Perfect Ten - Not quite, but not far off
By Prof
February 20 2007
Although we are still not out of the danger zone completely and we still need another 19 points to be mathematically safe we can be proud of the progress over the last ten rounds of the Premiership.
The table over the last ten rounds shows us to have picked up as many wins as the top two teams - Leicester Tigers and Bristol Rugby. We are second place in the number of points scored and also in the number of points conceded behind Leicester and Bristol respectively - so that would suggest we have the second best attack and defence in the league.
| P | W | D | L | F | A | TF | TA | BP | Pts | |
| Leicester Tigers | 10 | 7 | 0 | 3 | 278 | 172 | 32 | 16 | 8 | 36 |
| NEC Harlequins | 10 | 7 | 0 | 3 | 225 | 149 | 22 | 15 | 4 | 32 |
| Bristol Rugby | 9 | 7 | 0 | 3 | 146 | 143 | 12 | 12 | 1 | 29 |
| Saracens | 9 | 6 | 0 | 3 | 202 | 159 | 20 | 13 | 3 | 27 |
| Gloucester Rugby | 9 | 5 | 0 | 4 | 194 | 162 | 18 | 16 | 4 | 24 |
| London Wasps | 10 | 4 | 1 | 5 | 199 | 167 | 19 | 14 | 6 | 24 |
| London Irish | 9 | 5 | 0 | 4 | 158 | 150 | 15 | 16 | 1 | 21 |
| Bath Rugby | 10 | 4 | 0 | 6 | 162 | 199 | 13 | 19 | 4 | 20 |
| Newcastle Falcons | 9 | 4 | 0 | 5 | 181 | 230 | 18 | 23 | 3 | 19 |
| Sale Sharks | 10 | 3 | 0 | 7 | 171 | 222 | 13 | 15 | 4 | 16 |
| Worcester Warriors | 10 | 2 | 1 | 7 | 132 | 187 | 11 | 19 | 5 | 15 |
| Northampton Saints | 9 | 2 | 0 | 7 | 115 | 223 | 11 | 26 | 2 | 10 |
In this same period we've scored 22 tries (the second best in the league) and conceded 15 (joint 4th) not great but so much better than at the start of the season.
We've also lept from 11th place to the heady heights of 6th.
Admittedly half of the teams have a game in hand but only Bristol and perhaps Saracens could have been above us if they had got a bonus point win.
Looking back to the same point two years ago (the relegation year) we are 5 places and 9 points higher, we have three more wins, we've scored 44 more points including three more tries and have conceded 19 fewer points and two fewer tries.
The most important thing is that we are now 17 points from the bottom placed club rather than the two points two years ago (above Worcester both times).
| Year | Pos | P | W | D | L | F | A | TF | TA | BP | Pts |
| 2006-7 | 6 | 15 | 7 | 0 | 8 | 323 | 296 | 31 | 31 | 6 | 34 |
| 2004-5 | 11 | 15 | 4 | 1 | 10 | 279 | 315 | 28 | 33 | 7 | 25 |
Two years ago our current points would have put us in 8th place after round 15 two years ago.
If you look at the points and tries scored it shows what a close run thing the Premiership is with not much between eventually getting relegated and ending up in a HC position.
If we think fancifully rather than statistcally we might easily have eaten London Irish in the first game of the season, if two of the three disallowed tries against Bath were awarded then we would hae won that, if we had carried on playing the second half against Gloucester the way we played the first it could have provided a win, Sarries, Leicester and Sale are also games that could have been wins as well. I know that there are an awful lot of 'if's there but it wouldn't have taken much to have been right up there in the top couple of places in the table.
Here's hoping we can continue our solid recent form and cement our current position and perhaps even look to overhaul Saracens.