Glee and the Guinness Premiership Final

Leicester Tigers and Saracens are the last teams standing in the Guinness Premiership race to Twickenham, where the two rivals will meet in the final on Saturday.

This is the sixth final in a row for reigning champions Leicester who finished the regular season in top spot.

Saracens, on the other hand, were league leaders until the halfway point, thanks to a controlled and uninspiring kicking game.  But then, fastforward a couple of months, and a team trip to Brighton and a couple of controversies later, Brendan Venter's team is thrilling to watch and racking up the tries.

Saturday's clash should be a corker.

But what do Leicester stars Geordan Murphy, Ben Youngs and Jordan Crane think of their chances? 

Do Sarries' Brad Barritt and Andy Saull think they can get their hands on the silverware?

And more to the point, which one of these is a closet fan of Glee?

All is revealed...

Venter's Venting Again...

Brendan Venter, Saracens' shy and retiring director of rugby, is at it again.

But who is on the end of his latest tongue lashing? 

None other than England coach, Martin Johnson.

The cause of Venter's rant is Johnno's failure to include any Sarries stars in England's 44-man squad to tour Australia and New Zealand this summer.

And if that wasn't enough, Venter is also furious that only three players, Alex Goode, Brad Barritt and Andy Saull, have been selected for the Saxons to play in the Churchill Cup.

He said: "If Brad isn't in the best 44, then England have some unbelievable players.

"To suggest [as the England hierarchy are said to have done] that he is too small is absurd."

Not one to keep his opinions to himself, the former South Africa centre continued:

"I said to Martin that's one place where they've got it wrong. Brad has a very low error rate, he passes beautifully, kicks well out of hand and he's a great communicator. He was our best player against Leicester last weekend. The three best teams in the Premiership have been Leicester, Northampton and Saracens, and for us to have three individuals out of 70 is amazing."

Erm, isn't that because there are only three English guys in the entire Saffacens squad? 

Hell hath no fury like a director of rugby scorned eh....?

Stats Off for the Creme de la Prem

I love statistics I do.  When I saw that stats gurus Opta had revealed their Guinness Premiership team of the season I almost yelped with excitement.

Why do I love number crunching so much?

Well, stats might never paint the full picture, but they also never lie.

So which players have been at the top of their game based on all 22 rounds of the league? 

Here is Opta's team of the year:

15  Nick Abendanon (Bath Rugby)
14  Chris Ashton (Northampton Saints)
13  Ben Jacobs (London Wasps)
12  Brad Barritt (Saracens)
11  Bruce Reihana (Northampton Saints)
10  Jimmy Gopperth (Newcastle Falcons)
9    Ben Youngs (Leicester Tigers)
1    Soane Tonga'uiha (Northampton Saints)
2    Schalk Brits (Saracens)
3    Carl Hayman (Newcastle Falcons)
4    Erik Lund (Leeds Carnegie)
5    Marco Wentzel (Leeds Carnegie)

6    Phil Dowson (Northampton Saints)

7    Steffon Armitage (London Irish)

8    Dan Ward-Smith (London Wasps)

If you want to get down to the nitty gritty of the numbers, then have a look at this excellent article.  I couldn't have put it better myself.

It's clear from the stats that Northampton's success has come from the strength and running of their forwards, shown by the inclusion of Dowson and Tonga'uhia, with their pacey backs, Ashton and Reihana, making up the metres and bagging tries.

And Leeds Carnegie's dominance in the set piece is shown with skipper Marco Wentzel crowned top lineout stealer.  His second row partner, Erik Lund, also features for his line breaking and tackling stats.

I could go on all day and bore you with the numbers, but if you're interested in all that you can click the link above and read all about it.

One thing I will say - it really is true that stats never lie.  Four of the five nominees for Guinness Premiership player of the season make it into the team.  Brits, Dowson, Armitage and Tonga'uhia are all there.  Only Sarries' Ernst Joubert misses out.

I wonder if Martin Johnson is regretting his crazy decision not to take Phil Dowson to Australia this summer yet?

Looking at the numbers, I know I would be if I was in his (humongous) shoes...

Saracens Aim for Home Semi-Final

Saracens take on Leicester Tigers at Welford Road this Saturday, and only a win will give Sarries the chance of a home semi-final against Northampton Saints.

But winning at Welford Road is a tough ask - no team has beaten the Tigers on home soil in the league this season.

However Brendan Venter's Saracens did grab a 28-27 victory over title rivals Northampton at Franklins Gardens two weeks ago.  This result denied the Saints an unbeaten Premiership home campaign and added fire to the forthcoming semi-final clash between the two sides.

The venue of this game is still up for grabs and it rests on the results of Northampton's trip to London Irish and Saracens' game against the Tigers.

Here, Sarries' trio Adam Powell, Andy Saull and Brad Barritt chat about Saturday's game: