WRU: Swansea MP likens union to ‘a crook returning to the scene of their crime’

A Swansea MP and UK Government minister has accused the Welsh Rugby Union of behaving “like a crook that insists on returning to the scene of their crime” over its plans for the professional game.

Torsten Bell, Labour MP for Swansea West and Minister for Pensions, said the union was attempting to “double down on the failed old plan” after Wednesday’s announcement left the Ospreys and Scarlets fighting for a single west Wales licence.

His intervention follows Swansea Council leader Rob Stewart calling on WRU chief executive Abi Tierney to resign on Wednesday, after the council pointed to a leaked recording in which she said she favoured a merger of the two west Wales clubs.

Bell said the union had been here before. “It’s just a few months since the Union was forced to back down from their last attempted backroom stitch up of Welsh rugby, after sustained opposition from supporters, clubs and communities across the country,” he said.

“Now they’re telling journalists in private that their new plan is to… double down on the failed old plan.”

The MP said the union’s approach was harder to take given the Ospreys‘ recent momentum. “The chaos the WRU keeps creating is all the harder to stomach given the Ospreys have shown what can be achieved when they’re given the chance to succeed,” he said.

“In recent months we’ve seen a new funding agreement signed, the exciting redevelopment of St Helen’s begun and record season tickets sold.”

The Ospreys signed the Professional Rugby Agreement earlier this year, and work is under way on the £7.6m transformation of St Helen’s, where the main stand has been stripped back to its steel skeleton ahead of the ground’s redevelopment.

Bell said the union had to deliver the process it had promised. “The WRU need to do exactly what they have repeatedly promised and repeatedly failed to do: put in place a genuinely fair and transparent process to decide the future of Welsh rugby and its clubs,” he said.

“Supporters deserve nothing less, and so I’ll keep standing up for the Ospreys and against the WRU’s stitch-ups.”

The union confirmed on Wednesday that only incumbent teams will be eligible for its three licences from 2028/29, with Cardiff Rugby and Dragons RFC offered the capital and east places and the west to be resolved by the end of the 2026/27 season.

Swansea Council‘s legal challenge against the union also remains live, with the stay in proceedings due to end this week and the WRU’s defence due in two weeks.

The WRU has not responded to the criticism. Announcing the changes, Professional Rugby Board chair Marianne Økland said the union was committed to progressing “in a collaborative way” and providing “stability for all at the earliest opportunity”.