Premiership Rugby

This article is about Professional rugby union league. For the similarly named women's competition, see Premiership Women's Rugby.

Premiership Rugby

Current season, competition or edition: 2024–25 Premiership Rugby
Sport	Rugby union
Founded	1987 (1987)
CEO	Simon Massie-Taylor
Administrator	RFU
No. of teams	10
Country	England
Most recent champion(s)	Northampton Saints (2nd title) (2023–24)
Most titles	Leicester Tigers (11 titles)
TV partner(s)	TNT Sports ITV
Level on pyramid	Level 1
Relegation to	RFU Championship
Domestic cup(s)	Premiership Rugby Cup
International cup(s)	European Rugby Champions Cup European Rugby Challenge Cup
Official website	premiershiprugby.com

Premiership Rugby, officially known as Gallagher Premiership Rugby, or the Gallagher Premiership for sponsorship reasons, is an English professional rugby union competition, consisting of 10 clubs, and is the top division of the English rugby union system.

Premiership clubs qualify for Europe's two main club competitions, the European Rugby Champions Cup and the European Rugby Challenge Cup. The winner of the second division, the RFU Championship is promoted to the Premiership and until 2020, the team finishing at the bottom of the Premiership each season was relegated to the Championship. The competition is regarded as one of the three top-level professional leagues in the Northern and Western Hemispheres, along with the Top 14 in France, and the cross-border United Rugby Championship for teams from Scotland, Wales, Ireland, Italy and South Africa.

The competition has been played since 1987, and has evolved into the current Premiership system. The current champions are Northampton Saints who won the league in 2024.

History

See also: History of the English rugby union system

Beginnings: English domestic rugby union until 1972

The governing body of rugby union in England, the Rugby Football Union (RFU), long resisted leagues as it was believed that the introduction of leagues would increase 'dirty' play and put pressure on clubs to pay their players (thereby contravening the amateur ethos). Instead, clubs arranged their own fixtures and had traditional games. The only organised tournaments were the County Cups and County Championship – the former played by clubs and the latter by County representative teams e.g.1980- 81 Rugby Union County Championship. The Daily Telegraph and a few local newspapers – such as the Yorkshire Post – compiled 'pennants' based on teams' performances, but as the strength of fixture lists varied, it was at best an estimate of a team's performance throughout a season.

1972–1995: Leagues and cups

In 1972 the RFU sanctioned a national knock-out cup – the RFU Club Competition, the predecessor to the Anglo-Welsh Cup – followed first by regional merit tables and then, in the mid-1980s, by national merit tables. One of the casualties of the move to competitive leagues was the loss of some traditional games as the new fixture lists didn't allow time for all of them.

The league system has evolved since its start in 1987 when the Courage Leagues were formed – a league pyramid with roughly 1,000 clubs playing in 108 leagues, each with promotion and relegation.

In the first season, clubs were expected to arrange the fixtures on mutually convenient dates. The clubs involved were Bath, Bristol, Coventry, Gloucester, Harlequins, Leicester, Moseley, Nottingham, Orrell, Sale, Wasps and Waterloo. That first season was an unqualified success, with clubs in the upper echelons of the national leagues reporting increased crowds, interest from both local backers and national companies, and higher skill levels among players exposed to regular competition. The fears that leagues would lead to greater violence on the field proved largely unfounded.

By the next season, the RFU allocated fixed Saturdays to the league season, removing the clubs' responsibility for scheduling matches. There was no home and away structure to the leagues in those early seasons, as sides played one another only once.

Initially two teams, Bath and Leicester, proved to be head and shoulders above the rest in the Courage League, and between them dominated the top of the table.

In 1994, the league structure expanded to include a full rota of home and away matches for the first time. The 1994–95 season was the first to be shown live on Sky Sports, a relationship which continued until the 2013–14 season when BT Sport acquired the exclusive rights in a deal which is currently scheduled to end after the 2023–24 season.

1996: The dawn of professional rugby union

The league turned professional for the 1996–97 season when the first winners were Wasps, joining Bath and Leicester as the only champions in the league's first decade. Clubs like Saracens, Newcastle and Northampton were able to attract wealthy benefactors, but the professional era also had its casualties, as clubs like West Hartlepool, Richmond and London Scottish were forced into administration when their backers pulled out.

2000–2002: Premiership, Championship and playoffs

The start of the 2000–01 season brought with it a re-vamping of the season structure. In 2000–2001 an 8-team playoff (the Championship) was introduced. However, the team finishing top of the table at the end of the regular season was still considered English champions ("Premiership title").

Halfway through the 2001–02 season, with Leicester odds-on to win their fourth title in succession, it was controversially decided that the winners of the 8-team playoff would be crowned English champions. There was an outcry from fans and this proposal was dropped.

2003–2014: The ascendancy of the playoffs

From the beginning of the 2002–03 season, a new playoff format was introduced to replace the 8-team Championship. The format required the first-placed team in the league to play the winner of a match between the second- and third-placed teams. Critically, the winner of this game (the Premiership Final) would be recognised as English champions. Although Gloucester won the league by a clear margin, they then faced a three-week wait until the final. Having lost their momentum, they were beaten by second-placed Wasps (who had defeated third-placed Northampton) in the play-offs. The playoff structure was reformatted in the 2005–06 season in which the first-placed team would play the fourth placed team in a semi-final (a Shaughnessy playoff).

