May 12, 2026

Rugby Premiership Predictions for Round 16

Team Ratings for Round 16

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
Leicester Tigers 11.29 5.55 5.70
Bath 11.06 10.30 0.80
Saracens 10.58 5.03 5.50
Northampton Saints 5.82 -1.47 7.30
Exeter Chiefs 4.97 -4.58 9.60
Bristol 4.15 3.66 0.50
Sale Sharks -1.24 6.70 -7.90
Gloucester -5.47 4.13 -9.60
Harlequins -7.04 -3.02 -4.00
Newcastle Red Bulls -26.25 -18.45 -7.80

 

Performance So Far

So far there have been 75 matches played, 53 of which were correctly predicted, a success rate of 70.7%.
Here are the predictions for last week’s games.

Game Date Score Prediction Correct
1 Gloucester vs. Sale Sharks May 09 21 – 15 2.00 TRUE
2 Bristol vs. Saracens May 10 26 – 41 3.30 FALSE
3 Leicester Tigers vs. Northampton Saints May 10 41 – 17 10.40 TRUE
4 Exeter Chiefs vs. Bath May 11 35 – 12 -2.80 FALSE
5 Newcastle Red Bulls vs. Harlequins May 11 17 – 76 -5.00 TRUE

 

Predictions for Round 16

Here are the predictions for Round 16. 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. Bristol May 16 Northampton Saints 8.70
2 Bath vs. Newcastle Red Bulls May 17 Bath 44.30
3 Harlequins vs. Exeter Chiefs May 17 Exeter Chiefs -5.00
4 Saracens vs. Gloucester May 17 Saracens 23.00
5 Sale Sharks vs. Leicester Tigers May 18 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 »

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