Here's exactly what everyone is playing for in a tense Premiership regular season finale
As the 2018/19 Gallagher Premiership regular season winds down this weekend with the 22nd and last round of league play, there is still plenty to play for in England’s top tier.
The congested nature of the table outside of the top three this season has only added to the drama of the competition and it has left a number of unanswered questions going into the final six fixtures on Saturday.
The hunt for fourth and the final play-off place rages on, with Northampton Saints currently in pole position, sitting in fourth with 56 points, while Harlequins are hot on their heels in fifth with 55 points. Bath are within five points of Northampton, but due to their smaller number of wins, there is no mathematical way they can leapfrog both Saints and Quins into the coveted play-off spot.
Northampton go into Saturday safe in the knowledge that a win, no matter Quins’ result, would be enough to see them return to the play-offs. That said, their final match of the season is away at Exeter Chiefs, an unenviable task at the best of times. Quins will be hoping Exeter can do them a favour by denying Saints any points, while they head to the Ricoh Arena to take on Wasps.
Again, the intrigue is ramped up at this point, as Wasps are chasing maximum points themselves, with the side from the West Midlands currently sitting in eighth and out of the Heineken Champions Cup qualification spots. They are currently three points behind Sale Sharks and four points behind Bath, and only a full five-point win and a pointless outing for Bath will guarantee them a spot in Europe’s premier competition, thanks to Sale’s status as a losing Challenge Cup semi-finalist via EPCR’s qualification criteria.
Europe ? ? #GallagherPrem
It's tight at the top, middle & just about everywhere else ahead of Round 22?
Who are you backing for the following?
Top spot ……………..
Fourth place ……………….
Top six ……………………….— Premiership Rugby (@premrugby) May 13, 2019
Wasps’ hopes of Bath picking up nothing from the final round are diminished by the West Country side’s opponents, Leicester Tigers, who are enduring their worst season in the professional era.
Bath head to Welford Road for their final fixture of the season in an iconic clash that has, in all honesty, lacked a bit of lustre in recent seasons. From Bath’s perspective, a minimum of two points would be enough to secure them Champions Cup rugby, thanks to Saracens winning the competition this year and opening the door for seven sides to represent the Premiership next season.
Sale wrap up their season at home to Gloucester, who are one of just two sides with no chance of moving up or down the table on the final day, while Bristol Bears are the only other team with a shot at Champions Cup spots. Bristol, like Wasps, face a situation of needing the teams above them not to pick up points, and for them to take a full five-point haul from their trip to Newcastle Falcons. Outside of the current top four, only Harlequins’ spot in the Champions Cup next season is secure through league position.
Those two battles account for half of the 12 teams in the league, but what about the other six clubs? At the top, Exeter can be caught by Saracens, although with both having secured home semi-finals, it’s not the dogfight that the contests for fourth through to seventh are.
That said, Exeter were out of action last week having not made it to the European finals, and the week prior to that they opted for a heavily rotated side in their loss away to Saracens. That’s two weeks away from top-flight rugby for many of Exeter’s usual starters and it’s highly likely they will use this weekend’s fixture against Northampton as a way of making sure they are match-fit and to blow away any potential cobwebs that have built up.
Gloucester are in a similar situation, having not played last weekend, and now need to ensure they have momentum and consistency going into the semi-finals. Although there will be no tangible benefits to their game against Sale in terms of league position or seeding, they will not want to risk being rusty going into their semi-final, which looks as if it will be at Allianz Park, taking on Saracens.
? Even as we approach the final round the top 6?? remains partially unresolved ?
Excruciatingly close right up to the end ??
Inconsistency? Or are all the sides too well-matched in the #GallagherPrem?
Regardless, it's been a whole lot of fun to watch ? pic.twitter.com/5IzmmChhzw
— Premiership Rugby (@premrugby) May 16, 2019
That leaves four teams – Saracens, Worcester Warriors, Leicester and Newcastle – with little to play for, but important opportunities, nonetheless.
Saracens could chase first overall and hope that Northampton pull off an against the odds win over Exeter, or, more likely, they will rest their Champions Cup heroes this weekend so that they are fresh for a home semi-final and give their larger squad a chance to put down a marker for next season, if not the upcoming playoffs.
The likes of Joel Kpoku, Manu Vunipola, Andy Christie, Tadgh McElroy, Rotimi Segun and Dom Morris were front and centre for Saracens Storm on Monday night, as they lifted the Premiership Shield trophy with a 55-14 victory over Newcastle Falcons. A number of the players in that side performed well in the round 21 win over Exeter and could be called on heavily at the start of the 2019/20 season, which will be impacted by the Rugby World Cup.
Having beaten a rotated Exeter side in the Premiership and blown away Northampton and Newcastle in the Shield play-offs, a test for these players against a strong Worcester side in the Premiership would be an insightful gauge of where they are in their development.
Worcester also don’t have a lot left to play for, having secured their Premiership future in round 21, but a win over Saracens would be a morale-boosting way to end the season and build some momentum heading into the next campaign.
An opportunity for Worcester Cavaliers stand-out and former England under-20 Will Butler wouldn’t go amiss for Alan Solomons’ side, especially with Ollie Lawrence ruled out with injury, while current England under-20s Kai Owen and James Scott could also benefit from the playing time and lay down their own markers for further involvement next season.
As for Leicester, the carrot of trying to finish tenth rather than 11th probably appeals in what has been a historically bad season, but the value of bringing through some of the club’s emerging talent, rather than chasing a solitary win, could prove more beneficial in the long run.
