Thunder and Lightning braced for Irish play-offs

Gwalia Lightning and Brython Thunder will be looking to prolong Welsh rugby's on-field optimism when they compete in the Celtic Challenge play-offs on Saturday. The Welsh sides finished third and fourth after 10 rounds of the tournament and will take on the two Irish sides in Galway. Third-place Lightning will play second-place Clovers (12:00 GMT), with fourth-place Thunder taking on leaders Wolfhounds (15:00 GMT) in a double header at Dexcom Stadium.

A place in the final at Edinburgh's Hive Stadium awaits on Sunday, 29 March (15:00 BST) Thunder hold on to beat Lightning in Welsh derby Wolfhounds hammer Clovers in Celtic Challenge Lightning strike early as Thunder make late charge Form going into the play-offs could not be more different for the two Welsh sides. After a narrow defeat at Clovers in the opening round, Lightning strung together four impressive victories which put them in contention for a home semi-final at the mid-point. But a major slump followed as they lost their five remaining matches, including the final round Welsh derby.

Fortunately they picked up enough bonus-points to remain two points ahead of Thunder which secured them a favourable last-four tie. Thunder lived up to their reputation as slow starters with five straight defeats as they battled the two Scottish sides at the foot of the table. But when their first victory came over Edinburgh, they turned their season around with five straight victories.

It included a 14-0 win which stunned Wolfhounds in Llanelli and Thunder will need to repeat those heroics when they taken on the reigning champions. Wales suffer double injury blow before Six Nations New faces make Wales Six Nations training squad International cameos and rising stars The Celtic Challenge has again proved a useful platform for Wales players struggling for game time in Premiership Women's Rugby (PWR) clubs. Lightning have been able to hold on to most of their Wales stars - the likes of Bryonie King, Molly Reardon and Alaw Pyrs - but they have also been bolstered by experienced Wales duo Bethan Lewis and Abbie Fleming.