About v2AP Round 3
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Sgt_Pooly
stnick88
Steven_Sharks
Driver
LukeLovesLuka
Ozzy3213
SirJohnnyEnglish
11 posters
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AP Round 3
by SirJohnnyEnglish Mon 12 Sep 2011, 11:31 am
First topic message reminder :
Team Sheets and tactics due by COB Thur
Predictions open Fri. Results due Sun/Mon
Bath Rugby v Exeter Chiefs
Light Rain, 17 Degrees, 11mph Winds
Bath Rugby
Manager – inthefastlane
16. Rob Hawkins 17. Richard Skuse 18. Aaron Jarvis 19. James Cannon 20. Will Skinner 21. James Grindal 22. Brock James 23. Richard Haughton
Tactics
Playing to the conditions
In the wind + rain we will once again look to implement a kicking game. We will be testing the Exeter back 3 in the air. Kelleher will look to box kick. Charlie Hodgson will also look for opportunities to get the ball in the air. GVDH + Monye will thrive off a chase and we feel that Exeter’s back three is off form at the moment
Set Piece
At the lineout we will look to keep them short with Maestri being used as banker ball. Isaac Ross and Johnnie Beattie give us a good option if this isn’t working. Against the throw Maestri, Ross and Beattie will look to disrupt their main jumpers. At scrum time we will look to target a unit that hasn’t spent as much time playing together as our front row has. Golding, Ward and PDP are all tough scrummagers and will be looking to win Exeter ball
Ball in hand
We will look for big strong carries from the likes of Golding, Ross + Beattie. We won’t try to be flashy with offloads in the wind. Allen, Waldouck, Kelleher and Guest will all be looking for the chance to make line breaks. We will look to get the ball to our back three once the defence is sucked in and with their pace we want them to make runs into space
Exeter Chiefs
Manager – Driver
16. Neil Clark 17.Efion Lewis-Roberts 18.Juan Orlandi 19.George Skivington 20.Marty Holah 21.Tomas O’Leary 22.George Ford 23.Matt Smith
Tactics
Conditions
Wet and windy matched by physical pack - Hayes comes in to strengthen our our push at scrum time and Stop the Bath Maul. Up front Sturgess/Kayser/Mercy are all fierce competators up front and will prove vital as we see the scrum as somewhere to dominate.
Mauling tackle - Holding the player up
- instead of putting isolated carriers to deck we will hold him up and pull Baths players into a maul cutting out there options outwide
- If Bath do get the player down it will be difficult to release the ball and will result in a Chiefs scrum where we will dominate.
PLAYER SELECTIONS
- Tom Mercy is a powerful tight head who will look to put plenty of pressure on the hook whilst pulling the loosehead out. Ben Kayser will also put pressure on hook looking to make a mess of the Bath front row.
- Haydn Thomas has started the season like a house on fire for the Chiefs in real life and is in great form in this game and will look for a big game to nail down his position.
Defense
- 2 layer blitz defence the first layer will look to rush up in the face of the attackers with a second layer (Mainly back row forwards and Scrum half) sweeping behind to counter kicks through and cover any line breaks and turnover the isolated runner and win the penalties.
- Wynard Oliver has poor hands and we will look to get at him Early doors with Adam Powell being picked to hit him hard and to the deck or use our Mauling Tactic to win a scrum.
Attacking phases
Myler will look to send traffic down Charlie Hodgson’s channel all game and rattle him early doors and put him off his game.
- With dominace at the scrum we will have taken there back row out of play and given ourselves the chance to generate quick 1st phase ball and punch holes in the bath defence with Powell/Smith picking lines from depth and charging at the gap pulling defenders in.
Line out
Exeter have plenty of options at Lineout time and will look to mix it up and shift the point of attack from the lineout.
James Hudson has been Falcons main man in the lineout in the last 2 seasons and is there only forward with any form these first two games.
TACTICS KEY POINTS
- We will play a FORWARD BASED GAME PLAN .
- We will use the SCRUM AS A WEPON and dominate this area looking to wheel the Bath back row out of the game.
- BIG RUNNERS IN OUR BACK LINE will be used to pull defenders in a generate quick 1st phase ball.
Harlequins v Gloucester Rugby
Light Rain, 18 Degrees, 13mph Winds
Harlequins
Manager – Steven_Sharks
16. Matthew Rees 17. Aston Croall 18. Kieran Brookes 19. Tom Donnelly 20. Jamie Gibson 21. Jano Vermaak 22. Freddie Burns 23. Jonathan Joseph
Tactics
We make two Changes to our side and one positional change. Ceri Jones comes in for Marler and James Gaskell comes in for Chris Henry with Phil Dowson moving to 8. The conditions will be greasy so we will not be looking to play a wide expansive game but will play low risk rugby which will look to build up pressure on Gloucester.
Key Points
• Win collisions in attack and defence. When we win collisions it makes it easier to win the battle at the breakdown.
• Up the tempo of our game when Gloucester’s defence is disorganised.
• Win collisions in both attack and defence so we can build or halt momentum.
• Dickson and Steenson to play a patient game and will use forwards to get quick ball before attacking wider channels.
• Attack Gloucester at each set piece and really go after the Gloucester Lineout.
• Build pressure up so Gloucester are knocked out of the comfort zone and move away from game plan.
• Don’t give away penalties needlessly. Keep scoreboard ticking over.
We are going to look to play in a similar style to our last two weeks as this has been successful. This will be based around a strong forward platform and patient play controlled by our half backs. When we see the Gloucester defence unorganised we will look to increase the intensity of our attacks.
Up front we are going to look to take it to Gloucester. We have picked a pack which is aggressive and confrontational and they will look to get in Gloucester’s faces. Our forwards will carry hard around the breakdown and in the midfield and will look to win the collisions and break the gain line. They will carry in numbers so that each player has support so the carrier can offload or we can secure quick ball for the backs from the ruck. With the greasy conditions we will only look to offload only when it is on.
At the breakdown we will look to commit numbers when we win the collision as this gives our forwards a target to hit. We will otherwise only compete at the breakdown when we have the first man there or we have superior numbers and can drive Gloucester off the ball. Robinson and Brits however will continually be looking to get turnovers at the breakdown. When we do get turnovers ball we will look to increase the intensity and attack an unorganised Gloucester defence.
At the scrum we will be looking to get quick ball and to try and get Dowson and Dickson breaking of the back of the scrum and they will then have the option of taking contact or looking for one of our centres running a line in the midfield. If we are getting an advantage at the scrum then we will look to try and milk it for penalties. At the lineout we will look to really target Gloucester’s throw with 4 very capable jumpers in Thion, Lund, Dowson and Gaskell. We will look to challenge at every lineout putting particular pressure upon the middle and back of the Gloucester lineout as this is where they will get the best quality ball from. If they throw to the front there only real option is to start a maul which we feel we can defend by immediately bringing the first man to the floor.
On our own lineout we will look to have a 5 man lineout with Gaskell, Thion and Lund as the jumpers. This will give is two forwards in the midfield to take the crash ball if we choose to use it. It is harder to steal ball from a short lineout and we will look to use these between the two 22 m lines with full lines being executed in both 22’s.
We will look for our back row and Brits to look to carry of 10 and 12 with our other forwards making themselves available off 9. We will only look to spread the ball wide when we get quick ball from the rucks and when this happens we will look for Flutey and particularly George Lowe to pick lines targeting gaps in the Gloucester defence. Blair will also look to join the line at pace to try and create and overlap.
Steenson will use his boot to test the positional play and skills of the Gloucester back 3. He will look to kick to spaces and into the corners when we are struggling to get any go forward. With the greasy conditions we feel that with the kicking games of Steenson, Flutey, Blair and Dickson can put pressure onto the Gloucester back 3 with accurate kicks which are well chased. With this being said we will not look to kick loosely to the Gloucester back three who will be dangerous on the counter attack.
In defence we will look to have a quick line speed and as said before we will look to win the collisions. When we have an organised defensive line we will look to double up in the tackle with one man making the tackle and the other targeting the ball. Our back 3 will be very aware of the kicking game of Gloucester and will be in position to handle the kicks with Dickson sweeping behind the defensive line.
With our game plan of building pressure we will look to keep our discipline and don’t want to give away penalties needlessly as this takes the pressure of Gloucester. We will add to the pressure by keeping the scoreboard ticking over when we have the chance.
If our game plan fails due to Gloucester spoil tactics or other reasons we have a side which we think can change tactics to a more attacking game and with a quick pack we think we can do well in a game played very quickly.
Our subs will look to be brought on between the 55 and 70 minute mark if they are required. Brits may revert to the back row if he is playing well when we introduce Matthew Rees. If we bring Burns on at 10 it will be because we need to increase our speed of play if we are chasing the game.
Target Vainikolo at 12. Get Flutey and Lowe running lines which test his positioning all day long. May not got the experience to cover for him.
Gloucester
Manager – anonmattyt
16. Strauss 17. Coonie 18. Harden 19. Deacon 20. Evans 21. Lamb 22. Short 23. Gear
Tactics
Only short but think I've got the Gloucester jist-is.
Similar to last week play at pace as always move point of contact etc.
SCRUM
We see this as a huge advantage for Gloucester. We have gone for 3 players in wood Fourie and Johnstone who are all bang in form and who are very mobile.
LINEOUT
We have 5 jumpers and one of the most accurate hookers in world rugby. This will allow us to vary our play and keep them guessing. We will vary our play and will look to drive lots of the first half ball to tire out the saints pack and to allow us to launch people like Aj off the back.
Target Breakdown & Rucks
Fast ball is key during the summer months and we'll look to commit to rucks to secure our own ball whilst targetting the opposition when it's on.
We have a seriously mobile pack and wood and Strauss are like flankers. We see this mobility as the key to continuity and for generating quick ball. Saull who is an out and out 7 will be looking to link the play and keep the high tempo which we are looking to play at.
to play at a high tempo you need mobility and you also need huge carriers. Gloucester have this in abundance and wood, Strauss, Deacon, Aj and RObson etc will look to keep saints on the back foot with their carrying and offloading. the carrying continues when glaws bench is dispersed with coonie, fourie, deacon, and Gareth Evans come on. look out for GAreth Evans this year he is a seriously mobile.
HALF BACKS
The key to playing at tempo comes from the half backs and Lewis and Donald has a better balance to it for me. Lewis is a proven performer and a great organiser of a team and will look to take it on when necessary and to provide Donald the ball to create. on the rare times we have bad ball Donald is great at taking in to contact on account of how big he is. Donald will play flat to the line and look to get our centres over the gain line and then look to hit wide off the second phase.
BACK PLAY GENERALLY
Donald will also fancy the high ball and we will be looking to use the bomb on him with our super quick backs chasing we see this as a hugely profitable.
Off first phase ball off the top Donald will be keen to send Big Les into their 10 channel to draw in more defenders or run over him.
Our back 3 is probably the best you will see from any team over the WC and we will look to use them as much as possible. Sharples will be used coming off his wing or in midfield and JSD will pop up at first or second receiver as he does in real life with massive threat.
We will look to take quick throw ins and really keep the tempo high. Sharples will be looking to pick lines off the big runner and target the offloads so he can use his searing pace which has seen him rise thru the england ranks
Key points
1. mobility- glos have the aility to blow them off the park
2 bench- our bench we believe is much stronger and will have more impact
3 lineout- clear advantage with lots of jumpers to hit.
