Now that all 18 rounds of the Gallagher Premiership 2024/25 regular season have been played, it’s time to take a look at which clubs made progress and which clubs went backwards in the past 12 months.
Six of the 10 participating clubs improved their points tallies, one stayed on an even keel, and three were in deficit. Gloucester and Leicester had the biggest turnarounds, while Exeter and defending champions Northampton fell off a cliff in performance terms.
BATH
Points: 72 (+12)
Wins: 14 (+3)
Bath finished top of the table at the end of the regular season for the first time in 21 years, securing first seed status with three rounds to spare. Johann van Graan’s side broke their old Premiership try-scoring record of 81 tries (from 26 games) by some considerable distance, only falling four tries short of becoming the first team to register a century of tries in the regular season. Bath only fielded what could be considered their full-strength team in two of their four defeats – the one-point loss at the start of 2025 and the home reverse to Bristol, who did the double on them, during the Autumn.
BRISTOL
Points: 58 (+4)
Wins: 10 (-1)
Bristol are back in the playoffs for the first time in four years, having remained in the top four throughout the season, despite winning one game fewer than in 2023/24. The Bears picked up a remarkable 16 try bonus points, only failing to cross the opposition line in the hugely disappointing home losses to Sale Sharks and Leicester Tigers.
EXETER
Points: 29 (-21)
Wins: 4 (-6)
Exeter boss Rob Baxter said it all when he stated that this season – Exeter’s worst since they were promoted to the top flight in 2010 – would never be referred to again. Last month’s record 79-17 loss at Gloucester was the low point of a campaign which lurched from one crisis to another, and led to the departure of three coaches. Two of Exeter’s four wins were against Saracens and Northampton sides weakened by international call-ups, while they were one of only two teams beaten by Newcastle.
GLOUCESTER
Points: 56 (+24)
Wins: 10 (+5)
Gloucester’s attacking transformation helped to make them the most improved team of the season in terms of year-on-year gains. The Cherry & Whites scored more than a third more tries than in the previous campaign as they climbed from second last to one spot off the playoffs. Skivington cited the two trips to London, the defeats at Saracens and Harlequins, as the ones that cost them a shot at the title.
HARLEQUINS
Points: 48 (-3)
Wins: 8 (-1)
Harlequins’ campaign never truly got off the ground. Only once, after the round two win over Newcastle, did the multi-coloured quarters make it into the playoff places. Danny Wilson’s side were much-improved defensively under Jason Gilmore, but were well down in their try-scoring stats, with the ruthlessness of previous seasons not quite there. Consecutive defeats to Bath, Sale and Leicester in March-April effectively killed off their top-four hopes.
L.EICESTER
Points: 61 (+16)
Wins: 11 (+2)
Michael Cheika inherited a dispirited group lacking direction and turned them into title challengers. The resurgence of Ollie Hassell-Collins and the mid-season arrival of Adam Radwan have helped the Tigers rediscover their claws. Leicester have scored 25 tries and 98 points more than last season. Aside from the second-half collapse at Bath, their season has been gathering momentum for a while.
NEWCASTLE
Points: 13 (+8)
Wins: 2 (+2)
An improvement on last year, although it was a very low bar that the Falcons had to raise. Both of Newcastle’s wins (vs Exeter and Saracens) came at home, where they have proved much tougher to beat than on the road, although they were harshly denied a rare away win, at Exeter, by a dubious refereeing call. More mid-season departures didn’t help their cause but they still managed to score nine tries and 39 points more than in 2023/24.
NORTHAMPTON
Points: 44 (-16)
Wins: 8 (-4)
Saints put up the worst title defence since Sale went from champs to chumps between 2006 and 2007. In part, Phil Dowson’s men were victims of their success, as England call-ups and the departure of experienced personnel hit them hard. Nevertheless, their run to the final of the Investec Champions Cup gave the season a silver lining, plus they were one of only three teams to beat Bath in the league.
SALE SHARKS
Points: 58 (+2)
Wins: 12 (-)
Sale picked up exactly as many league points in the first half of the season as they did in the second, but with their top players hitting form at just the right time, there is a sense that things are coming together at just the right time. Defensively strong and increasingly threatening out wide, the Sharks are a more well-rounded team than previous iterations. They were the only team to not pick up a single losing bonus point (from six defeats) but an increase in try bonus points (from seven to 10) played a part in them bagging a top-four spot.
SARACENS
Points: 56 (-)
Wins: 10 (-1)
Saracens’ return of 10 wins was only one down on the previous year, and their points total of 56 was the same. Tries and points scored were roughly similar, too. But while they stood still, others moved forward, resulting in Saracens missing out on the playoffs for only the second time since 2009. The only other occasion in that period that they have failed to make the top four, excluding the season in the Championship, was in 2020 when they were relegated in the wake of the salary cap scandal.
*Difference from 2023/24 season in brackets
