Saracens given hope, Lion missing: Every Premiership team for final round

Five teams head into the final round of the regular Gallagher Premiership season with a lot of play for this Saturday.

With Bath sitting comfortably at the top of the league with an unassailable lead, just five points separate Leicester Tigers in second and Saracens in sixth. With only three teams able to join Bath in the play-offs, two are going to be bitterly disappointed come Saturday evening.

What makes this even more interesting is that none of those five teams are playing each other when every match kicks off at 15:05. Leicester host bottom-place Newcastle Falcons, third-place Sale Sharks travel to ninth Exeter Chiefs, fourth-place Bristol Bears host a seventh-place Harlequins who have rested British and Irish Lions Marcus Smith, fifth-place Gloucester entertain eighth-place Northampton Saints and Saracens welcome Bath.

With Newcastle at rock bottom, Quins and Saints secured in the top eight – and therefore guaranteed Investec Champions Cup rugby next season – there is very little for the bottom four to play for.

Fixture

Gallagher Premiership

Saracens

36 - 26

Full-time

Bath

All Stats and Data

That will not please a Saracens side that desperately need a victory after blowing a 24-7 lead against Saints in round 17 while also requiring two of the teams above them to slip up.

While the prospect of facing the league leaders, who won the Challenge Cup last weekend, does not look great for the north London outfit, Johann van Graan has opted to rest much of his squad, handing out a staggering seven Premiership debuts. Their destiny is not in their hands, but Saracens have been handed a glimmer of hope.

Here are the line-ups for round 18:

Bristol Bears v Harlequins
Bristol Bears: 15 Noah Heward, 14 Kalaveti Ravouvou, 13 Benhard Janse van Rensburg, 12 James Williams, 11 Gabriel Ibitoye, 10 AJ MacGinty, 9 Harry Randall, 8 Viliame Mata, 7 Fitz Harding, 6 Santiago Grondona, 5 Joe Batley, 4 Pedro Rubiolo, 3 George Kloska, 2 Gabriel Oghre, 1 Yann Thomas
Replacements: 16 Harry Thacker, 17 Jake Woolmore, 18 Max Lahiff, 19 Joe Owen, 20 Steven Luatua, 21 Kieran Marmion, 22 Harry Byrne, 23 Jack Bates

Harlequins: 15 Nick David, 14 Rodrigo Isgro, 13 Oscar Beard, 12 Luke Northmore, 11 Cadan Murley, 10 Jamie Benson, 9 Will Porter, 8 Alex Dombrandt (c), 7 Will Evans, 6 Jack Kenningham, 5 George Hammond, 4 Jonny Green, 3 Titi Lamositele, 2 Jack Walker, 1 Fin Baxter
Replacements: 16 Nathan Jibulu, 17 Jordan Els, 18 Ollie Streeter, 19 Joe Launchbury, 20 Tom Lawday, 21 Jake Murray, 22 Sean Kerr, 23 Leigh Halfpenny

Exeter Chiefs v Sale Sharks
Exeter Chiefs: 15 Josh Hodge, 14 Paul Brown-Bampoe, 13 Henry Slade, 12 Tamati Tua, 11 Tommy Wyatt, 10 Harvey Skinner, 9 Stu Townsend, 8 Ethan Roots, 7 Richard Capstick, 6 Jacques Vermeulen, 5 Franco Molina, 4 Rusi Tuima, 3 Josh Iosefa-Scott, 2 Jack Yeandle (c) 1 Kwenzo Blose
Replacements: 16 Dan Frost, 17 Scott Sio, 18 Jimmy Roots, 19 Christ Tshiunza, 20 Martin Moloney, 21 Tom Cairns, 22 Will Haydon-Wood, 23 Ross Vintcent

Sale Sharks: 15 Joe Carpenter, 14 Tom O’Flaherty, 13 Rob du Preez, 12 Rekeiti Ma’asi-White, 11 Arron Reed, 10 George Ford, 9 Raffi Quirke, 8 Dan du Preez, 7 Ben Curry (c), 6 JL du Preez, 5 Jonny Hill, 4 Ernst van Rhyn, 3 Asher Opoku-Fordjour, 2 Luke Cowan-Dickie, 1 Bevan Rodd
Replacements: 16 Tadgh McElroy, 17 Si McIntyre, 18 WillGriff John, 19 Ben Bamber, 20 Sam Dugdale, 21 Gus Warr, 22 Luke James, 23 Alex Wills

