Fingers crossed Friday night will be a massive psychological boost to a team that were already working hard for each other.

Bears smacking the Tigers, Newcastle beat Saints.

4 points between 7 teams.

It’s going to be quite a second half of the season.

Whos for the drop though??

Who knows My view is it will be Sale or Worcester

Those losing bonuses are vital. To take something out of a game even when you lose becomes vital when it is as tight as it is this year. The try bonuses come in useful too 👍

Ashton has first game for Sale after 7-week ban and I can't imagine Faf not helping them stay up. FdK would be a very good replacement for DC, if rumours of his departure are true.

I too have a soft spot for Newcastle and Bristol, but anyone from 5th downwards could be involved in the scrap to avoid relegation.

Well, well. How things change. Nobody seems to think we are in the mix for the drop now.

We also have the ‘advantage’ of only being in the challenge cup Falcons are trying to do both which doesn’t seem to work unless you are high fliers

Agree. It’s great they’re in contention having beaten Toulon and Montpellier but it can be hard work without serious squad depth. I’d expect us to play a modified team over the next couple of weeks. They of a great win at northants yesterday, rode their luck but it was crucial. A loss there would have had them in trouble. I do worry a bit for Saints though.

Its so close, a bad run for anyone but the top 2 can spell trouble but nobody looks completely hopeless a la London Welsh or similar. That said, I feel much happier having beaten Exeter and seeing the level of performance put in.

Well, well. How things change. Nobody seems to think we are in the mix for the drop now.

But strip away those bonus points and we would be tied for 11th... It's the most polarised season I think I've ever seen; two at the top, three in the middle and everyone else only one bad game away from being bottom of the table.

Looking at the Roadmap, the prediction for what it would take to be clear of 11th is pretty accurate, but it's remarkable that our 24 points is enough to have us tied with the 4th placed team - it's at least one game off what we'd expect, and that's largely because the teams at the bottom have been trading losses with each other, and the two at the top have been hogging all the points.

Quins, meanwhile, seem to be playing to the level of their opposition. We've lost a lot of games we could have won - but equally we have the best record in the league against the top 2 - we've taken 7 points off them and conceded 6...