Gallagher Premiership guide: your club-by-club preview for the 2021-22 season
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After a (thankfully) slightly longer off-season than last year's, the Gallagher Premiership returns with a bang on Friday night when Saracens, back in the top flight, travel to Bristol. So how will each of the 12 13 Premiership clubs fare this season?
Bath
Can they finally figure out who they are?
Put frankly, Bath have been distinctly worse than the sum of their parts for a long time. Outside of a post-lockdown purple patch that saw them surge into the 2019-20 play-offs, supporters have endured a frustrating few years.
Stylistic uncertainty has been at the heart of their struggles as different coaches have tried and failed to marry clarity and consistency since Bath were beaten by Saracens in the 2015 final. Last season, they were seventh and 19 points short of the top four. Despite injuries, international call-ups and a lack of depth at fly-half, the squad was too strong for such mediocrity.
Problems have been varied and bemusing. Bath conceded 82 tries, more than anyone else, in regular season Premiership fixtures over 2020-21. However, cohesion with ball in hand seems to be a priority. David Williams has replaced Girvan Dempsey as Stuart Hooper’s attack coach and Danny Cipriani has arrived to steer the tiller.
Williams is an intriguing appointment. He rejoins Bath, where he was an academy coach between 2012 and 2014, following spells with two South African franchises, the Sharks and the Cheetahs, and Japanese side Kobelco Steelers. At the Steelers, he learned from the great Wayne Smith.
Even the most ardent Cipriani sceptics could not deny that the 33-year-old is an assertive and influential playmaker. At Wasps, Sale Sharks and Gloucester, he has coordinated attacking strategy sharply. Williams summed up Bath’s objectives during an in-house interview this summer.
“You play two games at the weekend – the scoreboard game and the performance game, or the style game,” he said. “Sometimes, we will lose the scoreboard game. But a non-negotiable for this team will be winning the style game.”
Though it may sound fluffy, that should make sense to Bath fans. Because not a lot has in recent seasons.
Key man: Ben Spencer
Smaller squads after the salary cap restriction could mean that Test call-ups for fringe or emerging internationals could be more disruptive than ever. Following tight-five departures, Bath will hope that they hold on to Beno Obano and Charlie Ewels. They are also thin at scrum-half. If he stays fit and hits form, Spencer can help Cipriani guide this team.
Breakthrough potential: Max Ojomoh
Back-rowers Josh Bayliss and Miles Reid made waves last season and will be worth tracking again. Tom de Glanville should establish himself at full-back,too. Ojomoh is a talented inside centre and, because of Cameron Redpath’s absence, he should see game-time over a tough start as Bath begin the Premiership calendar by facing Sale Sharks, Newcastle Falcons, Bristol Bears, Saracens and Harlequins. Charlie Morgan
Bristol Bears
How do they cross the semi-final hump?
Whacked by Wasps in the 2019-20 play-off semi-final, Bristol were hijacked by a stunning Harlequins comeback at the same stage last season. Their crazy capitulation at Ashton Gate will have hurt badly. Pat Lam might still be having nightmares about the scurrying Tyrone Green.
Ben Earl and Max Malins are back with Saracens and Siale Piutau has moved on, but the Bears have retained the majority of their squad and will be capable of contending for domestic and European silverware.
Sustained success is often found after a team has forged through difficult setbacks and learned lessons together. Look at both Saracens and Exeter Chiefs. There is little to suggest Bristol have reached the point of now-or-never. It was pretty messy and unedifying, but the scrummaging chaos at Welford Road in June did at least underline Lam’s desire and ruthlessness.
Many of their game-breakers should be peaking. Steven Luatua, their captain and spiritual leader, is 30. Nathan Hughes reached that milestone in June. Charles Piutau is 29, as is Semi Radradra. Injury limited 27-year-old Harry Thacker to two Premiership appearances last season. When healthy, the hooker is truly special.
At 37, John Afoa is one major performer driving against the sands of time and assumes the role of scrum coach alongside his playing duties. Bristol are sure to be in the top-four shake-up. Smashing their semi-final glass ceiling would give their phenomenal tighthead prop a fitting send-off.