Since the implementation of the playoff system, only six teams have won both the regular season and playoffs in the same year: Leicester twice in 2000–01 (the first year of the playoffs), 2008–09, 2009–10 and 2021–22 Sale Sharks in 2005–06, Harlequins in 2011–12, Saracens in 2015–16, Exeter in 2019–20, and Northampton Saints in 2023–24

Of all the Premiership teams, Wasps have made a reputation for playing the competition format to perfection, peaking at the right time to be crowned English Champions in 2003, 2004, 2005 and 2008. Wasps did not lead the league standings at the end of the season in any of these years. Conversely, Gloucester have garnered an unfortunate reputation for leading the table at the end of the regular season, only to fall short of winning the Premiership title, losing finals in 2003, 2007, and 2008. Gloucester's single victory in the playoffs, in 2002, occurred when league leaders Leicester were still considered English champions, meaning Gloucester's Championship victory was considered secondary.

The 2011–12 season saw Harlequins add their name to the trophy on their first attempt, winning 30–23 against the nine-times champions Leicester. Leicester would have to wait until 2012–13 for their 10th championship, where they defeated Northampton in the final.

The 2013–14 Aviva Premiership season saw Northampton become the 8th different team to win the trophy. This was achieved when they defeated Leicester Tigers in the semi-final 21–20, thus denying Leicester a 10th Consecutive Final. In the final, they defeated Saracens 20–24 with a try in the last minute of extra time to win the 2013–14 Aviva Premiership.

2014–2018: US initiatives

With the future of the Heineken Cup uncertain beyond 2013–14, due to a row between England's Premiership Rugby Limited and France's LNR on one side and the sport's governing bodies on the other, Premiership Rugby Limited explored several moves toward expanding its brand into the United States. In May 2013, Premiership Rugby Limited and U.S.-based RugbyLaw entered into a plan by which the two organisations were to help back a proposed U.S. professional league that could have begun play as early as 2014. The first phase of the plan was to involve two preseason exhibitions featuring an "American Barbarians" side that would combine international veterans and young American talent. The "Barbarians" were intended to play matches in August 2013 in the U.S. and London, but those plans fell through, and the matches were indefinitely delayed.

In August 2013, Peter Tom, the chairman of Leicester Tigers, confirmed that discussions had taken place within Premiership Rugby Limited about the possibility of hosting selected Premiership matches in the US. The first match played in the USA was on 12 March 2016 when London Irish were defeated by Saracens at the Red Bull Arena in the New York Metropolitan Area. This match was intended to be the first of a three-year deal which would have seen London Irish play one home match each season in the US, but their relegation from the Premiership at the end of the 2015–16 season scuttled that plan. A new deal was reached with American sports marketing company AEG in 2017 which was intended to see at least one Premiership match taken to the US for four seasons starting in 2017–18. The first match under the new deal was held on 16 September 2017, with Newcastle Falcons taking their home fixture against Saracens to the Talen Energy Stadium in the Philadelphia suburb of Chester, Pennsylvania. In 2018–19, although no match was scheduled to take place in the US, the round 6 match between Saracens and Harlequins was the first broadcast on network television in the US of a Premiership Rugby game. The game was shown live on NBC. In 2019–20, and 2020–21 once again no matches were scheduled to take place in the US.

2018 also saw a revamp of the league's secondary competition with the launch of the Premiership Rugby Shield.

2018–19: CVC Capital Partners investment

In December 2018, it was announced that the Luxembourg based investment advisory firm CVC Capital Partners had bought a 27% stake in Premiership Rugby in a deal worth £200m. A previous offer to purchase a 51% majority share was rejected. The money from the investment was planned to be used to improve facilities at clubs and grow the game globally.

2019–20: Salary Cap investigation into Saracens

In March 2019, allegations emerged that Saracens may have broken the league's salary cap. In June, Premiership Rugby announced that they would investigate the allegations. In November 2019, Saracens were found to have been in breach of the salary cap regulations due to failure to disclose player payments in the 2016–17, 2017–18 and 2018–19 seasons, which would have taken them over the senior player cap. They were handed a 35-point deduction for the 2019–20 season and fined £5.3 million. The judgement found that Saracens had been reckless in entering into the arrangements with players without disclosing them to Premiership Rugby.

On 18 January 2020, Premiership Rugby announced that Saracens would be relegated to the RFU Championship for the 2020–21 season. Premiership Rugby CEO Darren Childs said this punishment was due to Saracens lack of cooperation in a mid-season audit to prove compliance in the 2019–20 season.

On 23 January 2020, Lord Dyson's full report into Saracens' spending was published, it revealed that Saracens had overspent the salary cap by £1.1m in 2016–17, £98,000 in 2017-18 and £906,000 in 2018–19. These included £923,947.63 of property investments between Nigel Wray and three unnamed Saracens players. It also included Saracens claim that the Salary Cap was unenforceable under competition law, this defence was rejected. On 28 January 2020, Premiership Rugby applied a further 70 point deduction for the 2019–20 season to ensure Saracens would finish bottom of the league table.

2020–Present: COVID19, Clubs going bust and Five Winners in Five Years

The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted all elite sports in England in spring 2020. The RFU initially suspended both the Premiership and Championship before eventually cancelling the Championship season. Newcastle Falcons, who topped the Championship table at the time of the season's premature end were promoted based on their playing record and would replace Saracens in the Premiership the following season.

The 2019–20 Premiership Rugby season recommenced on 14 August and the final was held 24 October 2020.

The disruption of the 2019–20 season meant the 2020–21 season commenced 10 weeks late on 20 November 2020 and ran over a reduced timeframe of 32 weeks (down from 42).

