Gallagher Premiership Rugby Season Preview

The eagerly awaited Gallagher Premiership Rugby season will commence on Friday when Bristol Bears face Bath in a west country derby with Sale up against Northampton Saints.

The concern ahead of the brand-new season has been centred off the pitch with Worcester Warriors facing a battle for survival.

However, on the field it is certain to be yet another season full of competitive rugby with the Premiership proving once again why it is the toughest and hardest league in the world.

Lets take a look at all 13 sides ahead of the big kick off

Bath Rugby

Bath’s new head coach Johann van Graan has a big job on his hands to improve the fortunes of Bath after the side finished bottom of the table for the first time in their history and suffered a number of embarrassing defeats including a 64-0 drubbing at Gloucester.

Van Graan has gone with experienced ahead of the new season with his first task to repair a very leaky defence.

Among a host of recruits for Bath, Piers Francis has been signed from Northampton along with international Quinn Roux, a late signing after Charlie Ewels suffered a knee injury on England’s tour to Australia that will keep him out of a large chunk of the season.

Bristol Bears

Bristol had a roller coaster of a season last term with at one point being top of the table, to almost finishing bottom and missing out on a Champions League spot.

Director of Rugby Pat lam had to contend with a huge injury list that decimated the side. Their key players Charles Piutau and Semi Radrada missed a number of matches last campaign and will be raring to go ahead of the new campaign.

Ellis Genge has re-joined from Leicester to form an England prop pairing with Kyle Sinkler, whose season was also disrupted by injury.

Exeter Chiefs

The Chiefs missed out on the Premiership final for the first time in six seasons, and finished in the lower regions of the table, missing out on a top six finish.

Rob Baxter has been given a new role, Director of Rugby instead of Head Coach, and has recruited Australian prop Scott Sio and Ireland’s Rory O’Loughlin.

Gloucester

The club only just missed out on a play-off place last season by the narrowest of margins, a single point.

With Jonny May fit to start the new season and No 8 Albert Tuisue joining from London Irish, Head Coach George Skivington has kept the majority of last season’s side, with the empathises on pushing for a top four finish.

Harlequins

Quins will be looking to bounce back after losing out to Saracens in the semi-final last season.

The side had to contend with more international call ups than they have been used to, but still made the top four, the only side to do so from the previous four teams.

Director of Rugby Tabai Matson has recruited lock Irne Herbst from Benetton, with the club re signing Charlie Matthews after a stint in Japan.

Once again you can never rule Harlequins out of the accusation, and are worthy contenders for sure.

Leicester Tigers

Tigers clawed their way from the bottom to the top last season. They went on to defeat Saracens in the final. Under Head Coach Steve Borthwick Tigers have become a side that are extremely difficult to beat.

South Africa’s Handre Pollard has been recruited from Montpellier along with Anthony Watson from Bath.

Expect Tigers once again to be the team to beat come June with the possibility of back to back titles not beyond them.

London Irish

The Exiles qualified for the Champions Cup after a 10-year absence, and were a much improved side from previous seasons.

They unearthed a star in Henry Arundell, and relished playing in a smaller stadium of the Brentford Community Stadium, compared to the larger surface at Reading.

Twenty players left Irish during a busy summer with Api Ratuniyarawa joining from Northampton with Josh Basham making the move down south from Newcastle.

Newcastle

After 10 years at the helm, Dean Richards decided to stand down with new Head Coach Dave Walder taking over the reigns.

Newcastle have been used to strong starts at the beginning of the season followed by slumps and a lowly league position.

Their hopes of future success rest on the shoulders of the excellent Adam Radwan. The winger has improved immensely as a player and is growing as a player.

Northampton Saints

In recent seasons Saints have been a yo-yo club. Up one week and down the next. Previous Director of Rugby Chris Boyd has returned back to New Zealand in the summer with Phil Dowson giving the top job.

Saints have the luxury of having two international captains in the form of England’s Courtney Lawes and Wales Dan Biggar.

Sale Sharks

Three England internationals have arrived at the AJ Bell Stadium including George Ford from Leicester and Jonny Hill from Exeter.

Sharks failed to build on their top four finish of the previous season and will be looking to improve on their sixth place finish from last season.

 

Saracens

Saracens returned back to the Premiership after one season back in the big time and reached the Premiership final.

Their reqruitment has been kept to the minimum with the signing of former Harlequins player Hugh Tizard a big signing for the club.

With the experience the club process then expect Saracens under Mark McCall to be there or there abouts once again.

Wasps

Recruitment was put on hold in the summer for a few weeks as Wasps looked to refinance the £35 million that fell due to bondholders in May.

Finalists two seasons ago, Wasps missed out on qualifying for the European Champions Cup by finishing in ninth place, which wasn’t helped by an horrendous injury list which at one stage stood at 27 which included Joe launchbury, Jack Willis and Thomas Young.

South Africa’s Vincent Koch has been signed from Saracens along with Will Haydon-Wood from Falcons.

Worcester Warriors

Steve Diamnond’s bid to become the first Worcester coach to get the club into the Champions Cup has now turned into a battle for survival for the club.

Money for August’s salaries was found at the last minute, but with the clubs bank accounts frozen because of an unpaid tax bill, things are still very uncertain for Worcester.

Despite the off-field distractions, Worcester have been busy with 15 players leaving and seven coming in.

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