About v2AP Round 5
+7
prop_lyd
Driver
'Arry
dammit_chris
LukeLovesLuka
Sgt_Pooly
SirJohnnyEnglish
11 posters
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AP Round 5
by SirJohnnyEnglish Mon Sep 26, 2011 10:12 am
First topic message reminder :
Team Sheets and tactics due by COB Thur
Predictions open Fri. Results due Sun/Mon
Worcester Warriors v Northampton Saints
Sunny, 26 Degrees, 10mph Winds
Worcester Warriors
Manager – prop_lyd
16. Tani Fuga 17. George Porter 18. Chris Budgen 19. Dom Barrow 20. Ben Morgan 21. Jordi Pasqualin 22. Gavin Henson 23. Antielia Tuilagi
Tactics
Forwards
We've picked a big front row to tackle the scrums and take as much ball from there as possible. Looking at our back 3 all are strong runners and Chabal will be looking to pick off of the scrums before feeding Peel into space. Williams and Salvi will look to get to the breakdown 2nd to take the open abll after the tight 5 have cleared the ruck. In the lineouts we have 5 players who are cpaable of jumping and Myall has stolen balls in the premiership this season so his target will be to disrupt the lineouts.
When in possession the tight 5 will keep it there for the first 20mins with the backs taking the ball if space is seen. Drawing in the defence is the aim here and we will protect the ball to prevent the turnovers. When we make it into the opposition 22 then the backs will be released to crash over.
Backs
Not going to see much ball at first and when they do we will target Giteau by sending Chabal and Clarke up his channel. The wingers may not see much ball as we look to kepe it near our pack and use the left and right boots of Robinson and Vesty to kick the ball deep into touch in their half making sure they cannot take the quick lineout and using Myall here. Wingers and Morgan will be asked to come in off their wings to hit the angles again targetting Giteau and, when Tuilagi comes on: Wade. Continuing his appearances we will give Henson the final 20 minutes looking to strat him in the lv cup.
Defence
The ball will not get past their centres with alot of pressure being put on 10-13 to stop the ball going out quick. Peel with hang back with Morgan to stop either wingers get away and clear any kicks. The forwards will seek for turnover ball and to ruffle their youngsters up.
Overall
Northampton Saints
Manager – Dammit_Chris
16. Rob Webber 17. Henry Thomas 18. Bob Baker 19. Joe Launchbury 20. Ryan Kankowski 21. Luke Watson 22. Danny Cipriani 23. Willie Mason
Tactics
Tactics
Overview – we have picked a team that is ideal for the conditions and will look to play a high tempo, fast attacking game against a Worcester team we feel could tire as the match progresses. We will look to offload and attack space and allow Giteau to pull the strings in midfield.
Key points
* There are a number of old legs in the Worcester pack and we will really target this by playing a fast, expansive game and try tire Marconnet, Botha, Williams and Chabel, we will run the ball and cause the Worcester team to defend and make tackle after tackle wearing them out phase after phase.
* We’ve picked a team that will look to dominate the breakdown, players 4-8 are all mobile and apt at the dark arts and we have picked a bench that has Launchbury, Kankowski and Watson so we can keep targeting this area.
* Simon Taylor been selected at 8 to provide stability at the base of the scrum, feel he will provide Davies with a good platform to launch the backline.
* Freshened up the pack with Whitehead (great start for Exeter in real life), Clark, Lapandy coming in, and have a bench that can make a real impact – think each player (exception of Baker) is an impact sub.
* Will use Mason to come on at 12 in final 20mins with Giteau switching to 10 and Cipriani replacing Claasens at 15 – the idea being that Mason will target Henson (see BaaBaas game) and bring his offloading game into play, which is why Cips comes on as a backthree of Wade, Siviatu and Cipriani has pace to cause damage to a tired Worcester defence.
* Allow Worcester to target Giteau as the “revolving door” and will ask Giteau to target the ball in the tackle and look to stop Vesty and Clarke from going to ground – he will then be supported by Messam and co, with the view to keeping the Worcester players on their feet, stiffling the attack and then winning the scrum (exactly how the Irish played against the Aussies).
* Take all points on offer, but espcially look to move the ball around the park and take the legs out of Worcester.
Forwards – Set Piece & Breakdown
We have a strong front row, which is needed away from home and see our second row as even. At scrum time we will look to get Simon Taylor anchoring the scrum and putting a big push in to get our scrum moving forwards. We’ve picked Taylor to start for a number of reasons (i) he provides very good control at the back of the scrum to help Charlie Davies through the game and (ii) we saw Chabel was selected and will look to use Taylor to hit Chabel back in the tackle area.
We will look to get a shove on in the scrum and force Chabal into errors at the base of the scrum, Davies has asked to be a pest and niggle at Chabels feet at the base – we want to force the talismatic Frenchman into mistakes.
The conditions mean that we will be able to utilise more than two jumpers as in previous weeks (too windy) – so will look for a varied lineout with Attwood, Clark, Messam, Lapandy and Taylor and try and get quick ball from Clark and Taylor for the backs.
Defensively at the lineout we are going to try something a bit different when we are not defending in our 22 – we will get Davies to stand in the 5 metre channel (as a hooker would do) – and then bring the Whitehead (or Webber) into the lineout itself and move Messam into the midfield to target the Worcester backs head on. We want him to strip ball or hold up Worcester players in the tackle area to force turnover ball, especlally putting pressure on Robinson.
At the breakdown we will look to target this in numbers and force, we feel we have a quicker, fitter team than Worcester and will be able to get to the breakdown first, or in more numbers first. If the turnover is on then we will put numbers in, but if Worcester have secured the ball we will then use the backrow to guard the fringes and stop Peel attacking there.
Backs
We will be playing a quick, expansive and high tempo game – we feel that Worcester have the ideal tactics if it wasn’t so sunny and warm. The team that attacks most will score more tries and get more points. We are going to attack and everything will be controlled by Giteau’s experience at 12.
We will look to move the ball wide, with our wingers changes wings to keep the defence guessing and to get over the gainline Giteau will bring in the runners in the pack and use Lualala and Siviatu after sucking in defenders. Due to the defensive patterns of Worcester we will look to bring Claasens into the game as often as possible on dummy runs, which will cause Worcester to think twice about over committing their defence at our midfield.
Davies has been selected as he offers more of a running game than Commins, and has been asked to keep it simple and rely on his pack for pick up and goes and then get the ball to Beauxis to launch attacks.
When Worcester are playing into the sun we will get Beauxis and Giteau to launch aerial bombardments on Morgan with Christian Wade being asked to put pressure on the catcher with his speed before a second wave of defenders comes in.
Defence
In this game we are going to be using the age old maxim – attack is the best form of defence, and will look to run Worcester ragged and tire them down and make tackles for the 80mins.
The tactics above outline a number of new approaches to our defence (see lineout of bringing Messam into our backline and Davies in 5m channel) and keeping the Worcester backline on their feet in the tackle area and forcing the ref to give Saints the scrum because they have not hit the ground.
Gloucester Rugby v London Irish
Sunny, 26 Degrees, 9mph Winds
Gloucester
Manager – anonmattyt
16 Coonie 17 Fourie 18 Harden 19 Hanks 20 Buxton 21 Lamb 22 Hamilton 23 Vainokolo
Tactics
Weather is here and Gloucester will not be looking to play that differently we play a quick tempo game and this will not change however the conditions will suit the quickest backline in the game. 9 to 15 are quicksilver and we will look to do damage.
Set piece
Gloucester will look to dominate we have 3 ball carrying mobile scrummaging lumps with proven engine room behind.
We also have gone for a dynamic front row bench with Fourie, coonie and harden who was instrumental in glaws pushing bath over the line twice in the real AP last week able to come on. Will Irish be able to bring on such dynamic ball carriers in front row.
Lineouts - Gloucester have 5 jumpers And will target Irish and pressure bucklands throw. On our own ball we will drive in our own half and look to suck them In before isolating our backs against them.
In their half we will shorten the lineout to 5 often and
Look to hit AJ with quick ball. He is the star Player in curry cup as he was in super 15 and will look to smash and then offload or create quick ball for the backs.
Backs. Tempo tempo tempo. Lewis will look to let Donald make the decisions by hitting him quick. Donald will hit tuitopu short and then get wingers to run in the hole and look to get the offload.
We will also be looking to get may on the outside break as he can gas any 13.
The bomb will be employed especially when they are staring Into the sun.
Donald will be looking for mismatches all day and as the Game breaks up quick throws and Counter Attacks are on with sharples jsd and gear
London Irish
Manager – stnick88
16. Tonga Lea'toea 17. Neil Briggs 18. Duncan Bell 19. Dean Mumm 20. Joe Worsley 21. Neal De Kock 22. Guy Armitage 23. Juan Martin Hernandez
Tactics
In good conditions, we want to play an attacking, running game. We have the perfect man at 10 for this, Bowden is on superb form and will ignite our backline. Outside him he has another player on superb form in Naqalevuki and we will look to use this 10/12 combo to really attack Gloucester. Naqa will make the hard yards and we will use Tait running off him to gather offloads and be put through gaps. Dupuy and Bowden will play what is infront of them and mix up the attacking plays, with Bowden being the main orchestrator. We will not kick loose ball back to Glos as they have some pace in the backs, we will instead look to run the ball back with intent. If we have to kick from our own 22, we will make sure we go for touch where we have good lineout options, with Kennedy being the main man to disrupt opposition ball and gather our own lineout ball. Garvey offers another good lineout option as well as Daniel who will be used.
We will look to use the scrum and lineout as attacking platforms, and use set moves to break through the Glos line. Naqa will sometimes act as a decoy runner and suck in defenders to allow more space to get Tait and Basson running in to.
We see the breakdown as an area we can get big success. Fourie will be straight in if the ball is there to be won. We will use Garvey, Rush, Nel to clear out and get quick ball as soon as possible. This is where Bowden is at his most dangerous and we want to get as much clean and quick ball to him as possible. We will look to stifle oppostion ball and slow their play down, as there backs will rely on quick ball.
If we sometimes have to settle for slow ball, we have big ball carriers like Rush, Garvey, Nel and Naqalevuki to get us over the gain line. We then have Mumm and Briggs to bring off the bench to provide fresh legs and carrying options.
