Dedicated, clinical in attack and organised Connacht rugby Clubs and Schools are growing steadily and developing rugby skills across the key parameters of nutrition, skills, strength/conditioning and mental health. The rugby is structured organised and of the highest Calibre. This weekend begins on Saturday with 3 1B games in the UBL with titale chasers Galwegians welcoming Shannon to Crowley Park, “Wegians” will relish this encounter in front of loyal home supporters as the previous away game was a hard fought game which “Wegians” edged in a bonus point victory. Buccaneers travel to Dooradoyle to take on Garryowen and after Connachts famous win over Munster last night at the Sportsground Buccaneers will play solid structured clinical rugby in this game. The third Div 1B game sees Corinthians travel to Gibson Park in Belfast to face Malone who are 3rd from Bottom but Corinthians will allow no complacency as all the teams including Corinthians are semi pro athletes at this level and away from home Corinthians will bring a focus to this game as a season definer and the first game of the 2015 schedule. Sligo travel to City of Derry RFC for an important friendly as they focus towards the most important games of the 2014/15 season.
Sunday brings a host of domestic games and the club rugby supporters growing in numbers and buoyed by the burgeoning Connacht provincial team will be starting to visit their local club communities to invest time and energy in supporting grassroots rugby and developing strength in numbers as the province has grown well in the past 15 years. At JUNIOR level in J1A the UBL Corinthians and Galwegians teams have a local derby. Galwegians cannot close the gap on Corinthians alone but a bonus point win on Sunday would substantially reduce the arrears! Meanwhile in J1C Dunmore play Buccaneers with Dunmore mid table and Buccs at the bottom of it a win here for Dunmore with the bonus point would take them to 1 point off 2nd placed NUIG. In J2 Ballinasloe play Castlebar which is a bottom 2 in the league playoff! OLBC play Tuam(3rd) which is 3rd v 9th, Oughterard play Westport(1) which is league leader v 5th placed Oughterard!
We would as always encourage rugby supporters to attend these grassroots games as much is to be learned about the community of rugby and the immense work of volunteers who make all of this possible!
UBL
Sat 3rd Jan 15 14:30 Div1B Galwegians v Shannon Crowley Park Will O’Connor
Sat 3rd Jan 15 14:30 Div1B Garryowen v Buccaneers Dooradoyle Nigel Correll
Sat 3rd Jan 15 14:30 Div1B Malone v Corinthians Gibson Park Shane Kierans
J1A 2014/15 04/01/2015
14:30 Corinthians vs Galwegians Corinthian Park
J1C 2014/15 04/01/2015
14:30 Dunmore vs Buccaneers Dunmore
J2 League 2014/15 04/01/2015
14:30 Ballinasloe vs Castlebar Ballinasloe
14:30 OLBC vs Tuam OLBC
14:30 Oughterard vs Westport Oughterard
U18 League 2014/15 04/01/2015
12:00 Ballina vs Tuam Ballina
12:00 Galwegians vs Creggs Crowley Park
U17 League 2014/15 04/01/2015
12:00 Ballina vs Buccaneers Ballina
12:00 Ballinrobe vs Corinthians Ballinrobe
12:00 Galwegians A vs Sligo Galway
12:00 Westport vs Ballinasloe Westport
Mid Week: Ballyhaunis 0 vs 8 Tuam/Dunmore
U16 League North 2014/15 04/01/2015
12:00 Castlebar vs Westport Castlebar
12:00 Sligo vs Creggs Hamilton Pk
U16 League South 2014/15 04/01/2015
12:00 Ballinasloe vs Buccaneers Ballinasloe
12:00 Galwegians Blue vs Connemara Crowley Park
U16 Development League 04/01/2015
12:00 Corrib vs Carrick Corrib
12:00 Erris vs Claremorris Erris
12:00 Galwegians Blacks vs Tuam Crowley Park
12:00 Loughrea vs Monivea Loughrea
12:00 NUIG Youth Academy vs Ballyhaunis Dangan
U15 A League 2014/15 04/01/2015
12:00 Buccaneers Black vs Westport Dubarry Park
U14 A League 2014/15 04/01/2015
12:00 Ballina Blue vs Castlebar Ballina
12:00 Corinthians Blue vs Buccaneers Corinthian Park
12:00 Creggs vs Ballina Black Creggs
12:00 Galwegians vs Corinthians Black Crowley Park
12:00 Westport vs Sligo Westport
U14 B League 2014/15 04/01/2015
12:00 Claremorris vs Tuam Claremorris
12:00 Corrib vs NUIG Youth Academy Corrib
12:00 Loughrea vs Buccaneers Loughrea
12:00 Monivea vs Carrick Monivea
12:00 Oughterard vs Ballyhaunis Oughterard