PREM Rugby Predictions: Round 2 - Points to Prove for Plenty of Teams After Tight First Round

Exeter Chiefs host Newcastle Red Bulls, who will be without Steve Diamond after his sudden sacking this week.

Leicester's meeting with Harlequins, Saracens against Bristol, and Gloucester versus Northampton all add spice to a round that is tough to predict.

Champions Bath have a homecoming at The Rec to start the weekend's action, following their slightly shaky start to the season against Harlequins at The Stoop. While they ended up winning 47-31, Johann van Graan's side had conceded three tries to their one at the half-hour mark, and it took a Chandler Cunningham-South yellow card for them to really get going. Once they had momentum of the game, they never looked back and they showed flashes of why they are champions.

Sale also secured a bonus-point victory in less-than-convincing fashion, beating Gloucester 27-10 on home soil in the league's curtain-raiser on Thursday night. The final scoreline ended up flattering Sale a bit, with the game itself being characterised by lots of handling errors from both teams. While it wasn't a pretty watch, Alex Sanderson will take positives from the fact that his team dug in and got the bonus-point, something that has often hindered them in previous seasons.

In recent years, Sale haven't travelled very well, and heading to the home of the champions is an extremely tough ask. Looking at both squads on paper, they are similar in terms of starting XVs, but the depth that Bath have on the bench far outweighs Sale's. For that reason, it makes sense to predict a tight first half, before the hosts pull away in the second.

It is so hard to judge Exeter on their first match, given how much they fluctuated between halves. Away against Northampton Saints, they managed to turn a 33-7 half-time deficit into a 33-33 draw. They showed plenty of promise but also weaknesses that reminded people that they did finish second bottom last season. In this game, they host last season's bottom side Newcastle, who have undergone plenty of changes in the summer following the takeover of Red Bull. No more so can that change be felt than Steve Diamond's shock departure this week.

While it may turn out to be the right decision in the long-term, Diamond leaving is bound to have had an impact on the team and while they are without a permanent Director of Rugby, they may struggle. An underwhelming start to the season saw them lose 39-17 to Saracens at Kingston Park. There is reason to be optimistic about the Red Bulls, but Rome wasn't built in a day.

Exeter's squad has improved this season, and so my prediction is going to involve a relatively straightforward win for the Chiefs, but with a good amount of points score.

While almost the whole league has improved in one way or another, this match between Leicester and Harlequins will be between two sides who have undergone a lot of change this summer, and don't appear to be better for it. Quins lost head coach Danny Wilson not long before the season started, after he was recruited for Wales. Tigers have had to contend with wholesale changes, losing experienced players such as captain Julian Montoya, Dan Cole, Ben Youngs and World Cup winner Handre Pollard, alongside head coach Michael Cheika.

Despite bringing in new faces to replace those names, the team doesn't appear to be as strong as the one that reached the final of the Prem last season, narrowly losing to Bath. Tigers will be disappointed with their performance in the first game of the season, losing pretty convincingly to Bristol Bears, and will be eager to impress. For Quins, it is largely the same team that finished seventh last season which isn't the best position to be in.

It could end up being an entertaining game for the neutral, so I predict plenty of points on the board and the home side to edge it.

These two teams are incredibly finely poised, both this season and last. Just two points separated Bristol in fourth and Sarries in sixth last year, and both put in strong performances to start the season. Both are strong in different departments, as Bristol are characterised by their free-flowing backline and Saracens put more of an emphasis on their power game and work at the breakdown. In many ways, it is a game of two styles and with Bears looking set to miss a few key members who came off injured against Tigers, the game may be decided on who isn't on the pitch as opposed to who is.

AJ MacGinty, Gabriel Ibitoye and Harry Randall will all be missing after sustaining injuries in the first game of the season, which will heavily disrupt Pat Lam's side. They have decent depth, but needing to replace three key players in very important positions won't be easy.

Because of the Bears' injury struggles, home side Saracens seem the safe bet here.

Saints and Gloucester are both unstoppable on their day when they're able to get things ticking, but sometimes struggle for consistency when Plan A doesn't work. Both will be incredibly disappointed with how their seasons have began, as Gloucester never really got going against Sale and Northampton threw away a 26-point lead at home to Exeter.

The two sides really need to kickstart their seasons and while they are known for their expansive player, it could be a battle decided more by grit and determination instead of flair. The Cherry and Whites have home advantage at Kingsholm, which is a ground known for its atmosphere created by The Shed. As mentioned, it could end up being cagey due to the desperation to get a first win of the season, which makes me think that the home crowd and Gloucester's strong set-piece could turn the tide.