Dupuy will take all kickable penalties, and go for touch if out of range. Defensively we will get up in Glos face and not let them gain momentum. We have some mobile forwards like Garvey, Kennedy, Daniel, Fourie, Nel who are all great in the loose and will tackle all game long. Tuitopu lacks gametime and form in real life and we will look for Naqa to put pressure on him and disrupt Gloucesters 10/12 axis. If we can disrupt the flow of their game and starve them of good ball, we feel we can claim a good away win.
Exeter Chiefs v Saracens
Sunny, 22 Degrees, 10mph Winds
Exeter Chiefs
Manager – Driver
16.Ben Kayser 17.Efion Lewis-Roberts 18.Juan Orlandi 18.James Hudson 19.Marty Holah 20.Haydn Thomas 21.Steven Myler 22.Ben Blair
ATTACK
Exeter to play aggressive up front rugby in the front 5 working the phases to secure quick ball and rucking past the tackled player and giving TOL quick ball to hit ford on the gain line.
Offensive lineout
We will look to keep Sarries guessing here - mixing it up throwing to Short , Hayes , Skirving and Beattie.
We will use short lines and put our big runners up the midfield using Hayes as banker ball.
DEFENCE
Big blitz defence to rattle sarries running backs with a few big hits early doors questioning the temperament of of the Sarries backs.
King and Grove will look to hit Farrell and 36 knowing they both have aggressive personalities and draw them out of there line give space for Fitzgerald , Arscott to pick lines of them or for King/Grove to simply step the defender.
- Ford to kick early penalties and build a lead.
- TOL to tap and go and and sneak the extra 10 yards and set the tempo.
Saracens
Manager – LDCPete
16. George Chuter 17. Alex Waller 18. Phil Swainston 19. Graham Kitchener 20. Luke Narraway 21.Paul Hodgson 22. Billy Twelvetrees 23. Tom Homer
Tactics
Our generic tactics centre around 4 key areas.
1. The Set Piece
Target the scrum as a weapon rather than a restart.
Off the lineout we will mix things up with Borthwick calling the shots, but utilizing all of our back 5 forwards as jumpers.
2. The Breakdown
Be smart. If it is on to win the contest we will get numbers there quickly and ruck hard and fast beyond the ball freeing it up to play quickly. If it is clearly not on to win the ball, we will look to slow it down legally and maintain a strong defensive line.
3. Defence
Blitz defence, ultilizing a quick line speed, with the scrum half sweeping behind the defensive line.
4. Attack
Play what is in front of us. Ball carriers to look for gaps as opposed to contact and look to keep the ball alive by offloading to supporting runners. Everything to be done at pace and with intensity.
Game specific tactics vs. Exeter Chiefs
1. Target the 10-12 channel in attack. Ford is still growing and whilst he does get stuck in, he is physically not there yet in terms of stopping big carriers. He also has King outside him, who is a natural 13 rather than 12 and not a great defender. We will look to put the carriers in our pack, along with Tim Visser coming off his wing, down this channel. Once across the gainline we will look to get quick ball and get our pacier backs through the gaps that this will create.
2. Target the lineout as an attacking platform. When kicking we will kick for touch and look to really attack the Chiefs lineout in their territory. We will contest everything and look to win their ball and attack quickly from it. We will use Elstadt as a front jumper to get up in the face of the hooker and disrupt, and Borthwick to target where the ball is being thrown to. On our throw, Borthwick will call the shots and we will look to play quickly, bringing Tim Visser in on occasions to the first receiver position to punch through the defensive line and recycle quickly.
3. Running Rugby. In great conditions we will look to run the ball at every opportunity. If isolated we will play the percentages and kick for territory, but so long as the player in possession of the ball has support, we will look to hit gaps in the defensive line and offload to support runners, and keep the ball alive as much as possible. Our mobile back row will look to really support the ball carrier and take offloads and drive forward staying on their feet allowing further support runners to get close to be offloaded to again.
4. Control possession. This links in with the running rugby. We will happily go through the phases and keep the ball. If we have it, Exeter can't score tries against us, and we are working on the theory of attack being the best form of defence.
Key Points
1. Right team for the conditions
We have gone for a mobile, but solid team, with strong ball carriers in the pack and pacy, elusive runner sin the backs. This is perfectly suited to the conditions and the tactics that we are going out to use.
2. In game form
We have one three out of four with our only loss coming at Welford Road, where we picked up the LBP. Our form is good, and we are full of confidence going into this game.
Harlequins v Sale Sharks
Sunny, 26 Degrees, 7mph Winds
Harlequins
Manager – Steven_Sharks
16. Matthew Rees 17. Kieran Brookes 18. Aston Croall 19. George Skivington 20. David Seymour 21. Jano Vermaak 22. Gareth Steenson 23. George Lowe
Tactics
In the pack we have picked a good set of forwards who will look to carry hard in the loose as well as work tirelessly at the set piece. We are looking to play a more expansive game than we have in previous weeks but we still want our forwards to be running hard of 10 and 12 to get us the quick ball we require for this quick tempo approach. We will look to carry the ball at pace and in numbers and will look to win the collisions and to offload when we can as this will keep the momentum of our attacks going.
We will look to use short lineouts when we can so that we have backrow options as carriers in the midfield. We are going to look to compete at every Sale lineout so that the pressure is always on their hookers and jumpers.
In the backs we are going to look to use the quick ball we get from the forwards to attack the spaces in the sale defence. Flutey and Joseph will look to pick lines at different angles all day which will hopefully keep the Sale defence honest and won't allow them to drift early. Burns has been picked to play flat and to play the game at pace. We will look to have him kick us into good field position and we will then look to attack at a fast tempo.
In defence we will look to play with a quick line speed and look to target the breakdown. We want to make it as difficult as possible for the Sale scrum half to get quick ball and our game plan here is to amake Sale commit more men to the breakdown than they want to. Our heavy players at prop and lock will look to really hit the rucks hard and Robinson will be looking to get turnover ball as often as he can. When we get turnovers ball we will look to spread the ball wide and use JJ, Roko and our other back 3 players to attack the unorganised Sale defence.
We are unbeaten and going strong and are at home. We have no intention of losing our unbeaten record in this game.
Sale Sharks
Manager – SJE
16. Lee Imolek 17. Brett Sharman 18. Werner Kruger 19. Christian Day 20. Kai Horstmann 21. Nicholas Bezy 22. Olly Barkley 23. Nick Abendanoon
Key Points
Breakdown
With two flankers with expertise at the breakdown today we will look to seriously target the breakdown. With our blitz defence stopping Quins before the gain line we will look to our pack, Todd and Lipman in particular, to hit the breakdown area hard and fast looking to get their hands on turnover ball. We want to seriously disrupt the quality of the ball Burns is receiving and put him under serious pressure.
Lineout
We will look to use the lineout as a destructive weapon today. With Quins looking to shorten the line we will look to really disrupt with Sykes and Bekker. Sykes will look to jump at the front while Bekker follows Lund in the line. We want to put Brits under maximum pressure and get our hands on Quins throw in’s. As the pressure starts to build Cruden will kick to the corners where we will really look to attack and take advantage.
Target the 10/12/13 axis
We will target the Quins 10/12/13 axis on both attack and defence. Burns makes his first start of the season for Quins today and Joseph plays his 1st game at 13 putting a lot of pressure on Flutey at 12. On attack we will send our strong carriers down the 10/12 channel looking to get through the defensive line by either breaking the tackle or offloading to support runners. Our pacy runners will attack Josep’s positioning targeting the outside shoulder with decoy runners keeping the spare defenders occupied in order to ensure 1 on 1 match ups. Strettle and Masaga will come in from their wings to really target this. On defence we will rush up in the blitz, with our big tacklers looking to put serious pressure on the Harlequins 10/12/13 forcing mistakes and disjointed play.
Territory
In the final quarter, we will look to the boots of Cruden, Bezy and Barkley and play the game inside Harlequins territory forcing Quins to play from deep. We will look to our pack to disrupt the Quins lineout and our backrow in particular to attack the breakdown. We will harass Quins into making mistakes, giving us fantastic attacking platforms to work from late on against tired legs.
Setpiece
At scrum time we will be looking to really turn the screw. Schuster and Tialata are both strong scrummagers and will look to get at their man and really disrupt Quins putting the nudge on and providing us with a solid platform all game. 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 Quins forwards to leave space out wide for our backs. On Quins ball we will look for Sykes to get up in the air at the front of the line and Bekker to follow Lund in the line and disrupt the Quins lineout.
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 Quins boys looking to recycle clean fast ball. On defence, if we are first to the breakdown or the ball carrier is isolated we will look to seriously commit numbers and will look to Lipman and 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 Quins ball allowing our defensive line more time to set and disrupting the quality of ball Burns is seeing at flyhalf.
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 it's 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 midfield looking for the ball on the offload.
Danny Care will look to play around the fringes of the breakdown and make his usual snipping runs when it’s on, tying the Quins back row to the breakdown. Cruden has been instructed to play heads up rugby and if overlaps or gaps appear he 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 Quins territory and take the drop goal option when it’s available to keep the score board moving. We will look to take points away with us on every visit to the Quins 22.
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 Quins momentum and allowing us to hit the breakdown hard. We will look to keep Quins 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 any 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.
Bath Rugby v Leicester Tigers
Sunny, 24 degrees, 10mph Winds
Bath Rugby
Manager – inthefastlane
16. Matt Thompson 17. Richard Skuse 18. James Currie 19. Tim Swinson 20. Guy Mercer 21. James Grindal 22. Richard Haughton 23. Steven Shingler
Attack
With the lovely conditions we will be looking to play a fast, expansive running game game. Charlie Hodgson will look to pull the strings at 10, being used to these conditions. Byron Kelleher will constantly look to snipe around the fringes, keeping Tigers players on their toes. Anthony Allen is going to look for gaps in midfield while Waldouck will play off his shoulder looking to get outside and use his pace. We want to control possession and get our back three into the game, running at Tigers.
Breakdown
Turnovers will be key as we look to control possession. We will look for fast attacks with Stefon Armitage controlling the breakdown. We will look to put lots of men in the in order to secure turnovers.
Set Pieces
Look to take points if they are on offer. In the lineout both Hoeata and Maestri are good options for the banker ball. We feel that Bruno’s throwing can be erratic and will look to pinch Tigers ball. At scrum time we will look to retain our own ball.
