About v2AP Round 8
+7
CJB
prop_lyd
stnick88
LukeLovesLuka
Steven_Sharks
Sgt_Pooly
Driver
11 posters
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AP Round 8
by Driver Sun Oct 30, 2011 10:13 pm
First topic message reminder :
Leicester Tigers v London Irish
Sunny , 14 degrees , 10mph wind
Leicester Tigers
Manager – LukeLovesLuka
16. Wyatt Crockett 17. Lee Mears 18. Jonny Harris 19. Chris Jack 20. Thomas Waldrom 21. Micky Young 22. Brock James 23. Rob Miller
Tactics
GENERAL:
- We are looking to get our backs into the game as much as possible by attacking the lineout and the breakdown. We will look to get our back three on the ball causing Irish problems defensively. We will be physical and relentless up front and pacey and clinical in attack.
- Defensively we will look to blitz, with Yachvili sweeping behind the defensive line to deal with any short kicks.
- Early on Yachvili to kick all penalites within range, but we won't necessarily go for the 3 points as the game progresses. BOD to make the call dependant on the success of the lineout.
- Get after JMH and Pienaar as much as we can. Irish have one HB as cover on the bench, and a few big hits could leave them short of options.
- Look to use our bench to win the game in the last 30 mins. Waldrom to come on at 50 mins to impact the game with his carrying, along with Crockett. Jack to strengthen our pack and set piece, Young to inject pace around the fringes and Brock James to come on if we need a spark in the back line.
FORWARDS:
- Attack the lineout as a weapon using the tactical kicking of Yachvili and Wilkinson. A.Brown to call the lineout - Hines and Croft alternating at the front, Brown in the middle and Joubert at the rear. We will relentlessly target Buckland's throws.
- At the scrum Bruno to look to give Buckland a schooling. Jenkins and Johnston picked to provide stability up against Castro and Tonga. Tonga in particular is used to playing props shorter and lighter and using his power to bulldoze through them, but Johnston is the same height and actually heavier than him. With Joubert marshalling the base, we will look to use attacking scrums as a platform to get us going forward at every opportunity.
- Look to Joubert, Pocock, Croft, Jenkins, Hines and Johnston to give us real go-forward with their carrying. 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.
- Pocock is the man charged with reaching the breakdown first, securing first phase possession for us and pilfering the possession of Irish. Our other forwards will look to ruck past the ball and clear out Irish players enabling us to effect turnovers. We will always look to attack quickly off turnover ball.
BACKS:
- In general attacking play, we will play off 9 with Yachvili pulling the strings. We will look to go through the phases and dominate possession, move Irish around with our half back's tactical kicking, and unleash our pacey back three as and when we can.
- If the game is tight and the ball isn't coming quickly, Wilkinson will look to drop into the pocket and keep the scoreboard ticking over with drop goals.
- Twelvetrees can act as our second receiver, and can hit the gain line hard to make yards. BOD to play his natural game, be the leader in our midfield, and look to get our back three into the game.
- Our back three are encouraged to do what comes naturally to all of them - counter attacking and running the ball back. The weather is good 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:
- Home Advantage - Unbeaten at home since the start of last season. Welford Road is once again the fortress that we all know.
- Attack the lineout as a weapon using the tactical kicking of Yachvili and Wilkinson.
- Target the breakdown - Pocock is the man charged with reaching the breakdown first, securing first phase possession for us and pilfering the possession of Irish.
- If the game is tight, Wilkinson will look to drop into the pocket and keep the scoreboard ticking over with drop goals.
- Likes of Waldrom, Crockett, Jack and B.James to come on. Powerful front row that is both solid in the set-piece and with ball carrying in Crockett and Mears. Jack to strengthen our pack and set piece, and Waldrom to provide huge carrying impact. Young to inject pace around the fringes, B.James if we need a spark, and Miller who is in dazzling form.
London Irish
Manager – stnick88
16. Duncan Bell 17. Neil Briggs 18. WP Nel 19. Matt Garvey 20. Joe Worsley 21. Julien Dupuy 22. Matthew Tait 23. Sonny Bill Williams
London Irish welcome back Samoan's George Stowers and Sailosi Tagicakibau to the starting line up, whilst top try scorer Bjorn Basson returns in place of J.P Pieterson. Mouritz Botha is picked ahead of Dean Mumm in the 2nd row and Sireli Naqalevuki deservedly keeps his place at inside centre, with Sonny Bill Williams having to settle for a place on the bench. Juan Martin Hernandez makes his second start of the season at fly half, with Ruan Pienaar reverting to his usual position of scrum half.
Tactics
We want to get as much ball to our backs as possible as we feel we have the pace and power to really hurt the Tigers. We may be away from home, but we fear no-one and have a backline full of dangerous runners that can hurt any defence.
Upfront we have selected a powerful set of forwards to dominate in the loose as well as the setpiece.
We will ruthlessly target the setpiece and can see a lot of joy here. Tonga'uhia and Castro will go after their opponents at scrum time and look to win as many as penalties as possible for JMH to kick. Castro will really look to pressure Jenkins and drive him back.
At lineout time, Kennedy will be our main go to man, with Botha, Spies and Stowers also providing options. Kennedy will disrupt as much opposition ball as possible on Bruno's throw.
Both scrum and lineout will be used as platforms to attack off. We want to get as much ball as possible to the backs and get Naqa and Fourie involved as much as possible.
In the loose, we will look to overpower the Tigers. We feel they lack some grunt and ball carrying power, and we have picked three brutes in the backrow to over power them. Stowers, Botha, Tonga, Castro and Spies will hit the rucks hard and look to dominate this area and not let Pocock have free reign. We will get Fourie in at the breakdowns to secure quick ball and legally slow down any opposition ball. We will look for our big ball carriers to make the hard yards around the fringes and suck in Tigers defence before spreading the ball to the backs to exploit gaps.
Wilko has struggled to get a backline going recently and we will play a rush defence to get up in the faces of the Tigers and disrupt their momentum.
Naqalevuki will look to give 12T a schooling and use his power and pace to run at him and test his defence. We will have support runners like Fourie or Tagicakibau off him to collect offloads and create overlaps.
We will not kick aimless ball away to the Tigers back 3, but look to Delon and Tagi to run the ball back as both are strong runners who make a lot of metres. We will ensure we dont give away penalties here and get sufficient players in at the breakdown to secure our own ball.
Sonny Bill to come on at 55 mins to create more problems for the Tigers defence. JMH to kick all pens for goal.
To sum up, we want to dominate upfront where we feel we have superior power in the loose, and a stronger set piece, to dominate ball and territory and allow our backs to run riot.
Good luck Luke.
Exeter Chiefs v Gloucester Rugby
Heavy rain , 15 degrees , 12mph wind
Exeter Chiefs
Manager – Driver
16.Neil Clark 17.Salvator Perugini18.Tom Mercy 19.Peter Short 20.Ben Skirving 21.Nick Phipps 22.George Pisi 23.Steven Myler
Tactics
- Play the percentages with a monster front 5 and using our back line to ping Gloucester in there own 22 for 80 minutes.
- We will look to scrum down at every opportunity and really attack Gloucester and out plenty of pressure on them with Smit and Zirka really scrimmaging on Joe Grey with Sheridan looking to get in at White and cause the old man problems.
- D’Arcy and Powell are both direct hard runners and will give us plenty of head way up the middle.
- Defence is all about line speed and getting on the back foot which is key for our use of Moody and Jennings. In what will be a forward orientated game the breakdown will be key and having Moody and Jennings in our back row will play the breakdown into our hands.
- we will commit as little to the ruck as possible and flood the field with numbers forcing gloucester into a forward battle/
- Lineouts will be snappy with the man straight up and down ,
- we will peel from the centre off the drive at the lineout and set a seperate maul to force the glaws pack to retreat onside to try and stop a maul going forward. (We will use this particular in the opposition 22)
- We will go back to basics and take the big runners round the legs whilst allowing the supporting defender to go for the ball.
- Kelleher to tie the back row up with snipes and short pops at the fringes to take pressure off ROG.
- ROG to drop goals and kick most penalties. Always leave they half with points
Game specific tactics
[list]Kicking game - Fitzgerald , Arscott and Byrne most notablely are all solid under the high ball and best suited to these conditions. Horsea Gear and Sinbad are both flakey under the high ball and will be taking bombs all afternoon.
Richard Kahui - Kahui spent the entire RWC on the wing , will he be able to adjust to centre again in one game.
Carter in a territory battle is no where near as much use as ROG in these types of games and conditions.
Rupert Harden will eventually replace White and will not have an easy afternoon first coming up against Andrew Sheridan and then Salvator Perugini - who won’t take prisoners at scrum time.
Tactical points of advantage
TBA
TBA
TBA
Gloucester
Manager – ‘Mat
16. Nick Wood17. Adriaan Strauss 18. Rupert Harden 19. Richie Gray 20. Andy Saull 21. Dave Lewis 22. Berrick barnes 23. May
Tactics
Gloucester travel to Exeter Buoyed after beating an exceptionally strong SArries side. It is going to be wet and miserable at Sandy Park and Gloucester have the team to win and win well.
SCRUM
Obviously in conditions like this you need a rock solid set piece and ball carriers galore to keep the ball and work your way into conditions to allow the half backs to control the game and dictate play.
Glaws have gone with a monster line up that is also mobile.
in the SCrums we will be looking to win our own ball clean and get a wheel on to allow either Alberts to pick up and go or for Genia to get the ball away quickly to carter to kick for territory or launch runners at the gainline.
On Exeter ball we will be looking to disrupt their put in and drive them back either creating bad ball for them or taking against the head. WE have 2 huge scrummagers in Steenkamp and White. and a huge powerful back 5 that will not let up the pressure. White is on to play 40-50 minutes and to really hurt the Sheridan who has played a couple of games in a year and who must be struggling a little.
Lineout
As ever we are chock full of Jumpers and will be looking to secure our own ball and drive to suck in leicester and tire them before launching runners off the back of the Maul. in Conditions like these there will be a lot of front ball and bakkies is the king of this. We will then look to hit off the top a bit more as the game progresses and put big runners like Kahui and Hape over the gain line into people like Powell.
On their ball we will try and exploit their lack of jumpers and put pressure on the ball. if they win it they win scrappy ball. we will look to flood through and pressure Kelleher and in turn ROg.
Forwards General
We will be looking to keep the ball and force Exeter to commit men to tackling and into the rucks and mauls. The aim is to win the collisions and territory and dictate our game on to them. It will be forward dominated due to the rain and we feel we have a lot more up front. We are packed with ball carriers in Steenkamp, Gray, BAkkies, palmer, Ferris, Alberts and Burger. this will allow us to keep the ball and wear out the exeter pack.
