Celtic League adopts new structure

THE Celtic League will adopt a more traditional format as of next season after representatives from Wales, Scotland and Ireland agreed to make changes.

The tournament, which previously saw the top four from two pools progress to a knock-out stage, will now be made up of just one league with each team playing each other home and away - a total of 22 games for each of Ireland's four provinces.

Despite the obvious problem of player fatigue, and that fact that the tournament clashes with the World Cup in Australia, IRFU chief executive Phillip Browne declared that he was very pleased with the new structure. "The introduction of a knock out Celtic Cup competition is a further fillip which I hope will prove to be attractive to broadcasters, sponsors and the rugby public."