Leicester Tigers
Manager – LukeLovesLuka
16. Wyatt Crockett 17. Tom Youngs 18. Jonny Harris 19. Tom Denton 20. Andy Hazell 21. Scott Mathie 22. Dave Walder 23. Rupeni Caucaunibuca
Tactics
GENERAL:
- We are looking get our backs into the game as much as possible with a running game, and looking to get hold of the ball at the breakdown. We will look to get the likes of Fritz, Y.David, Nacewa and Poitrenaud on the ball and causing Bath's back line problems defensively. We will be physical and relentless up front and pacey and clinical in attack.
- Defensively we will look to blitz, with Young sweeping behind the defensive line to deal with any short kicks. We see a lack of spark in the Bath midfield, in particular Waldouck, and believe if we target him with a strong defence he will be forced into making mistakes.
- B.James to kick all penalties in range.
- Use our impact players off the bench during the second half - get the likes of Crockett and Caucau into the game as much as possible when they come on as both are suited to our gameplan and the conditions.
FORWARDS:
- We will look to target the set-piece to get us good ball, in particular the lineout. We have three specialists in Brown, Joubert and Jack, and believe we can get real joy in targeting Ward's throws - with Bath having no real lineout leader in their pack. Brown, Joubert and Jack will rotate on our ball to keep Bath guessing where our throws will be going.
- Scrum-time we will look to Dermody and Bruno to target Ward and PdP with some powerful scrummaging. Both Hobson and Bruno are 3 inches shorter then the opposite number, so we will look to them to provide a solid base and get underneath their opponents as much as possible. With Joubert marshalling the base, we will look to use attacking scrums as a platform to get us going forward at every opportunity.
- Our big carriers, led by the powerful Joubert, as well as Lund, Poff and Jack, are encouraged to run straight to best utilise the carrying options they bring. 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.
- 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. Both Lund and Poff are told to hit the breakdown area hard and fast looking to get their hands on turnover ball. We want to seriously disrupt the quality of the ball Bath can get, and steal as much as we can for our own backs to use.
BACKS:
- With the ball in hand we want to get the ball wide and get our dangerous runners on the ball. Using B.James, we want to play attacking, running rugby, and will look to our pacey back line to hit the gainline at speed from deep.
- Young is tasked with simple instructions - quick ball for B.James to use. Working in tandem with Joubert and co, we want him to fire passes as quickly as he can to stop the opposition getting set defensively.
- B.James comes in this week in place of Walder, and we hope to see a more expansive game. He is tasked with getting our strike runners into the game. He is given license to play what is in front of him - his long range passes and cross field kicks should keep Bath's defensive line guessing. If the game is tight and the ball isn't coming quickly, he will look to drop into the pocket and keep the scoreboard ticking over with drop goals.
- Fritz shifts to 12 inside Yann David, who is a very powerful foil for him and these two both have great pace which we hope to use to hurt Bath. Nacewa is encouraged to come off his wing into midfield as well to keep Bath guessing. Poitrenaud, Ojo, Y.David and Nacewa provide us with explosive pace and this is a weapon we will look to use as much as possible.
- Our back three are encouraged to do what comes naturally to all of them - counter attacking and running the ball back. The weather is perfect for running rugby, and we hope to see some great breaks. All have good boots to rely on if it isn't on or they are isolated, but the counter is what we ask them to look for.
KEY POINTS:
- Play attacking, running rugby from quick ball. The hot, dry conditions suit our players, especially the likes of Jack, Joubert, B.James, Fritz, Y.David, Nacewa, Poitrenaud and Ojo, as well as Caucau and Crockett off the bench.
- Get after the Bath Lineout and scrum, with Brown, Jack and Joubert looking to steal with Bath having no real lineout leader in their pack, and Dermody and Bruno getting the shove on come scrum time.
- Target the breakdown - Both Lund and Hazell to do all they can to keep winning us ball for our backs to use.
- If the game is tight, B.James will look to drop into the pocket and keep the scoreboard ticking over with drop goals.
- In-game form and confidence - We come off the back of a strong win against Saracens, and have started the season well, with 2 wins, and 2 narrow away defeats. We have scored 13 tries in 4 games, conceding only 6. Bath come off the back of a crushing 14 point loss to Gloucester, and have won just 1 game out of 4, scoring only 7 tries in the process, and conceding 14.
Newcastle Falcons v London Wasps
Sunny, 24 Degrees, 10mph Winds
Newcastle Falcons
Manager – Sgt Pooly
15. Joe Duffey 17. Oliver Tomaszczyk 18. Grant Shiells 19. Geoff Parling 20. Chris York 21. Jonny Arr 22. Tom Catterick 23. Dan Hipkiss
We welcome Wasps to fortress Kingston off the back off a superb victory away to London Irish. In superb running conditions, we'll be looking to unleash our back 3 and attack Wasps from the off. We're 4 for 4 and full of confidence......we do not lose at home.
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. Evans will pull the strings at 10 and keep us playing in the right areas of the pitch, controlling the tempo and looking for gaps in the Wasps backline. Our main area of dominanace this week is the backrow, halfbacks and back 3. We’ll look for massive carries from our backrow and look to get Pretorious quick ball to attack with. We’ll look to get the ball out wide whenever possible and get at the Wasps back 3.
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.
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.
If we target Wentzal and Chisolm we can really put pressure on Wasps throw. We have 5 good quality jumpers whilst Wasps have only 2. Wentzal will be the main man so we’ll look to put pressure on his front and 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. 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. Our big Boks will keep an eye on Fourie at the breakdon, as soon as he enters we’ll look to take him out.
ISOLATED RUNNERS –Our pack will look to get the contact area asap and join the tackle thus making a maul. With us in control of the tackle area or ruck as it is now, we’ll look to keep the runner up until the ref awards a scrum in out advantage. This is a system we used to success numerous times last season and deployed by the Irish (recently seen against Austrailia).
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.
With two bruising Irish centres we’ll look to alternate our attacks. Payne will look to hold back and attack the line late with Evans attempting the grubber in behind the Irish centres. We’ll look to use this tactic to our advantage with Maitland/Smith being used also.
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:
- WASPS LINEOUT – Wentzal will be their main man….we’ll look to double up on him and keep an eye on Chisolm also.
- WASPS BACK 3 – We’ve swapped Maitland over to the right wing to target Cato who’s very suspect defensively. Evans will look to test out Cato also with the odd bomb whilst also looking to get the ball in behind him.
- DISCIPLINE – We will be on our best behaviour, especially in our own half. We will not look to get hands in the ruck or go off our feet. If Gopperth does not get attempts at goal, we take away much of the Wasps threat.
- OUT OF FORM PLAYERS - Chisolm & Juan Smith have been out similar time in real life
- HALFBACKS FOR CONDITIONS - Pretorious & Evans are supreme on the harder pitches, Pretorious was made for attacking the fringes and Evans is one of the best running flyhalfs about. We think our team is set out better to take advantage of glorious condtions and home advantage will be key
- HOME ADVANTAGE - A massive advantage for us. We do not lose at home and the intimidation that brings to travelling teams cannot be underestimated. We are in form and at home
MAJOR POINT
MOMENTUM – 4 wins from 4 and we have won every game at Kingston in over a year. This is a game for running rugby and we have gas in abundance in the backs.
London Wasps
Manager – ‘Arry
16. Andy Titterell 17. Benn Robinson 18. Charlie Beech 19. Stuart Hooper 20. Steve Mafi 21. Martin Roberts 22. Rory Clegg 23. James Downey
Tactics
After winning our third game in a row last week against the Exeter Chiefs we feel we are building momentum nicely, we head to Newcastle feeling full of confidence. In good running conditions we will look to really take Newcastle head on and show them we mean serious business.
Our game plan is based around using the power we have in our team to set out a platform for our backs to be able to attack from. 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, getting us over the gain line. 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. We will look to recycle the ball efficiently within the pack working Newcastle hard in defence in the early stages.
We have three excellent kicking options in Gopperth, McAlister and Mortlock, any slow ball we have we will look to kick in behind the Newcastle wingers and keep them pinned back where we will look to isolate and 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. Any turnovers we do make, we will look to get the ball out wide and attack the space available. At rucks on our own ball we will look to secure the ball by coming from low to high to present Claassens with clean, quick ball and get our forwards running onto the ball at different angles to pierce the Newcastle defence.
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 Newcastle 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. If it is on we will look to offload the ball to the supporting players and keep Newcastle working off the ball in defence. We will look for Mortlock to stay strong in the contact area and either offload if he wins the collision, or the support players will keep driving him on, building up momentum and speed in our attacks. So long as our ball carriers have the support, we will look to pierce gaps in the Newcastle defensive line and offload to supporting players, keeping the ball alive as much as possible.
With the ball in hand we will look to our strike runners to attack gaps and half gaps in their defence targeting the outside shoulder of the Newcastle players and will look to attack the fly half channel in the Newcastle defence, hopefully opening them up. When possible we will look to get our offloading game going to alternate the point of attack and keep Newcastle working off the ball in defence and pierce the gaps we have created. With quick ball and offloading we will look to create and expose mismatches in the midfield. Our mobile and dynamic back row will look to support our ball carriers, taking offloads and powerfully driving forward. We will ensure our ball carriers have plenty of support in each phase, so they we can continue to play an offloading game. Any loose kicks our back three get will be returned with interest.
At lineouts we will look to exert as much pressure as possible on Newcastle's throws with Wentzel looking to steal some opposition throws. On our own throw we will use Wentzel as our main go to man but will mix it up by using Chisholm, Johnson and Stegmann. From there we will look to slowly sap the energy out of Newcastle by using the rolling maul. We will look to suck in as many Newcastle defenders to open up spaces elsewhere for us to attack. We’ll look to create a platform from the scrum, if we get a nudge on we will look to keep Newcastle going backwards. We will ensure our discipline is exemplary. We will play hard rugby but ensure we play by the rules, if we want to win discipline will be key.
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 Newcastle onto the back foot by winning the forward battle we will be able to unsettle them. We have won our last three games against three very good sides and feel that we are building up momentum, confidence is high and the team is settled, we feel that if we can execute the game plan we have in place we will be able to come away from Newcastle with a momentous victory. .
