| 2002–03 Celtic League | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Countries |  Ireland Scotland Wales |
| Champions | Munster (1st title) |
| Runners-up | Neath |
| Matches played | 63 |
| Attendance | 308,374 (average 4,895 per match) |
| Tries scored | 302 (average 4.8 per match) |
| Top point scorer | Brendan Laney (Edinburgh) 137 points[1] |
| Top try scorer | Mossie Lawlor (Munster) Craig Morgan (Cardiff) Mike Mullins (Munster) 6 tries[2] |
| Official website | |
| www | |
The2002–03 Celtic League was the second season of theCeltic League, arugby union tournament involving teams from Ireland, Scotland and Wales.
Location of 2002–03 Celtic League teams in Scotland and Ireland. | Location of 2002–03 Celtic League teams in Wales. |
 Pool A; Pool B. | |
| Team | Stadium | Capacity | City, Area |
|---|---|---|---|
| Borders | Netherdale[a] | 6,000 | Galashiels, Scotland |
| Bridgend | Brewery Field | 6,000 | Bridgend, Wales |
| Caerphilly | Virginia Park | 5,000 | Caerphilly, Wales |
| Cardiff | Cardiff Arms Park | 12,500 | Cardiff, Wales |
| Connacht | Galway Sportsgrounds | 6,000 | Galway, Republic of Ireland |
| Ebbw Vale | Eugene Cross Park | 8,000 | Ebbw Vale, Wales |
| Edinburgh | Meadowbank Stadium | 16,500 | Edinburgh, Scotland |
| Glasgow | Hughenden Stadium | 6,000 | Glasgow, Scotland |
| Leinster | Donnybrook Stadium | 6,000 | Dublin, Republic of Ireland |
| Llanelli | Stradey Park | 10,800 | Llanelli, Wales |
| Munster | Thomond Park Musgrave Park | 13,200 8,500 | Limerick, Republic of Ireland Cork, Republic of Ireland |
| Neath | The Gnoll | 6,000 | Neath, Wales |
| Newport | Rodney Parade | 11,676 | Newport, Wales |
| Pontypridd | Sardis Road | 7,861 | Pontypridd, Wales |
| Swansea | St Helen's | 4,500 | Swansea, Wales |
| Ulster | Ravenhill | 12,300 | Belfast, Northern Ireland |
The teams were split into two pools and the pool stage consisted of a single round-robin; each team played the others in its pool once only.
| Team | Pld | W | D | L | PF | PA | PD | TF | TA | Try bonus | Losing bonus | Pts | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Munster | 7 | 6 | 0 | 1 | 227 | 129 | +98 | 25 | 12 | 4 | 0 | 28 |
| 2 | Edinburgh | 7 | 6 | 0 | 1 | 231 | 145 | +86 | 24 | 13 | 2 | 1 | 27 |
| 3 | Ulster | 7 | 5 | 0 | 2 | 173 | 111 | +62 | 15 | 9 | 1 | 1 | 22 |
| 4 | Neath | 7 | 4 | 0 | 3 | 153 | 121 | +32 | 15 | 12 | 1 | 1 | 18 |
| 5 | Llanelli | 7 | 3 | 0 | 4 | 191 | 168 | +23 | 23 | 16 | 3 | 2 | 17 |
| 6 | Swansea | 7 | 3 | 0 | 4 | 177 | 212 | −35 | 18 | 22 | 3 | 1 | 16 |
| 7 | Ebbw Vale | 7 | 1 | 0 | 6 | 140 | 226 | −86 | 16 | 27 | 1 | 0 | 5 |
| 8 | Caerphilly | 7 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 144 | 324 | −180 | 17 | 42 | 2 | 1 | 3 |
Under the standard bonus point system, points are awarded as follows:
| |||||||||||||
| Green background (rows 1 to 4) qualify for the knock-out stage. Source:RaboDirect PRO12 | |||||||||||||
| 30 August 2002 19:15 |
| Ebbw Vale | 0–19 | Ulster |
| Report[3] | Try:Wallace Con:Humphreys Pen:Humphreys (4) |
| Eugene Cross Park Referee:Dave Pearson |
| 6 September 2002 19:30 |
| Ulster | 18–19 | Edinburgh |
| Pen:Wallace (6) | Report[4] | Try:Laney Con:Laney Pen:Laney (3) Drop:Hodge |
| Ravenhill Attendance: 7,500 |
| 14 September 2002 14:30 |
| Swansea | 38–10 | Ulster |
| Try:K. Morgan Robinson Gibbs Payne Con:A. Thomas (3) Pen:A. Thomas (4) | Report[5] | Try:Howe Con:Humphreys Pen:Humphreys |
| St Helen's Attendance: 2,500 |
| 20 September 2002 19:30 |
| Ulster | 17–13 | Neath |
| Try:B. Cunningham Howe Con:Doak (2) Pen:Doak | Report[6] | Try:S. Williams Con:Jarvis Pen:Jarvis (2) |
