Ospreys look forward to Celtic Cup development opportunities as the 2019 fixture weekends are revealed.
The Celtic Cup, nowin its second year, features emerging professional players and will kick off in
late August, running consecutively for 7 weeks, before a final in mid-October. The
competition, which features development squads from Connacht, Leinster,
Munster, Ulster, Blues, Dragons, Scarlets and the Ospreys aims to provide a
learning environment for players, coaches and referees by challenging them to
manage themselves and perform within a professional campaign structure week on
week.
The 2019 Ospreys Development campaign will kick off with a trip to Munster on the
weekend of the 23rd August, before a first home game against
Connacht a week later. The other two home games for the emerging young Ospreys
will be against Cardiff Blues on the 13/14/15th September and
against Leinster the following weekend.
Ospreys Development Head coach Richard Fussell commented on the competition:
"This competition provides an exciting opportunity for young players on the pathway to test themselves and experience a higher level of rugby. This year is particularly interesting as the Rugby World Cup means a number of our B Group players will be stepping up to the senior squad. In turn, we will be looking to expose some new players to this standard and have no doubt it will prove hugely beneficial to their ongoing development, as it will to the young coaching team, myself included."
Ospreys Development Pathway Manager Gareth Walters added:
“We know this season with our International players being on World Cup duties and former Development team players filling their shoes in the senior squad, we’re really going to rely on the young lads coming through to step up and take part in this competition. It’s a really exciting opportunity though for these emerging players to seize, and learn huge amounts from.
“From a coaching
and management team perspective it’s a hugely beneficial development tool and taking
part in a professional campaign structure will really help the boys to bridge
the gap between age grade rugby and senior professional competitions to help
them in their future rugby careers.”
The competition will run alongside some of the early rounds of the Indigo Group
Premiership and the first round of the Specsavers Cup, in Wales. It will also
take place while the Rugby World Cup is being played in Japan.
The opening round of the Guinness PRO14 will be on the weekend of 27-29
September, which means there will be a clash of fixtures over the last two
league weekend and for the Final.
OSPREYS CELTIC CUP FIXTURES 2019
Aug 23 - 25
Munster v Ospreys
Aug 30 - Sep 1
Ospreys v Connacht
Sept 6 - 8
Scarlets v Ospreys
Sept 13 - 15
Ospreys v Cardiff Blues
Sept 20 - 22
Ospreys v Leinster
Sept 27 - 29
Ulster v Ospreys
Oct 4 - 6
Dragons v Ospreys
Saturday, Oct 12
Final