Team Sheets and tactics due by COB Thur
Predictions open Fri. Results due Sun/Mon
Worcester Warriors v Northampton Saints
Sunny, 26 Degrees, 10mph Winds
Worcester Warriors
Manager – prop_lyd
| 01. Sylvain Marconnet | 09. Dwayne Peel |
| 02. Richardt Strauss | 10. Nicky Robinson |
| 03. BJ Botha | |
| 04. Ollie Kohn | 11. Julien Malzieu |
| 05. Kearnen Myall | 12. Sam Vesty (k) |
| 06. Julien Salvi | 13. Jon Clarke |
| 07. Martyn Williams (c) | 14. Marcel Garvey |
| 08. Sebastian Chabal | 15. Olly Morgan |
16. Tani Fuga 17. George Porter 18. Chris Budgen 19. Dom Barrow 20. Ben Morgan 21. Jordi Pasqualin 22. Gavin Henson 23. Antielia Tuilagi
Tactics
Forwards
We've picked a big front row to tackle the scrums and take as much ball from there as possible. Looking at our back 3 all are strong runners and Chabal will be looking to pick off of the scrums before feeding Peel into space. Williams and Salvi will look to get to the breakdown 2nd to take the open abll after the tight 5 have cleared the ruck. In the lineouts we have 5 players who are cpaable of jumping and Myall has stolen balls in the premiership this season so his target will be to disrupt the lineouts.
When in possession the tight 5 will keep it there for the first 20mins with the backs taking the ball if space is seen. Drawing in the defence is the aim here and we will protect the ball to prevent the turnovers. When we make it into the opposition 22 then the backs will be released to crash over.
Backs
Not going to see much ball at first and when they do we will target Giteau by sending Chabal and Clarke up his channel. The wingers may not see much ball as we look to kepe it near our pack and use the left and right boots of Robinson and Vesty to kick the ball deep into touch in their half making sure they cannot take the quick lineout and using Myall here. Wingers and Morgan will be asked to come in off their wings to hit the angles again targetting Giteau and, when Tuilagi comes on: Wade. Continuing his appearances we will give Henson the final 20 minutes looking to strat him in the lv cup.
Defence
The ball will not get past their centres with alot of pressure being put on 10-13 to stop the ball going out quick. Peel with hang back with Morgan to stop either wingers get away and clear any kicks. The forwards will seek for turnover ball and to ruffle their youngsters up.
Overall
- Forward orientated to begin with.
- Use Giteau as their revolving doors.
- Wingers to pick when to run.
- Budgen, Henson and Tuilagi to come on with 20mins to play direct rugby.
- Vesty to take penalties as and when.
- Pressurise their scrum and lineout.
- Enjoy the game, play agressive and WIN!!
- Not to get drawn into Chris' player bashing.
Northampton Saints
Manager – Dammit_Chris
| 01. Thomas Domingo | 09. Charlie Davies |
| 02. Chris Whitehead | 10. Lionel Beauxis |
| 03. Carl Hayman | |
| 04. Dave Attwood | 11. Christian Wade |
| 05. Calum Clark | 12. Matt Giteau (c) |
| 06. Liam Messam | 13. Casey Lualala |
| 07. Alexandre Lapandy | 14. Siti Siviatu |
| 08. Simon Taylor | 15. Eerie Claasens |
Tactics
Tactics
Overview – we have picked a team that is ideal for the conditions and will look to play a high tempo, fast attacking game against a Worcester team we feel could tire as the match progresses. We will look to offload and attack space and allow Giteau to pull the strings in midfield.
Key points
* There are a number of old legs in the Worcester pack and we will really target this by playing a fast, expansive game and try tire Marconnet, Botha, Williams and Chabel, we will run the ball and cause the Worcester team to defend and make tackle after tackle wearing them out phase after phase.
* We’ve picked a team that will look to dominate the breakdown, players 4-8 are all mobile and apt at the dark arts and we have picked a bench that has Launchbury, Kankowski and Watson so we can keep targeting this area.
* Simon Taylor been selected at 8 to provide stability at the base of the scrum, feel he will provide Davies with a good platform to launch the backline.
* Freshened up the pack with Whitehead (great start for Exeter in real life), Clark, Lapandy coming in, and have a bench that can make a real impact – think each player (exception of Baker) is an impact sub.
* Will use Mason to come on at 12 in final 20mins with Giteau switching to 10 and Cipriani replacing Claasens at 15 – the idea being that Mason will target Henson (see BaaBaas game) and bring his offloading game into play, which is why Cips comes on as a backthree of Wade, Siviatu and Cipriani has pace to cause damage to a tired Worcester defence.
* Allow Worcester to target Giteau as the “revolving door” and will ask Giteau to target the ball in the tackle and look to stop Vesty and Clarke from going to ground – he will then be supported by Messam and co, with the view to keeping the Worcester players on their feet, stiffling the attack and then winning the scrum (exactly how the Irish played against the Aussies).
* Take all points on offer, but espcially look to move the ball around the park and take the legs out of Worcester.
Forwards – Set Piece & Breakdown
We have a strong front row, which is needed away from home and see our second row as even. At scrum time we will look to get Simon Taylor anchoring the scrum and putting a big push in to get our scrum moving forwards. We’ve picked Taylor to start for a number of reasons (i) he provides very good control at the back of the scrum to help Charlie Davies through the game and (ii) we saw Chabel was selected and will look to use Taylor to hit Chabel back in the tackle area.
We will look to get a shove on in the scrum and force Chabal into errors at the base of the scrum, Davies has asked to be a pest and niggle at Chabels feet at the base – we want to force the talismatic Frenchman into mistakes.
The conditions mean that we will be able to utilise more than two jumpers as in previous weeks (too windy) – so will look for a varied lineout with Attwood, Clark, Messam, Lapandy and Taylor and try and get quick ball from Clark and Taylor for the backs.
Defensively at the lineout we are going to try something a bit different when we are not defending in our 22 – we will get Davies to stand in the 5 metre channel (as a hooker would do) – and then bring the Whitehead (or Webber) into the lineout itself and move Messam into the midfield to target the Worcester backs head on. We want him to strip ball or hold up Worcester players in the tackle area to force turnover ball, especlally putting pressure on Robinson.
At the breakdown we will look to target this in numbers and force, we feel we have a quicker, fitter team than Worcester and will be able to get to the breakdown first, or in more numbers first. If the turnover is on then we will put numbers in, but if Worcester have secured the ball we will then use the backrow to guard the fringes and stop Peel attacking there.
Backs
We will be playing a quick, expansive and high tempo game – we feel that Worcester have the ideal tactics if it wasn’t so sunny and warm. The team that attacks most will score more tries and get more points. We are going to attack and everything will be controlled by Giteau’s experience at 12.
We will look to move the ball wide, with our wingers changes wings to keep the defence guessing and to get over the gainline Giteau will bring in the runners in the pack and use Lualala and Siviatu after sucking in defenders. Due to the defensive patterns of Worcester we will look to bring Claasens into the game as often as possible on dummy runs, which will cause Worcester to think twice about over committing their defence at our midfield.
Davies has been selected as he offers more of a running game than Commins, and has been asked to keep it simple and rely on his pack for pick up and goes and then get the ball to Beauxis to launch attacks.
When Worcester are playing into the sun we will get Beauxis and Giteau to launch aerial bombardments on Morgan with Christian Wade being asked to put pressure on the catcher with his speed before a second wave of defenders comes in.
Defence
In this game we are going to be using the age old maxim – attack is the best form of defence, and will look to run Worcester ragged and tire them down and make tackles for the 80mins.
The tactics above outline a number of new approaches to our defence (see lineout of bringing Messam into our backline and Davies in 5m channel) and keeping the Worcester backline on their feet in the tackle area and forcing the ref to give Saints the scrum because they have not hit the ground.
Gloucester Rugby v London Irish
Sunny, 26 Degrees, 9mph Winds
Gloucester
Manager – anonmattyt
| 01. Wood | 09. Lewis |
| 02. Strauss | 10. Donald |
| 03. Johnstone | |
| 04. Schofield | 11. Gear |
| 05. Robson | 12. Tuitopu |
| 06. Deacon | 13. May |
| 07. Saull | 14. Simpson Daniels |
| 08. Johnson | 15. Sharples |
Tactics
Weather is here and Gloucester will not be looking to play that differently we play a quick tempo game and this will not change however the conditions will suit the quickest backline in the game. 9 to 15 are quicksilver and we will look to do damage.
Set piece
Gloucester will look to dominate we have 3 ball carrying mobile scrummaging lumps with proven engine room behind.
We also have gone for a dynamic front row bench with Fourie, coonie and harden who was instrumental in glaws pushing bath over the line twice in the real AP last week able to come on. Will Irish be able to bring on such dynamic ball carriers in front row.
Lineouts - Gloucester have 5 jumpers And will target Irish and pressure bucklands throw. On our own ball we will drive in our own half and look to suck them In before isolating our backs against them.
In their half we will shorten the lineout to 5 often and
Look to hit AJ with quick ball. He is the star Player in curry cup as he was in super 15 and will look to smash and then offload or create quick ball for the backs.
Backs. Tempo tempo tempo. Lewis will look to let Donald make the decisions by hitting him quick. Donald will hit tuitopu short and then get wingers to run in the hole and look to get the offload.
We will also be looking to get may on the outside break as he can gas any 13.
The bomb will be employed especially when they are staring Into the sun.
Donald will be looking for mismatches all day and as the Game breaks up quick throws and Counter Attacks are on with sharples jsd and gear
London Irish
Manager – stnick88
| 01. Matias Aguero | 09. Julien Dupuy |
| 02. James Buckland | 10. Daniel Bowden |
| 03. WP Nel | |
| 04. Matt Garvey | 11. Paul Sackey |
| 05. Nick Kennedy | 12. Sireli Naqalevuki |
| 06. Keegan Daniel | 13. Matthew Tait |
| 07. Hendrie Fourie | 14. Bjorn Basson |
| 08. Xavier Rush | 15. Zane Kirchner |
16. Tonga Lea'toea 17. Neil Briggs 18. Duncan Bell 19. Dean Mumm 20. Joe Worsley 21. Neal De Kock 22. Guy Armitage 23. Juan Martin Hernandez
Tactics
In good conditions, we want to play an attacking, running game. We have the perfect man at 10 for this, Bowden is on superb form and will ignite our backline. Outside him he has another player on superb form in Naqalevuki and we will look to use this 10/12 combo to really attack Gloucester. Naqa will make the hard yards and we will use Tait running off him to gather offloads and be put through gaps. Dupuy and Bowden will play what is infront of them and mix up the attacking plays, with Bowden being the main orchestrator. We will not kick loose ball back to Glos as they have some pace in the backs, we will instead look to run the ball back with intent. If we have to kick from our own 22, we will make sure we go for touch where we have good lineout options, with Kennedy being the main man to disrupt opposition ball and gather our own lineout ball. Garvey offers another good lineout option as well as Daniel who will be used.
