2022–23 Premiership Rugby

The 2022–23 Premiership Rugby was the 36th season of the top flight of English domestic rugby union competition and the fifth to be sponsored by Gallagher. The competition was broadcast by BT Sport for the tenth successive season, with six league season games and the final also simulcast free-to-air by ITV. Highlights of each weekend's games were shown on ITV with extended highlights on BT Sport.

The reigning champions entering the season were Leicester Tigers, who claimed their 11th league title after winning the 2022 final. No team was promoted as champions from the 2021–22 RFU Championship.

Due to changes to the global rugby calendar implemented in 2020 and to allow more time for preparation for the World Cup, the season started and finished earlier than previous seasons and took place over a slightly reduced timeframe of 38 weeks.

On 26 September 2022, due to ongoing financial difficulties, Worcester Warriors were suspended from all tournaments. On 6 October 2022, it was announced that Worcester would be relegated from the Premiership, after the club was placed into administration and all player and staff contracts were terminated – their results were subsequently deleted from the Premiership's records.

On 12 October 2022, due to ongoing financial difficulties, Wasps were suspended from all tournaments. The club then entered administration on 17 October 2022 and their players and coaching staff were made redundant. On October 28, it was confirmed that Wasps had been suspended for the remainder of the season and relegated – their results were subsequently deleted from the Premiership's records.

Rule changes
This season saw the final year of a three-year moratorium on relegation from the league to the RFU Championship.

This season was the second under the reduced salary cap regulations before changes are made before 2024–25. Further changes for this season were:
 * Excluded players were reduced to one, with an exception made if a team had two excluded players contracts currently in place. If two excluded players remain contracted, both remain excluded until the first of their contracts expire.

Teams
For the second consecutive year, all of the teams from the previous season initially competed in the league. Despite winning the RFU Championship in the 2021–22 season, Ealing Trailfinders were ineligible for promotion, after failing to meet the RFU minimum standards criteria. Therefore, the league continued to have 13 teams at the start of the season.

Worcester Warriors were suspended from all competitions on 26 September 2022 and then expelled on 6 October 2022, reducing the league to 12 teams.

Wasps were suspended from all competitions on 12 October 2022 and then expelled on 28 October 2022, reducing the league further to 11 teams.

Round-by-round progression
The grid below shows each team's progression throughout the season, indicating their points total (and league table position) at the end of every round:

Regular season
The original fixtures for the regular season were announced by Premiership Rugby on 19 July 2022. The league season began on 10 September 2022, a day later than first scheduled, after the opening night fixtures were postponed by 24 hours following the death of Queen Elizabeth II. The season concluded with the Premiership Final on 27 May 2023. Referees appointed to officiate Premiership matches are employed by the RFU, unless indicated otherwise.

The regular season was initially set to play out over 26 rounds of six matches, with each of the 13 teams playing 24 times, plus two bye weeks. However, after the removal of Worcester Warriors and Wasps from the league, several teams experienced extra bye weeks due to the cancellation of fixtures against those two clubs. In response to the disrupted schedule, Premiership Rugby announced a revised fixture list for the second half of the season on 11 November 2022.

The revised league season consisted of 24 rounds of five games each, the last of which took place on the first weekend of May. All 11 remaining teams completed a total of 20 matches, with one bye week each in the second half of the season.

Highlights of the season include:
 * Slater Cup – Leicester Tigers and Gloucester contested the inaugural Slater Cup at Mattioli Woods Welford Road on 24 December 2022, and at Kingsholm on 12 March 2023.
 * Big Game 14 – Harlequins hosted Exeter Chiefs in this season's edition of The Big Game at Twickenham Stadium on 4 March 2023.
 * The Showdown 3 – Saracens hosted Harlequins in this season's edition of The Showdown at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on 25 March 2023.
 * Big Summer Kick-Off 2 – Harlequins hosted Bath in this season's edition of the Big Summer Kick-Off at Twickenham Stadium on 22 April 2023.

Play-offs
As in previous seasons, the top four teams in the Premiership table, following the conclusion of the regular season, contested the play-off semi-finals on 13 and 14 May 2023, in a 1st vs 4th and 2nd vs 3rd format, with the higher ranking team having home advantage. The dates and times for the two play-off semi-finals were announced on 23 April 2023, after the qualifying teams were confirmed at the end of the regular season's penultimate round. The two winners of the semi-finals met in the Premiership Final at Twickenham on 27 May 2023.

Leading scorers
Note: Flags to the left of player names indicate national team as has been defined under World Rugby eligibility rules, or primary nationality for players who have not yet earned international senior caps. Players may hold one or more non-WR nationalities.

Most points
Source:

Most tries
Source:

Note: Points or tries scored in fixtures involving Wasps or Worcester Warriors are not included, after Premiership Rugby expunged these results from record, following the expulsion of both clubs from the league.

Citings/bans
Note: The cited player's club is listed in bold italics.

Player of the Month
The following received Player of the Month awards during the 2022–23 season, as selected by a panel of media commentators, in addition to monthly public polls.

Try of the Month
The following were chosen as Try of the Month, after receiving the most votes from the public. The winner for October was also recognised as the Try of the Season.

End-of-season awards
The nominees for the 2023 Premiership Rugby Awards were announced on 5 May 2023. The winners were then revealed on 10 May 2023.