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Some long coach trips in there especially if Doncaster qualify. Shoulld be a cracking atmosphere at Brickfields when those two meet.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 26/02/2010 08:17 by Videoman.

Thanks Moorsman, just a small correction though, we lost away to london welsh 12-10

thanks CC now corrected (Moorsman)



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 26/02/2010 09:32 by Moorsman.

when you say stage two, is that the first set of play offs (stage two of the season), or the second set of the play offs (stage two of the play offs)?


still not sure what was wrong with having a series of games, home & away spread over the season to decide who is the best team...

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Elegia, it isn't clear but they did say months ago that there should be an element of league performance in determining the advantage of choosing which leg of the final you play first. If (and it's a big if) that is the case I assume that the team with the greatest number of table points after the pool stage of the playoffs will choose. If that team loses in the semi then the other pool topping team will choose, so long as they win their semi final. If teams are tied for table points the usual tie break rules will apply, games won, points difference, discard the first game etc.

So: after 6 pool games if Bris have 30 points and Exe have 29 or less Bris get to choose whether to play the first leg of the final home or away so long as they win their semi. If they lose their semi and Exe win theirs Exe get to choose whether to play the first leg of the final home or away (and vice versa). If both pool winners lose their semis presumably the semi winner that had the greatest number of table points gets to choose and so on and so forth.

I used the words used by the RFU. They clearly see the initial league as Stage 1 and everything as Stage 2. Personally I think it would have been more 'honest' to number each 'stage' as they are different competitions.

The semis can't influence which pool winner chooses home advantage if they both win their semi as illustrated below:


"final May 19 & 26 - the team with the best playing record in Stage 2 will have the choice of whether to be at home for the first leg or the second leg of the Championship final"

We are about to enter stage 2 so all teams in the playoffs are effectively competing not just to win their pool but also to have a better record than the teams in the other pool. As the semi finals are first in Pool A v second in pool B, then so long as the 2 pool winners reach the final the one with the better record in terms of table points get to choose when to be at home. If one of the teams who came second won their semi they would then have to play the team to whom they came second in the pool in the final if the top team in the other pool won; if both second placed teams won their semis then the one with the better playoff table record would choose. Hence the semis cannot influence the choice of home or away in the final but everyone is playing for 5 points in every game in the pool stage.

Working from current table:
Bris 90 top of Pool A Exe 83 top of Pool B
Bedford 55 2nd in A LW 58 2nd in B (but 3rd overall)

on current table semis would be
Bris v Welsh
Exe v Bedford

and final would be
Bris v Exe and Bris would choose home or away first

But if
Welsh beat Bris and Exe won then the final would be Welsh v Exe with Exe choosing
Bedford beat Exe and Bris won then the final would be Bris v Bedford with Bris choosing
Welsh beat Bris and Bedford beat Exe then the final would be Welsh v Bedford with Welsh choosing

Before you guys embark on this tortuous [and frankly daft] path can I as a Bath supporter wish you the very best of luck. I know most of us here would love to see Exeter in the Premiership!

Thank you Mr T.

Wouldn't perhaps be that you would rather see us than your neigbours promoted would it?

Quote:

Mabolza
Wouldn't perhaps be that you would rather see us than your neigbours promoted would it?

Not at all! My fellow Bath-supporter dad would prefer to see Bristol promoted AGAIN, but I'm bored of their yo-yoing and would prefer to see a side with all the ambition of Exeter taking on Premiership opposition. I also live in Exeter and come to watch the team quite a lot. The highlight of this season was undoubtedly the away match at Bristol.

COME ON EXE!

surely the highlight of the season was Bristol's away win at Exeter :-)

if you want to see a Bath v Exeter game so much then return to your form earlier this season!