The financial impact of the pandemic also caused the salary cap to be temporarily reduced for a maximum of 3 seasons from the 2021–22 season.

A moratorium on relegation was also approved in February 2021, meaning no teams would be relegated as a potential consequence of another team receiving more points due to games cancelled because of COVID-19. With this news it was also confirmed that the league's minimum standards criteria for promotion would be reviewed as would league structure from the 2021–22 season. The new structure extended the moratorium on relegation for a further two-years. A playoff between the top team in the Championship and the bottom team in the Premiership is also introduced in the 2023–24 season.

On 26 September 2022, Worcester Warriors went into administration and were suspended from the league. Their upcoming fixture against Gloucester on 1 October, was also cancelled. On 6 October, Worcester Warriors were suspended for the rest of the season, relegated from the premiership, and all past and future fixtures for that season expunged.

On 17 October 2022, Wasps went into administration and were suspended from the league. Their upcoming fixture against Sale Sharks on 18 October, was also cancelled. On 28 October, Wasps were suspended for the rest of the season, relegated from the premiership, and all past and future fixtures for that season expunged.

On 6 June 2023, London Irish were suspended from the Premiership after missing a deadline to pay players and staff. Irish subsequently went into administration on 7 June.

Despite ongoing financial concerns the league remained very competitive during these years. Northampton Saints defeated Bath in the 2023–24 final. This meant the league had produced five different winners of the competition in five years stretching back to the 2019-20 season with Exeter Chiefs, Harlequins, Leicester Tigers, Saracens and Northampton Saints all winning the competition.

Clubs

Current clubs

The Premiership began the 2022–23 season with 13 clubs, but both Wasps and Worcester Warriors were removed from the league, and automatically relegated, after going into administration. Ahead of the 2023–24 season, London Irish also dropped out of the league, as a result of financial insolvency.

Bath

Bristol

Exeter

Gloucester

Harlequins

Leicester

Newcastle

Northampton

Sale

Saracens

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Locations of current Gallagher Premiership Rugby Teams

Club	Established	City	Stadium	Capacity	Titles (Last)
Bath	1865	Bath, Somerset	The Recreation Ground	14,509	6 (1996)
Bristol Bears	1888	Bristol	Ashton Gate	27,000	– (N/A)
Exeter Chiefs	1871	Exeter, Devon	Sandy Park	16,000	2 (2020)
Gloucester	1873	Gloucester	Kingsholm	16,200	– (N/A)
Harlequins	1866	London (Twickenham)	Twickenham Stoop	14,800	2 (2021)
Leicester Tigers	1880	Leicester	Welford Road	26,000	11 (2022)
Newcastle Falcons	1877	Newcastle upon Tyne	Kingston Park	11,000	1 (1998)
Northampton Saints	1880	Northampton	Franklin's Gardens	15,249	2 (2024)
Sale Sharks	1861	Salford, Manchester	Salford Community Stadium	12,000	1 (2006)
Saracens	1876	London (Hendon)	StoneX Stadium	10,500	6 (2023)

• Note: Capacity listed for rugby union games may differ from official stadium capacity

All time

A total of 28 clubs have been involved in the top-flight since the league's inception in the 1987–88 season. The most recent club to make its debut in the Premiership was London Welsh, which made their top flight debut in 2012–13.

Three clubs — Bath, Gloucester and Leicester Tigers — have appeared in every season to date. Harlequins have only missed the 2005–06 season due to relegation. Six other clubs have appeared in at least 20 seasons — Saracens, Northampton Saints, Sale Sharks, London Irish, Bristol Bears and Newcastle Falcons. The financial insolvency, expulsion and automatic relegation of Wasps during the 2022–23 season means their record of being ever-present effectively ended at the end of the 2021–22 season.

Coventry, Liverpool St Helens, Moseley, Nottingham, Rosslyn Park, Rugby and Waterloo only appeared during the amateur era, whereas Exeter Chiefs, Leeds Tykes, London Welsh, Richmond, Rotherham Titans and Worcester Warriors have only appeared during the professional era.

Below, the 2024–25 clubs are listed in bold; ever-present clubs are listed in bold italics. Years listed are the calendar years in which the seasons ended. All current teams will remain in the league until at least 2024.

Seasons	Team	Dates
36	Bath	1988–2024
3	Bedford Blues	1990, 1999–2000
25	Bristol Bears	1988–1998, 2000–2003, 2006–2009, 2017, 2019–2024
1	Coventry	1988
13	Exeter Chiefs	2011–2024
36	Gloucester	1988–2024
35	Harlequins	1988–2005, 2007–2024
8	Leeds Tykes	2002–2006, 2008, 2010–2011
36	Leicester Tigers	1988–2024
2	Liverpool St Helens	1989, 1991
28	London Irish	1992–1994, 1997–2016, 2018, 2020–2023
2	London Scottish	1993, 1999
2	London Welsh	2013, 2015
4	Moseley	1988–1992
24	Newcastle Falcons	1994, 1998–2012, 2014–2019, 2021–2024
31	Northampton Saints	1991–1995, 1997–2007, 2009–2024
5	Nottingham	1988–1992
10	Orrell	1988–1997
2	Richmond	1998–1999
4	Rosslyn Park	1989–1992
2	Rotherham Titans	2001, 2004
2	Rugby Lions	1992–1993
30	Sale Sharks	1988, 1995–2024
31	Saracens	1990–1993, 1996–2020, 2022–2024
35	Wasps	1988–2022
2	Waterloo	1988–1989
5	West Hartlepool	1993, 1995–1997, 1999
16	Worcester Warriors	2005–2010, 2012–2014, 2016–2022

Sponsorship

Period	Sponsor	Name	League Title
1987–1997	Courage Brewery	Courage League National Division One	National Division One
1997–2000	Allied Dunbar	Allied Dunbar Premiership	Premiership 1
2000–2005	Zurich Insurance Group	Zurich Premiership	Premiership
2005–2010	Guinness Brewery	Guinness Premiership
2010–2018	Aviva	Aviva Premiership
2018–current	Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.	Gallagher Premiership

Structure

Referees

Referees in the Premiership are selected from the RFU's Professional Referee Unit. The Professional Referee Unit consists of 15 referees with match appointments decided by PRU management team of ex-international referees Ed Morrison, Brian Campsall and Tony Spreadbury.

