1997–98 Premiership Rugby

1997–98 Allied Dunbar Premiership
Countries	England
Champions	Newcastle Falcons (1st title)
Runners-up	Saracens
Relegated	Bristol
Matches played	132
Attendance	823,446 (average 6,238 per match)
← 1996–97 1998–99 →

The 1997–98 English Premiership (known as the Allied Dunbar Premiership for sponsorship reasons) was the eleventh full season of rugby union within the top tier of the English rugby union system.

Newcastle Falcons won the league, for the first time, following their promotion from National Division 2 last season. Saracens finished just one point behind in second place, and the last placed club, Bristol, were relegated.

Participating teams and locations[]

Team	Stadium	Capacity	City/Area
Bath	Bath	8,200	Bath, Somerset
Bristol	Memorial Stadium	12,100	Bristol
Gloucester	Kingsholm	11,000	Gloucester, Gloucestershire
Harlequins	The Stoop	8,500	Twickenham, London
Leicester Tigers	Welford Road	16,000	Leicester, Leicestershire
London Irish	The Avenue	6,600	Sunbury-on-Thames, Surrey
Newcastle Falcons	Kingston Park[n 1]	10,000	Newcastle upon Tyne, Tyne and Wear
Northampton Saints	Franklin's Gardens	10,000	Northampton, Northamptonshire
Richmond	Athletic Ground, Richmond	4,500	Richmond, London
Sale	Heywood Road	5,400	Sale, Greater Manchester
Saracens	Vicarage Road	22,000	Watford, Hertfordshire
Wasps	Loftus Road	18,439	Shepherd's Bush, London

Notes

Final table[]

	Club	Played	Won	Drawn	Lost	Points for	Points against	Points difference	Tries for	Tries against	Points
1	Newcastle Falcons (C)	22	19	0	3	645	387	+258	85	31	38
2	Saracens	22	18	1	3	584	396	+188	59	36	37
3	Bath	22	13	0	9	575	455	+120	66	49	26
4	Leicester Tigers	22	12	2	8	569	449	+120	64	45	26
5	Richmond	22	12	0	10	607	499	+108	81	50	24
6	Gloucester	22	11	1	10	512	528	−16	52	65	23
7	Sale Sharks	22	10	2	10	605	558	+47	71	60	22
8	Northampton Saints	22	9	1	12	493	472	+21	46	53	19
9	Wasps	22	8	1	13	490	609	−119	47	68	17
10	Harlequins	22	8	0	14	516	645	−129	58	73	16
11	London Irish	22	6	0	16	457	673	−216	45	82	12
12	Bristol (R)	22	2	0	20	351	733	−382	36	98	4

Fixtures[]

Week 1[]

Week 2[]

Week 3[]

Week 4[]

Week 5[]

Week 6[]

Week 7[]

Week 8[]

Week 9[]

Week 10[]

Week 11[]

Week 12[]

Week 13[]

Week 14[]

Week 15[]

Week 16[]

Week 17[]

Week 18[]

Week 19[]

Week 20[]

Week 21[]

Week 22[]

Week 23[]

Week 24[]

Week 25[]

Week 26[]

Sponsorship[]

Following ten years of sponsorship by the Courage Brewery, the life assurance group Allied Dunbar agreed to sponsor the top two divisions for £7,500,000.^[1]

Leading scorers[]

Note: Flags to the left of player names indicate national team as has been defined under World Rugby eligibility rules, or primary nationality for players who did not earn international senior caps. Players may hold one or more non-WR nationalities.

Attendances[]

Club	Total	Average	Highest	Lowest	% Capacity
Bath	80,100	7,282	8,200	5,500	89%
Bristol	39,653	3,605	5,601	1,547	30%
Gloucester	83,473	7,588	10,574	5,689	69%
Harlequins	64,930	5,903	8,897	4,127	69%
Leicester Tigers	141,446	12,859	16,900	8,678	80%
London Irish	40,900	3,718	5,000	1,500	56%
Newcastle Falcons	55,251	5,023	11,750	2,638	48%
Northampton Saints	71,661	6,515	8,989	4,600	65%
Richmond	39,718	3,611	6,500	2,000	75%
Sale Sharks	39,800	3,618	4,500	2,500	67%
Saracens	102,335	9,303	19,764	3,722	42%
Wasps	64,179	5,834	9,700	3,791	32%

See also[]

• English rugby union system
• History of the English rugby union system

References[]

External links[]

• Official site