Key man: Callum Sheedy
Lam used Covid-19 contract reshuffles to tie down players to long-term deals. In the case of Sheedy, that may have mitigated the need for Bristol’s premier fly-half to move back to Wales in order to continue his burgeoning Test career. Shrewd work. Sheedy is intuitive and skilful with a cute kicking game that should suit the 50-22 law.
Breakthrough potential: Tom Whiteley
We can expect Harry Randall to be away with England, so Whiteley is a clever addition. A pacey support-runner, the ex-Saracens scrum-half should pick up plenty of second-touch tries. CM
Exeter Chiefs
Have contenders caught up?
Rob Baxter prides himself on taking a step forward each season, so failing to defend either the Premiership or the Champions Cup would have felt jarring.
Leinster stormed Sandy Park comprehensively, shutting down Exeter’s phase-play and picking apart their hosts to win an absorbing European quarter-final. In the Premiership, Baxter’s men suffered a series of sluggish starts over the second half of the campaign.
Most of the time, Chiefs were strong enough to pull through. However, after coming extremely close to victory in Devon three months previously, Harlequins married set-piece power and expansive attack to take the Premiership decider at Twickenham.
Both Bristol and Sale boast two wins over Exeter since the start of the 2019-20 campaign. Saracens are back, too. Could this be the first year since 2015 that Chiefs miss out on a home semi-final?
Wales tighthead Tomas Francis is a big loss for Exeter, especially given their scrummaging woes at the hands of Joe Marler and Wilco Louw in the Premiership final. “So what first attracted you to 135kg prop Josh Iosefa-Scott?” is a question Mrs Merton might have asked Baxter of one summer signing.
Alongside international call-ups and rest schedules for four British and Irish Lions, another possible concern is the impending crackdown on latching. Chiefs have developed a varied attacking arsenal, but they have been remarkably efficient in the ‘red zone’ over recent years. Henry Slade seems confident of a response. It will be tight at the top, though.
Key man: Dave Ewers
Joe Simmonds is close to indispensable but Ewers represents the ballast that steadies Exeter’s formidable phalanx of back-row forwards. He was missed against Harlequins in last season’s Premiership final.
Breakthrough potential: Rus Tuima
Speaking of back-five forwards, Tuima is a powerful, dextrous number eight who could shine if Sam Simmonds is packed off for international duty. Failing that, the Suva-born 21-year-old, man of the match in the pre-season loss to Munster, might combine with the prolific try-scorer. Josh Hodge will expect more opportunities as well. CM
Gloucester
Can they keep the momentum going?
George Skivington will certainly help so, because after a bit of a miserable winter last year as the club tried to get going again under their new head coach, Gloucester by the end of the season were starting to impress.
Adding more bite back into the pack has been the message throughout Skivington’s time but this is a side who can play good football too — just look at the backline featuring a couple of Lions in Chris Harris and Louis Rees-Zammit, joined by England’s second-highest try scorer of all time in Jonny May.
The way Gloucester were shaping towards the end of the last regular season, winning four of their last six games and narrowly losing away at Sale, suggested they would pick off Bath and Worcester in their last two games to qualify for the Champions Cup. Covid had other ideas, with both games cancelled to leave Gloucester missing out on the top eight.
The challenge therefore for Skivington and his coaching staff is to keep that late-season momentum going, despite Gloucester having not played a Premiership game since the end of May.
Having Jake Polledri back will feel like a new signing and hopes are high for Adam Hastings, the Scotland No 10 who has made the move south.
Key man: Lewis Ludlow
England captain in the summer, Ludlow’s work-rate embodies everything that Gloucester want to be about; relentlessly physical with no let-up when it comes to going the extra yard. The league’s top tackler last season with 280, and it wasn’t close.
Breakthrough potential: Tom Seabrook
Heaving with young talent, particularly back-row Jack Clement and fly-half George Barton, but it’s 22-year-old back Seabrook with his rapid pace and previous starts in midfield and on the wing who sticks out. Ben Coles
Harlequins
Can they replicate their special run-in?
