The 2000–01 English Premiership was the fourteenth season of the top flight of the English domestic rugby union competitions, and first to be sponsored by Zurich Insurance having been sponsored for the last three seasons by Allied Dunbar. It also heralded a restructuring the English league system, with the first tier Premiership 1 being renamed as the Premiership and second tier Premiership 2 becoming National Division 1.

Leicester Tigers finished top of the league for the third year in a row giving them their fifth English champions title.

This season saw the introduction of the bonus points scoring system.BBC Sport

Additionally, an 8 team end of season knock-out competition, the Zurich Championship was introduced, although this was not used to determine the English Champions, that being the preserve of the Zurich Premiership winners. Leicester also won the Zurich Championship in this season.

Rotherham were relegated, to be replaced by Leeds Tykes for the 2001–02 season.

Participating teams

Team Stadium CapacityCity/Area Previous seasonBathRecreation Ground8,500Bath, Somerset2ndBristolMemorial Stadium8,500 (1,200 seats)Bristol6thGloucesterKingsholm12,000Gloucester, Gloucestershire3rdHarlequinsThe Stoop9,000 (2,000 seats)Twickenham, London10thLeicester TigersWelford Road17,000Leicester, LeicestershireChampionsLondon IrishMadejski Stadium24,161Reading, Berkshire8thLondon WaspsLoftus Road18,439Shepherd's Bush, London7thNewcastle FalconsKingston Park 8,000 Newcastle upon Tyne, Tyne and Wear 9thNorthampton SaintsFranklin's Gardens10,000Northampton, Northamptonshire5thRotherham TitansClifton Lane4,000Rotherham, South YorkshirePromoted from Premiership 2Sale SharksHeywood Road4,800Sale, Greater Manchester11thSaracensVicarage Road22,000Watford, Hertfordshire4th

Table

Results

Week 1

Week 2

Week 3

Week 4

Week 5

Week 6

Week 7

Week 8

Week 9

Week 10

Week 11

Week 12

Week 13

Week 14

Week 15

Week 16

Week 17

Week 18

Week 19

Week 20

Week 21

Zurich Championship The top eight teams qualified for the knock-out Zurich Championship, seeded on the basis of their league finish.

Seeding SeedTeamTable pointsWinsPoints diff1 Leicester Tigers8218+2252 London Wasps7416+2353 Bath Rugby7014+2504 Northampton Saints5913+555 Saracens5812+886 Newcastle Falcons5711−147 Gloucester4810−538 London Irish4510−100

Quarter–finals

Semi–finals

Final

15 Tim Stimpson14 Geordan Murphy13 Leon Lloyd 12 Pat Howard11 Winston Stanley10 Andy Goode9 Austin Healey 1 Graham Rowntree 2 Dorian West 3 Darren Garforth 4 Martin Johnson (Capt)5 Ben Kay 6 Martin Corry 7 Neil Back 8 Will JohnsonReplacements:16 Glenn Gelderbloom17 Jamie Hamilton18 Perry Freshwater19 Richard Cockerill20 Ricky Nebbett21 Paul Gustard22 Lewis MoodyCoach: Dean Richards 15 Matt Perry14 Iain Balshaw 13 Kevin Maggs12 Shaun Berne 11 Tom Voyce10 Mike Catt9 Gareth Cooper1 Simon Emms 2 Andrew Long 3 John Mallett4 Mark Gabey5 Steve Borthwick6 Angus Gardiner7 Ben Clarke (Capt)8 Dan LyleReplacements:16 Rob Thirlby17 Sam Cox18 David Barnes19 Mark Regan20 Gavin Thomas21 Andy LloydCoach:

Attendances ClubHomeGamesTotalAverageHighestLowest% Capacity Bath 12 91,968 7,664 8,500 6,840 90% Bristol 11 51,024 4,639 6,781 2,380 55% Gloucester 11 73,430 6,675 9,859 5,428 56% Harlequins 11 51,460 4,678 7,067 3,089 55% Leicester Tigers 13 157,167 12,090 16,006 8,112 71% London Irish 11 65,115 5,920 12,037 2,504 25% London Wasps 13 73,719 5,671 12,137 3,444 31% Newcastle Falcons 11 46,565 4,233 7,319 2,623 53% Northampton Saints 12 94,147 7,846 10,000 6,093 78% Rotherham Titans 11 27,963 2,542 4,000 1,800 64% Sale Sharks 11 30,939 2,813 3,877 1,844 59% Saracens 11 101,441 9,222 13,021 6,092 42%

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 earned international senior caps. Players may hold one or more non-WR nationalities.

Most points Source: Rank Player ClubPoints1 Kenny LoganWasps2822 Tim StimpsonLeicester Tigers2603 Paul GraysonNorthampton Saints2194 Jonny WilkinsonNewcastle Falcons2035 Barry EverittLondon Irish1806 Jon PrestonBath1727 Felipe ContepomiBristol1688 Nicky LittleSale Sharks1629 Simon MannixGloucester15710 Charlie HodgsonSale Sharks144

Most tries Source: Rank Player ClubTries1 Paul SampsonWasps122 Steve HanleySale Sharks10 Kenny LoganWasps Tom VoyceBath5 Ben CohenNorthampton Saints96 Neil BackLeicester Tigers8 Geordan MurphyLeicester Tigers Paul SackeyLondon Irish Rob ThirlbyBath108 players7

See also 2000–01 National Division One 2000–01 National Division Two 2000–01 National Division Three North 2000–01 National Division Three South

References