We feel exeter lack the ball carriers we do and will be easier to defend against. there only carrier in the backrow is beattie who has been struggling for a long time. We aim to smash every maul and actually send numbers into rucks to counter ruck and give them poor quality ball. Everything is slower in the wet and we aim to grind them down and exploit their lack of dynamic carriers in the pack. we will keep ball all day and then release only good ball to the backs when they want it.
We are also aiming to use our bench. Strauss, Wood, Grey, harden will all come on and are in excellent form in real life. bench options are strongly in glaws favour.
BACKS
The backs will be looking to use what ball they get in a constructive way.
We have the 2 best half backs in world rugby and they will dictate tempo and when the ball is used. Carter is very used to the Wet as he plays for Canterbury where it is bloody miserable half the year and will be looking to dominate Ogara in both kicking and obviously in running.
first half we will be playing a territry based game with forwards keeping the ball and then releasing the ball allowing Carter to either kick for touch, high ball or push in behind them for our back 3 to chase. in our 22 Dagg will often receive the ball as he demonstrated in the WC he has one of the biggest clearance kicks in world rugby and will be used.
the other options carter will look to use will be to hit Hape and Kahui to target powell or to tie in Darcy and to recycle ball to attack again.
As we start to get in the ascendency we will look to use Gear coming up through channels and also look to move it wide if its on. you do not have a back 3 like JSD, Gear and Dagg and not try and use it.
We will look to employ the cross kick if on with Gear having a physical mismatch against either fitz or Arscot
Defence
We will use Genia to sweep but will also be looking to blitz when necessary. Kelleher is getting a bit long in the tooth and if we can disrupt ball it makes sense to blitz and pressure O'gara who is not a natural at moving the ball.
Must also take issue with Gear and JSD being flakey under the high ball. JSD in particular is immense under the high ball and i am sure prop will also say you never see him drop a high ball. if he was flakey then AP teams would target him on this. They dont which shows you how good he is under it,
Key Points
1 more form players throughout the team
2 more ball carriers all over the park and this is what helps keep ball in the rain
3 World class half backs that are the best in the world at dictating a game and can play any style.
4 Dynamic bench capable of blowing away the game. Also have the option of Barnes to come on add to the kicking options from centre to dominate territory game.
London Wasps v Northampton Saints
Light rain , 14 degrees , 9mph wind
London Wasps
Manager – ‘Arry
16. Andy Titterell 17. Charlie Beech 18. CJ Van Der Linde 19. Steve Mafi 20. Tom Johnson 21. Mike Blair 22. Rory Clegg 23. Noah Cato
Tactics
Tactics
After winning our last four games in all competitions we are feeling very high on confidence and feel that we go into this clash with Northampton Saints with plenty of momentum. We have picked a gritty, powerful and physical forward pack which will work very hard at rucks and winning us set piece ball at scrum time and lineout. We feel that if we can assert ourselves physically and win the forward battle, providing our backs with a solid platform we will be able to come have a good chance of claiming a hard fought victory. We have plenty of players who are bang in form and we are unbeaten at home which is a big positive.
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. 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 taking the ball through plenty of phases to wear the Saints down.
We have two excellent kicking options in Gopperth and McAlister we will look to kick in behind the Northampton Saints wingers and keep them pinned back where we will look to isolate and pressurize them into making mistakes in their own half. We will look to hit the rucks hard and compete when we can, any turnovers we do make we will look to get the ball out wide and attack the space available. We will look to make a nuisance of ourselves at the breakdown and spoil the quality of the Saints ball with good counter rucking. 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 Saints defence.
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 and in form James Haskell. Gopperth will look to bring in our strike runners in McAlister and Roberts. If it is on we will look to offload the ball to the supporting players and keep Saints working off the ball in defence. We will look for the in form Roberts to run plenty of good lines and 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 Saints 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 Saints players and will look to attack the fly half channel in the Saints defence and put Giteau off his game, hopefully opening them up. When possible we will look to get our offloading game going to alternate the point of attack and keep the Saints 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. We have plenty of pace in our back three and will look to use them when we can.
At lineouts we will look to exert as much pressure as possible on the Saints 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, Haskell and Wilson. From there we will look to slowly sap the energy out of the Saints by using the rolling maul. We will look to suck in as many Saints defenders to open up spaces elsewhere for us to attack. We’ll look to really target the set piece and create a platform, we feel that we can gain an advantage here, if we get a nudge on we will look to keep the Saints going backwards. Our back row will look to really get in Giteau’s face and put him off of his game. We will ensure our discipline is exemplary. We will play hard rugby but ensure we play by the rules, discipline will be key. We feel that if our forwards can get us onto the front foot we have the half backs who will keep their cool and manage our game.
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 Northampton onto the back foot by winning the forward battle we will be able to unsettle them. We want to continue our winning ways and feel that if we can play at a high tempo and push the Saints onto the back foot we will be able to do this. Our gritty forwards will set the tone with huge carrying and from there we will look to get our offloading game going and bring our strike runners into the game. We have plenty of impact to call upon from the bench to continue our high levels of intensity and power.
[hr /]
Northampton Saints Team:
Manager – dammit chris
16. Rob Webber 17. Zak Taulafo 18. Bob Baker 19. Dave Attwood 20. Simon Taylor 21. Liam Messam 22.Leigh Halfpenny 23. Manu Tuilagi
We've picked a team that is perfect for the conditions, it is light rain, which will allow us to still throw the ball around in the backline and score tries, but it is essential that we have a pack that will compete with Wasps and get our backline the ball. We've gone for a 6-2 split on the bench so we can put a lot of pressure on Wasps throughout the 80 minutes. We believe that if we can keep the scoreboard close with Wasps at the 60 minute mark our subs bench will win the game and our advantage is that we have far more match winners in the backline to score a try that could be vital in a close game.
Key points
* This game is all about territory and possession – we will kick the ball deep and play the game in Wasps’ half. Putting pressure on them when we are in their 22 and forcing mistakes, penalties and disrupting the games flow. If we play the game in Wasps half we remove Gopperth’s kicking threat and put a lot of pressure on McAlister to get his team going forward.
* Strong set piece, more than capable of holding its own and as subs come into play we've got 6 forwards to bring on, 3 full internationals and two Saxons - will make our pack stronger as the game players out.
* We bring in two fresh players to our backrow, this is an area that we will be looking to target and have opted for an out and out 7 this week in Lapandry to target the breakdown. We can also bring Messam into the mix as an impact sub.
* We will look to put Wasps under a lot of pressure throughout the 80minutes, constantly hassling, and trying to force mistakes. Special attention will be on Gopperth who is largely a kicking fly half and we will ensure that our backrow gives him a few big hits early on. There is a big gulf in class between Gopperth and Giteau, so Saints need to make the most of this.
* We've learnt our lessons from last week and have brought Max Evans in at 13 to give Giteau more support in controlling a game - he is a better reader of the game than Tuilagi and gives us a good kicking option out wide.
* We are going to be more adventurous than Wasps, and will still go out looking to give our back three ball and take advantage in the difference between the back threes.
Forwards – Set Piece & Breakdown
We have picked a team that will look to take Wasps on at the set piece and have picked a poweful scrummaging unit to take them on up front. Albacete and Lawes add a lot of power to the scrum and if any of the pack is tiring or we see that Wasps are struggling we will turn the screw by freshening up with Webber, Taulafo, Attwood, Taylor and Messam.
We've reduced our lineout options this week, with Lawes, Albacete and Parisse our jumpers, and will look to keep the calls simple in the first half to just ensure we obtain the ball and start going through the phases. We will look to put Wentzle under pressure and force Thompson's throwing into mistakes, this is an area we feel we have the advantage in because although Hartley didn’t have the best WC, his lineout throwing was incredibly accurate.
Defensively at the lineout we are we will get Simpson to stand in the 5 metre channel (as a hooker would do) – and then bring Hartley into the lineout itself and move Elsom into the midfield to target Gopperth and put him under pressure. This allows Giteau to move on to McAlister and de Villiers to Roberts – we want to put the Wasps backs to ground as quickly as possible and then compete for the breakdown. We don’t want Roberts running – this approach should see us have an extra man at first contact, which will either help us put Roberts down or give us an instant advantage at the breakdown.
Our pack will look to go through the phases and has a focus on sercuring a lot of possession to slow the game down and frustrate the home team. It wont be pretty and we will look to gain forward momentum as much as possible, and after a few phases we will get Giteau ball and ask him to kick towards the corners, keeping the ball along the floor and towards the touchline - at worst the ball puts the Wasps back three under pressure.
The breakdown is going to be much more evenly contested than last week as we recall Lapandry, who is an out and out openside. Burger is a tackling machine but is not as dangerous as either Robshaw or Brussow as we found last week. The battle will be even there but then we've got the added experience of Elsom and Parisse who swing the battle towards our favour. We will get Lapandry to go looking for turnovers and do the work on the groun and then use the power of Elsom, Parisse and Lawes to clear the rucks and win us penalties.
Backs
Our aim is to get the backline into areas it can score tries - a lot of the work will be done through the forwards and also through Jean de Villiers and Siti Siviatu taking the ball back in towards McAlister and Gopperth. Giteau will look to put the ball into Wasps 22 as much as possible and with Siviatu, Ashton, Evans and Foden chasing kicks the Wasps backthree is going to be under a lot of pressure. Our game will be about putting Wasps under pressure from the first minute and not giving them any time to dwell on the ball and force them into mistakes.
This game is all about possession and territory and getting the other team to make mistakes - if Wasps make an error then we've got a backline that will punish them. McAlister is the Wasps play maker, but other than that they are quite predictable in how they will play - Gopperth is a kicking 10 and Roberts is a dangerman if you dont make your first time tackles. Our backs will play a rush defence to put Gopperth and McAlister off their game and give them as little time to play the ball as possible - Simpson will sweep behind to bring down any Wasps players who get over the gainline and we will keep a forward out of rucks and mauls to bring Roberts down at first contact.
We will look to bring Evans into the game and use him as a player that we can launch the backthree from - he is a very intelligent player and will look to suck Roberts out of the line and feed Ashton and Foden as much as possible. There is very little pace in the Wasps backline (compared to Saints) and this is something that we have to exploit.
Simpson thrives in these conditions, and has been asked to not make as many attempted breaks this week and instead concentrate on getting the forwards going through the phases and supplying quick ball to Giteau. He's still a threat and Wasps will have to pay special attention to him around the fringes, this will give Giteau more time on the ball, as if say Wasps backrow doesnt target Simpson then he'll be through the gaps and under the posts. This extra time for Giteau will let him dictate the game and play a very intelligent kicking game.
