The All Ireland league kicked off at the weekend, with Rugby League Ireland stating their satisfaction with the standards being set in the expanded competition. The season officially kicked off in Limerick on Friday night when the Country Cowboys hosted new side the West Coast Warriors in Kilballyowen Park and continued in Cork, Dublin and Ballyfermot (Leinster).

"It was great to get our season under way with some Friday night Rugby League,” said RLI development manager Brendan Guilfoyle.  “I really believe this will improve the numbers that come to watch our domestic RL. In both Munster and Leinster we had the battle of the new guns with the Cowboys v Warriors and Bears v Dragons; it was great to see these new teams finally take to the field after months of training."

In Leinster two games took place on Saturday with the Dublin City Exiles welcoming the North Dublin Eagles [pictured, above] to Lakelands and two new clubs clashing when the Ballyfermot Bears took on the Kildare Dragons at the Iveagh Grounds. Last year’s Leinster Champions, the Exiles, got their title defence off to a perfect start thanks to a hat trick from back row Leo Auva’a.  The Eagles gave up a 22-20 lead to eventually fall 46-28 to the hosts.

Not too far away at the Iveagh Grounds saw the tightest game of the weekend. Just eight points separated the Bears and the Dragons. Despite the visitors holding a 20 point lead at the break the Bears fought back to within just four points of clinching victory but a late try sealed the win for Kildare. In Leinster Section 1 Carlow Crusaders were rewarded the victory over the Edenderry Boghogs who were unable to fulfil the fixture. This sees the Crusaders given an automatic 18-0 victory while the Boghogs have been deducted 2 points as per the rules.

"As an RLI staff member it is really encouraging to see how high the standard was in all games played last weekend and it will only get better as all our new clubs gain more RL experience," continued Guilfoyle. "The successful season launch rides on the back of a very impressive Wolfhound trip to the USA where our ‘A’ team had a great victory over the Tomahawks. We hope this will all carry into our representative season in July and August [during the Amateur Four Nations]."

All fixtures in Ulster and one fixture in Leinster Section 2 were postponed and will be rescheduled.