2004–05 English Premiership (rugby union)

2004–2005 Zurich Premiership
Countries	England
Champions	London Wasps (5th title)
Runners-up	Leicester Tigers
Relegated	Harlequins
Matches played	137
Attendance	1,481,355 (average 10,813 per match)
Top point scorer	Jason Strange (244)
Top try scorer	Tom Varndell (10)
← 2003–04 2005–06 →

The 2004–05 Zurich Premiership was the 18th season of the top flight of the English domestic rugby union competitions.

Harlequins were relegated, to be replaced by Bristol.

Participating teams

Team	Stadium	Capacity	City/Area
Bath	Bath	10,500	Bath, Somerset
Gloucester	Kingsholm	13,000	Gloucester, Gloucestershire
Harlequins	The Stoop	8,500	Twickenham, London
Leeds Tykes	Headingley Stadium	22,250	Leeds, West Yorkshire
Leicester Tigers	Welford Road	16,815	Leicester, Leicestershire
London Irish	Madejski Stadium[n 1]	24,161	Reading, Berkshire
London Wasps	The Causeway Stadium	10,000	High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire
Newcastle Falcons	Kingston Park	10,200	Newcastle upon Tyne, Tyne and Wear
Northampton Saints	Franklin's Gardens	12,100	Northampton, Northamptonshire
Sale	Edgeley Park	10,641	Stockport, Greater Manchester
Saracens	Vicarage Road[n 2]	22,000	Watford, Hertfordshire
Worcester	Sixways	8,477	Worcester, Worcestershire

Notes

Table

	Club	Played	Won	Drawn	Lost	Points For	Points Against	Points Difference	Tries For	Tries Against	Try Bonus	Losing Bonus	Points
1	Leicester Tigers (F)	22	15	3	4	665	323	+342	75	27	9	3	78
2	London Wasps (C)	22	15	1	6	561	442	+119	59	40	6	5	73
3	Sale Sharks (SF)	22	13	0	9	513	442	+71	51	43	4	4	60
4	Bath	22	12	2	8	407	366	+41	33	35	1	5	58
5	Saracens	22	12	2	8	384	428	-44	39	43	3	2	57
6	Gloucester	22	10	1	11	407	487	-80	43	43	3	2	47
7	Newcastle Falcons	22	9	2	11	475	596	-121	43	64	3	4	47
8	Leeds Tykes	22	9	0	13	380	431	-51	34	40	1	6	43
9	Worcester Warriors	22	9	0	13	365	493	-128	36	53	1	5	42
10	London Irish	22	8	0	14	378	421	-43	28	35	1	7	40
11	Northampton Saints	22	8	0	14	410	473	-63	31	44	2	6	40
12	Harlequins (R)	22	6	1	15	416	459	-43	41	46	3	9	38
Source:Guinness Premiership Green background denotes qualification for the playoffs. These teams and those highlighted in blue qualified for the 2005–06 Heineken Cup.

Results

Week 1

Week 2

Week 3

Week 4

Week 5

Week 6

Week 7

Week 8

Week 9

Week 10

Week 11

Week 12

Week 13

Week 14

Week 15

Week 16

Week 17

Week 18

Week 19

Week 20

Week 21

Week 22

Play-offs

As for the 2003–04 season, the first placed team automatically qualified for the final where they played the winner of the second vs third place semi-final. This was the last season in which this format of play-off was used.

Semi-final

Final

FB 15 Sam Vesty RW 14 Geordan Murphy OC 13 Ollie Smith IC 12 Daryl Gibson LW 11 Leon Lloyd FH 10 Andy Goode SH 9 Harry Ellis N8 8 Martin Corry OF 7 Neil Back BF 6 Louis Deacon RL 5 Ben Kay LL 4 Martin Johnson (c) TP 3 Julian White HK 2 George Chuter LP 1 Darren Morris Replacements: HK 16 James Buckland PR 17 Graham Rowntree FL 18 Lewis Moody FL 19 Will Johnson SH 20 Scott Bemand WG 21 Austin Healey WG 22 Alesana Tuilagi Coach: John Wells

FB 15 Mark van Gisbergen RW 14 Paul Sackey OC 13 Ayoola Erinle IC 12 Josh Lewsey LW 11 Tom Voyce FH 10 Alex King SH 9 Matt Dawson N8 8 Lawrence Dallaglio (c) OF 7 Joe Worsley BF 6 John Hart RL 5 Richard Birkett LL 4 Simon Shaw TP 3 Will Green HK 2 Phil Greening LP 1 Tim Payne Replacements: HK 16 Trevor Leota PR 17 Craig Dowd LK 18 Mark Lock FL 19 Martin Purdy SH 20 Warren Fury FH 21 James Brookes FB 22 Rob Hoadley Coach: Warren Gatland

Zurich Wildcard

Semi finals

Final

Total Season Attendances

Club	Home Games	Total	Average	Highest	Lowest	% Capacity
Bath	11	115,125	10,466	10,500	10,400	100%
Gloucester	12	142,906	11,909	13,000	6,206	92%
Harlequins	11	93,305	8,482	9,999	6,447	85%
Leeds Tykes	11	61,308	5,573	14,293	3,132	25%
Leicester Tigers	11	184,683	16,789	16,815	16,533	100%
London Irish	11	154,110	14,010	51,000	6,410	44%
London Wasps	12	105,068	8,756	10,000	5,824	88%
Newcastle Falcons	11	87,473	7,952	10,200	6,020	78%
Northampton Saints	11	130,674	11,879	12,093	11,208	98%
Sale Sharks	11	91,827	8,348	10,641	6,186	78%
Saracens	12	129,252	10,771	51,000	3,595	36%
Worcester Warriors	11	89,624	8,148	8,498	6,348	96%

See also

• 2004–05 Powergen Cup

References