Womens Interprovincial Championships To Return In August
The victorious Leinster players celebrate with the Interprovincial trophy following their 25-12 final win over Connacht ©INPHO/Morgan Treacy
The Vodafone Senior Women’s Interprovincial Championship and PwC U18 Women’s Interprovincial Championship are to make a welcome return in 2021.
Both competitions will kick off on the weekend of August 28th, having been unable to take place in 2020 due to COVID-19 restrictions.
The Senior Women’s Interprovincial Championship will take place on three successive weekends – August 28th, September 4th and September 11th.
Each team will play each other once, with the trophy being decided by league format. Games will be hosted by the provinces with fixtures to be confirmed in due course.
This will be the first Senior Women’s Interprovincial Championship officially sponsored by Vodafone Ireland after the announcement of their extended partnership with Irish Rugby in September 2019
The U18 Women’s Interprovincial Championship will also take place on the weekends of August 28th, September 4th and September 11th with the same competition format.
These games will be at a centralised location to assist with talent identification. PwC were announced as official sponsors of the U18 Women’s Interprovincial Championship in January 2020.
The competition’s return will kickstart the recovery of the female game and precede the restart of a revamped Energia Women’s All-Ireland League.
The Interpro Series present a significant development opportunity for emerging talent who have had extremely limited access to the game over the past 18 months. The modified format will also provide an opportunity to young players who are now too old to play age-grade representative rugby, having missed their opportunity during the pandemic.
Ireland Women’s Development Manager Amanda Greensmith told IrishRugby.ie:
“It’s exciting looking ahead to the 2021/22 season and the different elements of the season calendar coming back and offering opportunities for female players to express themselves on the pitch.
This is a huge year for women’s rugby, the Ireland squad is targeting Rugby World Cup qualification, the Energia AIL returns in an exciting new format and the Interprovincial Championships will offer fledgling talent a taste of provincial rugby. There are so many things to be positive about as we return to competitive action.”
Full fixture details for the Senior Women’s Interprovincial Championship and the U18 Women’s Interprovincial Championship will be announced in the coming weeks.