Season Plan Confirmed For 2023/24 IRFU Club Competitions
Season structure for the Energia All-Ireland League Men’s Divisions and Women’s Division has been confirmed for 2023/24.
The wider season plan was agreed at the most recent meeting of the IRFU Rugby Committee following a series of engagements with participating clubs through the AIL Men’s and Women’s Divisional Forums.
The Club International Series for Energia All-Ireland League Men’s Division players will take place for the first time in four years. Ireland Club XV will play a two-game series in a home/away format on March 8th and March 15th 2024.
The semi-finals of the Energia Bateman Cup have been brought forward to the start of the season with the final scheduled for January 6th 2024.
Both Men’s and Women’s Divisions of Energia AIL will feature ‘No Rugby Weekends’ for the first time this season. These weekends are separate to reserve weekends in the calendar to allow players, coaches and volunteers to manage their time away from rugby. The first No Rugby Weekend will coincide with the Rugby World Cup 2023 Final on October 28th.
The finals weekend for both the Men’s and Women’s Divisions are scheduled for Sunday April 28th 2024. The IRFU are currently working to align these finals to the same venue with details to follow.
The Vodafone Women’s Interprovincial Championship will revert to the autumn window and take place over four rounds to add a finals day to the traditional round-robin. The competition will run between August 12th and September 2nd with fixture details to be confirmed in due course.
There’s a return to home and away fixtures in the regular season of the Energia All-Ireland League Women’s Division with Round 1 set for the weekend of Saturday September 16th 2023.
As advised in April, the nine teams who participated in the 2022/23 season will be retained and provisions to expand the number of participating teams into 2024/25 and beyond are being developed.
The Energia All-Ireland Women’s Cup has been retained and will take place over three weekends in January 2024.
IRFU National Competitions Committee and Women’s Sub Committee member Lorna Byrne says:
“We’ve had significant discussions with club and player representatives in recent weeks, mainly through the AIL Forum, and reinstating home and away games in the regular AIL season featured heavily.”
“The implementation of No Rugby Weekends was welcomed by all stakeholders and with the Celtic Challenge series set to expand this season we’ve worked to minimise crossover.
“The high performance calendar runs parallel to the Energia AIL season. Our elite players will always have a home in the AIL, and the AIL will continue to serve the 90% of players for whom it’s their highest form of competition.
“Clubs also recognise the value of cup competitions as a secondary opportunity for silverware so we’ve restructured it into the January window.”
To help manage the length of the overall season, semi-finals have been removed from the AIL competition for 2023/24. The teams that finish 1st and 2nd in the regular season league table will contest the final.
IRFU Competitions Manager Kevin Beggs added:
“The global calendar is coming into effect and so we were able to map out the domestic season for the coming 12 months with a much clearer picture of what the high performance calendar looks like.”
“What clubs want is consistency and that’s what we’re working towards. This structure will move us into a multi-year format and make it easier to map out games in three week blocks, which is something we know players in both the men’s and women’s divisions want.”
Vodafone Women’s Interprovincial Championship:
Round 1: Weekend of Saturday August 12th 2024
Round 2: Weekend of Saturday August 19th 2024
Round 3: Weekend of Saturday August 26th 2024
Finals: Weekend of Saturday September 2nd 2024
Energia Bateman Cup:
Semi-Finals: Saturday September 30th 2023
Final: Saturday January 6th 2024
2024 Club International Series:
Series Game 1: Friday March 8th 2024
Series Game 2: Friday March 15th 2024
Energia All-Ireland Women’s Cup:
Round 1: Weekend of January 6th 2024
Round 2: Weekend of January 20th 2024
Cup/Plate/Shield Final: Weekend of January 27th 2024
Energia All-Ireland Men’s Junior Cup:
Round of 16: Saturday October 7th 2023
Quarter-Finals: Saturday November 18th 2023
Semi-Finals: Saturday December 16th 2023
Final: Saturday January 27th 2024
Energia All-Ireland Women’s Junior Cup:
TBC
Energia All-Ireland League Promotion Playoffs:
Semi-Finals: Saturday April 6th 2024
Final: Saturday April 13th 2024
IRFU Men’s Junior Interprovincial Series:
Round 1: Saturday April 27th 2024
Round 2: Saturday May 4th 2024
Round 3: Saturday May 11th 2024
IRFU Fraser McMullen Cup:
Quarter-Finals: Weekend of Saturday March 30th 2024
Semi-Finals: Weekend of Saturday April 6th 2024
Final: Weekend of Saturday April 13th 2024
Energia All-Ireland League Men’s Divisions 2023/24:
Round 1: Weekend of Saturday October 7th 2023
Round 2: Weekend of Saturday October 14th 2023
Round 3: Weekend of Saturday October 21st 2023
NO RUGBY WEEKEND – Weekend of Saturday October 28th 2023
Round 4: Weekend of Saturday November 4th 2023
Round 5: Weekend of Saturday November 11th 2023
Round 6: Weekend of Saturday November 18th 2023
Round 7: Weekend of Saturday December 2nd 2023
Round 8: Weekend of Saturday December 9th 2023
Round 9: Weekend of Saturday December 16th 2023
Round 10: Weekend of Saturday January 13th 2024
Round 11: Weekend of Saturday January 20th 2024
Round 12: Weekend of Saturday January 27th 2024
Round 13: Weekend of Saturday February 10th 2024
Round 14: Weekend of Saturday February 17th 2024
NO RUGBY WEEKEND – Weekend of Saturday February 24th 2024
Round 15: Weekend of Saturday March 2nd 2024
Round 16: Weekend of Saturday March 23rd 2024
Round 17: Weekend of Saturday March 30th 2024
Round 18: Weekend of Saturday April 6th 2024
Play-Off Semi-Finals: Weekend of Saturday April 20th 2024
Energia All-Ireland League Men’s Division and Play-Off Finals: Weekend of Saturday April 27th 2024
Energia All-Ireland League Women’s Divisions 2023/24:
Round 1: Weekend of Saturday September 16th 2023
Round 2: Weekend of Saturday September 23rd 2023
Round 3: Weekend of Saturday October 7th 2023
Round 4: Weekend of Saturday October 14th 2023
Round 5: Weekend of Saturday October 21st 2023
NO RUGBY WEEKEND – Weekend of Saturday October 28th 2023
Round 6: Weekend of Saturday November 4th 2023
Round 7: Weekend of Saturday November 11th 2023
Round 8: Weekend of Saturday November 18th 2023
Round 9: Weekend of Saturday December 2nd 2023
Round 10: Weekend of Saturday December 9th 2023
Round 11: Weekend of Saturday February 10th 2024
Round 12: Weekend of Saturday February 17th 2024
NO RUGBY WEEKEND – Weekend of Saturday February 24th 2024
Round 13: Weekend of Saturday March 2nd 2024
Round 14: Weekend of Saturday March 9th 2024
Round 15: Weekend of Saturday March 16th 2024
Round 16: Weekend of Saturday March 30th 2024
Round 17: Weekend of Saturday April 6th 2024
Round 18: Weekend of Saturday April 6th 2024
Energia All-Ireland Women’s Division Final: Weekend of Saturday April 27th 2024