Class to prevail in Premiership

Saracens’ November and December form in domestic and European action may suggest I am trading off times that are long since past. But I still think Saracens are the side who can rediscover their bite and deliver performances that most sides can only dream of.

Their two matches against Northampton at Twickenham and Franklin’s Gardens were off the scale. Sarries have worldnominated players in their outfit and, in a very strange way, recent results and performances may just be the reminder they needed that “getting better can never be allowed to stop” or you will get swallowed. They are not ready to be also-rans just yet. Wounds will be licked, injuries will heal, top two of the Premiership will be their target, not the top four. A home semi-final should see them at Twickenham and they will take anyone on.

Exeter wear the crown well, and will undoubtedly have a home semi-final. If they win the Aviva Premiership again there can be no reason to maintain the assertion that the next England coach must have international coaching experience. Get Exeter’s man in charge, Rob Baxter, on a fast-track management and Mba-style coaching course and send him to South Africa with Eddie Jones to observe. Gloucester, meanwhile, find themselves in territory they have not been for a while. I love their dynamism and collective scrap but I just do not think they can turn success on like a tap.

Wasps have put together an attacking structure that has teams grasping at air. One particular backs move set up from a wide scrum has four options off it, and they are good enough to send it to one of the options the opposition has not covered. My issue is that they could not win it when they had Kurtley Beale, so I cannot see them doing it when he has left.