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 regions were established for the start of the 2003/04 rugby union season. From this date, Wales was represented by a smaller number of regional teams in both the Celtic League and European Cup competitions, where previously the top club sides were entered into them.
Current regions
Cardiff Rugby/Rygbi Caerdydd
Based in Cardiff, the capital of Wales, Cardiff Rugby (Welsh: Rygbi Caerdydd) play at Cardiff Arms Park and are owned by Cardiff Rugby Ltd, who also own and run Cardiff Rugby Football Club. From 2003 to 2021 the club were known as the Cardiff Blues before changing their name to Cardiff Rugby prior to the start of the 2021-22 season.
Cardiff Rugby are responsible for developing rugby in the city of Cardiff, Vale of Glamorgan, Rhondda Cynon Taf, Merthyr Tydfil and south Powys. There are 75 associate clubs within this wider Cardiff Rugby region including semi professional Pontypridd RFC, Merthyr RFC and the Cardiff RFC Welsh Premiership side.
Cardiff Rugby compete in the United Rugby Championship, which includes teams from Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Italy and South Africa. In addition, Cardiff Blues competed in the Anglo-Welsh Cup and (for the 2017–18 season) the European Rugby Challenge Cup which they won by beating Gloucester in the final 31–30. They previously won the 2008–09 Anglo-Welsh Cup and the 2009–10 European Challenge Cup. For the 2021-22 season, Cardiff will compete in the European Champions Cup.
Scarlets
Their home ground of the Scarlets is the Parc y Scarlets stadium. They play in the United Rugby Championship and the European Rugby Champions Cup (which replaced the Heineken Cup from the 2014–15 season). The club was originally named the Llanelli Scarlets but was renamed at the start of the 2008–09 rugby season.
The Llanelli Scarlets were founded in 2003, as one of the five (now four) regional teams created by the Welsh Rugby Union (WRU). The Scarlets are affiliated with a number of semi-professional and amateur clubs throughout the area, including Welsh Premier Division sides Llanelli RFC, Carmarthen Quins RFC and Llandovery RFC. Through the 2007–08 season, they played most of their games at Stradey Park in Llanelli, but they have also played matches at the Racecourse Ground in Wrexham. The club's new stadium, Parc y Scarlets (), was constructed in nearby Pemberton, and opened in November 2008.
Ospreys/Gweilch
The Ospreys (), formerly the Neath-Swansea Ospreys, 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'.
Their main home ground is the Swansea.com Stadium, Swansea, although some smaller profile games have been played at the Brewery Field, Bridgend. Ospreys currently play in a black home strip, while the away strip is white and orange. The Ospreys logo consists of an image of an Osprey mask.
The Ospreys are the most successful Welsh team in the history of the Celtic League or Pro12 tournament, having won the competition four times. They also became the first and only Welsh regional team to beat a major touring side, defeating 24–16 in 2006.
Dragons/Dreigiau
Dragons () are owned by the Welsh Rugby Union and play their home games at Rodney Parade, Newport and at other grounds around the region. 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.