The Welsh Rugby Union has confirmed its plans to reduce the number of men’s professional teams from four to three from the 2028–29 season, with either the Ospreys or Scarlets set to lose their professional status.

The governing body announced on Wednesday that it will establish three licence areas — one in the capital, one in east Wales and one in west Wales — with Cardiff Rugby and Dragons RFC set to be offered the capital and east licences respectively. That leaves the Swansea-based Ospreys and the Llanelli-based Scarlets in direct competition for the remaining western licence, with a merger between the two also a possibility.

Licensing process and timeline

The WRU Board confirmed that only incumbent teams will be eligible for a licence, ruling out the prospect of any new entities entering the professional game. The licensing process is scheduled to begin in December 2026 and conclude by the end of the 2026–27 season at the latest.

Following the autumn Nations Championship matches in November, the WRU will bring together the leadership of all four professional teams and other stakeholders to co-create what it has called the “future operating model for the men’s game.” That collaborative process will run through the first quarter of 2027, at which point all current professional clubs will be given the opportunity to confirm whether they wish to participate in the new structure.

WRU Vice Chair John Manders said: “We have affirmed that the future operating model will involve three professional teams from start of the 2028/29 season and now have a firm timeline for our next steps. We have already begun to put the support structures in place to develop the related player pathways, to create the best environments for our senior players, to provide the right financial support and to develop the facilities around them. We are making important progress which will safeguard the future of our game, concentrate resources and give our teams the best chance of achieving success at all levels.”

Cardiff and Dragons offered certainty

The announcement provides clarity for Cardiff Rugby, which has been under WRU ownership since being rescued from financial collapse in 2025, and for the independently backed Dragons RFC. Both are set to receive licences provided they agree to the final terms.

Marianne Økland, Chair of the Professional Rugby Board, said: “The aim is to finalise the new licensing model as quickly as possible and then move quickly to confirm future licence arrangements and transition plans. This will allow an orderly implementation and avoid prolonged uncertainty for clubs, players, supporters, investors and sponsors.

“Assuming that Cardiff Rugby and Dragons RFC want to sign up to the proposed licensing terms, there is now certainty that they will be offered the capital and east licences respectively.”

Uncertainty in the west

The decision leaves Ospreys and Scarlets facing an anxious wait. Between them, the two western regions have won the competition now known as the United Rugby Championship six times — the Ospreys lifting the trophy four times, most recently in 2012, and the Scarlets twice, most recently in 2017.

Both clubs only recently signed the Professional Rugby Agreement 2025 (PRA25) following more than a year of wrangling with the WRU. Ospreys signed in June and Scarlets followed in July, securing increased funding of £6.5 million over two years compared to the previous £4.5 million per year. The Scarlets’ agreement came in the same month the club announced a £2.1 million loss for the latest financial year.

A merger between the two was close to happening in 2019 but ultimately fell through, and it remains a practical if deeply controversial possibility.

Økland acknowledged the difficulty of the situation for both clubs: “We understand that there will be ongoing uncertainty until a final decision on the west licence is made. That is why we are committed to progressing in a collaborative way, whilst not underestimating the considerable challenges ahead, and providing stability for all at the earliest opportunity.”

A game in crisis

The restructuring comes against the backdrop of a deep crisis in Welsh rugby. More than 50 per cent of the WRU’s turnover comes from international matches, and the national team’s results have been dire since the 2023 Rugby World Cup in France. Despite briefly topping the world rankings in 2019 and winning the Six Nations title in 2021, Wales have since suffered an unprecedented 18-match Test losing sequence and record home defeats to England, Argentina and South Africa, slumping to 11th in the World Rugby rankings.

The decision to reduce the professional game to three teams has been heavily criticised by players, fans and politicians, sparking protests and even legal action. Whether the restructuring will reverse Welsh rugby’s fortunes or simply deepen the sense of crisis remains to be seen — but the clock is now ticking for Ospreys and Scarlets as they prepare to fight for their survival.

