PRO12, Aviva Premiership & TOP 14 Final Round Permutations
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Here is the breakdown of the Premiership, Pro 12 & Top 14 heading into the final round of weekend action.
All relegation outcomes have been settled as Bristol will drop down to the IPA Greene King Championship, while Bayonne and Grenoble will drop down to the Pro D2 in France.
We will focus on the play-offs and the Champions Cup permutations across the three leagues.
Premiership
Playoff Qualified: Wasps, Exeter & Saracens
In Contention: Leicester & Bath
Top Six: Harlequins & Northampton
- Bath (58 points) travel to the AJ Bell to on Sale Sharks, need Leicester to lose away to Worcester and win with a bonus point, with Leicester remaining pointless at Sixways, in order to make the top four.
- Battle for the final automatic Champions Cup qualification is still on. Harlequins (51 points) can be reeled in by Northampton (48 points), if Saints get the win when they face off at FG's.
- Two bonus points for Quins in defeat would mean that they still finished ahead. But if Saints won with a BP too in that scenario, tying both teams on 53 points, then they would be se separated by most wins in the season. Quins have 11, Saints have 9.
- Northampton will be wary that defeat and a win for Gloucester (46 points) against Exeeter would see them take 7th and a spot in the Champions Cup 20th team play-offs.
– Saracens (77 points) could overtake Wasps to finish in the top two with a win at the Ricoh Arena in Coventry, ensuring a home semi-final. They currently trail Wasps and Exeter (both on 79 points) by two points.
PRO12
Playoff Qualified: Leinster, Munster, Scarlets, Ospreys (almost)
In contention: Ulster
Champions Cup: Connacht, Treviso, Zebre
- Leinster, Munster and Scarlets have all secured passages to play-offs, as are the Ospreys, all but mathematically. The reason for that being if Ulster (64 points) were to win with a bonus point at home to Leinster and Ospreys get nothing at Scarlets, they would be tied on 69 points.
– Cardiff Blues (49 points) and Connacht (44 points) as things stand are set to compete in the Champions Cup 20th team play-offs.
The ‘eighth’ and ‘ninth’ placed PRO12 sides go through to the Champions Cup 20th team play-offs semi-finals, given seven teams have already qualified: Leinster, Munster, Scarlets, Ospreys, Ulster, Glasgow, and the winner of Zebre-Treviso.
– The battle for the Italian spot in the Champions Cup is still on between 11th and 12th placed Treviso and Zebre, both tied on 19 points. Zebre have home advantage for the winner-takes-all clash.
Top 14
Qualified: La Rochelle, Clermont, Montpellier, Toulon, Castres
In contention/Champions Cup: Stade Français, Racing 92, Pau, Lyon, Brive, Bordeaux-Bègles
– La Rochelle (84 points) are first and guaranteed a semi-final spot and two weeks off. Clermont (74 points) and Montpellier (72 points) are still fighting it out for second, with Clermont hosting La Rochelle and Montpellier home to Stade Français.
Clermont boss Franck Azèma surely would have wanted to rest his top players before next week’s Champions Cup final against Saracens, but having to play in the Barrages will have made him think again.
– All of Stade Français, Racing 92, Pau, Lyon, Brive, Bordeaux-Bègles, ranked 6th to 11th, can take the final spot in the Barrages, with five points separating them.
- Racing (58 points) sit in sixth for now ahead of Stade Français (58 points) courtesy of more wins. Then come Pau (57 points), Lyon (55 points), Brive (54 points) and Bordeaux-Bègles (53 points)
- Racing host Bordeaux, Stade are at Montpellier, Pau visit Toulon, Lyon head to Grenoble and Brive are at home to Castres. Seventh place also guarantees a spot in the Champions Cup 20th team play-offs