2013/14 Aviva Premiership

This could be the best season of the English Premiership yet, if not perhaps in quality of players in being oh so hard to call. Beyond being fairly certain Sarries and Leicester will finish in the top four, and likely Irish in the bottom one, the rest is just really hard to call. Okay I think Sale and Worcester will be bottom half but after Tigers and Sarries the top 4 will then be comprised of teams from Saints, Quins, Wasps, Bath, Glaws and Exeter.

Pick an order if you can. I can't, not even 1-4 never mind 1-12.

Glaws to win. That is all...

Top 4 in no particular order: Tigers, sarries, saints, glaws
Heineken: quins, Bath
Irish + Worcester, bottom 2

wasps above bath but other than that would agree with Michael

Saints to win

I thought about that but the bath backline for next year could be pretty impressive. But agree wasps could well push up the table

Bath have added quality, will they even try to use it?
Glaws, do they have a tight five never mind cover?
Quins, not so good last year, and now JJ and Kohn leaving sees a much smaller pack remain.
Saints, do they know how they want to play, and do they have the players to do it?
Wasps, can they push on again, especially losing such a carrier at 8, will AJ be as good now things aren't new?
Exeter, every year they've been written off, but they keep adding to the squad and the academy is starting to offer some nice options. Baxter retiring will be a blow though.

Be good for the neutral hopefully, so sure about it being such fun for the fans.

Desperately hoping that whilst Billy's carrying will be missed, Ed Jackson can bring a more stable aspect to the 8 shirt.

Most significantly, the fact we now have a defence coach, I really hope that we stop leaking tries.  A better defence could easily end up giving us more possession too, so far we seem to have mostly been scoring on scraps.

Hopefully Mullan, Lindsay and Swainston can adapt to the new scrum laws well.

EDIT - And Dai taking over the forwards completely as well, will it lead to less mixed signals and better organisation?  Or is he just not going to have time? By my reckoning most of Dais scrumming was in the days before the Hit, so lets hope he can lend a few tips.

moocows911 wrote:Glaws to win. That is all...

Would you want Glaws to win when your 10 is busy accessorising? https://twitter.com/BBCGlos/status/357739735684378624/photo/1

the boots are bad enough, but really it's the bag that says it all about 10s

Not in any particular order 1-3, Tigers, Sarries and Quins, although you might say Quins have lost some big guys in the pack, they have good old youngsters coming through, they did win the A league last season. 4-6 (again, no order) Saints, Gloucester and Wasps. 7-9 Exeter Bath and Sale, they have that new guy coming to manage (forgot his name). Bottom three (In order) Falcons, Worcester, Irish

Difficult to predict this season but let's have a go, standings at the end of the regular season:

1. Tigers
2. Quins
3. Sarries
4. Glaws
5. Saints
6. Wasps
7. Exeter
8. Bath
9. Mighty Warriors (Wuss)
10. Sale
11. Newcastle
12. Irish

Champions: Sarries / Relegated: Irish / Promoted from Championship: Bristol

I'm going to give this a go.

1. Leicester
2. Saracens
3. Harlequins
4. Gloucester
5. Northampton
6. Exeter
7. Bath
8. Wasps
9. Sale
10. Worcester
11. Irish (I'm an lrish supporter!)
12. Newcastle

Champions: Leicester or Harlequins

Might as well have a bash, if only to see how wrong I was, again.

1. Saracens
2. Leicester
3. Saints
4. Gloucester
5. Bath
6. Exeter
7. Quins
8. Wasps
9. Worcester
10. Falcons
11. Sale
12. Irish

Id go same as Roob,
1. Saracens
2. Leicester
3. Saints
4. Gloucester
5. Bath
6. Exeter
7. Quins
8. Wasps
9. Worcester
10. Falcons
11. Sale
12. Irish

possibly 3rd and 4th the other way around but close to call. I would also said Exeters future is looking very bright and they could be pushing up the table very soon

If Roob and MB were to switch 4th and 5th I would agree!

On the day you announce such a good captain? Behave

Lots and lots of people placing Wasps in 8th, I'd be unsure of that myself. Scrum seems to be going extremely well, lineout may still be an issue but with new italian hooker it may look a bit better.

International window may or may not be too much of an issue, Wade and Launch are two big names, but the new winger from the championship seems decent enough, and we've got some half decent guys at lock.

Most significant thing would be how much of an impact Brad Davies has had. If our defence has tightened to a half decent degree, then we may see a large jump for Wasps.

Not that I'd say they won't end up in 8th, 4th-8th is such a toss-up, but I'm feeling a little hopeful (and excited!) about the new season.

Well there's change at Quins, not all to the good, and Nick Evans seemed off the pace too often last season and mightn't have improved with another year on the clock, then too I keep waiting for Exeter to have a bad season and now they've lost Baxter it could be coming. But even supposing Wasps go past both of those I really can't see any higher, top 3 looks well out of reach, and whilst one could argue the Wasps XV on a par with Bath and Glaws I'd have to think The Rec and Kingsholm will deliver a much better return than a crappy rented football ground in Wycombe that's a pain in the Bottom to get to

Top 3 is out of reach for sure. And I don't see Wasps making playoffs at all to be honest. Not sure about Gloucesters replacements for the guys they'll be losing, but I reckon they could be good for 4th.

Bath is going to be interesting I reckon, lots of potential, but it needs to click.

Exeter in the pre-seasons have been looking a bit disjointed according to their forums, be it may not mean anything come the real thing.

Adams Park is a big issue, I don't know if there's been any big news on a new stadium recently, there was talk of a share with a football team (share, not rent).

Lionel Road?

Yeah, has there been any more news on it that you know of?

Last I heard it mentioned it seemed Brentford didn't need the assistance of either Wasps or Irish who were the rugby clubs being talked to.

So thoughts on the first weeks results? With not a huge amount of knowledge, here goes my best shot.

Falcons vs Bath = >7 to Bath
Irish vs Saracens = >7 to Sarries
Gloucester vs Sale = >7 to Gloucester
Saints vs Chiefs = <7 to Saints
Wasps vs Quins = <7 to Wasps
Tigers vs Worc = >7 to Tigers

Quins will beat Wasps but other than that will agree

Masi out for 5 months

FFS

Saw that, explains the last minute signing of the american guy. I suspect we'll see Southwell at FB and Daly at 13 a lot again this season.