, Aoibheann Reilly, and King.

Ireland international Enya Breen made her return from injury as the Clovers’ final game outside of Ireland this year took them to Edinburgh. They were 31-7 winners over the Scottish side in Galway just last week.