Giteau to kick penalties and look for dropgoals - we want that scoreboard to tick over and slowly dishearten the home team. To continue this goal we will get Giteau to kick us into position and get Saints winning the territory battle. If we keep Wasps out of kicking range and playing in their own half then we have a good chance of winning.
Defence
Defensively we will look to play an aggressive game that sees us get up quickly into the tackle area and put Wasps under a lot of pressure. We want Gopperth to be forced into a kicking game, Claasens doesnt have the threat around the fringes (as say Simpson) so our backrow can concentrate on gunning down Gopperth he'll either have to kick or shovel on s+it to McAlister.
We set out how we will defend lineouts above - this will see Elsom target Gopperth, Giteau onto McAlister and then de Villiers to Roberts. Gives us an extra man to wrap up defenders and try and take out the threat of Roberts in these situations. We will always try and bring a backrow forward or Lawes into the backline in defence at rucks and mauls so we can line Roberts up and take him to ground straight away.
Our main defensive weapon will be Giteau's boot, which will look to keep pushing Wasps back into their 22 - if they kick it back then our backthree will attack when its on and the Wasps backthree dont have that same danger.
Saracens v Sale Sharks
Light rain , 15 degrees , 9mph wind
Saracens
Manager – LDCPete
16. George Chuter 17. Matt Mullan 18. Alex Corbisiero 19. Steve Borthwick 20. George Smith 21. Paul Hodgson 22. Francois Trinh-Duc 23. Tim Visser
Tactics
Our generic gameplan revolves around a high intensity attacking and defensive game.
In attack our primary gameplan is always to control possession and run the ball, utilising big carriers attacking gaps in the line, and looking to offload to support runners to continue getting over the gainline and keep the ball alive. If the offload is not on, we will take the contact and look to recycle quickly at the breakdown. If running the ball is not on we will uitilise the kicking game of one of our backs to take us into the right area of the pitch.
In defence we will look to blitz, with our scrum half sweeping behind the defensive line. Key for us is line speed, getting up to make the tackle before the ball carrier hits the gainline, and confidence and trust in the man next to you in the defensive line, meaning we will not jump out or get pulled to far away from the next defender leaving gaps that can be exploited.
At the breakdown, we will not overcommit players. If the ball is not there to be won, then we will commit 1 or 2 players to legally slow it down whilst maintaining a strong defensive line across the pitch. If the ball looks like it is there to be won, we will look to get more numbers there quickly, with the first 1 or 2 players immediately rucking past the ball to clear the opposition players who are trying to get hands on it, and the next man in will then look to get it out quickly for us to counter attack on turnover ball.
We will look to really attack the scrum, both in attack and defence. We will not be looking to drop the scrum at all, and Victor Matfield in his role as captain will be talking to the referee constantly to ensure that he is aware that we want to scrummage. We will look to be aggressive in this area throughout.
Game Specific Tactics
Key Points
Sale Sharks
Manager – SJE
16. Lee Imolek 17. Brett Sharman 18. Neemia Tialata 19. Christian Day 20. Fulgence Quedragao 21. Shaun Perry 22. James Hook 23. Nick Abendanoon
Key Points
Playing Away
To win away from home you need to win the pack battle. We have picked a very physical but mobile tight 5 and a back row with extra expertise at the breakdown to really get on top here. We have selected two powerful, but equally strong technically, props to target the Sarries scrum especially JDP at tighthead. We have picked an athletic back 5 in the pack all of whom offer jumping options in the lineout and will look to disrupt the Saracens lineout with a new lineout leader making his debut today.
We will look to our pack to get us on top and win the lion’s share of possession with which we have trust in our back line led by Johnny Sexton(whom has got over his blip with the world cup balls straight away kicking 23 points in last weekend’s win for Leinster) to use and put the points on the board and pick us up another massive win.
Breakdown
With an out and out openside and a blindside with expertise at the breakdown (Picamoles isn’t too shabby at turning the ball over either!) we will look to seriously target the breakdown today. With our blitz defence stopping Saracens before the gain line we will look to our pack, Thomson and Todd 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 Houghard is receiving at scrumhalf and disrupt Sarries attacking play.
Scrum
Schuster is a fantastic scrum technician and with the help of Paice at hooker, will look to attack JDP at the scrum. He will look to get the nudge on and draw penalties from the Sarries tighthead. This makes Ducalcon’s job at tighthead of getting at the Beast easier. When truly on top here we will look to take the scrum at freekicks and penalties looking to draw the sin bin…
Lineout
We will look to use the lineout as a destructive weapon and really target the Sarries throw today. Victor Matfield, the only Sarries player with experience of calling a lineout, makes his debut today for Sarries after signing while away with the Boks over the summer. With such little time together the Sarries lineout will not have been able to develop anything complicated. We expect Matfield to keep it simple and call a lot of ball to himself. Andries Bekker will look to mark Matfield out in the line and get up in the air in front of him and get his hands on Saracens ball. Millo Chluski will jump at the front to stop any short balls. As the pressure starts to build Sexton will kick to the corners where we will really look to attack and take advantage.
Target the Sarries Midfield
Ball in hand we will look to target the Sarries midfield. We will target the outside shoulder of Owen Farrell with our pacier runners looking to exploit his lack of pace as shown by Trinder recently. (Strettle and Earls will come in from their wings to really target this.) As Davies starts to come in to cover his midfield partner we will look to ship the ball out further and make use of the space he is leaving.
Setpiece
At scrum time we will be looking to really turn the screw. Schuster and Ducalcon are both strong technical scrummagers and will look to get at their man and really disrupt Saracens 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 Millo Chluski, 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 Sarries forwards to leave space out wide for our backs. On Saracens ball we will look for Millo Chluski to get up in the air at the front of the line and Bekker to follow Matfield in the line and disrupt the Saracens lineout. If we really start to get on top of the lineout we will look to Sexton to kick for the corners a few times and really put the pressure on.
Breakdown
We have a very mobile and quick pack to really target the breakdown. On our own ball we will look to our forwards to get numbers to the breakdown quickly rucking past the ball and clearing out the Saracens 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 Thomson and Todd to secure us turnover ball. At all other times we will commit lighter numbers to the breakdown but look to seriously counter ruck slowing down and messing up Saracens ball allowing our defensive line more time to set.
General Attacking Play
We will look to play a strong carrying game using our big carriers to hit the gain line offloading in or just before the tackle (when it's on) to support runners breaking the defensive line and keeping our forward momentum going. Earls will look to come in field at different times running lines of our midfield looking for the ball on the offload to get in behind the defensive line. If running the ball is not on we will look to Sexton to kick in behind the Sarries back 3 but particularly down Digby Ioane’s wing.
Danny Care will look to play around the fringes of the breakdown and make his usual snipping runs when it’s on, tying the Saracens back row to the breakdown and leaving the midfield exposed. Sexton 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.
Sexton will look to kick for goal when in Saracens territory and take the drop goal option when it’s available to keep the score board moving. Danny Care though will look for the quick tap when the Saracens defence is slow to organise.
General Defensive Play
In defence we will be using a blitz defence and will look to get up at pace looking to isolate the ball carrier before he gets to the gain line stopping any Saracens momentum and allowing us to hit the breakdown hard. We will look to keep Saracens 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 as always 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 Harlequins
Heavy rain , 12 degrees , 7mph wind
Bath Rugby
Manager – inthefastlane
16 Jon Golding 17 Kevin Mealamu 18 Davit Kubrashvilli 19 Sam Whitelock 20 Dan Lydiate 21 Richard Wigglesworth 22 Dominic Waldouck 23 Maxime Medard
Tactics
Set Piece
We have some of the on form scrummagers in the world and will look to use the scrum as a platform. Kubrashvilli will come on at half time to maintain dominance in the scrum. Simmons will be looking for line out ball.
Breakdown
We will be looking to slow the ball down for Quins and get turnovers if possible. We will be putting bodies into the breakdown with Armitage our go to man to get the turnovers.
Control
FDP and Hodgson will look to keep the tempo going throughout the game. FDP will look for spaces in the opposition backline and space in behind the back 3 for the grubber etc. He will look to put Quins back into their own 22. Hodgson will look to keep us playing in the right areas and bring our backline into play when it's on.
Carries
Our game plan will be to have lots of big carries. Sean O’Brien will lead the carries. All our big carriers will be looking to get over the gain line making as many yards as possible. We will look to concentrate Irish defence centrally before releasing our wingers.
Kicking
Francois Steyn will be our main kicker. He will look to take on penalties in front of halfway as this is easily within his range. He will look for drop goals if there isn’t a lot on.
Harlequins
Manager – Steven_Sharks
16. Schalk Brits 17. Kieran Brookes 18. John Afoa 19. George Skivington 20. Phil Dowson 21. Jano Vermaak 22. Freddie Burns 23. George Lowe
Tactics
General Tactics
Visiting Bath is never easy and such conditions will require us to adopt a very specific game plan. The Heavy rain and wind has led us to picking a team picked with players who can manage our game correctly and have us playing in the right position on the field. Dickson and Contepomi will look to play the game in the Bath half and then we will look to force errors in the Bath game. We have picked a backline with 6 very capable kickers and will look to kick into the spaces or to find touch. We see this game becoming a battle of territory as much as possession and whilst we won’t look to kick aimlessly we do think that a clever kicking game will be hugely beneficial. We feel we have the kickers to turn round the Bath wingers around, who we feel are vulnerable to a good kicking game and this is an area we will look to exert pressure. We will also look to set up high bombs and cross field kicks (particularly to Rob Kearney’s wing). We will really look to not concede penalties as this will allow bath to relieve the pressure put upon them. We will look to take the points every time we get the opportunity as we expect this game to be very tight and it could be a few kicks which decide where the points end up.
Attacking Tactics
Our forwards will look to front up to the Bath pack and look to be very physical with them. In both attack and defence we are going to look to win collisions and knock Bath backwards. This won’t be easy with some of their players but with sound body position we will be able to do this. When we have possession of the ball we are looking for patient attacking play. We will look for crash ball carriers of 9, 10 and 12 and we want our players to carry in numbers and at pace. Our players will be looking to run different lines each time to keep the Bath defence guessing. Our forwards will look to play a high intensity game, and I stress that this does not mean rushed. We will be patient waiting for gaps but when we have ball in hand we will look to be aggressive, pump the legs and keeping driving after we hit contact. If offloads are on we will look for them but they will be far less frequent than they usually are in our attacking play. We will look to commit as many as we need to into rucks but with a good technique 3 or 4 should be enough each time.
