Bath capable of pulling the plug on Saints title defence

Eight or nine clubs could contend for the Premiership playoffs, Harry Latham-Coyle predicts in his club-by-club guide

- Harry Latham-Coyle

The Premiership returns this evening with 10 clubs again vying for domestic success and the English top-flight looking as competitive as ever.

Headline names like Owen Farrell and Courtney Lawes were among those to depart in a summer of high-profile outgoings,leaving an uncertain landscape ahead of the start of the season.

Slimmed-down squads and a quieter offseason of incomings will make player management crucial in a campaign culminating in a British & Irish Lions tour to Australia.

Will Northampton Saints go back-to-back? Could Bath or Sale take the next step? And, after a big-name coaching hire, can Leicester rebound to return to the play-offs?

Here’s our club-by-club guide to the new season, in the order in which they finished the last campaign:

Northampton Saints

Director of rugby: Phil Dowson

Champions for the first time in a decade, everything came together magnificently for Saints in 2023-24. A triumphant send-off for Courtney Lawes and Lewis Ludlam was richly deserved, yet it was the blossoming of a young core to take the club forward that will have most pleased the excellent Phil Dowson. Laden with developing talent in key areas, Northampton look well put together once more.