October 21, 2025

Rugby Premiership Predictions for Round 5

Team Ratings for Round 5

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 11.40 10.30 1.10
Saracens 9.77 5.03 4.70
Sale Sharks 5.45 6.70 -1.30
Leicester Tigers 3.92 5.55 -1.60
Bristol 3.68 3.66 0.00
Gloucester 0.27 4.13 -3.90
Northampton Saints -0.30 -1.47 1.20
Exeter Chiefs -0.71 -4.58 3.90
Harlequins -4.71 -3.02 -1.70
Newcastle Falcons -20.90 -18.45 -2.50

 

Performance So Far

So far there have been 20 matches played, 15 of which were correctly predicted, a success rate of 75%.
Here are the predictions for last week’s games.

Game Date Score Prediction Correct
1 Gloucester vs. Bristol Oct 18 34 – 49 6.80 FALSE
2 Newcastle Falcons vs. Northampton Saints Oct 18 19 – 36 -12.70 TRUE
3 Leicester Tigers vs. Bath Oct 19 22 – 20 -1.10 FALSE
4 Saracens vs. Sale Sharks Oct 19 65 – 14 5.00 TRUE
5 Exeter Chiefs vs. Harlequins Oct 20 38 – 0 6.50 TRUE

 

Predictions for Round 5

Here are the predictions for Round 5. 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 Northampton Saints vs. Saracens Oct 25 Saracens -3.10
2 Exeter Chiefs vs. Gloucester Oct 26 Exeter Chiefs 6.00
3 Harlequins vs. Newcastle Falcons Oct 26 Harlequins 23.20
4 Bath vs. Bristol Oct 26 Bath 14.70
5 Leicester Tigers vs. Sale Sharks Oct 26 Leicester Tigers 5.50

 

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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 »