September 30, 2025

Rugby Premiership Predictions for Round 2

Team Ratings for Round 2

The basic method is described on my Department home page.
Here are the team ratings prior to this week’s games, along with the ratings at the start of the season.

Current Rating Rating at Season Start Difference
Bath 11.07 10.30 0.80
Sale Sharks 7.31 6.70 0.60
Saracens 5.59 5.03 0.60
Bristol 4.66 3.66 1.00
Leicester Tigers 4.56 5.55 -1.00
Gloucester 3.52 4.13 -0.60
Northampton Saints -2.27 -1.47 -0.80
Exeter Chiefs -3.78 -4.58 0.80
Harlequins -3.79 -3.02 -0.80
Newcastle Falcons -19.00 -18.45 -0.60

 

Performance So Far

So far there have been 5 matches played, 4 of which were correctly predicted, a success rate of 80%.
Here are the predictions for last week’s games.

Game Date Score Prediction Correct
1 Sale Sharks vs. Gloucester Sept 26 27 – 10 9.60 TRUE
2 Harlequins vs. Bath Sept 27 31 – 47 -6.30 TRUE
3 Newcastle Falcons vs. Saracens Sept 27 17 – 39 -16.50 TRUE
4 Northampton Saints vs. Exeter Chiefs Sept 29 33 – 33 10.10 FALSE
5 Bristol vs. Leicester Tigers Sept 29 42 – 24 5.10 TRUE

 

Predictions for Round 2

Here are the predictions for Round 2. The prediction is my estimated expected points difference with a positive margin being a win to the home team, and a negative margin a win to the away team.

Game Date Winner Prediction
1 Bath vs. Sale Sharks Oct 04 Bath 10.80
2 Exeter Chiefs vs. Newcastle Falcons Oct 05 Exeter Chiefs 22.20
3 Leicester Tigers vs. Harlequins Oct 05 Leicester Tigers 15.30
4 Saracens vs. Bristol Oct 05 Saracens 7.90
5 Gloucester vs. Northampton Saints Oct 06 Gloucester 12.80

 

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David Scott obtained a BA and PhD from the Australian National University and then commenced his university teaching career at La Trobe University in 1972. He has taught at La Trobe University, the University of Sheffield, Bond University and Colorado State University, joining the University of Auckland, based at Tamaki Campus, in mid-1995. He has been Head of Department at La Trobe University, Acting Dean and Associate Dean (Academic) at Bond University, and Associate Director of the Centre for Quality Management and Data Analysis at Bond University with responsibility for Short Courses. He was Head of the Department of Statistics in 2000, and is a past President of the New Zealand Statistical Assocation. See all posts by David Scott »