Saints face straight shoot-out with Quins for final play-off place

A straight shoot-out between Saints and Harlequins beckons as the fight for the final Gallagher Premiership play-off spot goes down to the wire.
It's between Saints and Harlequins for the final play-off place in the Gallagher PremiershipIt's between Saints and Harlequins for the final play-off place in the Gallagher Premiership
It's between Saints and Harlequins for the final play-off place in the Gallagher Premiership

Following Wasps' 29-17 defeat at Bath on Sunday afternoon, only Saints and Quins are in contention to finish fourth in the standings.

Sixth-placed Bath are five points behind Saints, but they can't finish above Chris Boyd's men because they have two fewer wins and only one game remaining.

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Saints, who will now finish no lower than fifth, can guarantee fourth with any sort of win at Exeter Chiefs on the final day of the season, which takes place on Saturday, May 18 (kick-off 4pm).

Premiership Rugby rules state: "In the case of equality at any stage of the season, positions at that stage of the season shall be determined firstly by the number of wins achieved and then on the basis of match points differential. A club with a larger number of wins shall be placed higher than a club with the same number of league points but fewer wins.

"If clubs have equal league points and equal number of wins then a club with a larger difference between match points “for” and match points “against” shall be placed higher in the Premiership League than a club with a smaller difference between match points “for” and match points “against”.

Should two clubs have the same number of league points and the same match points difference, the club having scored more match points “for” shall be placed higher in the Premiership League than the club having the lesser number of match points “for”.

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If the above does not establish different Premiership League positions then the club in the higher position shall be the club that has achieved the higher aggregate match points scored by it in the same season against the other club.

If this still does not establish the position then the club who has won the most matches, excluding its first Premiership League match of the season, then its second Premiership League match and so on, until it can be established which the higher placed club is."

Saints have won one more match than Harlequins and are 70 points better off when it comes to points difference.

The black, green and gold's game at Exeter will be shown live on BT Sport, as will Quins' clash with Wasps.

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The play-off semi-finals take place on the following Saturday (May 25).

Gallagher Premiership table

Team P W D L For Ag PD B Pts

Exeter 21 16 0 5 590 417 173 17 81

Saracens 21 16 0 5 615 409 206 13 77

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Gloucester 21 13 1 7 546 469 77 12 66

Saints 21 11 0 10 569 481 88 12 56

Harlequins 21 10 0 11 519 501 18 15 55

Bath 21 9 2 10 449 449 0 11 51

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Sale 21 10 2 9 416 463 -47 6 50

Wasps 21 9 0 12 456 527 -71 11 47

Bristol 21 8 1 12 484 568 -84 13 47

Worcester 21 8 0 13 460 528 -68 9 41

Leicester 21 7 0 14 447 600 -153 12 40

Newcastle 21 6 0 15 383 522 -139 6 30

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