End of season run in.

[Goodey]

Tigers already have 80 points and are practically guaranteed a home semi.

I can definitely see them resting some players (I'm not talking about them playing a B team) across the run-in and if they're going to do it, I think it's more likely they'll do it on the road. Borthwick tends to rotate a reasonable amount anyway and they will need to rest their England players for at least 1 game. I don't necessarily think that'll be against Quins. My point was that it just happens to be an away game.

Yeah that seems pretty plausible to me. Tigers will be confident of getting the results they need from their last few games, and if they have the full first team playing home and away against Clermont it'll be tough to keep that up.

That said, Borthwick has picked teams that suggest prioritising the premiership over Europe. So they might be more likely to send a rotated team to France.

 

[FLOBALOB]

Assuming Tigers don't get past Clermont, they will already have 3 blank weekends to rest players.
Not sure 'resting' players in the remaining 2 games in 6 weeks is the best way to prime them for a SF.

 

[BPM]

But then not resting them potentially means they're knackered by the time they hit the play-offs.

Neither of us knows what will happen and it's not a situation where there's a right or wrong answer for Borthwick.

As @Goodey has said, perhaps they'll prioritise the Premiership and do their rotation in Europe? On the basis that they have a better chance of winning the Premiership, that's probably what I'd do if I were Borthwick.

Same goes for Quins really. I don't see us beating Montpellier, but we've got a very good chance of qualifying for the play-offs and will fancy ourselves in the knock out format.

 

[TRF_Olyy]

Full 5pts for Gloucester, helps them out a lot:

Gloucester Rugby awarded 5 league points for cancelled Worcester fixture

www.gloucesterrugby.co.uk

That battle for the 4th playoff spot is going to go right to the whistle

 

[Reiser99]

Wow, ok so not 4-2, bad for Worcester.

 

[Which Tyler]

Implication is that injuries and non-covid unavailabilities were considered a bigger actor than Covid absences.

 

[Scotty]

Exeter P 21 Pts 62 Max 77
Saracens A
Bristol A
Harlequins H

Gloucester P 19 Pts 60 Max 80
Bristol A
Bath H
Harlequins A
Saracens H

BPs are key But you have to think is Gloucesters to lose, both have Sarries and Quins and Bristol but Gloucester also have Bath

But a crazy run in...

 

[Reiser99]

Assume both beat Bristol and Gloucester beat Bath then Gloucester would be 2pts ahead without the games vs Sarries and Quins. With BPs the gap could be 1 or 3 puts as well. I'd say Exeter have a slight advantage in that they play Quins at home and Sarries away, which seems slightly easier to get a win from.

 

[Reiser99]

Just to add.

Northampton P 20 Pts 58 Max 78
Bath A
Harlequins H
Saracens A
Newcastle H

Saints not out of this yet either and also play Quins and Sarries.

 

[Geordie]

Worcester being investigated for their cancelled match with Gloucester now. Interesting....

 

[Geordie]

Ah Gloucester have been awarded full 5 points and Worcester NIll!

 

[Reiser99]

Yeah, Worcester's inability to field a team was injury related not covid, so 5-0 instead of 4-2.

 

[BPM]

Exeter P 21 Pts 62 Max 77
Saracens A
Bristol A
Harlequins H

Gloucester P 19 Pts 60 Max 80
Bristol A
Bath H
Harlequins A
Saracens H

BPs are key But you have to think is Gloucesters to lose, both have Sarries and Quins and Bristol but Gloucester also have Bath

But a crazy run in...

This … plus this …

Just to add.

Northampton P 20 Pts 58 Max 78
Bath A
Harlequins H
Saracens A
Newcastle H

Saints not out of this yet either and also play Quins and Sarries.

This weekend is going to pivotal. I'm expecting wins for Gloucester and Saints and a loss for Exeter which might drop them down to 6th.

Every game for each of them are almost like 'must-wins'.

 

[Don't Skip Leg Day]

This … plus this …

This weekend is going to pivotal. I'm expecting wins for Gloucester and Saints and a loss for Exeter which might drop them down to 6th.

Every game for each of them are almost like 'must-wins'.

For some reason I just can't see us beating bath. Seem to remember us losing a lot when we've been down there.

 

[BPM]

Despite their European drubbing, Bath have definitely improved lately and aren't the 5pt 'gimme' they were earlier in the season, particularly at home. I still think Saints will win, but it probably won't be by much.

 

[Scotty]

Exeter P 21 Pts 62
Saracens A
Bristol A
Harlequins H

Gloucester P 21 Pts 62
Bath H
Harlequins A
Saracens H

now its interesting. Thank you Bristol

If Saints win tomorrow and get 4 points their also on 62 points with 3 to go.

Northampton P 20 Pts 58 (62)
Bath A (4Pt W)
Harlequins H
Saracens A
Newcastle H

All 3 playing Sarries and Quins. And a bottom table team.

 

[GlosJoe]

Weirdly I'll take the 2 points there, the game was lost in the first 10 mins

 

[duncanb]

Wild scenario.
Exeter get nowt.
Saints win at Bath.
Quins get nowt.
Highly unlikely.
But what a table going into last 3 games .
Top 2 done and dusted but who is 3, 4, 5, 6,
Leicester ,Fez heads for final which is probably right.

 

[BPM]

Weirdly I'll take the 2 points there, the game was lost in the first 10 mins

10mins in, I thought Gloucester have blown it, come half time I thought they'd recovered and would go on to win comfortably.

Half time probably came at the wrong time which killed the momentum they'd rebuilt.

2 points isn't the result they needed, but if results go in their favour for Exeter and Saints, they may yet be fine.

As a Quins fan, round 25 worries me. It's there on it's own with gaps either side of it for us and a lot of other sides and that makes the games in that round really hard to call. Arguably it's harder for teams still involved in other competitions, but while some teams benefit from breaks, others need continuity. I could easily see Gloucester turning us over that week.

 

[GlosJoe]

For me it's round 26 as it depends what side Saracens put out since they'll have most likely gotten a home semi by that point. Next week against Bath should be a win it would be typical if it wasn't! I'm not confident about R25 though since it's at Twickenham and we've not won there for 19 years.