Rugby in the Community is a range of opportunities that are delivered by the Welsh Rugby Union, to support rugby across Wales.
The National leagues and Cup competitions are the pinnacle of community rugby in Wales,
U18 rugby within Wales also has that same opportunity to play in leagues and enter into cup competitions.
Our senior rugby is played at our clubs whilst our under 8s to under 18s rugby is played within our hubs.
Within clubs in Wales girls can play mixed rugby up to and including U11s. However we understand girls new to rugby may not want to join a traditional rugby club to start their rugby journey. Therefore The WRU Girls Hubs provide a girls only opportunity to play from U8 to the adult game.
WRU Girls hubs provide a great opportunity to play social and competitive rugby, and also offers an additional offering to those in mixed settings with the use of dual registration.
There are currently 40 WRU Girls Hubs Nationally, contact your local Women’s and girls officer who will help find the right club for you
The skill development centres are open to players of all abilities – from new to experienced players and will focus on improving core skills, fitness and positional work. The centres cover the age groups Under 12’s (year 6 and 7) and Under 14’s (year 8 and 9) Under 16’s (Year 10 and 11) and Under 18s (Colleges and 6th form)
The Welsh Rugby Union held its first National Player Development Centre Skills Clinics at the National Centre of Excellence for the first intake of new players identified as prospective future internationals.
Each PDC has identified between 25 and 35 female players between the ages 18 and 23 as possible Wales stars of tomorrow to benefit from Academy-style support.
Wales legends Siwan Lillicrap, Elinor Snowsill, Caryl Thomas and Liza Burgess were joined by Celtic Challenge coaches, Catherine Nicholas McLaughlin, Gwalia Lightning head coach, and Ashley Beck, Brython Thunder head coach, to run the rule over the first players invited to the tailored sessions.
Players were specifically chosen to attend the session to train with each other and test each other in front of the select band of coaches.
The coaches got to see how players equipped themselves in gym sessions, skills sessions and rugby sessions at the WRU’s centre of excellence.
The evenings were designed for the best young talented players to work with the best Wales coaches from the WRU pathway, the PDCs, Celtic Challenge and National level.
Liza Burgess at the Wales Women PDC Development Programme Skills Clinic
Coaches present offered player development and skills advice to all the players so they could use when they returned to the PDC’s.
WRU staff attended the sessions with S&C, medical and analysis staff to support throughout both evenings.
Siwan Lillicrap, for Wales captain and WRU PDC’s Lead and Pathway Manager, said: “This was a real opportunity to see the first intake of players to benefit from the PDC’s we have introduced in Cardiff, Swansea and Colwyn Bay.
“These players were identified as real talents, and these sessions allows us to track high performing pathway players and for them to train with each other and therefore test each other.
“It also allowed coaches from national set up and the WRU pathway to work with these talented players and highlights the alignment and collaboration we now have at our disposal for players who have ambitions to play Celtic Challenge rugby and to play professional rugby and ultimately play for Wales.”
National Leagues & Cups
Women’s Senior rugby in Wales is for players aged 18 and over, there are currently 36 community clubs across the country that compete in all 6 sections of our Admiral leagues. Additionally there are a variety of social teams that play outside of our leagues structure.
Social Teams
Teams that play outside of leagues as well as touch teams, walking rugby and mixed rugby.For specific information on opportunities in your region, please contact your local Women and Girls Rugby Officer.
Our game is always growing, if your club is interesting in starting up a women’s team, here’s what you need to know:
There is a process to us approving any start of a senior women’s side in Wales. This is to ensure the sustainability and futureproofing of the female game. This process used to be called ‘A licence criteria’ this terminology will change to ‘Senior Women’s New Team Process (NTP)’ to avoid confusion with the facility A licence criteria for premiership clubs.
Outlined below are the requirements before we start the NTP. Clubs must complete the following form to begin the process –
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1Ld7cADK-HV1nXeXSLxGJsc2zIXExTtp_gaItcSY77mc/edit (PDF Attached)
The above is the club’s commitment to individual areas of the game. Once completed they will need to achieve the following to receive the first stage of the NTP.
Once a club has completed the above, they will be awarded NTP status for the Season. Clubs are not able to play any games until the above is approved by the competitions committee. To complete the NTP and move to ‘National league Status’ they must sustain the above criteria and play 10 fixtures against other clubs within the first season. They will not be permitted to transfer (Unless by mutual consent) or permit players in this period.
The Celtic Challenge is the first ever Women’s domestic Cross-Border Competition. 6 Teams compete over 10 rounds, with the Team holding highest table standing at the end of the season being crowned Champions.
The League is designed to develop and inspire World Class performance through elite competition, it is the highest form of domestic rugby across the 3 nations and acts as a pathway for current and future International Talent.
The League takes place across Wales, Scotland, and Ireland, with 2 teams playing out of each Nation. The League will run from December until March with each team playing 10 games; 5 home and 5 away.
Two new Welsh teams were introduced to the cross-border competition in the 2023/24 season.
Developed in collaboration with current players, the brands for the two WRU owned franchises are inspired by ‘Brython’, the first Celtic language, and ‘Gwalia’, the original name for Wales, and will kick off the expanded competition in January 2024.
Brython Thunder will wear red and black, be based at Parc y Scarlets and play their home games out of both Parc y Scarlets and Stadiwm CSM in Colwyn Bay.
Gwalia Lightning will wear Blue and Yellow, be based and train at Cardiff Metropolitan University and play their home games at Cardiff Arms Park.
