On the eve of the knockout stages of the competition, Aviva Premiership Rugby have confirmed that it is has been a record-breaking season for the league.

According to statistics compiled by Stuart Farmer Media Services, here is the tale of the tape in the Aviva Premiership during 2017/18:

• 776 tries were scored – the MOST ever, beating the 750 mark set in 1999/2000.
• 6,379 points were scored – the most since 1999/2000
• The tries were scored by 283 players, eight of whom scored hat-tricks, including Dan Robson’s four in a game for Wasps against Sale in Round One
• For the second successive season, there were NO tryless fixtures
• 546 conversions – the MOST ever
• 449 penalty goals kicked – the FEWEST ever – previous lowest was 514 in 2016/17
• Overall penalty kick success rate was 82.4% - by far the best ever
• 88 try bonus points – the MOST ever
• Saracens fly-half Owen Farrell was the top points scorer with 186, the lowest-ever total by the winner of the Golden Boot – previously 201 by Charlie Hodgson in 2007/08
• Exeter’s tally of 85 points is the second-best ever after Saracens’ 87 points in 2013/14
• 535 players were named in matchday squads for the 132 matches – with Ross Harrison, Jono Ross and Faf de Klerk of Sale Sharks and Franco van der Merwe of London Irish starting all 22 games.
• 220 of those players have been capped by 18 countries and 29 are British & Irish Lions
• 441 players started at least one game, while six did not actually take to the field
• 112 players made their debut in Premiership Rugby
• Franco van der Merwe played the most minutes (1,684) in the season
• Joe Simmonds of Exeter Chiefs was never on the losing side in his eight appearances, while Luke McLean lost all of his eight games for London Irish
• Four players appeared for two teams – Marland Yarde, Blair Cowan, Nathan Charles and Jono Kitto. Scrum-half Kitto began the season in the Leicester Tigers squad without making an appearance but went on to play for Worcester and Harlequins
• The most appearances off the bench was Sale’s Halani ‘Aulika with 17. He also made just one start
• The biggest comeback to win this season was 17 points by Gloucester at London Irish in March, and by Sharks Sale at home to Wasps in April.
• The fastest try was scored after just 50 seconds by Denny Solomona for Sale, against Gloucester at the end of September
• The most points in a game by a player was 24 by Tommy Bell for London Irish against Harlequins in Round One
• The highest-scoring match was in Round 1 when Wasps beat Sale 50-35, a game which also included a season high 12 tries
• The youngest selected player was Sale’s 18-year-old Cameron Redpath, against Bath in February, although he did not get on to the pitch. The youngest to actually play was Sharks team-mate Luke James, against Saracens in September.
• The youngest starter was Marcus Smith in Round One, who was also the youngest try scorer, against Worcester at the end of October.
• The oldest player was 39-year-old Peter Stringer for Worcester against Bath in October.
• The oldest try scorer was 36-year-old Schalk Brits for Saracens at London Irish in Round 22.
• In Round 22, Leicester’s George Ford became only the third player since 2010 to score in all four ways (try, conversion, penalty goal and drop goal) in the same Premiership match.
• Three new venues hosted Premiership rugby this season – Talen Energy Stadium in Philadelphia, London Stadium and St James’ Park in Newcastle – taking the tally to 38 grounds to have staged a game in the competition.
• Owen Farrell and George Ford became the 20th and 21st players to tally 1,000 career points in the Premiership.
• Three players scored their 50th Premiership try: Danny Care, Vereniki Goneva and Jonny May.
• Ben Foden, Stephen Myler, David Paice and Mike Brown all made their 200th Premiership appearances.