We will look to use the scrum and lineout as attacking platforms, and use set moves to break through the Glos line. Naqa will sometimes act as a decoy runner and suck in defenders to allow more space to get Tait and Basson running in to.
We see the breakdown as an area we can get big success. Fourie will be straight in if the ball is there to be won. We will use Garvey, Rush, Nel to clear out and get quick ball as soon as possible. This is where Bowden is at his most dangerous and we want to get as much clean and quick ball to him as possible. We will look to stifle oppostion ball and slow their play down, as there backs will rely on quick ball.
If we sometimes have to settle for slow ball, we have big ball carriers like Rush, Garvey, Nel and Naqalevuki to get us over the gain line. We then have Mumm and Briggs to bring off the bench to provide fresh legs and carrying options.
Dupuy will take all kickable penalties, and go for touch if out of range. Defensively we will get up in Glos face and not let them gain momentum. We have some mobile forwards like Garvey, Kennedy, Daniel, Fourie, Nel who are all great in the loose and will tackle all game long. Tuitopu lacks gametime and form in real life and we will look for Naqa to put pressure on him and disrupt Gloucesters 10/12 axis. If we can disrupt the flow of their game and starve them of good ball, we feel we can claim a good away win.
Exeter Chiefs v Saracens
Sunny, 22 Degrees, 10mph Winds
Exeter Chiefs
Manager – Driver
| 01. Brett Sturgess | 09. Tomas O’Leary |
| 02. Neil Clark | 10. George Ford |
| 03. Hoani Tui | |
| 04. Tommy Hayes | 11. Luke Fitzgerald |
| 05. Peter Short | 12. Regan King |
| 06. Ben Skirving | 13. Alex Grove |
| 07. Carl Fearns | 14. Matt Smith |
| 08. Johnnie Beattie | 15. Luke Arscott |
ATTACK
Exeter to play aggressive up front rugby in the front 5 working the phases to secure quick ball and rucking past the tackled player and giving TOL quick ball to hit ford on the gain line.
Offensive lineout
We will look to keep Sarries guessing here - mixing it up throwing to Short , Hayes , Skirving and Beattie.
We will use short lines and put our big runners up the midfield using Hayes as banker ball.
DEFENCE
Big blitz defence to rattle sarries running backs with a few big hits early doors questioning the temperament of of the Sarries backs.
King and Grove will look to hit Farrell and 36 knowing they both have aggressive personalities and draw them out of there line give space for Fitzgerald , Arscott to pick lines of them or for King/Grove to simply step the defender.
- Ford to kick early penalties and build a lead.
- TOL to tap and go and and sneak the extra 10 yards and set the tempo.
Saracens
Manager – LDCPete
| 01. Matt Mullan | 09. Shaun Perry |
| 02. Gary Botha | 10. Iain Humphreys |
| 03. Brok James | |
| 04. Rynhard Elstadt | 11. Rene Ranger |
| 05. Steve Borthwick | 12. Owen Farrell |
| 06. Joe van Niekerk (c) | 13. Henry Trinder |
| 07. George Smith | 14. Tim Visser |
| 08. Rodney So'oialo | 15. Alex Goode |
16. George Chuter 17. Alex Waller 18. Phil Swainston 19. Graham Kitchener 20. Luke Narraway 21.Paul Hodgson 22. Billy Twelvetrees 23. Tom Homer
Tactics
Our generic tactics centre around 4 key areas.
1. The Set Piece
Target the scrum as a weapon rather than a restart.
Off the lineout we will mix things up with Borthwick calling the shots, but utilizing all of our back 5 forwards as jumpers.
2. The Breakdown
Be smart. If it is on to win the contest we will get numbers there quickly and ruck hard and fast beyond the ball freeing it up to play quickly. If it is clearly not on to win the ball, we will look to slow it down legally and maintain a strong defensive line.
3. Defence
Blitz defence, ultilizing a quick line speed, with the scrum half sweeping behind the defensive line.
4. Attack
Play what is in front of us. Ball carriers to look for gaps as opposed to contact and look to keep the ball alive by offloading to supporting runners. Everything to be done at pace and with intensity.
Game specific tactics vs. Exeter Chiefs
1. Target the 10-12 channel in attack. Ford is still growing and whilst he does get stuck in, he is physically not there yet in terms of stopping big carriers. He also has King outside him, who is a natural 13 rather than 12 and not a great defender. We will look to put the carriers in our pack, along with Tim Visser coming off his wing, down this channel. Once across the gainline we will look to get quick ball and get our pacier backs through the gaps that this will create.
2. Target the lineout as an attacking platform. When kicking we will kick for touch and look to really attack the Chiefs lineout in their territory. We will contest everything and look to win their ball and attack quickly from it. We will use Elstadt as a front jumper to get up in the face of the hooker and disrupt, and Borthwick to target where the ball is being thrown to. On our throw, Borthwick will call the shots and we will look to play quickly, bringing Tim Visser in on occasions to the first receiver position to punch through the defensive line and recycle quickly.
3. Running Rugby. In great conditions we will look to run the ball at every opportunity. If isolated we will play the percentages and kick for territory, but so long as the player in possession of the ball has support, we will look to hit gaps in the defensive line and offload to support runners, and keep the ball alive as much as possible. Our mobile back row will look to really support the ball carrier and take offloads and drive forward staying on their feet allowing further support runners to get close to be offloaded to again.
4. Control possession. This links in with the running rugby. We will happily go through the phases and keep the ball. If we have it, Exeter can't score tries against us, and we are working on the theory of attack being the best form of defence.
Key Points
1. Right team for the conditions
We have gone for a mobile, but solid team, with strong ball carriers in the pack and pacy, elusive runner sin the backs. This is perfectly suited to the conditions and the tactics that we are going out to use.
2. In game form
We have one three out of four with our only loss coming at Welford Road, where we picked up the LBP. Our form is good, and we are full of confidence going into this game.
Harlequins v Sale Sharks
Sunny, 26 Degrees, 7mph Winds
Harlequins
Manager – Steven_Sharks
| 01. Ceri Jones | 09. Lee Dickson (c) |
| 02. Schalk Brits | 10. Freddie Burns (k) |
| 03. Brian Mujati | |
| 04. Jerome Thion | 11. Joe Rokocoko |
| 05. Erik Lund | 12. Riki Flutey |
| 06. Phil Dowson | 13. Jonathan Joseph |
| 07. Beau Robinson | 14. Peter Hynes |
| 08. Chris Henry | 15. Luke Morahan |
16. Matthew Rees 17. Kieran Brookes 18. Aston Croall 19. George Skivington 20. David Seymour 21. Jano Vermaak 22. Gareth Steenson 23. George Lowe
Tactics
In the pack we have picked a good set of forwards who will look to carry hard in the loose as well as work tirelessly at the set piece. We are looking to play a more expansive game than we have in previous weeks but we still want our forwards to be running hard of 10 and 12 to get us the quick ball we require for this quick tempo approach. We will look to carry the ball at pace and in numbers and will look to win the collisions and to offload when we can as this will keep the momentum of our attacks going.
We will look to use short lineouts when we can so that we have backrow options as carriers in the midfield. We are going to look to compete at every Sale lineout so that the pressure is always on their hookers and jumpers.
In the backs we are going to look to use the quick ball we get from the forwards to attack the spaces in the sale defence. Flutey and Joseph will look to pick lines at different angles all day which will hopefully keep the Sale defence honest and won't allow them to drift early. Burns has been picked to play flat and to play the game at pace. We will look to have him kick us into good field position and we will then look to attack at a fast tempo.
In defence we will look to play with a quick line speed and look to target the breakdown. We want to make it as difficult as possible for the Sale scrum half to get quick ball and our game plan here is to amake Sale commit more men to the breakdown than they want to. Our heavy players at prop and lock will look to really hit the rucks hard and Robinson will be looking to get turnover ball as often as he can. When we get turnovers ball we will look to spread the ball wide and use JJ, Roko and our other back 3 players to attack the unorganised Sale defence.
We are unbeaten and going strong and are at home. We have no intention of losing our unbeaten record in this game.
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. Jordan Turner Hall |
| 06. Matt Todd | 13. Robbie Freuen |
| 07. Michael Lipman | 14. Lelia Masaga |
| 08. Jordan Crane | 15. Luke Rooney |
16. Lee Imolek 17. Brett Sharman 18. Werner Kruger 19. Christian Day 20. Kai Horstmann 21. Nicholas Bezy 22. Olly Barkley 23. Nick Abendanoon
Key Points
Breakdown
With two flankers with expertise at the breakdown today we will look to seriously target the breakdown. With our blitz defence stopping Quins before the gain line we will look to our pack, Todd and Lipman in particular, to hit the breakdown area hard and fast looking to get their hands on turnover ball. We want to seriously disrupt the quality of the ball Burns is receiving and put him under serious pressure.
Lineout
We will look to use the lineout as a destructive weapon today. With Quins looking to shorten the line we will look to really disrupt with Sykes and Bekker. Sykes will look to jump at the front while Bekker follows Lund in the line. We want to put Brits under maximum pressure and get our hands on Quins throw in’s. As the pressure starts to build Cruden will kick to the corners where we will really look to attack and take advantage.
Target the 10/12/13 axis
We will target the Quins 10/12/13 axis on both attack and defence. Burns makes his first start of the season for Quins today and Joseph plays his 1st game at 13 putting a lot of pressure on Flutey at 12. On attack we will send our strong carriers down the 10/12 channel looking to get through the defensive line by either breaking the tackle or offloading to support runners. Our pacy runners will attack Josep’s positioning targeting the outside shoulder with decoy runners keeping the spare defenders occupied in order to ensure 1 on 1 match ups. Strettle and Masaga will come in from their wings to really target this. On defence we will rush up in the blitz, with our big tacklers looking to put serious pressure on the Harlequins 10/12/13 forcing mistakes and disjointed play.
Territory
In the final quarter, we will look to the boots of Cruden, Bezy and Barkley and play the game inside Harlequins territory forcing Quins to play from deep. We will look to our pack to disrupt the Quins lineout and our backrow in particular to attack the breakdown. We will harass Quins into making mistakes, giving us fantastic attacking platforms to work from late on against tired legs.