Regardless of how their title defence plays out – and the term title "defence" has rarely seemed less appropriate – the dashing nature of Harlequins’ victory in last season’s Premiership will be remembered for years to come.
Another significant thread of an absorbing narrative may not stick around as long. It is this: Harlequins were amazingly fortunate to field their first-choice side so often after Paul Gustard left the club at the beginning of 2021.
Joe Marler’s decision to opt out of England duty and Eddie Jones’ non-selection of Alex Dombrandt and Marcus Smith, not to mention Danny Care and Joe Marchant, shaped the Premiership campaign.
Harlequins could keep them, with Mike Brown, André Esterhuizen and Wilco Loux completing an excellent spine. They did suffer injuries and suspensions, of course. Fantastic openside flanker Will Evans fractured his tibia, while Brown and Esterhuizen copped bans.
Coaches deserve credit for limiting contact training and trust in youth and conviction an intrepid tactical identity swept Harlequins to glory. Tyrone Green, Louis Lynagh and Jack Kenningham bossed the play-offs, embodying their team’s refreshing style. To this season, then.
Opponents will have developed ideas to stifle Harlequins’ ruck-speed and ruffle their playmakers. Brown and hooker Scott Baldwin have gone, and they simply cannot expect to have as many influential performers around for as many of their games. In some ways, a repeat would be even more remarkable.
Key man: Joe Marler
The recruitment of Tommaso Allan takes pressure off Smith. Care, Esterhuizen and Louw could also lay claim to this slot. Marler was steely and streetwise throughout his second champion season with Harlequins. Even if England whisk him back, he will be hugely valuable.
Breakthrough potential: Jack Walker
At 25, Walker will be one of the oldest individuals to grace these sections. However, a move from Bath presents an opportunity for a fresh start and to work under Jerry Flannery. He is undoubtedly gifted, and there will be opportunities at hooker. Huw Jones and Nick David are two more intriguing signings. CM
Leicester Tigers
Will Borthwick break through the mid-table traffic jam?
The rot has stopped. The snarl has returned. Now for some finesse. A sixth-place finish last season, plus an appearance in the European Challenge Cup final, suggested that Steve Borthwick has managed to halt Tigers’ nosedive and turn them around. What quantifies success from here is the pertinent question.
A focus on fitness, defensive grit, set-piece coordination and kicking must be complemented by cohesive phase-play if the Borthwick era is to progress. Because the leap from a top-six team to one that consistently cracks the top four is huge.
Tonga wing Hosea Saumaki, drafted in from Japan’s Top League, could be an explosive weapon. Freddie Burns should ensure that George Ford does not shoulder as much of the creative burden as he has done during recent struggles.
Borthwick boasts arguably the most impressive crop of youngsters in the league. Jack van Poortvliet, Joe Heyes, George Martin, Cameron Henderson, Dan Kelly and Freddie Steward will all benefit from the bedrock of experience they have built up over the past two years. Ellis Genge taking over the captaincy from Tom Youngs provides a fresh feel, too.
With their most potent line-up available, and especially in front of 25,000 supporters at Welford Road, Leicester can be confident of beating anyone. However, a tricky start awaits. Between hosting Exeter Chiefs and Saracens, they travel to Gloucester.
Jasper Wiese’s call-up to the Springboks squad was an endorsement of his barnstorming emergence for Leicester. But it leaves Tigers light of carrying until October. They will have to box clever.
Key man: George Ford
Testament to his versatility and toughness, Hanro Liebenberg has been named vice-captain. It is hard to look anywhere else than at Ford, though. And might the rise of Marcus Smith have a knock-on effect in the East Midlands?
Breakthrough potential: Marco van Staden
As with Wiese, Tigers would have been half-hoping that Van Staden had been overlooked for The Rugby Championship. As it is, Leicester supporters will have to wait for their scavenging addition to arrive. When he does, Van Staden is bound to make an impact. In him, Julian Montoya, Tommy Reffell and Nemani Nadolo, Tigers have three of the Premiership’s best jackallers. CM
London Irish
Have they learned how to hold onto a lead?
