Premiership Women's Rugby, commonly known as The PWR, and officially known as the JAECOO PWR for sponsorship reasons, is an annual semi-professional women's rugby union club competition at the highest level of the English rugby union system, and is run by the Rugby Football Union (RFU). It is contested by nine clubs, who play two series of round-robin matches to determine the four participants of the play-offs, which takes the form of a single-elimination tournament. It began play in the 2017–18 season, superseding the former Women's Premiership, and introducing elements of professionalism in the sport's highest level. In its first six seasons, the competition was known as the Premier 15s. The current PWR champions are Saracens, who have also won the most league titles in total (4).
Premiership Women's Rugby runs concurrently with the PWR Cup, a similar annual competition contested by the same clubs, which was introduced in the 2021–22 season. Unlike the league format, teams are instead split into two pools, and only play one series of round-robin matches to determine places in the competition's play-offs. Saracens are the current cup champions, while they and Exeter Chiefs have won the most cups (2).
History 2016–2023: Premier 15s The RFU founded the competition as 'Women's Super Rugby' in October 2016, committing to a three-year, £2.4 million investment."Premier 15s: New league a real opportunity for women's rugby" , ESPN, Victoria Monk, 15 September 2017. A bidding process was opened to clubs seeking to operate a franchise in the new league, with the RFU initially planning to have all eight Women's Premiership teams and two new teams compete. Minimum standards were raised for aspiring franchise owners, such as requiring clubs to invest in professional training facilities and coaching resources.
After interviews with twelve clubs at Twickenham Stadium, the RFU announced the league's ten foundation clubs in February 2017. The decision to admit all Premiership clubs (Aylesford Bulls Ladies being taken over by Harlequins to become Harlequins Ladies) except for Lichfield Ladies, despite their fifteen-year presence in the top flight, was controversial. As the club expressed being "disgusted, disappointed and dumbfounded", Leicester Tigers, and Member for Lichfield Michael Fabricant, unsuccessfully attempted to overturn the decision, with the latter claiming the selection of only ten teams violated the Equality Act 2010, as the men's Premiership Rugby had twelve teams. The Thurrock T-Birds, who won the 2016–17 Championship 1 South season, also unsuccessfully attempted to appeal their exclusion.
The seven Premiership clubs would join Gloucester–Hartpury, Loughborough Lightning, and Waterloo in the inaugural season of the league, which had been rebranded to the 'Premier 15s' prior to its start. Potato crisps manufacturer Tyrrells obtained its naming rights for three years, in what was described by the RFU as "the biggest ever financial investment in women's club rugby."
Financial services company Allianz began their naming rights sponsorship ahead of the 2020–21 season. The two independent clubs, Richmond and Waterloo, were replaced with the Premiership Rugby-affiliated Exeter Chiefs and Sale Sharks. The RFU stressed the need for financially viable clubs in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. Worcester Warriors were temporarily suspended during the 2022–23 season due to financial difficulties. These were resolved within a month and Worcester were unsuspended.
2023 onwards: Premiership Women's Rugby Trailfinders and Leicester Tigers were admitted into the league in the 2023–24 season, as the competition rebranded to 'Premiership Women's Rugby'. Sale Sharks and Worcester Warriors were initially excluded from the 2023–24 season alongside DMP Sharks and Wasps. Sale and Worcester were given conditional invitations by the RFU to rejoin for the 2023–24 season, in order to maintain the number of clubs in the league at ten.
On 17 October 2023, the owners of Worcester Warriors Women, Cube International, notified the RFU and PWR that they intended to withdraw Worcester Warriors Women from Premiership Women's Rugby and the Allianz Cup. The impact on the season's fixtures was not announced, however Worcester's next fixture, the Allianz Cup match against Bristol Bears Women was cancelled.