Full-back Freddie Steward has already been given a taste of Premiership and Premiership Shield rugby, having helped Tigers to two titles and two undefeated seasons at under-18 level, whilst scrum-half Jonny Law is another under-18 who has shown he is ready for a further taste of senior rugby already. Senior academy members Henri Lavin, Cameron Jordan and Tommy Reffell could also use the fixture as a valuable springboard to more involvement next season.
Finally, we come to relegated side Newcastle. There is a compelling case that they owe it to their fans to put out as strong a team as possible and reward them for their loyalty over the course of a tough season for the club. Furthermore, a number of senior players will be saying goodbye to their team-mates and the fans and deserve to go out in a fashion that befits their service to the club.
If they can find opportunities for the likes of Josh Hodge, Simon Uzokwe, Tom Marshall or any of their other impressive Shield performers this season, though, it’s only going to help kickstart their Greene King IPA Championship campaign.
Given the runaway title chases and two-horse relegation races of recent seasons, with so much still left to play for on the final day, even with home semi-finals booked and relegation dealt with, Saturday promises to be an enjoyable day of rugby for fans up and down the country.
WATCH: Part five of The Academy, the RugbyPass documentary series on the Leicester Tigers
Comments on RugbyPass
We’re building a bridge but can't agree where the river is.
2 Go to commentsfirst no arms shoulder or helmet tackle into his rib cage is going to be so very painful even to watch. go back to RU mate.
1 Go to commentsBulls by 5. Plus another 50.
3 Go to commentsJohan Goosen avatar. Cute. Surely someone at RP knows how to do a google image search?
3 Go to commentsCan’t these games play a little earlier? Asking for a friend.
3 Go to commentsIt’s impressive that we can see huge stadiums with attendance in the 40 000 to 50 000 region. It shows how popular this competition is becoming. What is even more impressive is the massive growth in broadcast viewership. The URC is one of the two best leagues in the World, the other being the Top14.
7 Go to commentsChristie is not Sottish, like the majority of the Scotland team.
2 Go to commentsHold the phone, decline over-rated. Is it a one game, dead cat bounce or the real thing? Has the Penney dropped? Stay tuned.
45 Go to commentsTotally deserved win for the Crusaders Far smarter than the Chiefs who seem to be avoiding the basics when it matters Hotham showed them what was missing and Hannah seems a real find - a tad light but that can be fixed over time
8 Go to commentsGreat insight into the performance culture with Sarries and I predict Christie will be a fixture in the Scotland team now for some time to come. However, he is slightly missing his own point around Scotland “being soft” when he cites physicality examples in defence of that slight. The issue is much closer to the example he referenced around feeling off before a game but being told “it doesn’t matter, you can still play well” by Farrell. Until Scotland can get their psyche in that square, they will carry on folding under extreme pressure…
2 Go to comments> We are having to adapt, evolve and innovate more than when we were in Super Rugby where there was only really one style that everybody had to play to gain the most success. Have = able to? Interesting what that one style might be? I thought SA sides still had bad tours now, or at least bad schedule, months away? Those extra few hours flights have to be a killer though, no surprise to see their sides doing so badly at the start of the season each year. I wouldn’t enjoy that unfairness as a supporter.
7 Go to commentsThe problem for NZ, and Aus, is they ripped up the SR model and lost a massive chunk of revenue that hasn’t been replaced. Don’t forget SA clubs went North because they were left with no choice, Argy unceremoniously binned and Japan cast adrift. Now SR wasn’t perfect, far from it, but they’ve jumped into something without an effective plan, so far, to replace what they’ve lost. The biggest revenue potential now lies in Japan but it won’t be easy or quick to unlock, they are incredibly insular in culture as a nation. In the meantime, there is a serious time bomb sitting under SH rugby and if it happens then the current financial challenges will look like a picnic. IF the Boks follow their provincial teams and head north then it’s revenue meltdown. Not guaranteed to happen but the status quo is a very odd hybrid, with the Boks pointing one way and the clubs pointing the other way. And for as long as that remains then the threat is real.
45 Go to commentsI think Etene has had some good tuition, likely while at the Warriors to be a professional that helped his rugby jump, but he was certainly thrown in the deep end way too early. Should have arguably 20 less SR caps, and therefor a way better record that he does at his age, but his development would have been fast tracked by the need to satiate his signing away from league. Again, credit to him and others that he has done it so well. Easy to fall over under that pressure in the big leagues like that but he kept at it when I myself wasn’t sure he was good enough.
1 Go to commentsAwesome story. I wonder what a bigger American (SA) scene might have mean for Brex.
1 Go to comments“Johnny McNicholl and the Crusaders” save a Penney. Who has been in camp this week and showed them how to play?
8 Go to commentsSo, reports of the Crusaders’ demise / terminal decline are perhaps just - slightly - premature/exaggerated…? 🤔 Will we see a deep-dive into that by the estimable Rugbypass scribes, and maybe one or two mea culpas? Thought not.
8 Go to comments1. The Chiefs are rudderless without DMac, which enhances his AB chances 2. Chiefs pack are powderpuffs. The hard men arent there anymore 3. They had their golden title chance last yr and wont threaten this yr. Gone in second round of playoffs.
8 Go to commentsHonestly, why did you have to publish such a foolish article the day they play us? 😂
45 Go to comments> They are not standalone entities. They are linked to an amateur association which holds the FFR licence that allows the professional side to compete in the league. That’s a great rule. This looks like the chicken or egg professional scenario. How long is it going to be before the club can break even (if that is even a thing in French rugby)? If the locals aren’t into well it would be good to se them drop to amateur level (is it that far?). Hope they can reset from this level and be more practical, there will be a time when they can rebuild (if France has there setup right).
1 Go to commentsWhat about changing the ball? To something heavier and more pointed that bounces unpredictably. Not this almost round football used these days.
35 Go to comments