Premiership Rugby 2025/26 · Final
Northampton Saints
Exeter Chiefs
Allianz Stadium, Twickenham, London
Championship Standings
Northampton finished top of the regular-season table on 74 points — 14 wins, a draw and three losses across 18 rounds — earning a home semi-final and the No. 1 seed. Exeter sneaked into the play-offs in third on 65 points, four clear of fourth-placed Leicester but a full nine behind the Saints. On paper this is the runaway league leaders against the side that scraped in; in practice, Exeter eliminated reigning champions Bath in the semis and arrive with nothing to lose. Seeding earns Northampton the favourite's tag — but in a one-off final at a neutral Twickenham, the table is now just history.
| Pos | Team | P | W | L | PD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Northampton Saints | 18 | 14 | 3 | +157 | 74 |
| 2 |  Bath | 18 | 13 | 5 | +222 | 69 |
| 3 | Exeter Chiefs | 18 | 11 | 6 | +154 | 65 |
| 4 |  Leicester Tigers | 18 | 12 | 6 | +178 | 63 |
| 5 |  Saracens | 18 | 10 | 8 | +179 | 57 |
| 6 |  Bristol Bears | 18 | 11 | 7 | +16 | 54 |
| 7 |  Sale Sharks | 18 | 5 | 13 | −78 | 36 |
| 8 |  Gloucester | 18 | 5 | 13 | −152 | 32 |
| 9 |  Harlequins | 18 | 6 | 12 | −141 | 31 |
| 10 |  Newcastle Red Bulls | 18 | 2 | 16 | −535 | 12 |
Northampton Saints
W4, L1Northampton are a try-scoring machine — a 94–33 evisceration of Bristol in the run-in is the highest score in Premiership history, and they backed it up with a six-try, 45–31 demolition of Leicester in the semi-final. Phil Dowson's side led the league for scoring and routinely win shootouts: 41–38 over Bath, 36–32 over Gloucester. The flip side is they leak points too — the dead-rubber 38–31 loss at Harlequins and 172 conceded across this run show a defence that can be opened up. But with Fin Smith pulling the strings and Henry Pollock detonating off the back row, the Saints are in irresistible attacking form.
Exeter Chiefs
W4, L1Exeter peaked exactly when it mattered. The semi-final win at Bath was an all-time smash-and-grab — trailing 26–10 at half-time against the reigning champions, they stormed back to win 27–26 and deny Bath a third straight final. That followed a 32–12 dismantling of Saracens and a 35–12 home win over Bath in the regular season — Rob Baxter's young side beat the champions twice and the Tigers away in the closing stretch. The 41–24 loss at Harlequins is the blemish, but this is a team riding belief and hardened by knockout pressure, with only three of their 23 having played in a Premiership final before.
Head-to-Head Record
5 – 1 – 4
Northampton wins · Draws · Exeter wins (last 10 meetings)
Northampton Saints (5)These two have traded blows for years and split this very season down the middle. They drew 33–33 at Franklin's Gardens in September, Exeter won the Premiership Cup meeting 31–14 in March, and Northampton took the league return 35–28 at Sandy Park in April. Go back further and Exeter own some of the heaviest results — a 42–14 hammering in May 2025 and a 57–7 demolition in 2020 — but Northampton have edged the recent league exchanges, winning five of the last 10 to Exeter's four. There is genuinely nothing between them, and crucially this is the first time they have ever met in a Premiership final.
Recent Results
| Date | Competition | Result |
|---|---|---|
| Apr 2026 | Premiership | Exeter 28–35 Northampton |
| Mar 2026 | Premiership Cup | Exeter 31–14 Northampton |
| Sep 2025 | Premiership | Northampton 33–33 Exeter |
| May 2025 | Premiership | Exeter 42–14 Northampton |
| Sep 2024 | Premiership | Northampton 30–24 Exeter |
| Jan 2024 | Premiership | Exeter 36–42 Northampton |
Average score in the last 6 meetings: Roughly Northampton 27 – Exeter 28 across the last 10 — a dead heat skewed by the odd Exeter blowout. The 2025/26 season series finished 1-1-1: a draw, an Exeter Cup win, and a Northampton league win. Form, venue and motivation will decide this, not history.
