Why this Premiership Rugby season has been the best yet

We have now reached the exciting time of the season where the pressure really tells and we see who has the metal to go on and lift the trophy. After twenty-two rounds we have our four semi-finalists: Northampton Saints, Bath Rugby, Leicester Tigers and Saracens. Whilst league winners Northampton and second place Bath always seemed odds on to get those home semi-finals, the race for third and fourth position made the last few weeks of the regular season in particular very exciting to watch. But what else has made this season one of the best yet?

There have been some outstanding team performances over the course of the season, some we expected, others we may not have. One team in particular is Exeter Chiefs, who have had a phenomenal season. Their meteoric rise has been witnessed by the rugby community for a few years now, but they have absolutely shined this year. With superb performances by the likes of Dave Ewers and Henry Slade, who recently won the Land Rover Discovery of the Season Award, the Chiefs have been able to really push those teams at the top of the Premiership. They did the double over the current Champions, and almost got into the top four, losing out in the final round on points difference. Having managed to secure European Champions Cup rugby for next season, they can only go from strength to strength.

This has also been an excellent year for Wasps. Many questioned the club when they announced they were moving to the Ricoh, but it is now safe to say that it was the best thing for them to do. Since the move, they have really attempted to push for that top six, and even for that top four. Whilst it seemed to fall away for them in their final few matches, they did indeed manage to hold on to sixth spot and will be playing in Europe's top tier next season. It has been a while since we have seen Wasps at their best, but they are finally getting there and this season has been a real step forward for them. They can only can better from here and it shouldn't be too long before we see them winning some silverware again.

Northampton Saints have also, despite perhaps not playing their best since around Christmas, had a great season. They have managed to hold on to top spot since October – something that rarely, if ever, happens. This in itself is a great achievement, and allowed them to be league winners for the first time in their history, setting up a semi-final with Saracens. However we all know it is the trophy that matters, and they will surely bring their A-game when it matters. There should also some consideration of how well Leicester managed to do come the end of the regular season – on the whole, they have not played great and Richard Cockerill has been the first to admit this. But, you have got to admire their resilience to sneak into the top four in the final match of the season. You can never write them off and they demonstrated absolutely why that is the case. They have finished the regular season in the top four for more than ten years in a row, and their match against Bath should be a good one. These four teams, along with many others, are what have made this year a joy to watch. It has been a high quality season with so much intensity, and that is what keeps the fans entertained.

A lot of media attention was given to Steve Hansen's comments about rugby becoming boring due to the amount of defensive play in the modern game. However, this Premiership season has been the complete opposite of boring, and we have seen some magnificent attacking rugby over the past nine months. Over the twenty-two rounds we have seen an amazing 693 tries scored; 129 more than last season. Of course, we have to take into account the fact that London Welsh have been leaking tries left, right and centre, but this is still a very high number. There have been many good scores this season, but Joe Simpson's magnificent touchdown, which won him the Citizen Try of the Season award, was the best of an incredible bunch. If rugby is becoming boring, I am certainly not seeing it.

Probably the most exciting part of this season was the race for the third and fourth play-off spots. Never have we seen it be this tight between three teams. In fact, Exeter actually ended up on the same amount of points as Leicester and Saracens, 68, but lost out on points difference. This just goes to show you, not only how well Exeter played this season to get themselves right up there in the mix, but just how tense last weekend was for everybody watching. For Saracens fans it would have been easy watching – they knew that their big win over London Welsh was, in all likelihood, going to be enough. As for Leicester and Exeter fans, it was much more difficult to figure out what was going to happen. Exeter produced a stunning victory over Sale, knocking them out of European Champions Cup contention along the way, but it just was not to be as Northampton could not beat Leicester. When the last round comes about, it tends to be that the top four are pretty much decided already, but last weekend provided all of us with a great spectacle, and tied up what has been a stellar Aviva Premiership rugby season.

It is going to be really hard to top this season, and with two rounds still to go it could get even better still. Don't forget to tune in to the semi-finals this weekend, they are shaping up to be a cracker!

Thanks for reading ruckers,

Jess.

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