Following a recent flurry of “basketball scorelines”, we look back at the biggest aggregate points totals in the history of England’s top division
Northampton Saints’ 71-48 victory over Bath at Franklin’s Gardens on 10 October was the second highest aggregate score in the history of Premiership Rugby. It comes amid a flurry of “basketball scorelines” in English rugby’s top flight, and a mere five months after Saints featured in the biggest scoring PREM Rugby match in history against another West Country club, Bristol Bears.
So, as English rugby enters an era when attack appears to have the upper hand over defence (for now), we look back at the highest scoring PREM Rugby matches of all time, ten games in which spectators were treated to 100 points or more.
The 10 highest-scoring PREM Rugby matches of all-time
1. Northampton Saints 94 v 33 Bristol Bears
(Mark Thompson/Getty Images)
- Aggregate score: 127
- Date: 15 May 2026
Northampton scored 14 tries – including four for George Hendy – on their way to notching up their biggest ever score in the PREM – a record-breaking 61 points came before half-time. The result effectively ended Bristol’s hopes of making the play-offs, but they did at least leave with a bonus point – and went on to inflict the reigning champions’ first defeat of this season when Saints visited Ashton Gate in October 2026.
2. Northampton Saints 71 v 48 Bath Rugby
(David Rogers/Getty Images)
- Aggregate score: 119
- Date: 10 October 2026
The Franklin’s Gardens faithful were treated to another thriller at the start of this season, though few would have predicted Saints would run in 11 tries against Bath, their most likely challengers for the PREM title. Bath, for their part, returned to the West Country knowing they’d notched up an impressive 48 points away from home – yet still ended up the losing side.
3. Richmond 106 v 12 Bedford
- Aggregate score: 118
- Date: 16 May 1999
The record holder for 27 years (almost to the day), this was English rugby’s ultimate mismatch, and remains the league’s biggest margin of defeat. With their Premiership status hanging on a pair of play-offs against second-tier Rotherham, Bedford rested their entire first team for the Richmond game. The league’s organisers were not, it’s fair to say, amused. “This doesn’t do the Premiership any good whatsoever,” said chief executive Howard Thomas.
4. West Hartlepool 21 v 91 Harlequins
- Aggregate score: 112
- Date: 23 March 1996
West Hartlepool can currently be found in Regional 2 North, the sixth tier of English rugby’s pyramid, but back in the ’90s they were a top-flight club. They finished bottom of the table in 1996, and were only saved from relegation by the league’s expansion from 10 to 12 clubs. This record-breaking home defeat was the nadir of a season to forget.
5. Leicester Tigers 72 v 37 West Hartlepool
Leicester lifted the Premiership trophy. It wasn’t such a good day for West Hartlepool (David Rogers /Allsport)
- Aggregate score: 109
- Date: 16 May 1999
West Hartlepool were relegated the following season in 1997, but got themselves promoted back to the Premiership at the first time of asking. It turned into another season to forget, as they ended the season five points adrift at the bottom of the table. This whopping defeat to newly crowned champions Leicester Tigers was, sadly, their last appearance (to date) in the top flight.
6. Harlequins 89 v 18 Orrell
- Aggregate score: 107
- Date: 6 October 1996
Orrell have fallen even further than West Hartlepool, and can now be found in the eighth-tier Counties 2 ADM Lancashire & Cheshire. The arrival of professionalism didn’t work out well for the Wigan-based club, who got a lesson in rugby’s direction of travel against a big-spending Harlequins side boasting the talents of Keith Wood, and rugby league recruits Robbie Paul and Gary Connolly. Orrell were relegated a season later.
7. Sale Sharks 19 v 85 Saracens
(David Rogers/Getty Images)
- Aggregate score: 104
- Date: 19 April 2026
Sale Sharks would probably prefer to have their two 2025-26 fixtures against Saracens scrubbed from the records. Having lost 65-14 at the StoneX Stadium, things got even worse in the return fixture, as Saracens racked up 85 points away from home. Teenager Noah Caluori scored five tries in both fixtures, and must now haunt the nightmares of CorpAcq Stadium regulars.
8. Saracens 75 v 28 Newcastle Falcons
(Peter Nicholls/Getty Images)
- Aggregate score: 103
- Date: 10 May 2025
Whether they’re the Falcons or the Red Bulls, Newcastle have got used to propping up the PREM table. Even so, a defeat like this would have been a shock to the system, as Saracens ran in 11 tries in their (ultimately unsuccessful) bid to make the play-offs. Ironically, the 28 points Newcastle scored was well above the 16-per-game they averaged across the season.
9. Bristol Bears 57 v 44 Bath Rugby
(Bob Bradford – CameraSport via Getty Images)
- Aggregate score: 101
- Date: 27 January 2024
Arguably the rugby equivalent of a 4-3 in football, this was a local derby for the ages. Having been 33-15 down at the interval, Bath fought back to ensure this one went down to the wire, with Rich Lane’s last-minute try (following a Finn Russell mis-kick) guaranteeing victory for the hosts. Bristol have tended to have the upper hand over their West Country rivals in recent encounters, but never in a game quite like this.
10. Sale Sharks 53 v 47 Bristol Shoguns
- Aggregate score: 100
- Date: 13 April 2002
The tightest of all the century matches finished with both sides separated by a single score. At one point in the first half the score was 15-13, and those in attendance would have had little idea of the try-fest they were about to witness. Sharks subsequently built up a significant lead before Bristol (then known as the Shoguns as part of a sponsorship deal with Mitsubishi) mounted a comeback. Unfortunately for them, two late tries weren’t enough to reel in the hosts.
Highest-scoring PREM Rugby matches: The facts
- Five of the ten 100-plus aggregate scores have been clocked up since January 2024 – three of them in 2026 alone. The era of basketball scorelines in the PREM is well-and-truly upon us.
- That Bristol Bears v Bath game in January 2024 was the first time any match had surpassed 100 points since April 2002, when Bristol (then known as the Shoguns) lost to Sale Sharks.
- The other four 100-pointers took place last century, in the very early days of professionalism.
- Six of the ten highest scoring PREM matches took place in April or May, suggesting that tiredness – or having one eye on the beach – may have a part to play in defences getting porous.
- Richmond are the only team ever to score over 100 points in a single match.
- Most of the PREM’s highest scoring matches were home wins, though two entries on the list (West Hartlepool v Harlequins in March 1996, and Sale Sharks v Saracens in April 2026) were victories for the away team.
- The most points in a Six Nations match came in England’s 80-23 victory over Italy in 2001. The aggregate score that day was 103.