Setpiece
At scrum time we will be looking to really turn the screw. Schuster and Tialata are both strong scrummagers and will look to get at their man and really disrupt Quins putting the nudge on and providing us with a solid platform all game. 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 Quins forwards to leave space out wide for our backs. On Quins ball we will look for Sykes to get up in the air at the front of the line and Bekker to follow Lund in the line and disrupt the Quins lineout.
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 Quins boys looking to recycle clean fast ball. On defence, if we are first to the breakdown or the ball carrier is isolated we will look to seriously commit numbers and will look to Lipman and 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 Quins ball allowing our defensive line more time to set and disrupting the quality of ball Burns is seeing at flyhalf.
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 it's 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 midfield looking for the ball on the offload.
Danny Care will look to play around the fringes of the breakdown and make his usual snipping runs when it’s on, tying the Quins back row to the breakdown. Cruden has been instructed to play heads up rugby and if overlaps or gaps appear he 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 Quins territory and take the drop goal option when it’s available to keep the score board moving. We will look to take points away with us on every visit to the Quins 22.
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 Quins momentum and allowing us to hit the breakdown hard. We will look to keep Quins 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 any 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.
Bath Rugby v Leicester Tigers
Sunny, 24 degrees, 10mph 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. Jarrad Hoeata | 12. Anthony Allen |
| 06.Tom Guest | 13. Dominic Waldouck |
| 07. Steffon Armitage | 14. Gehard Van Der Heever |
| 08. Gareth Delve | 15. Tim Nanai Williams |
16. Matt Thompson 17. Richard Skuse 18. James Currie 19. Tim Swinson 20. Guy Mercer 21. James Grindal 22. Richard Haughton 23. Steven Shingler
Attack
With the lovely conditions we will be looking to play a fast, expansive running game game. Charlie Hodgson will look to pull the strings at 10, being used to these conditions. Byron Kelleher will constantly look to snipe around the fringes, keeping Tigers players on their toes. Anthony Allen is going to look for gaps in midfield while Waldouck will play off his shoulder looking to get outside and use his pace. We want to control possession and get our back three into the game, running at Tigers.
Breakdown
Turnovers will be key as we look to control possession. We will look for fast attacks with Stefon Armitage controlling the breakdown. We will look to put lots of men in the in order to secure turnovers.
Set Pieces
Look to take points if they are on offer. In the lineout both Hoeata and Maestri are good options for the banker ball. We feel that Bruno’s throwing can be erratic and will look to pinch Tigers ball. At scrum time we will look to retain our own ball.
Leicester Tigers
Manager – LukeLovesLuka
| 01. Clarke Dermody | 09. Micky Young |
| 02. Sebastien Bruno | 10. Brock James (k) |
| 03. Jason Hobson | |
| 04. Chris Jack (c) | 11. Isa Nacewa |
| 05. Alex Brown | 12. Florian Fritz |
| 06. Magnus Lund | 13. Yann David |
| 07. Jonathan Poff | 14. Topsy Ojo |
| 08. Ernst Joubert | 15. Clement Poitrenaud |
Tactics
GENERAL:
- We are looking get our backs into the game as much as possible with a running game, and looking to get hold of the ball at the breakdown. We will look to get the likes of Fritz, Y.David, Nacewa and Poitrenaud on the ball and causing Bath's back line problems defensively. We will be physical and relentless up front and pacey and clinical in attack.
- Defensively we will look to blitz, with Young sweeping behind the defensive line to deal with any short kicks. We see a lack of spark in the Bath midfield, in particular Waldouck, and believe if we target him with a strong defence he will be forced into making mistakes.
- B.James to kick all penalties in range.
- Use our impact players off the bench during the second half - get the likes of Crockett and Caucau into the game as much as possible when they come on as both are suited to our gameplan and the conditions.
FORWARDS:
- We will look to target the set-piece to get us good ball, in particular the lineout. We have three specialists in Brown, Joubert and Jack, and believe we can get real joy in targeting Ward's throws - with Bath having no real lineout leader in their pack. Brown, Joubert and Jack will rotate on our ball to keep Bath guessing where our throws will be going.
- Scrum-time we will look to Dermody and Bruno to target Ward and PdP with some powerful scrummaging. Both Hobson and Bruno are 3 inches shorter then the opposite number, so we will look to them to provide a solid base and get underneath their opponents as much as possible. With Joubert marshalling the base, we will look to use attacking scrums as a platform to get us going forward at every opportunity.
- Our big carriers, led by the powerful Joubert, as well as Lund, Poff and Jack, are encouraged to run straight to best utilise the carrying options they bring. 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.
- 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. Both Lund and Poff are told to hit the breakdown area hard and fast looking to get their hands on turnover ball. We want to seriously disrupt the quality of the ball Bath can get, and steal as much as we can for our own backs to use.
BACKS:
- With the ball in hand we want to get the ball wide and get our dangerous runners on the ball. Using B.James, we want to play attacking, running rugby, and will look to our pacey back line to hit the gainline at speed from deep.
- Young is tasked with simple instructions - quick ball for B.James to use. Working in tandem with Joubert and co, we want him to fire passes as quickly as he can to stop the opposition getting set defensively.
- B.James comes in this week in place of Walder, and we hope to see a more expansive game. He is tasked with getting our strike runners into the game. He is given license to play what is in front of him - his long range passes and cross field kicks should keep Bath's defensive line guessing. If the game is tight and the ball isn't coming quickly, he will look to drop into the pocket and keep the scoreboard ticking over with drop goals.
- Fritz shifts to 12 inside Yann David, who is a very powerful foil for him and these two both have great pace which we hope to use to hurt Bath. Nacewa is encouraged to come off his wing into midfield as well to keep Bath guessing. Poitrenaud, Ojo, Y.David and Nacewa provide us with explosive pace and this is a weapon we will look to use as much as possible.
- Our back three are encouraged to do what comes naturally to all of them - counter attacking and running the ball back. The weather is perfect for running rugby, and we hope to see some great breaks. All have good boots to rely on if it isn't on or they are isolated, but the counter is what we ask them to look for.
KEY POINTS:
- Play attacking, running rugby from quick ball. The hot, dry conditions suit our players, especially the likes of Jack, Joubert, B.James, Fritz, Y.David, Nacewa, Poitrenaud and Ojo, as well as Caucau and Crockett off the bench.
- Get after the Bath Lineout and scrum, with Brown, Jack and Joubert looking to steal with Bath having no real lineout leader in their pack, and Dermody and Bruno getting the shove on come scrum time.
- Target the breakdown - Both Lund and Hazell to do all they can to keep winning us ball for our backs to use.
- If the game is tight, B.James will look to drop into the pocket and keep the scoreboard ticking over with drop goals.
- In-game form and confidence - We come off the back of a strong win against Saracens, and have started the season well, with 2 wins, and 2 narrow away defeats. We have scored 13 tries in 4 games, conceding only 6. Bath come off the back of a crushing 14 point loss to Gloucester, and have won just 1 game out of 4, scoring only 7 tries in the process, and conceding 14.
Newcastle Falcons v London Wasps
Sunny, 24 Degrees, 10mph 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. Miles Benjamin |
| 05. Juandre Kruger | 12. Brad Barritt |
| 06. Juan Smith(c) | 13. Jared Payne |
| 07. Chris Robshaw | 14. Sean Maitland |
| 08. Duane Vermeulen | 15. Ben Smith |
15. Joe Duffey 17. Oliver Tomaszczyk 18. Grant Shiells 19. Geoff Parling 20. Chris York 21. Jonny Arr 22. Tom Catterick 23. Dan Hipkiss
We welcome Wasps to fortress Kingston off the back off a superb victory away to London Irish. In superb running conditions, we'll be looking to unleash our back 3 and attack Wasps from the off. We're 4 for 4 and full of confidence......we do not lose at home.
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. Evans will pull the strings at 10 and keep us playing in the right areas of the pitch, controlling the tempo and looking for gaps in the Wasps backline. Our main area of dominanace this week is the backrow, halfbacks and back 3. We’ll look for massive carries from our backrow and look to get Pretorious quick ball to attack with. We’ll look to get the ball out wide whenever possible and get at the Wasps back 3.
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.
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.
If we target Wentzal and Chisolm we can really put pressure on Wasps throw. We have 5 good quality jumpers whilst Wasps have only 2. Wentzal will be the main man so we’ll look to put pressure on his front and 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. 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. Our big Boks will keep an eye on Fourie at the breakdon, as soon as he enters we’ll look to take him out.
ISOLATED RUNNERS –Our pack will look to get the contact area asap and join the tackle thus making a maul. With us in control of the tackle area or ruck as it is now, we’ll look to keep the runner up until the ref awards a scrum in out advantage. This is a system we used to success numerous times last season and deployed by the Irish (recently seen against Austrailia).
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.
With two bruising Irish centres we’ll look to alternate our attacks. Payne will look to hold back and attack the line late with Evans attempting the grubber in behind the Irish centres. We’ll look to use this tactic to our advantage with Maitland/Smith being used also.
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:
- WASPS LINEOUT – Wentzal will be their main man….we’ll look to double up on him and keep an eye on Chisolm also.
- WASPS BACK 3 – We’ve swapped Maitland over to the right wing to target Cato who’s very suspect defensively. Evans will look to test out Cato also with the odd bomb whilst also looking to get the ball in behind him.
- DISCIPLINE – We will be on our best behaviour, especially in our own half. We will not look to get hands in the ruck or go off our feet. If Gopperth does not get attempts at goal, we take away much of the Wasps threat.
- OUT OF FORM PLAYERS - Chisolm & Juan Smith have been out similar time in real life
- HALFBACKS FOR CONDITIONS - Pretorious & Evans are supreme on the harder pitches, Pretorious was made for attacking the fringes and Evans is one of the best running flyhalfs about. We think our team is set out better to take advantage of glorious condtions and home advantage will be key
- HOME ADVANTAGE - A massive advantage for us. We do not lose at home and the intimidation that brings to travelling teams cannot be underestimated. We are in form and at home
MAJOR POINT
MOMENTUM – 4 wins from 4 and we have won every game at Kingston in over a year. This is a game for running rugby and we have gas in abundance in the backs.
