Northern Hemisphere Club Rugby - April 1, 2026
No change at the top of the Gallagher Premiership Rugby standings after a mainly successful weekend in which only Bristol Bears lost, to Harlequins currently languishing at #9 in the table. Saints won at Saracens 17-21, missing a bonus point but stayed in 1st with 52 pts unlike Bath who visited and beat Sale 26-31 and stayed in 2nd with 51 pts. Leicester Tigers beat #8 Gloucester 17-36 remaining 3rd with 46 pts and Exeter won again, at Newcastle, 14-38, 4th with 45 pts. The Bears loss puts them 7 pts behind Exeter with #6 Saracens 5 pts behind at 33 for the season. The Premiership tales a 2 week break for the Investec Champions Cup where for Bristol, Sale and Quins, this could be the last chance to have a successful season. The Premiership resumes on April 17 with Round 13 (of 18).
The United Rugby Championship, after 14 rounds saw little change this last weekend. Glasgow Warriors hosted Benetton and won 31-10 and stay top with 55 points; DHL Stormers won at home against Edinburgh 33-14, staying in 2nd with 51 pts. Ulster, 3rd with 47 pts won at Zebre Parma 28-12 and Leinster stayed 4th with 46 pts beating Scarlets at home 36-19. Only 6 pts separate the next 4 clubs from Leinster so there is plenty of room for change before the rend of the regular season 2 months from now. But like the Premiership, this league takes a 2-week break for the Champions Cup.
The French Top 14 tells a similar story; the top 6 teams remain the same but there was some position swapping after this weekend’s results. Stade Toulousain beat last week’s #2 club Montpelier 45-29 and stays ahead of the pack at 71 pts while their opponents dropped 3 spots to 5th on 57. Section Paloise moved from 3rd to 2nd on 59 pts after beating Racing ‘92 27-17 and Stade Francais Paris put 9 tries past ASM Clermont (64-20 final score) and jumped 2 spots to 3ed also with 59 pts whiloe ASMC stayed in 6th on 52. Union Bordeaux-Begles beat Lyon 17-21 and stated in 4th on 59 pts. Only 8 points separates the next 6 clubs from the coveted 6th position so plenty to play for with 6 rounds to do. Round 21 will be played April 18/19 with 1 question, who can catch defending champions Toulouse?
The Investec Champions Cup comes to the fore the weekend of April 3-5 with Round of 16 matches. The Premiership has 7 teams left in the competition, France has 4, Scotland and South Africa 2 and Ireland 1. Unfortunately for English fans, Bath play Saracens and Harlequins play Sale while Bristol have a tough away match at Stade Toulousain, the Tigers are at Bordeaux and Northampton Saints play at home against Castres Olympique. Elsewhere RC Toulon host the DHL Stormers, Glasgow host the Vodacom Bulls and Leinster entertain Edinburgh. The winners of this first knock-out round play in the Quarter Finals April 10-12.
All these matches will be streamed on florugby.com