What - and where - next for Wales' Worcester Warriors?

Sioned Harries spent five seasons at Worcester Warriors before leaving at the end of 2022-23

Wales take on one of the toughest challenges in women's rugby starting with Canada on Saturday in the inaugural WXV tournament in New Zealand.

After that, games follow against hosts New Zealand and Australia.

But while Ioan Cunningham's squad can ponder the certainty of the uncompromising encounters to come, there is only uncertainty for six senior caps when the tournament is over.

Those half-dozen, including injured Ffion Lewis and Natalia John and current Wales squad members Carys Phillips, Alex Callender, Hannah Bluck and Carys Cox, will be without a club when they get home with Worcester Warriors Women having gone the way of the men's team into rugby oblivion.

One solution - and not the first time to be mooted - would be to set up an elite team in Wales to absorb the affected players and help develop more for Test level.

Wales number eight Sioned Harries left Sixways after five seasons at the end of 2022-23 and "can only imagine how upsetting the experience is" for her former club-mates and current fellow Wales squad members.

Harries, 33, feels the time is now right for the Welsh Rugby Union (WRU) to seize the initiative and set up a team in Wales while accepting there are hurdles to negotiate.

"My main concern at the moment is, I see the (Worcester) Welsh girls knowing after this competition they don't have a club to go to after," she told the Scrum V podcast.

"It just puts emphasis on the fact that there needs to be... it's a call now, that there needs to be a professional club in Wales."

But that would beg the question of what competition would such a team play in, especially if it is not in the English Premier 15s from which Worcester have been forced to withdraw.

The vast majority of Wales' leading players are based in England and ex-Wales captain Harries acknowledges: "If you look at the other clubs the Welsh girls are playing at, they've [the clubs] probably met their salary cap, they've done their recruitment for the season, so you're just hoping now that people are going to take care of these girls.

"It is going to be tough for the girls, like I say we're all supporting them... they're all professional enough their focus is on this (WXV) championship, but like I said I think support needs to be put in place now following this campaign, to make sure they have a club to go to.

"I think more needs to be done in Wales if I'm honest - I think it's not a matter of getting England to do your homework and putting your name on it.

"Wales need to step up and do something now and offer these girls a club to play for - or some sort of professional outfit so that you don't have to go over the bridge to play for your country, you can play for somewhere in Wales.

"I think it has to happen."

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But could or should English rugby accommodate a team from Wales?

"That is the thing. I don't think there is enough possible numbers in Wales to uphold a league of such quality as England have now because that league in England hasn't happened overnight, that's been invested in over years," says Harries.

"I know there has been discussion in the past of a "super Welsh club" going over to play in the Allianz league, but with respect to the RFU (Rugby Football Union) they've worked hard on forming that league, so I could understand why they wouldn't want a team from another country joining it.

"I'm not into the politics of the game, I don't know what discussions are being held.

"But it's one thing to say an outfit or a club needs to be formed in Wales, but then the next questions is where do they play and who do they play?

"It's a tough time and as the sport develops it also gets tougher to play in my opinion."

In an attempt to raise domestic standards, Wales, Ireland and Scotland established a team each for the fledgling Celtic Challenge competition for the early months of 2023.

The Welsh XV included seasoned internationals and aspiring talent and in the wake of Worcester's demise, national coach Ioan Cunningham wants the possibility of a home-based team to be more fully explored.

But he would want regular games, not a few scattered through a season, for such a side.

He says: "I think it's something to look for in the future or in the near future for sure, regarding how do we create a team or an environment where players can compete at a high level regularly?

"You know, for me as a head coach, I wouldn't really look at a team that only played four games a year or five.

"We need to play maybe 10 games plus international rugby, so it's definitely something to look at.

"The Celtic Challenge that was played last year. I thought that worked really well for players like Abi Fleming, she got fantastic minutes, which helped to develop as well, so it's definitely something in the future."

Wales captain Hannah Jones adds: "There's an opportunity maybe for a Welsh professional team to come in... maybe more Welsh players can be filtered through there and make that standard better."

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