Cardiff Rugby Limited
Rob Lewis and Ross Connock of PwC were appointed as Joint Administrators of Cardiff Rugby Limited (the “Company” or the “Club”) on 9 April 2025.
Cardiff Rugby Limited is a professional rugby club that was founded in 1876 and today competes in the United Rugby Championship and European Professional Club Rugby competitions. The Club plays its home games at the historic Cardiff Arms Park.
The Club was acquired by Helford Capital in January 2024, and the incoming shareholders provided various commitments to inject funding to support the Club’s operations, as required by the Welsh Rugby Union under the Professional Rugby Agreement in place with the four Welsh regions. Whilst the shareholders have injected certain sums, these have been significantly below the contractually agreed amounts and, consequently, the Club’s cash position has deteriorated. Although the Club was able to continue to trade with the forbearance of creditors while the shareholders made efforts to raise the agreed level of funding, this position was not sustainable. Having concluded that funding would not be available within a reasonable timeframe to meet immediate creditor payments, the board of directors decided that it had no option but to appoint administrators.
Immediately following the appointment, the administrators completed a sale of the Club’s business and assets to Welsh Rugby Players Limited, a company owned and controlled by The Welsh Rugby Union (the "WRU"), thereby providing stability for the Club to continue to trade whilst longer term ownership arrangements are explored. The sale includes the transfer of all 64 employees and 67 playing staff, whose contracts will be honoured, while the Club’s playing and business operations (including Cardiff RFC and the Cardiff Rugby Academy) will continue as normal under the WRU’s ownership. Season tickets and match tickets in respect of the current playing season will continue to be honoured, as will payments made in advance for season tickets in respect of the playing season 2025/26. The existing sponsorship arrangements in place with the Club will also be unaffected.
Rob Lewis, joint administrator and partner at PwC UK, said:
We’re delighted to have completed this transaction which provides the opportunity for a period of stability for professional rugby in Cardiff, a club which has a long and storied history in the sport and a name synonymous with rugby fans not only in Wales but across the world.
The structure of the transaction means that the club will be able to continue to trade seamlessly under new ownership and fulfil its playing obligations in both the United Rugby Championship and Super Rygbi Cymru competitions this season and beyond, with minimum disruption to players and fans. We wish the club well for the future as the WRU seeks to secure its long-term future under stable ownership.”
Ross Connock and Robert Lewis have been appointed as Joint Administrators of the company to manage its affairs, business and property as its agents and without personal liability. The Joint Administrators are licensed in the United Kingdom to act as insolvency practitioners by the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales. The Joint Administrators are bound by the Insolvency Code of Ethics which can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/insolvency-practitioner-code-of-ethics.
The Joint Administrators may act as controllers of personal data as defined by UK data protection law depending upon the specific processing activities undertaken. PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP may act as a processor on the instructions of the Joint Administrators. Personal data will be kept secure and processed only for matters relating to the Joint Administrators appointment. Further details are available in the privacy statement on the PwC.co.uk website or by contacting the Joint Administrators.