List of Premiership Referees

Source:

• Wayne Barnes
• Matthew Carley
• Sara Cox
• Karl Dickson
• Tom Foley
• Simon Harding
• Andrew Jackson
• Greg MacDonald
• Craig Maxwell-Keys
• John Meredith
• Luke Pearce
• Dean Richards
• Christophe Ridley
• Ian Tempest
• Tim Wigglesworth

They are supported by a large team of assistant referees.

League season

The Premiership Rugby league season typically runs from September to June and comprises 18 rounds of matches, with each club playing each other home and away. The results of the matches contribute points to the league as follows:

• 4 points are awarded for a win
• 2 points are awarded for a draw
• 0 points are awarded for a loss, however
  • 1 losing (bonus) point is awarded to a team that loses a match by 7 points or fewer
  • 1 additional (bonus) point is awarded to a team scoring 4 tries or more in a match

Since the restart of the 2019–20 season, scheduled fixtures which are cancelled because of a COVID-19 outbreak in one of the competing teams will have their outcome and points allocation decided by a Premiership Rugby panel. As of the start of the 2021–22 season, if the fixture cannot be rescheduled, it is recorded as a 0–0 draw. In this situation, if one team would have been able to fulfil the fixture, they will be awarded 4 points, while the team unable to field a matchday squad due to a COVID-19 outbreak will be given 2 points – otherwise, if both teams are impacted by COVID-19, they will each receive 2 points for the affected fixture.

Play-offs

Following the completion of the regular season, the top 4 teams enter the play-offs, which are held in June. The top two teams receive home advantage, the league leaders hosting the 4th ranked team, and the 2nd place team hosting the 3rd place team. The winners of these semi-finals progress to the final, held at Twickenham Stadium, with the winner of the final being crowned champions.

Promotion and relegation

Admittance to the Premiership, which is Level 1 of the men's 106-league English rugby union system, is achieved through a system of promotion and relegation between the Premiership and the RFU Championship. Originally this meant a season-winning Championship club was promoted, replacing the lowest placed Premiership club which was relegated (between 2021 and 2023 promotion continued but no Level 1 club has been relegated).

Promotion from the Championship is subject to the Minimum Standards Criteria. If a promotion-winning team does not meet these standards then there is no promotion. In the 2011–12 season London Welsh won promotion from the Championship but were initially denied promotion under the criteria, reprieving Newcastle Falcons from relegation. However London Welsh were found eligible on appeal and Newcastle were relegated.

Relegation change and new regulations

As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, a moratorium was approved in February 2021 for a halt on top-flight clubs being relegated from the Premiership beginning that season. As promotion from the Championship would not be stopped, this meant the Premiership would expand to 13 teams in the following year.

The moratorium was extended by an additional two seasons in June 2021. New regulations would also include a moratorium on promotion from the Championship in the same season had the Premiership expanded to 14 teams and introduce a play-off between the bottom placed Premiership Club and top placed Championship club in 2023–24. New minimum standards criteria were announced in September 2022, confirming that promotion from the championship was still due to take place in 2023.

The Premiership could have expanded again to 14 teams from the 2023–23 season but the league returned to 12 teams on 6 October 2022 when Worcester Warriors were expelled from the league for the season after entering administration due to financial problems. Despite trying to find a buyer, the club was wound up in February 2023. On 17 October 2022, Wasps became the second Premiership club to enter administration that season. The club was also automatically relegated from the Premiership, with their remaining games cancelled and all results expunged. London Irish finished the season but were suspended for the following season during the off season meaning the Premiership contracted to just ten teams from the 2023–24 season.

European competition qualification

The top seven teams qualify for the following season's European Rugby Champions Cup. The eighth champions cup place is awarded to either the winner of the Challenge Cup or the team placed eighth. Teams placed 8 & 9th that do not qualify for the Champions Cup play in the Challenge Cup. The final Challenge Cup place is offered to either the 10th team in the Premiership or the team promoted from the Championship.

Champions

Between 1987 and 2002, the team at the top of the league was crowned English champions. Since 2002–03, the winner of the league has been determined by a Premiership Final, which takes place at Twickenham and consists of two rounds of knock-out play amongst the top four teams.

This change was originally considered controversial, particularly when Wasps won four of the first six play-off finals without ever topping the regular season table, with Sale the only team to both top the table and win the Premiership final in that period.

As of the end of the 2023–24 season, nine table-topping teams have won the Premiership in twenty-two seasons, including four times in the last five seasons. These teams’ names are italicised under the "Top of Table" column below.

