'That's a better competition for us to play in': WRU aiming for two teams in PWR

Welsh Rugby Union director of women’s rugby Nadine Griffiths has revealed that two Welsh teams could join Premiership Women’s Rugby.

Griffiths, who officially started her her role with the WRU in June, said in a BBC Sport interview that two teams from Wales, Scotland and Ireland could join PWR to create a 15-team competition from the 2027/28 season.

Currently the three nations compete in the six-team Celtic Challenge competition, which has been exclusively won by Irish teams since the league’s inception in 2023.

In March, the English competition announced they would accept expressions of interest. Over the remainder of the Guinness Women’s Six Nations, it was confirmed by Irish, Scottish and Welsh unions that they had registered their interest with the competition.

“We have put an expression of interest for two Welsh teams to go into the PWR,” Griffiths told BBC Sport’s 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 the 2025/26 season, Wales’ Brython Thunder and Gwalia Lightning made the last four of the Celtic Challenge, where they were beaten by Ireland’s Clovers and Wolfpack.

Griffiths went on to state that teams joining from Ireland, Scotland and Wales could make PWR more “commercially viable”.

Already Wales have begun tempting back the nation’s top players to play their club rugby in the country, with Alisha and Jasmine Joyce having joined Gwen Crabb in returning home in recent weeks.

Even if two Welsh teams do join PWR at the conclusion of next season, Griffiths was keen to stress that there still needs to be a development of domestic club rugby in Wales to strengthen the pathway for emerging players.

“We need to have a robust domestic league, based within Wales, that will give the playing opportunities to our [players] who are just coming out of 18s and to our Under-21s to develop,” Griffiths added.

“So the plan is to have a Celtic Challenge-type competition that would sit underneath that pro league.”