Unprecedented transfer window, wide-open title race and the search for Eddie Jones’s successor: Premiership returns with plenty on the line
Sign up to our free sport newsletter for all the latest news on everything from cycling to boxing Sign up to our free sport email for all the latest news Sign up to our free sport email for all the latest news SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy English rugby’s longest ever hiatus in the Premiership era will end tonight when Harlequins host Sale Sharks inside an empty Twickenham Stoop. Fans have waited 159 days for a professional rugby match to be staged in England, with New Zealand’s and Australia’s Super Rugby competitions politely filling the gap on weekend mornings. The season restarts with Eddie Jones about to tick over into the final three years of his deal with the Rugby Football Union, and although the 2023 Rugby World Cup remains a long way off, talk of the Australian’s successor is never far away. Paul Gustard surprised many when he abandoned England’s 2019 World Cup preparations to take the head of rugby role at Harlequins two years ago, but he has company now in Steve Borthwick and Neal Hatley, who will lead Leicester Tigers and Bath this season as the latter steps up from his position as forwards coach.
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