Prem

Northampton director of rugby Phil Dowson told BBC Sport:

“We were outstanding throughout the season, it’s nice now to be able to put a full stop on it with a big tin cup and say ‘we were the best side in the league’.

“I think it looked like a final.

“That was a proper final where it was nip and tuck, there were opportunities, we got held up, they got held up.

“We maybe weren’t as clinical as we’d have liked to have been, and that can certainly change the pressure.

“But I thought at 60 minutes to go we felt in a good space and the messages that were coming back to the coaching group from how the players were talking to each other and connecting was very positive.

“You bring on people like Callum Chick and Fraser Dingwall, who have been there before, and the last 20 minuets we looked very strong.”

Departing Northampton captain George Furbank told BBC Sport:

“I said to the boys I don’t really know how to feel after the final whistle.

“It was a mix of relief, happiness, sadness, all merged into one.

“It was a different feeling to the last time we won it – I think we’re going to have a good few days to celebrate and it’ll all sink in.

Exeter director of rugby Rob Baxter told BBC Sport:

“The first thing you have to do in a final is congratulate the opposition because otherwise when you just talk about yourself – it just feels like you’re critiquing and criticising yourself, and thinking these are the things we could have done.

“We had them deep into the game, under pressure, scores behind, they’ve kind of stuck with what they do.

“I’ll look back and I’ll go ‘we must have been pretty good because we forced two tries out of kicks through’, one where for whatever reason we don’t get our comms quite right and we actually just bump the ball out of our own hands into their hands for one try, and then the last try where they slide it through and it’s almost on a pinpoint.

“You look and go ‘well, we forced Northampton to score 12 points with two relatively speculative kicks through, that’s a pretty pretty good performance from us’.”

Northampton: Furbank (c); Freeman, Litchfield, Hutchinson, Hendy; Smith, McParland; Iyogun, Langdon, Millar Mills; Coles, Prowse, Kemeny, Pearson, Pollock.

Replacements: Wright, Fischetti, Green, Van der Mescht, Lockett, Chick, Mitchell, Dingwall.

Yellow card: Kemeny (51)

Exeter: Woodburn; Feyi-Waboso, Slade, Ikitau, Ridl; Skinner, Varney; Sio, Norey, Iosefa-Scott; Jenkins (c), Zambonin, Hooper, Roots, Fisilau.

Replacements: Dweba, Burger, Tchumbadze, Tshiunza, Vintcent, James, Cairns, Haydon-Wood.

Yellow card: Jenkins (57)

Referee: Matthew Carley.

As so many of Newcastle’s games have been this season, it looked like one-way traffic from their opponents from kick-off.

Making his first start at outside centre with Luke James unwell, Roebuck crossed with a minute on the clock, cutting inside from the left after a hand-off from Reed, with George Ford notching the extras.

Newcastle’s Simon Benitez-Cruz saw a try chalked-off for a forward pass before Seb Kelly barged over for his first Prem try at the other end on six minutes after a slick break down the left from Reed was stopped just short of the line.

The hosts got on the board on 10 minutes following a series of close-range drives with Christie diving under a pile of bodies to touch down on the whitewash.

O’Flaherty scored the third Sale try 15 minutes in after a basketball-style tip back from the touchline from Roebuck, with Ford notching the extras from out wide.

Joe Carpenter secured the bonus-point try inside 24 minutes after taking a short pass from Ford on the charge, with the England fly-half adding the extras.

The recalled Amanaki Mafi bulldozed down the blind side from a close-range scrum to reduce the arrears for Red Bulls as the heavens opened, though the conversion was missed once again and Sale added their fifth try through Alfie Longstaff after a rolling maul from a line-out, with Ford kicking his fifth conversion from the right.

Sale struggled to get going after the turnaround and the hosts made them pay as Hearle burst onto Harrison Obatoyinbo’s pass to plunge over by the posts, with Brett Connon slotting his first conversion to make it 35-17.

Lockwood picked up after Christian Wade was stopped a metre short of the line after gathering a long diagonal kick and dived into the corner and Ben Healy converted from the touchline to make it an 11-point game with 25 minutes remaining.

