Northampton Saints will be looking to regain the crown they lost in 2025 when they take on a revitalised Exeter Chiefs in England’s showpiece event.
Both of these teams endured horrific 2024/25 seasons, finishing in eighth and ninth in the table respectively, but they have been revitalised in 2025/26.
Northampton’s shocker last year was particularly surprising given that they claimed the domestic title in 2024, but injuries to significant players ultimately hampered their campaign.
With those key individuals playing a much bigger part this time around and some younger players stepping up, including Archie McParland, who has covered superbly for Alex Mitchell, the league leaders go into the final as favourites.
Their free-flowing style will be tough for the Chiefs to stop, but the West Countrymen will be full of confidence after defeating defending champions Bath at the Rec.
Exeter reached a remarkable six successive finals between 2016 and 2021, winning two titles, but this will be their first appearance at Twickenham since then.
Four consecutive bottom half finishes have followed with their lowest point coming last season when they won just four matches out of 18.
Chiefs legend Rob Baxter took a more prominent role in the coaching set-up since that disaster and it has duly paid dividends.
They are also bolstered by the return of Immanuel Feyi-Waboso, who has recovered from a facial injury while Wallabies duo Len Ikitau and Tom Hooper start after being named in Joe Schmidt’s squad for the Nations Championship.
Players to watch
There are so many threats in the Saints side and, of course, plenty of eyes will be on England’s Tommy Freeman and Fin Smith, but they have been supported by academy trio Tom Litchfield, George Hendy and Archie McParland, who themselves may be getting Test call-ups for the mid-year series.
Certainly, Hendy and McParland will, at the very least, not be far away, but Litchfield must also be in Steve Borthwick’s thoughts after a remarkable season for Northampton. Elsewhere, you can’t go without Henry Pollock and his all-action brilliance but the key may well be in the set-piece. They do not have too many star names in the front five, but the likes of Curtis Langdon and Elliot Millar Mills have done their jobs superbly to produce a good platform for the backline.
Northampton Saints v Exeter Chiefs teams: England internationals make stunning return for PREM final
It is perhaps in the tight exchanges where Exeter will feel they can get the upper hand with that loose forward trio of Greg Fisilau, Ethan Roots and Tom Hooper fantastic around the ruck thanks to their tremendous work rates, while all three also other a carrying threat and good skills in the wider channels.
They also have a strong starting front five but it is worth looking out for their impact off the bench, with plenty of eyes on South African prop Ethan Burger. Not a huge name prior to the semi-final, plenty took notice of him with his performance as a replacement in the victory over Bath. If Burger and his forward team-mates can repeat that trick in the showpiece event then they have the talent out wide in Len Ikitau, Henry Slade and Immanuel Feyi-Waboso to cause problems for the Northampton rearguard.
Prediction
If the Saints get parity in the set-piece, and there’s no reason to think they won’t given their performances so far this season, then they should be too slick for Exeter. The Chiefs also have plenty of threats but, if it becomes a try-scoring shootout, the Midlanders have the edge. Northampton Saints by seven points.
The teams
Northampton Saints: 15 George Furbank (c), 14 Tommy Freeman, 13 Tom Litchfield, 12 Rory Hutchinson, 11 George Hendy, 10 Fin Smith, 9 Archie McParland, 8 Henry Pollock, 7 Tom Pearson, 6 Josh Kemeny, 5 Ed Prowse, 4 Alex Coles, 3 Elliot Millar Mills, 2 Curtis Langdon, 1 Emmanuel Iyogun
Replacements: 16 Craig Wright, 17 Danilo Fischetti, 18 Luke Green, 19 JJ van der Mescht, 20 Tom Lockett, 21 Callum Chick, 22 Alex Mitchell, 23 Fraser Dingwall
Exeter Chiefs: 15 Olly Woodburn, 14 Immanuel Feyi-Waboso, 13 Henry Slade, 12 Len Ikitau, 11 Campbell Ridl, 10 Harvey Skinner, 9 Stephen Varney, 8 Greg Fisilau, 7 Ethan Roots, 6 Tom Hooper, 5 Andrea Zambonin, 4 Dafydd Jenkins (c), 3 Josh Iosefa-Scott, 2 Max Norey, 1 Scott Sio
Replacements: 16 Joseph Dweba, 17 Ethan Burger, 18 Bachuki Tchumbadze, 19 Christ Tshiunza, 20 Ross Vintcent, 21 Kane James, 22 Tom Cairns, 23 Will Haydon-Wood
Date: Saturday, June 20
Venue: Allianz Stadium, Twickenham
Kick-off: 15:00 BST (14:00 GMT)
Referee: Matthew Carley
Assistant referees: Adam Leal, Anthony Woodthorpe
TMO: Ian Tempest
How to watch: ITV4, ITVX, TNT Sports, HBO Max, Stan Sport, Sky Sport NZ, FloRugby