April 28, 2026

Rugby Premiership Predictions for Round 15

Team Ratings for Round 15

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 12.92 10.30 2.60
Leicester Tigers 10.24 5.55 4.70
Saracens 9.21 5.03 4.20
Northampton Saints 6.86 -1.47 8.30
Bristol 5.51 3.66 1.80
Exeter Chiefs 3.10 -4.58 7.70
Sale Sharks -0.83 6.70 -7.50
Gloucester -5.88 4.13 -10.00
Harlequins -10.66 -3.02 -7.60
Newcastle Red Bulls -22.62 -18.45 -4.20

 

Performance So Far

So far there have been 70 matches played, 50 of which were correctly predicted, a success rate of 71.4%.
Here are the predictions for last week’s games.

Game Date Score Prediction Correct
1 Newcastle Red Bulls vs. Bristol Apr 25 19 – 52 -19.00 TRUE
2 Harlequins vs. Sale Sharks Apr 26 33 – 52 0.00 FALSE
3 Northampton Saints vs. Bath Apr 26 41 – 38 0.40 TRUE
4 Saracens vs. Leicester Tigers Apr 26 19 – 15 6.50 TRUE
5 Gloucester vs. Exeter Chiefs Apr 27 34 – 31 -3.20 FALSE

 

Predictions for Round 15

Here are the predictions for Round 15. 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 Gloucester vs. Sale Sharks May 09 Gloucester 2.00
2 Bristol vs. Saracens May 10 Bristol 3.30
3 Leicester Tigers vs. Northampton Saints May 10 Leicester Tigers 10.40
4 Exeter Chiefs vs. Bath May 11 Bath -2.80
5 Newcastle Red Bulls vs. Harlequins May 11 Harlequins -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 »

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