Our backs, when they look to run the ball will be told to target to 2 channels. We will look to send players down Charlie Hodgson’s channel to test out his defence and we will look to isolate Anthony Allen at 13, who normally a sound defender in his usual position of 12 ,we feel could be caught out in a new role. We will look to have players attacking both his inside and outside shoulders throughout the game. Our centres will look to be cutting lines of Contepomi all game and the blind side winger will come of his wing to look for work. We will still look to create gaps out wide as we do have a good finishers playing and we will still look to score tries when they are on.
Defensive Tactics
In defence we will look to be aggressive in contact and will look to keep our tackles low. We have picked Seymour so as he can look to disrupt Bath rucks and we will look to compete at Bath rucks whenever possible. We will look to the do this legally and either by being the first man/men there to the ruck and looking to isolate the attacker or by getting a good body position and trying to ruck Bath of the ball. We will be looking to put a maximum of 4 men into Bath rucks. We will employ a blitz defence as we feel if we pressure the Bath centres then there distribution could let them down.
We will always look to have the fullback and the blindside winger deep and ready for the kick and will often have all 3 back three players playing deep and ready for the kick. We have deliberately picked 3 players very capable of playing 15 so as we are prepared for any aerial bombardment and as we are very aware of the kicking qualities of FDP, Hodgson and Steyn so our players will be very aware of this.
Set Piece
At scrum time we will look to win the hit and really pressure the Bath ball. We will look to get our own ball away quickly with either Heaslip picked or Dickson getting the ball out. At the lineout we will look to put big pressure on Rob Simmons. Sharpe will mark him in the line and Thion will mark Cannon and we will look to make them hit the back of the lineout. On our own ball we are looking to shorten the line and use Fearns as a carrying option in midfield.
Leicester Tigers v London Irish
Sunny , 14 degrees , 10mph wind
Leicester Tigers
Manager – LukeLovesLuka
| 01. Gethin Jenkins | 09. Dimitri Yachvili (k) |
| 02. Sebastian Bruno | 10. Jonny Wilkinson |
| 03. Cencus Johnston | |
| 04. Nathan Hines | 11. Topsy Ojo |
| 05. Alex Brown | 12. Billy Twelvetrees |
| 06. Tom Croft | 13. Brian O'Driscoll (c) |
| 07. David Pocock | 14. Cory Jane |
| 08. Ernst Joubert | 15. Isa Nacewa |
Tactics
GENERAL:
- We are looking to get our backs into the game as much as possible by attacking the lineout and the breakdown. We will look to get our back three on the ball causing Irish problems defensively. We will be physical and relentless up front and pacey and clinical in attack.
- Defensively we will look to blitz, with Yachvili sweeping behind the defensive line to deal with any short kicks.
- Early on Yachvili to kick all penalites within range, but we won't necessarily go for the 3 points as the game progresses. BOD to make the call dependant on the success of the lineout.
- Get after JMH and Pienaar as much as we can. Irish have one HB as cover on the bench, and a few big hits could leave them short of options.
- Look to use our bench to win the game in the last 30 mins. Waldrom to come on at 50 mins to impact the game with his carrying, along with Crockett. Jack to strengthen our pack and set piece, Young to inject pace around the fringes and Brock James to come on if we need a spark in the back line.
FORWARDS:
- Attack the lineout as a weapon using the tactical kicking of Yachvili and Wilkinson. A.Brown to call the lineout - Hines and Croft alternating at the front, Brown in the middle and Joubert at the rear. We will relentlessly target Buckland's throws.
- At the scrum Bruno to look to give Buckland a schooling. Jenkins and Johnston picked to provide stability up against Castro and Tonga. Tonga in particular is used to playing props shorter and lighter and using his power to bulldoze through them, but Johnston is the same height and actually heavier than him. With Joubert marshalling the base, we will look to use attacking scrums as a platform to get us going forward at every opportunity.
- Look to Joubert, Pocock, Croft, Jenkins, Hines and Johnston to give us real go-forward with their carrying. 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.
- Pocock is the man charged with reaching the breakdown first, securing first phase possession for us and pilfering the possession of Irish. Our other forwards will look to ruck past the ball and clear out Irish players enabling us to effect turnovers. We will always look to attack quickly off turnover ball.
BACKS:
- In general attacking play, we will play off 9 with Yachvili pulling the strings. We will look to go through the phases and dominate possession, move Irish around with our half back's tactical kicking, and unleash our pacey back three as and when we can.
- If the game is tight and the ball isn't coming quickly, Wilkinson will look to drop into the pocket and keep the scoreboard ticking over with drop goals.
- Twelvetrees can act as our second receiver, and can hit the gain line hard to make yards. BOD to play his natural game, be the leader in our midfield, and look to get our back three into the game.
- Our back three are encouraged to do what comes naturally to all of them - counter attacking and running the ball back. The weather is good 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:
- Home Advantage - Unbeaten at home since the start of last season. Welford Road is once again the fortress that we all know.
- Attack the lineout as a weapon using the tactical kicking of Yachvili and Wilkinson.
- Target the breakdown - Pocock is the man charged with reaching the breakdown first, securing first phase possession for us and pilfering the possession of Irish.
- If the game is tight, Wilkinson will look to drop into the pocket and keep the scoreboard ticking over with drop goals.
- Likes of Waldrom, Crockett, Jack and B.James to come on. Powerful front row that is both solid in the set-piece and with ball carrying in Crockett and Mears. Jack to strengthen our pack and set piece, and Waldrom to provide huge carrying impact. Young to inject pace around the fringes, B.James if we need a spark, and Miller who is in dazzling form.
London Irish
Manager – stnick88
| 01. Soane Tonga'uhia | 09. Ruan Pienaar |
| 02. James Buckland | 10. Juan Martin Hernandez |
| 03. Martin Castrogiovanni | |
| 04. Mouritz Botha | 11. Sailosi Tagicakibau |
| 05. Nick Kennedy | 12. Sireli Naqalevuki |
| 06. George Stowers | 13. Jacques Fourie |
| 07. Hendrie Fourie | 14. Bjorn Basson |
| 08. Pierre Spies | 15. Delon Armitage |
16. Duncan Bell 17. Neil Briggs 18. WP Nel 19. Matt Garvey 20. Joe Worsley 21. Julien Dupuy 22. Matthew Tait 23. Sonny Bill Williams
London Irish welcome back Samoan's George Stowers and Sailosi Tagicakibau to the starting line up, whilst top try scorer Bjorn Basson returns in place of J.P Pieterson. Mouritz Botha is picked ahead of Dean Mumm in the 2nd row and Sireli Naqalevuki deservedly keeps his place at inside centre, with Sonny Bill Williams having to settle for a place on the bench. Juan Martin Hernandez makes his second start of the season at fly half, with Ruan Pienaar reverting to his usual position of scrum half.
Tactics
We want to get as much ball to our backs as possible as we feel we have the pace and power to really hurt the Tigers. We may be away from home, but we fear no-one and have a backline full of dangerous runners that can hurt any defence.
Upfront we have selected a powerful set of forwards to dominate in the loose as well as the setpiece.
We will ruthlessly target the setpiece and can see a lot of joy here. Tonga'uhia and Castro will go after their opponents at scrum time and look to win as many as penalties as possible for JMH to kick. Castro will really look to pressure Jenkins and drive him back.
At lineout time, Kennedy will be our main go to man, with Botha, Spies and Stowers also providing options. Kennedy will disrupt as much opposition ball as possible on Bruno's throw.
Both scrum and lineout will be used as platforms to attack off. We want to get as much ball as possible to the backs and get Naqa and Fourie involved as much as possible.
In the loose, we will look to overpower the Tigers. We feel they lack some grunt and ball carrying power, and we have picked three brutes in the backrow to over power them. Stowers, Botha, Tonga, Castro and Spies will hit the rucks hard and look to dominate this area and not let Pocock have free reign. We will get Fourie in at the breakdowns to secure quick ball and legally slow down any opposition ball. We will look for our big ball carriers to make the hard yards around the fringes and suck in Tigers defence before spreading the ball to the backs to exploit gaps.
Wilko has struggled to get a backline going recently and we will play a rush defence to get up in the faces of the Tigers and disrupt their momentum.
Naqalevuki will look to give 12T a schooling and use his power and pace to run at him and test his defence. We will have support runners like Fourie or Tagicakibau off him to collect offloads and create overlaps.
We will not kick aimless ball away to the Tigers back 3, but look to Delon and Tagi to run the ball back as both are strong runners who make a lot of metres. We will ensure we dont give away penalties here and get sufficient players in at the breakdown to secure our own ball.
Sonny Bill to come on at 55 mins to create more problems for the Tigers defence. JMH to kick all pens for goal.
To sum up, we want to dominate upfront where we feel we have superior power in the loose, and a stronger set piece, to dominate ball and territory and allow our backs to run riot.
Good luck Luke.
Exeter Chiefs v Gloucester Rugby
Heavy rain , 15 degrees , 12mph wind
Exeter Chiefs
Manager – Driver
| 01.Andrew Sheridan | 09.Byron Kelleher |
| 02.John Smit | 10.Ronan O'Gara |
| 03.Davit Zirkashvilli | |
| 04.Simon Shaw | 11.Luke Fitzgerald |
| 05.Juilian Pierre | 12.Gordan D'Arcy |
| 06.Lewis Moody (c) | 13.Adam Powell |
| 07.Shane Jennings | 14.Luke Arscott |
| 08.Johnnie Beattie | 15.Lee Byrne |
16.Neil Clark 17.Salvator Perugini18.Tom Mercy 19.Peter Short 20.Ben Skirving 21.Nick Phipps 22.George Pisi 23.Steven Myler
Tactics
- Play the percentages with a monster front 5 and using our back line to ping Gloucester in there own 22 for 80 minutes.
- We will look to scrum down at every opportunity and really attack Gloucester and out plenty of pressure on them with Smit and Zirka really scrimmaging on Joe Grey with Sheridan looking to get in at White and cause the old man problems.
- D’Arcy and Powell are both direct hard runners and will give us plenty of head way up the middle.
- Defence is all about line speed and getting on the back foot which is key for our use of Moody and Jennings. In what will be a forward orientated game the breakdown will be key and having Moody and Jennings in our back row will play the breakdown into our hands.
- we will commit as little to the ruck as possible and flood the field with numbers forcing gloucester into a forward battle/
- Lineouts will be snappy with the man straight up and down ,
- we will peel from the centre off the drive at the lineout and set a seperate maul to force the glaws pack to retreat onside to try and stop a maul going forward. (We will use this particular in the opposition 22)
- We will go back to basics and take the big runners round the legs whilst allowing the supporting defender to go for the ball.
- Kelleher to tie the back row up with snipes and short pops at the fringes to take pressure off ROG.
- ROG to drop goals and kick most penalties. Always leave they half with points
Game specific tactics
[list]Kicking game - Fitzgerald , Arscott and Byrne most notablely are all solid under the high ball and best suited to these conditions. Horsea Gear and Sinbad are both flakey under the high ball and will be taking bombs all afternoon.
