The Women's Premiership, also called the RFUW Premiership was the top level of women's rugby union in England until 2017.

It was formed in 1990 and was run by the Rugby Football Union for Women. It was superseded in the 2017/18 season by Premier 15s.

History The Women's Premiership was formed in 1990 as the top tier of women's rugby in the British Isles at a time when women's rugby in England was run by the Women's Rugby Football Union on a British Isles-wide basis.

In 1994, the Rugby Football Union for Women was formed and took over the management of women's rugby in England, including the Women's Premiership, after Scotland, Ireland and Wales left the Women's Rugby Football Union. At the start, most of the teams in the league were University teams. Since the RFUW took over and professionalism was permitted in 1996, university teams were gradually replaced by women's clubs associated with professional and semi-professional men's clubs as they were able to give a women's team the funding to be able to compete.

Promotion and relegation in the Women's Premiership was determined by the lowest placed team playing against the winner of the Championship 1 North-South playoff. If the Premiership team won, there was no promotion and relegation that year. It is noted that promoted teams often failed to win during the regular league season during their first season in the Women's Premiership, including Old Albanians Ladies and Thurrock T-Birds, who were relegated in 2013 after losing to Aylesford Bulls Ladies in the 2013 playoff.

During seasons that preceded the Women's Rugby World Cup, promotion and relegation was suspended for that season. In 2014, Thurrock appealed against this ruling to the RFUW, claiming that some Women's Premiership clubs were actively attempting to block promotion and relegation in Women's Rugby World Cup years.

Premier 15s For the 2017–18 season the RFU Council proposed to create a Super League, the Premier 15s with up to ten teams. The new system was to be considered new and distinct from the existing Premiership. It was expected that all 8 teams from the Premiership would apply for the new league, together with several top Championship teams. Seven of the eight Premiership teams were accepted into the Super Rugby competition (Lichfield being excluded), together with Gloucester–Hartpury, Firwood Waterloo and Loughborough Students (Lightning).

Clubs

The map illustrates the locations of the teams that participated in the 2013-14 Women's Premiership.

Competing clubs in the Women's Premiership have included:

SeasonsTeamDates4Aylesford Bulls Ladies2014-20171Blaydon Ladies200713Bristol Ladies2003-2005, 2008–201711Darlington Mowden Park Sharks2004-2006, 2010-20175Henley Ladies2003-200715Lichfield Ladies2003-20172Old Albanians Ladies2011-201215Richmond Women2003-201715Saracens Women2003-20173Team Northumbria Ladies2008-20101Thurrock T-Birds20132Vale of Lune Ladies2006-200715Wasps Ladies2003-201715Worcester Valkyries Ladies2003-2017 Dates are the year the season ended.

Champions

Season Champions Final Runners–up Relegated 1990-91 1991-92 1992-93 1993-94 1994-95 1995-96 1996-97 1997-98 1998-99 1999-00 2000-01 2001-02 2002-03 Wasps Ladies 2003-04 Wasps Ladies 2004-05 Wasps Ladies 2005-06 Saracens Women 2006-07 Saracens Women 2007-08 Saracens Women 2008-09 Saracens Women 2009-10 Richmond Women 2010-11 Richmond Women 2011-12 Richmond Women 2012-13 Worcester Valkyries 2013-14 Richmond Women 2014-15 Saracens Women 2015-16 Richmond Women 2016-17 Aylesford Bulls Ladies

Summary of Winners # Team Champions Years as champions Runners-up Years as runners-up Top of league table 1 Richmond Women 5 2009-10, 2010-11, 2011-12, 2013-14, 2015-16 Saracens Women 2005-5, 2006-7, 2007-8, 2008-9, 2014-15 3 Wasps Ladies 3 2002-3, 2003-4, 2004-5 4 Worcester Valkyries Ladies 1 2012-13 Aylesford Bulls Ladies2016-17

Notes

References