Bristol have started slowly and are the only team without a win, while the pre-season favourites for Newcastle have two wins keeping them in 8th. Wasps poor start to the season sees them languishing down in 10th.


What does this table show?
This is the current league table. The colour coding shows if a team is out performing last season, compared to the league table above.
Why do I care?
The colour coding helps to put this season's table in context, you can judge how a team is performing compared to last year.
What about Leeds/Northampton?
Northampton have taken over from Leeds and so their 2007-08 results are used to calculate Northampton's position. The games versus Northampton are likely to yield significant movements.


Clubs were heavily disrupted by the World Cup at the start of last season but Gloucester managed to keep their cool and remain unbeaten. The two clubs supplying England with the most players Leicester and Wasps clearly felt the pressure on their squads with Leicester down in 6th and Wasps in 9th. Worcester picked up losing bonus points to keep them in touch with Leeds.

This doesn't look like the table from the start of last season.
Quite right, it isn't. This table shows the results from last season for the match combinations that have been played so far this year.
Why do I care?
It helps to put this season's table in context, you can judge how a team is performing compared to last year.


Wasps are often quoted as being a team that has a slow start to the season, and while they certainly peak during the second half of the season, last year's poor start could be put down to missing world cup players; this year there are no such excuses. In the same five games they played this year and only won one, they won every one last year. Sale have improved by winning an additional game compared to last year and are looking like an early threat. Newcastle's good start to the season is put in context by their three wins in the same fixtures last year, but still better than many pundits had predicted. Northampton are proving to be stronger competition than Leeds and may well cause some havoc for the year on year table.

This looks familiar.
Quite right, for a change this is the actual league table from the start of last season up to Round 5.


If all of the remaining results were to go as they did last season Gloucester would still top the table courtesy of their superior bonus point accumulation. London Irish have had a very strong start to the season and would take the second home semi-final place. Sale join Bath in the play offs while Leicester drop down to 5th and Wasps fall dramatically to 8th. Northampton would be the side relegated but being the new side their results are most likely to change. One interesting observation when thinking about ELVs and Protocols is that the number of Try Bonus points is down...

What does this table show?
This table includes the results from the last match combination for each team to form a rolling league table.
For example the table shows Leicester v Gloucester from 2007-08, but Gloucester v Leicester from 2008-09 because that match has been played.


*Bonus points are available for anyone who can decode the title...

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