Watching the scoreboard flip against them in the dying minutes of games became an unwelcome feeling for the Exiles towards the end of last season, costing them a Champions Cup place. It happened against Harlequins with a Marcus Smith special, against Gloucester at Kingsholm and finally in a barmy game at home to Wasps. Declan Kidney, Irish’s director of rugby, addressed that run of soul-crushing losses with Telegraph Sport this week.
“I was thinking during the summer that I could have a very negative outlook on that. But the truth is… I think that experience will help us. We could have come fifth or sixth last year and maybe now be thinking we’re something that we’re not. It’s using the lessons of last year to good effect.”
Irish’s squad seems healthier and they will want to see their talented young back-three of Ollie Hassell-Collins, Ben Loader and Tom Parton kick, while getting more out of high-profile signings who spent much of last season injured in Adam Coleman and Sean O’Brien.
Paddy Jackson at fly-half earned plaudits last season for his form but as a collective, Irish need to be better defensively and stronger at set-piece to complement an exciting attack.
Key man: Adam Coleman
The Wallaby international was limited to only four league appearances last season due to a combination of injuries, but his presence takes the whole Irish pack up a level. A total lineout menace and tone-setter upfront.
Breakthrough potential: Phil Cokanasiga
Look out too for Chunya Munga, who was an England apprentice in the summer, but we might see more of Cokanasiga’s powerful ball-carrying in midfield this season. He looked sharp in Irish’s pre-season win at Connacht. BC
Newcastle Falcons
Can they establish themselves?
Understandably, the absence of relegation until 2024 is anathema to many supporters. That said, it does provide scope for clubs that have languished towards the bottom of the Premiership table to lay down roots and build cohesion.
Having yo-yoed from Premiership to Championship and back again between 2019 and 2020, after a surprise play-off jaunt in 2018, Newcastle could do with stability. They have a group of impressive local youngsters, some of whom featured for England against USA and Canada in July, and have recruited cannily.
Mike Brown was brilliant for Harlequins last season, and will inspire new team-mates with his belligerence after reuniting with Dean Richards. Nathan Earle has also flown the Twickenham Stoop. The wing is due some fortune on the fitness front and joins fleet-footed strike-runners Adam Radwan and Mateo Carreras.
Newcastle only mustered three try bonus points last season, which is an obvious area to work on. Toby Flood joining the backroom staff as a kicking and skills coach was an eye-catching piece of news earlier this month.
We have come to expect rugged forward performances from Richards’ men, which is unlikely to change with Carl Fearns, Gary Graham, Philip van der Walt and Sean Robinson still around and George Merrick arriving. Mark Wilson requiring knee surgery is significant setback, though.
How individuals such as Jamie Blamire, Ben Stevenson, Callum Chick, Connor Collett and George Wacokecoke kick on will determine Falcons’ future.
Key man: Sean Robinson
George McGuigan, Mark Wilson and Brett Connon are all influential figures at Kingston Park but Robinson, a mobile lock and go-to lineout jumper, piqued the interest of Eddie Jones with his form in 2020-21.
Breakthrough potential: Josh Basham
Injuries have hindered the rise of Basham, a former England age-group captain, and restricted him to a handful of Premiership appearances for London Irish and Newcastle combined. He is now 22, and started in pre-season against a strong Glasgow back row. Watch out for fly-half Will Haydon-Wood as well. CM
Northampton Saints
After yo-yoing, can they cement themselves as a play-off side?
The Chris Boyd era might be yet to yield any silverware but goodness, it has been a lot of fun. Boyd’s arrival four years ago resulted in a play-off appearance in his first season before Northampton lost their way (coming 8th), and then last season despite finishing some way outside the playoff places, appeared to find it again with their fifth-place finish.
What will it take then to close the gap? For all their attacking talent Northampton could certainly score more tries - managing only six bonus-point wins last season - and their defence doesn’t match up to the top four from last season either.
