2002 �03 CELTIC LEAGUE

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
Top try scorer	Mossie Lawlor ( Munster); Craig Morgan ( Cardiff); Mike Mullins ( Munster); 6 tries
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 others 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

30 August 2002
19:00

Neath	25–6	Caerphilly
	Report

The Gnoll
Attendance: 3,000

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

30 August 2002
19:30

Edinburgh	30–20	Swansea
	Report

Meadowbank
Attendance: 3,141

31 August 2002
19:05

Llanelli	13–20	Munster
	Report

Stradey Park

6 September 2002
19:05

Swansea	16–20	Neath
	Report

St Helen's
Attendance: 4,000

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

6 September 2002
19:35

Munster	48–23	Ebbw Vale
	Report

Musgrave Park
Attendance: 3,500

7 September 2002
14:30

Caerphilly	34–43	Llanelli
	Report

Virginia Park
Attendance: 1,300

13 September 2002
19:30

Edinburgh	21–28	Munster
	Report

Meadowbank
Attendance: 4,500

14 September 2002
14:30

Ebbw Vale	45–25	Caerphilly
	Report

Eugene Cross Park
Attendance: 1,000

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

14 September 2002
17:30

Neath	29–13	Llanelli
	Report

The Gnoll
Attendance: 6,000

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

20 September 2002
19:35

Munster	38–27	Swansea
	Report

Musgrave Park
Attendance: 8,000

21 September 2002
14:30

Caerphilly	32–66	Edinburgh
	Report

Virginia Park
Attendance: 800

21 September 2002
14:30

Llanelli	37–25	Ebbw Vale
	Report

Stradey Park
Attendance: 3,000

27 September 2002
19:05

Neath	34–7	Ebbw Vale
	Report

The Gnoll
Attendance: 3,500

27 September 2002
19:30

Edinburgh	38–14	Llanelli
	Report

Meadowbank
Attendance: 3,890

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

28 September 2002
14:30

Swansea	37–32	Caerphilly
	Report

St Helen's
Attendance: 2,500

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

5 October 2002
14:30

Ebbw Vale	20–30	Edinburgh
	Report

Eugene Cross Park

5 October 2002
17:30

Neath	19–35	Munster
	Report

The Gnoll
Attendance: 4,000

25 October 2002
19:30

Edinburgh	27–13	Neath
	Report

Meadowbank
Attendance: 3,171

25 October 2002
19:30

Munster	41–0	Caerphilly
	Report

Thomond Park
Attendance: 2,532

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

26 October 2002
14:30

Swansea	33–20	Ebbw Vale
	Report

St Helen's
Attendance: 2,000

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

30 August 2002
19:05

Newport	5–13	Bridgend
	Report

Rodney Parade
Attendance: 6,165

30 August 2002
19:30

Borders	27–28	Connacht
	Report

Philiphaugh
Attendance: 3,000

30 August 2002
19:35

Leinster	31–18	Pontypridd
	Report

Donnybrook
Attendance: 4,500

31 August 2002
14:30

Cardiff	35–44	Glasgow
	Report

Cardiff Arms Park
Attendance: 7,000

6 September 2002
18:00

Connacht	23–22	Cardiff
	Report

Sportsground
Attendance: 2,500

6 September 2002
19:30

Glasgow	25–21	Leinster
	Report

Hughenden
Attendance: 4,250

7 September 2002
14:30

Bridgend	41–9	Borders
	Report

Brewery Field
Attendance: 3,000

7 September 2002
19:05

Pontypridd	21–16	Newport
	Report

Sardis Road
Attendance: 5,800

13 September 2002
19:05

Bridgend	9–26	Pontypridd
	Report

Brewery Field
Attendance: 4,500

13 September 2002
19:30

Borders	15–18	Cardiff
	Report

Mansfield Park
Attendance: 4,213

13 September 2002
19:35

Leinster	23–26	Connacht
	Report

Donnybrook
Attendance: 6,000

14 September 2002
14:30

Newport	25–31	Glasgow
	Report

Rodney Parade
Attendance: 4,500

20 September 2002
17:45

Connacht	18–12	Newport
	Report

Sportsground
Attendance: 3,000

20 September 2002
19:05

Pontypridd	28–27	Borders
	Report

Sardis Road
Attendance: 4,600

20 September 2002
19:30

Glasgow	47–11	Bridgend
	Report

Hughenden
Attendance: 4,500

21 September 2002
17:30

Cardiff	30–17	Leinster
	Report

Cardiff Arms Park
Attendance: 6,500

27 September 2002
19:30

Borders	23–18	Leinster
	Report

Netherdale
Attendance: 4,000

28 September 2002
14:30

Bridgend	23–24	Connacht
	Report

Brewery Field
Attendance: 2,000

28 September 2002
14:30

Pontypridd	34–28	Glasgow
	Report

Sardis Road
Attendance: 5,500

28 September 2002
17:30

Newport	25–27	Cardiff
	Report

Rodney Parade
Attendance: 8,118

4 October 2002
19:30

Borders	33–12	Glasgow
	Report

Netherdale
Attendance: 5,500

4 October 2002
19:35

Leinster	42–14	Newport
	Report

Donnybrook
Attendance: 6,000

