2002–03 Celtic League

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.rabodirectpro12.com
← 2001–02 2003–04 →

The 2002–03 Celtic League was the second season of the Celtic League, a rugby union tournament involving teams from Ireland, Scotland and Wales.

Teams[]

Connacht Leinster Munster Ulster Edinburgh Glasgow The Borders South Wales: see map at right class=notpageimage| Location of 2002–03 Celtic League teams in Scotland and Ireland.	Bridgend Caerphilly Cardiff Ebbw Vale Llanelli Neath Newport Pontypridd Swansea class=notpageimage| 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

Pool stage[]

The teams were split into two pools and the pool stage consisted of a single round-robin - each team played the other teams in its pool once only.

Pool A Table[]

	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: 4 points for a win 2 points for a draw 1 bonus point for scoring 4 tries (or more) (Try bonus) 1 bonus point for losing by 7 points (or fewer) (Losing bonus)
Green background (rows 1 to 4) qualify for the knock-out stage. Source: RaboDirect PRO12

Pool A Fixtures[]

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Pool B Table[]

	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: 4 points for a win 2 points for a draw 1 bonus point for scoring 4 tries (or more) (Try bonus) 1 bonus point for losing by 7 points (or fewer) (Losing bonus)
Green background (rows 1 to 4) qualify for the knock-out stage. Source: RaboDirect PRO12

Pool B Fixtures[]

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Knockout stages[]

	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

Quarter finals[]

Semi finals[]

Final[]

15 Jeremy Staunton 14 John Kelly 13 Mike Mullins 12 Jason Holland 11 Mossie Lawlor 10 Ronan O'Gara 9 Peter Stringer 8 Anthony Foley 7 Alan Quinlan 6 Jim Williams (c) 5 Mick O'Driscoll 4 Donncha O'Callaghan 3 John Hayes 2 Frankie Sheahan 1 Marcus Horan Replacements: 16 James Blaney 17 Martin Cahill 18 Mick Galwey 19 Denis Leamy 20 Mike Prendergast 21 Rob Henderson 22 Killian Keane Coach: Alan Gaffney

15 Adrian Durston 14 Gareth Morris 13 James Storey 12 Tevita Tiueti 11 Shane Williams 10 Lee Jarvis 9 Andy Moore 8 Nathan Bonner-Evans 7 Brett Sinkinson 6 Alivereti 'Alfi' Mocelutu 5 Gareth Llewellyn (c) 4 Andy Newman 3 Adam Jones 2 Barry Williams 1 Duncan Jones Replacements: 16 Allan Bateman 17 Shaun Connor 18 Steve Tandy 19 Adam Matthews 20 Rowland Phillips 21 Lyndon Bateman 22 Andrew Millward Coach: Lyn Jones

Leading scorers[]

Note: Flags to the left of player names indicate national team as has been defined under IRB eligibility rules, or primary nationality for players who have not yet earned international senior caps. Players may hold one or more non-IRB nationalities.

Notes[]

External links[]

• Results from official website

References[]