The 2026 Welsh Rugby League men’s domestic season gets underway this Saturday, with two exciting encounters.
Defending champions Aberavon Fighting Irish will be targeting a third consecutive Rugby League Conference title when they travel to Rhondda Outlaws in their new Taffs Well home, while South Wales Jets host Bridgend Blue Bulls at Penallta RFC. Both matches kick-off at 2.30pm.
The four clubs will each face one another three times across the regular season, with every side playing four home and four away matches, plus one game on the neutral venue of Cardiff Arms Park in the second annual Summer Smash.
This is the 23rd competition and Bridgend have won ten of the previous 22. But the last of these was in 2021, and captain Corey Harris believes they have a chance of lifting the trophy again.
He said: “I think we can be more competitive. We’ve got a couple of good youngsters coming through.
“Well, to be fair, our squad in general is a very young squad and very talented. So I definitely think we got the ability to win this.
Aberavon Fighting Irish’s only honours have come in the last two years and Rhys Curtis believes they can make it a three-peat in 2026.
He said: “We’ve been training hard, we’ve new players in and we’re ready to kick-off and go for the third.
“It’s upbeat. All four are teams in this league this year and it’s going to be very, very competitive. Every team is capable of beating each other.”
South Wales Jets have been runners up in the last two seasons after winning in their debut year in 2023 and captain Shane Lee says there’s determination in the squad to take the trophy back.
He said: “We had low numbers at the beginning of the season, but we’ve recently had over 20 players at training, so it’s coming good now.
“We want to get our trophy back, don’t we? It’s been two years now, that it’s been away from us. We can’t wait to get going.
Finally, Rhondda Outlaws, winners in 2019 and 2022, will also know that they can beat anyone on their day.
Ieuan Griffiths says: “We’ve been preparing quite well. We’ve got a lot of youngsters coming through.
“We’ve got our new home over in Taffs Well now, so we’ve tapped up some of the Taffs Well youth players. There’s a lot of old faces coming back, some coming up through the youth. We’re getting back into it and looking forward to it.”
Finishing top of the table will have extra importance this year, as a new trophy will be presented for the “league champions”. All four sides then go into a Cup competition for a “cup” and “shield” with those matches taking place at The Gnoll in Neath on Saturday 15 August.
