{"id":384093,"date":"2026-01-01T05:24:09","date_gmt":"2026-01-01T05:24:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/384093\/"},"modified":"2026-01-01T05:24:09","modified_gmt":"2026-01-01T05:24:09","slug":"3-must-watch-prem-rugby-matches-to-open-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/384093\/","title":{"rendered":"3 Must-Watch PREM Rugby Matches To Open 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"

The first weekend of 2026 PREM play brings high stakes for the standings.<\/p>\n

This week\u2019s matchups feature numerous table neighbors, including No. 9 Gloucester vs. No. 10 Newcastle, No. 3 Bath vs. No. 2 Exeter, and No. 5 Leicester vs. No. 6 Saracens.<\/p>\n

From top to bottom, the table is primed for an upset. Newcastle vs. Gloucester kicks off the weekend Jan. 2 at 2:45 p.m. ET, and Leicester vs. Saracens brings up the tail end Jan. 4 at 10 a.m. ET.<\/p>\n

Here are three matches to watch this PREM weekend.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

2026 Bristol Bears vs Sale Sharks<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

Bristol Bears vs. Sale Sharks \u2013 Jan. 2 at 2:45 p.m. ET<\/p>\n

Bristol hosts Sale at Ashton Gate after both teams found victories last weekend, with Sale earning a 43\u201317 win over Harlequins and Bristol claiming a 36\u201327 victory over Newcastle.<\/p>\n

The Sharks have won four of their last five games against the Bears. However, Bristol has won all five of their most recent matches, while Sale has only won two.<\/p>\n

Bath Rugby vs. Exeter Chiefs \u2013 Jan. 3 at 10:05 a.m. ET<\/p>\n

Bath hosts Exeter at Recreation Ground, looking to capitalize on home-pitch advantage. Bath suffered a tough 41\u201321 loss to No. 1 Northampton last week and will be searching for a bounce-back win.<\/p>\n

Exeter, on the other hand, has gone unbeaten in their last five matches, winning four and drawing with Racing 92 during the Champions Cup.<\/p>\n

Bath has won four of their last five meetings with Exeter, but the Chiefs\u2019 momentum doesn\u2019t appear to be slowing.<\/p>\n

Leicester Tigers vs. Saracens F.C. \u2013 Jan. 4 at 10 a.m. ET<\/p>\n

Leicester and Saracens may be the closest matchup of the weekend.<\/p>\n

Their five most recent meetings are nearly split down the middle, with Leicester holding three wins and an average of 23 points scored, and Saracens owning two wins with a 24-point average. Both teams carry 2\u20133 win-loss records across their last five matches.<\/p>\n

The pair have alternated wins since February 2023, and Saracens claimed a 29\u201322 victory in their most recent meeting. This weekend, fans will see if the pattern continues.<\/p>\n

Gallagher PREM Fixtures: Round 9 Weekend Schedule<\/p>\n

Friday, January 2<\/p>\n

2:45 PM ET \u2013 Bristol Bears vs Sale Sharks2:45 PM ET \u2013 Newcastle vs Gloucester Rugby<\/p>\n

Saturday, January 3<\/p>\n

10:05 AM ET \u2013 Bath Rugby vs Exeter Chiefs12:30 PM ET \u2013 Northampton Saints vs Harlequin F.C.<\/p>\n

Sunday, January 4<\/p>\n

10:00 AM ET \u2013 Leicester Tigers vs Saracens F.C.PREM Rugby Table<\/p>\n

Team (Points): W-L-D<\/p>\n

Northampton Saints (33): 6-1-1Exeter Chiefs (32): 6-1-1Bath Rugby (31): 6-2-0Bristol Bears (29): 6-2-0Leicester Tigers (26): 5-3-0Saracens (26): 4-4-0Sale Sharks (18): 3-5-0Harlequins (10): 2-6-0Gloucester Rugby (8): 1-7-0Newcastle Red Bulls (1): 0-8-0European Union Rugby Lives On FloSports And FloRugby<\/p>\n

Rugby fans can stream every match from the Top 14, Gallagher Premiership and United Rugby Championship on FloRugby, along with the Investec Champions Cup and EPCR Challenge Cup, making the platform the U.S. home for the world\u2019s biggest club competitions and the game\u2019s top players.<\/p>\n

How To Watch Rugby Matches In The United States On FloRugby<\/p>\n

Professional club rugby in Europe all streams on FloRugby and the FloSports app in the United States. FloRugby and FloSports also are the U.S. home to:\u00a0<\/p>\n

FloRugby also is home to match archives and match replays.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Join The Rugby Conversation On FloRugby Social<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The first weekend of 2026 PREM play brings high stakes for the standings. This week\u2019s matchups feature numerous…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":340100,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[567],"tags":[64,63,760,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-384093","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-rugby","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-rugby","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/384093","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=384093"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/384093\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/340100"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=384093"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=384093"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=384093"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}