If you're at one of the five games taking place this afternoon, watching on from home or afar or if you're listening to us on the radio we'd love to hear from you.

Send us your thoughts and get involved via WhatsApp or send a text to 81111 and we may well use it during the live service.

Image source, Rex Features

Sale's director of rugby Alex Sanderson has just been speaking to BBC 5 Live's Sara Orchard ahead of kick-off against Exeter at Sandy Park.

"I feel like we've earned this opportunity this year, we've really had to dig in," Sanderson said.

"I'm confident that the boys are going to go out there and put a good performance in and show the best of themselves which is what we asked for in the week."

Sanderson, who is hoping to take Sale to Twickenham for the second time since 2022, said he is well aware of the challenge his side face against Exeter today.

"They're probably one of the best teams ever to be sitting ninth at the bottom of the Premiership table," he said.

"They'll want to finish this season how they intend to start next, and they want to finish on a high."

Image source, Rex Features

Michael Cheika is a man with a coaching pedigree without compare.

The Australian is the only coach in history to win a major club competition in both hemispheres - taking Leinster to European Cup glory in 2009 before taking NSW Waratahs to the Super Rugby title in 2014.

He took Australia to a World Cup final after that, and even got Argentina into the last four of the global event in 2023. A year earlier he also took Lebanon to the rugby league World Cup.

Still, he took the job at Leicester Tigers on a one-year deal this season to try prove a point.

"If you want to be a high achiever, you are never satisfied with what you have done," he told BBC Radio Leicester during the week.

"It's my first opportunity to be in the English league and I suppose I do want to prove something to myself."

Tigers can secure second in the table and a home semi-final today when they host bottom side Newcastle.

Seeing if Cheika will able to go on to write a glorious chapter in Tigers' history will be one of the most fascinating storylines.

Image source, Getty Images

Saracens host Bath at StoneX Stadium with their destiny out of their hands as they bid to avoid missing out on the top four for only the third time since 2009.

Those two occasions were 2020, when they were relegated in the wake of the salary cap scandal, and the following season when they played in the second tier.

It has been a season of rebuilding for Mark McCall and their play-off hopes were struck a huge blow at Northampton a fortnight ago with Tarek Haffar's last-second try stealing a 28-24 victory for the Saints.

Their task is similar to that of Gloucester, as they go into the game with the same number of points and wins as the Cherry and Whites but have a substantially lower points difference.

They need results above to go their way and to win to have any hope, although they are facing a youthful Bath side who are fielding seven debutants in their 23.

Image source, Getty Images

Gloucester know nothing less than victory over reigning champions Northampton will do today.

Do that and they need Sale to lose without any bonus points or Bristol just to lose and they would move into the top four at the finish line.

In what would be an astonishing story, the Cherry and Whites could mathematically still secure a home semi-final at Kingsholm if they win with five points and all the teams above lose and pick up no bonus points.

They would move level on the number of wins with Leicester but would have a superior points difference (currently Gloucester +74, Leicester +72).

Northampton have suffered a disappointing defence of the title they won last season, but fly-half Fin Smith and co have shown the immense quality they possess in their run to the European Champions Cup final last weekend.

Image source, Getty Images

Currently occupying the final play-off spot are Pat Lam's Bristol Bears and they face a highly unpredictable Harlequins side.

Victory would guarantee a top-four finish but anything less than that and the Bears will be looking over their shoulders, with Gloucester and Saracens ready to strike.

Ashton Gate holds a special place in the hearts of Quins fans, as the scene of their epic semi-final fightback victory at 'Bristanbul' in 2021 en route to claiming their second Premiership title.

Bristol haven't finished in the top four since then.

Any slip-ups at Welford Road for Leicester and Sandy Park for Sale would mean Bristol could still yet finish second and book in another memorable home semi-final.

Image source, Getty Images

If the Tigers do slip up, the Sharks will be circling.

Sale visit Exeter, with the Chiefs already assured of a ninth-placed finish and therefore have nothing to play for.

A repeat of December's win over the Chiefs and Alex Sanderson's team will cement third place regardless of other results. A loss with two bonus points would still be enough for the top four.

The Manchester side have the most league wins of any club aside from Bath, meaning if they end the season on the same number of points as any of their competitors, they would finish above them.

In the unlikely event that Tigers draw and Sale win, or Leicester lose and Sale draw, the two sides could finish level on points but with Sale on top.

The du Preez brothers - Jean Luc, Rob and Dan - all start for the visitors while there are three ex-Chiefs in the Sale starting line-up with Tom O'Flaherty, Luke Cowan-Dickie and Jonny Hill all returning to Sandy Park having played a part in the club's historic double-winning 2019-20 season.

The Sharks also start with England fly-half George Ford arriving at the end of the season in stunning form as they have won three of their past four Premiership games.

By contrast, Exeter name three players who are set to depart the club following the match in Harlequins-bound Stu Townsend, Franco Molina and Jacques Vermeulen - who ironically will join Sale next season.

Image source, Rex Features

Expect the atmosphere at Mattioli Woods Welford Road to be thunderous today.

Not only are they in the hunt for a semi-final spot, they have a few swansongs that need delaying for suitably big occasions.

Living England rugby legends and the soon-to-be retired duo of Ben Youngs and Dan Cole are in the starting XV to face Newcastle.

Mike Brown, another decorated star that will hang up his boots at the end of the season, is bench for the East Midlands side.

Then you have two-time World Cup winning fly-half Handre Pollard and captain Julian Montoya leaving the club when the campaign is done.

Leicester's task is simple - beat Newcastle, a side who have won just two league matches in the past two seasons, and second in the table and a home semi-final next week is theirs. One point is enough to secure the top four.

Five clubs come into round 18 with a chance of joining table-toppers Bath in this season's play-offs - and of winning the title at Twickenham in two weeks' time.

Leicester, Sale, Bristol, Gloucester and Saracens could all finish anywhere from second to sixth and are separated by just five points.

If teams finish this afternoon's games level on points, their league position will be decided by who has the higher number of wins. If they still can't be separated it will come down to who has the greater points difference.

Let's take a look at what each team needs to do - and in some cases hope for, outside of their control - to seal a semi-final spot.

Image source, Getty Images

Here's what's on today's agenda. Five big games, all of which could have an impact on who secures a place in the top four:

Bristol Bears v Harlequins

Exeter v Sale Sharks

Gloucester v Northampton Saints

Leicester Tigers v Newcastle Falcons

Saracens v Bath

Image source, Getty Images

Good afternoon and welcome to round 18 of another gripping Premiership season.

There's something riding all on five of today's games so don't go anywhere as we bring you all the build-up, before we find out which three teams will join Bath in this season's semi-finals.