Richard Kahui - Kahui spent the entire RWC on the wing , will he be able to adjust to centre again in one game.
Carter in a territory battle is no where near as much use as ROG in these types of games and conditions.
Rupert Harden will eventually replace White and will not have an easy afternoon first coming up against Andrew Sheridan and then Salvator Perugini - who won’t take prisoners at scrum time.
Tactical points of advantage
TBA
TBA
TBA
Gloucester
Manager – ‘Mat
| 01. Steenkamp | 09. Will Genia |
| 02. Gray | 10. Dan Cartetr |
| 03. Julian White | |
| 04. Bakkies | 11. JSD |
| 05. Tom Palmer (c) | 12. Hape |
| 06. Steven Ferris | 13. Richard Kahui |
| 07. Schalk Burger | 14. Gear |
| 08. Alberts | 15. Israel Dagg |
16. Nick Wood17. Adriaan Strauss 18. Rupert Harden 19. Richie Gray 20. Andy Saull 21. Dave Lewis 22. Berrick barnes 23. May
Tactics
Gloucester travel to Exeter Buoyed after beating an exceptionally strong SArries side. It is going to be wet and miserable at Sandy Park and Gloucester have the team to win and win well.
SCRUM
Obviously in conditions like this you need a rock solid set piece and ball carriers galore to keep the ball and work your way into conditions to allow the half backs to control the game and dictate play.
Glaws have gone with a monster line up that is also mobile.
in the SCrums we will be looking to win our own ball clean and get a wheel on to allow either Alberts to pick up and go or for Genia to get the ball away quickly to carter to kick for territory or launch runners at the gainline.
On Exeter ball we will be looking to disrupt their put in and drive them back either creating bad ball for them or taking against the head. WE have 2 huge scrummagers in Steenkamp and White. and a huge powerful back 5 that will not let up the pressure. White is on to play 40-50 minutes and to really hurt the Sheridan who has played a couple of games in a year and who must be struggling a little.
Lineout
As ever we are chock full of Jumpers and will be looking to secure our own ball and drive to suck in leicester and tire them before launching runners off the back of the Maul. in Conditions like these there will be a lot of front ball and bakkies is the king of this. We will then look to hit off the top a bit more as the game progresses and put big runners like Kahui and Hape over the gain line into people like Powell.
On their ball we will try and exploit their lack of jumpers and put pressure on the ball. if they win it they win scrappy ball. we will look to flood through and pressure Kelleher and in turn ROg.
Forwards General
We will be looking to keep the ball and force Exeter to commit men to tackling and into the rucks and mauls. The aim is to win the collisions and territory and dictate our game on to them. It will be forward dominated due to the rain and we feel we have a lot more up front. We are packed with ball carriers in Steenkamp, Gray, BAkkies, palmer, Ferris, Alberts and Burger. this will allow us to keep the ball and wear out the exeter pack.
We feel exeter lack the ball carriers we do and will be easier to defend against. there only carrier in the backrow is beattie who has been struggling for a long time. We aim to smash every maul and actually send numbers into rucks to counter ruck and give them poor quality ball. Everything is slower in the wet and we aim to grind them down and exploit their lack of dynamic carriers in the pack. we will keep ball all day and then release only good ball to the backs when they want it.
We are also aiming to use our bench. Strauss, Wood, Grey, harden will all come on and are in excellent form in real life. bench options are strongly in glaws favour.
BACKS
The backs will be looking to use what ball they get in a constructive way.
We have the 2 best half backs in world rugby and they will dictate tempo and when the ball is used. Carter is very used to the Wet as he plays for Canterbury where it is bloody miserable half the year and will be looking to dominate Ogara in both kicking and obviously in running.
first half we will be playing a territry based game with forwards keeping the ball and then releasing the ball allowing Carter to either kick for touch, high ball or push in behind them for our back 3 to chase. in our 22 Dagg will often receive the ball as he demonstrated in the WC he has one of the biggest clearance kicks in world rugby and will be used.
the other options carter will look to use will be to hit Hape and Kahui to target powell or to tie in Darcy and to recycle ball to attack again.
As we start to get in the ascendency we will look to use Gear coming up through channels and also look to move it wide if its on. you do not have a back 3 like JSD, Gear and Dagg and not try and use it.
We will look to employ the cross kick if on with Gear having a physical mismatch against either fitz or Arscot
Defence
We will use Genia to sweep but will also be looking to blitz when necessary. Kelleher is getting a bit long in the tooth and if we can disrupt ball it makes sense to blitz and pressure O'gara who is not a natural at moving the ball.
Must also take issue with Gear and JSD being flakey under the high ball. JSD in particular is immense under the high ball and i am sure prop will also say you never see him drop a high ball. if he was flakey then AP teams would target him on this. They dont which shows you how good he is under it,
Key Points
1 more form players throughout the team
2 more ball carriers all over the park and this is what helps keep ball in the rain
3 World class half backs that are the best in the world at dictating a game and can play any style.
4 Dynamic bench capable of blowing away the game. Also have the option of Barnes to come on add to the kicking options from centre to dominate territory game.
London Wasps v Northampton Saints
Light rain , 14 degrees , 9mph wind
London Wasps
Manager – ‘Arry
| 01. Perry Freshwater | 09. Michael Claassens |
| 02. Steve Thompson | 10. Jimmy Gopperth |
| 03. Carlos Nieto | |
| 04. Mark Chisholm | 11. Lachie Turner |
| 05. Marco Wentzel (c) | 12. Luke McAlister |
| 06. James Haskell | 13. Jamie Roberts |
| 07. Jacques Burger | 14. Tom Williams |
| 08. Roger Wilson | 15. Mike Brown |
16. Andy Titterell 17. Charlie Beech 18. CJ Van Der Linde 19. Steve Mafi 20. Tom Johnson 21. Mike Blair 22. Rory Clegg 23. Noah Cato
Tactics
Tactics
After winning our last four games in all competitions we are feeling very high on confidence and feel that we go into this clash with Northampton Saints with plenty of momentum. We have picked a gritty, powerful and physical forward pack which will work very hard at rucks and winning us set piece ball at scrum time and lineout. We feel that if we can assert ourselves physically and win the forward battle, providing our backs with a solid platform we will be able to come have a good chance of claiming a hard fought victory. We have plenty of players who are bang in form and we are unbeaten at home which is a big positive.
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. 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 taking the ball through plenty of phases to wear the Saints down.
We have two excellent kicking options in Gopperth and McAlister we will look to kick in behind the Northampton Saints wingers and keep them pinned back where we will look to isolate and pressurize them into making mistakes in their own half. We will look to hit the rucks hard and compete when we can, any turnovers we do make we will look to get the ball out wide and attack the space available. We will look to make a nuisance of ourselves at the breakdown and spoil the quality of the Saints ball with good counter rucking. 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 Saints defence.
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 and in form James Haskell. Gopperth will look to bring in our strike runners in McAlister and Roberts. If it is on we will look to offload the ball to the supporting players and keep Saints working off the ball in defence. We will look for the in form Roberts to run plenty of good lines and 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 Saints 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 Saints players and will look to attack the fly half channel in the Saints defence and put Giteau off his game, hopefully opening them up. When possible we will look to get our offloading game going to alternate the point of attack and keep the Saints 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. We have plenty of pace in our back three and will look to use them when we can.
At lineouts we will look to exert as much pressure as possible on the Saints 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, Haskell and Wilson. From there we will look to slowly sap the energy out of the Saints by using the rolling maul. We will look to suck in as many Saints defenders to open up spaces elsewhere for us to attack. We’ll look to really target the set piece and create a platform, we feel that we can gain an advantage here, if we get a nudge on we will look to keep the Saints going backwards. Our back row will look to really get in Giteau’s face and put him off of his game. We will ensure our discipline is exemplary. We will play hard rugby but ensure we play by the rules, discipline will be key. We feel that if our forwards can get us onto the front foot we have the half backs who will keep their cool and manage our game.
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 Northampton onto the back foot by winning the forward battle we will be able to unsettle them. We want to continue our winning ways and feel that if we can play at a high tempo and push the Saints onto the back foot we will be able to do this. Our gritty forwards will set the tone with huge carrying and from there we will look to get our offloading game going and bring our strike runners into the game. We have plenty of impact to call upon from the bench to continue our high levels of intensity and power.
[hr /]
Northampton Saints Team:
Manager – dammit chris
| 01. Matt Stevens | 09. Joe Simpson |
| 02. Dylan Hartley | 10. Matt Giteau(k) |
| 03. Carl Hayman | |
| 04. Courtney Lawes | 11. Siti Siviatu |
| 05. Patricio Albacete | 12. Jean de Villiers |
| 06. Rocky Elsom | 13. Max Evans |
| 07. Alexandre Lapandry | 14. Chris Ashton |
| 08. Sergio Parisse(c) | 15. Ben Foden |
16. Rob Webber 17. Zak Taulafo 18. Bob Baker 19. Dave Attwood 20. Simon Taylor 21. Liam Messam 22.Leigh Halfpenny 23. Manu Tuilagi
We've picked a team that is perfect for the conditions, it is light rain, which will allow us to still throw the ball around in the backline and score tries, but it is essential that we have a pack that will compete with Wasps and get our backline the ball. We've gone for a 6-2 split on the bench so we can put a lot of pressure on Wasps throughout the 80 minutes. We believe that if we can keep the scoreboard close with Wasps at the 60 minute mark our subs bench will win the game and our advantage is that we have far more match winners in the backline to score a try that could be vital in a close game.
Key points
* This game is all about territory and possession – we will kick the ball deep and play the game in Wasps’ half. Putting pressure on them when we are in their 22 and forcing mistakes, penalties and disrupting the games flow. If we play the game in Wasps half we remove Gopperth’s kicking threat and put a lot of pressure on McAlister to get his team going forward.
* Strong set piece, more than capable of holding its own and as subs come into play we've got 6 forwards to bring on, 3 full internationals and two Saxons - will make our pack stronger as the game players out.
* We bring in two fresh players to our backrow, this is an area that we will be looking to target and have opted for an out and out 7 this week in Lapandry to target the breakdown. We can also bring Messam into the mix as an impact sub.
* We will look to put Wasps under a lot of pressure throughout the 80minutes, constantly hassling, and trying to force mistakes. Special attention will be on Gopperth who is largely a kicking fly half and we will ensure that our backrow gives him a few big hits early on. There is a big gulf in class between Gopperth and Giteau, so Saints need to make the most of this.
* We've learnt our lessons from last week and have brought Max Evans in at 13 to give Giteau more support in controlling a game - he is a better reader of the game than Tuilagi and gives us a good kicking option out wide.
