A Taste of
Super League Comes to Dublin

Irish Rugby League are delighted to announce that leading engage Super League side St Helens will be playing a pre-season friendly against London Skolars in Dublin next January. This news follows on from Ireland?s excellent victory over Scotland earlier this week in the European Nations Cup.

Irish Rugby League fans will already be familiar with the Skolars, who play in National League 2, as they defeated Bradford Bulls at Blackrock RFC at the start of 2005.

?To play a Super League club for the second year running over in Dublin is great for the game in Ireland?, London Skolars? chairman Hector McNeil enthused. ?Having been living over here for three years, there?s been a tremendous upsurge in interest in the game and I?m sure the visit of St Helens will help progress things even further.?

Saints Chief Executive Sean McGuire is also excited by the opportunity. ?Rugby league is a fantastic sport to watch live and this is a great opportunity for sports fans in Ireland to see that for themselves.

?With the match taking place just a couple of weeks before the start of the new Super League season, it will be a chance for a number of our squad to stake a claim for a starting place in 2006.?

RLI Chairman Dave Southern commented "The opportunity for the public of Ireland to witness top quality Rugby League teams in the form of St Helens and London Skolars is a massive boost for the game in Ireland. We would like to think that the Dublin Challenge is now an annual event!"

The game will take place on the weekend of 21/22 January with the venue in Dublin to be confirmed.