The Ospreys, formerly the Neath–Swansea Ospreys is one of the four professional rugby union teams from Wales. They compete in the United Rugby Championship and the European Rugby Champions Cup. The team formed as a result of Neath RFC and Swansea RFC combining to create a new merged entity, as part of the new regional structure of Welsh rugby, that began in 2003. They are also affiliated with a number of local semi-professional and amateur clubs, including Welsh Premier Division sides Aberavon RFC, Bridgend Ravens, and original founding clubs Neath and Swansea. The regional area represented by the team has widely become known for rugby purposes as 'Ospreylia'.
Cardiff Rugby are one of the four professional Welsh rugby union teams. Based in Cardiff, the team play at Cardiff Arms Park. Originally formed in 1876, from 2003 to 2021 the first team was known as the Cardiff Blues before rebranding back to Cardiff Rugby prior to the start of the 2021–22 season.
Dragons RFC are one of the four professional rugby union regional teams in Wales. They have been owned by Dragons RFC Ltd since 2023, having been solely owned by the Welsh Rugby Union from 2017 to 2023 and jointly owned by the WRU and Newport RFC between 2004 and 2017. Dragons play their home games at Rodney Parade, Newport, which was the home of Newport RFC from 1877 to 2017, and is shared with Newport County AFC, the city's English Football League team. They play in the United Rugby Championship and the European Rugby Champions Cup/European Rugby Challenge Cup. The region they represent covers an area of southeast Wales including Blaenau Gwent, Caerphilly, Monmouthshire, Newport and Torfaen with a total population approaching 600,000 and they are affiliated with a number of semi-professional and amateur clubs throughout the area, including Pontypool RFC, Caerphilly RFC, Cross Keys RFC, Ebbw Vale RFC and Newport RFC.
Carwyn Rees James was a Welsh rugby union player and coach. He won two Welsh international caps but is most famous for his coaching achievements with Llanelli, the 1971 British Lions and the Barbarians, with all of whom he beat the All Blacks.
Ryan Paul Jones is a Wales former international rugby union player who played at number eight, blindside flanker or second row. He was involved in three Grand Slam wins, in 2005, as captain in 2008, and 2012. He is one of a small group of Welsh players to have won three Grand Slams including Gerald Davies, Gareth Edwards, J.P.R. Williams, Adam Jones, Gethin Jenkins and Alun Wyn Jones.
Dwayne John Peel is a Welsh rugby union coach and former player. He was the most capped scrum-half for the Wales national rugby union team with 76 caps, until his record was surpassed by Mike Phillips on 16 March 2013.
Shane Mark Williams, is a Welsh former rugby union player most famous for his long and successful tenure as a wing for the Ospreys and the Wales national team. He also played scrum-half on occasion. Williams is the record try scorer for Wales, and is fourth on the international list of leading rugby union test try scorers behind Daisuke Ohata, Bryan Habana and David Campese.
Swansea Rugby Football Club is a Welsh rugby union team which plays in the Welsh Premiership. The club play at St Helen's Rugby and Cricket Ground in Swansea and are also known as The Whites, in reference to their home kit colours.
James William Hook is a retired Welsh rugby union player. Hook has won 81 caps for Wales and is Wales' fifth highest all-time points scorer. Most often playing as a fly-half, Hook is known as a utility player, and has also played as a centre, wing and fullback.
Alun Wyn Jones is a Welsh former international rugby union player who played as a lock. He played most of his career for Ospreys and for the Wales national team. He is the world's most-capped rugby union player, with 158 caps for Wales and 13 for the British & Irish Lions, and also holds the records for the most Wales caps and the second most Wales caps as captain. He retired from rugby in 2023.
Adam Rhys Jones is a Welsh former professional international rugby union player for Wales and the British & Irish Lions. He is currently scrum coach for Premiership Rugby club Harlequins
Lyn Jones is a Wales international rugby union former player. Originally playing as a flanker, Jones subsequently became a coach. He played most of his playing career for Neath RFC and started his coaching career at the same club. Jones has coached professional clubs in Wales and England and, in 2018, became head coach of the Russian national rugby union team. He subsequently became a coach with national rugby team of the Netherlands.
Steve Tandy is a Welsh rugby union former player and coach. He played for Welsh region Ospreys for the majority of his career and went on to become head coach of the region after his retirement. He is now defence coach at Scotland with a coaching role within the British and Irish Lions in 2021.
Rhys Webb is a Welsh rugby union player who plays as a scrum-half. Born in Bridgend, he is a product of the Ospreys academy and played club rugby for Bridgend and Aberavon before breaking into the regional side in 2008. He played for the Ospreys for 10 years before moving to French club Toulon in 2018, but terminated his contract with them in 2020 and agreed a return to the Ospreys; however, he was unable to join the Ospreys immediately and signed for Bath for the remainder of the 2019–20 season before returning to the Ospreys.
Daniel Biggar is a Welsh professional rugby union player currently playing for French Top 14 side Toulon as a fly-half. A Wales international, Biggar has also twice been selected to tour with the British and Irish Lions.
Justin Tipuric is a former Welsh international rugby union player who played for Wales as an openside flanker.
Swansea University Rugby Football Club is a Welsh amateur rugby union club based at Swansea University, Swansea. It competes in the BUCS Rugby Union Super Rugby League as of the 2021/2022 season. The club has experienced major success, winning the UAU Championship six times and the BUSA Championship twice. Swansea are also the current champions of Wales having won the 2022 Welsh Varsity in the Freshers, Women's and Men's varsity match.
Adam James Beard is a Welsh professional rugby union player who plays as a lock for United Rugby Championship club Ospreys and the Wales national team.
Sean Holley is a broadcaster and rugby union coach.
Project Reset is a proposed Welsh Rugby Union reform programme to restructure Welsh regional rugby. Recent years have indicated both regional and club rugby in Wales is in financial crisis, with sides such as Neath RFC closely defeating a liquidation order and Ospreys at risk of losing key players in 2019 and the 2019/20 season ahead.
