WRU: Fury over plan to reduce professional rugby teams in Wales

The Welsh Rugby Union (WRU) has acknowledged the “pain and anger” caused by its proposal to reduce the number of professional men’s teams in Wales from four to two. However, they insist that maintaining the status quo is not the “right” thing to do. The Welsh rugby governing body has unveiled a radical plan to transform the game at club and international level, detailing its ambitions in a 90-page consultation document entitled “The Future of Elite Rugby in Wales”. There will be a six-week consultation period before the WRU makes a final decision on the plans. WRU chief executive Abi Tierney has urged people to “improve the proposals” and provide “something suitable for Welsh rugby”. The WRU’s proposal to halve the number of men’s professional teams, Cardiff, Dragons, Ospreys and Scarlets, to two, will be the main topic of discussion in a document outlining four potential models for the game in Wales. It is not yet clear whether the two proposed future teams will be new entities or existing teams, but both organizations will have a men’s and a women’s team.

The WRU’s proposal comes amid the Ospreys’ plans to move to a remodeled stadium at St Helen’s in Swansea for the 2026-27 season and the Scarlets who recently presented new investors. The Dragons stated this week that elite professional rugby must continue in Gwent, while Cardiff is currently owned by the WRU after entering administration in April. The WRU may face legal action from regions that could be left out of the business, with WRU chairman Richard Collier-Keywood saying that there are “two or three areas of potential legal challenge”. The WRU has also proposed the creation of a national campus at a site yet to be decided, which would be home to the men’s and women’s professional teams, as well as the Welsh national teams and the union academy. The players were informed about the WRU’s plan on Tuesday and Dave Reddin, the new director of elite rugby and performance, is confident that suggestions of potential player strikes will not materialize.

The national campus would be a radical departure and would do something different, a defensive moat for Welsh rugby and would create a competitive advantage.

Dave Reddin, director of rugby and performance of élite

Reddin added: “We have to look outside the box if we want to try to do things differently. Be brave enough to lead sometimes and do things that no one else is doing. Doing things that people think are a little crazy, too different or too uncomfortable.”