Champs the team to beat in new-look Prem de la creme

Can Bath defend their title or will a new champion emerge from a competitive chasing pack? Harry Latham-Coyle offers a club-by-club guide and predictions for the new season

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The topflight of English rugby returns this evening, with a new name and fresh energy after Prem Rugby's radical offseason rebrand.

The shortening of the official name of the competition, designed to reflect the vernacular in which the league is most commonly spoken, is part of a wider shift in presentation and identity, with the intensity of the league and physical feats performed by the Prem’s players set to be emphasised.

Bath begin as defending champions after finally ending a 29-year wait for a title, while Northampton will look to bounce back from a mixed domestic campaign, having come close to Champions Cup glory.

There is real reason for hope at Newcastle, too, with the struggling side taken over by Red Bull and optimistic of a much better season, having finished bottom last year.

Here’s our club-by-club guide and predictions for the new season, in the order in which they finished the last campaign:

Bath

Director of Rugby: Johann van Graan

Captain: Ben Spencer

There is every chance the defending champions back up their long-awaited success with another tilt at the title. Adding Santiago Carreras, Chris Harris and Henry Arundell to the deepest squad in the league should only enhance their chances, with making a push in the Champions Cup surely a necessary next step. The departure of attack coach Lee Blackett to England early in the season creates a degree of uncertainty, but Ben Spencer and Finn Russell, armed with a new contract, are back to pull the strings, and the pack remains very, very strong.