Overview

• The plan being readied would replace the four regions with two organisations, each fielding men’s and women’s teams under WRU-issued licences with commercial operations run by owners or investors.
• Men’s squads are proposed at around 50 largely Welsh-qualified players with budgets near £7.8 million each, while women’s squads would carry about 40 players as non-Welsh qualified rules are rethought.
• Training would shift in phases to a single national campus, with an initial two-site transition before consolidating operations and national staff at a central base.
• The WRU timetable reported by multiple outlets points to a six-week stakeholder consultation followed by a final board decision targeted for October.
• Regional stakeholders are pushing back and continuing independent plans, with west Wales sides declining to sign the PRA over Cardiff concerns, Scarlets securing new investment, Ospreys planning a move to a revamped St Helen’s in 2026–27, Dragons insisting elite rugby stays in Gwent, and Cardiff now under WRU ownership after its April administration.