Prem expansion to stay English for now as WRU eyes a move for Welsh sides

England's top flight intends to grow, but the clubs it is backing to fill the new places are English ones. Prem Rugby and the RFU made that clear in a joint statement after reports that Wales wants its teams to play in the league.

The statement commits both bodies to taking the Prem from 10 to 12 teams, with 2029-30 as the provisional target season. They said their resources are currently going into supporting English clubs throughout the pyramid that want to join.

The statement was a response to a Wales Online report that the Welsh Rugby Union is keen on an Anglo-Welsh league, and that two Welsh sides could join the Prem. According to BBC Sport, Wales's Professional Rugby Board met on Wednesday 28 October and was told that the WRU intends to look into the possibility of its sides moving into English club rugby.

How a club gets in

Expansion is in the hands of the Men's Professional Rugby Board, which has drawn up detailed entry criteria that any prospective club must meet. Traditional promotion and relegation were scrapped from the start of the 2026-27 season, and any side wanting a place must first play at least a season in the Champ. The Prem P-share, in effect the up-front cost of entering the league, is valued at about £20m.

A Welsh move would also face one more hurdle. Because the Prem would then become a cross-border competition, the RFU would have to approve it.

The league was cut to 10 teams when Wasps, Worcester and London Irish folded during the 2022-23 season.

Pressure on the Welsh game

The WRU has its own problems at home. It recently posted a loss of £18.1m for 2025-26, up from a £7.2m loss the year before, and says the figure strengthens its case for cutting its professional sides from four to three. It plans to drop one of the four by 2028, and under the current proposals the Ospreys and the Scarlets are the sides at risk.

For the time being, the WRU says it remains committed to fielding four sides in the URC through to the close of the 2027-28 season. On the women's side, it is bidding to get Brython Thunder and Gwalia Lightning into Premiership Women's Rugby.