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. Charlie Beech 19. Stuart Hooper 20. Steve Mafi 21. Martin Roberts 22. Rory Clegg 23. James Downey
Tactics
After winning our third game in a row last week against the Exeter Chiefs we feel we are building momentum nicely, we head to Newcastle feeling full of confidence. In good running conditions we will look to really take Newcastle head on and show them we mean serious business.
Our game plan is based around using the power we have in our team to set out a platform for our backs to be able to attack from. 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, getting us over the gain line. 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. We will look to recycle the ball efficiently within the pack working Newcastle hard in defence in the early stages.
We have three excellent kicking options in Gopperth, McAlister and Mortlock, any slow ball we have we will look to kick in behind the Newcastle wingers and keep them pinned back where we will look to isolate and 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. Any turnovers we do make, we will look to get the ball out wide and attack the space available. At rucks on our own ball we will look to secure the ball by coming from low to high to present Claassens with clean, quick ball and get our forwards running onto the ball at different angles to pierce the Newcastle defence.
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 Newcastle 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. If it is on we will look to offload the ball to the supporting players and keep Newcastle working off the ball in defence. We will look for Mortlock to stay strong in the contact area and either offload if he wins the collision, or the support players will keep driving him on, building up momentum and speed in our attacks. So long as our ball carriers have the support, we will look to pierce gaps in the Newcastle defensive line and offload to supporting players, keeping the ball alive as much as possible.
With the ball in hand we will look to our strike runners to attack gaps and half gaps in their defence targeting the outside shoulder of the Newcastle players and will look to attack the fly half channel in the Newcastle defence, hopefully opening them up. When possible we will look to get our offloading game going to alternate the point of attack and keep Newcastle working off the ball in defence and pierce the gaps we have created. With quick ball and offloading we will look to create and expose mismatches in the midfield. Our mobile and dynamic back row will look to support our ball carriers, taking offloads and powerfully driving forward. We will ensure our ball carriers have plenty of support in each phase, so they we can continue to play an offloading game. Any loose kicks our back three get will be returned with interest.
At lineouts we will look to exert as much pressure as possible on Newcastle's throws with Wentzel looking to steal some opposition throws. On our own throw we will use Wentzel as our main go to man but will mix it up by using Chisholm, Johnson and Stegmann. From there we will look to slowly sap the energy out of Newcastle by using the rolling maul. We will look to suck in as many Newcastle defenders to open up spaces elsewhere for us to attack. We’ll look to create a platform from the scrum, if we get a nudge on we will look to keep Newcastle going backwards. We will ensure our discipline is exemplary. We will play hard rugby but ensure we play by the rules, if we want to win discipline will be key.
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 Newcastle onto the back foot by winning the forward battle we will be able to unsettle them. We have won our last three games against three very good sides and feel that we are building up momentum, confidence is high and the team is settled, we feel that if we can execute the game plan we have in place we will be able to come away from Newcastle with a momentous victory. .
Last edited by SirJohnnyEnglish on Fri Sep 30, 2011 9:24 am; edited 4 times in total
SirJohnnyEnglish- Posts : 8536
Join date : 2011-05-10
Age : 36
Location : Limerick
Re: AP Round 5
by prop_lyd Fri Sep 30, 2011 8:21 pm
Gloucester 24-20 Irish
Pack just to Glos, half backs are even but it's 13-15 that win the game.
Exeter 18-24 Saracens
Fearns' form helps Cheifs here but love Sarries centres and the half back experience should see the away win.
Quins 15-17 Sale
Home advantage and front row help Quins. Half backs are even but Sale win through their bench and the kicking tactics in the final 20mins.
Bath 15-19 Leicester
Back 5 in the pack to Leicester and the running centre partnership just beat Bath's Hodgson string pulling.
Falcons 36-30 Wasps
Pack, home advantage and the pace from the bench see a comfortable win for Newcastle with the Wasps centre's ensuring the 4 try bonus.
Pack just to Glos, half backs are even but it's 13-15 that win the game.
Exeter 18-24 Saracens
Fearns' form helps Cheifs here but love Sarries centres and the half back experience should see the away win.
Quins 15-17 Sale
Home advantage and front row help Quins. Half backs are even but Sale win through their bench and the kicking tactics in the final 20mins.
Bath 15-19 Leicester
Back 5 in the pack to Leicester and the running centre partnership just beat Bath's Hodgson string pulling.
Falcons 36-30 Wasps
Pack, home advantage and the pace from the bench see a comfortable win for Newcastle with the Wasps centre's ensuring the 4 try bonus.
prop_lyd- Posts : 10387
Join date : 2011-01-28
Age : 36
Location : Rogerstone, Wales
Re: AP Round 5
by Ozzy3213 Sat Oct 01, 2011 7:34 am
Worcester Warriors 34 Northampton Saints 32
Can see this being a real high scorer. Warriors halfbacks will look to play heads up rugby and Saints have some great attacking options in the backs. Very even game, had it been at Franklins Gardens I'd have had the score the other way.
Gloucester 25 London Irish 26
Another even game for me, and largely decided by the fact that Bowden is in cracking form at 10, and I am not a fan of Donald at all. Glaws back three will trouble Irish, and Naqalevuki will trouble Glaws in current form. Irish pack has just enough in it to win away from home.
Harlequins 35 Sale Sharks 35
This has high scorer all over it. Great strike runners in both sets of backs. I would give Quins the pack just, but have the Sharks half back pair well ahead in these conditions, even of not as good ball. Had Sharks shared the pack battle I'd have had them win, but Quins back gives them a share of the points.
Bath Rugby 24 Leicester Tigers 23
Don't see either team getting a set piece advantage, but like the mobility in the Bath pack. Hodgson in good form and not a fan of Brock James. Tigers backs have the class, Bath have the form man in Monye. Close call, home advantage swings it.
Newcastle Falcons 27 London Wasps 29
Game of the day for me. Prefer Wasps pack in the set piece and the loose, can see them scrummaging the life out of Falcons. Falcons half backs a shade ahead for though, although the Wasps pair are not bad. Not a McAlister fan but his form for Toulouse is veery good, and probably a bit better than Barritts although he is also in good form. Both back threes are strong going forward, but Cato and Williams worry me defensively. Falcons have home advantage and the question for me is does the pack advantage I see for Wasps add up to more than the slight defensive issues on their wings? I have changed my mind four times and spent the best part of half an hour analysing this game, and I think the Wasps pack have just enough to squeak out a famous win.
Can see this being a real high scorer. Warriors halfbacks will look to play heads up rugby and Saints have some great attacking options in the backs. Very even game, had it been at Franklins Gardens I'd have had the score the other way.
Gloucester 25 London Irish 26
Another even game for me, and largely decided by the fact that Bowden is in cracking form at 10, and I am not a fan of Donald at all. Glaws back three will trouble Irish, and Naqalevuki will trouble Glaws in current form. Irish pack has just enough in it to win away from home.
Harlequins 35 Sale Sharks 35
This has high scorer all over it. Great strike runners in both sets of backs. I would give Quins the pack just, but have the Sharks half back pair well ahead in these conditions, even of not as good ball. Had Sharks shared the pack battle I'd have had them win, but Quins back gives them a share of the points.
Bath Rugby 24 Leicester Tigers 23
Don't see either team getting a set piece advantage, but like the mobility in the Bath pack. Hodgson in good form and not a fan of Brock James. Tigers backs have the class, Bath have the form man in Monye. Close call, home advantage swings it.
Newcastle Falcons 27 London Wasps 29
Game of the day for me. Prefer Wasps pack in the set piece and the loose, can see them scrummaging the life out of Falcons. Falcons half backs a shade ahead for though, although the Wasps pair are not bad. Not a McAlister fan but his form for Toulouse is veery good, and probably a bit better than Barritts although he is also in good form. Both back threes are strong going forward, but Cato and Williams worry me defensively. Falcons have home advantage and the question for me is does the pack advantage I see for Wasps add up to more than the slight defensive issues on their wings? I have changed my mind four times and spent the best part of half an hour analysing this game, and I think the Wasps pack have just enough to squeak out a famous win.
Ozzy3213- Moderator
- Posts : 18500
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Age : 48
Location : Sandhurst
Re: AP Round 5
by Ozzy3213 Sat Oct 01, 2011 7:51 am
LukeLovesLuka wrote:I'd say 5 is a key decision maker, particularly the lineout.
I wouldn't want to cause offence/influence by comments. If someone has predo'd then that's it, so better after than before if you know what I mean? Only really commented as it seemed to be the deciding factor, which is tough to take. Not after changes, jut reasoning - like I say, without prejudice.
Luke, as I say, I'm not trying to have a pop at you, and in the past we have all been guilty of questioning things, I just see it creeping in more and the timing of some of the queries makes it look like trying to influence predictions yet to come in. From where I am reading stnicks predo is clear that he is comparing James as new against and in from Hodgson in the same position, Hoeata doesn't come into it.
stnick88 wrote:
Bath v Leicester
- Not the best scrummaging props on show for either side but think Bath edge the locks. Tight backrow battle with Armitage and Joubert standouts. A lot of pace in the backs for both sides that will thrive in these conditions. Prefer Tigers centres but with James still new at the club and Hodgson playing well, Bath edge it.
26-25
LukeLovesLuka wrote:James and Hoeata signed in same deal 2 weeks ago but only James picked up on...?
You did the same to prop last week, early in predictions…
prop_lyd wrote:
Leicester 20-22 Sarries
Like the Tigers engine room but can see the Sarries centres running the show (on form and like to young pairing) and giving their back three the space.
LukeLovesLuka wrote:Prop is the comment on the Leicester vs Sarries game meant for a different game?!?
It seems pretty clear that prop is saying he prefered the young in form pairing for Sarries, and the way you've questioned it is like you can't believe that would be the case.
Rightly or wrongly the game is about opinions, and if we keep questioning peoples when they predict we might as well give up playing the game. If people want clarity around points then I think they should wait until after all predos in and results are up, as either conciously or subconciously querying things that have been said before others predict can have an influence on those predictions.
Driver - RIP 606 wrote:Ozzy3213 (LDCPete) wrote:I think we should have a rule that you can banter as much as you want until predictions are open, but as soon as they are, that's it, you can't say any more about your match.
I always thought that was the general agreement between managers any how. If it's not i'm happy to support that ruling as at times it gets out of hand.
I think that the questioning of predictions should be the same as the banter as per the above.
Sorry to sound like a bit of an old woman, but I've seen the comments questioning peoples predos steadily creeping in recently, and in the long run it will spoil the game as people will start getting the hump if their reasons are constantly challenged by others.
