Is the Welsh Rugby Union failing the women’s game?

The WRU have had a lot to answer for in the last year, regarding their commitment to women’s rugby. After promising to right the wrongs of the past, there has unfortunately been little progression...

I interviewed Cardiff alumni Ffi on Revell, where she talked me through some of the failures of the WRU in catering for women looking to play a high standard of rugby in Wales.

Ffi on told me, “unless you go over the border, the standard slips” when you progress from junior into senior rugby. The set up in Wales is not good enough to cater for the demand, sending floods of future Welsh stars across the border into England. With the whole of the current Welsh squad playing their club rugby in England, there are clearly deeply rooted issues in the WRU’s commitment to the women’s game.

England proved their investment in the women’s side, offering full time professional contracts to players from 2014. It took Wales almost 10 years to offer the same to their international athletes. In 2023, the WRU initially announced 12 full time contracts, with a further 17 on six-month contracts. This plays a vital role in the success of these athletes, as Ffi on stresses “they go into work nine to five when training... it should have come a lot earlier.”

The highest standard of women’s rugby in Wales is the Premiership. Often winning with a comfortable lead, Ffi on’s team, Llandaff North are currently holding first place, often winning with a comfortable lead, and this is meant to be the most competitive standard of rugby in Wales... Ffi on went on to admit “If I’m going to play a competitive game, I’m going to have to go”. By go - she means leave Wales and play for a team in England – words that don’t come easy for a Welsh woman!

The WRU scrapped the regional set up when COVID hit. The old set up mirrored that of the male side with Scarlets, Cardiff , Ospreys, Dragons and RGC playing each other in a highly competitive and well-established system. This system was scrapped for women’s rugby during COVID and hasn’t been brought back, meaning U18’s girls who dream of becoming Wales’ next international stars have no realistic progression at senior level in Wales. An attractive and successful system exists for the men, so there is no reason why this should not be the case for women too.

For a country so proud of their rugby, it is a failure by the WRU to not provide a competitive set up for the tens-of-thousands of girls and women.

For a country so proud of their rugby, it is a failure by the WRU to not provide a competitive set up for the tens-of-thousands of girls and women playing rugby in Wales. The question remains, do the WRU have what it takes to transform the women’s system in Wales and do what’s right - or have they gone too far in wrecking a system that it is now impossible to repair?