On 27 February 2026, the RFU Council approved a major restructuring of the men's top flight of rugby in England. As part of the joint announcement, made by the RFU, PREM Rugby, Champ Rugby, Premiership Women's Rugby and the Rugby Players' Association, all PREM clubs will be required to either operate a Premiership Women's Rugby team or fund a regional women's development plan, with financial penalties for non-compliance.
On 31 March 2026, Premiership Women's Rugby opened an expressions of interest process to explore potential league expansion. PWR said the process was exploratory rather than a formal application stage, and that it was designed to assess the readiness of possible future entrants and inform plans for the league's future competition structure. Clubs across the UK and Ireland were invited to register interest by 30 April 2026. PWR said any prospective entrant must be able to invest at least £1.2 million annually in its rugby programme, field a squad of 45 to 55 players, and meet competition, broadcast and training standards. Following the opening of the expressions of interest process, the Welsh Rugby Union (WRU) announced its intention to submit an expression of interest in entering a team in the PWR. Wales head coach Sean Lynn, who won three PWR titles with Gloucester–Hartpury, confirmed the WRU would participate in the process.
On 25 June 2026, the PWR announced a multi-year title partnership with Jaecoo, marking the first time the league had secured a paying title sponsor. The three-year deal, worth more than £3 million in total with over £1 million invested per season, saw the competition rebranded as the JAECOO PWR from the 2026–27 season, while the league's pre-season tournament, the PWR Cup was renamed the JAECOO PWR Next Gen Cup.
Teams Nine teams are currently competing in Premiership Women's Rugby, as of the 2026–27 season.
+ Current teams Team Established Location Stadium Capacity Titles (last) Bristol Bears Bristol Ashton Gate 27,000 – (N/A) Shaftesbury Park 200 Exeter Chiefs Exeter Sandy Park 15,600 – (N/A) Gloucester–Hartpury Gloucester Kingsholm 16,115 3 (2025) Hartpury Hartpury Stadium 2,000 Harlequins Twickenham Twickenham Stoop 14,800 1 (2021) Leicester Tigers Leicester Welford Road 25,849 – (N/A) Loughborough Lightning Northampton Franklin's Gardens 14,249 – (N/A) Sale Sharks Sale Heywood Road 3,387 – (N/A) Saracens Hendon StoneX Stadium 10,500 4 (2026) Trailfinders Ealing Trailfinders Sports Ground 5,000 – (N/A)
All time A total of 14 clubs have been involved in the top flight since the league's inception in the 2017–18 season. The most recent clubs to make debuts in Premiership Woman's Rugby were Trailfinders and Leicester Tigers, who made their top-flight debut in the 2023–24 season.
Five clubs — Bristol Bears, Gloucester–Hartpury, Harlequins, Loughborough Lightning and Saracens — have appeared in every season to date.
Below is a list of clubs that have participated in the competition and the number of full seasons they have competed in. Clubs currently active are marked in bold, while those that have been ever-present in are listed in bold italics. The last column shows the seasons each club has participated in, including the current one.
Team Seasons Competed Seasons Participated Bristol Bears 8 2017–18 to 2025–26 Darlington Mowden Park Sharks 5 2017–18 to 2022–23 Exeter Chiefs 6 2020–21 to 2025–26 Gloucester–Hartpury 8 2017–18 to 2025–26 Harlequins 8 2017–18 to 2025–26 Leicester Tigers 3 2023–24 to 2025–26 Loughborough Lightning 8 2017–18 to 2025–26 Richmond 2 2017–18 to 2018–19 Sale Sharks 6 2020–21 to 2025–26 Saracens 8 2017–18 to 2025–26 Trailfinders 3 2023–24 to 2025–26 Wasps 5 2017–18 to 2022–23 Waterloo 2 2017–18 to 2018–19 Worcester Warriors 5 2017–18 to 2022–23
Sponsorship Period Sponsor Name League Branding 2017–2020 Tyrrells Potato Crisps Tyrrells Premier 15s Premier 15s 2020–2023 Allianz Allianz Premier 15s 2023–2024 Allianz Premiership Women's Rugby Premiership Women's Rugby 2024–2026 No sponsor Premiership Women's Rugby — 2026–present Jaecoo JAECOO PWR Premiership Women's Rugby
Structure League season The Premiership Women's Rugby league season typically runs from September to June and comprises 18 rounds of matches, with each club playing each other home and away. From the 2023–24 season onwards, each club also has bye weeks. The results of the matches contribute points to the league as follows: 4 points are awarded for a win. 2 points are awarded for a draw. 0 points are awarded for a loss. 1 losing (bonus) point is awarded to a team that loses a match by 7 points or fewer. 1 additional (bonus) point is awarded to a team scoring 4 tries or more in a match.