In most seasons, at least one team has been relegated at the end of the season, although in 1995–96, there was no relegation to allow division expansion, and in 2001–02, Leeds were given a reprieve because the Division One champions did not have a suitable ground to allow promotion. Relegation was also suspended between 2020–21 and 2022–23 to allow further expansion – although Worcester and Wasps were both relegated for going into administration during the 2022–23 season, as was London Irish ahead of the 2023–24 season.

Key

†	Match was won during extra time

Season	Champions	Final	Runners-up	Top of Table	Relegated
1987–88	Leicester	N/A	Wasps	Leicester	Sale, Coventry
1988–89	Bath		Gloucester	Bath	Liverpool St Helens, Waterloo
1989–90	Wasps		Gloucester	Wasps	Bedford
1990–91	Bath		Wasps	Bath	Liverpool St Helens, Moseley
1991–92	Bath		Orrell	Bath	Rosslyn Park, Nottingham
1992–93	Bath		Wasps	Bath	Rugby Lions, West Hartlepool, Saracens, London Scottish
1993–94	Bath		Leicester	Bath	Newcastle, London Irish
1994–95	Leicester		Bath	Leicester	Northampton
1995–96	Bath		Leicester	Bath	No relegation
1996–97	Wasps		Bath	Wasps	Orrell, West Hartlepool
1997–98	Newcastle		Saracens	Newcastle	Bristol
1998–99	Leicester		Northampton	Leicester	West Hartlepool
1999–00	Leicester		Bath	Leicester	Bedford
2000–01	Leicester		Wasps	Leicester	Rotherham
2001–02	Leicester		Sale	Leicester	No relegation
2002–03	Wasps	39 – 3	Gloucester	Gloucester	Bristol
2003–04	Wasps	10 – 6	Bath	Bath	Rotherham
2004–05	Wasps	39 – 14	Leicester	Leicester	Harlequins
2005–06	Sale	45 – 20	Leicester	Sale	Leeds
2006–07	Leicester	44 – 16	Gloucester	Gloucester	Northampton
2007–08	Wasps	26 – 16	Leicester	Gloucester	Leeds
2008–09	Leicester	10 – 9	London Irish	Leicester	Bristol
2009–10	Leicester	33 – 27	Saracens	Leicester	Worcester
2010–11	Saracens	22 – 18	Leicester	Leicester	Leeds
2011–12	Harlequins	30 – 23	Leicester	Harlequins	Newcastle
2012–13	Leicester	37 – 17	Northampton	Saracens	London Welsh
2013–14	Northampton	24 – 20†	Saracens	Saracens	Worcester
2014–15	Saracens	28 – 16	Bath	Northampton	London Welsh
2015–16	Saracens	28 – 20	Exeter	Saracens	London Irish
2016–17	Exeter	23 – 20†	Wasps	Wasps	Bristol
2017–18	Saracens	27 – 10	Exeter	Exeter	London Irish
2018–19	Saracens	37 – 34	Exeter	Exeter	Newcastle
2019–20	Exeter	19 – 13	Wasps	Exeter	Saracens
2020–21	Harlequins	40 – 38	Exeter	Bristol	No relegation
2021–22	Leicester	15 – 12	Saracens	Leicester
2022–23	Saracens	35 – 25	Sale	Saracens	Worcester, Wasps
2023–24	Northampton	25 – 21	Bath	Northampton	London Irish
2024–25

Summary of winners

#	Team	Champions	Years as champions	Runners-up	Years as runners-up	Top of league table
1	Leicester Tigers	11	1987–88, 1994–95, 1998–99, 1999–00, 2000–01, 2001–02, 2006–07, 2008–09, 2009–10, 2012–13, 2021–22	7	1993–94, 1995–96, 2004–05, 2005–06, 2007–08, 2010–11, 2011–12	11
2	Bath	6	1988–89, 1990–91, 1991–92, 1992–93, 1993–94, 1995–96	6	1994–95, 1996–97, 1999–00, 2003–04, 2014–15, 2023–24	7
	Wasps		1989–90, 1996–97, 2002–03, 2003–04, 2004–05, 2007–08	5	1987–88, 1990–91, 2000–01, 2016–17, 2019–20	3
	Saracens		2010–11, 2014–15, 2015–16, 2017–18, 2018–19, 2022–23	4	1997–98, 2009–10, 2013–14, 2021–22	4
5	Exeter Chiefs	2	2016–17, 2019–20		2015–16, 2017–18, 2018–19, 2020–21	3
	Northampton Saints		2013–14, 2023–24	2	1998–99, 2012–13	2
	Harlequins		2011–12, 2020–21	—	N/A	1
8	Sale Sharks	1	2005–06	2	2001–02, 2022–23
	Newcastle Falcons		1997–98	—	N/A

Player records

For a list of top try and points scorers by seasons, see Premiership Rugby top scorers.

All records relate to the 1997–98 season onward when National League One was re-launched as the Premiership.

Source:

As of 27 October 2024. Bold italics denote players active in the 2024–25 Premiership.

