Fantasy Aviva Premiership season 4 homepage

First topic message reminder :

CAN SOMEONE DO THE LV TABLES FOR ME? TERRIBLE WITH CODING ON THESE THINGS

---

---

Teams

Bath RFC	InTheFastLane
Exeter Chiefs	Driver - RIP 606
Gloucester	Anonmattyt
Harlequins	Steven_Sharks
Leicester Tigers	LukeLovesLuka
London Irish	stnick88
London Wasps	Arry
Newcastle Falcons	Sgt_Pooly
Northampton Saints	Dammit_Chris
Sale Sharks	SirJohnnyEnglish
Saracens	LDCPete
Worcester Warriors	prop_lyd

---

Links
Rules
Fixtures
Aviva Premiership League Table
European Homepage
LV Cup homepage
Budgets
Domestic Confirmations
Transfer Homepage
Foreign Transfers
Press Releases

---

Waiting List
1. Sam
2. pullthestrings
3. Bathite

I reckon we'll be targetting Best who's playing with a shoulder injury so try to gain the up on the scrums.

Pooly hes doing a fitness test today to make sure he is 100%

Don't know about the backrow Pooly, Warburton and the no8 have been exceptional so far, and Ryan Jones is a good experienced head to play alongside them. I think they will match the Irish backrow, maybe not in terms of gain line breaking, but in balance and technique I think they are equally as good.

Just hope we beat the French - not sure who I would want in the semi finals though, Ireland are very different with O'Brien and Bod there, whilst we have shown we can dominate Wales in terms of possession, but still lose because Banahan cant step over the shortest man in professional sport...

On paper I think the Irish are much stronger. SOB and Warbs are the closest but SOB brings much more to the game imo.

Don't see SOB as a bringing more than Warburton to be honest. SOB is the better carrier, but that it's for me. Warburtons all round game is better and he is a genuine 7 whereas SOB is a 6.5 at best.

The back rows of the two teams are real contrasting styles, will be interesting to see which one comes out on top.

SOB is decent on the deck and a better tackler imo. His carrying is on a different planet to Warbs. All 3 of the Irish are handy on the deck so don't see a real need for a genuine 7.

I agree Ireland do not need a genuine 7 as they use all three lads to good effect on the deck. Ferris is the one that allows them to do this really, as his breakdown work is excellent, along with also being strong at the traditional skills that a 6 needs.

Is Lydiate fit for Wales do we know?

He has been declared fit Pete along with Hook and Shane....not sure whether Gats will risk him but to get our main back row back would be a boost!!

I'm more worried about this match than I ever was for the S.A game.

I think Gatland has to risk him prop. he is a tackling machine, and Wales are going to need that, as Ireland have a lot of ball carriers and will run straight and hard.

Likewise Gethin must start over Paul James, for the same reason. Adam Jones will keep the scrum steady enough for wales against the Irish, so they don't need James marginally better scrummaging than Gethin, they need tacklers to not allow Ireland the forward momentum that they thrive on.

Agree there Pete, Irish look so strong when they carry up the middle. It just opens space for the backs. Bowe & Earls were superb against Italy, mainly because the Italian defence was getting drawn in with POC, SOB, Heaslip etc making inroads into midfield and gaps appearing on their shoulders. Ireland looked very impressive.

The Welsh players will have to make their one on one tackles, and the players not making the tackle will have to trust them to do so. If SOB, Healy, Ferris, Heaslip draw more than one defender in to tackle them and can get the ball away in contact, then the Welsh defence is going to get stretched and Ireland have the players to exploit the gaps.

Key men defensively for Wales will be Jenkins, Lydiate (if selelcted) and Roberts. Those three are going to have to make a lot of tackles if Wales are going to win.

Am really looking forward to this game, even more so than the England one really, as I can just watch and enjoy it rather than being nervous about the result.

I'd say our main issue is who to play at full back: 1/2p, hook, byrne.....i'm guessing Priestland will start over Jones.

If you look at the Ireland team, it would seem clear to me that ROG is going to try to kick them into the right areas and get their pack to lay a platform to attack from.

For that reason I wouldn't play Hook at 15. He is an attacking threat from there, but the defensive side of his game is his weakest point in that position.

I know Byrne has not been in top form, but he is a natural full back, has experience and a massive boot. He has to start for me.

I hate to say it (because I really don't rate him at the moment), but I agree with you on Byrne....he can quite easily put the Irish back onto the halfwayline if ROG tries to pin us back.

Warburton is quality and been probably best 7 at the tournament for me. Great proper 7.

Think backrow battle will be huge. Murray very similar to Phillips so should be interesting.