Newcastle Falcons v Leicester Tigers
Sunny Intervals, 15 Degrees, 12mph Winds
Newcastle Falcons
Manager – Sgt Pooly
16. Joe Duffey 17. Oliver Tomaszczyk 18. Grant Shiells 19. Geoff Parling 20. Chris York 21. Jonny Arr 22. Tom Catterick 23. Topsy Ojo
Tactics
General play - It's all about a high tempo and controlling the ball. Our team has self belief and attitude running through it's core. We'll be looking to intimidate up front and attack with pace and guile in the backs with Evans being key. If 3 point is on we'll look to take it and until we have a clear lead. We’re coming off two wins and will look to hit Leicester from the off at 100mph, we won’t let up and we’ll be looking to smash the Leicester pack and really make a statement. Evans will pull the strings at 10 and keep us playing in the right areas of the pitch, contolling the tempo and looking for gaps in the Leicester backline.
Forwards
Set Piece
We'll be looking to use the set piece as a platform to set up attacks during the summer especially. Our tactics during each game may change if we spot a weakness in the oppposition set piece during the 80mins. This is the role of the team captain.
Scrum - We'll be looking to set a platform and use the scrum to get get fast ball to out 9/10 axis. PDJ and Stankovich are excellent technical scrummagers who will give us a sound foundation and look to get at their opposite numbers from the off. If a weakness is seen we’ll look to keep the push on and drive the opposition back, taking scrum options at pens if totally on top. If not we’ll be using the scrum as restart and getting the ball in and out so we can attack the opposition 9/10 axis.
We’ll be really targeting the Leicester props in this one as we feel we have a much stronger scummaging outfit. With our props being shorter we’ll try and get underneath the Leicester scrum and drive it up. Stankovich will look to dominate Rachenbach and tire him out early on with Shiells (Falcons starting LH) coming on to put further pressure on.
Lineout - Lindsay has had a few up and down games in the past with his throwing but he's never had a target in a poor Wasps set piece. We've brought in some world class operators to secure our own ball and target opposition throw. Vermeulen and Smith give us massive options in the back row. If a weakness is seen in the opposition throw we'll look to hit some corners and test their lineout out. We’ll look to vary the options at the through with Kruger calling the shots from the middle of the lineout. Flip will look to give us banker ball at the front when needed, whilst Juan Smith will marshall the rear of the lineout. Vermeulen will look to alternate middle/back depending on call. Brown & Joubert will be targeted from the off as we think these will be Leicesters primary options.
Target Breakdown & Rucks
Fast ball is key during the summer months and we'll look to commit to rucks to secure our own ball whilst targetting the opposition when it's on. With a huge back 5 we'll be look to get round the park and hits rucks hard, forcing the opposition back and giving us the chance of a takeover. Robshaw will look to make a nuisance of himself and slow down opposition ball on the floor. Flip & Smith will marshall the rucks, they will look to target any attempted slowing of our own ball and give Pretorious fast ball to feed Evans.
Huge carrying
We have huge carrying options in the pack and we'll look to use them throughout the game to wear the opposition down and give us a point of attack. We'll look to mix this up with Vermeulen coming off the scrum and Juan Smith, Robshaw, Lindsay, Vermeulen, Kruger giving us numerous options in tight and loose. We’ll look to vary the angles of attack with Evans using the reverse ball now and again with Smith and Vermeulen coming in. The 9/10 axis will hit early on and if successful will be used to draw the Leciester defence in. We’ll look to draw in the Leicester pack as much as possible to exploit possible one on ones in the backline where we have some serious gas.
Backs
Halfbacks
Halfbacks win you games on the hard pitches and in Pretorious/Evans we have two of the best about. With a solid platform Sarel will look to snipe around and find gaps in the opposion defense, especially at 2/3rd phase attacks when defenses start to fray. Pretorious gives us a massive threat and will look to mix his game up throughgout the game. Evans will play his natural game and come into the line flat. He’ll look to mix the play up with varying passes and look to hit behind the back 3 if on. Pretorious will sweep up behind a blitz defense with Barritt leading the line. We think they might be a bit of space especially between the Leicester 10/12 axis, Jauzion is a legend but his defence has slowed up and with Walder looking to cover Young we think they might be gaps to exploit, especially with Pretorious’s pace off the mark causing issues.
Backline balance
We have numerous running options and the option to mix things up in the backline. Barritt gives Evans go to ball if needed and we'll look to get Ben Smith in as second receiver to give us a different focal point. Payne will look to come off the shoulder of attacks (similar to Conrad) and inject pace into the midfield. He'll look to alternate at FB with Smith. Benjamin/Maitland give us pace and power on the flanks and we'll look to bring to bring them into the game whenever possible.
Points to target against opposition
After studying the opposition over a number of weeks we’ll be looking to specifically target these areas:
- Paul Doran-Jones will really look to get at Crockett early on. The AB tends to suffer against the smaller prop and and PDJ is a serious scrummager, he’ll look to get below the tall AB from the off. Similar on the LH side with Stankovich looking to get underneath an aging Faan.
- We’ll be really looking to overpower the Leciester pack on a whole
- Smith & Robshaw will look to target the Leicester 9/10 axis from the off, especially Walder with Smith looking to put some early big hits in
- Maitland will look to pressure Biggs. We feel this is a one sided affair and we’ll look to get the Kiwi on the one on one
- Evans will look to test out Poitrenaud with bomb’s early on and see if he’s up for the game
- Lineout – Bruno suffers from falling apart in the lineout esp away from home so we’ll look to put extreme pressure on the Leicester throw. We feel we have more quality jumpers in our pack so this could be an area we dominate
- Pace & tempo – especially in the backline. We’ll be really turning it up in this one, Leicester have a class backline but if anything they’re getting on. We’ll look to exploit their lack of pace by bringing our back 3 into the game at every chance and Pretorious running the show from 9.
- French backs – Not good travellers. We picked this up in the game against Wasps, that if the French backs in the Leicester lineup where targeted early on they just seemed to lose interest in the game. We’ll be paying a lot of interest to Jauzon, Fritz and Pointrenaud(esp) in the first 20mins with Smith and Flip looking for some big hits
- The Leicester team on a whole is pretty old so we’ll look to exploit this by moving their pack around the pitch. If we keep the tempo up this should open the game up for our pace men later in the game
MAJOR POINT
We won every game at home last season and come into this one off the back off two wins. Momentum is key and Leicester got beat last their last outing and now find themselves facing the champions away. Kingston Park is not a place to try and play your back into form.
Leicester Tigers
Manager – LukeLovesLuka
16. Dan Murphy 17. Matt Thompson 18. Johhny Harris 19. Chris Jack 20. Andy Hazell 20. Thomas Waldrom 21. Scott Mathie 22. Rupeni Caucaunibuca
Tactics
- We will go through the phases and look to dominate possession and starve Newcastle of the ball.
- There will be NO AIMLESS KICKING, we will be playing a possession game. We will keep the ball away from Newcastle as much as possible.
- With the ball in hand we want to attack together in groups so as not to become isolated, and if it is on we will look to offload in or just before the tackle. All players are to act as support runners when they can.
- All three of our back row, as well as the likes of Crockett and Hoeata, are encouraged to run straight to best utilise the carrying options they bring, and we will look to drive on through tackles as much as possible to get over the gain line.
- We are playing with a left and right flanker. We will target the breakdown massively, with two players who can play openside on our flanks. Newcastle don't have an out and out 7 so this could be huge for us.
- We are going to be using our backrow to disrupt Newcastle all game, slowing ball down and stopping them playing their usual game.
- Play a disruptive game - Lund and Poff to really get after both Pretorious and Evans and force them into mistakes.
- Target Tom Lindsay massively. Look to Bruno to give him a schooling in the scrum, and Brown AND Joubert to get after his throwing in the lineout.
- Brown calls the lineout. We will keep it simple by hitting one of our big jumpers and building phases off the lineout, with Brown and Joubert as our go-to men, along with Hoeata and also Chris Jack to come on.
- Look for Rautenbach to gain parity with Stank, and then look to Bruno and Crockett to get a real shove on, with PDJ and in particular Lindsay the target. Newcastle props are just as tall as ours, so no worries about getting done underneath today.
- We will look to really go after the Newcastle backline. They have played very few games together, with most of them not long out of school, and there is hardly any International experience from 9-15. We will aim to smash them up with a blitz defence, maintaining a strong line, with Young sweeping in behind.
- The likes of Bruno, Rautenbach, Brown, Lund, Joubert, Walder, Jauzion, Fritz, Nacewa and Poitrenaud have a great deal of experience. Newcastle are full to the brim of young, inexperienced players, and we will look to use this difference to our advantage.
- We will look to target the defense of Payne, Maitland and Benjamin in particluar. We will look to test these players with a mixture of big powerful carriers straight through them, and speedsters on the outside.
- Last 30 mins are where we will look to win the game. 5/2 split on bench to help our hard-working forwards. On comes the likes of Jack, Hazell, Waldrom and Caucau. Nacewa covers 10-15 in the back line. Caucau, and in particular Waldrom, to look to destroy Newcastle in the last quarter, bursting through tired tackles with direct running. Newcastle have little to offer from the bench, and this period of the game will be huge for us.
Saracens v Worcester Warriors
White Cloud, 18 Degrees, 12mph Winds
Saracens
Manager – LDCPete
16. George Chuter 17. Alex Waller 18. Phil Swainston 19. Graham Kitchener 20. Luke Narraway 21.Shaun Perry 22. Nevin Spence 23. Tom Homer
Tactics
Our generic tactics centre around 4 key areas.
1. The Set Piece
In the front row of our scrum we have selected players who are compact at 5'11", 5'11" and 6'. They will look to provide a solid base and get underneath their opponents whilst also looking to get short binds giving a more stable grip on their opponent allowing us to control the movement of the scrum. If we get an early nudge on our own put in we will look to take advantage by getting a slight wheel on to take the Worcester flankers out of play before launching an attack off the back. If we don't get a nudge we will look to get the ball in and out quickly and get a big runner across the gainline close to the scrum and get support to the breakdown area quickly to recycle and go again. On Worcester’s ball we will really attack the scrum looking to force them into errors and frustrate them into conceding penalties or kicking the ball to us.
Steve Borthwick will run the lineout and we will mix it up between playing quickly off the top and getting the ball into midfield and securing possession and keeping it tight and using the maul to suck defenders in. On Worcester’s throw, we will use Elstadt as an athletic front jumper to try to disrupt the throw and cause mistakes. If Worcester are looking to take quick ball of the top to go wide with we will get up and really contest and try to disrupt the quality of ball. If they are looking to secure it and play tight, we will not contest as much but will look to hit hard as soon as the catcher lands in order to knock him back and not allow any forward momentum.
2. The Breakdown
We will look to be dynamic and accurate at the tackle area. On our own ball we will look to get a minimum of two players there quickly. Our first man to arrive will not go to challenge for the ball unless it is virtually out and he has the opportunity to take it and carry on forward immediately. He will instead target the opposition 'fetcher' and clear him out ensuring that he cannot get his hands on the ball. Our second man there will then secure the ball which should be cleaner and able to be recycled quicker as no opposition player will have his hands on it grappling for it.
On opposition ball if we arrive at the breakdown with superior numbers we will immediately counter ruck. We won't go for slowing down the ball, we will go in to create immediate possession. If we do not get there quickly enough in sufficient numbers and the breakdown has been won by the opposition, we won't commit numbers to the contest but will stand off maintaining a strong defensive line, immediately getting ready for the approaching attack.
We will only contest for the turnover if the opportunity presents itself, and we will be efficient and intelligent at picking our moments. You can’t “fetch” at every breakdown, you have to read the situation and then effect the best option.
3. Defence
We will play a blitz defence with real focus on line speed and coming up as a unit to stop Worcester before the gainline and not allow any momentum to build for them whatsoever. Paul Hodgson will act as a defensive sweeper behind the line for us. If we do not allow them any forward momentum at the gainline they will have to resort to kicking the ball back to us.
