Trying to get a grib on Irish Rugby

Understanding Irish Rugby

            The sport of Rugby is staring to take off these last 10 years. Attendance and media coverage is starting paying attention to the sport I have been following and trying to understand the League of Ireland but now find Rugby so fascinating. Ireland has a national team that encompasses all of Ireland. This is different from the national soccer teams that bring about so much national pride to both the Republic and the North. There are 3 big tournaments now. The Rugby Championship(New Zealand (1), South Africa (2), Australia(6) and now 2012 Argentina (8)), The 6 Nations Cup (Ireland-3, England-4, Wales-5, France-7, Scotland-10, and now Italy (2000)) and the Pacific Nations Cup. The Pacific Nations Cup is a Tier 2 level consisting of Samoa (8), Japan (11), Fiji (12), Tonga (13), USA (16) and Canada (17).

World Cup

When ranking teams we always look at World Cup Rugby Championships to see just how good you are. 6 of the 7 World Cup Titles have been won by teams that play in the Rugby Championship. The winners were Australia (2), New Zealand (2), South Africa (2), and England (1).   New Zealand has been a cut above the rest of the World for some time however the playing field has become so much more even now. The European teams have made great strides to catch these top national teams. The next Rugby World Cup is this September 18^th-31 in Merry Olde England. These 6 nations will surely Challenge the perennial powers for the World Cup in September. This takes me to look at teams and the leagues that make up the 6 Nations Cup.

World Rugby Rankings v t e
Top 25 Rankings as 23 March 2015[1]
Rank	Change*	Team	Points
1		New Zealand	93.70
2		South Africa	88.23
3		Ireland	85.76
4		England	85.40
5		Wales	84.07
6		Australia	82.95
7		France	79.74
8		Argentina	78.23
9		Samoa	75.39
10		Scotland	74.79
11		Japan	74.70
12		Fiji	74.57
13		Tonga	74.12
14	1	Georgia	72.16
15	1	Italy	71.85
16		United States	67.61
17	1	Canada	66.83
18	1	Romania	66.23
19		Russia	64.65
20		Uruguay	63.58

Six Nations Cup- International Games

This started at the Home nations Cup, then 5 Nations Cup and when it expanded to Italy it became the 6 Nations Cup. The Irish national Rugby team plays every year in the 6 Nations Cup. The 6 nations Cup is one of the 2 (Tier 1) Big Rugby Championships outside of the Rugby World Cup. These nations of Ireland, England, Wales, France, Scotland and Italy are Ranked 3^rd, 4^th, 5^th ,7^th, 10^th and 15^th  respectively.  France has the most Championships with 5, followed closely by England and Wales each with 4, Ireland just won their 3^rd. Scotland and Italy are still looking for their first Championship. I have to say more interesting now that Ireland can play with the big nations and go toe to toe with them. Rugby has given Ireland the pride, to be recognized by the World as a top class team in Rugby.

Heineken Cup- Club competition

 European Rugby Championship Cup use .   to be called the The Heineken Cup. The latest installment had 20 teams. England and France were granted 6 clubs to participate since they had much better clubs.  Ireland, Italy, Scotland and Wales: 7 teams, based on performance in the Pro12. The last spot will have a playoff of clubs from all European nations.
Clubs from France had the most Titles with 7 ( and an astonishing 10 runner ups French teams, England has 6 Championships with 5 runner ups, Ireland has 6 Championships also with 3 runner ups. Wales and Italy have not reached the Final game yet but have made strides. 

France’s Top 14 League

            France has a top League called Top 14 consisting of 14 teams from France.  Stade Toulousain has the most Championships with 19. Top 14 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. France has promotion and regulation to a 16 team lower division. France has more club teams than any other European nation. France has a deepest European League. France has also been very competitive against the top World Cup of Rugby teams. France was runner-up 3 times.English PremiershipRugby

English Premier Rugby 12 teams
        
 Premier Rugby  England has a Rugby league called the English Premiership (Aviva Premiership Rugby) Rugby League. The English league consist of 12 teams most notably the Leicester Tigers with 10 Championships, Bath with 6 Championships and Wasps with 6 Championships. The English national team draws players from this very competitive league. England has a robust league with promotion/regulation to a 12 team lower division. 

Guinness Pro 12 League  (12 teams from Ireland, Wales, Scotland and Italy)

This takes me to Ireland, Wales, Scotland and Italy. These 4 nations do not have enough teams to create their own league so they started an international league of 12 teams. The league is called Guinness Pro12 League sponsored by Guinness this year. These teams consist 4 teams from Ireland, 4 from Wales, 2 from Scotland and 2 from Italy.  Ireland has the most championships with 8, Wales with 5, Scotland 0 and Italy 0. Leister (Dublin) has established themselves as the top team in this league. They won the last 2 Championships and were runner-up the 3 previous years. Leister (Dublin) also has the highest attended games for the last 9 years. This game is usually against their Irish rival Munster (Cork-Limerick).           
The biggest rivalry is between the 2 Irish Provinces: Leinster vs Munster. Leinster (Dublin) plays every league game at the very nice RDS Stadium except when they play Munster. Leinster host Munster at Aviva Stadium and usually have a sellout with 51,000. Munster plays in the small Musgrave stadium (Cork) except when they play Leinster (Dublin). This game is played in the beautiful Thomond Park which is usually a sellout of 26,000.                                                                                         Attendance for the entire league has increased from 3,802 average in the 2003-2004 season to 8,205 average last year 2013-14. So over the last 10 years attendance has more than doubled. It is a good sign that the league is expanding when Italy joined and added 2 more teams in the 2010-11 season.  
So as you can see Leinster(Dublin) has the biggest fans base by far. The rivalry between Leinster (Dublin) and Munster (Cork-Limerick) is what will drive this league. There seems to be enough interest in Dublin to field a second club....but I am getting ahead of myself.