Play-offs Following the completion of the regular season, the top 4 teams enter the play-offs, which are usually held in June. The top two teams receive home advantage, the league leaders hosting the 4th ranked team, and the 2nd place team hosting the 3rd place team. The winners of these semi-finals progress to the final, with no set venue, with the winner of the final being crowned champions. In the inaugural season, the play-offs comprised back-to-back home and away fixtures, with the winner being determined by an aggregate score. This was changed to single matches from the following season onwards.
Champions Season Champions Final Runners–up Top of Table 2017–18 Saracens 24–20 Harlequins Saracens 2018–19 Saracens 33–17 Harlequins 2019–20 Season abandoned due to the COVID-19 pandemic 2020–21 Harlequins 25–17 Saracens Saracens 2021–22 Saracens 43–21 Exeter Chiefs 2022–23 Gloucester–Hartpury 34–19 Exeter Chiefs Gloucester–Hartpury 2023–24 Gloucester–Hartpury 36–24 Bristol Bears 2024–25 Gloucester–Hartpury 34–19 Saracens 2025–26 Saracens 52–14 Trailfinders
Summary of winners # Team Champions Years as champions Runners–up Years as runners–up Top of league table 1 Saracens 4 2017–18, 2018–19, 2021–22, 2025–26 2 2020–21, 2024–25 4 2 Gloucester–Hartpury 3 2022–23, 2023–24, 2024–25 0 — 3 Harlequins 1 2020–21 2 2017–18, 2018–19 —
Player records All player records are from the 2017–18 season onwards, following the launch of the Premier 15s competition (which was later re-branded as Premiership Women's Rugby).
Points Rank Nationality Player Club(s) Years Points 1 Zoe Harrison Saracens 2017– 676 2 Emma Sing Gloucester–Hartpury 2018– 655 3 Ellie Green Harlequins, Worcester, Trailfinders, Gloucester–Hartpury 2017– 498 4 Lark Atkin-Davies Worcester, Loughborough, Bristol 2017– 475 5 Ellie Rugman Gloucester–Hartpury 2018– 469 6 Poppy Cleall Saracens 2017– 445 7 Marlie Packer Saracens 2017– 430 8 Abby Dow Wasps, Harlequins, Trailfinders 2017–2025 418 9 Helena Rowland Saracens, Loughborough 2017– 359 10 Jess Breach Harlequins, Saracens 2017– 390 May Campbell Saracens 2017–
Tries Rank Nationality Player Club(s) Years Tries 1 Lark Atkin-Davies Worcester, Loughborough, Bristol 2017– 95 2 Poppy Cleall Saracens 2017– 89 3 Marlie Packer Saracens 2017– 86 4 Ellie Rugman Gloucester–Hartpury 2018– 81 5 Abby Dow Wasps, Harlequins, Trailfinders 2017–2025 80 6 Jess Breach Harlequins, Saracens 2017– 78 May Campbell Saracens 2017– 8 Claudia Moloney-MacDonald DMP Sharks, Wasps, Exeter 2017– 62 9 Ellie Kildunne Gloucester–Hartpury, Wasps, Harlequins 2017– 59 Kelly Taylor Gloucester–Hartpury 2017–
Goal kicking