4. Attack
We will look to play a high intensity running game using our big carriers to get across the gainline and offload in or just before the tackle to support runners hitting the gaps. If running the ball is not on we will utilise the kicking games of Humphreys, Farrell, Twelvetrees and Goode, to get us in to the right areas of the field.
Game specific tactics vs. Worcester Warriors
1. Target the breakdown for quick ball. We have selected two flankers who are both natural opensides, but have a varied enough skillset to play blindside. We will play left/right flanker with both of them tasked to utilise their breakdown skills and on every occasion possible to secure quick ball for us. To this end will want our front 5 players rucking hard and fast beyond the ball clearing players out so we can get the ball quickly to our backs to play.
2. Running rugby In good conditions this week we want to keep possession and run the ball. We will look to vary how we attack ball in hand, with Goode coming into the line early at times to try to draw defenders and create gaps to put runners through. We will also use both wingers coming off their wings into midfield to use Vissers pace and power and Ranger's creativity to create gaps in the defensive line.
3. Target the scrum Our front 5 are together for the 3rd game running. That is not a big ask this early in the season and they are now used to playing as a unit. In contrast the Worcester front row have not played together yet as a unit, and Marconnet has been switched sides after playing his last two games at tighthead, which is not an easy thing to do. Mullan and Botha will be looking to really target Andress on the tighthead side and destabilise the Worcester scrum, which will give us a big mental advantage and could also yield penalties to increase pressure on them.
4. Build pressure We want to put Worcester under pressure and se ehow they cope. To do this early on we will utilise the kicking games that we have in the backs to play in the right areas. We will take all kickable penalties using the most appropriate kicker for where on the field the penalty is to create pressure via the scoreboard. If we are unable to penetrate the defensive line in the Worcester 22 we will also look to take drop goals to increase the scoreboard pressure.
Key Points
1. In game form/momentum
In the 3 seasons of this game in the AP and HC our home record reads P43 W39 D3 L1. Vicarage Road is a fortress. We are 2 wins from 2 so far this season and are building momentum. Defensively we are very good having conceded just 1 try in 2 matches. We have used just 25 players across our three matches so far, rotating within the matchday 23 to breed continuity and assist with form and momentum.
2. Real life form
We have a number of players in good real life form. Matt Mullan has looked very good in the AP so far, and James Scaysbrook is the captain of the current AP leaders and has been tremendous in both games. Farrell scored 23 of Saracens 28 points last week and Twelvetrees got all 29 of Leicesters including 2 tries playing at outside centre. Humphreys has steered Ulster to 2 wins from 2 games from 10, and Visser was on the scoresheet for a terrible Edinburgh side last week. Botha and Harris had good S15 seasons, Elstadt was superb for the Stormers, and Steve Borthwick is the captain of the currrent AP champions. All in all form wise we are in tip top shape.
3. Balance
We have great balance to our team. A front row who can all scrummage but also get around the park, a physical 4 and a lineout specialist in the second row, and 2 good allround flankers who do the business at the breakdown along with a dynamic ball carrying 8 in the pack. In the backs we have a 9 with great game management and a 10 who is a good attacking option to compliment him. A 12 who is a fantastic defender alongside a 13 who has size and pace and good hands so can be a running threat from midfield. Both midfielders also can play 10 and have great kicking games meaning we can go to plan B and play territory if we need to. In the back three we have a full back who is solid defensively, attacks well and has a great kicking game, alongside one winger who is pace and power and is a finisher, and another who provides moments of magic and create a try from nothing. Overall this team can adapt to differing conditions and situations and do what needs to be done in order to get results.
Worcester Warriors
Manager – prop_lyd
16. Richardt Strauss 17. George Porter 18. BJ Botha 19. Dom Barrow 20. Ben Morgan 20. Jordi Pasqualin 21. Nicky Robinson 22. Gavin Henson
Tactics
After a massive up front battle vs Gloucester we make a few changes to the pack adding experience to hold off Sarries.
Forwards
Play a hard physical game up front to draw in the Sarries players. 1st 2 men at the breakdown look to split the ruck and 3rd man in and over the ruck to pick up the free ball. We will ruck hard and play a forward orientated 1st 30 minutes to tire the Worcester pack. Andress has been good this season and Forety will help to hold the youngster tight in the scrums with Marconnet comfortable on both sides. We have many lineout options so will mix them up and have picked 2 opensides to counter Sarries' tactical play.
Chabal will pick when he wants from the base of the ruck and always makes ground with Williams and Newby behind him.
Backs
Peel-Chabal axis works well together so Peel will want to play off of quick ball. We have big hitting players all over the park so will look to draw in the Sarries defence before speading out wide to Tuilagi and Garvey. Again our big forwards will be used running off of 10,12,13 to constantly mix it up. Vesty will look to pin Sarries back from 30mins onwards and is comfortable at kicking from most places. In defence we will have one of our back rowers sttod by Vesty to take the runner out and we will be up in a banana defence to stop the ball being spun out.
Overall
Hard forwards rugby.
Take penalties when kickable.
We are in good form having run both Sale and Glocuester very close.
We have an experienced bench and will use Henson's magic for the last 15 continuing him getting game time.
Strauss will come on after 60 minutes to add a new attacking threat and a 4th backrower on the pitch.
We will have the mentality of never give up like we had at Leeds and want to make people worried about Sixways.
Northampton Saints v London Irish
Light Rain, 17 Degrees, 12mph Winds
Northampton Saints
Manager – Dammit_Chris
16. Chris Whitehead 17. Henry Thomas 18. Mako Vunipola 19. Joe Launchbury 20. Ryan Kankowski 21. Charlie Davies 22. Lionel Beauxis 23. Julian Savea
Tactics:
Overall - Key Points
* Play to our strengths, a strong set piece and maurading backrow, will use the scrum to put pressure on London Irish and secure ball to work through the phases and put Matt Giteau on the front foot to attack the Irish backline, particularly the midfield, which has not played together very often. Getting Giteau on the front foot is key to our gameplan.
* We will look to use our backrow to cause Irish problems for the duration of the game, Messam, Lapandy and Taylor each offer something different and we have Kankowski to come off the bench and make an impact later on in the game.
* Consisent team selection - the vast majority of our team has played together for the best part of three seasons - this familiarity with each other is vital for the team, and the flow and structure of our game plan. We will be looking to exploit this factor in the front five and the midfield, where we think gaps could appear and the game could open up.
* Take all 3 points available in first half and then play more expansive rugby in the second, or if we build a lead of 9+ points at anyone time. Giteau to dictate tempo of game.
* Irish have made a bad start to the season and coming to Franklins Gardens is not the place where that will change...
Forwards
We have selected a strong pack and two very mobile second rows, with Clark being able to contribute a lot at the breakdown, which is a contest we will be aiming to dominate. We have Launchbury and Kankowski to bring on for impact and to ensure that our backrow is constantly fresh and pressurising the Irish team - particularly Bowden, we will want to get him to shuffle the ball to their no12 and isolate him and secure turnover (see backline defence strategy). We feel we have a strong advantage in the front row and backrow, which should see us secure more ball than Irish.
We will really target the Irish scrum, during the WC we feel that we've arguably got the best front row (Rob Webber awesome start to the season!) and this is an area where we can cause Irish some damage, and potentially work penaltieis from. Especially with Hayman's experience.
Lineout, again the wind is an issue, so lineout calls will be kept simple for Attwood, Taylor or Clark. In attacking positions we will bring our backrow into midfield to run off Giteau and set up a platform to attack.
Overall we will look to keep hold of the ball, work through the phases and play patient rugby and then look to change the speed of the game through Giteau, with our dynamic ball carriers. We will look to bring Kankowski onto the pitch fro Taylor on 55mins and this will add to Messam's ball carrying threat.
Backs
We will look to utilise the diefferent skill sets of our backthree - and know that the key to this game is to inject pace into our attacks at key points. We will be looking for Lualala and Siviatu to offer ball carrying options and get us over the gainline. We will get Wade to follow these runs and try and get him involved in as much broken play and fast ball as possible - his speed and ability to dodge tackles could be vital, especially as we have Giteau, Geraghty and Cips to put him into space. In space no one will catch him.
Will aim to change the attacking focus by allowing Cips and Geraghty to also go at first receiver - each offers a different threat, Cipriani's pace, Geraghty's threat by standing flat. This will allow Giteau to take the ball in the 12 channel and attack the 12/13 access of Irish directly.
It's at home and we will be looking to attack Irish and put them under pressure whenever possible.
In defence we will again look for Lualala to push up on Tait, with the view that their inside centre will have his pass on the outside cut off and will then be swamped by our backrow and isolated. We want to get him in mis-matches with Lapandy, Messam and Taylor, force him into mistakes and get turnovers.
London Irish
Manager – stnick88
16. Darren Fearn 17. James Buckland 18. Duncan Bell 19. Nick Kennedy 20. Joe Worsley 21. Neal De Kock 22. Juan Martin Hernandez 23. Mathieu Bastereaud
London Irish make 4 changes from last week’s game at Sale, with Neil Briggs, Mouritz Botha, Keegan Daniel and Matthew Tait coming in to the side for James Buckland, Nick Kennedy, Joe Worsley and Mathieu Bastereaud.
The conditions are OK and will allow us to play a bit of rugby, though we will look to keep things tight at first and build up possession before spreading play too much. This involves using the big ball carriers like Rush, Mumm, Nel and Naqalevuki. We will look to target Shane Geraghty and get Naqalevuki running at him.
We will look to have a solid scrum to attack off and see the lineout as an area we can get some joy. Botha will be our main jumper with Mumm and Daniel also providing options. In the 2nd half we will bring Kennedy on to really put pressure on Saints lineout and secure good ball for ourselves.
We are targeting the breakdown in this game as an area we can gain an upper hand. If we sense a turnover, Fourie will be in there to try and steal the ball so we can hit the Saints on the counter. If the turnover is not on, we will look to legally try and slow Saints down as there backline will struggle without quick ball.
Dupuy and Bowden will continue their good partnership and look to control the game and play what is in front of them. Dupuy will use his kicking to get us in the right areas of the pitch and Bowden use his creativity to create space for our runners. We will look to get the on-form Naqalevuki involved and running in to space or through players which he seems to be doing in real life!
We will not kick loose ball to Saints back 3 as they are dangerous runners, if we are in our 22 we will make sure we find touch, even if that means sacrificing 10 yards of territory as we want to put pressure on Saints lineout. In open play, we will look to run the ball back if it’s on.
In defence we will get up in Saints face and put pressure on them and not allow them time to settle. Basson has been put on Wade’s wing as we recognise his pace and want to counter that. We feel that starving Saints of good ball and not letting them get a good, attacking rhythm will go a long way to winning us this match.
We have some very good subs to bring on to see out the game. JMH will come on for Sackey, with Bowden going to 12, Naqalevuki to 13 and Tait to the wing. We will use JMH’s boot for drop goals if necessary. We also have Big Bast to bring on and cause a tired Saints defence more problems.
London Wasps v Sale Sharks
Light Rain, 17 Degrees, 10mph Winds
"London Wasps
Manager – ‘Arry
16. Andy Titterell 17. Benn Robinson 18. Juan Gomez 19. Stuart Hooper 20. Steve Mafi 21. Martin Roberts 22. Rory Clegg 23. Tom May
Tactics
Our game plan is based around using the power we have in our team. We will look to use the set piece as a platform for attacks. Our front row is a very good scrummaging unit and we will hopefully be able to build attacks from there and earn some penalties for Gopperth to make use of. Our pack will be physical and relentless up front, we will play with controlled aggression.
