2018–19 Premiership Rugby

The 2018–19 Premiership Rugby was the 32nd season of the top flight of English domestic rugby union competition and the first to be sponsored by Gallagher. The competition was broadcast by BT Sport for the sixth successive season with five games also simulcast free-to-air on Channel 5. Highlights of each weekend's games were shown on Channel 5 with extended highlights on BT Sport. The reigning champions entering the season were Saracens, who claimed their fourth title after defeating Exeter Chiefs in the 2018 final. Bristol Bears were promoted as champions from the 2017–18 RFU Championship at the first attempt.
On 4 May 2019, Newcastle Falcons were relegated with one game still to play, after losing away to hi-flyers Gloucester. It was the third time that Newcastle have been relegated from the top flight since the leagues began, and the first time since the 2011–12 season. The Falcons will drop down to the 2019–20 RFU Championship.
In the final on 1 June 2019 Saracens retained their title, their fifth overall, by beating Exeter 37–34 at Twickenham. As Saracens also won the Champions Cup, this victory saw them complete the double. This win was tainted, however, as Saracens were shown to be in breach of the salary cap regulations, and therefore this result should be considered null and void.

Teams

, having won the 2017–18 RFU Championship, replace London Irish, who were relegated last season after finishing bottom of the table.

Club	Director of Rugby/Head Coach	Captain	Kit supplier	Stadium	Capacity	City/Area
Bath	Todd Blackadder	Matt Garvey	Canterbury	The Recreation Ground	14,500	Bath
Bristol Bears	Pat Lam	N/A	Bristol Sport	Ashton Gate	27,000	Bristol
Exeter Chiefs	Rob Baxter	Jack Yeandle	Samurai Sportswear	Sandy Park	12,921	Exeter
Gloucester	David Humphreys	Willi Heinz	XBlades	Kingsholm Stadium	16,115	Gloucester
Harlequins	Paul Gustard Billy Millard	James Horwill Chris Robshaw	Adidas	Twickenham Stoop	14,800	Twickenham, Greater London
Leicester Tigers	Geordan Murphy	Tom Youngs	Kukri	Welford Road	25,849	Leicester
Newcastle Falcons	Dean Richards	Will Welch	ISC	Kingston Park	10,200	Newcastle upon Tyne
Northampton Saints	Chris Boyd	Dylan Hartley Alex Waller	Macron	Franklin's Gardens	15,249	Northampton
Sale Sharks	Steve Diamond	Jono Ross	Samurai Sportswear	AJ Bell Stadium	12,000	Salford, Greater Manchester
Saracens	Mark McCall	Brad Barritt	Nike	Allianz Park	10,000	Hendon, Greater London
Wasps	Dai Young		Under Armour	Ricoh Arena	32,609	Coventry
Worcester Warriors	Alan Solomons	GJ van Velze	VX3	Sixways Stadium	11,499	Worcester

Pre-season

The 2018 edition of the Premiership Rugby Sevens Series would be held on 27 and 28 July at Franklin's Gardens. All twelve Premiership teams would feature in one venue over two days. Teams would be split into four pools of three which played each other once in a round-robin basis with the tournament splitting into Cup and Plate competitions on the second day.

Table

Fixtures

Fixtures for the season were announced by Premiership Rugby on 6 July 2018. Due to redevelopment work causing the closure of Twickenham Stadium, round 1 did not include the London Double Header.
Despite a four-year deal being struck in 2016, no matches took place in the United States. It had previously been reported that [|Sale Sharks vs Harlequins in round 18] would take place at Toyota Park just outside Chicago, Illinois. However, the [|round 6] match between Harlequins and Saracens was broadcast live in the US on a major network with NBC as opposed to NBCSN broadcasting for the first time.
All fixtures are subject to change.
Highlights of the season include:

The Derby — Northampton Saints vs Leicester Tigers at Twickenham on 6 October
Big Game 11 — Harlequins will host Wasps in this season's edition of the Big Game at Twickenham on 29 December.
Derby Day Saracens vs Harlequins at London Stadium on 23 March.
The Big One Newcastle Falcons vs Sale Sharks at St James' Park on 23 March
The Clash — Bath Rugby will return to Twickenham on 6 April. This year's opponent will be fellow West Country rivals Bristol Bears.
Regular Season

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

Round 21

Newcastle Falcons are relegated.
Round 22

Play-offs

As in previous seasons, the top four teams in the Premiership table, following the conclusion of the regular season, contested 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 met in the Premiership Grand Final at Twickenham on 1 June 2019.

Bracket

Semi-Finals

Final

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 have not yet earned international senior caps. Players may hold one or more non-WR nationalities.

Most points

Source:

Rank	Player	Club	Points
1	George Ford	Leicester	221
2	Duncan Weir	Worcester	204
3	Marcus Smith	Harlequins	170
4	Dan Biggar	Northampton	168
5	Billy Twelvetrees	Gloucester	165
6	Owen Farrell	Saracens	143
7	Callum Sheedy	Bristol	130
8	Freddie Burns	Bath	118
9	Lima Sopoaga	Wasps	116
10	AJ MacGinty	Sale	114
10	Rhys Priestland	Bath	114

Most tries