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1998–99 Premiership 1

Rugby union competition in England

Field	Value
name	1998-99 Premiership 1
countries	England
champions	Leicester Tigers (3rd title)
runnersup	Northampton Saints
relegated	West Hartlepool
matches	182
date	5 September 1998 – 20 May 1999
highest attendance	17,347 – Saracens v Leicester (11 October 1998)
lowest attendance	850 – London Scottish v Gloucester (5 January 1999)
attendance	1002308
top point scorer	331 – John Schuster (Harlequins)
top try scorer	16 – Neil Back (Leicester)
prevseason	1997–98
nextseason	1999–00

The 1997–98 Premiership 1 was the twelfth season of the top tier of the English rugby union league system, currently known as Premiership Rugby, and the second to be sponsored by Allied Dunbar, having previous been sponsored by Courage Brewery. Newcastle Falcons were the defending champions and Bedford, London Scottish and West Hartlepool the promoted sides.

Leicester Tigers finished the season as champions for the third time (and first title since 1995), while West Hartlepool were relegated to as the bottom place side, dropping to the 1999–00 Premiership 2. 9th place Richmond and 12th London Scottish were placed into administration at the end of the campaign, merging with London Irish, and thus did not compete in the subsequent season.

Structure

Following restructuring from the previous season, the league increased from twelve to fourteen teams, with each side playing one another twice, in a round robin system, home and away, to make a total of twenty-six matches for each team. The bottom side would be automatically relegated to Premiership 2.

Participating teams

	Team		Stadium		Capacity		City/Area		Previous season
Bath	Recreation Ground	8,500	Bath, Somerset	3rd
Bedford	Goldington Road	6,500	Bedford, Bedfordshire	Promoted from Premiership 2 (1st)
Gloucester	Kingsholm	12,000	Gloucester, Gloucestershire	6th
Harlequins	The Stoop	title=Courage Official Rugby Union Club Directory 1990–91	year=1990	publisher=Burlington Publishing Co. Ltd	location=Windsor	edition=3rd	editor=Tony Williams and Bill Mitchell	page=50	chapter=Harlequins F.C. (Ground Details)}}	Twickenham, London	10th
Leicester Tigers	Welford Road	17,000	Leicester, Leicestershire	4th
London Irish	The Avenue	6,710	Sunbury-on-Thames, Surrey	11th
London Scottish	The Stoop	9,000 (2,000 seats)	Twickenham, London	Promoted from Premiership 2 (3rd)
Newcastle Falcons	Kingston Park	6,900	Newcastle upon Tyne, Tyne and Wear	Champions
Northampton Saints	Franklin's Gardens	10,000	Northampton, Northamptonshire	8th
Richmond	Madejski Stadium	24,161	Reading, Berkshire	5th
Sale	Heywood Road	4,800	Sale, Greater Manchester	7th
Saracens	Vicarage Road	22,000	Watford, Hertfordshire	2nd
Wasps	Loftus Road	18,439	Shepherd's Bush, London	9th
West Hartlepool	Victoria Park	7,856	Hartlepool, County Durham	Promoted from Premiership 2 (2nd)

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

Week 22

Week 23

Week 24

Week 25

Week 26

Week 27

Leicester Tigers are champions.

Week 28

Week 29

Week 30

Attendances

Club	Home
Games	Total	Average	Highest	Lowest	% Capacity
Bath	13	96,200	7,400	8,500	4,800	87%
Bedford	13	43,696	3,361	5,125	1,308	52%
Gloucester	13	79,004	6,077	10,109	4,528	51%
Harlequins	13	71,800	5,523	8,500	2,476	61%
Leicester Tigers	13	158,255	12,173	15,873	8,443	76%
London Irish	13	52,279	4,021	6,710	2,129	60%
London Scottish	13	26,999	2,077	4,600	850	23%
Newcastle Falcons	13	47,409	3,647	5,207	2,070	48%
Northampton Saints	13	93,274	7,175	10,000	5,870	72%
Richmond	13	76,327	5,871	10,096	2,613	24%
Sale	13	43,218	3,324	4,800	2,100	69%
Saracens	13	119,941	9,226	17,347	5,261	42%
Wasps	13	71,429	5,495	9,526	2,797	30%
West Hartlepool	13	22,477	1,729	2,702	1,107	22%

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 did not yet earn international senior caps. Players may hold one or more non-WR nationalities.

Most points

Source:

Rank	Player	Club	Points
1	NZL John Schuster	Harlequins	331
2	RSA Gavin Johnson	Saracens	318
3	ENG Jonny Wilkinson	Newcastle Falcons	306
4	ENG Mike Catt	Bath	294
5	SCO Kenny Logan	Wasps	263
6	NZL/WAL Shane Howarth	Sale	246
7	NZL Steven Vile	West Hartlepool	240
8	IRE Niall Woods	London Irish	215
9	SAM Earl Va'a	Richmond	205
10	RSA Joel Stransky	Leicester Tigers	202

Most tries

Source:

Rank	Player	Club	Tries
1	ENG Neil Back	Leicester Tigers	16
2	ENG Jeremy Guscott	Bath	14
SAM Pat Lam	Northampton Saints
4	ENG Iain Balshaw	Bath	13
5	SCO Gary Armstrong	Newcastle Falcons	12
NZL Brendon Daniel	Saracens
ENG Steve Hanley	Sale
SAM Va'aiga Tuigamala	Newcastle Falcons
ENG Rory Underwood	Bedford
IRE Niall Woods	London Irish

Note

References

(18 May 1998). "Rugby Union: Newcastle triumph with passion". The Independent.
(29 March 1998). "Rugby Union: Bedford seal their title". The Independent.
(2 May 1999). "Stimpson kicks Tigers to title". BBC News.
(6 May 1999). "West go back to amateur ranks". The Herald.
(7 June 1999). "Anglos' merger is disputed". The Herald.
(1990). "Courage Official Rugby Union Club Directory 1990–91". Burlington Publishing Co. Ltd.
(7 April 1997). "Rugby Union: Popplewell's punch sullies thriller". Independent.
(1990). "Courage Official Rugby Union Club Directory 1990–91". Burlington Publishing Co. Ltd.
(1 March 1999). "Rugby Union: Winger Inga has the power". Independent.
(6 March 2002). "Sale Sharks - Heywood Rd". BBC Sport.
"1998-99 Premiership Rugby top points scorers". ESPNScrum.
"1998-99 Premiership Rugby top try scorers". ESPNscrum.

Info: Wikipedia Source

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