The Welsh Rugby Union (WRU)’s head of women’s rugby Nadine Griffiths has confirmed the Union’s desire for two Welsh teams to compete in the Premiership Women’s Rugby (PWR) from the 2027/28 season.

The PWR is expanding it’s nine-team league and considering applications from teams outside of England.

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 said on Scrum V.

“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.”

For the past three seasons, six teams from Wales, Scotland, and Ireland have played in the Celtic Challenge, but with the English league luring some of those nations’ best players away from home, the desire to combine the leagues has now be expressed.

The WRU formally lodged it’s interest in joining the league in May, with director of rugby Dave Reddin describing the prospect as a “really exciting option we have to investigate”.

He added: “Taking this official step allows us to understand the proposition from PWR more fully and what would be required from us to participate in any league expansion.”

The Irish Rugby Football Union have done the same.

“It’s a more commercially viable product if it’s a UK league, isn’t it?” she added.

“In terms of it being completely national, I think that really does open the doors commercially. That’s my opinion on it.”

Griffith did also confirmed that as well as having the two teams in the PWR, Wales would need a domestic structure alongside it to help younger players in their development.

“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,” she said.

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

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