Comparative form table shows Gallagher PREM winners and losers

Only four Gallagher PREM sides are ‘in credit’ when comparing results from last year’s corresponding fixtures to this season’s.

With the halfway point of the regular league campaign reached and Round 10 nearly upon us after a two-week break for the Investec Champions Cup, we can reveal that Exeter Chiefs are head and shoulders above the rest in terms of points gained.

The Chiefs won just four games last season as they endured their worst-ever Premiership season, finishing second-from-bottom, but they are a side transformed 12 months on.

Buoyed by good recruitment, a refreshed coaching staff and the continued growth of some of the squad’s younger players, the Chiefs are remarkably 22 points better off in this metric, having got something from every game to date.

This upsurge in performance has taken them to third in the table, on 34 points, whereas they only picked up 12 when you look at like-for-like fixtures in the 2024/25 campaign.

The home game against Harlequins and the away trips to Saracens and Sale Sharks are mainly responsible for the big differential. Having picked up zero points from those fixtures in 2024/25, they gained 14 points this time around.

Is Exeter Director of Rugby Rob Baxter surprised by the big points differential?

“Yes and no. Some of those fixtures were very, very close anyway. The Leicester home game is a prime example; we won that four points to nil over Christmas, and that was our first game of the season, last season, and we lost it with the clock in the red, with things being missed, the ball being in touch and all sorts of stuff. That turned a four-point victory into a loss,” said Baxter, when the stats were presented to him on Tuesday’s media call. “That’s not a massive turnaround, although the performance levels were pretty big in the change. So some of the games I am not too surprised about.

“I think the big ones where we have really come through and really moved forward, are Sale and Saracens away. Having that ability to stay in the fight for as long as we did and then come through at the end, they are big turnarounds from where we were. That’s based on a lot of things: that’s based on a really good pre-season; a really good off-season; that’s based on getting back to some real fundamentals around our basics, around our set-piece, getting those bits right.

“So I would say it just shows you that the foundation elements are genuinely that, the foundation, they do allow you to thrive, and we have got on top of a lot of those things and that has allowed us to be more competitive.

“We have got a stronger squad as well. We have recruited well; we’ve bought in some good players. who are also playing well for us, so those kind of things double up. So I am not surprised by every turnaround, but some of them have been very pleasing without a doubt.”

The eight bonus points that Exeter have picked up have also contributed to the upturn in fortunes. “If we’ve lost, we’ve been very, very competitive and when we have had a chance to win, as it is now in the Premiership, to win games you tend to have to score  quite a lot of points, so the two have added up,” Baxter added.

Gallagher Premiership

P

W

L

D

PF

PA

PD

BP T

BP-7

BP

Total

1

Northampton

9

7

1

1

38

2

Bath

9

7

2

0

36

3

Exeter Chiefs

9

6

2

1

34

4

Bristol

9

7

2

0

33

5

Leicester

9

6

3

0

31

6

Saracens

9

4

5

0

27

7

Sale

9

3

6

0

19

8

Harlequins

9

2

7

0

10

9

Gloucester

9

1

8

0

9

10

Newcastle

9

1

8

0

5

Northampton Saints have also accumulated far more points than last season’s corresponding fixtures; they’re second in the comparative table with a gain of 13 points.

Picking up maximum points at home to Leicester and away to Bath, having drawn a blank in those fixtures previously, accounted for much of the increase.

“The things we’ve gone after we’ve seen an improvement in, and there’s obviously technical elements of our game which we think we have improved,” said Saints boss Phil Dowson.

“But our away form, we actually had a focus on. We had away trips to Hull and Glasgow and god know’s what else, to talk about those things and have a plan around that.

“So that’s been much better, and our consistency. I think we showed last year with our (Champions) Cup run we had a capability of beating sides and being high quality. We weren’t consistent enough in that, and that’s again one of those things we have been good at.”

Resurgent Bristol Bears are six points better off, comparatively, while champions Bath are +1 despite the feeling that they have yet to properly hit their straps, which is concerning for the rest of the PREM.

Ranked lowest, Gloucester have a 17-point deficit, while the two London clubs, Harlequins (-9) and Saracens (-7), have also been a pale shadow of their former selves.

PREM points compared to last season (like-for-like fixtures):

1. Exeter +22
2. Northampton +13
3. Bristol +6
4. Bath +1
—
5. Newcastle -3
6. Leicester -5
7. Sale -6
8. Saracens -7
9. Harlequins -9
10. Gloucester -17