| Ravenhill Attendance: 9,500 |
| 27 September 2002 19:35 |
| Ulster | 26–17 | Munster |
| Try:Doak (2) Con:Doak (2) Pen:Doak (2) | Report[7] | Try:Lawler Pen:Staunton (2) Drop:Staunton Holland |
| Ravenhill Attendance: 6,000 Referee:P. Adams |
| 4 October 2002 19:05 |
| Llanelli | 62–6 | Swansea |
| Report |
| Stradey Park Attendance: 6,883 Referee:David McHugh (Ireland)[8] |
| 5 October 2002 14:30 |
| Caerphilly | 15–67 | Ulster |
| Try:Chiltern (2) Con:McLaughlin Pen:McLaughlin | Report[9][10] | Try:Neil Best (2) Howe Brosnihan McWhirter Stewart Bell Sexton Con:Humphreys (6) Pen:Humphreys (5) |
| Virginia Park Attendance: 750 |
| 25 October 2002 19:35 |
| Ulster | 16–9 | Llanelli |
| Try:Doak Con:Humphreys Pen:Humphreys Drop:Humphreys | Report[11] | Pen:Jones (3) |
| Ravenhill Attendance: 10,500 Referee:John Hogg |
| Team | Pld | W | D | L | PF | PA | PD | TF | TA | Try bonus | Losing bonus | Pts | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Pontypridd | 7 | 6 | 0 | 1 | 182 | 120 | +62 | 15 | 12 | 2 | 0 | 26 |
| 2 | Glasgow | 7 | 5 | 0 | 2 | 216 | 166 | +50 | 22 | 20 | 2 | 1 | 23 |
| 3 | Cardiff | 7 | 4 | 0 | 3 | 178 | 151 | +27 | 17 | 12 | 2 | 2 | 20 |
| 4 | Connacht | 7 | 5 | 0 | 2 | 126 | 176 | −50 | 11 | 17 | 0 | 0 | 20 |
| 5 | Leinster | 7 | 3 | 0 | 4 | 191 | 154 | +37 | 22 | 14 | 3 | 3 | 18 |
| 6 | Borders | 7 | 2 | 0 | 5 | 142 | 169 | −27 | 15 | 11 | 1 | 3 | 12 |
| 7 | Bridgend | 7 | 2 | 0 | 5 | 127 | 187 | −60 | 11 | 20 | 1 | 1 | 10 |
| 8 | Newport | 7 | 1 | 0 | 6 | 121 | 160 | −39 | 9 | 16 | 0 | 4 | 8 |
Under the standard bonus point system, points are awarded as follows:
| |||||||||||||
| Green background (rows 1 to 4) qualify for the knock-out stage. Source:RaboDirect PRO12 | |||||||||||||
| Quarter-finals | Semi-finals | Final | ||||||||
| 29 November 2002 – Musgrave Park | ||||||||||
| Munster | 33 | |||||||||
| 3 January 2003 – Thomond Park | ||||||||||
| Connacht | 3 | |||||||||
| Munster | 42 | |||||||||
| 30 November 2002 – Hughenden | ||||||||||
| Ulster | 10 | |||||||||
| Glasgow | 17 | |||||||||
| 1 February 2003 – Millennium Stadium | ||||||||||
| Ulster | 20 | |||||||||
| Munster | 37 | |||||||||
| 29 November 2002 – Sardis Road | ||||||||||
| Neath | 17 | |||||||||
| Pontypridd | 12 | |||||||||
| 4 January 2003 – The Gnoll | ||||||||||
| Neath | 13 | |||||||||
| Neath | 32 | |||||||||
| 30 November 2002 – Meadowbank | ||||||||||
| Cardiff | 10 | |||||||||
| Edinburgh | 22 | |||||||||
| Cardiff | 26 | |||||||||
| 30 November 2002 14:45 |
| Glasgow | 17–20 | Ulster |
| Try: Steel Pen: Hayes (4) | Report | Try:Shields Ward Con:Humphreys (2) Pen:Humphreys (2) |
| Hughenden Attendance: 5,346 |
| 3 January 2003 19:35 |
| Munster | 42–10 | Ulster |
| Try:Hayes Quinlan Kelly Mullins Galwey Con:O'Gara (3) Keane Pen:O'Gara (3) | Report | Try:Humphreys Con:Humphreys Pen:Humphreys |
| Thomond Park Attendance: 12,000 |
| 1 February 2003 14:45 |
| Munster | 37–17 | Neath |
| Try:Alan Quinlan Marcus Horan Rob Henderson Con:Jeremy Staunton (2) Pen:Jeremy Staunton (2) Ronan O'Gara (4) | Report | Try:Adam Jones Pen:Lee Jarvis (3) Drop:Lee Jarvis |
| Millennium Stadium,Cardiff Attendance: 30,076 Referee:Chris White (England) |
|
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Note: Flags to the left of player names indicate national team as has been defined underIRB eligibility rules, or primary nationality for players who have not yet earned international senior caps. Players may hold one or more non-IRB nationalities.
Top points scorers[edit]
| Top try scorers[edit]
|
