Round 15 of Prem Rugby was as chaotic as they come with the bottom four playing each other and the top 6 doing the same. The results have left the run-in up in the air. Here are the results from an epic round of Rugby:
Gloucester 21-15 Sale Sharks
Leicester Tigers 41-17 Northampton Saints
Bristol Bears 26-41 Saracens
Newcastle Red Bulls 17-76 Harlequins
Exeter Chiefs 35-12 Bath
Newcastle still have a long way to go
There has, rightly, been plenty of optimism surrounding Newcastle this season but a 76-17 defeat to 9th-place Harlequins has put the spotlight on the realities of their season. They have won just one Prem game this season and have now conceded 70+ points on multiple occasions. There will be lots of personnel changes over the summer but a core of the current playing group will be sticking around and they'll have to work hard to earn back some good will from the fans after that performance. The fact that this happened against a team in 9th only makes things worse.
There's growing optimism in Gloucester
Gloucester have now won back-to-back games for the first time this season after beating Sale Sharks this weekend. George Skivington looks to have had a weight lifted off his shoulders after the arrival of Chris Boyd and his now-healthy squad is looking refreshed too. Their scrum looked dominant and they have a strong core of young players which will be boosted by the arrivals of Dewi Lake and Jac Morgan in the summer. This team looks to be on the up. Out of the four teams currently outside of playoff contention, Gloucester would be my bet to make the top 4 next season.
The playoff race has just been thrown into chaos
This round saw all 3 matches include all 6 playoff contenders. In the battle of 5th vs 6th Saracens beat Bristol to add to their wins over Leicester and Sale for their 3rd win in a row. This keeps Saracens in the hunt, 2 points behind Bristol in 5th and 7 points behind Exeter in 4th. Saracens and Exeter will meet at Sandy Park on the final day of the season. With games against Gloucester and Harlequins to come before that, Saracens look set to be in with a chance going into that game.
Their beaten opponents, Bristol, will be feeling a bit more pessimistic. After their loss to Saracens, the gap to 4th increased to 5 points as a result of Exeter beating Bath. However, that isn't Bristol's biggest problem. In fact, it is the health of his squad that will be worrying Pat Lam. His key playmakers are still missing and there is no guarantee of their return.
Above Bristol, Exeter and Leicester both beat teams in the top 2 to put the locations of the playoff semi-finals completely up in the air. Going into this weekend, many expected Leicester to lose and Bath to win which would've seen the gap between the clubs potentially grow to 13 points. Instead, the reverse happened and now the gap is just a point. Their win over their East Midlands rivals also puts them 5 points behind the league-leading Saints with a superior points difference.
Exeter's win over Bath only adds to this scenario. One thing is for sure, this race will go right down to the wire. It's also notable how emphatic both victories were which throws into question the assumed dominance of Bath and Northampton as we near the climax of the season.
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