Category News

Five teams go into the Premiership’s dramatic final day with a chance of joining table-toppers Bath in this season’s play-offs – and of winning the title at Twickenham in two weeks’ time.

Leicester, Sale, Bristol, Gloucester and Saracens could remarkably all still finish anywhere from second to sixth as they go into the weekend separated by just five points after 17 matches.

Johann van Graan’s Bath side have come back from last season’s final defeat against Northampton with a vengeance, winning 14 games this term and leading the table by 15 points.

Such is Bath’s dominance they secured first place and a home semi-final at the Recreation Ground with three rounds of games to go, and will play whoever finishes fourth on Friday, 6 June, while second will host third on Saturday, 7 June.

For the Tigers, the task is simple – beat Newcastle at home and second place in the table, along with a home semi-final, is theirs. One point is enough to secure the top four.

The league’s most successful side are on the prowl for their record-extending 12th title and have a two-point cushion over third-placed Sale.

Leicester have the most amount of wiggle room if they do lose and drop points, as at least three results would need to go against them for them to drop out of the top four.

If the Tigers do slip up, the Sharks will be circling.

Sale visit Exeter, with the Chiefs already assured of a ninth-placed finish and therefore have nothing to play for.

A repeat of December’s win over the Chiefs and Alex Sanderson’s team will cement third place regardless of other results. A loss with two bonus points would still be enough for the top four.

It’s been 19 years since the club’s sole Premiership title.

But the Manchester side have a trick up their sleeve in that they have the most league wins of any club aside from Bath, meaning if they end the season on the same number of points as any of their competitors, they would finish above them.

The Sharks also have England fly-half George Ford arriving at the end of the season in stunning form as they have won three of their past four Premiership games.

Currently occupying the final play-off spot are Pat Lam’s Bristol Bears and they face a highly unpredictable Harlequins side.

Victory would guarantee a top-four finish but anything less than that and the Bears will be looking over their shoulders, with Gloucester and Saracens ready to strike.

Ashton Gate holds a special place in the hearts of Quins fans, as the scene of their epic semi-final fightback victory at ‘Bristanbul’ in 2021 en route to claiming their second Premiership title.

Gloucester go into the game knowing nothing less than victory over reigning champions Northampton will do.

Do that and they need Sale to lose without any bonus points or Bristol just to lose and they could sneak into the top four at the finish line.

In what would be an astonishing story, the Cherry and Whites could mathematically still secure a home semi-final at Kingsholm if they all suffer defeat and pick up no bonus points.

If they were to secure a bonus-point victory over Saints they would jump up to 56 points, level with Leicester.

Given both teams would have 10 wins, Gloucester would finish above the Tigers due to their superior points difference (currently Gloucester +74, Leicester +72).

Saracens host Bath at StoneX Stadium with their destiny out of their hands as they bid to avoid missing out on the top four for only the third time since 2009.

Those two occasions were 2020, when they were relegated in the wake of the salary cap scandal, and the following season when they played in the second tier.

It has been a season of rebuilding for Mark McCall and his coaching staff after the departures of legendary players including Owen Farrell and Billy and Mako Vunipola last summer, while full-back Alex Goode has announced he would retire at the end of the season after making a Sarries record 400th appearance earlier this month.

Their play-off hopes were struck a huge blow at Northampton a fortnight ago with Tarek Haffar’s last-second try stealing a 28-24 victory for the Saints that left the Men in Black’s hopes dangling.

Their task is similar to that of Gloucester, as they go into the game with the same number of points and wins as the Cherry and Whites, but they have a substantially lower points difference of +30.

All matches kick-off Saturday, 31 May, 15:05 BST

United Rugby Championship quarter-final: Leinster v Scarlets

Venue: Aviva Stadium, Dublin Date: Saturday, 31 May Kick-off: 15:00 BST

Scarlets head coach Dwayne Peel says there is no greater task than facing Leinster in Dublin, but has urged his side to embrace the challenge.

Peel’s side are underdogs against the Irish team for the United Rugby Championship (URC) play-off quarter-final at the Aviva Stadium.

Leinster topped the league after the regular season, although one of only two defeats for Leo Cullen’s men came against Scarlets in Llanelli in April.

With former Wales scrum-half Gareth Davies injured, Scarlets have named an unchanged 23 from the final-day league defeat against Sharks in Durban.

Leinster are missing Ireland centres Robbie Henshaw and Garry Ringrose, and British and Irish Lions prop Tadhg Furlong.

Scarlets qualified for the play-offs for the first time in seven years after finishing eighth in the URC, with the prize tackling top seeds Leinster on their home turf.

“It’s going to be a great occasion and a case of embracing it,” said Peel.

“It’s not about chasing five points, it’s knockout rugby and it’s all on the day.

“We want to go further, we want to push a great team in Leinster as far as we can.”

This is Scarlets’ first appearance in the league play-offs since they were finalists in 2018.

After a 35-22 victory against a second-string Leinster last month, Scarlets have not won successive matches against the Irish side since 2015, but know they will be facing a different proposition this weekend.

“There’s no greater task than going to Dublin and we’re looking forward to that challenge,” said Peel.

“We won’t shy away from it, you’ve got to have confidence in your own group when you go there.

Peel faced more questions this week on the off-the-field uncertainty surrounding Welsh rugby with Scarlets and Ospreys in dispute with the Welsh Rugby Union.

There are suggestions the WRU is contemplating cutting a professional team with the two west Wales regions in a more precarious position that Cardiff and Dragons having not signed the new Professional Rugby Agreement (PRA).

Scarlets are the only Welsh side to have reached the play-offs during a season in which the Wales men’s national side extended their losing international streak to a record 17 matches.

Leinster have former Scarlets and Wales forwards coach Robin McBryde in their backroom staff.

