More teams than ever before will be able to achieve their dream of playing at Principality Stadium following a revision of the WRU National Cup competitions.

Following on from the highly successful ‘Road to Principality’ event last season, where there were stand alone finals for the Premiership and Championship clubs, as well as the normal Plate, Bowl and Shield competitions, WRU’s Competitions Committee has re-vamped the structure to create seven finals instead of five.

“We undertook a thorough review of our competitions at the end of last season and were greatly encouraged by the reaction of the clubs to the new cup format. We therefore decided to expand the offering to give more teams the chance of reaching a showpiece final,” said WRU Competition Committee chairman, Colin Wilks.

“The timing of the group stages and the ‘cross league’ nature of the five divisional tournaments brings extra spice and will mean teams will play against other clubs of similar standing. That should enhance the quality of the rugby and make the competitions more even and more exciting.”

Initially, the clubs will compete in groups before going into a knock-out phase to determine who goes to the Welsh capital at the end of the season.

Only the group winners will make it through to the knock-out phase.

All groups will kick-off on September 17 with the finals will be played at Principality Stadium in April, 2023.

The groups (mid Wales clubs only) are as follows: Division One Cup, group O - COBRA, Llandudno and Ruthin; Division Two Cup, group L - Builth Wells, Loughor, Pencoed and Tycroes. Division Three Cup, group P - Abergele, Bangor, Colwyn Bay, Welshpool; group Q - Newtown, Shotton Steel, Wrexham; Division Five Cup, group J - Llandrindod Wells, Pantyffynnon, Sully; group L - Bala IIs, Bro Ffestiniog, COBRA IIs; Pwllheli IIs; group O - Llanidloes, Machynlleth, Menai Bridge.