Early on we will look to our forwards to get us onto the front foot by attacking in groups
with some grunt and powerful carrying. We will start as we mean to go on with a high intensity, hitting the collision area hard and driving our players over the gain line.
Our forwards will recycle the ball efficiently early on. We have three excellent kicking options in Gopperth, McAlister and Mortlock, we will look to kick in behind the Sale wingers and keep them pinned back where we will look to pressurise them into making mistakes in their own half.
We will look to hit the rucks hard and compete when we can, Stegmann is our out and out fetcher and with his low centre of gravity he will be our main competitor at the breakdown area. At rucks on our own ball we will look to secure the ball and come from low to high to present Claassens with clean, quick ball.
We will look to compete at the breakdown if we have the numbers there, however if the ball is clearly there’s we will not commit numbers to the ruck, instead we will look to organize our defence ready to deal with the next Sale carrier.
In the forwards we will look to drive our carriers over the gain line and really look to win the collisions. We have plenty of dynamic carriers including the explosive Tom Johnson. Gopperth will look to bring in our strike runners in McAlister and Mortlock.
We will be targeting the outside shoulder of the Sale players and will look to attack the fly half channel in the Sale defence. We will support our runners and look to keep them on their feet driving them over the gain line, building up momentum and speed in our attacks.
With the ball in hand we will also look to attack gaps and half gaps in the Sale defence, and hopefully open them up. As the game goes on and we are hopefully on the front foot if possible we will look to get our offloading game going to alternate the point of attack and keep Sale working off the ball in defence and pierce the gaps we have created.
At lineouts we will look to exert as much pressure as possible on Sale’s throws with Wentzel looking to steal some opposition throws. On our own throw we will mainly use Wentzel but will mix it up by using Chisholm, Johnson and Stegmann. From there we will look to slowly sap the energy out of Sale by using the rolling maul. We will look to suck in as many Sale defenders to open up spaces elsewhere for us to attack.
Our back row will look to rush Cruden into rash decisions by getting really up close and personal. Hopefully we can prevent Sale from setting out a solid base by disrupting the quality of ball they get and from there we will be able to pressurise Cruden. Gopperth will kick all kickable penalties in the first half to keep the score board ticking over.
We will look to attack in numbers, we have plenty of powerful and dynamic carriers in our pack who will get us over the gain line and set us out a solid platform to build from. We have plenty of grit in our team and feel that if we can push Sale onto the back foot we will be able to unsettle them
Sale Sharks
Manager – SJE
16. Imolek 17. Sharman 18. Kruger 19. Day 20. Horstman 21. Bezy 22. Goode 23. Abendanoon
Setpiece
At scrum time we will be looking to really turn the screw. Schuster and Tialata will look to get in under their man and really disrupt Wasps looking to force them up to get the nudge on. At the lineout, we will look to Bekker to be our talisman. He will call the line and will have Sykes, at the front, and our entire back row to support him as jumpers to mix things up. Our jumpers will look to either play the ball of the top quickly and look to our backline to move it or bring it down into a maul and make the hard yards through the pack, sucking in the opposition forwards to leave space out wide for our backs. On opposition ball we will look for Bekker to follow Wentzal in the line and get up in challenge and disrupt the Wasps lineout. If we really start to get on top of the lineout we will look to Cruden to kick for the corners a few times and really put the pressure on.
Breakdown
We have a very mobile and quick pack to really target the breakdown. On our own ball we will look to our forwards to get numbers to the breakdown quickly rucking past the ball and clearing out the opposition boys looking to recycle clean fast ball. On defence, if the ball carrier is isolated we will look to seriously commit numbers and will look to Todd to secure us turnover ball. At all other times we will commit lighter numbers to the breakdown but look to counter ruck slowing down Wasps ball allowing our defensive line more time to set.
General Attacking Play
We will look to play a strong carrying game using our big carriers to hit the gain line offloading in or just before the tackle (when its on) to support runners breaking the defensive line and keeping our forward momentum going. Masaga will look to come in field at different times tracking the runs of our bigger carriers looking for the ball on the offload. We will look to play smart away at Adams park and look to the boots of Cruden and Barkley to keep us in Wasps territory.
Danny Care will look to play around the fringes of the breakdown and make his usual snipping runs when it’s on, tying the Wasps back row to the breakdown. Cruden and Barkley have been instructed to play heads up rugby and if overlaps or gaps appear they will look to get the ball moving and take advantage. Rooney will look to come up from fullback from time to time and offer an extra ball carrying threat while looking to create these overlaps out wide.
Cruden will look to kick for goal when in Wasps territory and take the drop goal option when it’s available to keep the score board moving. Danny Care though will look for the quick tap when the Wasps defence is slow to organise.
General Defensive Play
In defence we will be using a blitz defence and will look to get up at pace looking to isolate the ball carrier before he gets to the gain line stopping any Wasps momentum and allowing us to hit the breakdown hard. We will look to keep Wasps on the back foot forcing the kick. Danny Care will act as a sweeper and look to cover any chips in behind the line. Our wingers will look to sit deeper on defence then the rest of the line ready for these kicks. Our back three have been instructed to play to their strengths and look for the counter attack, running the ball back with serious pace.
Key Points
• Momentum- We have started the season off with two very impressive wins and want to continue this run here against Wasps.
• We see Noah Cato as a weakness on the wing. He is not great positionally or under the high ball and so we have brought Olly Barkley into the midfield to give an extra kicking option and to help put kicks in behind him and to put a few high balls up.
• We see the lineout as an area we can cause some real problems. Bekker, one of the best lineout operators in the world, will look to mark Wentzel out in the line and get his hands on some ball while Sykes will look to jump at the front as we cant see many over top jumping options for Wasps to really put the pressure on young Joe Gray.
Team Sheets and tactics due by COB Thur
Predictions open Fri. Results due Sun/Mon
Bath Rugby v Exeter Chiefs
Light Rain, 17 Degrees, 11mph Winds
Bath Rugby
Manager – inthefastlane
| 01. Jon Golding | 09. Byron Kelleher |
| 02. Joe Ward | 10. Charlie Hodgson |
| 03. Petrus Du Plessis | |
| 04. Yoann Maestri | 11. Ugo Monye |
| 05. Isaac Ross | 12. Wynard Oliver |
| 06. Tom Guest | 13.Anthony Allen |
| 07.Steffon Armitage | 14. Geghard Van Der Heever |
| 08. Johnnie Beattie | 15. Tim Nanai Williams |
Tactics
Playing to the conditions
In the wind + rain we will once again look to implement a kicking game. We will be testing the Exeter back 3 in the air. Kelleher will look to box kick. Charlie Hodgson will also look for opportunities to get the ball in the air. GVDH + Monye will thrive off a chase and we feel that Exeter’s back three is off form at the moment
Set Piece
At the lineout we will look to keep them short with Maestri being used as banker ball. Isaac Ross and Johnnie Beattie give us a good option if this isn’t working. Against the throw Maestri, Ross and Beattie will look to disrupt their main jumpers. At scrum time we will look to target a unit that hasn’t spent as much time playing together as our front row has. Golding, Ward and PDP are all tough scrummagers and will be looking to win Exeter ball
Ball in hand
We will look for big strong carries from the likes of Golding, Ross + Beattie. We won’t try to be flashy with offloads in the wind. Allen, Waldouck, Kelleher and Guest will all be looking for the chance to make line breaks. We will look to get the ball to our back three once the defence is sucked in and with their pace we want them to make runs into space
Exeter Chiefs
Manager – Driver
| 01.Brett Sturgess | 09.Haydn Thomas |
| 02.Ben Kayser | 10. Steven Myler |
| 03.Tom Mercy | |
| 04.Tommy Hayes | 11.Luke Fitzgerald |
| 05.James Hudson | 12.Adam Powell |
| 06.Ben Skirving | 13.Regan King |
| 07.Carl Fearns | 14.Adam Thompstone |
| 08.Gareth Delve | 15.Luke Arscott |
16. Neil Clark 17.Efion Lewis-Roberts 18.Juan Orlandi 19.George Skivington 20.Marty Holah 21.Tomas O’Leary 22.George Ford 23.Matt Smith
Tactics
Conditions
Wet and windy matched by physical pack - Hayes comes in to strengthen our our push at scrum time and Stop the Bath Maul. Up front Sturgess/Kayser/Mercy are all fierce competators up front and will prove vital as we see the scrum as somewhere to dominate.
Mauling tackle - Holding the player up
- instead of putting isolated carriers to deck we will hold him up and pull Baths players into a maul cutting out there options outwide
- If Bath do get the player down it will be difficult to release the ball and will result in a Chiefs scrum where we will dominate.
PLAYER SELECTIONS
- Tom Mercy is a powerful tight head who will look to put plenty of pressure on the hook whilst pulling the loosehead out. Ben Kayser will also put pressure on hook looking to make a mess of the Bath front row.
- Haydn Thomas has started the season like a house on fire for the Chiefs in real life and is in great form in this game and will look for a big game to nail down his position.
Defense
- 2 layer blitz defence the first layer will look to rush up in the face of the attackers with a second layer (Mainly back row forwards and Scrum half) sweeping behind to counter kicks through and cover any line breaks and turnover the isolated runner and win the penalties.
- Wynard Oliver has poor hands and we will look to get at him Early doors with Adam Powell being picked to hit him hard and to the deck or use our Mauling Tactic to win a scrum.
Attacking phases
Myler will look to send traffic down Charlie Hodgson’s channel all game and rattle him early doors and put him off his game.
- With dominace at the scrum we will have taken there back row out of play and given ourselves the chance to generate quick 1st phase ball and punch holes in the bath defence with Powell/Smith picking lines from depth and charging at the gap pulling defenders in.
Line out
Exeter have plenty of options at Lineout time and will look to mix it up and shift the point of attack from the lineout.
James Hudson has been Falcons main man in the lineout in the last 2 seasons and is there only forward with any form these first two games.
TACTICS KEY POINTS
- We will play a FORWARD BASED GAME PLAN .
- We will use the SCRUM AS A WEPON and dominate this area looking to wheel the Bath back row out of the game.
- BIG RUNNERS IN OUR BACK LINE will be used to pull defenders in a generate quick 1st phase ball.
Harlequins v Gloucester Rugby
Light Rain, 18 Degrees, 13mph Winds
Harlequins
Manager – Steven_Sharks
| 01. Ceri Jones | 09. Lee Dickson (c) |
| 02. Schalk Brits | 10. Gareth Steenson |
| 03. Brian Mujati | |
| 04. Jerome Thion | 11. Joe Rokocoko |
| 05. Erik Lund | 12. Riki Flutey |
| 06. James Gaskell | 13. George Lowe |
| 07. Beau Robinson | 14. Luke Morahan |
| 08. Phil Dowson | 15. Ben Blair |
16. Matthew Rees 17. Aston Croall 18. Kieran Brookes 19. Tom Donnelly 20. Jamie Gibson 21. Jano Vermaak 22. Freddie Burns 23. Jonathan Joseph
Tactics
We make two Changes to our side and one positional change. Ceri Jones comes in for Marler and James Gaskell comes in for Chris Henry with Phil Dowson moving to 8. The conditions will be greasy so we will not be looking to play a wide expansive game but will play low risk rugby which will look to build up pressure on Gloucester.
Key Points
• Win collisions in attack and defence. When we win collisions it makes it easier to win the battle at the breakdown.
• Up the tempo of our game when Gloucester’s defence is disorganised.
• Win collisions in both attack and defence so we can build or halt momentum.
• Dickson and Steenson to play a patient game and will use forwards to get quick ball before attacking wider channels.
