Prem Rugby Says English Clubs Come First as Welsh Interest Grows
Prem Rugby and the Rugby Football Union (RFU) have said they will focus on growing England's top men's club league with English clubs, not with teams from Wales.
The Prem, short for Premiership, is the top professional men's club competition in England. In a joint statement, the two bodies set a provisional target of 12 teams by the 2029-30 season. The league currently has 10 sides, after Wasps, Worcester and London Irish folded during the 2022-23 season.
The resources for now are going to English clubs across the wider pyramid, the ladder of leagues below the top flight, that want to move up. BBC Sport reported that the Men's Professional Rugby Board, which runs expansion, has set out detailed entry rules for any club that wants in.
Those rules are tough. Traditional promotion and relegation between the Prem and the Championship, the league below, was scrapped from the start of the 2026-27 season. A club wanting a Prem place will first have to complete a season in the Championship before it can be considered. Entry could cost an interested club up to £23.5 million, according to Nation.Cymru.
Wales has a different problem. Its four professional men's teams, the Ospreys, Cardiff, Scarlets and Dragons, play in the 16-team United Rugby Championship, which includes clubs from Ireland, Scotland, South Africa, Italy and Wales. The Welsh Rugby Union (WRU) has committed to providing four URC teams until the end of the 2027-28 season. It has also said it will decide the future shape of the men's game in Wales by the end of this season.
The WRU told the Professional Rugby Board on Wednesday that it plans to explore a future in the English club game. Senior figures in English club rugby have confirmed that interest, but they insist no negotiations are taking place. Any Welsh move would need RFU approval, because a Welsh club in the Prem would make it a cross-border competition.
The WRU is also pushing for its two women's teams, Brython Thunder and Gwalia Lightning, to be included in Premiership Women's Rugby. The new WRU chair, Lyndon Faulkner, has said he is a fan of a possible Anglo-Welsh competition.
For Welsh supporters, the question is where their teams play next. For English fans, the message is that the league's growth will be built around clubs already in the English system. Whether Wales and England find a shared route, or whether the Prem keeps growing without them, will depend on talks that have yet to begin, according to the people involved.