Roebuck thought he had picked up his second score after driving forward and then winning the race to Newcastle-bound Raffi Quirke’s grubber kick towards the line but it was ruled-out for a knock-on from O’Flaherty and the hosts then produced a defiant goalline stand to keep the Sharks at bay, with Roebuck held up on the line and then knocking on under the posts.

The waves of pressure continued and Reed eventually crossed after quick hands from Quirke, Ford and O’Flaherty, with Ford adding the conversion.

However Newcastle raced back and with 13 minutes remaining a brilliant flick from Healy sent Christie diving over for his second score in the right corner.

Healy turned provider once again on 72 minutes with a delayed pass to send Hearle over for his second to the right of the uprights and then notched the conversion to make it a four-point deficit.

After one win in 547 days the hosts were not going to settle for a close call and broke away from their own 22 after the clock ticked over to 80 minutes with Hearle on hand to collect a short pass and blaze away from halfway untouched to spark wild scenes in the final game of the season at Kingston Park.

The salary cap – a £6.4m limit on squad spending, albeit with ‘credits’ on offer for home-grown talent and other factors which stretch the restriction to £7.8m – will remain the same.

Fly-half remains the highest paid position in the Prem on £260,000, with back row second at £192,000.

The lowest paid position is wing on £132,000, with prop on slightly more on £144,000.

Like Russell, Sale’s George Ford, Marcus Smith at Harlequins and Saracens’ Maro Itoje are among the excluded players, with their average salary £533,000.

Bottom side Newcastle spent the least of all clubs and failed to reach £4m overall.

“The cap continues to be supported by all and it is central to driving the competitiveness of the Prem,” chief executive Simon Massie-Taylor said.

“With six different winners in as many years, we should all be proud of our system that ensures that any club, on any given day, can compete for the biggest prize in English rugby.”

Together with their first league title since 1996, Bath lifted the Premiership Rugby Cup and European Challenge Cup last year.

Northampton: Furbank, Freeman, Litchfield, Hutchinson, Hendy, Smith, McParland; Iyogun, Smith, Millar Mills, Coles, Prowse, Kemeny, Pollock, Chick

Replacements: Walker, Fischetti, Green, Van Der Mescht, Pearson, Graham, Mitchell, Dingwall

Bristol: Lane, Rees-Zammit, Janse van Rensburg, Williams, Ravouvou, Jordan, Randall; Genge, Thacker, Kloska, Dun, Batley, Owen, Harding (c), Grondona

Replacements: Gwilliam, Woolmore, Lahiff, Taylor, Ivanishvili, Marmion, Moroni, Heward

Referee: Luke Pearce

Sale: R du Preez; O’Flaherty, Louw, Ma’asi-White, Roebuck; Ford, Warr; Opoku-Fordjour, Caine, Harper; van Rhyn (c), Bamber, Vermuelen, Gilmore, Dugdale.

Replacements: Longstaff, McEachran, Raymont, Hodkinson, Logan, Hanson, Bedlow, Woodman.

Saracens: Malins; Caluori, Tompkins, Hartley, Segun; Burke, Bracken; Carre, George, Street; Itoje (c), Tizard, McFarland, Earl, Willis.

Replacements: Dan, Mawi, Riccioni, Wilson, Michelow, van Zyl, Farrell, Hall.

Referee: Christophe Ridley.

Bath: Carreras; Cokanasiga, Lawrence, Ojomoh, Arundell; Russell, Carr-Smith; Kirk, Dunn, Sela; Richards, Ewels (c), Hill, Pepper, Barbeary.

Replacements: Frost, Van Wyk, Du Toit, Molony, Bayliss, Van der Linde, Hennessey, Reid.

Harlequins: Smith; David, Kerr, Bradley, Murley; J. Evans, Friday; Hobson, Turner, Jones; Cunningham-South, Treadwell, Petti, Kenningham, Dombrandt (c)

Replacements: Musk, Clarke, Streeter, Williams, Carr, W. Evans, Townsend, Anderson.

Referee: Sara Cox