* We are going to be more adventurous than Wasps, and will still go out looking to give our back three ball and take advantage in the difference between the back threes.
Forwards – Set Piece & Breakdown
We have picked a team that will look to take Wasps on at the set piece and have picked a poweful scrummaging unit to take them on up front. Albacete and Lawes add a lot of power to the scrum and if any of the pack is tiring or we see that Wasps are struggling we will turn the screw by freshening up with Webber, Taulafo, Attwood, Taylor and Messam.
We've reduced our lineout options this week, with Lawes, Albacete and Parisse our jumpers, and will look to keep the calls simple in the first half to just ensure we obtain the ball and start going through the phases. We will look to put Wentzle under pressure and force Thompson's throwing into mistakes, this is an area we feel we have the advantage in because although Hartley didn’t have the best WC, his lineout throwing was incredibly accurate.
Defensively at the lineout we are we will get Simpson to stand in the 5 metre channel (as a hooker would do) – and then bring Hartley into the lineout itself and move Elsom into the midfield to target Gopperth and put him under pressure. This allows Giteau to move on to McAlister and de Villiers to Roberts – we want to put the Wasps backs to ground as quickly as possible and then compete for the breakdown. We don’t want Roberts running – this approach should see us have an extra man at first contact, which will either help us put Roberts down or give us an instant advantage at the breakdown.
Our pack will look to go through the phases and has a focus on sercuring a lot of possession to slow the game down and frustrate the home team. It wont be pretty and we will look to gain forward momentum as much as possible, and after a few phases we will get Giteau ball and ask him to kick towards the corners, keeping the ball along the floor and towards the touchline - at worst the ball puts the Wasps back three under pressure.
The breakdown is going to be much more evenly contested than last week as we recall Lapandry, who is an out and out openside. Burger is a tackling machine but is not as dangerous as either Robshaw or Brussow as we found last week. The battle will be even there but then we've got the added experience of Elsom and Parisse who swing the battle towards our favour. We will get Lapandry to go looking for turnovers and do the work on the groun and then use the power of Elsom, Parisse and Lawes to clear the rucks and win us penalties.
Backs
Our aim is to get the backline into areas it can score tries - a lot of the work will be done through the forwards and also through Jean de Villiers and Siti Siviatu taking the ball back in towards McAlister and Gopperth. Giteau will look to put the ball into Wasps 22 as much as possible and with Siviatu, Ashton, Evans and Foden chasing kicks the Wasps backthree is going to be under a lot of pressure. Our game will be about putting Wasps under pressure from the first minute and not giving them any time to dwell on the ball and force them into mistakes.
This game is all about possession and territory and getting the other team to make mistakes - if Wasps make an error then we've got a backline that will punish them. McAlister is the Wasps play maker, but other than that they are quite predictable in how they will play - Gopperth is a kicking 10 and Roberts is a dangerman if you dont make your first time tackles. Our backs will play a rush defence to put Gopperth and McAlister off their game and give them as little time to play the ball as possible - Simpson will sweep behind to bring down any Wasps players who get over the gainline and we will keep a forward out of rucks and mauls to bring Roberts down at first contact.
We will look to bring Evans into the game and use him as a player that we can launch the backthree from - he is a very intelligent player and will look to suck Roberts out of the line and feed Ashton and Foden as much as possible. There is very little pace in the Wasps backline (compared to Saints) and this is something that we have to exploit.
Simpson thrives in these conditions, and has been asked to not make as many attempted breaks this week and instead concentrate on getting the forwards going through the phases and supplying quick ball to Giteau. He's still a threat and Wasps will have to pay special attention to him around the fringes, this will give Giteau more time on the ball, as if say Wasps backrow doesnt target Simpson then he'll be through the gaps and under the posts. This extra time for Giteau will let him dictate the game and play a very intelligent kicking game.
Giteau to kick penalties and look for dropgoals - we want that scoreboard to tick over and slowly dishearten the home team. To continue this goal we will get Giteau to kick us into position and get Saints winning the territory battle. If we keep Wasps out of kicking range and playing in their own half then we have a good chance of winning.
Defence
Defensively we will look to play an aggressive game that sees us get up quickly into the tackle area and put Wasps under a lot of pressure. We want Gopperth to be forced into a kicking game, Claasens doesnt have the threat around the fringes (as say Simpson) so our backrow can concentrate on gunning down Gopperth he'll either have to kick or shovel on s+it to McAlister.
We set out how we will defend lineouts above - this will see Elsom target Gopperth, Giteau onto McAlister and then de Villiers to Roberts. Gives us an extra man to wrap up defenders and try and take out the threat of Roberts in these situations. We will always try and bring a backrow forward or Lawes into the backline in defence at rucks and mauls so we can line Roberts up and take him to ground straight away.
Our main defensive weapon will be Giteau's boot, which will look to keep pushing Wasps back into their 22 - if they kick it back then our backthree will attack when its on and the Wasps backthree dont have that same danger.
Saracens v Sale Sharks
Light rain , 15 degrees , 9mph wind
Saracens
Manager – LDCPete
| 01. Tendai Mtwarira | 09. Francois Hougaard |
| 02. Bismarck du Plessis | 10. Patric Lambie |
| 03. Jannie du Plessis | |
| 04. Rynhardt Elstadt | 11. Digby Ioane |
| 05. Victor Matfield (c) | 12. Owen Farrell |
| 06. Alessandro Zanni | 13. Jonathon Davies |
| 07. Tom Wood | 14. Mark Cueto |
| 08. Luke Narraway | 15. Tom Homer |
16. George Chuter 17. Matt Mullan 18. Alex Corbisiero 19. Steve Borthwick 20. George Smith 21. Paul Hodgson 22. Francois Trinh-Duc 23. Tim Visser
Tactics
Our generic gameplan revolves around a high intensity attacking and defensive game.
In attack our primary gameplan is always to control possession and run the ball, utilising big carriers attacking gaps in the line, and looking to offload to support runners to continue getting over the gainline and keep the ball alive. If the offload is not on, we will take the contact and look to recycle quickly at the breakdown. If running the ball is not on we will uitilise the kicking game of one of our backs to take us into the right area of the pitch.
In defence we will look to blitz, with our scrum half sweeping behind the defensive line. Key for us is line speed, getting up to make the tackle before the ball carrier hits the gainline, and confidence and trust in the man next to you in the defensive line, meaning we will not jump out or get pulled to far away from the next defender leaving gaps that can be exploited.
At the breakdown, we will not overcommit players. If the ball is not there to be won, then we will commit 1 or 2 players to legally slow it down whilst maintaining a strong defensive line across the pitch. If the ball looks like it is there to be won, we will look to get more numbers there quickly, with the first 1 or 2 players immediately rucking past the ball to clear the opposition players who are trying to get hands on it, and the next man in will then look to get it out quickly for us to counter attack on turnover ball.
We will look to really attack the scrum, both in attack and defence. We will not be looking to drop the scrum at all, and Victor Matfield in his role as captain will be talking to the referee constantly to ensure that he is aware that we want to scrummage. We will look to be aggressive in this area throughout.
Game Specific Tactics
- Target the Sale line out - we will really look to get at David Paice and put him off his throw and cause Sale to either have scrappy ball to play with, or turn the ball over to us, from where we will counter attack.
- Force Sale to play from deep - With light rain forecast the pitch will be slippery, and we will use the boots of Lambie, Farrell, and Homer to put us in the right areas of the field. They will look to hit the right angles with kicks and fire low trajectory balls in behind the Sale wingers looking for the ball to skid on and find touch. We will then attack the Sale line out in their territory.
- Target Danny Care - Our back row and scrum half will look to really pressurize Care around the fringes. He likes to make sniping breaks and play at pace, and we will try to slow him at every opportunity. If we can stop their main attacking threat then it will make the rest of our defensive duties much easier.
- Build a lead and apply pressure - We have more than one kicker in our team who can rack up points and is a model of consistency off the tee. We will take every opportunity to build a lead, through penalties, and through drop goals if appropriate, thereby applying pressure to Sale to take risks despite the potentially slippery ball.
Key Points
- Home Advantage. I don't think I need to reiterate our home record again, everyone is aware how strong we are at home.
- Form. Players like Farrell and Homer are in great form in real life, and others like Zanni, Ioane and Davies return off of the back of very good World Cups and with their reputations enhanced.
- Balance. Again we have great balance in our side, with an ability to play more than one way, which will enable us to adapt as the game unfolds.
- The Pack. To win away you have to dominate the pack battle. We have a pack that contains 7 full internationals, and a number of very combative players, who are unlikely to be dominated enough for us to be beaten.
- The Breakdown. The breakdown battle is a key one, and whilst we do not have a traditional 'fetcher', all three of our back row can and have played openside, and are willing and able to do the dirty work on the deck. Coupled with this we have mobile props and locks who will get there quickly and clear out players, along with Bismarck who is a monster at the breakdown, both in terms of clearing players and stealing the ball, which all put together means we have a good balance in this area and are not hampered by the absence of a traditional 'fetcher'.
Sale Sharks
Manager – SJE
| 01. Jerome Schuster | 09. Danny Care |
| 02. David Paice | 10. Johnny Sexton |
| 03. Luc Ducalcon | |
| 04. Romain Millo-Chluski | 11. David Strettle |
| 05. Andries Bekker | 12. Jordan Turner Hall |
| 06. Adam Thomson | 13. Robbie Freuen |
| 07. Matt Todd | 14. Keith Earls |
| 08. Louis Picamoles | 15. Luke Rooney |
16. Lee Imolek 17. Brett Sharman 18. Neemia Tialata 19. Christian Day 20. Fulgence Quedragao 21. Shaun Perry 22. James Hook 23. Nick Abendanoon
Key Points
Playing Away
To win away from home you need to win the pack battle. We have picked a very physical but mobile tight 5 and a back row with extra expertise at the breakdown to really get on top here. We have selected two powerful, but equally strong technically, props to target the Sarries scrum especially JDP at tighthead. We have picked an athletic back 5 in the pack all of whom offer jumping options in the lineout and will look to disrupt the Saracens lineout with a new lineout leader making his debut today.
We will look to our pack to get us on top and win the lion’s share of possession with which we have trust in our back line led by Johnny Sexton(whom has got over his blip with the world cup balls straight away kicking 23 points in last weekend’s win for Leinster) to use and put the points on the board and pick us up another massive win.
Breakdown
With an out and out openside and a blindside with expertise at the breakdown (Picamoles isn’t too shabby at turning the ball over either!) we will look to seriously target the breakdown today. With our blitz defence stopping Saracens before the gain line we will look to our pack, Thomson and Todd 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 Houghard is receiving at scrumhalf and disrupt Sarries attacking play.
