With two more rounds of Premiership Rugby to go, the race for the play-offs is in full throttle. After this weekend’s fixtures, two of the league’s top four are confirmed. Elsewhere, there are five other clubs fighting for third and fourth.
On Sunday, Exeter confirmed their home play-off spot with a convincing 45-5 victory on the road at London Irish. Exeter, maintaining their good form, made light work of 12th placed Irish who are in desperate need of motivation.
Saracens also confirmed their place in the play-offs, beating the indifferent Bath 41-6 in north London. Saracens haven’t secured themselves a home play-off as of yet, with Wasps, Falcons, Leicester, Gloucester and Sale in hot pursuit.
?? “We’ve got four points to gain to guarantee ourselves a home semi-final and we’ll work very hard to do that.”
— Saracens Rugby Club (@Saracens) April 16, 2018
Mark McCall was pleased with how Saracens backed up their win at Northampton against Bath. ?? https://t.co/ZYYCC2aESj pic.twitter.com/sMhvHl4XSE
Friday night saw two of the sides in play-off contention face off against as Sale Sharks visited Kingston Park. Falcons raced into a 25-point lead. They did proceed to lose this lead after a series of altercations between the two sets of players. It went down to Falcons picking and going for what would of felt like an eternity before Rob Vickers crashed over the line for Falcons to go to third, before the rest of the teams played.
Gloucester were the next team in play-off contention to take to the field. Following a disappointing showing at Sandy Park, the Cherry and Whites were keen to bounce back. They took on Harlequins, who had a tough week following the announcement that John Kingston would be leaving the club at the end of the season. Gloucester proceeded to beat Harlequins with relative ease, only allowing Harlequins to score nine points from Marcus Smith’s boot. Gloucester won 37-9 in front of the shed.
The East Midlands derby may have stopped Leicester in their tracks. The Tigers were on course to overtake their opposition until Northampton came to town. Saints’ season is completely down the drain but, the motivation to get one over their biggest rivals was clearly enough for Northampton to beat Tigers 27-21. Northampton just had more intensity than Leicester. They were quicker to every breakdown and just wanted it more. Ellis Genge was easily Leicester’s best performer, definitely putting his hand up for England.
?? Unreal scrummaging, with @alex_waller @paulhill101 @ehren_painter & @Gmaafu1 taking the plaudits
— Northampton Saints (@SaintsRugby) April 16, 2018
The scrums that shaped the outcome of Derby Day pic.twitter.com/o5gkVwHtHn
Following their heroics at Sixways, Worcester would have wanted to build up some end of season form to hopefully carry on into next season. Their opponents were unfortunately play-off chasing Wasps. Boasting the likes of Christian Wade and Elliot Daly, Wasps’ firepower in the backs was too much for Warriors to handle. Wasps ran in four tries against their East Midlands opponents who were pretty much powerless to prevent Wasps’ dominance.
The Premiership is probably the most competitive that it has ever been. With so many sides playing for the chance to go on and win the league, it is easily one of the best sporting competitions in the world.
Widely regarded as the most competitive rugby union league in the world...it can only be the Gallagher Premiership.
The division is becoming more and more exciting as each year passes by so who will be lifting silverware at Twickenham in May?
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