This weekend (Saturday 20th July) sees the 10th annual Irish Tag National Championships take place in Portlaoise Rugby Football Club. The annual championships is contested by invitational teams representing Ireland's tag regions, and represents the final trial for selection for players and referees for the 2024 British & Irish Cup in August.
The tournament is played out over 5 grades, with titles on offer for both the overall championships and the individual grades.
Mixed Open
Reigning champions Galway Mixed Open face competition from Dublin Wolves (Mixed Open & Mixed Senior), Cork (Mixed Open), Limerick (Mixed Open) and their own Mixed Senior side. Galway's 2023 win in Cork ended a run of three straight victories for Dublin Mixed Open, at the end of a long day with very tight competition across the board.
The format for the 6-team grade involves 4 group games per team, contributing to an overall table resulting in a Cup, Plate and Bowl final. Teams will have one "bye" each on the basis of their seeding from 2023.
Women's Open
The biggest-ever iteration of the Women's Open grade pits two-in-a-row champions Cork Women's Open against Dublin Wolves (Open, Seniors, Masters), Limerick (Open, Seniors), Northside Warriors (Open), UL Wolves (Open) and their own new Senior team. The 2022 and 2023 runs broke a run of seven-straight Dublin triumphs, and team members were well represented in two successive wins for Munster in State of Origin 2022 and 2024.
The format for the 9-team grade involves round-robin games in groups of 3, leading to ranked quarter and semi finals.
Men's Open
Reigning champions Dublin Men's Open are pitted against their own Seniors team in addition to Cork, Limerick, and UL Wolves. While a Dublin team has always claimed the Men's Open title, the competition is increasingly tight. The November & March series saw Cork top the table after the first round, and Dublin narrowly overcame a strong Limerick side replete with international players in the Cup Final.
The format for the 5-team grade involves 4 round robin games each, leading to a cup and plate final for teams ranked 1-4.
Men's 40s
In only the second season of Men's 40s there are 7 teams, with the inaugural title won in 2023 by Dublin Men's 40s. This year they face competition from another Dublin side, Cork, Limerick, Meath, Galway, and a side representing Ireland's Men's 50s selection.
The format for the 7-team grade involves initial grading games, graded group games, semi-finals and finals.
Mixed Development
The grade intended to expose new players to elite-level coaching has been won in all eight years by Dublin, but remains competitive and throws up some surprise results every year. In defending their title, Dublin faces competition from two North Dublin Warriors teams, two Cork teams, Limerick, Galway, and Kildare. Kildare returns to the championships with the support of Newbridge RFC, which hosts our ITRA mixed social tag league in Kildare.
The format for the 8-team grade involves two groups of 4 playing round robin games, leading to Cup & Bowl semi-finals and finals.
Overall title
Regions earn tournament points when their teams make or win a final, with the team accumulating the most points taking the overal championships. Will anyone be able to stop Dublin Wolves, who are on a roll since 2015?
Tournament Director Jack Leahy, ITRA's General Manager, said:
"We're all set for a competitive day in Portlaoise on Saturday. For many teams and players this event is the pinnacle competition of the year, and brings to an end months of organising kit, training teams, and selection processes.
"We are very grateful to all those who have put time and effort into making this event what it is, and can't wait to see who comes out on top by 5pm Saturday".
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