2025–26 Premiership Women's Rugby

Not to be confused with 2025–26 Premiership Rugby.
2024–25 Premiership Women's Rugby
Countries England
Number of teams9
Date25 October 2025 – 28 March 2026
Official website
www.thepwr.com

The 2025–26 Premiership Women's Rugby season will be the ninth season of England's top-flight domestic women's rugby union club competition. It will be the third season to be branded as Premiership Women's Rugby.

The reigning champions entering the season are Gloucester–Hartpury, who claimed their third league title after winning the 2025 final against Saracens Women.[1]

Teams and locations

Club Director of Rugby/
Head Coach 		Captain(s) Stadium(s) Capacity Location
Bristol Bears Women Scott Lawson[2] Shaftesbury Park — Bristol
Ashton Gate 27,000
Exeter Chiefs Women Steve Salvin[N 1][3] Sandy Park 13,593 Exeter, Devon
Gloucester–Hartpury Dan Murphy[4] Kingsholm[5] 16,115 Gloucester,
Gloucestershire
Harlequins Women Twickenham Stoop 14,800 Twickenham,
Greater London
Leicester Tigers Women Fraser Goatcher[N 2][6]
Ross Bundy[N 3][6] 		Welford Road 25,849 Leicester,
Leicestershire
Loughborough Lightning Franklin's Gardens 14,249 Northampton,
Northamptonshire
Sale Sharks Women Tom Hudson[7] Heywood Road 3,387 Sale, Greater Manchester
Saracens Women StoneX Stadium 10,500 Hendon, Greater London
Trailfinders Women Barney Maddison[8] Trailfinders Sports Ground 4,000 West Ealing, Greater London

Notes

  1. ^ Interim; pre-season only.
  2. ^ Director of Rugby
  3. ^ Head Coach

Player movements

Main article: List of 2025–26 Premiership Women's Rugby transfers

Head Coach changes

Bristol Bears, Exeter Chiefs, Gloucester–Hartpury, Leicester Tigers and Sale Sharks all saw their head coaches depart.

  • In April 2025, it was announced that Dave Ward would leave Bristol Bears,[9] Scott Lawson his successor, was announced as head coach in June 2025.[2]
  • Susie Appleby departed Exeter Chiefs following the 2024–25 season,[10] with assistant coach Steve Salvin taking interim charge for pre-season. A permanent replacement has yet to be announced.[3]
  • Sean Lynn left Gloucester–Hartpury after the 2024–25 final to take up the position of Wales Women Head Coach;[11] Dan Murphy was announced as his successor on 30 April 2025.[4]
  • Tom Hudson departed Leicester to become Head Coach at Sale Sharks, he replaced Rachel Taylor.[12] Hudson was replaced at Leicester by Fraser Goatcher as Director of Rugby and Ross Bundy as Head Coach.[6]

Regular season

The season was announced on 21 January 2025.[13][14] The season start will be pushed back by three weeks due to the 2025 Women's Rugby World Cup.[13]

PWR Cup

2025 PWR Cup
Countries England
Number of teams9
Date30 August – 12 October 2025
Official website
www.thepwr.com

The PWR Cup returned follwoing a hiatus in 2024–25, the competition acts as a pre-season devolpmental tournemant. In the PWR Cup, teams were drawn into two pools one of five teams and one of four teams. The pools were based on the 2024–25 Premiership Women's Rugby season standings. The top eight teams were placed using alternate seeding (1st in Pool A, 2nd in Pool B, 3rd in Pool A, etc.). The 9th team was randomly assigned to decide which pool had five teams. Each team plays every team in their pool once, home or away.

Teams that secure the top two positions within their respective pools will advance to the semi-finals. The winning teams from the semi-finals will move on to the final, while the losing teams will compete in the 3rd place playoff. The fixtures were announced on 17 June 2025.[15][16]

Pool A

2025 PWR Cup Pool A table
Pos Team Pld W D L PF PA PD TF TA TB LB Pts Qualification
1 Exeter Chiefs 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Play-offs
2 Gloucester-Hartpury 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
3 Harlequins 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
4 Trailfinders 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Updated to match(es) played on unknown. Source:

Pool B

2025 PWR Cup Pool B table
Pos Team Pld W D L PF PA PD TF TA TB LB Pts Qualification
1 Bristol Bears 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Play-offs
2 Leicester Tigers 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
3 Loughborough Lightning 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
4 Sale Sharks 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
5 Saracens 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Updated to match(es) played on unknown. Source:

References

  1. ^ Rendell, Sarah (16 March 2025). "Gloucester-Hartpury beat Saracens to claim third straight Premiership title". The Guardian. Retrieved 16 March 2025.
  2. ^ a b "Scott Lawson named Bristol Bears Women Head Coach". Talking Rugby Union. 13 June 2025. Retrieved 16 June 2025.
  3. ^ a b "Steve Salvin takes interim charge of Exeter Chiefs women". BBC Sport. 7 April 2025. Retrieved 7 April 2025.
  4. ^ a b Hurcom, Sophie (30 April 2025). "Murphy named Gloucester-Hartpury head of rugby". BBC Sport. Retrieved 30 April 2025.
  5. ^ "Gloucester Hartpury 2025/26 Club Membership now on sale". Gloucester Rugby. 11 June 2025. Retrieved 11 June 2025.
  6. ^ a b c "Club news: Women's Coaching Team". Leicester Tigers. 2 April 2025. Retrieved 2 April 2025.
  7. ^ "Tom Hudson named women's head coach". Sale Sharks. 24 February 2025. Retrieved 24 February 2025.
  8. ^ "Barney Maddison Extends as Head Coach of Trailfinders Women". Ealing Trailfinders Rugby Club. 12 March 2025. Retrieved 12 March 2025.
  9. ^ "Bristol Bears head coach Ward to leave club". BBC Sport. 7 April 2025. Retrieved 7 April 2025.
  10. ^ Stevens, Mark (28 February 2025). "Appleby departs Exeter Chiefs after club opt to go in new direction". Oakhampton Times. Retrieved 7 April 2025.
  11. ^ Latham-Coyle, Harry (16 March 2025). "Gloucester–Hartpury complete PWR three-peat to give coach Sean Lynn fitting farewell". The Independent. Retrieved 7 April 2025.
  12. ^ "Tom Hudson hired as Sale Sharks head coach". BBC Sport. 27 February 2025. Retrieved 7 April 2025.
  13. ^ a b "PWR: Season start delayed to cash in on World Cup". BBC Sport. 21 January 2025. Retrieved 15 February 2025.
  14. ^ "New Premiership Women's Rugby league season to kick off on 25 October 2025". Premiership Women's Rugby. Retrieved 15 February 2025.
  15. ^ "The PWR Cup fixtures and format revealed for 2025-26 - holders Saracens out to defend their title". Premiership Women's Rugby. 17 June 2025. Retrieved 17 June 2025.
  16. ^ "The PWR Cup is back to kick off a memorable season of elite women's rugby". Premiership Women's Rugby. 17 June 2025. Retrieved 17 June 2025.
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