The 2022–23 Premiership Rugby was the 36th season of the top flight of 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 fifth to be sponsored by Gallagher. The competition was broadcast 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 ...

for the tenth successive season, with six league season games and the final also simulcast free-to-air by ITV. Highlights of each weekend's games were shown on ITV with extended highlights on BT Sport. This was the final season to be aired on BT Sport before its rebrand to

TNT Sports TNT Sports is the brand name for sports television channels, broadcast divisions, programming, and other media around the world that are owned and operated by Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD). The name originates from the American cable television ...

in July 2023. 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 claimed their 11th league title after winning the 2022 final. No team was promoted as champions from the 2021–22 RFU Championship. Due to changes to the global rugby calendar implemented in 2020 and to allow more time for preparation for the

World Cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the name is ...

, the season started and finished earlier than previous seasons and took place over a slightly reduced timeframe of 38 weeks. On 26 September 2022, due to ongoing financial difficulties,

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 suspended from all tournaments. On 6 October 2022, it was announced that Worcester would be

relegated Promotion and relegation is used by sports leagues as a process where teams can move up and down among divisions in a league system, based on their performance over a season. Leagues that use promotion and relegation systems are sometimes call ...

from the Premiership, after the club was placed into

administration Administration may refer to: Management of organizations * Management, the act of directing people towards accomplishing a goal: the process of dealing with or controlling things or people. ** Administrative assistant, traditionally known as a se ...

and all player and staff contracts were terminated – their results were subsequently deleted from the Premiership's records. On 12 October 2022, due to ongoing financial difficulties,

Wasps A wasp is any insect of the narrow-waisted suborder Apocrita of the order Hymenoptera which is neither a bee nor an ant; this excludes the broad-waisted sawflies (Symphyta), which look somewhat like wasps, but are in a separate suborder. Th ...

were suspended from all tournaments. The club then entered

on 17 October 2022 and their players and coaching staff were made redundant. On October 28, it was confirmed that Wasps had been suspended for the remainder of the season and

– their results were subsequently deleted from the Premiership's records.

Rule changes

This season saw the final year of a three-year moratorium on

relegation Promotion and relegation is used by sports leagues as a process where teams can move up and down among divisions in a league system, based on their performance over a season. Leagues that use promotion and relegation systems are sometimes call ...

from the league to the

RFU Championship The RFU Championship is an English rugby union competition comprising twelve clubs. It is the second level of men's English rugby and is played by both professional and semi-professional players. The competition has existed since 1987, when Eng ...

. This season was the second under the reduced

salary cap In professional sports, a salary cap (or wage cap) is an agreement or rule that places a limit on the amount of money that a team can spend on players' salaries. It exists as a per-player limit or a total limit for the team's roster, or both. Seve ...

regulations before changes are made before 2024–25. Further changes for this season were: * Excluded players were reduced to one, with an exception made if a team had two excluded players contracts currently in place. If two excluded players remain contracted, both remain excluded until the first of their contracts expire.

Teams

For the second consecutive year, all of the teams from the previous season initially competed in the league. Despite winning the

in the 2021–22 season, Ealing Trailfinders were ineligible for

promotion Promotion may refer to: Marketing * Promotion (marketing), one of the four marketing mix elements, comprising any type of marketing communication used to inform or persuade target audiences of the relative merits of a product, service, brand or i ...

, after failing to meet the RFU minimum standards criteria. Therefore, the league continued to have 13 teams at the start of the season.

were suspended from all competitions on 26 September 2022 and then expelled on 6 October 2022, reducing the league to 12 teams.

were suspended from all competitions on 12 October 2022 and then expelled on 28 October 2022, reducing the league further to 11 teams.

