2023–24 Premiership Women's Rugby

In December 2022, the Rugby Football Union (RFU) and Women's Premier 15 Ltd (WP15) confirmed that eight clubs had been offered a place in the 2023–24 season. Four clubs from the 2022–23 season were omitted; DMP Sharks, Sale Sharks Women, University of Worcester Warriors, and Wasps Women. Two new clubs to the competition were named; Ealing Trailfinders Women and Leicester Tigers Women.[1]

In February 2023, the RFU confirmed that both Sale Sharks Women and Worcester Warriors Women had been issued with a conditional offer to join the league for the 2023–24 season, bringing the total number of teams to ten.[2]

Nine of the ten teams competing have support from either a professional men's Premiership or Championship side. The only team without support from a professional men's side is Worcester.[3]

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.[4][5] 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.[4][5]

Bristol

Exeter

Gloucester-Hartpury

Leicester

Loughborough

Sale

Worcester[lower-alpha 1]

London

London teams:
Ealing
Harlequins
Saracens

Locations of the Premiership Women’s Rugby teams

Harlequins

Saracens

Ealing

Premiership Women's Rugby clubs in London

Club	Director of Rugby/ Head Coach	Captain(s)	Stadium(s)	Capacity	Location
Bristol Bears Women	Dave Ward	Amber Reed Abbie Ward	Shaftesbury Park	200	Bristol
			Ashton Gate	27,000	Bristol
Ealing Trailfinders Women	Giselle Mather	Shannon Ikahihifo	Trailfinders Sports Ground	4,000	West Ealing, London
Exeter Chiefs Women	Susie Appleby	Poppy Leitch	Sandy Park	13,593	Exeter, Devon
Gloucester-Hartpury Women	Sean Lynn	Zoe Aldcroft Natasha Hunt	The Hartpury Arena	2,000	Hartpury, Gloucestershire
			Kingsholm Stadium	16,115	Gloucester, Gloucestershire
Harlequins Women	Amy Turner	Rachael Burford	Twickenham Stoop	14,800	Twickenham, Greater London
Leicester Tigers Women	Vickey Macqueen		Mattioli Woods Welford Road	25,849	Leicester, Leicestershire
Loughborough Lightning	Rhys Edwards	Emily Scarratt	cinch Stadium at Franklin's Gardens[6]	14,249	Northampton, Northamptonshire
Sale Sharks Women	Rachel Taylor	Lauren Delany Georgie Perris-Redding	CorpAcq Stadium	3,387	Sale, Greater Manchester
Saracens Women	Alex Austerberry	Lotte Clapp Marlie Packer	StoneX Stadium	10,500	Hendon, Greater London
Worcester Warriors Women[lower-alpha 1]	Joanne Yapp		Sixways Stadium	11,499	Worcester, Worcestershire

Green background (rows 1 to 4) indicate teams in the qualification places for the end-of-season play-offs. (CH) Champions. (RU) Runners-up. (SF) Losing semi-finalists. (Q) Qualified for play-offs.
Points allocation in regular season games

• Four points are awarded for a win.
• Two points are awarded for a draw.
• A try bonus point is awarded to teams that score four or more tries in a match.
• A losing bonus point is awarded to teams that lose a match by seven or fewer points.

The regular season fixtures are due to play out over the course of 18 rounds, with each round consisting of five matches. The fixtures were announced on 9 August 2023.[7]

As in previous seasons, the top four teams in the table, following the conclusion of the regular season, contest the play-off semi-finals in a 1st vs 4th and 2nd vs 3rd format, with the higher ranking team having home advantage. The two winners of the semi-finals then meet in the Premier 15s final.

2023–24 Allianz Cup
Countries	England
Number of teams	10 (before 17 October 2023) 9 (after 17 October 2023)
Date	22 September 2023 – 27 April 2024
Matches played	12
Tries scored	111 (average 9.3 per match)
Official website
www.thepwr.com

In the Allianz Cup, teams were drawn into pools of five. Each team plays every team in their pool once, home or away, as well as having one bye week.

Teams that secure the top two positions within their respective pools will advance to a playoff for the 1st to 4th rankings. The winning team from the initial bracket will move on to the final, while the losing team will compete in the 3rd place playoff. Teams finishing in third or fourth within their pools will participate in a playoff for the 4th to 8th rankings. The winner of the initial bracket will progress to the 4th place play-off, while the losing team will be part of the 6th place play-off. Teams that are last at the end of the pool stage will participate in a two-legged play-off for the 9th to 10th position, with the overall winner determined by the aggregate score.