McBryde stated in February he feared rugby has lost its soul in Wales and called the situation “very sad” after Warren Gatland had left his role as head coach.

“It has been a difficult year for Welsh rugby so everybody is looking for some sort of shining light,” said McBryde.

“Hopefully it [Welsh rugby] will get back to where it was before.

“I am not sure if Scarlets feel they have nothing to lose and can throw the kitchen sink at it against us.

“If so that could make them an even more dangerous team.

Leinster are reeling from their Challenge Cup semi-final defeat by Northampton at the Aviva Stadium earlier this month.

“Everybody has looked at themselves across the board since the Northampton defeat,” said McBryde.

“We have had a couple of good sessions where we have had some honest feedback of where we can improve.

“We have spoken about it as players and coaches. Was our mindset in the right frame of mind going into that game? Did we think we had a right to be in the final? I don’t know.

“We have fallen short again in the Champions Cup so hopefully we can go a step further in the URC this season.”

“The URC quarter-finals gives us another opportunity to show we can do that in a knockout phase of a competition because in the last three seasons up to this point of the year we have been pretty good.

This is Leinster’s 10th successive appearance in the play-offs, but they have not won the league title since 2021, which was the last of four straight successes.

“It’s one game at a time,” said McBryde.

“If we can be good enough on the weekend and beat what is a very cohesive Scarlets team then we will end up reaching the same stage as the last three seasons.

“It will be give us an opportunity to go a step further, but that’s about it. You can’t take anything for granted and it’s all on the day.

“We have seen in the past teams come to play against Leinster in the Aviva and raise their game.

Leinster: Hugo Keenan; Jimmy O’Brien, Jamie Osborne, Jordie Barrett, James Lowe; Sam Prendergast, Jamison Gibson-Park; Andrew Porter, Ronan Kelleher, Thomas Clarkson, Joe McCarthy, James Ryan, Ryan Baird, Josh van der Flier, Jack Conan (capt).

Replacements: Dan Sheehan, Jack Boyle, Rabah Slimani, RG Snyman, Max Deegan, Scott Penny, Luke McGrath, Ciaran Frawley.

Scarlets: Blair Murray; Tom Rogers, Joe Roberts, Johnny Williams, Ellis Mee; Sam Costelow, Archie Hughes; Alec Hepburn, Ryan Elias, Henry Thomas, Alex Craig, Sam Lousi, Vaea Fifita, Josh Macleod (capt), Taine Plumtree.

Replacements: Marnus van der Merwe, Kemsley Mathias, Sam Wainwright, Dan Davis, Jarrod Taylor, Efan Jones, Ioan Lloyd, Macs Page.

Referee: Hollie Davidson (SRU)

Assistant referees: Gianluca Gnecchi (FIR), Federico Vedovelli (FIR)

Amelie Mauresmo, the director of the French Open tournament, has refuted claims that the tournament’s night session’s lack of women’s matches suggests that they are not “worthy” of the position.

All six of Roland Garros’ initial six-night sessions were men’s singles matches.

Ons Jabeur, a two-time Wimbledon champion, stated in a press conference earlier this week that the decision has an impact on the development of women’s sport.

No women’s players, according to Mauresmo, a former WTA world number one, have directly complained to her about the situation.

When questioned if she understood that some women didn’t feel “not worthy” of their matches, Mauresmo responded, “That’s not what we’re saying. Right there, I have to stop you.

The conditions have not changed for having one singular match in the evening, as I have always said and I will continue to say, for me.

In the Champions League final between Paris St-Germain and Inter Milan on Saturday, Mauresmo must decide which game will be played.

She claimed that, “The Champions League final won’t change us much.”

“We’re attempting to make the most of the tournament,” he said. Although we are organizing our own event, we are very pleased for PSG.

Only one singles match is played on Court Philippe Chatrier during the French Open night sessions, which started in 2021.

Since 2023, there hasn’t been a women’s singles match played over three sets in this primetime slot since 2023, making the previous 19 nighttime sessions men’s singles matches that were played over five sets.

Since they were introduced four years ago, the women’s draw has only included four games.

Every year, people ask whether the French Open should do more to promote the women’s game.

Mauresmo claims that the justification for making the decisions is that women’s matches may be going “very quickly.”

She said, “There is nothing new in this book compared to the previous ones.”

We only practice one match per night. It is unchanged. We won’t make any changes to anything.

The lens for me is “Two sets can go really quickly when you only have three sets.”

The women’s level is not currently attained by them. I’m not mentioning this.

Mauresmo added that the tournament does not want to play two nightscapades in the event of late-night matches like the US Open and Australian Open out of fear of putting together a late-night record.

As a result of the schedule’s success, she pointed to the full crowd at Thursday night’s game between French favorite Gael Monfils and British number one Jack Draper, which was played in front of a packed house until it ended at 23:45 local time.

She said, “If we have two matches in the night sessions, it doesn’t work in terms of how late the players will finish.

The stands will be empty for the majority of the first game, so we keep this one game in the evening.

At Friday’s news conference, Mauresmo expressed frustration with the inquiries regarding the lack of women’s nightclub games.

She quickly shut down another question toward the end of the half-hour event after responding to several others, saying she wanted to “change the subject.”

Mauresmo earlier made an attempt to get past the situation by implying that some women’s matches would be chosen in the upcoming days.

She said, “Maybe we talk about this on the final Sunday.”

Mauresmo hopes that the women’s draw will provide some intriguing nighttime matches.

We have some interesting rivalries, she continued, adding that Iga is “Swiatek,” Coco is “Gauff,” Aryna is Sabolenka, and Madison is “Keys.”

“I believe we are entering a very interesting era with intriguing characters and a very high level of play,” she said.