2005–06 Premiership Rugby

2005–06 Guinness Premiership
Countries	England
Champions	Sale Sharks (1st title)
Runners-up	Leicester Tigers
Relegated	Leeds Tykes
Matches played	135
Attendance	1,483,920 (average 10,992 per match)
Top point scorer	Charlie Hodgson (248 points)
Top try scorer	Tom Varndell (14 tries)
← 2004–05 2006–07 →

The 2005–06 Guinness Premiership was the 19th season of the top flight of the English domestic rugby union competitions, played between September 2005 and May 2006. The final was contested by the Sale Sharks and the Leicester Tigers at Twickenham. Sale Sharks won 45–20 to win the Premiership. Leeds Tykes were relegated, whilst Harlequins were promoted for the 2006-07 Guinness Premiership.

As per a tradition started in the previous year, two of the opening games of the season (round 1) were played at Twickenham, in the 2005 London Double Header.

Team	Stadium	Capacity	City/Area
Bath	Recreation Ground	10,600	Bath, Somerset
Bristol	Memorial Stadium	12,100	Bristol
Gloucester	Kingsholm	12,500	Gloucester, Gloucestershire
Leeds Tykes	Headingley Stadium[n 1]	22,250	Leeds, West Yorkshire
Leicester Tigers	Welford Road	16,815	Leicester, Leicestershire
London Irish	Madejski Stadium	24,161	Reading, Berkshire
London Wasps	The Causeway Stadium[n 2]	10,000	High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire
Newcastle Falcons	Kingston Park	10,200	Newcastle upon Tyne, Tyne and Wear
Northampton Saints	Franklin's Gardens	13,600	Northampton, Northamptonshire
Sale	Edgeley Park	10,852	Stockport, Greater Manchester
Saracens	Vicarage Road	22,000	Watford, Hertfordshire
Worcester	Sixways	9,728	Worcester, Worcestershire

Notes

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	PF	PA	PD	TF	TA	TB	LB	Pts	Qualification
1	Sale Sharks (C)	22	16	1	5	573	444	+129	52	42	6	2	74	Playoff place
2	Leicester Tigers (F)	22	14	3	5	518	415	+103	51	24	5	1	68
3	London Irish (SF)	22	14	0	8	493	454	+39	54	44	6	4	66
4	London Wasps (SF)	22	12	3	7	527	447	+80	53	42	7	3	64
5	Gloucester	22	11	1	10	483	385	+98	46	33	4	9	59	2006–07 Heineken Cup
6	Northampton Saints	22	10	1	11	464	488	−24	53	50	4	7	53
7	Newcastle Falcons	22	9	1	12	416	433	−17	42	44	3	6	47
8	Worcester Warriors	22	9	1	12	451	494	−43	40	56	3	6	47
9	Bath	22	9	1	12	441	494	−53	38	49	3	5	46
10	Saracens	22	8	1	13	433	483	−50	42	48	5	7	46
11	Bristol	22	8	1	13	393	445	−52	28	41	0	7	41
12	Leeds Tykes (R)	22	5	0	17	363	573	−210	36	62	1	7	28	Relegation place

Team details

Sale Sharks Leicester Tigers FB 15 Jason Robinson (c) RW 14 Mark Cueto OC 13 Mark Taylor  67' IC 12 Elvis Seveali'i LW 11 Oriol Ripol  78' FH 10 Charlie Hodgson SH 9 Richard Wigglesworth  74' N8 8 Sébastien Chabal OF 7 Magnus Lund BF 6 Jason White RL 5 Chris Jones  75' LL 4 Ignacio Fernández Lobbe  40' TP 3 Stuart Turner HK 2 Andy Titterell  52' LP 1 Lionel Faure  54' Replacements: HK 16 Sébastien Bruno  52' PR 17 Barry Stewart  54' LK 18 Dean Schofield  40' LK 19 Christian Day  75' SH 20 Ben Foden  74' FH 21 Valentin Courrent  78' CE 22 Chris Mayor  67' Coach: Philippe Saint-André FB 15 Geordan Murphy RW 14 Alesana Tuilagi  46' OC 13 Ollie Smith IC 12 Daryl Gibson LW 11 Tom Varndell FH 10 Andy Goode SH 9 Harry Ellis  52' N8 8 Martin Corry (c) OF 7 Shane Jennings  51' BF 6 Lewis Moody RL 5 Ben Kay LL 4 Leo Cullen  55' TP 3 Julian White HK 2 George Chuter  63' LP 1 Graham Rowntree  60' Replacements: HK 16 James Buckland  63' PR 17 Michael Holford  60' LK 18 Jim Hamilton  55' FL 19 Louis Deacon  51' SH 20 Austin Healey  52' WG 21 Leon Lloyd FB 22 Sam Vesty  46' Coach: Pat Howard

15 Matt Burke (Newcastle Falcons) 14 Tom Varndell (Leicester Tigers) 13 Mathew Tait (Newcastle Falcons) 12 Mike Catt (London Irish) 11 Tom Voyce (London Wasps) 10 Carlos Spencer (Northampton Saints) 9 Justin Marshall (Leeds Tykes) 1 Tony Windo (Worcester Warriors) 2 Mark Regan (Bristol) 3 Cobus Visagie (Saracens) 4 Danny Grewcock (Bath Rugby) 5 Ben Kay (Leicester Tigers) 6 Matt Salter (captain, Bristol) 7 Magnus Lund (Sale Sharks) 8 Juan Manuel Leguizamón (London Irish)^[1]

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 earn international senior caps. Players may hold one or more non-WR nationalities.

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