Northampton reclaim PREM crown; Slade shines at last

Northampton reclaim – Northampton Saints finished the 2025-26 PREM season as champions after a 26-17 victory over Exeter Chiefs at Twickenham, while end-of-season awards highlighted Henry Slade’s return to form, Geoff Parling’s coaching impact at Leicester Tigers, and a memorable l

When Northampton Saints walked out at Twickenham to close the 2025-26 PREM season. they weren’t just chasing silverware—they were reclaiming something they’d lost. In the end. it was a 26-17 victory over Exeter Chiefs that crowned Phil Dowson’s side as deserved champions. bringing the curtain down on an entertaining campaign that still left plenty of bruises and questions.

Northampton’s tournament didn’t just end in triumph—it arrived through the way they played. They were a joy in attack and became the first PREM team to score more than 100 tries across a regular campaign. In the final. they showed the other side of the title story too: mean defence and the physicality to win ugly.

The league’s brightest individual moment belonged to Henry Slade. The Exeter Chiefs centre was back to his best this term. his consistency helping drive Exeter from last season’s nadir of a ninth-placed finish to this year’s final. Slade finished as the league’s top points scorer and. with England selection in mind this summer. he’s hard to ignore.

There was another story running in parallel at Welford Road. Geoff Parling was given the Leicester Tigers job from Australia on short notice. with little time to work and even less expectation. Yet he found a tune with the squad immediately. taking Leicester to the play-offs and adding an extra layer of attacking threat to a team usually defined by bruising forward power. The promise matters. too. because Leicester are set to lose key players such as George Martin and Nicky Smith in the off-season.

The best try came from the sort of player people don’t usually associate with 40-metre finishes. Ellis Genge scored for Bristol Bears against Harlequins at Twickenham last Christmas. taking the ball from a quick line-out taken just inside the opposition half and rampaging forward with power and pace to reach the try line. Northampton’s standout tries against Sale and Bath also earned honourable mentions for Josh Kemeny and Henry Pollock. while Noah Caluori’s breakthrough campaign at Saracens included a league-leading 18 tries.

The awards also looked at what the transfer market gets right. Billy Searle’s impact at Leicester Tigers stood out after South Africa double World Cup-winning No 10 Handre Pollard departed. Searle. a former Worcester man. arrived without the same profile as higher-profile competition inside Leicester—he started ahead of James O’Connor—yet guided the team to the play-offs. Exeter’s recruitment had its own glow too. with Len Ikitau. Tom Hooper and Andrea Zambonin all producing strong first campaigns in England.

But not every team’s season bent toward hope. The biggest disappointment was Harlequins, whose underwhelming form sat alongside the cash they’re spending. Newcastle’s first season under Red Bull ownership didn’t deliver instant improvement. and the turnaround there was expected to take time. Harlequins. though. finished ninth in what was described as an awful campaign. with the London club ending second bottom above only Newcastle—an outcome the piece insists simply isn’t acceptable. Gloucester and Sale “weren’t much better,” adding weight to the sense that Harlequins will be judged harshly next term.

Bath’s Thomas du Toit was singled out as the player the league will miss. While Tom Willis was described as “right up there. ” the PREM’s best player across his time in England was framed as du Toit—South African powerhouse prop. try-scoring machine. and a scrum menace. The question hanging over Bath now is whether they’ll be the same force without him.

If the awards had a spotlight for sheer personality, it went to Henry Pollock. The back-rower is presented as a force on and off the field. and despite plenty of detractors. the view here is that he’s a huge positive for English rugby. His marketability is linked to his signing with Eddie Hearn’s Matchroom. and the key sporting argument is that he backed it up: Pollock showed he’s “some player too” in Northampton’s play-off and final matches. making it hard for England not to start him in the Nations Championship.

For a moment away from the numbers, the season delivered one that people couldn’t help repeating. The clash between Leicester head coach Geoff Parling and TNT Sports presenter Craig Doyle at Villa Park was described as awkward and hilarious. During pre-match coverage before Gloucester’s game with the Tigers. TNT pundit Liam MacDevitt aimed a shot at goal that landed near Leicester players warming up. Parling took exception, shoving Doyle and using expletives to show disapproval. The incident, it was said, caused plenty of headlines—but was taken far too seriously.

And then there was the final, distinctly low-stakes verdict of the day: the worst haircut. Aidan Boshoff of Bristol Bears takes the vote. with his mullet described as among the worst and framed against the idea that the look seems to be becoming more mainstream. The piece also flags Northampton’s George Hendy. who scored two tries in his team’s final win. with Hendy’s gingery-blonde mullet and goatee “to be questioned.”.

Northampton closed their season with a trophy they’d earned through both excitement and control. Exeter’s final run still owed plenty to Henry Slade’s return to form. And around them. the league’s end-of-season snapshot—ranging from Geoff Parling’s coaching promise to Harlequins’ fall—left a vivid map of who rose. who stumbled. and who will be remembered when the next PREM campaign starts.

PREM Rugby 2025-26 Northampton Saints Exeter Chiefs Twickenham Henry Slade Geoff Parling Leicester Tigers Ellis Genge Billy Searle Harlequins Thomas du Toit Henry Pollock Aidan Boshoff Craig Doyle Villa Park