1) Wasps must strengthen to pack a punch
It was a knockout match for the top four and Wasps never recovered from a few early blows, 10 points down after seven minutes and disoriented by a Leicester side that kept the ball in hand and went through the phases rather than sending kicks high into the air. While the battle at the breakdown was typically brutal and won by the Tigers, the visitors established a dominance in the tight five, the area Wasps need to strengthen over the next few seasons, even given the return from injury of Joe Launchbury. They were squeezed in the lineout and did not make an impression in the scrum even with a man advantage. Dan Cole and Tom Youngs, experienced internationals, packed a presence as did the veteran All Black second-row Brad Thorn. Wasps struggled to cope in defence and attack, unable to free Christian Wade out wide. Wasps have not competed at the top level this decade and do not have Leicester’s knack of winning matches when the stakes are high. Their move to the Ricoh Arena has changed the club off the pitch but it will take a little longer on it. At last they can dream after years of dreading a phone call from the bank manager. Paul Rees
• Match report: Wasps 21-26 Leicester
2) Sale’s away form cost them dear
Mark Cueto took his Premiership try tally to 90 in his final home match for Sale before retiring at the end of the season. With one appearance to go, at Exeter on Saturday, he will not become the first player to reach 100 in the league. That landmark is most likely to go to Tom Varndell, if Bristol defeat Worcester in the Championship play-off final. Sale remain in with a slight chance of a top-six finish. If they do miss out on Europe their away form will have cost them: they have won only three times on the road, all against teams below them in the table, including the bottom two. Newcastle have been no better home than away and their league season is ending as it started, on a losing streak. Beaten in their first four matches they won three of their next four but their only victory since then came in January at home to London Welsh. They have rediscovered the knack of scoring tries and are seventh overall with 52 having been bottom on 23 a year ago. But they have not kept their try line intact since December and need to find a way of tightening up without blunting their attack. Paul Rees
• Match report: Sale 34-28 Newcastle
3) Exeter confirm they are club on the rise
Amid all the play-off possibilities there is absolutely no doubt about one thing: Exeter remain a club on the rise and, should they reach the last four, will be anything but a pushover. This season they have beaten all the clubs above them apart from Leicester and, but for a couple of costly late slip-ups earlier in the campaign, would already be assured of a semi-final place. The prolific Thomas Waldrom and Henry Slade have had the majority of the plaudits but, aside from Billy Vunipola, Dave Ewers has been the most relentlessly physical forward in the country. Jack Nowell did not play at Allianz Park because the club still feel his knee does not respond well to playing on artificial surfaces but on the green, green grass of home against Sale this Saturday he will surely be back. Robert Kitson
• Match report: Saracens 20-24 Exeter
4) Northampton have balance to strike against Leicester
The Northampton director of rugby, Jim Mallinder and his staff appear to have a balance to strike when selecting the squad that will travel to play Leicester Tigers next Saturday. Not because it is a derby in which intense local rivalry means winning is always massively important: as Mallinder carefully made clear, what matters most to him is Northampton’s following match, the play-off semi-final – which could be against Leicester again – and, if he feels it appropriate to rest key individuals next Saturday, he will. However, the result of the first game will have a huge bearing on the play-off hopes of other teams. Some will consider Mallinder has a duty to field his most competitive side: others, that having done their job by securing a home semi-final with a game to spare, Northampton’s only duty of care is to themselves and to prepare for the following weekend in the way that suits them best. Richard Rae
• Match report: Northampton 46-0 London Welsh
5) Bath’s Sam Burgess could yet be a champion
Exeter’s win over Saracens means Bath are guaranteed a home semi-final in the play-offs. The last four seasons in England have seen four different champions and who is to say Bath will not make it a fifth in five. Of the three teams they could be hosting the weekend after next none had much joy at the Rec earlier in the season – Saracens lost 21-11, Exeter 31-14 and Leicester 45-0. They have an all-court game, able to play in a variety of ways. Here is not the place to list their many well-known threats but a word for Sam Burgess – possibly the most talked-about of them all, even on the back of the least achievement in union. No, he should not be in England’s World Cup squad but in the face of some serious competition he appears to have made the No6 shirt his own at Bath. He had his best match yet against Harlequins, Bath’s top ball-carrier and their top tackler. Give him a few more months and he could be really quite good at this game. Give him a few weeks and he may be a champion. Michael Aylwin
• Match report: Harlequins 26-27 Bath
6) Gloucester have reasons to be hopeful
Every coach always looks for the positives but the Gloucester director of rugby David Humphreys’ highlighting of both the efforts of some of the younger players in his squad in the 14-man defeat of London Irish, and in the impressive manner in which they have developed this season, is more than clutching at straws at the end of what has otherwise been a disappointing season. The flanker Dan Thomas scored a try on his Premiership debut, playing all 80 minutes, and, as Humphreys pointed out, the scrum-half Callum Braley, stand-off Billy Burns, flanker Ross Moriarty (suspended on Saturday) and wing Henry Purdy (who also scored against Irish) have established themselves as genuine first-team contenders. Next season looks certain to see improvement at Kingsholm. Richard Rae
• Match report: Gloucester 35-13 London Irish
7) Bristol and Worcester battle for promotion, as expected
Bristol and Worcester the two sides who were always fancied for the end-of-season Championship play-off will meet over two legs to see who returns to the Premiership in place of London Welsh. Rotherham made Bristol work for their dues before the weight of Bristol’s pack settled things in a game moved to Sheffield because the Rotherham pitch was needed by the local cricket team. Worcester went through on Friday despite losing half their backs and having to call up a 17-year-old schoolboy as cover at scrum-half. Mike Averis
• Match report: Rotherham 16-24 Bristol
