Premiership and Top 14 complete regular season and join the URC in Playoff mode - June 8, 2026
The regular season is now done for the European and SA clubs and by the end of June, 3 new champions will take their place in Gallagher Premiership, United Rugby Championship and Top 14 history.
In England, the penultimate weekend left the door open for Saracens to grab a semi-final spot; and for Harlequins to qualify for Champions Cup rugby next year by winning their match and seeing either Sale or Gloucester stumble. As it turned out, neither scenario happened; Saracens, after a strong start lost 32-12 to the Exeter Chiefs in Devon while Harlequins, despite beating the league leading Saints, saw both Sale and Gloucester earn bonus point wins against the Bears (38-17) and Newcastle (54-21) respectively, keeping Quins in 9th place. Saints, despite losing to Quins 38-31 took 2 bonus points and “won” the regular season by 5 points from Bath, who beat Leicester 24-22 at the Stoop, pushing the Tigers to 4th place and allowing Exeter to jump into 3rd. So the semi-finals are set, with the Northampton Saints at home to Leicester Tigers on Friday, June 12 and Bath hosting the Exeter Chiefs on Saturday, June 13. Saints led the League by earning 15 of their 16 bonus points through scoring 4 or more tries in all but 3 matches; their total tally of 104 tries sets a new Premiership single season record.
In France, the last 2 weekends of the 26 match Top 14 season had only 2 clubs outside of the top 6 with a chance of upsetting the playoff party. And they did; Racing ‘92, with 2 wins, over ASM Clermont and leaders Stade Toulousain; and Stade Rochelais, with wins over Montauban and Stade Francais Paris. ASM Clermont, despite beating Union Bordeaux-Begles in match 26 had doomed their own chances by losing to Racing ‘92 in week 25. League positions 3 through 6 now play the Barrage (quarter-finals) for the chance to meet the top 2 teams in the semis. Section Paloise (#4) is at home to Racing ‘92 (#5) on June 13 and Stade Francais Paris (#3) hosts Stade Rochelais (#6) on June 14. The winners will meet Stade Toulousain (#1) on June 19 and Montpelier (#2) on June 20. The bottom club in T14, Montauban is relegated to PRO D2 and the #13 team, USA Perpignan will play a run-off match against the runner-up in D2, this year, Provence, on June 14.
The United Rugby Championship has its 2 finalists for the big game on June 19. 2 tight semi-finals saw Glasgow Warriors, winners of the regular season tables, lose a squeaker to visitors Vodacom Bulls, 21-22 setting up a repeat of last year’s final against Leinster, who beat the Stormers 20-11. The Irish team who by virtue of their higher table position will host the match at Croke Park, Dublin, beat the Bulls 32-7 a year ago for the trophy. Since their engagement a few years ago, the SA teams have made an inpact on the European club rugby scheme in keeping with their superiority on the international stage. But rumors are rife that the SA rugby establishment is questioning the sustainability of a season that gives players little chance for rest, given their commitments to southern hemisphere rugby for the other half of the year. For now, the SA clubs are committed to staying in the URC until 2030 apparently but their participation in the EPCR Challenge and Champions Cup tournaments may be under review.
Playoffs streamed here in the US on florugby.com