The 2010–11 Aviva Premiership was the 24th season of the top flight 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 first 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 ninth 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 2010 final.

Exeter Chiefs Exeter Chiefs (officially Exeter Rugby Club) is an England, English professional rugby union club based in Exeter, Devon. They play in Premiership Rugby, England's top division of rugby. The club was founded in 1871 and since 2006 has played i ...

had been promoted as champions from the

2009–10 RFU Championship The 2009–10 RFU Championship was the 1st season (of the professionalised format) of the second division of the English domestic rugby union competitions, played between August 2009 and May 2010. The league had been restructured from the 16 te ...

, their first promotion to the top flight.

Summary

won their first title after defeating

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. Leeds Carnege were relegated on the last day of the season. It was the third time that Leeds have been relegated from the top flight since the leagues began and the first time since the

2007–08 Premiership Rugby The 2007–08 Guinness Premiership was the 21st season of the top flight of the English domestic rugby union competitions, played between September 2007 and May 2008. Round 1 included the London Double Header at Twickenham, between the four Londo ...

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 seventh 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

to the top flight for the first time. They replaced

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 ...

who were relegated after six years in the top flight.

Stadiums and locations

Pre-season

The inaugural edition of the Premiership Rugby Sevens Series began on 16 July 2010 at

The Stoop Twickenham Stoop Stadium (informally referred to as The Stoop) is a stadium located in south-west London, England, situated just across the road from Twickenham Stadium. The stadium is home to the Harlequins in Premiership Rugby and has a ...

, continued on 23 July at Welford Road and 30 July 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 ...

. This was the first opportunity of the season for any of the teams competing in the Premiership to win a trophy. The finals were held on 6 August 2010 at The Recreation Ground and the Series was won by

Table

Regular season

The fixture list was released on 29 June 2010.

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

Rescheduled Game (Round 10)

Round 18

Round 19

Rescheduled Games (Round 10 & 11)

Round 20

Rescheduled Game (Round 11)

Round 21

Rescheduled Game (Round 10)

Round 22

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 28 May 2011.

Bracket

Semi-finals

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Final

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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:

References

External links

2010–11 English Premiership at ESPNMatch Attendance
{{DEFAULTSORT:Premiership 2010-11

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 ...