| 2000–2001 Zurich Premiership | |
| Champions: | Leicester Tigers (5th title) |
| Runnersup: | London Wasps |
| Relegated: | Rotherham Titans |
| Matches: | 139 |
| Attendance: | 898438 |
| Prevseason: | 1999–00 |
| Nextseason: | 2001–02 |
The 2000–01 English Premiership (called the Zurich Premiership for sponsorship reasons) was the 14th season of the top flight of the English domestic rugby union competitions. Leicester Tigers finished top of the league for the third year in a row giving them their fifth English champions title.
This season saw the introduction of the bonus points scoring system.[1]
Additionally, an 8 team end of season knock-out competition, the Zurich Championship was introduced, although this was not used to determine the English Champions, that being the preserve of the Zurich Premiership winners. Leicester also won the Zurich Championship in this season.
Rotherham were relegated, to be replaced by Leeds Tykes for the 2001–02 season.[2] [3]
| Team | Stadium | Capacity | City/Area |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bath | Recreation Ground | 8,200 | Bath, Somerset |
| Bristol | Memorial Stadium | 12,100 | Bristol |
| Gloucester | Kingsholm | 11,000 | Gloucester, Gloucestershire |
| Harlequins | The Stoop | 8,500 | Twickenham, London |
| Leicester Tigers | Welford Road | 16,000 | Leicester, Leicestershire |
| London Irish | Madejski Stadium | 24,161 | Reading, Berkshire |
| London Wasps | Loftus Road | 18,439 | Shepherd's Bush, London |
| Newcastle Falcons | 10,000 | ||
| Northampton Saints | Franklin's Gardens | 10,000 | Northampton, Northamptonshire |
| Rotherham Titans | Clifton Lane | 2,500 | Rotherham, South Yorkshire |
| Sale | Heywood Road | 5,400 | Sale, Greater Manchester |
| Saracens | Vicarage Road | 22,000 | Watford, Hertfordshire |
The top eight teams qualified for the knock-out Zurich Championship, seeded on the basis of their league finish.
| Seed | Team | Table points | Wins | Points diff |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Leicester Tigers | 82 | 18 | +225 |
| 2 | London Wasps | 74 | 16 | +235 |
| 3 | Bath Rugby | 70 | 14 | +250 |
| 4 | Northampton Saints | 59 | 13 | +55 |
| 5 | Saracens | 58 | 12 | +88 |
| 6 | Newcastle Falcons | 57 | 11 | -14 |
| 7 | Gloucester | 48 | 10 | -53 |
| 8 | London Irish | 45 | 10 | -100 |
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 earned international senior caps. Players may hold one or more non-WR nationalities.
Source:[4]
| Rank | Player | Club | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kenny Logan | Wasps | 282 |
| 2 | Tim Stimpson | Leicester Tigers | 260 |
| 3 | Paul Grayson | Northampton Saints | 219 |
| 4 | Jonny Wilkinson | Newcastle Falcons | 203 |
| 5 | Barry Everitt | London Irish | 180 |
| 6 |  Jon Preston | Bath | 172 |
| 7 |  Felipe Contepomi | Bristol | 168 |
| 8 | Nicky Little | Sale Sharks | 162 |
| 9 | Simon Mannix | Gloucester | 157 |
| 10 | Charlie Hodgson | Sale Sharks | 144 |
Source:[5]
| Rank | Player | Club | Tries |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Paul Sampson | Wasps | 12 |
| 2 | Steve Hanley | Sale Sharks | 10 |
| Kenny Logan | Wasps | ||
| Tom Voyce | Bath | ||
| 5 | Ben Cohen | Northampton Saints | 9 |
| 6 | Neil Back | Leicester Tigers | 8 |
| Geordan Murphy | Leicester Tigers | ||
| Paul Sackey | London Irish | ||
| Rob Thirlby | Bath | ||
| 10 | 8 players | 7 | |