• Help Support The Rugby Forum :

Premiership prediction thread 2021/22

Scotty

First XV
TRF Legend
Joined
Jun 14, 2016
Messages
4,827
Club or Nation
Exeter
What are your predictions for this season?

Final table order? And how will the play offs go? Predict now and we will come back at the end of the season and see how wrong we are.

Who are the breakthrough players?
 
Really tough one to predict, even just the top 4 - everytime I think of one a second later I'm like "but Tigers have strengthened well..." etc.

Maybe something like:

1. Exeter
2. Bristol
3. Saracens
4. Harlequins
5. Sale
6. Tigers
7. Wasps
8. Northampton
9. Bath
10. Gloucester
11. Newcastle
12. London Irish
13. Worcester

But really, other than Chiefs and Bristol ending in the top 4, I'm not certain on any of them.

I do think if Saracens make the knockouts they'll lift the trophy, but they've been hit hard/will be hit hard by international callups/rest periods over the summer and (for some reason...) don't have the depth they used to
 
Really tough one to predict, even just the top 4 - everytime I think of one a second later I'm like "but Tigers have strengthened well..." etc.

Maybe something like:

1. Exeter
2. Bristol
3. Saracens
4. Harlequins
5. Sale
6. Tigers
7. Wasps
8. Northampton
9. Bath
10. Gloucester
11. Newcastle
12. London Irish
13. Worcester

But really, other than Chiefs and Bristol ending in the top 4, I'm not certain on any of them.

I do think if Saracens make the knockouts they'll lift the trophy, but they've been hit hard/will be hit hard by international callups/rest periods over the summer and (for some reason...) don't have the depth they used to
The mental thing is that I wouldn't be surprised if any of that top 6 won it and if any of the top 9 were in the final
 
I'm going with:

Champions: Leicester

1. Bristol
2. Leicester
3. Harlequins
4. Sale
5. Exeter
6. Saracens
7. Northampton
8. Bath
9. Wasps
10. London Irish
10. Newcastle
12. Worcester
13. Gloucester

I think 50:22 is made for Tigers and they've assembled a very good squad through canny recruitment and promoting some excellent young players from their academy.

I might revise my prediction if Ford is back in the England fold, but I suspect he may be the fall guy for Smith coming in. Tigers also have some excellent reinforcements to arrive after the AIs with their Argentinian and SA internationals returning.

My prediction for Quins is on the assumption Allan isn't called up for Italy. If he is and Smith is away with England, no way we make the top 4.

Breakthrough players - Harper and Quirke at Sale. Riley at Quins.
 
Premiership Winner: Leicester
As with BPM, the 50:22 law could have been written by Borthwick is asked what new thing he'd introduce that would most benefit Leicester. Add to that, that Ford will be properly rested, and may stay with the club during international weekends...

Table order:
1. Bristol
2. Leicester
3. Exeter
4. Saracens
5. Sale
6. Harlequins
7. Wasps
8. Bath
9. Gloucester
10. Northampton
11. Newcastle
12. Worcester
13. L.Irish

Principally, Leicester I expect Leicester to have a fantastic season, led by Ford, Sarries to be strong, but vulnerable - especially before Christmas. Exeter to be struggling to know what to do now that they can't just flop at the try line 20 times in as many phases (I exaggerate, obviously). I expect Quins to react similarly to last time they won the Prem with a squad full of youthful ambition, and flatter to deceive, maybe believing their own hype until it's too late. Sale to be strong, but lack of depth to hamper their chances at reaching the play-offs.
Beyond that, there's the also rans who will have plenty of matches where they look like champions elect, and plenty where they look like they met for the first time during the warm-up.
Of course, with no relegation again; everything's up in the air, and some clubs will really push to create their plan, and bring on the youth whilst not so much caring about results, whilst others will see this as a golden opportunity to get some confidence whilst chaos reigns.
And then, of course, there's Covid, which still has the opportunity to throw a great big spanner into the works, especially in Devon and London, for different reasons

Player having a breakthrough season: Max Ojomo
I like to keep this to Bath, as I just don't know all that many new players for other clubs. For those that I do, I don't generally know their club situation well enough to judge their route through.

Of course, if we're using the Premiership's own definition of "breakthrough" to mean a player in his 5th season with fewer starts than he had in his first season... A Barbeary or M Smith
 
Last edited:
Montoya was excellent when he played, but he's featured in so few games so far, it feels a bit inaccurate to say they'll miss him.

Wiese is definitely a loss, but with Liebenberg, Brink, Reffel, Martin and Evans, their back row options are still strong.

There are fewer obvious replacements for Moroni, so he'll probably be the most missed.

I don't doubt they'll be impacted by their absence, but when you compare those three to what Saracens, Exeter and Sale will be missing, it doesn't feel that bad.
 
1. Bristol
2. Exeter, Baxter will have a plan to do something different seen as goal line rule wont help us.
3. Sarries (Champions cant see past them winning it, but losing in yet another final will be brutal for Chiefs)
4. Tigers, just can see them doing well this season.
5. Quin, late push ovetaking Sale
6. Sale
7. Wasps, late push(when have launch, odogwu, barbeary and JWillis)
8. Falcons
9. Bath
10. Saints
11. LIrish
12. Worcester, Some good signings might be enough
13. Gloucester just not convinced on them not sure why. I think they will use the year to build so not really push.
 
Last edited:
I mean with Claire injured Montoya is 100% a loss, Claire was playing really well last season.
Obviously Tigers would be better of with Montoya than without, but my point is that you can't miss something you didn't really have …

If Montoya had played a lot of games and was pivotal to the game plan, it would be very different, but he's only played 6 games and has spent the last couple of months away with Argentina.

I'd argue Clare is actually a bigger miss right now, but Dolly is a good player so can fill in well enough.

I'm surprised that people are tipping Saracens for the ***le.

If the lineup they have tonight is what we'll be seeing for most of the first half of the season, they'll do well to be upper mid table at Christmas. I think there's 2, maybe 3 rounds between the end of the Lions rest period and the AIs, a few games in Dec and Jan where they might have a full squad and then the 6N. If their best side is mostly unavailable until after the 6N, they could have a massive amount of ground to make up on the leaders. As Olyy inferred, I think their only real chance is to scrape 4th and then win the play-offs.
 
  1. Chiefs (C)
  2. Saracens
  3. Bristol (f)
  4. Sale
  5. Quins
  6. Saints
  7. Bath
  8. Tigers
  9. Wasps
  10. Falcons
  11. Gloucester
  12. Irish
  13. Worcester
3 - 5 and 6 - 9 are a total toss up for me, really could go any way between them. In the end I went for Quins missing out as they should be hit harder by the international windows. Other than that I think we'll see something of a return to the status quo of Sarries and Chiefs wrapping up home semi-finals with a few rounds to spare and Worcester and Irish propping up the table. Not that anyone will be watching what happens at the bottom of the table this season...

I wish I shared the optimism for Tigers expressed in this thread but I just can't see it. The problem for some years has been the struggle to score points even during periods of dominance and I doubt that'll change any time soon. Last season I think only Worcester and Newcastle scored less tries, and given that there's no relegation I think both teams will comfortably outscore Tigers this season, albeit whilst conceding much more. The 50:22 rule might seem ideal for Leicester and Ford, but if there's any opposition in the league right now that you'd be happy to drop your wingers back to cover kicks without having to worry about line breaks it's Tigers.

For now I'm more than happy with the team being Hard to Beat™. An entire season without any horrifying defeats is all I can wish for. The Champions Cup in particular has been a pretty depressing experience recently and I'm not sure I'm ready for another loss like this.
 

Latest posts

Top