Covid Cancelled Fixtures.

[Rossm]

Bath and Newcastle have been awarded 4 points whilst Irish and Tigers have been awarded 2 points.

Personally I don't think this is right. Surely it will only work if relegation is put on hold for this season?

[Neils]

No surprise as it is as they said. However I do think 4 + 1 would have been more realistic.

[hookender]

Considering that it’s meant to be a no blame result, surely the best way of considering it would have been to look at the result of last season ,maybe two seasons.

[BG]

RogerE's prediction might come true. Keep on "not being able to field a matchday squad" and a club will most likely avoid relegation by accummalating 2 pts here.. 1 pt there.. whereas a club putting out a weakened matchday squad (which most clubs should be able to do with 40 snr plus academy 10 - 15) might come off worse at the end of the season.

[Chunky24]

Be interesting to see the balance of home forfeits against away forfeits by the end of the season in the premiership, 2 away points very handy, 2 home points not so much?

[MarleyWasp]

Super League ran a system this year whereby the table was decided by a percentage based on how many table points a side obtained over how many points were available, so for instance Catalan Dragons only played 13 games, but won 8, compared to Leeds who won 10 but played 17 matches.

If the Premiership table was based the same way it would look like this at the moment (actual positions in brackets)

1. Exeter (1) - 20 out of 20 - 100%
2. Newcastle (2) - 12 out of 15 - 80%
3. Bristol (3) - 15 out of 20 - 75 %
4. Sale (4) - 11 out of 20 - 55%
5. Harlequins (5) - 10 out of 20 - 50%
6. Wasps (7) - 9 out of 20 - 45%
7. Bath (6) - 6 out of 15 - 40%
8. Northampton (9) - 7 out of 20 - 35%
9. London Irish (8 ) - 5 out of 15 - 33%
10. Leicester (10) - 5 out of 15 - 33%
11. Gloucester (11) - 5 out of 20 - 25%
12. Worcester (12) - 4 out of 20 - 20%

[Bloke in North Dorset]

Wuss V Quins off.

That well benefit Wuss as its Quins that can't field a team so on past form it 4pts for Wuss and 2 for Quins.

[MarleyWasp]

24 players and 9 staff across 10 clubs have tested positive. Saints have said they have 2 players positive, Quins and Bristol with 1 each, so that leaves 20 players across 7 clubs. Sounds like a few more matches maybe called off.

[hookender]

Saints game off

[Neils]

Beginning to look like Wasps are being penalised points wise by actually being clear and playing.

[hookender]

Fair play to Bristol .trying to get 6 front rowers together ,seem to be be short a hooker but hoping to play.
 Considering up against in form Falcons could easily cry off.

[Shugs]

Yes, there are lots of erroneous points being picked up across the piece. Not sure relegation should be allowed this year.

[Peej]

It's a valid conversation to have. Winless Worcester jump up the table this weekend despite not playing. Other teams miss out on an opportunity to climb the table and winnable games

[Heathen]

Given the way that the new variant appears to be spread so easily, I can very well see the situation when zero sport is happening in England within the next couple weeks, if the rate is not significantly retarded.

Buckinghamshire NHS has declared a Critical Alert today.

[westwaleswasp]

It's a valid conversation to have. Winless Worcester jump up the table this weekend despite not playing. Other teams miss out on an opportunity to climb the table and winnable games

Six points a game is too many for my money.
The maximum per game as a win is 5. In defeat it is 2, and for both to happen that would mean a TBP for both teams, which is super rare. You have to say 4 points is a reasonable haul for a win, the number of times a team loses out on a point they would have had by scoring 4 tries is going to be relatively low looking at last year's table. Around amaximum of half of a team's wins are likely to feature a TBP, so 4 points is a minor potential shortchanging, especially when you look at win rates. However, how often do losing teams get 2?  It is rarer still, closer to handful of games a year across the prem. 1 point is far more likely.

One thought, in red ball cricket they historicaly deduct 1/2 points for various misdemeanours- obviously a win is worth a lot more than 4 points there, but did they consider a 4-1.5 split? Or any other 3/2 etc. Does anyone know if there is published details of how they came to award this particular split?  Another thought- tie breaks when teams finish level are normally on number of wins. Does the 4 points count as a win in the event of a tie?


I would be happy to see relegation, and promotion from the championship suspended this year. It is the only way to be fair, and I am not that interested in promoting from the Championship due to the likely promotees.