• Attack Gloucester at each set piece and really go after the Gloucester Lineout.
• Build pressure up so Gloucester are knocked out of the comfort zone and move away from game plan.
• Don’t give away penalties needlessly. Keep scoreboard ticking over.
We are going to look to play in a similar style to our last two weeks as this has been successful. This will be based around a strong forward platform and patient play controlled by our half backs. When we see the Gloucester defence unorganised we will look to increase the intensity of our attacks.
Up front we are going to look to take it to Gloucester. We have picked a pack which is aggressive and confrontational and they will look to get in Gloucester’s faces. Our forwards will carry hard around the breakdown and in the midfield and will look to win the collisions and break the gain line. They will carry in numbers so that each player has support so the carrier can offload or we can secure quick ball for the backs from the ruck. With the greasy conditions we will only look to offload only when it is on.
At the breakdown we will look to commit numbers when we win the collision as this gives our forwards a target to hit. We will otherwise only compete at the breakdown when we have the first man there or we have superior numbers and can drive Gloucester off the ball. Robinson and Brits however will continually be looking to get turnovers at the breakdown. When we do get turnovers ball we will look to increase the intensity and attack an unorganised Gloucester defence.
At the scrum we will be looking to get quick ball and to try and get Dowson and Dickson breaking of the back of the scrum and they will then have the option of taking contact or looking for one of our centres running a line in the midfield. If we are getting an advantage at the scrum then we will look to try and milk it for penalties. At the lineout we will look to really target Gloucester’s throw with 4 very capable jumpers in Thion, Lund, Dowson and Gaskell. We will look to challenge at every lineout putting particular pressure upon the middle and back of the Gloucester lineout as this is where they will get the best quality ball from. If they throw to the front there only real option is to start a maul which we feel we can defend by immediately bringing the first man to the floor.
On our own lineout we will look to have a 5 man lineout with Gaskell, Thion and Lund as the jumpers. This will give is two forwards in the midfield to take the crash ball if we choose to use it. It is harder to steal ball from a short lineout and we will look to use these between the two 22 m lines with full lines being executed in both 22’s.
We will look for our back row and Brits to look to carry of 10 and 12 with our other forwards making themselves available off 9. We will only look to spread the ball wide when we get quick ball from the rucks and when this happens we will look for Flutey and particularly George Lowe to pick lines targeting gaps in the Gloucester defence. Blair will also look to join the line at pace to try and create and overlap.
Steenson will use his boot to test the positional play and skills of the Gloucester back 3. He will look to kick to spaces and into the corners when we are struggling to get any go forward. With the greasy conditions we feel that with the kicking games of Steenson, Flutey, Blair and Dickson can put pressure onto the Gloucester back 3 with accurate kicks which are well chased. With this being said we will not look to kick loosely to the Gloucester back three who will be dangerous on the counter attack.
In defence we will look to have a quick line speed and as said before we will look to win the collisions. When we have an organised defensive line we will look to double up in the tackle with one man making the tackle and the other targeting the ball. Our back 3 will be very aware of the kicking game of Gloucester and will be in position to handle the kicks with Dickson sweeping behind the defensive line.
With our game plan of building pressure we will look to keep our discipline and don’t want to give away penalties needlessly as this takes the pressure of Gloucester. We will add to the pressure by keeping the scoreboard ticking over when we have the chance.
If our game plan fails due to Gloucester spoil tactics or other reasons we have a side which we think can change tactics to a more attacking game and with a quick pack we think we can do well in a game played very quickly.
Our subs will look to be brought on between the 55 and 70 minute mark if they are required. Brits may revert to the back row if he is playing well when we introduce Matthew Rees. If we bring Burns on at 10 it will be because we need to increase our speed of play if we are chasing the game.
Target Vainikolo at 12. Get Flutey and Lowe running lines which test his positioning all day long. May not got the experience to cover for him.
Gloucester
Manager – anonmattyt
| 01. Nick Wood | 09. Dave Lewis |
| 02. Deon Fourie | 10. Stephen Donald |
| 03. James Johnston | |
| 04. George Robson | 11. James Simpson Daniels |
| 05. James Hanks | 12. Leslie Vainikolo |
| 06. Peter Buxton | 13. Johnny May |
| 07. Andy Saull | 14. Charlie Sharples |
| 08. Ashley Johnson | 15. Scott Hamilton |
Tactics
Only short but think I've got the Gloucester jist-is.
Similar to last week play at pace as always move point of contact etc.
SCRUM
We see this as a huge advantage for Gloucester. We have gone for 3 players in wood Fourie and Johnstone who are all bang in form and who are very mobile.
LINEOUT
We have 5 jumpers and one of the most accurate hookers in world rugby. This will allow us to vary our play and keep them guessing. We will vary our play and will look to drive lots of the first half ball to tire out the saints pack and to allow us to launch people like Aj off the back.
Target Breakdown & Rucks
Fast ball is key during the summer months and we'll look to commit to rucks to secure our own ball whilst targetting the opposition when it's on.
We have a seriously mobile pack and wood and Strauss are like flankers. We see this mobility as the key to continuity and for generating quick ball. Saull who is an out and out 7 will be looking to link the play and keep the high tempo which we are looking to play at.
to play at a high tempo you need mobility and you also need huge carriers. Gloucester have this in abundance and wood, Strauss, Deacon, Aj and RObson etc will look to keep saints on the back foot with their carrying and offloading. the carrying continues when glaws bench is dispersed with coonie, fourie, deacon, and Gareth Evans come on. look out for GAreth Evans this year he is a seriously mobile.
HALF BACKS
The key to playing at tempo comes from the half backs and Lewis and Donald has a better balance to it for me. Lewis is a proven performer and a great organiser of a team and will look to take it on when necessary and to provide Donald the ball to create. on the rare times we have bad ball Donald is great at taking in to contact on account of how big he is. Donald will play flat to the line and look to get our centres over the gain line and then look to hit wide off the second phase.
BACK PLAY GENERALLY
Donald will also fancy the high ball and we will be looking to use the bomb on him with our super quick backs chasing we see this as a hugely profitable.
Off first phase ball off the top Donald will be keen to send Big Les into their 10 channel to draw in more defenders or run over him.
Our back 3 is probably the best you will see from any team over the WC and we will look to use them as much as possible. Sharples will be used coming off his wing or in midfield and JSD will pop up at first or second receiver as he does in real life with massive threat.
We will look to take quick throw ins and really keep the tempo high. Sharples will be looking to pick lines off the big runner and target the offloads so he can use his searing pace which has seen him rise thru the england ranks
Key points
1. mobility- glos have the aility to blow them off the park
2 bench- our bench we believe is much stronger and will have more impact
3 lineout- clear advantage with lots of jumpers to hit.
Newcastle Falcons v Leicester Tigers
Sunny Intervals, 15 Degrees, 12mph Winds
Newcastle Falcons
Manager – Sgt Pooly
| 01. Boris Stankovich | 09. Sarel Pretorious |
| 02. Tom Lindsay | 10. Nick Evans |
| 03. Paul Doran-Jones | |
| 04. Flip van der Merwe | 11. Sean Maitland |
| 05. Juandre Kruger | 12. Brad Barritt |
| 06. Juan Smith(c) | 13. Jared Payne |
| 07. Chris Robshaw | 14. Miles Benjamin |
| 08. Duane Vermeulen | 15. Ben Smith |
16. Joe Duffey 17. Oliver Tomaszczyk 18. Grant Shiells 19. Geoff Parling 20. Chris York 21. Jonny Arr 22. Tom Catterick 23. Topsy Ojo
Tactics
General play - It's all about a high tempo and controlling the ball. Our team has self belief and attitude running through it's core. We'll be looking to intimidate up front and attack with pace and guile in the backs with Evans being key. If 3 point is on we'll look to take it and until we have a clear lead. We’re coming off two wins and will look to hit Leicester from the off at 100mph, we won’t let up and we’ll be looking to smash the Leicester pack and really make a statement. Evans will pull the strings at 10 and keep us playing in the right areas of the pitch, contolling the tempo and looking for gaps in the Leicester backline.
Forwards
Set Piece
We'll be looking to use the set piece as a platform to set up attacks during the summer especially. Our tactics during each game may change if we spot a weakness in the oppposition set piece during the 80mins. This is the role of the team captain.
Scrum - We'll be looking to set a platform and use the scrum to get get fast ball to out 9/10 axis. PDJ and Stankovich are excellent technical scrummagers who will give us a sound foundation and look to get at their opposite numbers from the off. If a weakness is seen we’ll look to keep the push on and drive the opposition back, taking scrum options at pens if totally on top. If not we’ll be using the scrum as restart and getting the ball in and out so we can attack the opposition 9/10 axis.
We’ll be really targeting the Leicester props in this one as we feel we have a much stronger scummaging outfit. With our props being shorter we’ll try and get underneath the Leicester scrum and drive it up. Stankovich will look to dominate Rachenbach and tire him out early on with Shiells (Falcons starting LH) coming on to put further pressure on.
Lineout - Lindsay has had a few up and down games in the past with his throwing but he's never had a target in a poor Wasps set piece. We've brought in some world class operators to secure our own ball and target opposition throw. Vermeulen and Smith give us massive options in the back row. If a weakness is seen in the opposition throw we'll look to hit some corners and test their lineout out. We’ll look to vary the options at the through with Kruger calling the shots from the middle of the lineout. Flip will look to give us banker ball at the front when needed, whilst Juan Smith will marshall the rear of the lineout. Vermeulen will look to alternate middle/back depending on call. Brown & Joubert will be targeted from the off as we think these will be Leicesters primary options.
Target Breakdown & Rucks
Fast ball is key during the summer months and we'll look to commit to rucks to secure our own ball whilst targetting the opposition when it's on. With a huge back 5 we'll be look to get round the park and hits rucks hard, forcing the opposition back and giving us the chance of a takeover. Robshaw will look to make a nuisance of himself and slow down opposition ball on the floor. Flip & Smith will marshall the rucks, they will look to target any attempted slowing of our own ball and give Pretorious fast ball to feed Evans.
Huge carrying
We have huge carrying options in the pack and we'll look to use them throughout the game to wear the opposition down and give us a point of attack. We'll look to mix this up with Vermeulen coming off the scrum and Juan Smith, Robshaw, Lindsay, Vermeulen, Kruger giving us numerous options in tight and loose. We’ll look to vary the angles of attack with Evans using the reverse ball now and again with Smith and Vermeulen coming in. The 9/10 axis will hit early on and if successful will be used to draw the Leciester defence in. We’ll look to draw in the Leicester pack as much as possible to exploit possible one on ones in the backline where we have some serious gas.
Backs
Halfbacks
Halfbacks win you games on the hard pitches and in Pretorious/Evans we have two of the best about. With a solid platform Sarel will look to snipe around and find gaps in the opposion defense, especially at 2/3rd phase attacks when defenses start to fray. Pretorious gives us a massive threat and will look to mix his game up throughgout the game. Evans will play his natural game and come into the line flat. He’ll look to mix the play up with varying passes and look to hit behind the back 3 if on. Pretorious will sweep up behind a blitz defense with Barritt leading the line. We think they might be a bit of space especially between the Leicester 10/12 axis, Jauzion is a legend but his defence has slowed up and with Walder looking to cover Young we think they might be gaps to exploit, especially with Pretorious’s pace off the mark causing issues.
Backline balance
We have numerous running options and the option to mix things up in the backline. Barritt gives Evans go to ball if needed and we'll look to get Ben Smith in as second receiver to give us a different focal point. Payne will look to come off the shoulder of attacks (similar to Conrad) and inject pace into the midfield. He'll look to alternate at FB with Smith. Benjamin/Maitland give us pace and power on the flanks and we'll look to bring to bring them into the game whenever possible.
