Premiership Immortals - The Debate Show
Aug 29If you're one of the many millions of people up and down the country mourning the absence of live rugby, BT Sport has the perfect tonic for your blues.
On the day that the final of the Gallagher Premiership was scheduled to take place at Twickenham, join us for an evening takeover on BT Sport 2 to relive some of the greatest moments from the showpiece event in the English rugby calendar.
Starting from 5pm on Saturday 20 June, highlights of all nine finals from the past decade will be shown back-to-back in a veritable feast of Premiership action for rugby-starved fans.
No matches have been played since March this year but Premiership chiefs have said they hope the 2019-20 season can restart on Saturday 15 August.
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Until then, sit back and enjoy some nostalgia from the last decade with some iconic tussles between English rugby's biggest clubs.
Here's what's on the menu for Saturday night with a little teaser on each match to get your mouth watering.
5.15pm: Leicester Tigers v Saracens, 2011
Between 2005 and 2013, the Tigers made nine Premiership finals in a row, winning four and losing five.
Their most dramatic victory in that run undoubtedly came in 2010 after Dan Hipkiss’ late effort downed Saracens.
The Tigers had topped the regular season table again but Sarries refused to roll over in a topsy-turvy final at Twickenham.
Glen Jackson’s boot put the men in black into an early lead before Matt Smith went over for the Tigers.
But Ernst Joubert twice touched down either side of a Ben Youngs try and the lead kept changing hands.
Jackson’s boot then edged Sarries back in front in a kicking duel with Toby Flood, but Hipkiss left it late with a leg-pumping effort to seal a dramatic win for the dominant side of the 2000s.
5.45pm: Harlequins v Leicester Tigers, 2012
Harlequins won their first ever English title in style, toppling reigning champions Leicester in front of a packed Twickenham.
Three Nick Evans penalties and a try from Tom Williams gave Quins a one-point half-time lead as Steve Mafi's try and eight points from teenager George Ford kept the Tigers close.
Evans then kicked three penalties and converted Chris Robshaw's try.
Anthony Allen crossed for Tigers and Ford converted and landed a late penalty, but Harlequins held on.
Victory represented a redemption of sorts for the south-west London club three years after they were vilified for the 'Bloodgate' controversy.
Quins became only the third club in Premiership history to finish the season top of the table and claim the title after Sale and Leicester.
6.15pm: Leicester Tigers v Northampton Saints, 2013
A game that currently resembles the last hurrah for English rugby's greatest dynasty.
Leicester's tenth English league triumph was the last time they ruled the roost. After narrowly avoiding relegation to the Championship last season, the Tigers are currently on a seven-year wait for their 11th crown.
In a tempestuous final that saw Dylan Hartley given his marching orders, Northampton Saints were roundly beaten by their east Midlands rivals.
Referee Wayne Barnes sent Hartley off just before half-time for foul and abusive language, making the hooker the first player ever to be shown a red card in a Premiership final.
His side were already 13-5 down by that point after Niall Morris crossed for the Tigers and Stephen Myler scored for Saints, and the former England captain's dismissal made Saints' mission even harder.
Ben Foden and Lee Dickson touched down either side of Graham Kitchener's score but the Tigers finished the job off with tries from Manu Tuilagi and Vereniki Goneva.
6.45pm: Saracens v Northampton Saints, 2014
It took until the last minute of extra-time of the final game of the season for the Premiership title to be decided in 2014.
And it was the unlikely name of Alex Waller on everyone’s lips as the Saints prop burrowed over for the match-winning try in a dramatic final with Saracens.
Ben Foden’s try was cancelled out by the boot of Owen Farrell in the first half and while George Pisi crossed after the interval, Marcelo Bosch dived over to level up proceedings and send the game to extra-time.
Charlie Hodgson then came on and kicked Sarries in front but with the game coming to a dramatic conclusion, Waller went over and the TMO awarded the score to give Saints their first-ever Premiership title and leave Sarries rueing what might have been after also losing to Toulon in the European final the week before.
7.15pm: Bath v Saracens, 2015
In his much-talked about appearance on the 'House of Rugby' podcast, rugby league legend and former Bath centre Sam Burgess called this game one of his biggest regrets.
