The 2016–17 Aviva Premiership was the 30th 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 seventh 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

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 ...

, who had claimed their third title after defeating

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 the 2016 final.

Bristol Bears Bristol Bears (officially Bristol Rugby Club or Bristol Rugby) are a professional rugby union club based in Bristol, England. They play in Premiership Rugby, England's top division of rugby. The club was founded as Bristol Football Club in 18 ...

had been promoted as champions from the 2015–16 RFU Championship after a seven-year absence. 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 fourth successive season. Highlights of each weekend's games were shown for the final time on ITV with extended highlights on BT Sport.

Summary

won their first title after defeating

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 ...

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.

were relegated with two games of the season remaining. It was the fourth time that Bristol have been relegated from the top flight since the leagues began and the first time since the 2008–09 Premiership Rugby season. As usual, round 1 included the London Double Header at

, the thirteenth 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 2015–16 RFU Championship after a top flight absence of seven years. They replaced

London Irish London Irish RFC is a professional rugby union club that most recently competed in the Premiership Rugby, Premiership, the top division of rugby union in England. The club also participated in the European Rugby Champions Cup, European Champion ...

who were relegated after twenty years in the top flight.

Stadiums and locations

Pre-season

The 2016 Singha Premiership Rugby Sevens was held in July and August. Once again, the four Welsh Regions contested as a group, alongside the twelve Premiership clubs, which were split into three groups. The top two sides from each group contested the series final at the

Ricoh Arena The Coventry Building Society Arena (often shortened to the CBS Arena or just simply Coventry Arena, and formerly known as the Ricoh Arena) is a complex in Coventry, West Midlands, England. It includes a 32,609-seater stadium which is currentl ...

on 6 August.

Table

Regular season

Fixtures for the season were announced by Premiership Rugby on 7 July 2016. As is the norm, round 1 included the London Double Header at

. For the first time since its 2004 inception, the Double Header involved only two of the original London teams – Harlequins and Saracens – with

having been relegated to the Championship for 2016–17 and

no longer being based near London. Unlike the previous year, no games were scheduled to take place abroad.

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

*Bristol are relegated providing the 2016–17 RFU Championship winners meet the minimum standards criteria.

Round 21

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 27 May 2017.

Bracket

Semi-finals

Final

Leading scorers

Note: Flags indicate national union as 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 ...

(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 2016–17 season, as selected by a panel of media commentators, in addition to monthly public polls.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:2016-17 Premiership Rugby Premiership Rugby seasons

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 ...