Former Ireland and Australia head coach Joe Schmidt has returned to Irish rugby after being appointed Ulster Rugby’s Coach Development Advisor, a newly created consultancy role focused on strengthening the coaching pathway across the province.

Joe Schmidt appointed Coach Development Advisor 🏉

Ulster Rugby is pleased to announce the appointment of Joe Schmidt in a consultancy capacity as Coach Development Advisor, a newly created role focused on strengthening and developing the coaching pathway across the province.… pic.twitter.com/uzON5G28sj

— Ulster Rugby (@UlsterRugby) July 29, 2026

Schmidt, 60, will work with coaching staff at all levels over the next 12 months through a combination of in-person visits and remote interactions. The role spans the Academy, age-grade programmes, schools, clubs and the professional game, with the aim of creating a more connected and consistent coaching environment throughout Ulster.

The appointment marks a return to Ireland for the New Zealander, who spent nine years coaching in the country. Schmidt guided Leinster to two Heineken Cups before leading Ireland to three Six Nations Championships, including a Grand Slam in 2018, earning him the World Rugby Coach of the Year award. He subsequently assisted the All Blacks to the 2023 Rugby World Cup final before spending the past two years as Wallabies head coach, stepping down earlier this month after the conclusion of the first phase of the Nations Championship.

Schmidt eager to develop Ulster’s coaching pathway

Speaking on his appointment, Schmidt said: “Ulster has a proud rugby tradition and further developing the coaching pathway in the region is something that we believe can add value. We’ve had initial discussions about where to get started, and I’ve already had the opportunity to work with some of the school coaches, alongside Dan Soper.”

Ulster head coach Richie Murphy, who previously worked alongside Schmidt at both Leinster and Ireland, welcomed the move: “I’ve worked with Joe on a number of occasions throughout my coaching career and know first-hand the value he brings to an organisation.

“We’re delighted to have someone of Joe’s calibre involved with Ulster Rugby. His experience will be hugely beneficial in the development of coaches throughout the entire pathway. The impact of that support will be felt right across the province for years to come.”

Part of Ulster’s long-term strategy

The appointment forms part of Ulster’s wider investment in the future of rugby across the province. Ulster Rugby CEO Hugh McCaughey emphasised the importance of developing coaches alongside players: “As we continue to invest in the future of rugby across Ulster, it is important that we invest not only in our players, but also in the people responsible for developing them.

“Joe’s experience and expertise are recognised throughout the world game. His support will help us develop coaches at every level of the pathway and ultimately strengthen rugby across the province.”

Ulster general manager Rory Best, who served as Ireland captain under Schmidt, described the move as part of a long-term strategy. “Last season we introduced a dedicated focus on player development within our performance pathway. It is equally important that we prioritise the long-term development of our coaches,” Best said.

“Strengthening our coaching pathway is a key part of our long-term strategy. Joe’s involvement will help us support coaches at every stage of their journey, from emerging coaches in schools and clubs through to those operating across our pathway programmes. His experience will help create a more connected and consistent coaching environment across the province.”

What this means for Ulster

Ulster are coming off a season of mixed fortunes. Richie Murphy’s side reached the Challenge Cup final, where they fell to Montpellier in Bilbao, but finished ninth in the United Rugby Championship, missing out on both the play-offs and Champions Cup qualification for the coming campaign.

The province continue to field one of the youngest squads in the URC following a significant overhaul to their playing roster in recent seasons, having missed the play-offs in consecutive years. Schmidt’s involvement, albeit in a consultancy capacity rather than a direct coaching role with the senior squad, adds considerable pedigree to a province still navigating a rebuild.

Schmidt has also been linked with a potential future role at Leinster, where head coach Leo Cullen is set to depart at the end of the 2026–27 season after more than a decade in charge. For now, however, his focus will be on developing the next generation of coaches across Ulster’s pathway.

