to discover that Red Bull has given them wings<\/a> \u2014 what kind of four-winged beast are they now? The Newcastle Butterflies? The Newcastle Grasshoppers? The Newcastle Microraptors? Anyway, Red Bull has swooped in, sprinkled some marketing energy dust, and bam: Introducing\u2026 Newcastle Red Bulls. They have a new club crest, new kits, some new players and a new name, but will really be hoping for a new league position. They have finished bottom in each of the past three seasons. It\u2019s the start of a big journey for Newcastle Red Bulls. <\/p>\nWill Christian Wade become the GOAT?<\/p>\n
Speaking of Newcastle and journeys, what a busy boy Christian Wade has been. The bloke buzzes about at lightning speed on the field and his past few years away from the pitch have not been too different. After leaving Wasps in 2018, the former England wing pursued his childhood dream of playing American football, signing with the NFL\u2019s Buffalo Bills as a running back. Following his NFL stint, Wade returned to rugby union, joining Racing 92 in France. He later moved to Gloucester before announcing in April that he was going to try another new sport, this time rugby league. He is with Wigan Warriors at the moment but will cross codes again to link up with Newcastle in December as he attempts to become the Prem\u2019s record tryscorer. He is eight tries short of Chris Ashton. Can the 34-year-old do it?<\/p>\n
Predictions: each team assessedBath<\/p>\n
Last season 1st (winners) Prediction for this season 1st
Losing attack coach Lee Blackett is a blow as he\u2019s transformed Bath going forward, but adding the likes of Henry Arundell and especially Santiago Carreras to the player pool should help the league\u2019s best team cope. They have only got stronger, and the big challenge will be trying to mount a serious attempt for the Champions Cup in tandem with defending their league crown, which they are solid favourites for. Finn Russell, Ted Hill and Thomas du Toit could probably get the club in the top four by themselves.<\/p>\n
Bristol Bears<\/p>\n
Last season 4th This season 3rd
Are they going to be pragmatic or completely barmy? When it\u2019s the latter, Bristol are in business. They ran Bath close in the play-offs despite a really limp end to the campaign so will target going one step further this year and reaching a first Premiership final. Max Malins has gone back to Saracens, but the signing of Scotland\u2019s Tom Jordan is a masterstroke and, of course, there is a certain Louis Rees-Zammit on the books now. At Ashton Gate, Bristol are almost unstoppable. Sort out their away form, and they could make the top two. <\/p>\n
Exeter Chiefs<\/p>\n
Last season 9th This season 8th
Chiefs fans could not wait for last term to finish \u2014 it was their worst in the top flight. Minging. Embarrassing at times. But there have been a few green shoots at Baxter University and that can be coupled with the fact that Rob Baxter, the director of rugby, has brought in some great signings. Len Ikitau, albeit on a one-year deal, is the standout, but his Wallaby team-mate Tom Hooper feels like a Chiefs-of-old signing. They have fixed their scrum-half issues by bringing in Italy No9 Stephen Varney and Gloucester\u2019s Charlie Chapman, while you can\u2019t go wrong with a South African hooker. Enter Joseph Dweba. It can\u2019t be worse than last year? <\/p>\n
![\"Stephen](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/\/1c05fce8-9a89-40d8-8ac9-812d1dbc76b3.jpg\")
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Chiefs hope the addition of Varney can fix their problems at No9<\/p>\n
GETTY<\/p>\n
Gloucester<\/p>\n
Last season 5th This season 9th
After a terrible 2023-24, last season was a whirlwind for Gloucester that ultimately ended in disappointment for head coach George Skivington. Gloucester had one of the best attacks in the league. Unfortunately for them, they also had one of the leakiest defences, which proved costly. In short, Gloucester are so inconsistent and therefore so unpredictable. They have signed Ben Loader, Will Joseph, Ross Byrne and Nepo Laulala, among others, but losing Santiago Carreras, Gareth Anscombe, Christian Wade and Freddie Clarke is massive \u2014 and not in a good way. It could be a tough season in Shed City. They need more Tomos Williams miracles.<\/p>\n
Harlequins<\/p>\n
Last season 7th This season 7th
It was far from a vintage campaign for Quins \u2014 their amazing away kit deserved so much better. It felt like it never really got off the ground and that so much pressure was put on Marcus Smith to produce magic, with tries, crazily for Quins, not as easy to come by. Danny Care has retired, while Nathan Jibulu, Will Joseph, Irne Herbst, Dino Lamb and Lennox Anyanwu have all left Twickenham Stoop. Argentina lock\/flanker Guido Petti is a nice pick-up from Bordeaux, while fellow Argentine newbie Boris Wenger may have the league\u2019s best name. Getting a play-off spot will represent success for the quarters crew. File Quins under: \u201cDon\u2019t expect much but also a bit nuts.\u201d <\/p>\n
Leicester Tigers<\/p>\n
Last season 2nd (runners-up) This season 6th
The beaten finalists were so close to a huge upset in June and it has been a busy summer, with former Tiger great Geoff Parling moving from Australia to take charge at Welford Road \u2014 and he\u2019s brought James O\u2019Connor with him. Julian Montoya is a huge loss in the pack but Tigers, who have added Jamie Blamire, have witnessed the blossoming of tight-head Joe Heyes, and if they can keep George Martin and Ollie Chessum fit they will be fine up front. They can match Bath and Sale for snarl. The back line is more concerning, with double World Cup-winning fly half Handr\u00e9 Pollard\u2019s exit. There is a huge dip in quality to his replacements, and they need the right chefs to serve up for in-form flyers Ollie Hassell-Collins and Adam Radwan. Tigers will be in the hunt for the play-offs.<\/p>\n
