Two Premiership Rugby clubs are on the cusp of becoming double champions in the 2023/24 season, with Northampton Saints and Gloucester Rugby both on the verge of unforgettable seasons. To win one competition is an impressive feat by itself, yet these two sides of the English top division could well end their season with two trophies in the cabinet.
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Starting off with Gloucester, the Cherry and Whites claimed the first trophy up for grabs in the season, as they lifted the Premiership Rugby Cup back in March. Formerly known as the RFU Knockout Cup and the Anglo-Welsh Cup, Gloucester won the revamped competition which this year included the expansion to the RFU Championship sides. Gloucester defeated Leicester Tigers 23-13 in the final, and lifted the silverware in the home ground of Kingsholm.
Gloucester have since rolled this winning momentum into their EPCR Challenge Cup campaign, and sit poised for a second title amongst the four semi-finalists. Gloucester are set to take on Benetton Treviso next month, and a win would see the West Country side face either the Sharks or Clermont with the Challenge Cup title on the line. Also, Northampton Saints have set themselves up for an unforgettable season, with the East Midlanders sat at the very top of the Premiership ahead of the final few weeks of the regular season.
The Premiership has three weekend’s left ahead of the play-offs, and Phil Dowson’s side look like strong contenders for a home semi-final. The Saints also march on to the Investec Champions Cup semi-final, after a triumphant quarter-final outing last weekend against the Vodacom Bulls. Should the Saints bring home both titles, they will secure their first silverware in a decade. Here are the past five Premiership teams that have won two titles in the same season.
1. Exeter Chiefs – 2019/20 Premiership & Champions Cup Double
The most recent Premiership and Champions Cup double saw Exeter Chiefs reach the mountain top of Northern Hemisphere club rugby. The Chiefs won their second league title in the 2020 season, and ended a period of Saracens dominance across both the Premiership and in Europe. Unfortunately for the Devon club, the title celebrations had to take place behind closed doors, as the Covid Lockdown stopped Chiefs fans from witnessing their meteoric rise in person.
The pandemic threw the entire 2019/20 season out of order, with the Champions Cup’s last few rounds taking place in September and October of 2020. The Chiefs achieved a stunning home win over Toulouse to take them through to a Champions Cup showdown with Racing 92. The Devonians continued their impressive form against the French opponents, and 31-27 triumph against a Finn Russell orchestrated Parisian attack. This marked Exeter’s first and only Champions Cup title win to date, as Luke Cowan-Dickie, Sam Simmonds, Harry Williams and Henry Slade all contributed key tries for the win.
The 2019/20 Premiership Final saw Exeter go toe-to-toe with Wasps, in a match that broke down into a place-kicking clinic at Twickenham. After tries from Henry Slade and Jacob Umaga broke the deadlock in front of a sea of green seats, the match was decided by the accurate kicking of Joe Simmonds against Jimmy Gopperth. It was Simmonds who prevailed, as the now Pau place kicker slotted four penalties and a conversion, whilst Gopperth only sent three efforts through the uprights, for a 19-13 Chiefs win.