Appearances

Rank	Nationality	Player	Club(s)	Years	Apps
1	England	Richard Wigglesworth	Sale, Saracens, Leicester	2002–2022	322
2	England	Danny Care	Leeds, Harlequins	2005–	282
3	England	Mike Brown	Harlequins, Newcastle, Leicester	2005–	276
4	England	Alex Waller	Northampton	2009–2024	273
5	England	Alex Goode	Saracens	2008–	270
6	England	Steve Borthwick	Bath, Saracens	1998–2014	265
7	England	George Chuter	Saracens, Leicester	1997–2014	262
	England	Phil Dowson	Newcastle, Northampton, Worcester	2001–2017
9	England	Charlie Hodgson	Sale, Saracens	2000–2016	254
10	England	Tom May	Newcastle, Northampton, London Welsh	1999–2015	247

Points

Rank	Nationality	Player	Club(s)	Years	Points
1	England	Charlie Hodgson	Sale, Saracens	2000–2016	2,625
2	England	Andy Goode	Leicester, Saracens, Worcester, Wasps, Newcastle	1998–2016	2,285
3	England	George Ford	Leicester, Bath, Sale	2009–	1,817
4	England	Stephen Myler	Northampton, London Irish	2006–2020	1,778
5	England	Owen Farrell	Saracens	2009–2024	1,757
6	New Zealand	Jimmy Gopperth	Newcastle, Wasps, Leicester	2009–2023	1,737
7	New Zealand	Nick Evans	Harlequins	2008–2017	1,656
8	Ireland	Gareth Steenson	Exeter	2010–2020	1,651
9	England	Olly Barkley	Bath, Gloucester, London Welsh	2001–2015	1,605
10	England	Freddie Burns	Gloucester, Leicester, Bath	2008–2023	1,532

Tries

Rank	Nationality	Player	Club(s)	Years	Tries
1	England	Chris Ashton	Northampton, Saracens, Sale, Harlequins, Worcester, Leicester	2008–2023	101
2	England	Tom Varndell	Leicester, Wasps, Bristol	2004–2017	92
3	England	Mark Cueto	Sale	2001–2015	90
4	England	Danny Care	Leeds, Harlequins	2005–	85
	England	Christian Wade	Wasps, Gloucester	2011–
6	England	Jonny May	Gloucester, Leicester	2010–2024	78
7	England	Steve Hanley	Sale	1998–2007	75
8	England	Matt Banahan	Bath, Gloucester	2007–2021	71
	England	Mike Brown	Harlequins, Newcastle, Leicester	2005–
10	England	Paul Sackey	Bedford, London Irish, Wasps, Harlequins	1999–2014	69

Awards

Green background with § denotes the award-winning player also won the Premiership title during the same season

Premiership Player of the Year

Year	Nationality	Player	Team
1996–1997	England	Martin Johnson	Leicester
1997–1998	England	Neil Back	Leicester (2)
1998–1999	England	Martin Johnson§ (2)	Leicester (3)
1999–2000	England	Austin Healey§	Leicester (4)
2000–2001	Australia	Pat Howard§	Leicester (5)
2001–2002	England	Jason Robinson	Sale
2002–2003	South Africa	Jake Boer	Gloucester
2003–2004	England	Simon Shaw§	Wasps
2004–2005	England	Martin Corry	Leicester (6)
2005–2006	England	Mike Catt	London Irish
2006–2007	Italy	Martín Castrogiovanni§	Leicester (7)
2007–2008	England	James Simpson-Daniel	Gloucester (2)
2008–2009	England	Chris Robshaw	Harlequins
2009–2010	England	Chris Ashton	Northampton
2010–2011	England	Tom Wood	Northampton (2)
2011–2012	England	Chris Robshaw§ (2)	Harlequins (2)
2012–2013	England	Tom Youngs§	Leicester (8)
2013–2014	England	Mike Brown	Harlequins (3)
2014–2015	England	George Ford	Bath
2015–2016	England	Alex Goode§	Saracens
2016–2017	New Zealand	Jimmy Gopperth	Wasps (2)
2017–2018	Fiji	Vereniki Goneva	Newcastle
2018–2019	England	Danny Cipriani	Gloucester (3)
2019–2020	England	Jack Willis	Wasps (3)
2020–2021	England	Sam Simmonds	Exeter
2021–2022	England	Ben Earl	Saracens (2)
2022–2023	England	Ollie Lawrence	Bath (2)
2023–2024	England	Henry Slade	Exeter (2)

Young Player of the Year

Year	Nationality	Player	Team
1996–1997	Not awarded
1997–1998
1998–1999	England	Jonny Wilkinson	Newcastle
1999–2000	England	Iain Balshaw	Bath
2000–2001	England	Iain Balshaw (2)	Bath (2)
2001–2002	England	Lewis Moody§	Leicester
2002–2003	England	James Forrester	Gloucester
2003–2004	England	Olly Barkley	Bath (3)
2004–2005	England	Ollie Smith	Leicester (2)
2005–2006	England	Tom Varndell	Leicester (3)
2006–2007	England	Tom Rees	Wasps
2007–2008	England	Danny Cipriani§	Wasps (2)
2008–2009	England	Jordan Turner-Hall	Harlequins
2009–2010	England	Ben Youngs§	Leicester (4)
2010–2011	England	Manu Tuilagi	Leicester (5)
2011–2012	England	Owen Farrell	Saracens
2012–2013	England	Joe Launchbury	Wasps (3)
2013–2014	England	Billy Vunipola	Saracens (2)
2014–2015	England	Henry Slade	Exeter
2015–2016	England	Maro Itoje§	Saracens (3)
2016–2017	England	Ellis Genge	Leicester (6)
2017–2018	England	Sam Simmonds	Exeter (2)
2018–2019	England	Tom Curry	Sale
2019–2020	England	Jack Willis	Wasps (4)
2020–2021	Wales	Ioan Lloyd	Bristol
2021–2022	England	Henry Arundell	London Irish
2022–2023	England	Tom Pearson	London Irish (2)
2023–2024	England	Immanuel Feyi-Waboso	Exeter (3)

Coaches

Current coaches

The following table outlines the current senior coaches at each Premiership club, as of the 2024–25 season:

Note: The designation of the senior coaching staff member as either Director of Rugby or Head Coach, and the responsibilities they hold, varies between individual clubs.

