The 2013–14 Aviva Premiership was the 27th season of the

top flight Top Flight (April 15, 1929 – 1949) was an American U.S. Hall of Fame Thoroughbred racehorse. She was the leading American filly of her generation at two and three years of age. Background Bred in Kentucky by the very prominent horseman Harry ...

English domestic

rugby union Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...

competition and the fourth one to be sponsored by

Aviva Aviva plc is a British multinational insurance company headquartered in London, England. It has about 19 million customers across its core markets of the United Kingdom, Ireland and Canada. In the United Kingdom, Aviva is the largest general ...

. The reigning champions entering the season were

Leicester Tigers Leicester Tigers (officially Leicester Football Club) are a professional rugby union club based in Leicester, England. They play in Premiership Rugby, England's top division of rugby. The club was founded in 1880 and since 1892 plays its home ...

, who had claimed their tenth title after defeating

Northampton Saints Northampton Saints (officially Northampton Rugby Football Club) is a professional rugby union club from Northampton, England. The club plays in Premiership Rugby, England's top division of rugby union. It was formed in 1880 as "Northampton St. ...

in the 2013 final.

Newcastle Falcons Newcastle Falcons is a rugby union team that play in Premiership Rugby, England's highest division of rugby union. The club was established in 1877 as the Gosforth Football Club. Around 1882 the club merged with the Northumberland Football Cl ...

had been promoted as champions from the

2012–13 RFU Championship The 2012–13 RFU Championship is the fourth season of the professionalised format of the RFU Championship, the second tier of English domestic rugby union competitions, played between August 2012 and May 2013. After an appeal, last season's c ...

at the first attempt. This season was also the first season to be broadcast exclusively by

BT Sport TNT Sports (formerly BT Sport) is a group of pay television sports channels in the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Now owned by Warner Bros. Discovery Sports Europe, Warner Bros. Discovery and BT Group, they first launched as B ...

Summary

won their first title after defeating

Saracens file:Erhard Reuwich Sarazenen 1486.png, upright 1.5, Late 15th-century History of Germany, German woodcut depicting Saracens ''Saracen'' ( ) was a term used both in Greek language, Greek and Latin writings between the 5th and 15th centuries to ...

in the final at

Twickenham Twickenham ( ) is a suburban district of London, England, on the River Thames southwest of Charing Cross. Historic counties of England, Historically in Middlesex, since 1965 it has formed part of the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, who ...

after having finished second in the regular season table.

Worcester Warriors Worcester Warriors are a professional rugby union club based in Worcester, England. They most recently played in Premiership Rugby, the top division of English rugby union, before being suspended by the Rugby Football Union, RFU in September 2 ...

were relegated after being unable to win their penultimate game of the season. It was the second time that Worcester have been relegated from the top flight since the leagues began and the first time since the

2009–10 Premiership Rugby The 2009–10 Guinness Premiership was the 23rd season of the top flight English domestic rugby union competition and the fifth and final one to be sponsored by Guinness. The reigning champions entering the season were Leicester Tigers, who had cl ...

season. As usual, round 1 included the

London Double Header The London Double Header ran between 2004 and 2017 and typically opened the season of Premiership Rugby (currently known as the Gallagher Premiership due to sponsorship), the top rugby union league in England. Two games were played consecutively a ...

, the tenth instance since its inception in 2004.

Teams

Twelve teams compete in the league – the top eleven teams from the previous season and

who were promoted from the

after a top flight absence of one year. They replaced

London Welsh London Welsh Rugby Football Club () was a rugby union club formed in 1885. Based in Old Deer Park, Richmond-upon-Thames, London Welsh RFC played in the English Premiership in the 2012–13 and 2014–15 seasons, after gaining promotion from ...

who were relegated after one year in the top flight.

Stadiums and locations

Pre-season

The 2013 edition of the

Premiership Rugby Sevens Series The Premiership Rugby Sevens Series is a friendly Rugby Sevens competition for the twelve Premiership Rugby clubs that will play the following season (i.e. the 2010 competition features the teams playing in the Aviva Premiership in the 2010– ...

began on 1 August 2013 at

Kingsholm Kingsholm is an area of Gloucester, in the county of Gloucestershire, England. It is home to Kingsholm Stadium, which hosts Gloucester Rugby and other international matches. It is also home to a Church of England school, Kingsholm Primary Sch ...

, continued on 2 August at

Franklin's Gardens Franklin's Gardens (currently known for sponsorship purposes as cinch Stadium at Franklin's Gardens) is a purpose-built rugby stadium in Northampton, England. It is the home stadium of Northampton Saints and Loughborough Lightning. The stadiu ...

and 3 August at Allianz Park. The finals was on 9 August 2013 at The Recreation Ground. This was the first opportunity of the season for any of the teams competing in the Premiership to win a trophy. Gloucester 7s won the Series Final, beating Leicester Tigers 7s 24 – 17 and with it qualification to the inaugural World Club 7s at

Table

Regular season

Premiership Rugby announced the fixture list on 4 July 2013. As with previous seasons, Round 1 included the

. Fixtures as per Premiership Rugb
Match Centre
.

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

Round 18

* This result meant that Saracens would finish in the top four and therefore a place in the playoffs.

Round 19

Round 20

* This result meant that Northampton would finish in the top four and therefore a place in the playoffs.

Round 21

Round 22

All games in Round 22 kicked off at 15:15 on 10 May 2014, so as to not give any team a potential advantage with regards to knowing how to achieve a play-off berth,

European Rugby Champions Cup The European Rugby Champions Cup (known as the Investec Champions Cup for sponsorship reasons) is an annual rugby union tournament organised by European Professional Club Rugby (EPCR). It is the top-tier competition for clubs who compete in a pr ...

place, or safety from relegation.

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 Final at

on 31 May 2014.

Bracket

Semi-finals

Final

The final was contested at Twickenham between the winners of the two semi-finals. For the first time, the final went to extra time as the teams finished the regulation 80 minutes at 14 all.

Leading scorers

Note: Flags indicate national union as has been defined under WR eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-WR nationality.

Most points

Source:

Most tries

Source:

Awards

The following received Player of the Month awards during the 2013–14 season, as selected by a panel of media commentators, in addition to monthly public polls.

Retirements

* 7 October 2013

Andrew Higgins Andrew Jackson Higgins (28 August 1886 – 1 August 1952) was an American businessman and boatbuilder who founded Higgins Industries, the New Orleans, Louisiana, New Orleans–based manufacturer of "LCVP (United States), Higgins boats" (Landi ...

(Newcastle Falcons) retired, aged 32, due to a knee injury. * 9 October 2013

Olly Morgan Oliver Morgan (born 3 November 1985 in London) is a former English rugby union player who played at fullback for Gloucester Rugby and England. Club career 2004–05 Morgan made 2 appearances for Gloucester during his debut season. His first ...

(Gloucester) retired, aged 27, due to knee injuries. * 18 December 2013

Brett Deacon Brett Deacon (born 7 March 1982 in Leicester, England) is an English rugby union coach and former player who notably played for Leicester Tigers in the Premiership. He is currently an assistant coach with Leicester. He played as a blindside fla ...

(Leicester Tigers) retired, aged 31, due to contracting

lupus Lupus, formally called systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), is an autoimmune disease in which the body's immune system mistakenly attacks healthy tissue in many parts of the body. Symptoms vary among people and may be mild to severe. Common ...

References

External links

Official Site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Premiership 2013-14

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...