December 23, 2025

Rugby Premiership Predictions for Round 8

Team Ratings for Round 8

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 13.66 10.30 3.40
Bristol 6.46 3.66 2.80
Saracens 6.38 5.03 1.30
Leicester Tigers 5.24 5.55 -0.30
Exeter Chiefs 3.26 -4.58 7.80
Sale Sharks 3.08 6.70 -3.60
Northampton Saints 0.84 -1.47 2.30
Gloucester -2.53 4.13 -6.70
Harlequins -5.53 -3.02 -2.50
Newcastle Red Bulls -23.00 -18.45 -4.60

 

Performance So Far

So far there have been 35 matches played, 26 of which were correctly predicted, a success rate of 74.3%.
Here are the predictions for last week’s games.

Game Date Score Prediction Correct
1 Leicester Tigers vs. Gloucester Dec 20 45 – 14 11.90 TRUE
2 Northampton Saints vs. Sale Sharks Dec 21 47 – 21 1.20 TRUE
3 Saracens vs. Exeter Chiefs Dec 21 24 – 30 12.90 FALSE
4 Harlequins vs. Bristol Dec 21 14 – 40 -1.40 TRUE
5 Newcastle Red Bulls vs. Bath Dec 22 14 – 50 -28.40 TRUE

 

Predictions for Round 8

Here are the predictions for Round 8. 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 Sale Sharks vs. Harlequins Dec 27 Sale Sharks 15.60
2 Bristol vs. Newcastle Red Bulls Dec 28 Bristol 36.50
3 Gloucester vs. Saracens Dec 28 Saracens -1.90
4 Bath vs. Northampton Saints Dec 28 Bath 19.80
5 Exeter Chiefs vs. Leicester Tigers Dec 29 Exeter Chiefs 5.00

 

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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 »