For me front row is massive. Can Ireland and Healy in particular deal with jones

Warburton has progressed at an unreal speed. He will be Wales captain for a long long time.

He could be Lions captain too Steven, was thinking about that the other day and we are going to have some team by the tour down under - a backrow that has Warburton and O'Brien in it would be scary! The Irish have so many world class backrowers now.

If we're going on players wearing 7 I'd say SOB has been more impressive, the Aussies love him. Warbs has had a good WC though.

Warburton has edged it for me.

Pete - saw you ask earlier, but Lydiate is now fully training with Wales again, Gatland has a full squad to pick from.

Anyone nervous about the England game yet?

South Africa: 15 Pat Lambie, 14 JP Pietersen, 13 Jaque Fourie, 12 Jean de Villiers, 11 Bryan Habana, 10 Morne Steyn, 9 Fourie du Preez, 8 Pierre Spies, 7 Schalk Burger, 6 Heinrich Brussow, 5 Victor Matfield, 4 Danie Rossouw, 3 Jannie du Plessis, 2 John Smit (c), 1 Gurthro Steenkamp.
Replacements: 16 Bismarck du Plessis, 17 CJ van der Linde, 18 Willem Alberts, 19 Francois Louw 20 Francois Hougaard, 21 Butch James, 22 Gio Aplon

Big call leaving Bakkies out of the 22, heard he was back fit. Though Rossouw has been pretty darn good so far!

No beast either...

Think JDV's a lucky boy, Steyn was cert to start at 12. Prob the strongest 15 they can field anyway

What's the Oz injury situation look ing like?

Samo still on the wing?

Scrum half apparently.....

Bakkies out of the tournament injured

Is he Pete? Has he been replaced?

Been put on a bloody job at the weekend! Had to buy a digi stick so I don't miss the games....damn RAF!

15. Foden 14. Ashton 13. Tuilagi 12. Flood 11. Cueto 10. Wilkinson 9. Youngs
1. Stevens 2. Thompson 3. Cole 4. Deacon 5. Palmer 6. Croft 7. Moody (c) 8. Easter

What do we all reckon? I'm pretty happy with that overall. Areas of concern for me are the front row (they will need a massive improvement on last week in the set piece) and Lewis Moody (needs to pull his finge rout and lead from the front).

Bit suprised Corbisiero isnt starting, Stevens has been poor for me and struggled in the scrum, Corbs has looked solid.

Agree Moody needs to step up.

I've thought Moody has been pretty good so far, for a guy who clearly isnt a 7 - he plays a really disruptive game, and is doing that well so far. He wont ever dominate the breakdown, but is probably better than anyone else at being a pest and mucking up the tempo of the opposition.

Stevens had a poor first half last week, but was impressed at how he came out in the second half, he could have been dismantled in that but showed a lot of character.

I am hoping that with Flood playing they will now go for a more expansive game and get more out of runners like Croft and Stevens in the pack, which is lacking a bit of dynamism withouyt Haskell and Lawes. I can't understand why we have Shaw and LAwes on the bench.

I just hope Flood can unlock Tuilagi properly and get Ashton and Foden into the game more - if he can then those three could cause the French a lot of trouble. Can't believe the French are playing Parra at 10 again, its ok against the smaller teams, but when you are going to be playing against Wilko and Flood its just insanity.

It could work well. Floods in good form and brings more of an attacking threat than Tindall or Hape. Bit surprised at Stevens starting, Mas is very much in the Murray mould and could see us being in for a tough time in the scrum.

Got to feel for Haskell (have I just written that!) he's been our best backrower. Just don't think he's got the control at 8.

Haskell's very good at 8 if the pack goes forward, but under pressure his hands arent good enough to cope, which is the complete opposite to Easter.

I think England are missing Sheridan hugely, his power and scrummaging ability are so important to our scrum. Was a big loss to England that.

Think Wilko's general game play has been really good and he has been on form, its just that his goal kicking has called everything into question - if he had a 70-80% success rate I am sure he'd be touted as best 10 of the tournament right now.

Don't agree with that Chris, Wilko hasn't done anything for me that has made him stand out. Good defence as usual but as an attacking threat just hasn't unlocked any defences like Carter, Steyn.

He's kicked possession away far too much, was poor in attack v Jocks, outstanding defensively. Haskell has poor control at 8 going forward and back, not an 8 imo. Sheridan isn't a particularly strong scrummager either, struggling a little at LH really.

Sgt_Pooly wrote:Sheridan isn't a particularly strong scrummager either, struggling a little at LH really.