5 October 2002
14:30

Cardiff	37–12	Bridgend
	Report

Cardiff Arms Park
Attendance: 7,500

5 October 2002
15:00

Connacht	0–40	Pontypridd
	Report

Sportsground
Attendance: 3,000

25 October 2002
19:30

Glasgow	29–7	Connacht
	Report

Hughenden
Attendance: 3,250

26 October 2002
14:30

Bridgend	18–39	Leinster
	Report

Brewery Field
Attendance: 1,000

26 October 2002
14:30

Newport	24–8	Borders
	Report

Rodney Parade
Attendance: 5,700

26 October 2002
17:30

Pontypridd	15–9	Cardiff
	Report

Sardis Road
Attendance: 7,500

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

29 November 2002
19:05

Pontypridd	12–13	Neath
	Report

Sardis Road
Attendance: 6,000

29 November 2002
19:35

Munster	33–3	Connacht
	Report

Musgrave Park
Attendance: 8,000

30 November 2002
14:45

Glasgow	17–20	Ulster
	Report

Hughenden
Attendance: 5,346

30 November 2002
17:30

Edinburgh	22–26	Cardiff
	Report

Meadowbank
Attendance: 3,918

Semi finals

3 January 2003
19:35

Munster	42–10	Ulster
	Report

Thomond Park
Attendance: 12,000

4 January 2003
17:30

Neath	32–10	Cardiff
	Report

The Gnoll
Attendance: 6,471

Final

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)


	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.

Top points scorers

Rank	Player	Club	Points^[1]
1	Brendan Laney	Edinburgh	137
2	Tommy Hayes	Glasgow	105
3	Iestyn Harris	Cardiff	95
3	Lee Jarvis	Neath	95
5	Arwel Thomas	Swansea	86

Top try scorers

Rank	Player	Club	Tries^[2]
1	Mossie Lawlor	Munster	6
	Craig Morgan	Cardiff
	Mike Mullins	Munster
4	Denis Hickie	Leinster	5
4	Derrick Lee	Edinburgh	5

Notes

^ Borders also played matches at Philiphaugh Stadium, Selkirk and Mansfield Park, Hawick.

External links

Results from official website

References

^ ^a ^b "Leading Points-Scorers". RaboDirect PRO12. Archived from the original on 17 January 2014. Retrieved 12 November 2013.
^ ^a ^b "Leading Try-Scorers". RaboDirect PRO12. Archived from the original on 17 January 2014. Retrieved 12 November 2013.
^ "Scrappy victory for Ulster", BBC Sport, 30 August 2002
^ Gavin Mairs "Last gasp agony for jaded Ulster", Belfast Telegraph, 7 September 2002
^ "Swansea's blistering pace exposes Ulster's deficiencies", Irish Independent, 15 September 2002
^ "Ulster edge out Neath", BBC Sport, 20 September 2002
^ "Doak one-man show just too much for Munster", Irish Independent, 28 September 2002
^ "'We got what we deserved' - Connolly". www.walesonline.co.uk. 5 October 2002. Retrieved 22 January 2018.
^ Mark McAuley, "Over and rout... Ulster whip the Welsh boyos", Sunday Life", 6 October 2002
^ "Ulster hammer Caerphilly", BBC Sport, 5 October 2002
^ "Ulster sneak past Llanelli", BBC Sport, 25 October 2002

[3] Borders also played matches at Philiphaugh Stadium, Selkirk and Mansfield Park, Hawick.

[TopPoints-1] "Leading Points-Scorers". RaboDirect PRO12. Archived from the original on 17 January 2014. Retrieved 12 November 2013.

[TopTries-2] "Leading Try-Scorers". RaboDirect PRO12. Archived from the original on 17 January 2014. Retrieved 12 November 2013.

[4] "Scrappy victory for Ulster", BBC Sport, 30 August 2002

[5] Gavin Mairs "Last gasp agony for jaded Ulster", Belfast Telegraph, 7 September 2002

[6] "Swansea's blistering pace exposes Ulster's deficiencies", Irish Independent, 15 September 2002

[7] "Ulster edge out Neath", BBC Sport, 20 September 2002

[8] "Doak one-man show just too much for Munster", Irish Independent, 28 September 2002

[walesonline-9] "'We got what we deserved' - Connolly". www.walesonline.co.uk. 5 October 2002. Retrieved 22 January 2018.

[10] Mark McAuley, "Over and rout... Ulster whip the Welsh boyos", Sunday Life", 6 October 2002

[11] "Ulster hammer Caerphilly", BBC Sport, 5 October 2002

[12] "Ulster sneak past Llanelli", BBC Sport, 25 October 2002

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Teams

Pool stage

Pool A Table

Pool A Fixtures

Pool B Table

Pool B Fixtures

Knockout stages

Quarter finals

Semi finals

Final

Leading scorers

Top points scorers

Top try scorers

Notes

External links

References

Teams

Pool stage

Pool A Table

Pool A Fixtures

Pool B Table

Pool B Fixtures

Knockout stages

Quarter finals

Semi finals

Final

Leading scorers

Top points scorers

Top try scorers

Notes

External links

References

Videos

Websites

Encyclopedia

Facebook

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 →