Anglo-Welsh Groups Announced

Celtic League Teams
By Andrew Collins
June 27 2005

The new Anglo-welsh competition has announced it's groups and the format in which the tournement will take place. The Blues, Ospreys, Dragons and Scarlets will play the English Guiness Premiership sides in a new look Powergen Cup.

The groups will be structured into 4 pools, A-d. There will be 1 Welsh team and 3 English sides each pool with the winner qualifying from their group. The 3 English sides from the same region, London, West England, South England and North England brining a real derby feel to the competition.

The Blues have been put in the London region, Group B which features London Wasps, Saracens and London Irish. Each team plays each other just once, and luck of the draw decides whether you play 1 or 2 home games. The Blues will play Saracens at home, Wasps away and London Irish away.

Group A	Group B	Group C	Group D
Bath Bristol Gloucester Ospreys	Cardiff Blues London Irish London Wasps Saracens	Leeds Tykes Llanelli Scarlets Newcastle Falcons Sale Sharks	Leicester Tigers N-G Dragons Northampton Saints Worcester Warriors

The fixtures look like this

Week 1 Sep 30 & Oct 1st/2nd	Week 2 October 7th/8th/9th	Week 3 December 1st/2nd/3rd
Bath v Bristol Gloucester v Ospreys London Irish v Wasps Blues v Saracens Tykes v Scarlets Newcastle v Sale Dragons v Leicester Worcester v N’mpton	Ospreys v Bath Bristol v Gloucester Saracens v London Irish Wasps v Blues Sale v Leeds Tykes Scarlets v Newcastle N’mpton v  Dragons Leicester  v Worcester	Bath v Gloucester Bristol v Ospreys London Irish v Blues Wasps v Saracens Leeds v Newcastle Scarlets v Sale Dragons v Worcester Leicester v N’mpton

The Blues will struggle against wasps, but London Irish away and Saracens home are 2 fixtures that we can look at as possible wins. The tournement has never been taken seriously by the big clubs despite the European Cup entry if you win, but with the inclusion of Wales' grand slam hero's, teams may begin to look at the Powergen cup in a new light.

The final will be played on the 8th or 9th of April at Twickenham.