It is the business end of the season in English domestic rugby union as four sides prepare for the semi-finals of the Premier 15s.

Then on Sunday it is a repeat of last year's final as champions Saracens travel to Sandy Park to take on Exeter Chiefs.

Gloucester and Bristol aim for first-ever final

Gloucester are on paper the most fancied side to make the final on 24 June after winning 16 of their 18 games, and one of those two losses came last week to second-placed Exeter with top spot already secured.

The Cherry and Whites crushed Bristol 36-5 when the sides met in November in Gloucester, although there was only two points in it when they came away from their neighbours in the return fixture in February.

Off the field they have had an inspirational pep talk from adventurer Jamie McDonald - the first man to run Canada coast-to-coast unaided and the world record holder for the most miles run on a treadmill.

On the field they have an inspirational force in England back-row Sarah Beckett who joined last summer having won the title at Harlequins to add to their other England stars.

"Having someone like her in that number eight pivotal spot is great for us," head coach Sean Lynn told BBC Radio Gloucestershire.

"But also having Zoe Aldcroft, who's been in the World Cup final and Six Nations, then you've got Mo Hunt at nine, and then you've got someone like Lleucu George, the territorial gain from her is outstanding.

"It helps when you go into these play-off games that it's not just one or two voices, they're all playing a big part in this, and that's something that we've been working on in the last three weeks."

Standing in their way is a Bristol side who suffered heartbreak at this stage last season when they conceded a try three minutes from full-time to lose 28-24 at Exeter.

Despite finishing 17 points off Gloucester in the regular season Bristol's boss Dave Ward feels a trip to Kingsholm does not mean they cannot book a place in the final.

"I'm happy to take the underdog tag heading in out of the four teams," he told BBC Sport.

"The way we've been playing we can beat anyone on our day, all we need is two days to do it and we can go and win this league.

"The girls have worked incredibly hard to get to where they are and I just want them to go and enjoy Saturday, but Saturday's not our final, Saturday's a semi-final, and that'll be our message this week."

Bristol share their training facilities with the men's side, which means Ward and his players have had some extra expertise to help them prepare.

"I was chatting yesterday to Pat [Lam, Bristol's men's director of rugby] about selection," Ward said. "It was quite funny, he was like, 'What are you going to go for?'

"We've also got the likes of Ellis Genge and Kyle Sinckler, they're training at the moment because they're getting prepped for their World Cup camp.

"The fact they're over my shoulder saying, 'Look at this, look at the hooker, she's standing up,' or whatever it may be, it's just a great learning environment for me and the girls and they're bouncing off each other, which is fantastic."

Will home advantage be key as Exeter host Saracens?

Sunday's semi-final at Sandy Park seems a tough one to call - both sides have won their home games against one another, and neither has ever won at the home of their opponents.

Saracens are the away team by virtue of getting three fewer bonus points than the Chiefs despite both sides ending on 15 wins and three losses.

Exeter have the edge in knockout rugby already this season when a young Chiefs side beat Saracens in the Allianz Cup final at Sandy Park a few weeks ago.

So can they repeat last season's Premier 15s final when they won a third title in four full campaigns [the 2019-20 season was abandoned due to Covid-19], or will their Sandy Park hoodoo come back to bite them once again?

"It's like the elephant in the room, really. You don't need to talk about it because it's quite obvious," said Saracens' England forward Marlie Packer.

"Exeter are talking about it, everyone seems to be talking that we've not beaten Exeter down at Exeter, but we've not lost a semi-final yet in this league, so they aren't talking about that right now, are they?"

"You could chuck so many different things at this, but whichever team turns up on the day and puts that 80-minute performance in is going to win the game."

So can Exeter do something that has never been done before in the six-year history of the Premier 15s and beat Saracens in a semi-final?

"If any team knows how to win a final it's Sarries," said Exeter back-row Poppy Leitch.

"Last year [we] just found ourselves marginally overwhelmed by the environment, the moment, the atmosphere, the stage, and the game went like that, it was done, it was over and we'd lost.

"This year we took a lot of learning from that, we're a little bit more comfortable when we're under the cosh, we're a little bit more comfortable on a big stage.

"A lot of that's come from being at Sandy Park with a big crowd every week, that's allowed us to get used to what that feels like from an atmosphere point of view.

"The best people for us to play in a semi is Sarries as well, that puts the pressure a little bit on them having to play at Sandy Park and it fits in where we're strongest.

"People feel we're much more prepared mentally and physically than we were compared to last year."

Both matches will be shown live on the BBC Sport website and BBC iPlayer.