User:Curtis82/Taiwan Rugby League

This page is about the top flight men's rugby union competition in England. For the similarly named women's competition, see Premiership Women's Rugby.

Premiership Rugby

Current season, competition or edition: 2023–24 Premiership Rugby
Sport	Rugby union
Founded	1987 (1987)
CEO	Simon Massie-Taylor
Administrator	RFU
No. of teams	10
Country	England
Most recent champion(s)	Saracens (6th title) (2022–23)
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 and most recently promoted side are Saracens, who returned to the top flight in 2021 and won the league in 2023.

Clubs

Current clubs

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	28,000	– (N/A)
Exeter Chiefs	1871	Exeter, Devon	Sandy Park	16,000	2 (2020)
Gloucester	1873	Gloucester	Kingsholm Stadium	16,200	– (N/A)
Harlequins	1866	London (Twickenham)	Twickenham Stoop	14,800	2 (2021)
Leicester Tigers	1880	Leicester	Mattioli Woods Welford Road	26,000	11 (2022)
Newcastle Falcons	1877	Newcastle upon Tyne	Kingston Park	11,000	1 (1998)
Northampton Saints	1880	Northampton	cinch Stadium at Franklin's Gardens	16,000	1 (2014)
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

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

Structure

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.

Champions

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		Gloucester	Bath	Rugby Lions, West Hartlepool, Saracens, London Scottish
1993–94	Bath		Leicester	Bath	Newcastle Gosforth, 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 (a.e.t.)	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 (a.e.t.)	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					London Irish

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	5	1994–95, 1996–97, 1999–00, 2003–04, 2014–15	7
	Wasps		1989–90, 1996–97, 2002–03, 2003–04, 2004–05, 2007–08		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
	Harlequins		2011–12, 2020–21	—	N/A	1
7	Northampton Saints	1	2013–14	2	1998–99, 2012–13
	Sale Sharks		2005–06		2001–02, 2022–23
	Newcastle Falcons		1997–98	—	N/A

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