Juarno Augustus is an interesting signing in the back row, yet to fulfil his potential after starring for the South Africa under-20s, but the real draw is a backline featuring of course Dan Biggar, but a host of exciting youngsters: Tommy Freeman, James Grayson and Fraser Dingwall. Courtnall Skosan might now be 30, but the former Lions winger (not those Lions) is a potent finisher.
A better start to the season would certainly help too — after starting last season by losing to Sale, Harlequins and Bristol — but with David Ribbans emerging as one of the league’s top lineout operators last season, if the pack can take another leap, then watch out.
Key man: Dan Biggar
Take your pick between Biggar and Courtney Lawes, Northampton’s two British and Irish Lions, but for Northampton to compete they need the two of them to excel in tandem - Lawes setting the tone upfront, Biggar getting the backline to sing. Which both of them are extremely capable of doing.
Breakthrough potential: Ollie Sleightholme
Not forgetting another hugely talented Northampton back. Seven tries in 10 Premiership games last season is a strike rate which should put everyone on notice, and Sleightholme is still only 21. BC
Sale Sharks
Was last season just the start?
Alex Sanderson arrived at Sale in January as director of rugby and invigorated his new side immediately. He was bitterly disappointed not to make the Premiership decider and would have been confident of ousting La Rochelle in the Champions Cup quarter-final, too.
The good news for Sharks supporters is that Sanderson has been looking in the mirror. He believes he was “too emotional” at the business end of last season and “got wrapped up in the sentimentality” of a return to the North West.
“You end up being a fan and not being present” he told Telegraph Sport this week. “Not perfect, but present. When you ebb and flow with the small outcomes, you can’t be clear and concise with decisions and communications. And that’s my job.”
Sanderson is confident that Sale’s progress is sustainable. One aspect of his tenure to date has been proactive promotion of youth. Bevan Rodd, Curtis Langdon, James Harper, Raffi Quirke, Connor Doherty and Arron Reed will keep getting chances. Ewan Ashman and Kieran Wilkinson are two more promising academy graduates.
Swooping for Simon McIntyre and Tommy Taylor, both of them born in Lancashire and previously affiliated to Sale, felt like a deliberate ploy from Sanderson to strengthen a tangible sense of identity within his squad. Nick Schonert, the ex-Worcester tighthead, completed a hat-trick of clever front-row signings.
Set-piece muscle is evidently high on the priority list. Sanderson’s domain is not built on sand and, if Sale manage the absence of their Springboks, another play-off appearance should confirm as much. From there, silverware is the next logical step.
Key man: Sam James
Although Manu Tuilagi and Rohan Janse van Rensburg are two dynamic midfield tackle-breakers, Sale really missed the subtlety of James – as well as the class of front-line fly-half AJ MacGinty – after he withdrew from last season’s play-off semi-final at Sandy Park. Sharks will have a burly pack most weeks. Slick link play has not been as easy to come by without James senior on the field.
Breakthrough potential: Kieran Wilkinson
Behind MacGinty and Rob du Preez is 21-year-old Wilkinson, who garnered three replacement appearances in the Premiership over the course of 2020-21. Sanderson gave him 80 minutes in the pre-season win over Benetton. CM
Saracens
Back to business as usual?
They’re baaaaack. And Saracens making the play-offs on their return to the Gallagher Premiership doesn’t feel like an outlandish suggestion.
After all, the band is back together (minus George Kruis, still playing in Japan), following the return of Ben Earl, Max Malins, Alex Goode, Alex Lozowski and Nick Isiekwe from their respective loan moves last season while the rest of the squad battled through a campaign in the Championship, losing only once, at the start of the season to Cornish Pirates.
That being said, Friday’s opening game at Bristol feels ominous, with Saracens missing a large contingent of senior backs due to injury — Malins, Goode, Sean Maitland, Duncan Taylor. Mark McCall this week presented those absences combined with the recovering British and Irish Lions as an opportunity for the club’s young talent fresh off a valuable season in England’s second tier. Dom Morris, Rotimi Segun, Ralph Adams-Hale, Elliott Obatoyinbo, Ben Harris, Sean Reffell and Andy Christie are ready to step up. And you would imagine they will.