Coach	Nationality	Club	Appointed	Time in role	Titles won	Ref
Rob Baxter	England	Exeter Chiefs	7 May 2009	15 years, 233 days	2
Mark McCall	Ireland	Saracens	9 January 2011	13 years, 352 days	6
Pat Lam	Samoa	Bristol Bears	1 June 2017	7 years, 208 days	0
George Skivington	England	Gloucester	3 July 2020	4 years, 176 days	0
Alex Sanderson	England	Sale Sharks	15 January 2021	3 years, 346 days	0
Phil Dowson	England	Northampton Saints	1 June 2022	2 years, 208 days	1
Johann van Graan	South Africa	Bath	11 July 2022	2 years, 168 days	0
Billy Millard	Australia	Harlequins	14 June 2023	1 year, 195 days	0
Steve Diamond	England	Newcastle Falcons	1 February 2024	329 days	0
Michael Cheika	Australia	Leicester Tigers	27 June 2024	182 days	0

Award winners

The following senior coaches have won the Premiership Director of Rugby of the Season Award since 2000:

Green background with § denotes the award-winning Director of Rugby also won the Premiership title during the same season

Director of Rugby of the Season (2000–2012)

Season	Nationality	Winner	Club
1999–00	England	Andy Robinson	Bath
2000–01	England	Dean Richards§	Leicester
2001–02	Ireland	Conor O'Shea	London Irish
	South Africa	Brendan Venter
2002–03	New Zealand	Warren Gatland§	Wasps
2003–04	Australia	John Connolly	Bath (2)
2004–05	England	John Wells	Leicester (2)
2005–06	France	Philippe Saint-André§	Sale
2006–07	Australia	Pat Howard§	Leicester (3)
2007–08	England	Dean Ryan	Gloucester
2008–09	England	Richard Cockerill§	Leicester (4)
2009–10	England	Andy Key	Leeds
2010–11	England	Jim Mallinder	Northampton
2011–12	England	Rob Baxter	Exeter

Director of Rugby of the Season (2013–)

Season	Nationality	Winner	Club
2012–13	Ireland	Mark McCall	Saracens
2013–14	Ireland	Mark McCall (2)	Saracens (2)
2014–15	England	Mike Ford	Bath (3)
2015–16	Ireland	Mark McCall§ (3)	Saracens (3)
2016–17	Wales	Dai Young	Wasps (2)
2017–18	England	Dean Richards (2)	Newcastle
2018–19	Ireland	Mark McCall§ (4)	Saracens (4)
2019–20	England	Rob Baxter§ (2)	Exeter (2)
2020–21	Samoa	Pat Lam	Bristol
2021–22	England	Steve Borthwick§	Leicester (5)
2022–23	Ireland	Mark McCall§ (5)	Saracens (5)
2023–24	England	Phil Dowson§	Northampton (2)

Hall of Fame

The following former players and officials have been inducted into the Premiership Rugby Hall of Fame since 2013:

Note: Between 1997 and 2012, the winners of the Premiership Player of the Season and Director of Rugby of the Season awards (as detailed above) were also included in the Hall of Fame.

Year	Nationality	Inductee	Position	Club(s)
2013	England	George Chuter	Player	Saracens, Leicester
	England	Charlie Hodgson	Player	Sale, Saracens
	Ireland	Geordan Murphy	Player/Coach	Leicester
2014	England	Martin Johnson	Player	Leicester
	England	Lewis Moody	Player	Leicester, Bath
	England	Ed Morrison	Referee	Not applicable
	Scotland	Tom Walkinshaw	Owner	Gloucester
2015	England	Lawrence Dallaglio	Player	Wasps
	England	Josh Lewsey	Player	Bristol, Wasps
	England	Simon Shaw	Player	Bristol, Wasps
	England	James Simpson-Daniel	Player	Gloucester
	England	Phil Vickery	Player	Gloucester, Wasps
	England	Peter Wheeler	Chief Executive	Leicester
	England	Jonny Wilkinson	Player	Newcastle
2016	England	Neil Back	Player	Leicester
	England	Mark Cueto	Player	Sale
	England	Richard Hill	Player/Coach	Saracens
	England	Mike Tindall	Player	Bath, Gloucester
	England	Hugh Vyvyan	Player	Newcastle, Saracens
2017	England	Steve Borthwick	Player/Coach	Bath (as player), Saracens (as player/coach), Leicester (as coach)
	England	Kyran Bracken	Player	Bristol, Saracens
	England	Nick Easter	Player/Coach	Harlequins (as player/coach), Newcastle, Worcester (as coach)
	England	Ben Kay	Player	Leicester
	England	Jason Robinson	Player	Sale
2019	England	Matt Dawson	Player	Northampton, Wasps
	New Zealand	Nick Evans	Player/Coach	Harlequins
	England	Jason Leonard	Player	Saracens, Harlequins
2021	England	Christian Day	Player	Sale, Northampton
	England	Andy Goode	Player	Leicester, Saracens, Worcester, Wasps, Newcastle
	England	Paul Grayson	Player/Coach	Northampton
	England	Steve Thompson	Player	Northampton, Leeds, Wasps
2022	England	Will Greenwood	Player	Harlequins, Leicester
	England	Tom Varndell	Player	Leicester, Wasps, Bristol
	England	Trevor Woodman	Player/Coach	Gloucester
2023	England	Matt Banahan	Player	Bath, Gloucester
	England	Brad Barritt	Player	Saracens
	England	Tom Youngs	Player	Leicester
2024	England	Danny Grewcock	Player/Coach	Saracens (as player), Bath (as player/coach), Bristol (as coach)
	England	Paul Sackey	Player	Bedford, London Irish, Wasps, Harlequins
	England	Richard Wigglesworth	Player/Coach	Sale, Saracens (as player), Leicester (as player/coach)

