Former England and Lions star Guscott is a BBC rugby union pundit

The rugby union season is getting down to the nitty gritty as the battle for the play-off places takes centre stage, and former Bath, England and Lions centre Jeremy Guscott is on hand to answer your questions.

Some of the week's major talking points were:

- Leeds ensuring their Premiership survival and sending Worcester down in the process after surviving a nerve-shredding finale to win 12-10 on Sunday.

- Bath producing probably the performance of the weekend as they blew the Premiership play-off race wide open by thrashing Wasps in front of 60,000 at Twickenham.

- Saracens ending Northampton's 100% home record to keep the race for second place open - after Leicester clinched top spot and a home semi-final.

- In the Magners League Glasgow hammered leaders Leinster 30-6 - the Dublin-based side's second league defeat in a row - while the Ospreys won away to Munster to move second in the table.

- And the long-rumoured return of Riki Flutey to Wasps from French side Brive finally materialised.

If you have any questions for Jerry, please use the postform on this page. He will answer as many as possible next week, but unfortunately not every question submitted can be used.

Hey Jerry, I am a diehard Worcester fan and, as you can imagine, am gutted at the moment. What do you think rugby director Mike Ruddock got wrong and can we keep hold of our good youngsters now we are relegated?
Pete Marston, UK

Worcester were relegated last weekend after losing to Leeds

Hi Pete, I have to admit when Ruddock joined Worcester I thought everything was going to change on the playing front because of what he achieved with Wales but that just didn't materialise. Without knowing a great deal of what goes on behind the scenes at Worcester, Ruddock has to be accountable for the relegation, it appears that he and his coaches did not get the best out of his squad of players. Everything off the pitch at Sixways is first class but chairman Cecil Duckworth has not had much fortune over the years of finding a head coach able to take them up to the top half of the table. I think Worcester should be able to retain most of their squad.

Jeremy, now that Leeds have secured promotion, what positions do you consider to be the most urgent in terms of getting players in to take the next step?
Martin Thomas, England

Martin, to be blunt, Leeds could do with some high-quality players in a lot of positions but where they are going to come from or how they will attract them I don't know. Neil Back and his coaches have built a great team spirit and whoever they bring in will have to fit in. It is a squad of hard workers, there will not be room for a star player who doesn't want to graft.

Jeremy, the Ospreys have now beaten Munster at Thomond Park and secured a play-off place. Does this mean we are slowly starting to unpick the myth of the 'nearly' team, or is everybody still going to come out against us again next season?
Josh, Wales

Josh, the Ospreys should easily reach the play-offs every season considering the quality of their squad. They will always be measured by how they compete in Europe, they need to win it to get rid of any kind of tag. To be very honest, Ospreys are not even nearly men - they haven't even arrived in Europe.

Can Bath beat Leicester in the Premiership semi-final?
Rod Crossley, UK

Rod, it is a massive ask for Bath to go to Welford Road - they lost 43-20 in the Premiership earlier this month. However, the way Bath are playing anything is possible but first they have to defeat Leeds on Saturday.

Bath have been playing a brilliant style of rugby since the new year, using an offloading game plan combined with the dynamism and pace of two open-sides and 'heads up' approach of two fly-halves at 10 and 12, culminating in the spectacular win over Wasps at Twickenham on Saturday. Do you agree that head coach Steve Meehan deserves credit for picking skill over size regardless of the 'traditional need' for a heavy ball carrying eight and 12?
Tom, Bath, England

Meehan has guided Bath to fourth in the Premiership table

Tom, I believe Bath's turnaround is due to a number of reasons. Meehan has not changed his coaching, the personnel available to play has changed. Butch James and Olly Barkley have galvanised the team with their abilities since their return to the side. Luke Watson has been an inspiration on and off the field. All teams are reliant on certain personnel depending on the amount of quality players in the team, and Bath are no different. Meehan picks the team and so deserves credit when the team wins and criticism if it doesn't go well.

Surely Connacht's win over Leinster shows the value of not having relegation in a league. The team at the bottom was able to play with freedom, something which Worcester, Leeds or Sale would not do at this time of the season in a million years!
Brendan, Ireland

Brendan, I cannot agree with you. For me, sport is all about winning, losing and having competition season long. A league without relegation will have matches that have nothing at stake. What works for some doesn't always work for others, the Magners League has proven itself to be very good at producing players of the highest quality and Irish teams that can win the Heineken Cup. It would appear there is a place for both types of leagues but I definitely prefer one with winners, promotion and relegation.

