The Welsh Rugby Union (WRU) has confirmed Wales’ top level women’s club sides Brython Thunder and Gwalia Lightning will continue in the Celtic Challenge tournament for next year. The move returns both sides to their status quo and gives the teams, players and coaching set-ups certainty and stability as they plan for the season ahead, […]
The Welsh Rugby Union (WRU) has confirmed Wales’ top level women’s club sides Brython Thunder and Gwalia Lightning will continue in the Celtic Challenge tournament for next year.
The move returns both sides to their status quo and gives the teams, players and coaching set-ups certainty and stability as they plan for the season ahead, where they face two sides from Ireland and Scotland in the third year of the growing tournament.
In partnership with the other nations, the WRU continues to strengthen and develop the Celtic Challenge as the premier cross border women’s rugby competition. It had asked the nation’s regional clubs and selected universities to bid to form new teams as part of those ambitions, but that process has now been paused.
“Due to the ongoing transformation across Welsh rugby, with our women and girl players at the very centre of the process, this is the best way to guarantee a professional elite sporting environment for our women players in the necessary timeframe,” said WRU head of women and girls’ rugby Belinda Moore.
“We are putting our players at the forefront of our decision making and there is no doubt that we are entering a new era for the women’s game.
“It is central to the WRU’s strategy to grow marketable and commercially viable high-performance clubs for our women players in Wales and we know we will revisit this drive in the near future.
“In a pivotal year for the women’s game, with the 2025 Rugby World Cup in England this autumn, we are making sure a stable, centrally supported high-performance environment is underpinning our senior women’s squad.”