Attendances

Season	Total	Average
2002–03	1,183,972	8,518
2003–04	1,241,557	9,062
2004–05	1,481,355	10,813
2005–06	1,483,920	10,922
2006–07	1,598,734	11,842
2007–08	1,517,863	11,243
2008–09	1,671,781	12,384
2009–10	1,900,177	14,075

Season	Total	Average
2010–11	1,740,751	12,894
2011–12	1,755,073	13,001
2012–13	1,684,804	12,480
2013–14	1,721,729	12,754
2014–15	1,804,914	13,370
2015–16	1,837,427	13,611
2016–17	2,033,805	15,065
2017–18	1,912,301	14,165

Season	Total	Average
2018–19	1,958,402	14,507
2019–20	1,032,509[a]	13,237[a]
2020–21	16,866[b]	135[b]
2021–22	1,947,439	12,564
2022–23	1,457,485	13,250
2023–24	1,428,276	15,358

a Attendances only include matches up to the suspension of fixtures in March 2020. After this matches were played behind closed doors due to the COVID-19 pandemic, or as part of the trialled return of spectators with attendance limited to 3,500 or 1,000.

b Most matches were played behind closed doors due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Finance and governance aspects

Men’s Professional Game Partnership

In 2024 the RFU, Premiership Rugby and the RPA agreed an 8-year Men's Professional Game Partnership (MPGP).

Salary cap

The English Premiership operates a salary cap, set by the Premiership Rugby Board, specifying the money a club can spend on the player salaries of its squad per season. Until the 2024–25 season, the base cap is £5 million, with an "academy credit" of up to £600,000 (£100,000 per player for up to six players).

A club may use the academy credit on a player that: (i) joined the club before his 18th birthday; (ii) is under age 24 at the start of the season; and (iii) earns a salary of more than £50,000. Under the credit scheme, the first £100,000 of a qualifying player's salary is not counted against the cap.

Exclusions

Since the 2022–23 season, each club has been allowed to exclude one player from the cap calculations, a decrease from two in prior seasons. An exception is made for any team which had two excluded players currently under contract. Both players remain excluded until the first of their contracts expire.

The "excluded player" slot can be filled by any player on a team's current roster who meets any of the following criteria:

• Played with his Premiership club for at least two full seasons before he was nominated as an excluded player.
• Played with his Premiership club for the full season before being nominated as an excluded player, after having played outside the Premiership.
• Played outside the Premiership in the season before he was nominated.

P shares

P shares were awarded in 2005 to the 13 clubs then in the Premiership. They are believed to entitle shareholders to a percentage of the central income of Premiership Rugby and voting rights on key issues.

Media coverage

In the United Kingdom, Premiership Rugby is broadcast on TNT Sports (previously BT Sport) and streaming on Discovery+, under a contract most recently renewed in March 2024. The broadcaster carries all Premiership Rugby fixtures (an increase from 80 to 93 regular season fixtures), as well as selected Premiership Rugby Cup fixtures.

ITV holds rights to carry a free-to-air highlights show, aired on ITV4 and ITV1. For the 2024–25 season, the highlight show—previously hosted by Craig Doyle and a panel of players—was rebooted as Gallagher Premiership Unleashed; in addition to highlights, the new format includes feature segments hosted by popular rugby-oriented social media personalities. Doyle—who produces the programme—stated that the programme was intended to help reach a wider audience, amid a collapse in viewership for the more traditional format.

Talksport and BBC Radio 5 Live, along with various BBC Local Radio stations, broadcast commentary and magazine programming.

In Australia, the Premiership is available on Stan Sport, while in New Zealand, it is on Sky Sports and, in Oceanic islands, on TVWan Sport. In the United States, the Premiership is available on The Rugby Network since 2023. In Canada, it is broadcast on Sportsnet and, in Southern Africa, it is on SuperSport. In Malta, it is aired on TSN, in Italy on Mola, in France on RMC Sport, and in DACH on MTS and DAZN. In Czech Republic and Slovakia, it is on Nova Sport and, in Scandinavian states, it is on Viaplay. In MENA region and Asia, it is on Premier Sports. It has also been broadcast in China since 2017 and, in Japan, on DAZN.

See also

• Top 14, French equivalent of the Premiership, second of the three major northern hemisphere leagues.
• United Rugby Championship, cross-border equivalent of the Premiership, third of the three major northern hemisphere leagues.
• English rugby union system
• List of English rugby union teams
• Premiership Rugby Cup
• Anglo-Welsh Cup (superseded by the Premiership Rugby Cup)
• Premiership Rugby Shield
• RFU Championship, second tier of English club rugby, from which teams are promoted from, and into which teams are relegated from, the Premiership.
• European Professional Club Rugby
• European Rugby Champions Cup
• European Rugby Challenge Cup
• Premiership Rugby Sevens Series
• List of attendance figures at domestic professional sports leagues
• List of English rugby union stadiums by capacity
• List of professional sports teams in the United Kingdom

External links

• Official website
• Guinness Premiership Rugby Week
• English rugby union news BBC Sport
• All Time Premiership Records