December 30, 2025

Rugby Premiership Predictions for Round 9

Team Ratings for Round 9

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 10.90 10.30 0.60
Saracens 6.97 5.03 1.90
Leicester Tigers 4.52 5.55 -1.00
Bristol 4.49 3.66 0.80
Exeter Chiefs 3.98 -4.58 8.60
Sale Sharks 3.91 6.70 -2.80
Northampton Saints 3.59 -1.47 5.10
Gloucester -3.11 4.13 -7.20
Harlequins -6.36 -3.02 -3.30
Newcastle Red Bulls -21.03 -18.45 -2.60

 

Performance So Far

So far there have been 40 matches played, 30 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 Sale Sharks vs. Harlequins Dec 27 43 – 17 15.60 TRUE
2 Bristol vs. Newcastle Red Bulls Dec 28 36 – 27 36.50 TRUE
3 Gloucester vs. Saracens Dec 28 21 – 30 -1.90 TRUE
4 Bath vs. Northampton Saints Dec 28 21 – 41 19.80 FALSE
5 Exeter Chiefs vs. Leicester Tigers Dec 29 24 – 10 5.00 TRUE

 

Predictions for Round 9

Here are the predictions for Round 9. 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 Bristol vs. Sale Sharks Jan 03 Bristol 7.60
2 Newcastle Red Bulls vs. Gloucester Jan 03 Gloucester -10.90
3 Bath vs. Exeter Chiefs Jan 04 Bath 13.90
4 Northampton Saints vs. Harlequins Jan 04 Northampton Saints 16.90
5 Leicester Tigers vs. Saracens Jan 05 Leicester Tigers 4.60

 

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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 »

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