Teams have tended to need to between 13 to 14 wins and around 70 points to reach the top four and quality for the play-offs, and once the Lions quintet of Mako Vunipola, Jamie George, Maro Itoje, Farrell and Elliot Daly are back in the fold (and not with England), you would back Saracens to have enough in the tank to make the play-offs.
They’re an intriguing team this season — Mark McCall’s 11th in charge as director of rugby.
Key man: Owen Farrell
No shocks here, but Farrell’s the player who hauls Saracens through tight contests on his own with his leadership and goalkicking. If they’re getting anywhere near the top four this season, or even the final, it won’t happen without England’s captain.
Breakthrough potential: Elliott Obatoyinbo
When Daly began playing a run of games at outside centre for Saracens last season and ended up staying there, one of the beneficiaries was full-back Elliott Obatoyinbo. The talented all-rounder thrived as a result in the Championship and can now carry that form back into the top flight. BC
Wasps
Can the Wasps of the summer turn up all season long?
Go back to the end of January and Wasps embarked on a horrible run of results, winning two of their next 10 Premiership matches.
Which makes their top-eight finish to qualify for the Champions Cup all the more impressive given the hole the club dragged themselves out of. The comeback victory at London Irish in particular was absurd.
Lee Blackett would probably prefer a smoother path to success this season, and a return to the play-offs. The only snag at the start is the number of injuries to key personnel - Joe Launchbury, Jack Willis, Paolo Odogwu. Stocks are so low in the second row that Wasps announced the short-term signing of Sebastian de Chaves on Wednesday.
Wasps’ recruitment has certainly been positive, bringing in a number of players who could start tomorrow - Francois Hougaard, Elliot Stooke, Nizaam Carr, Vaea Fifita and Ali Crossdale.
If Wasps start this season the way they finished the last with Dan Robson and Jacob Umaga marshalling a backline which regularly produced fireworks, with Tom Willis keeping up his bulldozing form and Alfie Barbeary, soon fit, hopefully picking up from where he left off, then Wasps can push for top four. But the set-piece has to compete.
Key man: Jack Willis
The estimate for Willis's return is Christmas. So, if Wasps can remain competitive enough hanging around the top six until then, before they then bring back the Premiership’s best turnover winner by some margin, then the club will be well set.
Breakthrough potential: Ali Crossdale
One of the standout performers for Saracens in that rescheduled section of the 2019-20 Premiership season, before featuring regularly in the Championship, Crossdale has trained with England in the past and is still only 23. BC
Worcester Warriors
Will Worcester finally become relevant?
That might be a little harsh, but with no higher Premiership finish in their history than eighth place and now without the threat of relegation, it’s time to see Worcester throw caution to the wind. The squad turnover has been remarkable, with around 20 departures, of which Nick David joining Harlequins is the biggest shame following some bright performances.
However, a couple of British and Irish Lions have arrived in Duhan van der Merwe and Rory Sutherland, along with plenty of experience in Willi Heinz, Scott Baldwin and Owen Williams. Heinz in particular should be a great help for Ted Hill, the Worcester club captain again this season at the age of just 22 and one of the league’s top ball-carriers in 2020-21.
Jonathan Thomas is one of the league’s most exciting young coaches and there were flashes of Worcester making progress last season. But it’s time to see something concrete, something exciting. The pieces certainly seem in place to make a leap - don’t forget that England's Ollie Lawrence is also there and his combination with Heinz and Williams should mean that the club’s attack kicks on.
Worcester were the only club to fail to score more than 40 tries last season and manage only one win (on the field) all season; on the opening day against London Irish. There is scope for much, much more to come. "In terms of what we are committed to in the short term,” Thomas said this week, “It's leaving a legacy.”
Key man: Ted Hill
Hill’s return to the England squad over the summer felt richly deserved after finding some of his best form again despite Worcester’s tough season. Anything good the Warriors achieve this time around will be thanks to their captain.
Breakthrough potential: Noah Heward
A host of young talents are set to head out on loan, including England Under-20s fly-half Fin Smith, but academy-produced wing Noah Heward, who signed a first-team contract back in February, looks some prospect. BC
