Last season Bristol Bears and Wasps, who went on to meet each other in the Gallagher Premiership semi-finals, and champions Exeter fared best during the Six Nations period.
With none of their first-team squad called away for international duty, Bristol profited to the tune of 16 points over the four weekends when Six Nations matches were played. There were narrow wins against Northampton, Bath and Worcester before they closed out the period with a more comfortable 28-15 win against Quins.
Pat Lam will not have the same luxury this time around though, as three of his main players – Ben Earl, Max Malins, Harry Randall – could be missing for part if not the whole of the Six Nations.
Runners-up Wasps and the all-conquering Chiefs both picked up 15 points with three wins apiece, while Sale came next with 14 points.
Irish take advantage
London Irish, however, were probably the team that over-performed and exceeded expectations.
Like Bristol, international call-ups were not a problem for them, and they managed wins against Harlequins and Gloucester in rounds 10 and 11. This time around, they have only lost prop Allan Dell to Scotland.
Deprived of their England contingent, an out-of-sorts Leicester won two and lost two games to collect eight points, while Quins and Northampton finished with six points in this timeframe.
The worst performers were Worcester and Gloucester. Neither side managed a win and only picked up four points and three points, respectively.
Gloucester had the excuse of missing some of their key backs but Warriors had a full complement of players to choose from, injuries aside.
This time around, Ollie Lawrence’s England call-up leaves a big hole in the Warriors’ midfield, and with games against last year’s top two and high-flying Newcastle coming up, they’ll struggle to fare much better. Their Round 8 match at Leicester looks their best bet for a win.
Other than a home clash with Bristol in Round 9, Gloucester’s fixtures look more palatable. The Cherry & Whites entertain Harlequins and travel to London Irish before then, and they follow up the Bristol match with another West Country derby against below-par Bath.
Club-by-club Six Nations call-ups
Exeter (7): England – Luke Cowan-Dickie, Jonny Hill, Harry Williams, Henry Slade. Scotland – Jonny Gray, Stuart Hogg. Wales – Tomas Francis.
Bath (6): England – Charlie Ewels, Beno Obano, Will Stuart, Anthony Watson. Scotland – Cameron Redpath. Wales – Taulupe Faletau.
Gloucester (5): England – Jonny May. Italy – Stephen Varney. Scotland – Alex Craig, Chris Harris. Wales – Louis Rees-Zammit.
Wasps (5): England – Tom West, Jack Willis, Paolo Odogwu, Dan Robson. Wales – Will Rowlands
Bristol (3): England – Ben Earl, Max Malins, Harry Randall
Leicester (3): England – Ellis Genge, George Ford, Tom Youngs.
Sale Sharks (3): England – Tom Curry. Scotland – Ewan Ashman, Byron McGuigan.
Harlequins (2): Scotland – James Lang, Scott Steele.
Newcastle (2): England – Mark Wilson. Scotland – Gary Graham.
Northampton (2): England – Courtney Lawes. Wales – Dan Biggar.
London Irish (1): Scotland – Allan Dell.
Worcester Warriors (1): England – Ollie Lawrence