The code switcher insisted Bath's players "didn’t turn up" for the final against Saracens, which Bath lost 28-16.
“I’d just come off winning a Premiership with South Sydney and I wanted to go back to back... and it just didn’t feel like the same level of commitment at Bath from a couple of players that had one eye on the World Cup," he told James Haskell on the popular podcast.
The 2014 runners-up led 25-3 at half-time thanks to unanswered tries from Owen Farrell, Jamie George and Chris Wyles.
Bath replied with scores of their own in the second half through the boot of George Ford and a Jonathan Joseph try but Saracens held on to become the first team to secure the Premiership title having finished outside the top two in the table.
After tasting defeat in the final the year before, victory for Saracens heralded the beginning of a new era of domestic and European dominance.
7.45pm: Saracens v Exeter Chiefs, 2016
The first meeting between the two great powerhouses of the modern era saw Sarries blow the Chiefs away to become the first English side to complete a European and domestic double since 2004.
Tries from Duncan Taylor and Chris Wyles gave Mark McCall's a men a 17-point first-half lead from which the Chiefs were never able to recover.
The game would mark the beginning of a long-running rivalry as the two sides fought for supremacy at the summit of English rugby.
Victory meant Saracens, who had won the Heineken Champions Cup two weeks before against Racing, became the first English club since Wasps 12 years before to win the top-flight and European titles in the same season.
8.15pm: Wasps v Exeter Chiefs, 2017
You don’t have to go very far back in time to find one of the great finals of the Premiership era.
In 2017 Wasps and Exeter Chiefs played out an instant classic in the baking hot sun at Twickenham as the Chiefs emerged victorious for the first time in their history.
Tries from Jack Nowell and Phil Dollman in the first half put Rob Baxter’s side in front and seemingly cruising to a maiden title.
But they were pegged back by Elliot Daly and Jimmy Gopperth, who both went over, and the Chiefs needed a last-gasp Gareth Steenson penalty to send the game to extra-time at 20-20.
Neither side could find a way through for the majority of a gruelling additional period until Steenson ensured he would never have to buy a drink in Devon again by slotting the match-winning penalty.
8.45pm: Exeter Chiefs v Saracens, 2018
The second instalment in last decade's Exeter-Saracens trilogy.
Rob Baxter's Chiefs were looking to defend the crown won in such dramatic circumstances against Wasps the year before while Sarries were going for a third title in four years.
In a repeat of the 2016 showpiece, Saracens took the trophy in their fourth final in the past five years.
Exeter, who finished eight points clear of second-placed Saracens in the regular season, could not build on a dominant opening ten minutes.
That allowed McCall's side to turn the game on its head with two tries in the space of four first-half minutes.
The Chiefs hung on in the contest, going in at the break 12-3 behind, but Wyles' second score seven minutes after the restart put Saracens 16 points clear.
After hooker Schalk Brits was shown a yellow card in his final Saracens appearance, all Exeter's numerical advantage could produce was Steenson's score from close range.
Winger Nathan Earle, now of Harlequins, then exploited the tired Chiefs legs to notch a fourth try in the closing moments to add more silverware to the Allianz Park trophy cabinet.
9.15pm: Exeter Chiefs v Saracens, 2019
The most recent Premiership final was arguably the greatest of them all.
In a monumentally physical clash, Saracens retained their league crown to win a second European and domestic cup double.
Just two weeks after overpowering Leinster in another brutal encounter, McCall's men overturned an 11-point deficit to retain the Premiership trophy.
After England centre Henry Slade went over the whitewash to give the Devonians a 27-16 lead early in the second half, it looked as though the Chiefs were on course to deny Sarries an historic double and become champions for a second time.
But a Saracens side packed with internationals proved their big-game credentials as tries from Liam Williams, Sean Maitland and Jamie George helped them take the lead late on to set up a nail-biting finish.
Despite a Sam Hill try the north Londoners held on to make it three defeats from three for Exeter in finals against Saracens.
No side had ever come back from a deficit of more than six points in a Premiership final before but Saracens' record-breaking fightback was a fitting way to become just the second club to win the double twice in their history after Leicester, who won back-to-back English and European titles in 2001 and 2002.
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