Cockerill: anyone can win
Leicester Tigers boss Richard Cockerill says any team can win the Premiership title this season as the quality is higher than ever before.
The first round of Premiership matches produced some surprising results with Cockerill's Leicester team defeated by Northampton. Cockerill says it will be very up and down this season as sides switch positions at the top of the table.
Cockerill said: "We've got complete respect for all of them, from Exeter right up to the established sides at the top. There is lots of competition. Last year we won the final in the last 30 seconds after playing 23/24 games of Premiership rugby so the margins between the sides are tiny. Three minutes to go and Saracens were champions."
A number of clubs were very active during the pre-season campaign. There were a high number of changes at many playing squads all over the country and Cockerill believes that this has raised the standard of English domestic rugby.
There are three or four teams with a good chance of winning the title this season. However, nothing will be decided early on and no single team should dominate the league, which guarantees a tight finish next spring.
Three or four teams
Leicester is currently in the driving spot for the Premiership because the club are already champions. This will give the players at the club a taste of success and this should be enough to get them through tough games later in the season.
The team that beat Leicester last weekend Northampton also has a very good chance. Northampton is the most intimidating place to go and play Premiership rugby and the club's home record means they will be near the top by the end of the season.
Bath has brought in a lot of players over the course of the summer. Owner Bruce Craig has big ambition and this was reflected through the signing of Lewis Moody who has been tipped as a future captain of the club.
A tight finish
It seems as though any team can beat any team in the Premiership. Exeter's win over Gloucester proved that the new boys to the Premiership have a lot of quality and the club will be looking to cause a few shocks this season.
This means there is no easy game in the Premiership and results will not consistently favour a single team. All of the teams expected to fight for the title will have to put in effort across the whole season because there may well still be points up for grabs around next spring.
Cockerill added: "Of course we want to try and win it but the reality is that there will be lots of peaks and troughs. We will take a measured view across the year. Last year we lost the first game against Sale but we went on to finish top and they ended up finishing 11th so you can't get too ahead of yourself and you can't get too down on yourself."
Betting advice
Leicester and Bath look to be the only two sides with rock solid chances of being in the top four by the end of the season. The other two places could be made up from any four or five teams.
If you have an instinct to who will be successful this season then go with it. However, it could be better to wait until a few more rounds of the league have been played. This will allow you to see if any teams are having a bigger impact than expected and which of the big boys stays at the top.
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