Hi Jeremy, What do you think about the Scarlets failing to reach the Heineken Cup by automatic qualification and how do you see the future for the region?
Kieron, Wales

Hi Jeremy. As a former powerhouse of Welsh rugby, much has been made of the Scarlets' fall from grace. A key factor is cited as being the lack of old heads at the club but their line-up against the Blues included David Lyons, Stephen Jones, Regan King, Sean Lamont and Richie Pugh, whilst they have lost Matthew Rees, Mark Jones, Dafydd Jones and Simon Easterby to injury. I'm tempted to think that seven losing bonus points indicates they are not that far behind and a good run next season could see them turn the corner. Any thoughts?
Huw, Wales

Kieron and Huw, the Scarlets will qualify for European competition, for them it is a shame they have to do it the long way by playing more games but that will be good for their inexperienced players. The Scarlets have some great young talent, they won't always be young and with senior guys like Stephen Jones, Mark Jones and Regan King they have good guys to learn from.

What have you made of the Dragons' form this season? Have they surprised you like so many others, and should a large majority of the Welsh players from this squad go on the summer tour to New Zealand?
Welsh Boy living in Manchester, England

WBLIM, Paul Turner and his squad of players have certainly made Warren Gatland and his coaches take notice and put the Dragons firmly on everyone's radar. If the Dragons can turn in performances like the one against the Ospreys at the end of March they will become an even bigger force, not just in the Magners but in Europe as well.

Hi Jeremy, with Leinster seeming to be unstoppable at the moment, do you think they will have problems when it comes to the Heineken Cup semi-final against Toulouse or even the final against Munster or Biarritz?
Ruaidhri Duddy, England

Ruaidhri, you appear to be very confident Leinster will get to the final, I think Toulouse supporters will have a different opinion. The two semi-finals are going to be monumental games that I can't wait to watch. I can't call a winner, as a neutral I'm just looking forward to two great games of rugby.

With rugby players getting bigger every year and some teams even having wingers who are the biggest men on the park, do you feel that rugby is slowly losing its heritage of wingers? It seems the bigger the wingers are the fewer tries they score, with the exception of Jonah Lomu.
Terry Sibanda, United Kingdom

Terry, I firmly believe rugby is still a game for all shapes and sizes. Now the game is professional, the change is that these players have to be fit enough to play at least 40-60 minutes of rugby a week. Regarding your point about big wingers, what about Bryan Habana, Shane Williams, Leigh Halfpenny, Chris Ashton, James Simpson-Daniel and possibly the quickest winger in the world, Takudzwa Ngwenya? Also, think about how big Dan Carter and Matt Giteau are - these guys would walk into any side in the world!

Hi Jeremy. Looking back at the England squad over the Six Nations, were they right to exclude Matt Banahan from the bench and move Chris Ashton/Ugo Monye/David Strettle ahead of him after he was one of the better performers before the tournament for England? Is it sending the wrong message? I know Ashton got called in on strong performances but for Monye to leapfrog straight back in seems a little unjust. Certainly a player of Banahan's abilities can only get better on the international circuit?
Ben Honisett, England/France

Ben, I'm a fan of Banahan's but I feel he needs to get at least 20% fitter to enable him to get more involved in a game and do more of what he does well more often. Ashton deserved his opportunity because he has been the best-performing winger in the Premiership.

Jerry, you said the Bulls would be found out by other Super 14 teams, like Saracens have in the Premiership this year. The Bulls (and their previous incarnations) seem to have been playing the same way since around the 18th century yet they're still one of the best teams in the world. How do you think they manage to win so much, despite teams knowing exactly what their game plan is?
Paul, New Zealand

The Bulls are an uncompromising force in the Super 14

Hi Paul, two out of the last three Super 14 titles going to the Bulls is good in a way considering the dominance the Crusaders have had over the last 10 years. I'm not totally against their style but I do believe a team has to continually develop or teams will work you out. The Crusaders could play an all-court game which I find appealing and I believe teams found it difficult to defend against them because they could attack through many areas. The Bulls are very powerful, strong up front and kick a lot, and I feel this is easy to defend if you can match them up front. Unfortunately not many teams in the Super 14 have that forward power. The Reds thoroughly deserved their victory against the Bulls the other week, other teams will now study that game and work at more ways of getting into them. The Bulls are still top of the league and looking good for another crack at the title, they have a big advantage playing at home and at altitude. They have a good team but I'm not sure how much longer they will dominate.

What is the funniest thing that has ever happened playing for England?
Oliver Gavins, United Kingdom

Oliver, One of the funniest things to happen when I was playing for England was watching Federico Mendez knock out Paul Ackford. It was as if there was a sniper in the West Stand that took Ackford out, he went down like a shot stag.

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