Points to target against opposition
After studying the opposition over a number of weeks we’ll be looking to specifically target these areas:
- Paul Doran-Jones will really look to get at Crockett early on. The AB tends to suffer against the smaller prop and and PDJ is a serious scrummager, he’ll look to get below the tall AB from the off. Similar on the LH side with Stankovich looking to get underneath an aging Faan.
- We’ll be really looking to overpower the Leciester pack on a whole
- Smith & Robshaw will look to target the Leicester 9/10 axis from the off, especially Walder with Smith looking to put some early big hits in
- Maitland will look to pressure Biggs. We feel this is a one sided affair and we’ll look to get the Kiwi on the one on one
- Evans will look to test out Poitrenaud with bomb’s early on and see if he’s up for the game
- Lineout – Bruno suffers from falling apart in the lineout esp away from home so we’ll look to put extreme pressure on the Leicester throw. We feel we have more quality jumpers in our pack so this could be an area we dominate
- Pace & tempo – especially in the backline. We’ll be really turning it up in this one, Leicester have a class backline but if anything they’re getting on. We’ll look to exploit their lack of pace by bringing our back 3 into the game at every chance and Pretorious running the show from 9.
- French backs – Not good travellers. We picked this up in the game against Wasps, that if the French backs in the Leicester lineup where targeted early on they just seemed to lose interest in the game. We’ll be paying a lot of interest to Jauzon, Fritz and Pointrenaud(esp) in the first 20mins with Smith and Flip looking for some big hits
- The Leicester team on a whole is pretty old so we’ll look to exploit this by moving their pack around the pitch. If we keep the tempo up this should open the game up for our pace men later in the game
MAJOR POINT
We won every game at home last season and come into this one off the back off two wins. Momentum is key and Leicester got beat last their last outing and now find themselves facing the champions away. Kingston Park is not a place to try and play your back into form.
Leicester Tigers
Manager – LukeLovesLuka
| 01. Wyatt Crockett | 09. Micky Young |
| 02. Sebastian Bruno | 10. Dave Walder (k) |
| 03. Faan Rautenbach | |
| 04. Jarrad Hoeata | 11. Isa Nacewa |
| 05. Alex Brown | 12. Yannick Jauzion |
| 06. Magnus Lund | 13. Florian Fritz |
| 07. Jonathan Poff | 14. Tom Biggs |
| 08. Ernst Joubert (c) | 15. Clement Poitrenaud |
Tactics
- We will go through the phases and look to dominate possession and starve Newcastle of the ball.
- There will be NO AIMLESS KICKING, we will be playing a possession game. We will keep the ball away from Newcastle as much as possible.
- With the ball in hand we want to attack together in groups so as not to become isolated, and if it is on we will look to offload in or just before the tackle. All players are to act as support runners when they can.
- All three of our back row, as well as the likes of Crockett and Hoeata, are encouraged to run straight to best utilise the carrying options they bring, and we will look to drive on through tackles as much as possible to get over the gain line.
- We are playing with a left and right flanker. We will target the breakdown massively, with two players who can play openside on our flanks. Newcastle don't have an out and out 7 so this could be huge for us.
- We are going to be using our backrow to disrupt Newcastle all game, slowing ball down and stopping them playing their usual game.
- Play a disruptive game - Lund and Poff to really get after both Pretorious and Evans and force them into mistakes.
- Target Tom Lindsay massively. Look to Bruno to give him a schooling in the scrum, and Brown AND Joubert to get after his throwing in the lineout.
- Brown calls the lineout. We will keep it simple by hitting one of our big jumpers and building phases off the lineout, with Brown and Joubert as our go-to men, along with Hoeata and also Chris Jack to come on.
- Look for Rautenbach to gain parity with Stank, and then look to Bruno and Crockett to get a real shove on, with PDJ and in particular Lindsay the target. Newcastle props are just as tall as ours, so no worries about getting done underneath today.
- We will look to really go after the Newcastle backline. They have played very few games together, with most of them not long out of school, and there is hardly any International experience from 9-15. We will aim to smash them up with a blitz defence, maintaining a strong line, with Young sweeping in behind.
- The likes of Bruno, Rautenbach, Brown, Lund, Joubert, Walder, Jauzion, Fritz, Nacewa and Poitrenaud have a great deal of experience. Newcastle are full to the brim of young, inexperienced players, and we will look to use this difference to our advantage.
- We will look to target the defense of Payne, Maitland and Benjamin in particluar. We will look to test these players with a mixture of big powerful carriers straight through them, and speedsters on the outside.
- Last 30 mins are where we will look to win the game. 5/2 split on bench to help our hard-working forwards. On comes the likes of Jack, Hazell, Waldrom and Caucau. Nacewa covers 10-15 in the back line. Caucau, and in particular Waldrom, to look to destroy Newcastle in the last quarter, bursting through tired tackles with direct running. Newcastle have little to offer from the bench, and this period of the game will be huge for us.
Saracens v Worcester Warriors
White Cloud, 18 Degrees, 12mph Winds
Saracens
Manager – LDCPete
| 01. Matt Mullan | 09. Paul Hodgson |
| 02. Gary Botha | 10. Iain Humphreys |
| 03. Brok Harris | |
| 04. Rynhard Elstadt | 11. Rene Ranger |
| 05. Steve Borthwick | 12. Owen Farrell |
| 06. George Smith | 13. Billy Twelvetrees |
| 07. James Scaysbrook | 14. Tim Visser |
| 08. Joe van Niekerk (c) | 15. Alex Goode |
16. George Chuter 17. Alex Waller 18. Phil Swainston 19. Graham Kitchener 20. Luke Narraway 21.Shaun Perry 22. Nevin Spence 23. Tom Homer
Tactics
Our generic tactics centre around 4 key areas.
1. The Set Piece
In the front row of our scrum we have selected players who are compact at 5'11", 5'11" and 6'. They will look to provide a solid base and get underneath their opponents whilst also looking to get short binds giving a more stable grip on their opponent allowing us to control the movement of the scrum. If we get an early nudge on our own put in we will look to take advantage by getting a slight wheel on to take the Worcester flankers out of play before launching an attack off the back. If we don't get a nudge we will look to get the ball in and out quickly and get a big runner across the gainline close to the scrum and get support to the breakdown area quickly to recycle and go again. On Worcester’s ball we will really attack the scrum looking to force them into errors and frustrate them into conceding penalties or kicking the ball to us.
Steve Borthwick will run the lineout and we will mix it up between playing quickly off the top and getting the ball into midfield and securing possession and keeping it tight and using the maul to suck defenders in. On Worcester’s throw, we will use Elstadt as an athletic front jumper to try to disrupt the throw and cause mistakes. If Worcester are looking to take quick ball of the top to go wide with we will get up and really contest and try to disrupt the quality of ball. If they are looking to secure it and play tight, we will not contest as much but will look to hit hard as soon as the catcher lands in order to knock him back and not allow any forward momentum.
2. The Breakdown
We will look to be dynamic and accurate at the tackle area. On our own ball we will look to get a minimum of two players there quickly. Our first man to arrive will not go to challenge for the ball unless it is virtually out and he has the opportunity to take it and carry on forward immediately. He will instead target the opposition 'fetcher' and clear him out ensuring that he cannot get his hands on the ball. Our second man there will then secure the ball which should be cleaner and able to be recycled quicker as no opposition player will have his hands on it grappling for it.
On opposition ball if we arrive at the breakdown with superior numbers we will immediately counter ruck. We won't go for slowing down the ball, we will go in to create immediate possession. If we do not get there quickly enough in sufficient numbers and the breakdown has been won by the opposition, we won't commit numbers to the contest but will stand off maintaining a strong defensive line, immediately getting ready for the approaching attack.
We will only contest for the turnover if the opportunity presents itself, and we will be efficient and intelligent at picking our moments. You can’t “fetch” at every breakdown, you have to read the situation and then effect the best option.
3. Defence
We will play a blitz defence with real focus on line speed and coming up as a unit to stop Worcester before the gainline and not allow any momentum to build for them whatsoever. Paul Hodgson will act as a defensive sweeper behind the line for us. If we do not allow them any forward momentum at the gainline they will have to resort to kicking the ball back to us.
4. Attack
We will look to play a high intensity running game using our big carriers to get across the gainline and offload in or just before the tackle to support runners hitting the gaps. If running the ball is not on we will utilise the kicking games of Humphreys, Farrell, Twelvetrees and Goode, to get us in to the right areas of the field.
Game specific tactics vs. Worcester Warriors
1. Target the breakdown for quick ball. We have selected two flankers who are both natural opensides, but have a varied enough skillset to play blindside. We will play left/right flanker with both of them tasked to utilise their breakdown skills and on every occasion possible to secure quick ball for us. To this end will want our front 5 players rucking hard and fast beyond the ball clearing players out so we can get the ball quickly to our backs to play.
2. Running rugby In good conditions this week we want to keep possession and run the ball. We will look to vary how we attack ball in hand, with Goode coming into the line early at times to try to draw defenders and create gaps to put runners through. We will also use both wingers coming off their wings into midfield to use Vissers pace and power and Ranger's creativity to create gaps in the defensive line.
3. Target the scrum Our front 5 are together for the 3rd game running. That is not a big ask this early in the season and they are now used to playing as a unit. In contrast the Worcester front row have not played together yet as a unit, and Marconnet has been switched sides after playing his last two games at tighthead, which is not an easy thing to do. Mullan and Botha will be looking to really target Andress on the tighthead side and destabilise the Worcester scrum, which will give us a big mental advantage and could also yield penalties to increase pressure on them.
4. Build pressure We want to put Worcester under pressure and se ehow they cope. To do this early on we will utilise the kicking games that we have in the backs to play in the right areas. We will take all kickable penalties using the most appropriate kicker for where on the field the penalty is to create pressure via the scoreboard. If we are unable to penetrate the defensive line in the Worcester 22 we will also look to take drop goals to increase the scoreboard pressure.
Key Points
1. In game form/momentum
In the 3 seasons of this game in the AP and HC our home record reads P43 W39 D3 L1. Vicarage Road is a fortress. We are 2 wins from 2 so far this season and are building momentum. Defensively we are very good having conceded just 1 try in 2 matches. We have used just 25 players across our three matches so far, rotating within the matchday 23 to breed continuity and assist with form and momentum.
2. Real life form
We have a number of players in good real life form. Matt Mullan has looked very good in the AP so far, and James Scaysbrook is the captain of the current AP leaders and has been tremendous in both games. Farrell scored 23 of Saracens 28 points last week and Twelvetrees got all 29 of Leicesters including 2 tries playing at outside centre. Humphreys has steered Ulster to 2 wins from 2 games from 10, and Visser was on the scoresheet for a terrible Edinburgh side last week. Botha and Harris had good S15 seasons, Elstadt was superb for the Stormers, and Steve Borthwick is the captain of the currrent AP champions. All in all form wise we are in tip top shape.
3. Balance
We have great balance to our team. A front row who can all scrummage but also get around the park, a physical 4 and a lineout specialist in the second row, and 2 good allround flankers who do the business at the breakdown along with a dynamic ball carrying 8 in the pack. In the backs we have a 9 with great game management and a 10 who is a good attacking option to compliment him. A 12 who is a fantastic defender alongside a 13 who has size and pace and good hands so can be a running threat from midfield. Both midfielders also can play 10 and have great kicking games meaning we can go to plan B and play territory if we need to. In the back three we have a full back who is solid defensively, attacks well and has a great kicking game, alongside one winger who is pace and power and is a finisher, and another who provides moments of magic and create a try from nothing. Overall this team can adapt to differing conditions and situations and do what needs to be done in order to get results.
