PWR: WRU wants two Welsh sides to join expanded competition

The Welsh Rugby Union (WRU) is keen for two Welsh teams to join Premiership Women’s Rugby (PWR) from the 2027-28 season.

PWR is considering expanding the nine-team league to clubs outside England.

Nadine Griffiths, the WRU’s director of women’s rugby, says Wales, Scotland and Ireland are each keen to enter two teams into a new cross-border competition.

“We have put an expression of interest for two Welsh teams to go into the PWR,” Griffiths told the Scrum V podcast.

“In total it’s the Celtic Challenge as a whole, so six teams, two from each of the nations.

“We can’t deny that that’s a better competition for us to play in, but we also can’t rely on us getting into that.”

In March, PWR opened an ‘expressions of interest’ process in a bid to explore more clubs joining the league, with the WRU formally lodging its interest in May.

There are currently nine teams in the PWR, which launched in 2023 following the rebrand of the Premier 15s.

Griffiths says the PWR could potentially accommodate more teams by becoming a competition expanding to include two conferences.