Leinster saved their best for last, producing a devastating display to demolish the Vodacom Bulls 36–7 at Croke Park and become the first side to win back-to-back BKT United Rugby Championship titles. In front of 39,184 supporters on a balmy but wet Friday night in Dublin, Leo Cullen’s side delivered a performance eerily similar to last year’s Grand Final at the same venue, tearing apart a Springbok-laden Bulls outfit that imploded through ill-discipline and errors to suffer a fourth defeat in five URC finals.

Key moments

2 mins – YELLOW CARD BULLS: Canan Moodie shown yellow for a deliberate knock-on, intercepting a Prendergast pass intended for McCarthy. Bulls down to 14.

5 mins – TRY LEINSTER: Tommy O’Brien pounces on a loose Pollard pass, grubbers ahead and gathers to score from 60 metres. Prendergast converts. (Leinster 7–0 Bulls)

6 mins: Caelan Doris goes off with a foot injury. Jack Conan replaces the Leinster captain.

16 mins – TRY LEINSTER: Gibson-Park takes a quick lineout and fires to Prendergast, who feeds Keenan. The full-back breaks through and sends Ioane over in the corner. Prendergast’s conversion misses. (Leinster 12–0 Bulls)

25 mins – YELLOW CARD BULLS: Willie le Roux sin-binned for a deliberate knock-on, cutting out Keenan’s pass to O’Brien.

27 mins – TRY LEINSTER: Jack Conan drives over from close range after sustained forward pressure from the lineout. Prendergast converts. (Leinster 19–0 Bulls)

31 mins – PENALTY LEINSTER: Prendergast slots from in front after a scrum free-kick and penalty for not releasing. (Leinster 22–0 Bulls)

39 mins: Tommy O’Brien limps off with a leg injury. Garry Ringrose on, Ioane moves to the wing.

Half-time: Leinster 22–0 Bulls. A carbon copy of last year’s final, with Leinster in total control. Two Bulls yellow cards for deliberate knock-ons proved devastating, O’Brien, Ioane and Conan all crossing while Prendergast ran the show. Pollard’s error-strewn half summed up the Bulls’ performance, ending with a penalty kicked dead on the stroke of half-time.

46 mins – TRY LEINSTER: Prendergast scores from close range after a clever no-look pass to Osborne opens space. Converts his own try. (Leinster 29–0 Bulls)

55 mins: Harold Vorster held up over the line after a TMO check. Controversial call, with the Bulls adamant he grounded the ball.

58 mins – YELLOW CARD LEINSTER: James Lowe sin-binned for a deliberate knock-on on his farewell appearance.

62 mins – TRY BULLS: Canan Moodie scores off Papier’s pass after a lineout maul. Pollard converts. (Leinster 29–7 Bulls)

67 mins: Ruan Nortjé try disallowed. TMO rules Moodie’s offload in the build-up went forward.

73 mins: Luke McGrath enters for his 257th and final Leinster appearance, replacing Gibson-Park to a standing ovation.

77 mins – TRY LEINSTER: Harry Byrne drives over from close range after sustained pressure. Converts his own try. (Leinster 36–7 Bulls)

Full-time: Leinster 36–7 Bulls

Player of the Match: Sam Prendergast (Leinster)

The victory secured Leinster’s 10th league championship across all formats, 25 years after they won the first Celtic League title in 2001, and went a considerable way towards healing the wounds of their 41–19 Champions Cup final defeat to Bordeaux Bègles in Bilbao just four weeks earlier. It was also a fitting farewell for James Lowe, Luke McGrath, Rieko Ioane and Jerry Cahir, all playing their final matches in blue.

Sam Prendergast, outstanding throughout, was named Player of the Match after contributing a try, three conversions and a penalty for a 13-point haul. The 23-year-old Kildare man controlled proceedings with a composure and authority that will have delighted Ireland head coach Andy Farrell ahead of next month’s Nations Championship opener against Australia in Sydney.

