2017–18 English Premiership (rugby union)

2017–18 Aviva Premiership
Countries  England
Date 1 September 2017 – 26 May 2018
Official website
www.premiershiprugby.com
2018–19 →

The 2017–18 English Premiership will be the 31st season of the top flight of English domestic rugby union competition and the eighth to be sponsored by Aviva.[1] The competition will 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 will be shown on Channel 5 with extended highlights on BT Sport.

The reigning champions entering the season are 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.[2] 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 are replaced by London Irish who make an immediate return to the premiership after just one season in the Greene King IPA Championship.


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.[3]

Club Coach Captain Kit Supplier Stadium Capacity City/Area
Bath New Zealand Todd Blackadder Canterbury The Recreation Ground[lower-alpha 1] 14,500 Bath, Somerset
Exeter Chiefs England Rob Baxter England Jack Yeandle Samurai Sportswear Sandy Park 12,600 Exeter, Devon
Gloucester Ireland David Humphreys XBlades Kingsholm Stadium 16,500 Gloucester, Gloucestershire
Harlequins England John Kingston Australia James Horwill Adidas Twickenham Stoop[lower-alpha 2] 14,816 Twickenham, Greater London
Leicester Tigers Australia Matt O'Connor England Tom Youngs Kukri Welford Road 25,849 Leicester, Leicestershire
London Irish England Nick Kennedy XBlades Madejski Stadium[lower-alpha 3] 24,161 Reading, Berkshire
Newcastle Falcons England Dean Richards England Will Welch Gilbert Kingston Park[lower-alpha 4] 10,200 Newcastle, Tyne and Wear
Northampton Saints England Jim Mallinder England Dylan Hartley Macron Franklin's Gardens 15,500 Northampton, Northamptonshire
Sale Sharks England Steve Diamond England Will Addison Samurai Sportswear AJ Bell Stadium 12,000 Salford, Greater Manchester
Saracens Ireland Mark McCall England Brad Barritt BLK Allianz Park[lower-alpha 5] 10,000 Barnet, Greater London
Wasps Wales Dai Young England Joe Launchbury Under Armour Ricoh Arena 32,609 Coventry, West Midlands
Worcester Warriors South Africa Gary Gold South Africa Gerrit-Jan van Velze Under Armour Sixways Stadium 12,024 Worcester, Worcestershire

    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.


    Regular season

    Fixtures for the season were announced by Premiership Rugby on 7 July 2017.[4] As is the norm, round 1 will include 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.[5]

    All fixtures are subject to change.[6]

    Round 1

    1 September 2017
    19:45
    Gloucester v Exeter Chiefs
    2 September 2016
    15:00
    Wasps v Sale Sharks
    2 September 2017
    16:45
    London Irish v Harlequins
    3 September 2017
    15:00
    Leicester Tigers v Bath

    Round 2

    9 September 2017
    15:00
    Bath v Saracens
    9 September 2017
    15:00
    Exeter Chiefs v London Irish
    9 September 2017
    15:00
    Harlequins v Gloucester

    Round 3

    15 September 2017
    19:45
    Northampton Saints v Bath
    15 September 2017
    19:45
    Worcester Warriors v Exeter Chiefs
    15 September 2017
    20:00
    Sale Sharks v London Irish
    16 September 2017
    15:00
    Leicester Tigers v Gloucester
    17 September 2017
    15:00
    Wasps v Harlequins

    Round 4

    23 September 2017
    15:00
    Bath v Newcastle Falcons
    23 September 2017
    15:00
    Harlequins v Leicester Tigers
    23 September 2017
    15:00
    Saracens v Sale Sharks
    24 September 2017
    15:00
    Exeter Chiefs v Wasps

    Round 5

    29 September 2017
    19:45
    Worcester Warriors v Saracens
    29 September 2017
    19:45
    Newcastle Falcons v London Irish
    29 September 2017
    20:00
    Sale Sharks v Gloucester
    30 September 2017
    15:00
    Leicester Tigers v Exeter Chiefs
    1 October 2017
    15:00
    Wasps v Bath

    Round 6

    6 October 2017
    19:45
    Harlequins v Sale Sharks
    7 October 2017
    15:00
    Gloucester v Northampton Saints
    7 October 2017
    15:00
    Bath v Worcester Warriors
    8 October 2017
    15:00
    Saracens v Wasps

    Round 7

    27 October 2017
    19:45
    Sale Sharks v Exeter Chiefs
    28 October 2017
    15:00
    Saracens v London Irish
    29 October 2017
    15:00
    Bath v Gloucester

    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.

    Top points scorers

    Last updated Source:[7]

    Rank Player Club Points

    Top try scorers

    Last updated Source:[8]

    Rank Player Club Tries


    Notes

    1. ↑ Bath would also played 1 home games at Twickenham Stadium, Greater London on 7 April.
    2. ↑ Harlequins would also played 1 home games at Twickenham Stadium, Greater London on 30 December.
    3. ↑ Irish would also play 1 home games at Twickenham Stadium, Greater London on 2 September.
    4. ↑ Falcons would also play 1 home games at Talen Energy Stadium, Chester, Pennsylvania, United States on 16 September 2017
    5. ↑ Saracens would also play 1 home game at Twickenham Stadium, Greater London on 2 September and 1 home game at London Stadium, Greater London on 24 March.
    6. ↑ Kick off time local to Pennsylvania; 21:30 BST in England.

    References

    1. ↑ "Aviva extends Premiership Rugby title sponsorship". Aviva plc. Aviva plc. Retrieved 3 August 2017.
    2. ↑ "Premiership: Bristol Rugby 21–36 Wasps – Bristol relegated to Championship". BBC Sport. 16 April 2017.
    3. ↑ "London Irish promoted to the premiership". London Irish. BBC. 25 May 2017. Retrieved 25 May 2017.
    4. ↑ "Premiership Rugby on Twitter: "The answer to the question for many @Bristol_RFC fans - the #AvivaPrem fixtures will be out on 7 July! Who do you want first?"". Twitter. Retrieved 2017-05-02.
    5. ↑ "Falcons take Premiership game to Philadelphia". Newcastle Falcons. Retrieved 17 May 2017.
    6. ↑ "Aviva Premiership Rugby Fixtures". Premiership Rugby. 2016-08-03. Retrieved 2017-05-02.
    7. ↑ "Rugby Union | Aviva Premiership, 2016/17 | Most individual points | ESPN Scrum". Stats.espnscrum.com. 2008-10-01. Retrieved 2017-05-02.
    8. ↑ "Rugby Union | Aviva Premiership, 2016/17 | Most individual tries | ESPN Scrum". Stats.espnscrum.com. 2008-10-01. Retrieved 2017-05-02.
    This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.