![\"James](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/\/66387f71-77f6-4a2f-8986-00b9144edf03.jpg\")
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Wallabies fly half O\u2019Connor, left, is back in the Premiership this season<\/p>\n
GETTY<\/p>\n
Newcastle Red Bulls<\/p>\n
Last season 10th This season 10th
This is a new era for Newcastle but it has only just started, so don\u2019t expect much yet. It will be a good season for them if they can be more competitive and start to build the foundations for global domination. They have made some decent signings: bringing George McGuigan back goes some way to filling the hero hole left by favourites Callum Chick, Jamie Blamire and Adam Radwan, while lock Freddie Clarke is one of the best deals of the summer. They\u2019ve also brought in the former Saracens and Lions full back Liam Williams. This season is a bit of a free hit for a \u201cwatch this space\u201d club, but not finishing bottom for the first time since 2022 would be nice.<\/p>\n
Northampton Saints<\/p>\n
Last season 8th This season 5th
The beaten Champions Cup finalists were box office in Europe but that came at the expense of their league form after a summer of much change. Having lost Courtney Lawes and Lewis Ludlam, among others, the previous year\u2019s champions finished third from bottom in the league, but the likes of Henry Pollock announced themselves on the European stage in stunning fashion. They have a young group who should improve this term. Losing young England prop Tarek Haffar to Tigers is a blow, but they have added some forward beef. Newcastle\u2019s Callum Chick and Italy\u2019s Danilo Fischetti are both in. As is JJ van der Mescht, a 6ft 7in, 22st 12lb South African lock. Basically a small planet. <\/p>\n
Sale Sharks<\/p>\n
Last season 3rd This season 2nd
Beatdown Boulevard was a horrid place to go last term and it felt for the longest time that only Sale could challenge Bath when it came to being a team of giant monsters with a lust for maiming the opposition. Alas they shot themselves in the foot, with a loss at Welford Road meaning a return there for the semis\u2026 and then lost again. But Sale\u2019s squad is superb. When you have George Ford pulling the strings and the likes of the Curry twins and Luke-Cowan Dickie obliterating people up front, you can never be far from glory. But they have to start earning bonus points in defeat (zero losing bonus points from six losses last term). Is this finally their year?<\/p>\n
![\"George](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/\/bb427f88-5ce0-4210-9eb1-0656065deda4.jpg\")
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Ford was one of the Premiership players of the season last term<\/p>\n
GETTY<\/p>\n
Saracens<\/p>\n
Last season 6th This season 4th
While they were in a tight mix for the play-offs, a sixth-placed finish for Saracens was shocking last term. It\u2019s almost unheard of for them to be that close to the basement; they\u2019re a penthouse club. Owen Farrell, back on a two-year deal, during which he\u2019ll also do a bit of official coaching, will not stand for a repeat of that. Sarries\u2019 standards will be driven through the roof and they hope that getting the band back together (Malins is back too) will help them challenge at the top again. Mark McCall, the director of rugby, was right last season when citing that Sarries let too many games pass them by. Sort that consistency and their set piece out, and they\u2019ll be grand. <\/p>\n
Finally, goodbye from me<\/p>\n
After several years of bringing you a weird and wonderful look at the best rugby league in the world, this piece shall be my last as I embark on a new adventure. It\u2019s been an absolute slobberknocker, and thank you to everyone for coming back every week. The Prem Guide is not dead, however. No. The wonderful Will Rogan shall be replacing me from next week. But, for me, this is \u201csee you later\u201d. In the end, the true reward was the friends we made along the way.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Just like Pamela Anderson in Hollywood (and Owen Farrell at Saracens), we are so back. After enduring the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":155248,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[5903,101,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-155247","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-rugby","8":"tag-rugby","9":"tag-sports","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom","12":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/155247","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=155247"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/155247\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/155248"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=155247"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=155247"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=155247"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"Bath](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/\/d4449440-1232-4355-9e73-4471143043bd.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"Rugby](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/\/8ec9592d-a3f3-471d-ba60-2214231763f7.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"Dan](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/\/d27fa502-1378-4658-928d-b1a4e4178bb5.jpg\")
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