With the 22-game regular Guinness Premiership season over, PA Sport rugby union correspondent Andrew Baldock looks backs at the hits and misses of an eight-month campaign.
GLOUCESTER
Finished top of the Premiership, so are therefore champions in my book. However, will now need to beat Saracens - and probably Leicester - to clinch silverware. Head coach Dean Ryan's continues building a squad that could conquer Europe within two years.
Target for next term: To make a serious impression on the Heineken Cup, as long as the English and French clubs come back with their ball.
Star pupil: Andy Hazell - fearless flanker whose ability and appetite to go in where it hurts made him a brilliant link-man between backs and forwards.
LEICESTER
Departing head coach Pat Howard has masterminded a season to savour at Welford Road, with the EDF Energy Cup already collected and the Premiership title and Heineken Cup standing tantalisingly close.
Target for next term: How do you follow a treble? If the unprecedented trophy hat-trick is achieved, Tigers will have a simple mission statement - to do it again.
Star pupil: Shane Jennings - on a par with Tigers legend Neil Back in the Leicester number seven shirt, but will return to Leinster next season.
BRISTOL
Howard is likely to pip Richard Hill for coach of the year honours, but the former England scrum-half and captain has dragged Bristol up by their bootlaces and into the Premiership big-time. Miracle worker? Not far short of it.
Target for next term: To keep on defying the pundits by challenging for the title play-offs again, rather than scrambling about in the Premiership's basement zone as many expected.
Star pupil: Roy Winters - foolishly dismissed as a journeyman in some quarters
when he joined Bristol, yet has proved a beacon of consistency.
SARACENS
Affable Australian Alan Gaffney has brought a hard edge to Saracens, orchestrating their highest Premiership finish since 2000. Sarries did not understand the definition of consistency until he arrived at Vicarage Road.
Target for next term: To show this season's impressive revival was not a one-off and that Saracens genuinely can be a major Premiership player.
Star pupil: Glen Jackson - pulled the strings for English rugby's great under-achievers, and won the PRA's players' player of the season accolade.
WASPS
If Wasps do not win the Heineken Cup by defeating Leicester on May 20, it will be one trophy in two seasons under rugby director Ian McGeechan's direction. For a club proud of its immense standards, that is not good enough.
Target for next term: To win away in the Premiership more than twice a season. Such dismal form on the road cost them a play-off place.
Star pupil: James Haskell - made a huge impact, whether in the starting XV or
off the bench.
LONDON IRISH
Could not quite match last season's efforts when they reached the play-offs, but the Irish squad remains in good shape thanks to rugby director Brian Smith's often understated efforts.
Target for next term: To keep playing with the same expansive approach and see more of their players gain representative recognition.
Star pupil: Shane Geraghty - Mike Catt's gifted midfield apprentice burst on to the England scene during this season's RBS 6 Nations Championship.
HARLEQUINS
After a poor start, Quins slowly found their feet back in the Premiership and ultimately became a test for every team they encountered. Rugby director Dean Richards will now hope for a concerted play-off push in 2007/08.
Target for next term: To build from this season's solid base, and keep developing their exciting crop of young players.
Star pupil: Andy Gomarsall - put the nightmare of his difficult exit from Worcester behind him and rediscovered top form.
BATH
Wildly inconsistent, Bath did not win away until their final league game against Newcastle. Whatever the club might say, to the outsider they lack ambition and it could be a time for a new regime.
Target for next term: To give themselves a thorough shake-up off the pitch and get organised, so their pre-season starts in July, rather than October. Andy Robinson might return, too.
Star pupil: Nick Abendanon - relative unknown at the start of this season's Premiership campaign, but now looks the best `bolter' for an England World Cup squad place.
NEWCASTLE
Considering John Fletcher succeeded Twickenham-bound Rob Andrew just as a new season dawned, Newcastle made a decent fist of things. Consistency continues to desert them, though.
Target for next term: To pray Jonny Wilkinson can go most of a whole season without being injured, and build a pack - Carl Hayman's arrival from New Zealand will help - to keep their brilliant backs on the front foot.
Star pupil: Ben Woods - one of the best young openside flankers in England, if he maintains current progress then England recognition could arrive next year.
SALE SHARKS
The season was a write-off due to repeated injury setbacks that deprived Sharks of players like Charlie Hodgson, Jason White and Andrew Sheridan for long periods. It all made a meaningful title defence impossible.
Target for next term: Hopefully, their stint as extras on the set of Holby City is over and they can enjoy a season when major injury problems surface only every few months, rather than every few days.
Star pupil: Chris Jones - continued to produce the goods for his club, despite England's apparent ignorance of his talent.
WORCESTER
Avoided relegation by the skin of their teeth, staging an unexpected recovery after losing eight successive league games early on. Despite staying up though, rugby director John Brain lost his job.
Target for next term: To develop a quicker, more expansive game under new rugby director Mike Ruddock, otherwise it could be another long, hard slog battling against relegation.
Star pupil: Craig Gillies - arguably the Premiership's most prolific lineout forward, no-one at Sixways played a bigger part in keeping Worcester up.
NORTHAMPTON
Saints went marching out of the Premiership for the first time in 12 years, finishing bottom after a woeful campaign. Former Australian chief Eddie Jones could now become their new rugby director. Good luck, mate.
Target for next term: To adopt the same professional approach in National League One as Harlequins did last season. No whining or whingeing - just a focus on winning.
Star pupils: Saints supporters - all of them deserve a medal after showing unstinting loyalty and backing for a team whose domestic performances hardly warranted it.