Gloucester v Northampton Saints
Gloucester: 15 Santi Carreras, 14 Christian Wade, 13 Chris Harris, 12 Seb Atkinson, 11 Jack Cotgreave, 10 Gareth Anscombe, 9 Tomos Williams, 8 Ruan Ackermann, 7 Lewis Ludlow (c), 6 Jack Clement, 5 Arthur Clark, 4 Freddie Clarke, 3 Afo Fasogbon, 2 Jack Singleton, 1 Ciaran Knight
Replacements: 16 Seb Blake, 17 Jamal Ford-Robinson, 18 Kirill Gotovtsev, 19 Cam Jordan, 20 Freddie Thomas, 21 Caolan Englefield, 22 Will Butler, 23 George Barton

Northampton Saints: 15 Jake Garside, 14 Toby Cousins, 13 Henry Lumley, 12 Tom Litchfield, 11 Ollie Sleightholme, 10 Rory Hutchinson, 9 Jonny Weimann, 8 Fyn Brown, 7 Tom Pearson, 6 Archie Benson, 5 Chunya Munga, 4 Ed Prowse (c), 3 Luke Green, 2 Henry Walker, 1 Tarek Haffar
Replacements: 16 Nathan Langdon, 17 Emmanuel Iyogun, 18 Elliot Millar Mills, 19 Callum Hunter-Hill, 20 Tom Lockett, 21 Iakopo Mapu, 22 James Pater, 23 Ewan Baker

Leicester Tigers v Newcastle Falcons
Leicester Tigers: 15 Freddie Steward, 14 Josh Bassett, 13 Solomone Kata, 12 Joseph Woodward, 11 Ollie Hassell-Collins, 10 Handré Pollard, 9 Ben Youngs, 8 Olly Cracknell, 7 Tommy Reffell, 6 Hanro Liebenberg, 5 Ollie Chessum, 4 Cameron Henderson, 3 Dan Cole, 2 Julián Montoya (c), 1 Nicky Smith
Replacements: 16 Charlie Clare, 17 James Cronin, 18 Joe Heyes, 19 Matt Rogerson, 20 Emeka Ilione, 21 Jack van Poortvliet, 22 Ben Volavola, 23 Mike Brown

Newcastle Falcons: 15 Elliott Obatoyinbo, 14 Ben Redshaw, 13 Alex Hearle, 12 Sammy Arnold, 11 Max Pepper, 10 Brett Connon, 9 Sam Stuart, 8 Freddie Lockwood, 7 Tom Gordon, 6 Cameron Neild, 5 Sebastian de Chaves, 4 John Hawkins, 3 Luan de Bruin, 2 Jamie Blamire (c), 1 Murray McCallum
Replacements: 16 Bryan Byrne, 17 Micky Rewcastle, 18 Callum Hancock, 19 Oscar Usher, 20 Ollie Leatherbarrow, 21 Joe Davis, 22 Oli Spencer, 23 Louis Brown

Saracens v Bath
Saracens: 15 Alex Goode, 14 Tobias Elliott, 13 Elliot Daly, 12 Nick Tompkins, 11 Rotimi Segun, 10 Fergus Burke, 9 Ivan van Zyl, 8 Tom Willis, 7 Andy Onyeama-Christie, 6 Theo McFarland, 5 Nick Isiekwe, 4 Maro Itoje (c), 3 Marco Riccioni, 2 Jamie George, 1 Rhys Carre
Replacements: 16 Theo Dan, 17 Eroni Mawi, 18 Harvey Beaton, 19 Hugh Tizard, 20 Juan Martin Gonzalez, 21 Ben Earl, 22 Charlie Bracken, 23 Lucio Cinti

Bath: 15 Jack Woods, 14 Austin Emens, 13 Louie Hennessey, 12 Will Parry, 11 Ruaridh McConnochie, 10 Orlando Bailey, 9 Louis Schreuder, 8 Arthur Green, 7 Tom Cowan, 6 Ethan Staddon, 5 Ewan Richards (c), 4 Will Jeanes, 3 Archie Griffin, 2 Jasper Spandler, 1 Scott Kirk
Replacements: 16 Kepu Tuipulotu, 17 Arthur Cordwell, 18 Kieran Verden, 19 Mackenzie Graham, 20 George Timmins, 21 Neil le Roux, 22 Tyler Offiah, 23 John Stewart