Worcester Warriors
Manager – prop_lyd
| 01. Sylvain Marconnet | 09. Dwayne Peel |
| 02. Chris Fortey | 10. Sam Vesty(k) |
| 03. John Andress | |
| 04. Ollie Kohn | 11. Julien Malzieu |
| 05. Peter Short | 12. Anitelia Tuilagi |
| 06. Craig Newby | 13. Jon Clarke |
| 07. Martyn Williams (c) | 14. Marcel Garvey |
| 08. Sebastian Chabal | |
| 15. Greig Tonks |
Tactics
After a massive up front battle vs Gloucester we make a few changes to the pack adding experience to hold off Sarries.
Forwards
Play a hard physical game up front to draw in the Sarries players. 1st 2 men at the breakdown look to split the ruck and 3rd man in and over the ruck to pick up the free ball. We will ruck hard and play a forward orientated 1st 30 minutes to tire the Worcester pack. Andress has been good this season and Forety will help to hold the youngster tight in the scrums with Marconnet comfortable on both sides. We have many lineout options so will mix them up and have picked 2 opensides to counter Sarries' tactical play.
Chabal will pick when he wants from the base of the ruck and always makes ground with Williams and Newby behind him.
Backs
Peel-Chabal axis works well together so Peel will want to play off of quick ball. We have big hitting players all over the park so will look to draw in the Sarries defence before speading out wide to Tuilagi and Garvey. Again our big forwards will be used running off of 10,12,13 to constantly mix it up. Vesty will look to pin Sarries back from 30mins onwards and is comfortable at kicking from most places. In defence we will have one of our back rowers sttod by Vesty to take the runner out and we will be up in a banana defence to stop the ball being spun out.
Overall
Hard forwards rugby.
Take penalties when kickable.
We are in good form having run both Sale and Glocuester very close.
We have an experienced bench and will use Henson's magic for the last 15 continuing him getting game time.
Strauss will come on after 60 minutes to add a new attacking threat and a 4th backrower on the pitch.
We will have the mentality of never give up like we had at Leeds and want to make people worried about Sixways.
Northampton Saints v London Irish
Light Rain, 17 Degrees, 12mph Winds
Northampton Saints
Manager – Dammit_Chris
| 01. Thomas Domingo | 09. Stuart Commins |
| 02. Rob Webber | 10.Matt Giteau (k) |
| 03. Carl Hayman | |
| 04. Dave Attwood | 11. Siti Siviatu |
| 05. Calum Clark | 12. Shane Geraghty) |
| 06. Liam Messam | 13. Casey Lualala |
| 07. Alexander Lapandy | 14. Christian Wade |
| 08. Simon Taylor(c) | 15. Danny Cipriani |
16. Chris Whitehead 17. Henry Thomas 18. Mako Vunipola 19. Joe Launchbury 20. Ryan Kankowski 21. Charlie Davies 22. Lionel Beauxis 23. Julian Savea
Tactics:
Overall - Key Points
* Play to our strengths, a strong set piece and maurading backrow, will use the scrum to put pressure on London Irish and secure ball to work through the phases and put Matt Giteau on the front foot to attack the Irish backline, particularly the midfield, which has not played together very often. Getting Giteau on the front foot is key to our gameplan.
* We will look to use our backrow to cause Irish problems for the duration of the game, Messam, Lapandy and Taylor each offer something different and we have Kankowski to come off the bench and make an impact later on in the game.
* Consisent team selection - the vast majority of our team has played together for the best part of three seasons - this familiarity with each other is vital for the team, and the flow and structure of our game plan. We will be looking to exploit this factor in the front five and the midfield, where we think gaps could appear and the game could open up.
* Take all 3 points available in first half and then play more expansive rugby in the second, or if we build a lead of 9+ points at anyone time. Giteau to dictate tempo of game.
* Irish have made a bad start to the season and coming to Franklins Gardens is not the place where that will change...
Forwards
We have selected a strong pack and two very mobile second rows, with Clark being able to contribute a lot at the breakdown, which is a contest we will be aiming to dominate. We have Launchbury and Kankowski to bring on for impact and to ensure that our backrow is constantly fresh and pressurising the Irish team - particularly Bowden, we will want to get him to shuffle the ball to their no12 and isolate him and secure turnover (see backline defence strategy). We feel we have a strong advantage in the front row and backrow, which should see us secure more ball than Irish.
We will really target the Irish scrum, during the WC we feel that we've arguably got the best front row (Rob Webber awesome start to the season!) and this is an area where we can cause Irish some damage, and potentially work penaltieis from. Especially with Hayman's experience.
Lineout, again the wind is an issue, so lineout calls will be kept simple for Attwood, Taylor or Clark. In attacking positions we will bring our backrow into midfield to run off Giteau and set up a platform to attack.
Overall we will look to keep hold of the ball, work through the phases and play patient rugby and then look to change the speed of the game through Giteau, with our dynamic ball carriers. We will look to bring Kankowski onto the pitch fro Taylor on 55mins and this will add to Messam's ball carrying threat.
Backs
We will look to utilise the diefferent skill sets of our backthree - and know that the key to this game is to inject pace into our attacks at key points. We will be looking for Lualala and Siviatu to offer ball carrying options and get us over the gainline. We will get Wade to follow these runs and try and get him involved in as much broken play and fast ball as possible - his speed and ability to dodge tackles could be vital, especially as we have Giteau, Geraghty and Cips to put him into space. In space no one will catch him.
Will aim to change the attacking focus by allowing Cips and Geraghty to also go at first receiver - each offers a different threat, Cipriani's pace, Geraghty's threat by standing flat. This will allow Giteau to take the ball in the 12 channel and attack the 12/13 access of Irish directly.
It's at home and we will be looking to attack Irish and put them under pressure whenever possible.
In defence we will again look for Lualala to push up on Tait, with the view that their inside centre will have his pass on the outside cut off and will then be swamped by our backrow and isolated. We want to get him in mis-matches with Lapandy, Messam and Taylor, force him into mistakes and get turnovers.
London Irish
Manager – stnick88
| 01. Matias Aguero | 09. Julien Dupuy |
| 02. Neil Briggs | 10. Daniel Bowden |
| 03. WP Nel | |
| 04. Dean Mumm | 11. Bjorn Basson |
| 05. Mouritz Botha | 12. Sireli Naqalevuki |
| 06. Keegan Daniel | 13. Matthew Tait |
| 07. Hendrie Fourie | 14. Paul Sackey |
| 08. Xavier Rush | 15. Zane Kirchner |
16. Darren Fearn 17. James Buckland 18. Duncan Bell 19. Nick Kennedy 20. Joe Worsley 21. Neal De Kock 22. Juan Martin Hernandez 23. Mathieu Bastereaud
London Irish make 4 changes from last week’s game at Sale, with Neil Briggs, Mouritz Botha, Keegan Daniel and Matthew Tait coming in to the side for James Buckland, Nick Kennedy, Joe Worsley and Mathieu Bastereaud.
The conditions are OK and will allow us to play a bit of rugby, though we will look to keep things tight at first and build up possession before spreading play too much. This involves using the big ball carriers like Rush, Mumm, Nel and Naqalevuki. We will look to target Shane Geraghty and get Naqalevuki running at him.
We will look to have a solid scrum to attack off and see the lineout as an area we can get some joy. Botha will be our main jumper with Mumm and Daniel also providing options. In the 2nd half we will bring Kennedy on to really put pressure on Saints lineout and secure good ball for ourselves.
We are targeting the breakdown in this game as an area we can gain an upper hand. If we sense a turnover, Fourie will be in there to try and steal the ball so we can hit the Saints on the counter. If the turnover is not on, we will look to legally try and slow Saints down as there backline will struggle without quick ball.
Dupuy and Bowden will continue their good partnership and look to control the game and play what is in front of them. Dupuy will use his kicking to get us in the right areas of the pitch and Bowden use his creativity to create space for our runners. We will look to get the on-form Naqalevuki involved and running in to space or through players which he seems to be doing in real life!
We will not kick loose ball to Saints back 3 as they are dangerous runners, if we are in our 22 we will make sure we find touch, even if that means sacrificing 10 yards of territory as we want to put pressure on Saints lineout. In open play, we will look to run the ball back if it’s on.
In defence we will get up in Saints face and put pressure on them and not allow them time to settle. Basson has been put on Wade’s wing as we recognise his pace and want to counter that. We feel that starving Saints of good ball and not letting them get a good, attacking rhythm will go a long way to winning us this match.
We have some very good subs to bring on to see out the game. JMH will come on for Sackey, with Bowden going to 12, Naqalevuki to 13 and Tait to the wing. We will use JMH’s boot for drop goals if necessary. We also have Big Bast to bring on and cause a tired Saints defence more problems.
London Wasps v Sale Sharks
Light Rain, 17 Degrees, 10mph Winds
"London Wasps
Manager – ‘Arry
| 01. Perry Freshwater | 09. Michael Claassens |
| 02. Joe Gray | 10. Jimmy Gopperth |
| 03. Carlos Nieto | |
| 04. Mark Chisholm | 11. Noah Cato |
| 05. Marco Wentzel | 12. Luke McAlister |
| 06. Tom Johnson | 13. Stirling Mortlock (c) |
| 07. Deon Stegmann | 14. Tom Williams |
| 08. Roger Wilson | 15. Mike Brown |
16. Andy Titterell 17. Benn Robinson 18. Juan Gomez 19. Stuart Hooper 20. Steve Mafi 21. Martin Roberts 22. Rory Clegg 23. Tom May
Tactics
Our game plan is based around using the power we have in our team. We will look to use the set piece as a platform for attacks. Our front row is a very good scrummaging unit and we will hopefully be able to build attacks from there and earn some penalties for Gopperth to make use of. Our pack will be physical and relentless up front, we will play with controlled aggression.
Early on we will look to our forwards to get us onto the front foot by attacking in groups
with some grunt and powerful carrying. We will start as we mean to go on with a high intensity, hitting the collision area hard and driving our players over the gain line.
Our forwards will recycle the ball efficiently early on. We have three excellent kicking options in Gopperth, McAlister and Mortlock, we will look to kick in behind the Sale wingers and keep them pinned back where we will look to pressurise them into making mistakes in their own half.
We will look to hit the rucks hard and compete when we can, Stegmann is our out and out fetcher and with his low centre of gravity he will be our main competitor at the breakdown area. At rucks on our own ball we will look to secure the ball and come from low to high to present Claassens with clean, quick ball.
We will look to compete at the breakdown if we have the numbers there, however if the ball is clearly there’s we will not commit numbers to the ruck, instead we will look to organize our defence ready to deal with the next Sale carrier.
In the forwards we will look to drive our carriers over the gain line and really look to win the collisions. We have plenty of dynamic carriers including the explosive Tom Johnson. Gopperth will look to bring in our strike runners in McAlister and Mortlock.
We will be targeting the outside shoulder of the Sale players and will look to attack the fly half channel in the Sale defence. We will support our runners and look to keep them on their feet driving them over the gain line, building up momentum and speed in our attacks.
With the ball in hand we will also look to attack gaps and half gaps in the Sale defence, and hopefully open them up. As the game goes on and we are hopefully on the front foot if possible we will look to get our offloading game going to alternate the point of attack and keep Sale working off the ball in defence and pierce the gaps we have created.
At lineouts we will look to exert as much pressure as possible on Sale’s throws with Wentzel looking to steal some opposition throws. On our own throw we will mainly use Wentzel but will mix it up by using Chisholm, Johnson and Stegmann. From there we will look to slowly sap the energy out of Sale by using the rolling maul. We will look to suck in as many Sale defenders to open up spaces elsewhere for us to attack.
