Premiership: Lawes plays again 840 days after his title

The Premiership opened its 2026-27 season with a single home win in five matches, Northampton’s. The last game, on Sunday at Welford Road, was the wildest.

Courtney Lawes’s last Premiership match was a final, the one on 8 June 2024 that Northampton won 25-21 against Bath. It took 840 days and two seasons at Brive to see him back in the English league, this time in a Sale shirt.

Round one results

The result is great, but what we saw in character, particularly in some of those defensive sets from the boys, is a good snapshot of what we have asked them to go after this year.

George Skivington | RugbyPass

Fifty-two tries in five matches

The restart was a prolific one: the five matches produced fifty-two tries, more than ten per game. Northampton scored nine on their own, Gloucester seven at Sandy Park, Bath and Bristol five each away from home, and Leicester and Saracens six apiece.

Saracens win with fourteen at Welford Road

The closing match lived up to its billing. Saracens scored in the first minute through Juan Martín González, then had to play twenty minutes with fourteen after Nick Isiekwe was sent off for a head-on-head collision with Freddie Steward (54th minute). Saracens still won that period 12-7 and snatched victory with two tries from Rotimi Segun (60th and 72nd). For Leicester, Welsh wing Gabriel Hamer-Webb scored a hat-trick in vain, and the Tigers leave with two bonus points, for tries and for the narrow defeat.

194 Premiership appearances for Lawes

The 37-year-old flanker’s return went unrewarded: Bristol won 34-24 at Salford with five tries, including braces from Louis Rees-Zammit and Harry Randall. Lawes now has 194 Premiership appearances, every one of them for Northampton until this Saturday.

Gloucester had not won at Sandy Park since 2015

Gloucester recorded their biggest win in Devon, 45-24, with seven tries, a brace from Ben Loader and another from new captain Dewi Lake, who arrived this summer alongside Jac Morgan and Jean Kleyn. Exeter, short of players and hit by illness, still scored four tries.

Nine tries for Northampton

The defending champions opened with a 59-26 win over Newcastle, with hat-tricks for Tommy Freeman and James Pater. Christian Wade scored twice for the promoted side. Henry Pollock, 21, made his 50th appearance for the Saints according to the club, days after signing a new contract.

Bath, finally, won 33-17 at the Harlequins, where Santiago Carreras scored after intercepting a pass with his boot.