I will say no more.
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Re: AP Round 5
by LukeLovesLuka Sat Oct 01, 2011 7:55 am
Prop added the parenthesis to his predo after my comment, clarifying his point.
I will not comment on predos anymore.
I will not comment on predos anymore.
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Re: AP Round 5
by prop_lyd Sat Oct 01, 2011 10:43 am
Pete with regards to mine I realised I wasn't clear with that explaination but I do agree that results should only really be questioned after the full results are out or via a p.m....
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Re: AP Round 5
by Guest Sat Oct 01, 2011 11:01 am
Worcester 25-25 Saints this will be a cracker both sides really hard
To split home
Advantage sees the draw.
Like the tactic of salvi and Martin Williams and think this salvages the draw.
Exeter 32-29 Sarries high scoring try fest. Think sarries maybe have edge in pack but barely. Sarries half backs would worry me. Think humphries is sub standard and no perry fan. Also trinder is not getting game time at glaws so think exeters centre pairing will win it. Despite not being a king fan he will excel in this game. Parra,trin duc nonu etc will solve Petes backline issues
Quins 33-31 Sale home advantage see the form quins win another close high scoring affair. Brits and rock to
Be on fire. Hardest game to call. I have altered the result quite a few times
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Re: AP Round 5
by Driver Sat Oct 01, 2011 11:18 am
Jonny can get mine in about 5?
I'm going to watch the mighty Hartlepool batter Sheff Wed! And won't be on this afternoon
I'm going to watch the mighty Hartlepool batter Sheff Wed! And won't be on this afternoon
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Re: AP Round 5
by Sgt_Pooly Sat Oct 01, 2011 11:24 am
On phone and out with missus. Struggling to read team and tactics, try to get in
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Re: AP Round 5
by Ozzy3213 Sat Oct 01, 2011 11:28 am
It's a bloody nightmare to do on the phone pooly, have had no computer at home for 2 weeks and it's a real struggle.
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Re: AP Round 5
by Driver Sat Oct 01, 2011 11:29 am
Ah right
I'll post them later just so people grasp my opinions on there teams and tactics.
I'll post them later just so people grasp my opinions on there teams and tactics.
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Re: AP Round 5
by 'Arry Sat Oct 01, 2011 11:30 am
Sorry for no explanations I'm very busy with work today.
Worcester Warriors 23 - 23 Northampton Saints
Gloucester 20 - 18 London Irish
Exeter Chiefs 18 - 20 Saracens
Harlequins 25 - 22 Sale Sharks
Bath 23 - 21 Leicester Tigers
Worcester Warriors 23 - 23 Northampton Saints
Gloucester 20 - 18 London Irish
Exeter Chiefs 18 - 20 Saracens
Harlequins 25 - 22 Sale Sharks
Bath 23 - 21 Leicester Tigers
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Re: AP Round 5
by Guest Sat Oct 01, 2011 11:46 am
Bath 38-38 leicester game
Of the day for me and can see it being all attack. Some serious backs on display and some great backrowers.
Newcastle 19-22 wasps. Wasps to pull off the impossible. Wasps pack is best wc one and think they will starve falcons. Cato and Williams worry me on wings and can see falcons scoring a couple but not enough to beat wasps.
On phone so brief explains. Bloody hard to read tactics but have finally managed to
Of the day for me and can see it being all attack. Some serious backs on display and some great backrowers.
Newcastle 19-22 wasps. Wasps to pull off the impossible. Wasps pack is best wc one and think they will starve falcons. Cato and Williams worry me on wings and can see falcons scoring a couple but not enough to beat wasps.
On phone so brief explains. Bloody hard to read tactics but have finally managed to
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Re: AP Round 5
by Sgt_Pooly Sat Oct 01, 2011 11:59 am
This was bloody hard, sorry guys. Looks like the tactical voting is starting early this year too!!!
Worcester Warriors 36-36 Northampton Saints
Gloucester 24-26 London Irish
Exeter Chiefs 26-26 Saracens
Harlequins 29-31 Sale Sharks
Bath 23-23 Leicester Tigers
Really sorry for the draws guys
Worcester Warriors 36-36 Northampton Saints
Gloucester 24-26 London Irish
Exeter Chiefs 26-26 Saracens
Harlequins 29-31 Sale Sharks
Bath 23-23 Leicester Tigers
Really sorry for the draws guys
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Re: AP Round 5
by Ozzy3213 Sat Oct 01, 2011 12:21 pm
Pooly mate, unless you are going to come out and openly say who that is directed at, then that's out of order. I can only presume that you are directing it at people who predicted that your team would lose, of which I am one. If so then you are basically questioning my honesty when predicting and I've got to say I am pretty offended and unhappy with that mate.
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Re: AP Round 5
by Ozzy3213 Sat Oct 01, 2011 12:21 pm
Anyway, here are the results
Worcester Warriors 32 Northampton Saints 26
Gloucester 29 London Irish 29
Exeter Chiefs 24 Saracens 33
Harlequins 32 Sale Sharks 29
Bath Rugby 29 Leicester Tigers 27
Newcastle Falcons 33 London Wasps 28
Worcester Warriors 32 Northampton Saints 26
Gloucester 29 London Irish 29
Exeter Chiefs 24 Saracens 33
Harlequins 32 Sale Sharks 29
Bath Rugby 29 Leicester Tigers 27
Newcastle Falcons 33 London Wasps 28
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Re: AP Round 5
by Sgt_Pooly Sat Oct 01, 2011 12:38 pm
Congrats mate!!!!!
No need to be offended Pete, was Tongue in cheek comment certainly not aimed at my game. Would be pretty arrogant not to expect losses against the team Arry put out. I'm over the moon about win.
No need to be offended Pete, was Tongue in cheek comment certainly not aimed at my game. Would be pretty arrogant not to expect losses against the team Arry put out. I'm over the moon about win.
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Re: AP Round 5
by Guest Sat Oct 01, 2011 12:41 pm
Pooly are you accusing me as I thought you would lose??? Pretty low if you ask me!
Thought your pack would get smashed and therefore
Lose.
Thought your pack would get smashed and therefore
Lose.
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Re: AP Round 5
by Sgt_Pooly Sat Oct 01, 2011 12:50 pm
Jesus man lol. I've got zero complaints with people giving me a loss. If I did I'd ask for explanation!
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Re: AP Round 5
by Ozzy3213 Sat Oct 01, 2011 1:00 pm
Worcester Warriors 32 Northampton Saints 26
Tries: Botha, Clarke, Morgan, Malzieu
Conversions: Vesty (3)
Penalties: Vesty (2)
Tries: Lapandry, Claassens
Conversions: Giteau (2)
Penalties: Giteau (4)
Gloucester 29 London Irish 29
Tries: Deacon, Johnson
Conversions:Donald (2)
Penalties: Donald (5)
Tries: Rush, Basson
Conversions: Dupuy (2)
Penalties: Dupuy (5)
Exeter Chiefs 24 Saracens 33
Tries: Fitzgerald, Short
Conversions: Ford
Penalties: Ford (4)
Tries: Trinder, Goode, Ranger, Waller
Conversions: Humphreys (2)
Penalties: Humphreys (3)
Harlequins 32 Sale Sharks 29
Tries: Brits, Henry, Joseph, Dickson
Conversions: Burns (3)
Penalties: Burns (2)
Tries: Crane, Tialata
Conversions: Cruden (2)
Penalties: Cruden (5)
Bath Rugby 29 Leicester Tigers 27
Tries: Armitage, Waldouck, Monye
Conversions: Hodgson (1)
Penalties: Hodgson (4)
Tries: Brown, Dermody, Lund
Conversions: James (3)
Penalties: James (2)
Newcastle Falcons 33 London Wasps 28
Tries: Evans (2), J.Smith, Payne
Conversions: Evans (2)
Penalties: Evans (3)
Tries: Stegmann
Conversions: Gopperth
Penalties: Gopperth (7)
Tries: Botha, Clarke, Morgan, Malzieu
Conversions: Vesty (3)
Penalties: Vesty (2)
Tries: Lapandry, Claassens
Conversions: Giteau (2)
Penalties: Giteau (4)
Gloucester 29 London Irish 29
Tries: Deacon, Johnson
Conversions:Donald (2)
Penalties: Donald (5)
Tries: Rush, Basson
Conversions: Dupuy (2)
Penalties: Dupuy (5)
Exeter Chiefs 24 Saracens 33
Tries: Fitzgerald, Short
Conversions: Ford
Penalties: Ford (4)
Tries: Trinder, Goode, Ranger, Waller
Conversions: Humphreys (2)
Penalties: Humphreys (3)
Harlequins 32 Sale Sharks 29
Tries: Brits, Henry, Joseph, Dickson
Conversions: Burns (3)
Penalties: Burns (2)
Tries: Crane, Tialata
Conversions: Cruden (2)
Penalties: Cruden (5)
Bath Rugby 29 Leicester Tigers 27
Tries: Armitage, Waldouck, Monye
Conversions: Hodgson (1)
Penalties: Hodgson (4)
Tries: Brown, Dermody, Lund
Conversions: James (3)
Penalties: James (2)
Newcastle Falcons 33 London Wasps 28
Tries: Evans (2), J.Smith, Payne
Conversions: Evans (2)
Penalties: Evans (3)
Tries: Stegmann
Conversions: Gopperth
Penalties: Gopperth (7)
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Re: AP Round 5
by Guest Sat Oct 01, 2011 1:03 pm
Sgt_Pooly wrote:Jesus man lol. I've got zero complaints with people giving me a loss. If I did I'd ask for explanation!
Posted at same time as you posted. Just read you saying people were tactical voting that's all. It was first loss I have given you this season. Think arry has a serious wc team bar his back 3
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Re: AP Round 5
by Sgt_Pooly Sat Oct 01, 2011 1:05 pm
It was half directed at my predo's tbh, thought they looked dodgy. No issues at all Matt, Arry has a cracking side.
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Re: AP Round 5
by SirJohnnyEnglish Sat Oct 01, 2011 4:26 pm
Congratulations to Prop! 
Pete,
Cheers for doing results
No bonus to Driver for no predictions, half bonus to 207, Arry and Pooly and full bonus to everyone else
Pete,
Cheers for doing results
No bonus to Driver for no predictions, half bonus to 207, Arry and Pooly and full bonus to everyone else
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