Agreed

Pooly, Sheridans power gives so much to the English scrum, he's a massive loss at this world cup for the pack. If we had him I'd go as far as say that we were guaranteed to get to the final. Think he's that big a loss. French are going to cause us trouble upfront, think that is why we;ve got 5 forwards on the bench.

Easter's power at the base should make up for Stevens, I'd hope.

Wilko's kicking from hand has been pretty spot on, finding touch very well - problem for me is that he's had Tindall outside him and because he's lost his pace and can't break the gainline (read that he hasnt made one line break this WC) - then Wilko has to kick, otherwise we get turned over nearer our posts. With Flood there I expect that our game management will be much improved as Wilko has more options.

Often thought that Flood kicks more ball away than Wilko!

"Often thought that Flood kicks more ball away than Wilko!"

You said he ran too much last week! lol

"Sheridans power gives so much to the English scrum, he's a massive loss at this world cup for the pack. If we had him I'd go as far as say that we were guaranteed to get to the final"

Couldn't disagree more with that, that's prob the worst statement I've ever seen you write Chris.

I've never been a huge fan of Sheridan, and in the past 2 years he has done nothing to show to me that he is a strong scrummager. He has power, but poor technique, and I could see somebody like Mas taking him to the cleaners.

Stevens struggled last week, but looked good at loosehead for Sarries last season. I am guessing that MJ is working on the premise that Stevens and Cole can't get beaten up as badly two weeks running.

Personally, I am not convinced of that and it's an area of worry for me. Corbisiero did steady the scrum when he came on last week, and perhaps should have got the nod to start this time out.

'Couldn't disagree more with that, that's prob the worst statement I've ever seen you write Chris.'

Haha think I agree pooly!

What would your player of the groups from outsde the top 10 nations from the RWC

I'd go the Samoan 9 who plays for the crusaders he looks quality sure he's joining the ospreys

The vast majority of columnists I've read have said exactly the same thing about Sheridan, our scrum is better with him then it is without him - think the evidence is abundantly clear about that. He's better than Stevens, better than Corbs, might not do much around the park, but allows us to dominate the scrum when with Thompson and Cole.

Floods game management is not great Pooly, he runs it himself too much and gets isolated to easily as he's a 12 that plays 10 - and he also picks odd times to kick the ball. Wont ever be a world class 10 I'm afraid.

Sheridan's been worked out by most teams now. He tries to use his power on the hit to gain the advantage but when against th's who are very small and have a low centre of gravity he really struggles to get down as low as them and has a tendency to go down after the hit. Plus due to his height it makes the english pack look diagonal so they struggle to have the same impact as a 3. This is where France do well because if you look at the heights of Domingo-Servat-Mas they are very similar (I think) (why didn't domingo go??!!).

Driver: for me the Namibian 6 looked good and also Samoa's 10 (Pisi?)

"Floods game management is not great Pooly, he runs it himself too much and gets isolated to easily as he's a 12 that plays 10 - and he also picks odd times to kick the ball. Wont ever be a world class 10 I'm afraid."

I thought he kicked too much.......Who said he was world class? You don't need to have world class in every position to win a WC, you need a game plan and a team to pull it off. This was showed with the '07 WC. Floods obvioulsy a top 10 in some good form, WC....no but top class yes.

A lot of Samoans impressed. Fotuali'i, Stowers, Pisi.
Godzilla whatever his name is was impressive.

"The vast majority of columnists I've read have said exactly"

Don't need to read a paper to forge an opinion Chris.

Often helps when players who have played against him and still play against him say how important he is to the English pack. Certainly helps to get across an opinion, as they are the ones who know the game better than most (apart from Stephen Jones).

Sheridan was without doubt Englands best option at Loosehead for my money. But with his injury troubles I do question whether he was the right selection for a potentially 6 or 7 week long tournament.

With regards to the selection v France. I think I might have gone Corbs as he did a job on the French on his debut and Stevens has failed to offer what he does at club level in the loose which I think is on of his biggest strengths. With Corbs on the whole I'm undecided. He did nasty things to whoever was at 3 for France in the 6N (whoever it was they were a strong scrummager but then I watched him get mullered by Henry Thomas in Sale v Irish last year at the Reebok.

Yeh it's an odd one, he performed well against Mas, Castrogiovanni, Adam Jones and gets the upper hand, then goes and gets mullered by Henry Thomas (no offence Steve)

All players have off days though, and against Sale that day Corbs looked off the pace completely and went off 10 minutes into the second half, and the scrum didn't exactly improve with Dermody on, which says to me it was more of a front row as whole thing as opposed to just Corbs.

Thomas looks a good prospect though.