The National Provincial Championship (NPC) is an annual round-robin rugby union competition in men's domestic New Zealand rugby. First played in 1976, it is the second highest level of competition in New Zealand alongside the Ranfurly Shield. It is organised by New Zealand Rugby (NZR) and since 2021, it has been known as the Bunnings NPC after Bunnings, its naming rights sponsor. A concurrent women's tournament is also held, the Farah Palmer Cup.
The United Rugby Championship (URC) is an annual rugby union competition involving professional teams from Ireland, Italy, Scotland, South Africa, and Wales. For sponsorship reasons the league is known as the Vodacom United Rugby Championship in South Africa, and the BKT United Rugby Championship in the competition's other territories, the split branding mirroring the format previously adopted in Super Rugby. The Championship represents the highest level of domestic club or franchise rugby in each of its constituent countries.
The Welsh Rugby Union is the governing body of rugby union in the country of Wales, recognised by the sport's international governing body, World Rugby.
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.
Rugby union in Wales is considered a large part of Welsh national culture. Rugby union is thought to have reached Wales in the 1850s, with the national body, the Welsh Rugby Union (WRU) being formed in 1881. Wales are considered to be one of the most successful national sides in Rugby Union, having won the most Six Nations Championships after England, as well as having reached 3 World Cup semi finals in 1987, 2011 and 2019, having finished 3rd in the inaugural competition and having finished 4th in 2011 in a repeat of the first third place play-off. The Welsh team of the 1970s is considered to be one of the greatest national teams of all time. As of November 2021, they are ranked 8th in the world.
The Welsh Premier Division, known for sponsorship reasons as the Indigo Group Premiership, is a rugby union league in Wales first implemented by the Welsh Rugby Union (WRU) for the 1990–91 season.
Llanelli Rugby Football Club is a Welsh rugby union club founded on 30 March 1872.
Pontypool Rugby Football Club is a Welsh rugby union team based in the town of Pontypool, which plays in the Super Rygbi Cymru league. Since the regionalisation of Welsh rugby in 2003, Pontypool RFC is now a feeder club to the Dragons regional team. Pontypool play their home matches at Pontypool Park. Their traditional home kit is a red, white and black-hooped shirt and socks with white shorts, although they did gradually shift to wearing black shorts post-2003.
Mark Anthony Jones is a Welsh professional rugby union coach and former player who played as a wing for the Scarlets and Wales. Since making his international debut for Wales in 2001, he won 47 caps and scored 13 tries. He is currently head coach of the Ospreys.
Bridgend Ravens are a semi-professional rugby union club based in Bridgend, South Wales.
Clwb Rygbi is a rugby union Welsh-language television programme shown on S4C. Produced by BBC Cymru Wales, the show is amongst the most popular programmes shown on S4C. The show was known as Y Clwb Rygbi until the beginning of the 2014–15 season.
Llandovery RFC is a Welsh rugby union club based in Llandovery, Carmarthenshire, Wales. The club is an inaugural member of the Welsh Rugby Union, currently play in the Super Rygbi Cymru and is a feeder club for the Scarlets, a Pro14 club. Llandovery won the Premier Division during the 2022–23 season, defeating reigning champions Cardiff RFC in the final.
Clive Ronald Griffiths, also known by the nickname of "Griff", is a Welsh former dual-code international rugby union and professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1970s and 1980s, and coached rugby union and rugby league in the 1990s, 2000s and 2010s. He played representative level rugby union (RU) for Wales, at invitational level for the Barbarian F.C., and at club level for Llanelli RFC, as a full-back, and representative level rugby league (RL) for Wales, and at club level for St. Helens and Salford, as a fullback, wing or centre, and coached representative level rugby union (RU) for Wales, and at club level for Newcastle Emlyn RFC, London Welsh RFC, Swansea RFC, Newport Gwent Dragons, Doncaster Knights, Worcester Warriors and RGC 1404, and representative level rugby league (RL) for Wales, and at club level for the South Wales and the North Wales Crusaders, and as of 2018 he is the Director of Rugby at the Doncaster Knights.
Ian Martin Buckett was a Welsh international rugby union front row forward, who played for Swansea and London Welsh. He also played county rugby for North Wales. He was a championship winning player, an international and an academic.
RGC 1404, formerly "Gogledd Cymru", is a rugby union team founded in 2008 and based in Colwyn Bay, Conwy. They currently play in the Super Rygbi Cymru; after winning Division 1 East at the first attempt in 2012–13, they spent three seasons in the Welsh Championship before earning promotion to the Premier Division in 2015–16. They finished fourth in their first season in the top flight, but also won the WRU Challenge Cup for the first time. They play at Eirias Stadium, which has a capacity of just over 6,000.
The Super League is the top-level of the British rugby league system. At present the league consists of twelve teams, of which eleven are from Northern England, reflecting the sport's geographic heartland within the UK and one from southern France.
Welsh regional rugby is the top tier of professional Welsh club rugby and is composed of the Scarlets, Ospreys, Cardiff Rugby and the Dragons which compete in the United Rugby Championship.
The 2018–19 Principality Premiership was the third season of the new format of the Principality Premiership, the top tier of club rugby in Wales run by the Welsh Rugby Union. It was contested by sixteen Welsh clubs following an expansion from twelve teams at the start of the 2016–17 season. The 2018–19 season saw the end of "ring-fencing" and relegation returned for this season with four teams being automatically relegated to the 2019–20 WRU Championship and a fifth team avoiding relegation by winning a play-off. The competition was won by Merthyr for the third consecutive year.
The 2023–24 Indigo Group Premiership is the fifth season of the current format of the rugby union competition Welsh Premier Division. It began on 2 September 2023.
