THE reigning English Premier League champions the Basingstoke Bison will start the defence of their crown at home to the Telford Tigers on Saturday September 10, before heading north to face the Hull Pirates 24 hours later.

The Herd will complete their league campaign with a home game against the Swindon Wildcats on Saturday March 19.

After this the play-offs start, which have a completely new format this season, with the top eight teams being split into two groups of four.

Group A will be made up the teams which finish first, fourth, fifth and eighth, with the remainder in Group B with the top two making the finals weekend at Coventry on April 8 and 9.

The full fixture list is as follows

SEPTEMBER

10 Telford H

11 Hull A

17 Bracknell H

18 Peterborough A

24 Peterborough H

25 Telford A

OCTOBER

1 Sheffield H

2 Sheffield A

8 Hull H

9 Bracknell A

15 Peterborough H

16 Manchester A

22 Sheffield H

23 Guildford A

29 Swindon A

30 Milton Keynes H

NOVEMBER

5 Guildford H

12 Manchester H

13 Sheffield A

19 Milton Keynes H

20 Telford A

26 Swindon H

27 Hull A

DECEMBER

2 Milton Keynes A

3 Telford H

4 Manchester A

10 Guildford H

17 Bracknell H

18 Bracknell A

26 Swindon H

27 Swindon A

JANUARY

1 Guildford A

2 Milton Keynes A

7 Peterborough H

8 Bracknell A

14 Sheffield H

15 Telford A

21 Bracknell H

28 Hull H

29 Peterborough A

FEBRUARY

4 Telford H

11 Hull H

12 Swindon A

15 Guildford A

17 Manchester H

18 Milton Keynes A

19 Hull A

25 Manchester H

26 Peterborough A

MARCH

4 Guildford H

5 Sheffield A

11 Manchester A

12 Milton Keynes H

19 Swindon H