Our back row will look to rush Cruden into rash decisions by getting really up close and personal. Hopefully we can prevent Sale from setting out a solid base by disrupting the quality of ball they get and from there we will be able to pressurise Cruden. Gopperth will kick all kickable penalties in the first half to keep the score board ticking over.
We will look to attack in numbers, we have plenty of powerful and dynamic carriers in our pack who will get us over the gain line and set us out a solid platform to build from. We have plenty of grit in our team and feel that if we can push Sale onto the back foot we will be able to unsettle them
Sale Sharks
Manager – SJE
| 01. Jerome Schuster | 09. Danny Care |
| 02. David Paice | 10. Aaron Cruden |
| 03. Neemia Tialata | |
| 04. Steven Sykes | 11. David Strettle |
| 05. Andries Bekker | 12. Olly Barkley |
| 06. Neil Best | 13. Robbie Freuen |
| 07. Matt Todd | 14. Lelia Masaga |
| 08. Jordan Crane | 15. Luke Rooney |
16. Imolek 17. Sharman 18. Kruger 19. Day 20. Horstman 21. Bezy 22. Goode 23. Abendanoon
Setpiece
At scrum time we will be looking to really turn the screw. Schuster and Tialata will look to get in under their man and really disrupt Wasps looking to force them up to get the nudge on. At the lineout, we will look to Bekker to be our talisman. He will call the line and will have Sykes, at the front, and our entire back row to support him as jumpers to mix things up. Our jumpers will look to either play the ball of the top quickly and look to our backline to move it or bring it down into a maul and make the hard yards through the pack, sucking in the opposition forwards to leave space out wide for our backs. On opposition ball we will look for Bekker to follow Wentzal in the line and get up in challenge and disrupt the Wasps lineout. If we really start to get on top of the lineout we will look to Cruden to kick for the corners a few times and really put the pressure on.
Breakdown
We have a very mobile and quick pack to really target the breakdown. On our own ball we will look to our forwards to get numbers to the breakdown quickly rucking past the ball and clearing out the opposition boys looking to recycle clean fast ball. On defence, if the ball carrier is isolated we will look to seriously commit numbers and will look to Todd to secure us turnover ball. At all other times we will commit lighter numbers to the breakdown but look to counter ruck slowing down Wasps ball allowing our defensive line more time to set.
General Attacking Play
We will look to play a strong carrying game using our big carriers to hit the gain line offloading in or just before the tackle (when its on) to support runners breaking the defensive line and keeping our forward momentum going. Masaga will look to come in field at different times tracking the runs of our bigger carriers looking for the ball on the offload. We will look to play smart away at Adams park and look to the boots of Cruden and Barkley to keep us in Wasps territory.
Danny Care will look to play around the fringes of the breakdown and make his usual snipping runs when it’s on, tying the Wasps back row to the breakdown. Cruden and Barkley have been instructed to play heads up rugby and if overlaps or gaps appear they will look to get the ball moving and take advantage. Rooney will look to come up from fullback from time to time and offer an extra ball carrying threat while looking to create these overlaps out wide.
Cruden will look to kick for goal when in Wasps territory and take the drop goal option when it’s available to keep the score board moving. Danny Care though will look for the quick tap when the Wasps defence is slow to organise.
General Defensive Play
In defence we will be using a blitz defence and will look to get up at pace looking to isolate the ball carrier before he gets to the gain line stopping any Wasps momentum and allowing us to hit the breakdown hard. We will look to keep Wasps on the back foot forcing the kick. Danny Care will act as a sweeper and look to cover any chips in behind the line. Our wingers will look to sit deeper on defence then the rest of the line ready for these kicks. Our back three have been instructed to play to their strengths and look for the counter attack, running the ball back with serious pace.
Key Points
• Momentum- We have started the season off with two very impressive wins and want to continue this run here against Wasps.
• We see Noah Cato as a weakness on the wing. He is not great positionally or under the high ball and so we have brought Olly Barkley into the midfield to give an extra kicking option and to help put kicks in behind him and to put a few high balls up.
• We see the lineout as an area we can cause some real problems. Bekker, one of the best lineout operators in the world, will look to mark Wentzel out in the line and get his hands on some ball while Sykes will look to jump at the front as we cant see many over top jumping options for Wasps to really put the pressure on young Joe Gray.
Last edited by SirJohnnyEnglish on Fri 16 Sep 2011, 8:23 am; edited 8 times in total
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Re: AP Round 3
by LukeLovesLuka Sat 17 Sep 2011, 11:40 am
Dunno how you mrs let's you get away with it. Credit card helps? 
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Re: AP Round 3
by prop_lyd Sat 17 Sep 2011, 11:40 am
Sgt_Pooly wrote:I couldn't do it Matt, bad enough hitting the A1 twice a week! Bet it's great getting home
That's why you can't cope Pooly.....your not meant to hit an average pop band from the 90's instead of working
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Re: AP Round 3
by Guest Sat 17 Sep 2011, 11:43 am
Should be my last lot of travelling for the year. Not many norweigan and Canadian players worth tapping up prop.
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Re: AP Round 3
by Guest Sat 17 Sep 2011, 11:45 am
Certainly does Luke. The dog seems to miss me more than she does
Guest- Guest
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Re: AP Round 3
by prop_lyd Sat 17 Sep 2011, 11:57 am
I miss the dog more than my parents!! She gets the attention when I go back to Lydney!!
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Re: AP Round 3
by Guest Sat 17 Sep 2011, 12:21 pm
I have massive weimeraner. He is a massive character and basically rules the house
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Re: AP Round 3
by Sgt_Pooly Sat 17 Sep 2011, 12:31 pm
I have a little fluffy Lhasa Apso....I walk him in the dark so nobody sees me.
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Re: AP Round 3
by Guest Sat 17 Sep 2011, 12:42 pm
How much do we get for predicting?? Does this mean in the fast lane and driver get nowt dUe to no explains or is their a you are allowed a certain number of no explanations??
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Re: AP Round 3
by Sgt_Pooly Sat 17 Sep 2011, 12:47 pm
Think it's 1m for explanations and 0.5 for results
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Re: AP Round 3
by LukeLovesLuka Sat 17 Sep 2011, 1:00 pm
My mum has them pooly. Just had a litter of 6. Stupidly cute. Nice little profit too.
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Re: AP Round 3
by Sgt_Pooly Sat 17 Sep 2011, 1:08 pm
They are really cute, just def a womans dog! They go for 4-500 I think, mental. You not got one Luke?
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Re: AP Round 3
by LukeLovesLuka Sat 17 Sep 2011, 1:11 pm
She got £600 for the first two.
1 bed flat in London with us both full time was the reason. The mrs actually cried.
1 bed flat in London with us both full time was the reason. The mrs actually cried.
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Re: AP Round 3
by Sgt_Pooly Sat 17 Sep 2011, 1:24 pm
Decent wedge that, Mrs wants another but I've had to put my foot down! Think it's just to get her by till she's gets preggers.
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Re: AP Round 3
by SirJohnnyEnglish Sat 17 Sep 2011, 3:11 pm
Doing results now didnt want to come on till I saw the Ireland match!! 
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Re: AP Round 3
by Sgt_Pooly Sat 17 Sep 2011, 3:40 pm
Outstanding weren't they Johnny, loved every minute.
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Re: AP Round 3
by SirJohnnyEnglish Sat 17 Sep 2011, 4:01 pm
Bath 27-21 Exeter
Tries: Monye, Armitage, Guest
Conversations: Hodgson (3)
Penalties: Hodgson (2)
Tries: Mercy, Thompstone
Conversations: Myler
Penalties: Myler (3)
Harlequins 29-20 Gloucester
Tries: Flutey, Brits
Conversations: Steenson (2)
Penalties: Steenson (5)
Tries: Vainikolo
Conversations:
Penalties: Donald (5)
Newcastle Falcons 26-20 Leicester Tigers
Tries: Kruger, Robshaw
Conversations: Evans (2)
Penalties: Evans (4)
Tries: Joubert, Fritz, Biggs
Conversations: Walder
Penalties: Walder
Saracens 30-17 Worcester Warriors
Tries: Twelvetrees (2), Ranger, Mullan
Conversations: Humphries (2)
Penalties: Farrell (2)
Tries: Henson
Conversations:
Penalties: Vesty (4)
Northampton Saints 25-25 London Irish
Tries: Wade, Lualua
Conversations:
Penalties: Giteau (3), Cipriani (2)
Tries: Basson, Daniel, Mumm
Conversations: Bowden (2)
Penalties: Bowden (2)
London Wasps 29-23 Sale Sharks
Tries: Wilson (2), McAllister
Conversations: Gopperth
Penalties: Gopperth (4)
Tries: Strettle, Freuen, Cruden
Conversations: Cruden
Penalties: Cruden (2)
Tries: Monye, Armitage, Guest
Conversations: Hodgson (3)
Penalties: Hodgson (2)
Tries: Mercy, Thompstone
Conversations: Myler
Penalties: Myler (3)
Harlequins 29-20 Gloucester
Tries: Flutey, Brits
Conversations: Steenson (2)
Penalties: Steenson (5)
Tries: Vainikolo
Conversations:
Penalties: Donald (5)
Newcastle Falcons 26-20 Leicester Tigers
Tries: Kruger, Robshaw
Conversations: Evans (2)
Penalties: Evans (4)
Tries: Joubert, Fritz, Biggs
Conversations: Walder
Penalties: Walder
Saracens 30-17 Worcester Warriors
Tries: Twelvetrees (2), Ranger, Mullan
Conversations: Humphries (2)
Penalties: Farrell (2)
Tries: Henson
Conversations:
Penalties: Vesty (4)
Northampton Saints 25-25 London Irish
Tries: Wade, Lualua
Conversations:
Penalties: Giteau (3), Cipriani (2)
Tries: Basson, Daniel, Mumm
Conversations: Bowden (2)
Penalties: Bowden (2)
London Wasps 29-23 Sale Sharks
Tries: Wilson (2), McAllister
Conversations: Gopperth
Penalties: Gopperth (4)
Tries: Strettle, Freuen, Cruden
Conversations: Cruden
Penalties: Cruden (2)
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Re: AP Round 3
by SirJohnnyEnglish Sat 17 Sep 2011, 4:02 pm
Fantastic performance Pooly mate. Every single one of the lads was great. Very good site seeing an Irish scrum going forward!
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Re: AP Round 3
by Ozzy3213 Sat 17 Sep 2011, 4:03 pm
Good work SJE, will get the league table done shortly. 
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Re: AP Round 3
by SirJohnnyEnglish Sat 17 Sep 2011, 4:03 pm
Score only predictions from Driver and 207 see .5m bonuses.
Full bonuses for everyone else
Full bonuses for everyone else
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Re: AP Round 3
by Sgt_Pooly Sat 17 Sep 2011, 4:05 pm
Tough game Luke, was on a knife edge for a bit. Very happy with the win!
Pete will be happy, he's got his bonus point!
Pete will be happy, he's got his bonus point!
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Re: AP Round 3
by Sgt_Pooly Sat 17 Sep 2011, 4:05 pm
Well done Nick too, thought Chris had took that one
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Re: AP Round 3
by Ozzy3213 Sat 17 Sep 2011, 4:08 pm
It's getting tougher and tougher every week predicting these games. Don't think it's going to get any easier after the World Cup when everyone is at full strength either!
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Re: AP Round 3
by Sgt_Pooly Sat 17 Sep 2011, 4:11 pm
I think it's harder now Pete, teams are so level it's coming down to minute things. I had 3 point swings this week at the max, really tough.
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