Stadiums and locations

Player movements

Table

Round-by-round progression

The grid below shows each team's progression throughout the season, indicating their points total (and league table position) at the end of every round:

Regular season

The original fixtures for the regular season were announced by

Premiership Rugby Premiership Rugby, officially known as Gallagher Premiership Rugby, or the Gallagher Premiership for sponsorship reasons, is an English professional rugby union competition, consisting of 10 clubs, and is the top division of the English rugby ...

on 19 July 2022. The league season began on 10 September 2022, a day later than first scheduled, after the opening night fixtures were postponed by 24 hours following the death of Queen Elizabeth II. The season concluded with the Premiership Final on 27 May 2023. Referees appointed to officiate Premiership matches are employed by the RFU, unless indicated otherwise. The regular season was initially set to play out over 26 rounds of six matches, with each of the 13 teams playing 24 times, plus two bye weeks. However, after the removal of

and

from the league, several teams experienced extra bye weeks due to the cancellation of fixtures against those two clubs. In response to the disrupted schedule,

announced a revised fixture list for the second half of the season on 11 November 2022. The revised league season consisted of 24 rounds of five games each, the last of which took place on the first weekend of May. All 11 remaining teams completed a total of 20 matches, with one bye week each in the second half of the season. Highlights of the season include: * Slater Cup –

and

Gloucester Gloucester ( ) is a cathedral city, non-metropolitan district and the county town of Gloucestershire in the South West England, South West of England. Gloucester lies on the River Severn, between the Cotswolds to the east and the Forest of Dean ...

contested the inaugural Slater Cup at Welford Road on 24 December 2022, and 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 ...

on 12 March 2023. * Big Game 14 – Harlequins hosted

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 ...

in this season's edition of The Big Game at

Twickenham Stadium Twickenham Stadium (; usually known as Twickenham, and for sponsorship purposes known as the Allianz Stadium Twickenham) is a rugby union stadium in Twickenham, London, England. It is owned by the Rugby Football Union (RFU), the English rugby u ...

on 4 March 2023. * The Showdown 3 –

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 ...

hosted Harlequins in this season's edition of The Showdown at

Tottenham Hotspur Stadium Tottenham Hotspur Stadium is the home of Premier League club Tottenham Hotspur F.C., Tottenham Hotspur in North London, replacing the club's previous ground, White Hart Lane. With a seating capacity of 62,850, it is the List of football stadium ...

on 25 March 2023. * Big Summer Kick-Off 2 – Harlequins hosted

Bath Bath may refer to: * Bathing, immersion in a fluid ** Bathtub, a large open container for water, in which a person may wash their body ** Public bathing, a public place where people bathe * Thermae, ancient Roman public bathing facilities Plac ...

in this season's edition of the Big Summer Kick-Off at

on 22 April 2023.

Results

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

Round 19

Round 20

Round 21

Round 22

Round 23

Round 24

Play-offs

As in previous seasons, the top four teams in the Premiership table, following the conclusion of the regular season, contested the play-off semi-finals on 13 and 14 May 2023, in a 1st vs 4th and 2nd vs 3rd format, with the higher ranking team having home advantage. The dates and times for the two play-off semi-finals were announced on 23 April 2023, after the qualifying teams were confirmed at the end of the regular season's penultimate round. The two winners of the semi-finals met in the Premiership 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 ...

on 27 May 2023.

Semi-finals

Final

Leading scorers

Note: Flags to the left of player names indicate national team as has been defined under

World Rugby World Rugby is the governing body for the sport of rugby union. World Rugby organises the Rugby World Cup every four years, the sport's most recognised and most profitable competition. It also organises a number of other international competit ...

eligibility rules, or primary nationality for players who have not yet earned international senior caps. Players may hold one or more non-WR nationalities.

Most points

Source:

Most tries

Source: Note: Points or tries scored in fixtures involving

are not included, after

expunged these results from record, following the expulsion of both clubs from the league.

Discipline

Citings/bans

Awards

Monthly awards

Player of the Month

The following received Player of the Month awards during the 2022–23 season, as selected by a panel of media commentators, in addition to monthly public polls.

Try of the Month

The following were chosen as Try of the Month, after receiving the most votes from the public. The winner for October was also recognised as the Try of the Season.

End-of-season awards

The nominees for the 2023 Premiership Rugby Awards were announced on 5 May 2023. The winners were then revealed on 10 May 2023.

Team of the Season

Hall of Fame

Notes

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Premiership Rugby, 2022-23 2022-23 1

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 ...