Scrum
Schuster is a fantastic scrum technician and with the help of Paice at hooker, will look to attack JDP at the scrum. He will look to get the nudge on and draw penalties from the Sarries tighthead. This makes Ducalcon’s job at tighthead of getting at the Beast easier. When truly on top here we will look to take the scrum at freekicks and penalties looking to draw the sin bin…
Lineout
We will look to use the lineout as a destructive weapon and really target the Sarries throw today. Victor Matfield, the only Sarries player with experience of calling a lineout, makes his debut today for Sarries after signing while away with the Boks over the summer. With such little time together the Sarries lineout will not have been able to develop anything complicated. We expect Matfield to keep it simple and call a lot of ball to himself. Andries Bekker will look to mark Matfield out in the line and get up in the air in front of him and get his hands on Saracens ball. Millo Chluski will jump at the front to stop any short balls. As the pressure starts to build Sexton will kick to the corners where we will really look to attack and take advantage.
Target the Sarries Midfield
Ball in hand we will look to target the Sarries midfield. We will target the outside shoulder of Owen Farrell with our pacier runners looking to exploit his lack of pace as shown by Trinder recently. (Strettle and Earls will come in from their wings to really target this.) As Davies starts to come in to cover his midfield partner we will look to ship the ball out further and make use of the space he is leaving.
Setpiece
At scrum time we will be looking to really turn the screw. Schuster and Ducalcon are both strong technical scrummagers and will look to get at their man and really disrupt Saracens 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 Millo Chluski, 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 Sarries forwards to leave space out wide for our backs. On Saracens ball we will look for Millo Chluski to get up in the air at the front of the line and Bekker to follow Matfield in the line and disrupt the Saracens lineout. If we really start to get on top of the lineout we will look to Sexton to kick for the corners a few times and really put the pressure on.
Breakdown
We have a very mobile and quick pack to really target the breakdown. On our own ball we will look to our forwards to get numbers to the breakdown quickly rucking past the ball and clearing out the Saracens 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 Thomson and Todd to secure us turnover ball. At all other times we will commit lighter numbers to the breakdown but look to seriously counter ruck slowing down and messing up Saracens ball allowing our defensive line more time to set.
General Attacking Play
We will look to play a strong carrying game using our big carriers to hit the gain line offloading in or just before the tackle (when it's on) to support runners breaking the defensive line and keeping our forward momentum going. Earls will look to come in field at different times running lines of our midfield looking for the ball on the offload to get in behind the defensive line. If running the ball is not on we will look to Sexton to kick in behind the Sarries back 3 but particularly down Digby Ioane’s wing.
Danny Care will look to play around the fringes of the breakdown and make his usual snipping runs when it’s on, tying the Saracens back row to the breakdown and leaving the midfield exposed. Sexton 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.
Sexton will look to kick for goal when in Saracens territory and take the drop goal option when it’s available to keep the score board moving. Danny Care though will look for the quick tap when the Saracens defence is slow to organise.
General Defensive Play
In defence we will be using a blitz defence and will look to get up at pace looking to isolate the ball carrier before he gets to the gain line stopping any Saracens momentum and allowing us to hit the breakdown hard. We will look to keep Saracens 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 as always 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 Harlequins
Heavy rain , 12 degrees , 7mph wind
Bath Rugby
Manager – inthefastlane
| 01. Cian Healy | 09. Fourie Du Preez |
| 02. Joe Ward | 10. Charlie Hodgson |
| 03. Euan Murray | |
| 04. James Cannon | 11. Ugo Monye |
| 05. Rob Simmons | 12. EFS |
| 06. Sean O’Brien | 13. Anthony Allen |
| 07. Steffon Armitage | 14. Tom Varndell |
| 08. Juan Martin Fernandez Lobbe | 15. Francois Steyn |
Tactics
Set Piece
We have some of the on form scrummagers in the world and will look to use the scrum as a platform. Kubrashvilli will come on at half time to maintain dominance in the scrum. Simmons will be looking for line out ball.
Breakdown
We will be looking to slow the ball down for Quins and get turnovers if possible. We will be putting bodies into the breakdown with Armitage our go to man to get the turnovers.
Control
FDP and Hodgson will look to keep the tempo going throughout the game. FDP will look for spaces in the opposition backline and space in behind the back 3 for the grubber etc. He will look to put Quins back into their own 22. Hodgson will look to keep us playing in the right areas and bring our backline into play when it's on.
Carries
Our game plan will be to have lots of big carries. Sean O’Brien will lead the carries. All our big carriers will be looking to get over the gain line making as many yards as possible. We will look to concentrate Irish defence centrally before releasing our wingers.
Kicking
Francois Steyn will be our main kicker. He will look to take on penalties in front of halfway as this is easily within his range. He will look for drop goals if there isn’t a lot on.
Harlequins
Manager – Steven_Sharks
| 01. Joe Marler | 09. Lee Dickson (c) |
| 02. Matthew Rees | 10. Felipe Contepomi (k) |
| 03. Brian Mujati | |
| 04. Jerome Thion | 11. Rob Kearney |
| 05. Nathan Sharpe | 12. Riki Flutey |
| 06. Carl Fearns | 13. Gonzalo Canale |
| 07. David Seymour | 14. Cedric Heymans |
| 08. Jamie Heaslip | 15. Rhys Priestland |
16. Schalk Brits 17. Kieran Brookes 18. John Afoa 19. George Skivington 20. Phil Dowson 21. Jano Vermaak 22. Freddie Burns 23. George Lowe
Tactics
General Tactics
Visiting Bath is never easy and such conditions will require us to adopt a very specific game plan. The Heavy rain and wind has led us to picking a team picked with players who can manage our game correctly and have us playing in the right position on the field. Dickson and Contepomi will look to play the game in the Bath half and then we will look to force errors in the Bath game. We have picked a backline with 6 very capable kickers and will look to kick into the spaces or to find touch. We see this game becoming a battle of territory as much as possession and whilst we won’t look to kick aimlessly we do think that a clever kicking game will be hugely beneficial. We feel we have the kickers to turn round the Bath wingers around, who we feel are vulnerable to a good kicking game and this is an area we will look to exert pressure. We will also look to set up high bombs and cross field kicks (particularly to Rob Kearney’s wing). We will really look to not concede penalties as this will allow bath to relieve the pressure put upon them. We will look to take the points every time we get the opportunity as we expect this game to be very tight and it could be a few kicks which decide where the points end up.
Attacking Tactics
Our forwards will look to front up to the Bath pack and look to be very physical with them. In both attack and defence we are going to look to win collisions and knock Bath backwards. This won’t be easy with some of their players but with sound body position we will be able to do this. When we have possession of the ball we are looking for patient attacking play. We will look for crash ball carriers of 9, 10 and 12 and we want our players to carry in numbers and at pace. Our players will be looking to run different lines each time to keep the Bath defence guessing. Our forwards will look to play a high intensity game, and I stress that this does not mean rushed. We will be patient waiting for gaps but when we have ball in hand we will look to be aggressive, pump the legs and keeping driving after we hit contact. If offloads are on we will look for them but they will be far less frequent than they usually are in our attacking play. We will look to commit as many as we need to into rucks but with a good technique 3 or 4 should be enough each time.
Our backs, when they look to run the ball will be told to target to 2 channels. We will look to send players down Charlie Hodgson’s channel to test out his defence and we will look to isolate Anthony Allen at 13, who normally a sound defender in his usual position of 12 ,we feel could be caught out in a new role. We will look to have players attacking both his inside and outside shoulders throughout the game. Our centres will look to be cutting lines of Contepomi all game and the blind side winger will come of his wing to look for work. We will still look to create gaps out wide as we do have a good finishers playing and we will still look to score tries when they are on.
Defensive Tactics
In defence we will look to be aggressive in contact and will look to keep our tackles low. We have picked Seymour so as he can look to disrupt Bath rucks and we will look to compete at Bath rucks whenever possible. We will look to the do this legally and either by being the first man/men there to the ruck and looking to isolate the attacker or by getting a good body position and trying to ruck Bath of the ball. We will be looking to put a maximum of 4 men into Bath rucks. We will employ a blitz defence as we feel if we pressure the Bath centres then there distribution could let them down.
We will always look to have the fullback and the blindside winger deep and ready for the kick and will often have all 3 back three players playing deep and ready for the kick. We have deliberately picked 3 players very capable of playing 15 so as we are prepared for any aerial bombardment and as we are very aware of the kicking qualities of FDP, Hodgson and Steyn so our players will be very aware of this.
Set Piece
At scrum time we will look to win the hit and really pressure the Bath ball. We will look to get our own ball away quickly with either Heaslip picked or Dickson getting the ball out. At the lineout we will look to put big pressure on Rob Simmons. Sharpe will mark him in the line and Thion will mark Cannon and we will look to make them hit the back of the lineout. On our own ball we are looking to shorten the line and use Fearns as a carrying option in midfield.
Last edited by Driver - RIP 606 on Fri Nov 04, 2011 11:05 am; edited 5 times in total
Driver- Posts : 11038
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Age : 33
Location : Hartlepool
Re: AP Round 8
by Guest Thu Nov 03, 2011 11:34 pm
Palmer every time he came on was great In wc. Remember the Scotland game and him changing it and Fitzpatrick saying why does he not start. He was good against France also.
Mj does not like ball playing second rows and think the fact that palmer off loads and cuts angles annoys him. He still will not admit borths as captain was mistake.
For me the minute wells leaves as coach the pack will improve. Anyone in the game will tell you he was a dinosaur. Players don't like him either.
Dean Ryan is some pundit. Naive coach for us but amazing on tv explaining complex patterns. Best thing about rugby club
Mj does not like ball playing second rows and think the fact that palmer off loads and cuts angles annoys him. He still will not admit borths as captain was mistake.
For me the minute wells leaves as coach the pack will improve. Anyone in the game will tell you he was a dinosaur. Players don't like him either.
Dean Ryan is some pundit. Naive coach for us but amazing on tv explaining complex patterns. Best thing about rugby club
Guest- Guest
Re: AP Round 8
by Sgt_Pooly Thu Nov 03, 2011 11:37 pm
He is great as a pundit, never had much time for him as coach but v good on sky.
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Re: AP Round 8
by Ozzy3213 Fri Nov 04, 2011 3:24 am
SirJohnnyEnglish wrote:Genuinely dont want to slate any players. Havent slated anyone from what i can see? Just pointing out what we want to do in the match
Wasn't saying you had slated players mate, was just pointing out that I wasn't looking for a war of words with the comment I was making.
