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April 25, 2009

Posted on 04/25/2009

Super Saturday - As it happened...

Welcome to Super Saturday that will decide this season's Guinness Premiership semi-finals.

Only leaders Leicester are assured of a place in the final four but will have their eyes set on a home semi-final. Five other clubs are chasing the remaining three spots while another four have a possible Heineken Cup qualification spot within their grasp.

Get ready for a dramatic and tension-filled couple of hours as we track the fortunes of all the sides across the country.

As a reminder - this is how they line up on the final day of the regular season:

Bath 33-18 Saracens - FT
Harlequins 31-12 Newcastle - FT
Leicester 73-3 Bristol - FT
London Wasps 34-3 Gloucester - FT
Sale 24-18 Northampton - FT
Worcester 15-32 London Irish - FT

And here's how the table finished:

1. Leicester 71 pts
2. Harlequins 66
3. London Irish 66
4. Bath 65
5. Sale 61
6. Gloucester 57

Updates:

17.00
The game finishes with some more ugly scenes - Justin Harrison putting Steve Borthwick in a headlock. The semi-finals are decided - Leicester Tigers v Bath (Walkers Stadium), Harlequins v London Irish (The Stoop) - both games will be played May 9. Kicking off at 3pm and 5.30pm respectively.

16.58
Full time at Sixways - London Irish win 32-15. They have third place at the moment.

16.56
Game over at The Rec as Bath winger Matt Banahan snaffled the ball before races the length of the field to score. Bath now have a chance to claim second place in the table - two minutes to conjure the bonus point try. That would lift them to third place and a match against Quins rather than Leicester.

16.52
Watch out everyone else - final score from the Walkers Stadium - Leicester 73-3. Harlequins too good for Newcastle at The Stoop - 31-12.

16.50
Full time at Adams Park, 34-3 to Wasps, where Ian McGeechan embraces the retiring Josh Lewsey who is then chaired off by Phil Vickery and Serge Betsen. A miserable end to the season for Gloucester - prepare for changes. Sale to wrap up a 24-18 victory over Northampton.

16.44
Sale score a fourth try against Northampton meaning that Bath cannot afford any slip-ups against Saracens. Let's hope that single point deduction does not prove too costly to the Sharks.

16.41
The dreaded unncontested scrums at The Rec with Bath props David Flatman and Duncan Bell sidelined. Noah Cato squeezes in at the corner following a superb pass from replacement Andy Farrell. This game may not be over yet. The conversion closes the gap to 8 points.

16.40
Quins scrum-half Danny Care having a great game at The Stoop according to reports which may see him jump to the top of potential Lions replacements following the injury to Munster's Tomas O'Leary.

16.33
Leicester are closing in on a half century against Bristol while Sale have clawed their way back into the lead against Northampton.

16.29
Another score at Sixways - bonus point for the Exiles as Declan Danaher crosses to lift Irish into third place - as it stands. Will Bath chase the tries? Do they know the score at Sixways? London Irish will take third place with second-placed Harlequins having won more games this season.

16.26
Scrum-half Paul Hodgson is the latest to dot down for the Exiles at Sixways. The top four places rubber-stamped now surely?

16.25
Bath's Peter Short surges over for a try - the west country side back to their fluid best.

16.22
Andy Saull is the third Sarries player sent to the bin after a cynical off the ball tap tackle on Bath's Nick Abendanon.

16.20
Ryan Davis gives Bath a bit more breathing room with a penalty.

16.14
London Irish back in the lead against Worcester at Sixways - Chris Hala'ufia the try scorer. Glen Jackson pulls Saracens to within two points of Bath.

16.08
Second half underway at The Rec as Bath go in search of victory - they have not secured back-to-back Premiership victories since December. Sarries have something to prove with a European Challenge Cup semi-final against Northampton next weekend.

15.52
Half-time whistle at The Rec - Bath lead 13-8. Whistles also go across the country with the semi-finals looking like Leicester v London Irish and Harlequins v Bath.

14.49
Tom Voyce crosses in his last game for Wasps against Gloucester - who he will be playing for next season.

15.45
Newcastle show some signs of life as Geoff Parling scores a try against Quins at The Stoop.

15.38
The bonus point is in the bag at The Stoop. Looks like the home semi-finalists are decided. Sarries claw three points back against Bath.

15.37
Bath make the two extra men count - the pressure finally sees Andrew Higgins cross for the try. Sarries' Steve Borthwick and Bath's Justin Harrison exchange pleasantries in the wake of the score.

15.34
Ryan Davis edges Bath ahead of Sarries with his second penalty to make it 6-5.

15.32
Worcester level things up against Irish at Sixways - Chris Fortey with the try. Meanwhile, back at The Rec Hugh Vyvyan the latest to be sin-binned - that's two for Sarries.

15.30
Quins are one try away from the bonus point - Tani Fuga the latest to cross.

15.27
London Irish get on the board against Worcester. Sailosi Tagicakibau the try scorer.

15.25
A second try for Quins - Nick Easter again. They are in a great position to nab that home-semi-final.

15.20
Tempers flaring in the sunshine at The Rec. Bath losing their focus when they should be concentrating on winning the game. Saracens' Tom Mercey on his way to the bin.

15.17
Wasps extend their lead against Gloucester at Adams Park - a try from Riki Flutey. Gloucester's season continues to implode. Meanwhile players continue to go down like nine pins at The Rec - you can tell this is the end of the season.

15.15
Yet more colourful language - this time from England captain Steve Borthwick - and another apology!

15.13
Leicester take the lead with the first try against Leicester. One point will ensure they play at home in the semi-finals. Meanwhile, yet more injury woe for Bath's Michael Lipman as he is helped from the field at The Rec.

15.10
Quins are ahead against Newcastle - Nick Easter the scorer of the converted try. A bonus point win will secure them a home semi-final.

15.05
Official timing on the Wyles try - 26 seconds - fastest of the season. Not surprising.

15.00
The games kick off and we have to wait less than a minute for the first try as Chris Wyles dots down for Saracens heaping pressure on Bath - what a dramatic start.

14.58
Apologies from Sky's excellent commentator Miles Harrison for the industrial language picked up by the microphone being pushed into the Bath changing room - what do they expect! The amount of times that happens...

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About
Graham Jenkins joined Scrum in 1999 and took over the reins for a second time in 2006. His journalistic career has also seen him work for BBC Sport and IMG and he currently lives with his family in Farnham. Graham Jenkins
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