The only cloud over the evening was the first-half departures of captain Caelan Doris and try scorer Tommy O’Brien, both limping off with injuries that will be assessed before Ireland’s squad assembles. Doris, however, offered reassurance afterwards. “My knee was fine, it was actually something else,” the captain said. “We’ll get it checked later. But I’m looking forward to a few beers with the lads. From a big disappointment a few weeks ago, I’m very proud we have been able to turn the page. It’s been a massive motivation for us to get it right, it was great to watch.”

The Bulls had spoken all week about starting fast and maintaining their discipline. They failed on both counts inside 82 seconds. Lowe burst into the clear on the left and Prendergast’s searching pass intended for Joe McCarthy was slapped down by Canan Moodie, who was promptly shown a yellow card for a deliberate knock-on. The visitors initially defended heroically with 14 men, Cameron Hanekom producing a crucial turnover penalty on his own try line to repel Leinster’s opening siege. But they came unstuck on their first meaningful attack when Handré Pollard took his eye off a head-high pass that slipped through his fingers. O’Brien pounced on the loose ball in midfield, grubbed ahead, gathered a kind bounce and sprinted 60 metres to score unopposed. Prendergast converted from in front and Leinster led 7–0 after just five minutes.

Doris’s withdrawal with a foot injury in the sixth minute could have derailed the home side, but Jack Conan slipped seamlessly into the back row and soon made his presence felt. On 16 minutes, Leinster produced the try of the match. Jamison Gibson-Park took a quick lineout and fired a 35-metre pass to Prendergast, who fed Hugo Keenan. The full-back’s spin and acceleration opened up the Bulls defence before he sent it wide left to Ioane, who stepped inside Kurt-Lee Arendse and powered over in the corner. Prendergast’s conversion from the touchline curled wide, but at 12–0, Leinster were already in command.

The province’s defensive line speed was suffocating. When the Bulls briefly flickered into life through Stravino Jacobs, Prendergast accelerated back to make a brave sliding gather that prevented a certain try — a moment of defensive brilliance that encapsulated his influence on the evening. At the other end, Gibson-Park’s grubber forced Willie le Roux to concede a five-metre scrum, and although Rónán Kelleher was held up over the line, Leinster’s relentless pressure soon produced a third score. Keenan magnificently claimed a Prendergast bomb inside the Bulls 22 and le Roux, attempting to intercept Keenan’s pass to O’Brien, became the second Bull to be sin-binned for a deliberate knock-on in the 25th minute. From the resulting lineout, Conan drove low and reached out to ground the ball from close range. Prendergast converted and, at 19–0 after 27 minutes, the contest was effectively over.

Prendergast’s penalty after a scrum free-kick extended the lead to 22–0 in the 31st minute and the Bulls could not find an answer before the break. Their lineout, targeted superbly by Max Deegan and Josh van der Flier throughout, lost four first-half throws, while Pollard’s nightmare continued when he kicked a penalty dead on the stroke of half-time, denying his side any late momentum.

The second half brought no reprieve. Prendergast struck again within six minutes of the restart, reacting smartly to lazy defence on the edge of a ruck to snipe and dive over from close range after his elegant no-look pass to Jamie Osborne had opened the space. He converted his own try to make it 29–0 and the rout was on.

The Bulls showed more fight after introducing their bench, with the Springbok bomb squad of Marco van Staden, Jan-Hendrik Wessels, Wilco Louw, Cobus Wiese and Jeandré Rudolph all arriving in the 53rd minute. Harold Vorster appeared to have crossed for the visitors’ first try, but a TMO review upheld the on-field decision of held up, a call that drew fierce protests from the South Africans and was widely regarded as harsh. Minutes later, Lowe became the third player to be sin-binned for a deliberate knock-on — an unfortunate moment on his farewell appearance — and the Bulls finally breached the Leinster defence when Moodie shot through a gap off Embrose Papier’s pass to score. Pollard converted to make it 29–7 in the 62nd minute.

Any faint hopes of a miracle were extinguished almost immediately. Ruan Nortjé crossed for what appeared to be the Bulls’ second try, but the TMO ruled that Moodie’s offload in the build-up had gone forward — another contentious call that left the visitors fuming. The Bulls’ frustrations should, however, have been directed internally. Their senior players failed to deliver when it mattered most: le Roux and Moodie’s yellow cards were self-inflicted, Pollard’s error led directly to the opening try, and their lineout never functioned.

Leinster, by contrast, were clinical to the end. McGrath’s arrival for his 257th and final appearance in the 73rd minute was greeted with an enormous ovation, and the departing scrum-half helped set up the final try, conducting the forwards’ carries before Harry Byrne drove over from five metres and converted his own score to seal it at 36–7.

Doris, grimacing but on his feet, led the squad up to the trophy podium alongside Lowe, whose two children joined him on stage for an emotional lift of the trophy. “That’s pretty special,” said Prendergast. “We have unbelievable characters leaving the group, it’s nice to have a happy memory to end it on and we can celebrate that in the next few days. Since Europe, all our group has been focused on has been winning this back-to-back. Nobody had done it before.”

Ioane, visibly moved, was succinct. “We saved our best performance until last. I’ve loved my time in Dublin.”

And Lowe, the province’s all-time leading try scorer, offered a promise: “We will go enjoy Japan for a few years, then we will be back in a few years.”

For the Bulls, the questions that have lingered through four finals in five seasons now echo louder than ever. They came to Dublin with 11 Springboks in their starting XV and the momentum of eight consecutive wins, but produced a performance that head coach Johan Ackermann will find difficult to defend. The same mistakes, the same venue, the same outcome — and a record that now reads four defeats from five URC Grand Finals.

Leinster, meanwhile, can bask in the glow of a perfect end to a frustrating season. The URC may not be the trophy they covet most, but it is one worth celebrating — and the sight of Lowe, McGrath and their teammates completing a lap of honour in the Dublin rain, trophy aloft, was the farewell this group deserved.

Teams

Leinster: 15 Hugo Keenan, 14 Tommy O’Brien (Garry Ringrose 40+2), 13 Rieko Ioane, 12 Jamie Osborne, 11 James Lowe, 10 Sam Prendergast (Harry Byrne 68), 9 Jamison Gibson-Park (Luke McGrath 73); 1 Jerry Cahir (Alex Usanov 49), 2 Rónán Kelleher (Dan Sheehan 47), 3 Tadhg Furlong (Thomas Clarkson 47), 4 Joe McCarthy (Diarmuid Mangan 70), 5 James Ryan, 6 Max Deegan, 7 Josh van der Flier, 8 Caelan Doris (captain) (Jack Conan 6).

Vodacom Bulls: 15 Willie le Roux, 14 Kurt-Lee Arendse, 13 Canan Moodie, 12 Harold Vorster, 11 Stravino Jacobs (Stedman Gans 56), 10 Handré Pollard, 9 Embrose Papier (Zak Burger 67); 1 Gerhard Steenekamp (Jan-Hendrik Wessels 53), 2 Johan Grobbelaar (Nizaam Carr 72), 3 Francois Klopper (Wilco Louw 53), 4 Ruan Vermaak (Cobus Wiese 53), 5 Ruan Nortjé, 6 Marcell Coetzee (captain), 7 Elrigh Louw (Marco van Staden 53), 8 Cameron Hanekom (Jeandré Rudolph 53).

Match details

Leinster 36 (Tries: O’Brien, Ioane, Conan, Prendergast, H. Byrne; Conversions: Prendergast 3/4, H. Byrne 1/1; Penalties: Prendergast 1/1)
Vodacom Bulls 7 (Tries: Moodie; Conversions: Pollard 1/1)
Half-time: 22–0

Venue: Croke Park, Dublin
Attendance: 39,184
Referee: Andrea Piardi (Italy)
Assistant Referees: Adam Jones (Wales), Ben Breakspear (Wales)
TMO: Matteo Liperini (Italy)