Extended Form
Northampton SaintsChampions Cup SF + PREM 1st seed
Reached the Champions Cup quarter-finals (out to Bath 43–41 in a thriller) and topped the Premiership on 74 points. Signature wins: 94–33 v Bristol (record score), 45–31 v Leicester (SF), 41–38 v Bath, 66–21 v Harlequins, 50–5 v the Bulls in Europe. Losses included 38–31 at Harlequins and 41–17 at Leicester.
Northampton have been the most entertaining side in England all season — relentless width, offloading and the breakout star Henry Pollock at No. 8. They beat every play-off rival at some point and finished top by five points. The only knock is defensive lapses in transition; against a clinical side they can be exposed, but their ceiling is higher than anyone's.
Exeter ChiefsChallenge Cup run + PREM 3rd seed
Finished third on 65 points and went deep in the Challenge Cup. Closing-stretch form was outstanding: beat Bath twice (35–12, 27–26 SF), Saracens 32–12, Leicester 35–26 away. Earlier wobbles included a 66–14 Cup loss at Leicester and a 41–24 defeat at Harlequins.
Rob Baxter's rebuilt Chiefs are young, fearless and timed their surge perfectly. The semi-final comeback at Bath — 16 points down at the break — was the defining performance of their season and proof this group does not panic. Slade and Ikitau give them midfield class, and Feyi-Waboso adds a genuine match-winner out wide. The inexperience in a final is the only real worry.
Northampton Saints XV
Phil Dowson named an unchanged starting XV from the semi-final win over Leicester. Captain George Furbank stays at fullback — playing his final Saints appearance before joining Harlequins — with Tommy Freeman and George Hendy on the wings and Rory Hutchinson alongside Tom Litchfield in midfield. Fin Smith and Archie McParland continue at half-back, with breakout star Henry Pollock at No. 8 flanked by Tom Pearson and Josh Kemeny. England scrum-half Alex Mitchell returns to the matchday squad on the bench after a fitness collaboration between club and country, with Fraser Dingwall providing midfield cover.
Exeter Chiefs XV
Rob Baxter welcomes back England wing Immanuel Feyi-Waboso, who slots into a back three with Olly Woodburn at fullback and Campbell Ridl on the wing. Henry Slade and Len Ikitau form a Test-class centre pairing, with Harvey Skinner at fly-half and Stephen Varney at scrum-half. Skipper Dafydd Jenkins partners Andrea Zambonin in the second row, and Ethan Roots — cleared after a head-knock against Saracens — joins Tom Hooper and Greg Fisilau in the back row. Exeter go with a 6-2 bench split; Christ Tshiunza is named among the replacements for his final appearance as a Chief. Only three of the 23 have featured in a previous Premiership final.
Key Matchups
The game pivots on the No. 10 channel and the back row. Fin Smith was England's first-choice fly-half for stretches of the Six Nations and controls a game far better than the in-form-but-less-proven Harvey Skinner — that, plus Pollock's dynamism at the base, gives Northampton the edge through the spine. Exeter's clearest advantage is at centre, where the Slade–Ikitau axis is arguably the best midfield pairing on the pitch and can punish Northampton's occasionally porous transition defence. The Chiefs' 6-2 bench tilts toward a forward-dominated second half — if they can drag this into a tight arm-wrestle and let Slade orchestrate, the upset is live. But if Northampton get quick ball and play with width, their attacking ceiling is simply higher.
Match Forecast
The scorecard lands at +7 — slight-favourite tier — and the logic is the spine plus the ceiling. Northampton topped the table by five points, scored the most points in the league (including a record 94 against Bristol), and have an England-laden axis in Fin Smith, Tommy Freeman and the breakout sensation Henry Pollock that can win a final on its own. They lead the recent head-to-head 5-1-4 and put 45 on Leicester in the semi. When the Saints get front-foot ball and play with width, almost nobody in England lives with them.
The caveat is that Exeter are exactly the kind of side that ruins a favourite's day. They came from 16 points down to knock out reigning champions Bath, they beat the Tigers away and Bath twice in the run-in, and in Slade and Ikitau they have the midfield class to expose Northampton's occasionally leaky transition defence. A 6-2 bench points to an arm-wrestle plan, and if they slow the tempo and make it ugly, their belief is real. But finals reward control and big-game experience, and Northampton have more of both. Expect the Saints to win a high-scoring, nervy final — but not comfortably.
Northampton by a converted try — the Saints have the better fly-half, the higher ceiling and the recent edge, but Exeter's comeback kings will make them sweat to the death.