By Whaley Shark
April 12 2015

Well, by the time you read this, there will only be three games of the AP season left, but I’m writing it on Sunday morning, before a few hours out on the mountain bike round a blustery Goyt Valley, and I thought I’d take a look at how the AP table might end up.

The bottom is sorted out, really. London Welsh have looked doomed from the start and have only managed to find one point all season, admittedly a 4-try bonus away at Bath. The rest of the AP must have been looking at their games against Welsh as four, if not five, points in the bag and, consequently, there just hasn’t been any tension or uncertainty around the relegation zone since before Christmas. Maybe that’s what life would be like in the bottom third of a ring-fenced Premiership?

The top of the table is taking shape too. Saints have a clear lead and, if they win today away at Exeter, who are themselves chasing Tigers for the fourth playoff place, they look unstoppable. Saracens and Bath look pretty certain for 2 and 3 in the Table, with Saints-Saracens in two weeks’ time perhaps being the fixture that will decide their order.

Tigers, who may have spluttered by their own high standards but always seem to be there at the business end of the season, Exeter and Wasps are all in contention for the last playoff spot, and we could be part of that group as well, but only if we win today at Irish and keep winning all the way to the end of the season, when our last game, away at Sandy Park, could be season-defining. I think the playoffs are just a bit beyond us but Exeter and Wasps have slightly tougher run-ins than we do, so I am backing us to sneak 6^th, or even 5^th place.

Harlequins are certainly not out of contention in this mid-table scrap after this weekend’s win against Gloucester, but have to play us and Falcons away, and Bath at the Stoop, in their last three games, and that looks pretty demanding, so I am going to discount their challenge. Finally, I think Gloucester, who have surely punched below their weight this season, Irish and Falcons, all have too much to do and will remain, in that order, 9, 10 and 11 in the Table.

I’ll doubtless be proven completely wrong by 5.00 p.m. today, though.