1996–97 National Division One

The 1996–97 English Premiership (known as the Courage League National 1 for sponsorship reasons) was the tenth season of the top flight of rugby union in England. It was the first professional season in English rugby union history.

1996–97 Courage League National 1
Countries	England
Champions	Wasps RFC (2nd title)
Runners-up	Bath
Relegated	West Hartlepool Orrell
Matches played	132
Official website
www.premiershiprugby.com
← 1995–96 1997–98 →

The league was made up of twelve teams with each team playing each other twice, in a round robin system.

Wasps were the champions, with a winning margin of six points above Bath, the runners–up. West Hartlepool and Orrell were relegated to National Division 2.^[1] It was the tenth and final season of sponsorship by Courage.^[2]

Participating teams

Team	Stadium	Capacity	City/Area
Bath	Bath	8,200	Bath, Somerset
Bristol	Memorial Stadium	12,100	Bristol
Gloucester	Kingsholm	11,000	Gloucester, Gloucestershire
Harlequins	The Stoop	8,500	Twickenham, London
Leicester Tigers	Welford Road	16,000	Leicester, Leicestershire
London Irish	The Avenue	6,600	Sunbury-on-Thames, Surrey
Northampton Saints	Franklin's Gardens	10,000	Northampton, Northamptonshire
Orrell	Edge Hall Road	3,000	Orrell, Greater Manchester
Sale	Heywood Road	5,400	Sale, Greater Manchester
Saracens	Southbury Road	5,000	Enfield, London
Wasps	Loftus Road	18,439	Shepherd's Bush, London
West Hartlepool	Victoria Park	7,856	Hartlepool, County Durham

 

 

Bath

 

Bristol

 

Gloucester

 

Leicester

 

London

 

London Irish

 

Northampton

 

Orrell

 

Sale

 

W Hartlepool

 

London teamsHarlequins
Saracens
Wasps

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Locations of the 1996–97 Courage League National Division One teams

 

 

Harlequins

 

Saracens

 

Wasps

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Greater London Courage League National One clubs

Table

	Club	Played	Won	Drawn	Lost	Points for	Points against	Points difference	Points
1	Wasps (C)	22	18	1	3	685	406	+279	37
2	Bath	22	15	1	6	863	411	+452	31
3	Harlequins	22	15	0	7	745	416	+329	30
4	Leicester Tigers	22	14	1	7	600	395	+205	29
5	Sale Sharks	22	13	2	7	603	525	+78	28
6	Saracens	22	12	1	9	568	449	+119	25
7	Gloucester	22	11	1	10	476	589	−113	23
8	Northampton Saints	22	10	0	12	515	477	+38	20
9	Bristol	22	8	1	13	432	625	−193	17
10	London Irish	22	6	0	16	502	747	−245	12
11	West Hartlepool (R)	22	3	0	19	382	795	−413	6
12	Orrell (R)	22	3	0	19	350	886	−536	6
Points are awarded as follows: two points for a win one point for a draw no points for a loss If teams are level at any stage, tiebreakers are applied in the following order: difference between points for and against total number of points for
Green denotes the champions and qualification for the 1997–98 Heineken Cup. Blue denotes qualification for the 1997–98 Heineken Cup. Buff denotes the relegation/promotion play–off places. Pink denotes the relegation places to 1997–98 Allied Dunbar Premership Two.

^[2]

Results

The home team is listed in the left column.

Clubs	BAT	BRI	GLO	HAR	LEI	LOI	NOR	ORR	SAL	SAR	WAS	WHA
Bath		76–7	71–21	35–20	47–9	46–3	52–14	40–14	84–7	35–33	36–40	46–10
Bristol	13–18		18–13	24–35	12–38	26–38	20–11	38–10	34–24	11–21	18–41	20–17
Gloucester	29–45	20–20		11–27	32–30	29–19	19–6	30–0	12–16	9–6	28–23	37–10
Harlequins	22–6	29–6	75–19		18–34	66–7	36–16	89–18	30–31	27–0	22–42	48–10
Leicester Tigers	28–25	53–19	32–14	12–13		46–13	23–9	36–14	25–9	22–18	18–12	48–3
London Irish	31–56	27–28	20–21	20–19	25–18		34–21	27–48	19–25	23–37	20–22	52–41
Northampton Saints	9–6	29–21	25–27	15–20	22–19	31–21		41–7	30–12	17–10	15–26	46–20
Orrell	13–56	27–28	3–49	20–56	12–29	32–27	14–50		8–40	22–44	27–44	22–15
Sale Sharks	11–5	31–33	52–12	24–13	20–20	41–25	31–15	37–11		33–23	31–33	58–18
Saracens	36–29	33–15	41–11	28–20	25–23	45–0	24–23	24–15	17–17		15–28	51–8
Wasps	25–25	15–13	36–10	17–19	14–7	31–18	18–13	62–5	36–10	36–21		36–12
West Hartlepool	16–24	19–8	14–23	21–41	19–30	18–33	17–57	24–8	22–43	25–16	23–48

Home win

Draw

Away win

Relegation/Promotion playooffs

For the first time playooffs took place between the third and fourth placed teams in Division Two and the ninth and tenth placed teams in Division One. The play-offs followed a 4th v 9th, 3rd v 10th system. The matches were played over two legs, with the second-tier team playing at home in the first leg.^[2]

First leg

7 May 1997

Bedford Blues	11–20	Bristol

Goldington Road

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7 May 1997

Coventry	16–14	London Irish

Coundon Road

Second leg

11 May 1997

Bristol	19–12	Bedford

Memorial Ground

Bristol won 39–23 on aggregate.

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11 May 1997

London Irish	28–7	Coventry

The Avenue

London Irish won 42–23 on aggregate.

References

1. "League Tables". London Irish. Archived from the original on 2012-09-06. Retrieved 2011-10-18.
2. Mick Cleary and John Griffiths, ed. (1997). Rothmans Rugby Union Yearbook 1997–98. London: Headline Book Publishing. ISBN 0 7472 7732 X.

External links

• Official website