1996–97 National Division 1

The 1995–96 National Division 1 was the tenth season of the top tier of the English rugby union league system, the Courage Clubs Championship, currently known as Premiership Rugby, and was the first season that saw professional rugby openly introduced into the English game. It was also the tenth and final season of sponsorship by Courage. Bath were the defending champions and London Irish and Northampton Saints the promoted teams.
Wasps finished as champions for the second time, six points clear of defending champions Bath. Bottom two clubs West Hartlepool and Orrell were relegated to the 1997–98 Premiership 2 while Bristol and London Irish would remain in the division having won their respective playoff games.

Structure

Restructuring from the previous season increased the division from ten to twelve teams with each side playing one another twice, in a round robin system, home and away, to make a total of twenty-two matches for each team.
The reorganisation of the Courage Clubs Championship for the following season by the RFU meant there would be between two to four sides relegated into the new look Premiership 2. Sides finishing 11th and 12th would be automatically relegated while sides finishing 9th and 10th would be involved in a promotion/relegation playoff against the 3rd and 4th ranked sides from the 1996–97 National Division 2 with 9th v 4th and 10th v 3rd.

Participating teams

Team	Stadium	Capacity	City/Area	Previous season
Bath	Recreation Ground	8,300	Bath, Somerset	Champions
Bristol	Memorial Stadium	8,500	Bristol, Avon	6th
Gloucester	Kingsholm	12,000	Gloucester, Gloucestershire	8th
Harlequins	The Stoop	9,000	Twickenham, London	3rd
Leicester	Welford Road	17,000	Leicester, Leicestershire	2nd
London Irish	The Avenue	3,600	Sunbury-on-Thames, Surrey	Promoted from National 2
Northampton Saints	Franklin's Gardens	8,400	Northampton, Northamptonshire	Promoted from National 2
Orrell	Edge Hall Road	5,300	Orrell, Greater Manchester	7th
Sale	Heywood Road	4,000	Sale, Greater Manchester	5th
Saracens	Southbury Road	8,200	Enfield, London	9th
Wasps	Loftus Road	18,439	Shepherd's Bush, London	4th
West Hartlepool	Brierton Lane	7,000	Hartlepool, County Durham	10th

Results

The home team is listed in the left column.

Fixtures & Results

Round 1

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Round 2

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Round 3

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Round 4

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Round 5

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Round 6

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Round 7

Postponed. Game rescheduled to 23 February 1997.
Postponed. Game rescheduled to 16 November 1996.

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Round 8

Postponed. Game rescheduled to 18 December 1996.
Postponed. Game rescheduled to 9 April 1997.
Postponed. Game rescheduled to 16 November 1996.

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Rounds 7 & 8 (Rescheduled games)

Game rescheduled from 9 November 1996.
Game rescheduled from 31 October 1996.

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Round 9

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Round 8 (Rescheduled game)

Game rescheduled from 9 November 1996.

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Round 10

Postponed. Game rescheduled to 18 February 1997.
Postponed. Game rescheduled to 2 April 1997.
Postponed. Game rescheduled to 4 March 1997.

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Round 11

Postponed. Game rescheduled to 4 March 1997.
Postponed. Game rescheduled to 4 March 1997.
Postponed. Game rescheduled to 22 February 1997.

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Round 12

Postponed. Game rescheduled to 15 April 1997.

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Round 13

Postponed. Game rescheduled to 26 March 1997.

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Round 14

Postponed. Game rescheduled to 22 February 1997.
Postponed. Game rescheduled to 16 April 1997.

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Round 10 (rescheduled game)

Game rescheduled from 28 December 1996.

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Rounds 7, 11 & 14 (rescheduled games)

Game rescheduled from 8 February 1997.
Game rescheduled from 4 March 1997.
Game rescheduled from 31 October 1996.

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Rounds 10 & 11 (rescheduled games)

Game rescheduled from 4 January 1997.
Game rescheduled from 4 January 1997.
Game rescheduled from 28 December 1996.

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Round 15

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Round 16

Postponed. Game rescheduled to 8 April 1997.
Harlequins were originally due to play Northampton at home and West Hartlepool were due to play Bath away but the fixtures were switched, leaving Bath and Northampton without games on the 22 March. Harlequins would play Northampton on 30 April 1997 while Bath would play West Hartlepool on 27 March 1997.
Postponed. Game rescheduled to 30 April 1997.
Byes: Bath, Northampton Saints

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Rounds 13 & 16 (rescheduled games)

Game rescheduled from 18 January 1997.
Game rescheduled from 22 March 1997 when West Hartlepool's game with Bath was swapped for an away game against Harlequins.

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Round 17

Postponed. Game rescheduled to 30 April 1997.
Postponed. Game rescheduled to 15 April 1997.
Postponed. Game rescheduled to 2 April 1997.
Postponed. Game rescheduled to 23 April 1997.

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Rounds 10 & 17 (rescheduled games)

Game rescheduled from 29 March 1997.
Game rescheduled from 28 December 1996.

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Round 18

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Rounds 8 & 16 (rescheduled games)

Game rescheduled from 22 March 1997.
Game rescheduled from 9 November 1996.

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Round 19

Byes: Harlequins, West Hartlepool

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Rounds 12, 14 & 17 (rescheduled games)

Game rescheduled from 29 March 1997.
Game rescheduled from 11 January 1997.
Game rescheduled from 22 February 1997.

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Round 20

Orrell were relegated.

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Round 17 (rescheduled game)

Game rescheduled from 29 March 1997.

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Round 21

Wasps are champions.
West Hartlepool are relegated.

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Rounds 16 & 17 (rescheduled games)

Game rescheduled from 29 March 1997.
Game rescheduled from 22 March 1997 when Harlequins game with Northampton was swapped to Harlequins versus West Hartlepool.
Game rescheduled from 22 March 1997.

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Relegation/Promotion playoffs

For the first time play-offs took place between the third and fourth placed teams in Division Two and the ninth and tenth placed teams in Division One. The play-offs followed a 4th v 9th, 3rd v 10th system. The matches were played over two legs, with the second-tier team playing at home in the first leg.

First leg

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Second leg

Bristol won 39–23 on aggregate.
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''London Irish won 42–23 on aggregate.''