WRU keen for two Welsh sides to join PWR
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The Welsh Rugby Union (WRU) is keen for two Welsh teams to join Premiership Women's Rugby (PWR) from the 2027-28 season.
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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.
Former Wales international Nadine Griffiths was named director of women's rugby at the Welsh Rugby Union in April [WRU]At present, two sides apiece from Wales, Scotland and Ireland compete in the Celtic Challenge.
Griffiths feels the involvement of teams from all the home nations would add to the PWR's appeal.
"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."
Wales currently has two women's sides, Brython Thunder and Gwalia Lightning, competing in the Celtic Challenge, which was launched in 2023.
But joining the most lucrative and competitive domestic league in Europe has long been an ambition, with 28 of Wales' 38-strong Six Nations squad playing in the PWR in 2025-26.
Griffiths says that even if two Welsh sides are given places in PWR, there would still be a need for a separate competition in Wales.
"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 added.
"So the plan is to have a Celtic Challenge-type competition that would sit underneath that pro league."