The 2017-18 English Premiership is the 31st season of the top flight of English domestic rugby union competition and the eighth to be sponsored by Aviva. The competition is being broadcast by BT Sport for the fifth successive season with five games also simulcast free-to-air on Channel 5 for the first time. Highlights of each weekend's games are shown on Channel 5 with extended highlights on BT Sport.
The reigning champions entering the season were Exeter Chiefs, who claimed their first title after defeating Wasps in the 2016-17 final.
After just one season back in the Premiership, Bristol were relegated with two games to go after they lost 21-36 to Wasps at Ashton Gate on 16 April 2017. Bristol's poor start to the season, combined with a lack of quality recruitment, meant that they always looked favourites for the drop and so it ultimately proved. They were replaced by London Irish who made an immediate return to the premiership after just one season in the Greene King IPA Championship.
Video 2017-18 English Premiership (rugby union)
Teams
London Irish, having beaten Yorkshire Carnegie 84-66 on aggregate in the 2016-17 Greene King IPA Championship play-off final, replace Bristol, who were relegated last season after finishing bottom of the table.
Maps 2017-18 English Premiership (rugby union)
Pre-season
The 2017 edition of the Singha Premiership Rugby Sevens was held on 28 and 29 July at Franklin's Gardens. For the first time all twelve Premiership teams featured together in one venue over two days. Teams were split into four pools of three which played each other in a round-robin basis with the tournament splitting into Cup, Plate and Bowl finals on the second day.
Table
Regular season
Fixtures for the season were announced by Premiership Rugby on 7 July 2017. As is the norm, round 1 included the London Double Header at Twickenham. After success in 2016 a match will once again take place in the United States. Newcastle Falcons will host Saracens at the Talen Energy Stadium in the Philadelphia suburb of Chester, Pennsylvania.
All fixtures are subject to change.
Round 1
Round 2
Round 3
Round 4
Round 5
Round 6
Round 7
Round 8
Round 9
Round 10
Round 11
Round 12
Round 13
Round 14
Round 15
Round 16
Round 17
Play-offs
As in previous seasons, the top four teams contest the semi-finals in a 1st v 4th and 2nd v 3rd format with the higher ranking team having home advantage. The two winners of the semi-finals meet in the Final at Twickenham on 26 May.
Leading scorers
Note: Flags to the left of player names indicate national team as has been defined under World Rugby eligibility rules, or primary nationality for players who have not yet earned international senior caps. Players may hold one or more non-WR nationalities.
Season attendances
By club
- Attendances do not include the final at Twickenham.
Highest attendances
Notes
References
External links
- Official website
Source of article : Wikipedia