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Nine of the 12 clubs are still in with a chance of qualifying for the Heineken Cup, with places available via the play-offs and the Wildcard format.

Bath and Wasps, guaranteed to finish in the top three, have already qualified, as have Newcastle, who won the Powergen Cup, leaving at least three more spots.

So which other teams could join them, and by what means?

England is currently allotted six Heineken Cup places, which are seeded in the following order:

1. Zurich Premiership Final Winners
2. Zurich Premiership Final Runners-Up
3. Zurich Premiership Semi-final losers (ie, second or third in league)
4. Parker Pen Challenge Cup Winners (only relevant if Harlequins win the final - if not this is removed as a seed)
5. Powergen Cup Winner (Newcastle)
6. Zurich Wildcard Winner

REMAINING FIXTURES 8 May: Final round of matches 15 May: Wildcard 1 v W'card 4 Wildcard 2 v Wildcard 3 16 May: Premiership Play-off semi-final (2nd v 3rd) 22 May: Parker Pen Cup final 23 May: Heineken Cup final 29 May: W'card Final (1530ko) Premiership Final (1800)

An extra place is on offer this year to the country - either England or France - that does best in this year's Heineken Cup.

Hence if Wasps win the final on 23 May, they would qualify for next season's Heineken Cup as the top seed and all other qualifying positions would move down one place.

If Harlequins fail to beat Montferrand in the Parker Pen Cup final, this would also free up another place.

So if necessary, the team that finishes fourth, and possibly fifth, would qualify automatically to make up the six seeds along with Newcastle.

The seventh seed would then comes from the winners of the Zurich Wildcard final.

How the Wildcard works

The four highest-ranked Premiership clubs who have not automatically qualified for Europe by the time the Zurich Wildcard begins (15 May) will enter the Wildcard competition.

Current Zurich table

For example, as the table stands before the final round, Gloucester (fourth) would play Sale (seventh) at Kingsholm and Harlequins (fifth) would face Leicester (sixth) at the Stoop.

Now Newcastle (ninth), who have already qualified, can no longer finish in the top seven, the team that finishes eighth (currently London Irish) will miss out on the Wildcard event.

'Lucky losers'

If Gloucester and Quins were to win their Wildcard semi-finals, there is the potential for a "lucky loser" situation, as follows:

1) If Wasps win the Heineken Cup and England are given a seventh seed, then Gloucester (who cannot finish lower than fourth) would automatically qualify and be withdrawn from the Zurich Wildcard Final (having possibly already played the semi-final).

2) In that situation, Sale (as the team who Gloucester would face in the Wildcard semi-final) would go through to the Wildcard Final, regardless of who won the semi.

3) Similarly, if Harlequins win the Parker Pen Cup, they would be withdrawn from the Wildcard and Leicester would go through to the final, even if they had lost the semi.