2020–21 Premiership Rugby

The 2020–21 Premiership Rugby will be the 34th season of the top flight of English domestic rugby union competition and the third to be sponsored by Gallagher.[1] The competition will be broadcast by BT Sport for the eighth successive season with five games also simulcast free-to-air on Channel 5. Highlights of each weekend's games are to be shown on Channel 5 with extended highlights on BT Sport.

2020–21 Gallagher Premiership
Countries England
Date11 September 2020 – 26 June 2021 (tentative)
Official website
www.premiershiprugby.com

Due to changes to the global rugby calendar implemented this year, this season features an earlier start and later finish. This is due to the 2021 British and Irish Lions tour to South Africa mandating a 42 week season.[2]

Salary Cap

This season is the last under the current regulations before changes are made next season and again in 2024–25.[3]

Teams

Newcastle Falcons, having won the 2019–20 RFU Championship, replaced Saracens, who were relegated last season after finishing bottom of the table due to several points deductions.

2020–21 Gallagher Premiership Teams
Club Director of Rugby/Head Coach Captain Kit supplier Stadium Capacity City/Area
Bath Stuart Hooper Charlie Ewels Canterbury The Recreation Ground[lower-alpha 1] 14,509 Bath
Bristol Bears / Pat Lam Steve Luatua Umbro Ashton Gate 27,000 Bristol
Exeter Chiefs Rob Baxter Jack Yeandle Samurai Sportswear Sandy Park 13,593 Exeter
Gloucester George Skivington Willi Heinz Elite Pro Sports Kingsholm Stadium 16,115 Gloucester
Harlequins Paul Gustard
Billy Millard		 Chris Robshaw Adidas Twickenham Stoop[lower-alpha 2] 14,800 Twickenham, Greater London
Leicester Tigers Geordan Murphy[4] Tom Youngs Kukri Welford Road 25,849 Leicester
London Irish Declan Kidney Blair Cowan
Stephen Myler		 BLK Brentford Community Stadium 17,250 Brentford, London
Newcastle Falcons Dean Richards Macron Kingston Park[lower-alpha 3] 10,200 Newcastle upon Tyne, Tyne and Wear
Northampton Saints Chris Boyd Teimana Harrison
Alex Waller		 Macron Franklin's Gardens 15,200 Northampton
Sale Sharks Steve Diamond Jono Ross Samurai Sportswear AJ Bell Stadium 12,000 Salford, Greater Manchester
Wasps Lee Blackett Dan Robson
Thomas Young		 Under Armour Ricoh Arena 32,609 Coventry
Worcester Warriors Alan Solomons GJ van Velze O'Neills Sixways Stadium 11,499 Worcester

    Pre-season

    The 2020 edition of the Premiership Rugby Sevens Series will be held in summer 2020. For the fourth successive year all twelve Premiership teams will feature in one venue over two days. Teams would be split into four pools of three which played each other once in a round-robin basis with the tournament splitting into Cup and Plate competitions on the second day.[5]


    Table
    2020–21 Premiership Rugby Table
    Club Played Won Drawn Lost Points for Points against Points diff Tries for Tries against Try bonus Losing bonus Points
    1Bath000000000000
    2Bristol Bears000000000000
    3Exeter Chiefs000000000000
    4Gloucester000000000000
    5Harlequins000000000000
    6Leicester Tigers000000000000
    7London Irish000000000000
    8Newcastle Falcons000000000000
    9Northampton Saints000000000000
    10Sale Sharks000000000000
    11Wasps000000000000
    12Worcester Warriors000000000000
    Green background (rows 1 to 4) are play-off places and earns a berth in the 2021–22 European Rugby Champions Cup.
    Blue background (rows 5 & 6) indicates teams outside the play-off places, that earns a berth in the 2021–22 European Rugby Champions Cup based on their position in the table.
    Plain background indicates teams that earn a place in the 2021–22 European Rugby Challenge Cup.
    Red background (row 12) will be relegated, providing the champion of the 2020–21 RFU Championship are eligible for promotion.


    (CH) Champions. (RU) Runners-up. (SF) Losing semi-finalists. (R) Relegated
    Starting table — source: Premiership Rugby

    Tiebreakers for teams tied on points: 1) Number of matches won; 2) Difference between points for and against; 3) Total number of points for; 4) Aggregate number of points scored in matches between tied teams; 5) Number of matches won excluding the first match, then the second and so on until the tie is settled

    Fixtures

    Fixtures for the season will be announced by Premiership Rugby in July 2020.

    Highlights of the season include:

    • Big Game 13 - Harlequins host this season's edition of the Big Game at Twickenham.
    • The Big One - Newcastle Falcons return to St James' Park in this season's edition of The Big One.
    • The Clash - Bath Rugby will return to Twickenham for this season's edition of The Clash.

    All fixtures are subject to change.

    Regular Season

    The regular season will begin on 11 September 2020

    Play-offs

    As in previous seasons, the top four teams in the Premiership table, following the conclusion of the regular season, contest the play-off semi-finals in a 1st vs 4th and 2nd vs 3rd format, with the higher ranking team having home advantage. The two winners of the semi-finals then meet in the Premiership Grand Final at Twickenham on 26 June 2021.

    Notes
    1. Bath will also play a home game at Twickenham Stadium, London.
    2. Harlequins will also play a home game at Twickenham Stadium, London.
    3. Newcastle Falcons will also play a home game at St James' Park, Newcastle upon Tyne.

    References
    1. "Gallagher confirmed as new title sponsors of Premiership Rugby". 12 April 2018. Retrieved 27 May 2018.
    2. "Premiership season structure for 2020/21 and 2021/22 confirmed". Ultimate Rugby. Retrieved 2019-12-04.
    3. "Premiership Rugby clubs unanimously vote to temporarily reduce the salary cap". Premiership Rugby. Retrieved 2020-06-11.
    4. https://www.leicestertigers.com/team/management
    5. "Premiership Rugby 7s Returns to Franklin's Gardens". Premiership Rugby. 2 May 2018. Retrieved 27 May 2018.
    This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.