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stnick88- Posts : 5345
Join date : 2011-05-10
Re: AP Round 8
by Ozzy3213 Fri Nov 04, 2011 9:37 am
Full of cold mate, as are the two littlest little ones and the wife, so was up for most the night. Hanging now at work. Roll on 4 o'clock!!!
Ozzy3213- Moderator
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Re: AP Round 8
by SirJohnnyEnglish Fri Nov 04, 2011 9:43 am
Fair enough Pete mate
Palmer ran the lineout for the 6 nations but remember reading he admitted himself he had made alot of mistakes calling it and Johnno put Deacon in then for the world cup as he was the only player in the squad who regularly led the lineouts at club level. Wood calls it only occasionaly depending on the Saints line up where Day is the lineout captain and Croft doesnt call it at Tigers with Deacon, Skivs, Parling all ahead of him as lineout leaders so Johnno kinda had to go with Deacon really. Should have been a problem that was fixed well in advance of the world cup but thats another issue really
Will get predictions in sometime this evening
Palmer ran the lineout for the 6 nations but remember reading he admitted himself he had made alot of mistakes calling it and Johnno put Deacon in then for the world cup as he was the only player in the squad who regularly led the lineouts at club level. Wood calls it only occasionaly depending on the Saints line up where Day is the lineout captain and Croft doesnt call it at Tigers with Deacon, Skivs, Parling all ahead of him as lineout leaders so Johnno kinda had to go with Deacon really. Should have been a problem that was fixed well in advance of the world cup but thats another issue really
Will get predictions in sometime this evening
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Re: AP Round 8
by dammit_chris Fri Nov 04, 2011 10:20 am
SJE/Driver - I have amended my tactics to take out any perceived criticisms of Arry's players as I really don't want to be seen as being critical of his players.
I'm not sure who amends the teams, but would it be possible to change my tactics to the new ones that don't mention his players as they were previously
I'm not sure who amends the teams, but would it be possible to change my tactics to the new ones that don't mention his players as they were previously
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Re: AP Round 8
by stnick88 Fri Nov 04, 2011 4:26 pm
Exeter v Gloucester - exeter have selected a pack to suit the conditions, but think glos are just as powerful and have that extra bit of class and mobility. they have more spark in the backs as well to make the most of their possession.
18-21
Wasps v Northampton - For me Saints have the edge in the pack battle although Stevens in for tough time v Nieto. Think Parisse will lead Saints backrow well and gain them an edge. half backs go to saints although both wasps pair are good and control well. mac and roberts is a good combo to cause all sorts of problems for teams, jdv marshalls a defence well which is key for saints. tuilagi to bring on is good impact too. saints have the better back 3 here and can see them taking it.
22-24
Saracens v Sale - Solid Saffa front five will secure good ball for sarries, whilst sale unit is also strong. give the edge to the sale backrow, think has a bit more power with picamoles at 8. sarries half backs are in good form and its a combo i like. sexton starting to regain form but care slightly lacking but still a class act. think turner-hall and freuan is a little one dimensional but will cause problems for farrell. ioane is an immense running threat but cueto and homer but lack a little in that department. homers boot will keep the board ticking over for sarries. real tight game. cant separate sorry.
25-25
Bath v Quins - Bath edge the scrum here but prefer the quins 2nd row. a great balanced bath backrow will secure them good ball and will get the upper hand on quins, who are on good form if not the biggest names. seymour v steffon is a good english openside battle. both backlines have threats and pace, and as much as i hate EFS he is a good player. think quins will push bath all the way but at home they sneak it.
27-26
18-21
Wasps v Northampton - For me Saints have the edge in the pack battle although Stevens in for tough time v Nieto. Think Parisse will lead Saints backrow well and gain them an edge. half backs go to saints although both wasps pair are good and control well. mac and roberts is a good combo to cause all sorts of problems for teams, jdv marshalls a defence well which is key for saints. tuilagi to bring on is good impact too. saints have the better back 3 here and can see them taking it.
22-24
Saracens v Sale - Solid Saffa front five will secure good ball for sarries, whilst sale unit is also strong. give the edge to the sale backrow, think has a bit more power with picamoles at 8. sarries half backs are in good form and its a combo i like. sexton starting to regain form but care slightly lacking but still a class act. think turner-hall and freuan is a little one dimensional but will cause problems for farrell. ioane is an immense running threat but cueto and homer but lack a little in that department. homers boot will keep the board ticking over for sarries. real tight game. cant separate sorry.
25-25
Bath v Quins - Bath edge the scrum here but prefer the quins 2nd row. a great balanced bath backrow will secure them good ball and will get the upper hand on quins, who are on good form if not the biggest names. seymour v steffon is a good english openside battle. both backlines have threats and pace, and as much as i hate EFS he is a good player. think quins will push bath all the way but at home they sneak it.
27-26
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Re: AP Round 8
by Steven_Sharks Fri Nov 04, 2011 8:39 pm
Leicester 29 - 27 London Irish
This game will probably see the most exciting rugby with the conditions and players on show adding up to a cracking game. I see the Set piece battle going to Irish as I expect them to get some joy at the scrum with two really top class props. I expect each side to win there own lineout ball. Leicester will get the advantage if there is any at the breakdown. Both sides have excellent carriers and the forward battle should be massive. Both sets of half backs are top notch with no real stand out players on show and some player sufffering from lack of form/fitness. Much prefer the Irish centre partnership as a pair but I think Twelvetrees will offer a lot outside of Wilko. Naqeulavuki will give his defence a real testing which will affect his attacking game. Some superb runners in each of the back 3's to run in some tries.
Exeter 18 - 16 Gloucester
Two massive sets of forwards on show and the scrum will be pretty even along with the lineouts. Conditions really suit Exeter with some very experienced heads throughout there pack and Glouceser have a lot of power. I'd call the packs as pretty much even with the conditions suiting the perhaps less talented Exeter pack. I see Exeter winning the breakdown battle with Moody and Jennings. Whilst Gloucester have a superb set of halfbacks, there is no one I'd rather have in these conditions than ROG as he has proved to be an expert. Kellaher is also a great 9 to have behind that pack and I don't see a large advantage to either side here. Kahui is the star player in the centres with Hape and Darcy largely cancelling each other out. Dagg is the star man in the back 3 but I don't see these as the conditions for JSD or Gear and give the Exeter wings a slight advantage with two monster boots at 15. Home advantage and a great side for the conditions gives Exeter a narrow win.
London Wasps 25 - 25 Northampton Saints
Scrum goes to Wasps who have a very powerful unit and should get a small advantage there. Lineouts are pretty even with both sides winning there own. Very physical Wasps backrow against a perhaps more talented Saints one. I give a small forwards advantage to Wasps. Two completely contrasting styles at half backs with the elusive and skillful Saints taking on the hardworking and more direct Wasps unit and I give an advantage to Saints there. Centres go to Wasps who I think are better both inside and outside centre. I think Saints are better in every position in the back 3 which will help them. Really good game here.
Saracens 21 - 20 Sale
The scrum battle will be pretty even with perhaps a little bit of an advantage to Saracens. I prefer the Sarries locks but the margin isn't huge and I prefer the Sale back row which is very strong. Both half backs are strong and are fairly even. I think the centre battle goes to Saracens with a combo on excellent form and having a 12 who is comfortable at first receiver helps Saracens. The wings are about even with Ioane the start man and I think the full backs are pretty level. Very very even game.
This game will probably see the most exciting rugby with the conditions and players on show adding up to a cracking game. I see the Set piece battle going to Irish as I expect them to get some joy at the scrum with two really top class props. I expect each side to win there own lineout ball. Leicester will get the advantage if there is any at the breakdown. Both sides have excellent carriers and the forward battle should be massive. Both sets of half backs are top notch with no real stand out players on show and some player sufffering from lack of form/fitness. Much prefer the Irish centre partnership as a pair but I think Twelvetrees will offer a lot outside of Wilko. Naqeulavuki will give his defence a real testing which will affect his attacking game. Some superb runners in each of the back 3's to run in some tries.
Exeter 18 - 16 Gloucester
Two massive sets of forwards on show and the scrum will be pretty even along with the lineouts. Conditions really suit Exeter with some very experienced heads throughout there pack and Glouceser have a lot of power. I'd call the packs as pretty much even with the conditions suiting the perhaps less talented Exeter pack. I see Exeter winning the breakdown battle with Moody and Jennings. Whilst Gloucester have a superb set of halfbacks, there is no one I'd rather have in these conditions than ROG as he has proved to be an expert. Kellaher is also a great 9 to have behind that pack and I don't see a large advantage to either side here. Kahui is the star player in the centres with Hape and Darcy largely cancelling each other out. Dagg is the star man in the back 3 but I don't see these as the conditions for JSD or Gear and give the Exeter wings a slight advantage with two monster boots at 15. Home advantage and a great side for the conditions gives Exeter a narrow win.
London Wasps 25 - 25 Northampton Saints
Scrum goes to Wasps who have a very powerful unit and should get a small advantage there. Lineouts are pretty even with both sides winning there own. Very physical Wasps backrow against a perhaps more talented Saints one. I give a small forwards advantage to Wasps. Two completely contrasting styles at half backs with the elusive and skillful Saints taking on the hardworking and more direct Wasps unit and I give an advantage to Saints there. Centres go to Wasps who I think are better both inside and outside centre. I think Saints are better in every position in the back 3 which will help them. Really good game here.
Saracens 21 - 20 Sale
The scrum battle will be pretty even with perhaps a little bit of an advantage to Saracens. I prefer the Sarries locks but the margin isn't huge and I prefer the Sale back row which is very strong. Both half backs are strong and are fairly even. I think the centre battle goes to Saracens with a combo on excellent form and having a 12 who is comfortable at first receiver helps Saracens. The wings are about even with Ioane the start man and I think the full backs are pretty level. Very very even game.
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Re: AP Round 8
by Ozzy3213 Fri Nov 04, 2011 8:41 pm
Leicester Tigers 27 London Irish 24
Interesting front row battle to start, with not much change either way. Don't fancy either set of front row replacements though, as don't see Crockett and Mears scrummaging well together, and Irish have 2 tightheads and no loosehead replacement to bring on. Tactically I think it is wise for Tigers to play off Yachvilli as it is Wilkos first game, so right decision from Luke. Not sold on JMH at present, need to see how he comes back, early doors for him, so slightly down on rating for me. Lot's of firepower in the Irish backs means they will score, but I don't see them dominating enough up front to stop Tigers from getting some joy in attack as well. Home advantage is a bit of a swinger in this one for me, as there isn't a huge amount between the sides.
Interesting front row battle to start, with not much change either way. Don't fancy either set of front row replacements though, as don't see Crockett and Mears scrummaging well together, and Irish have 2 tightheads and no loosehead replacement to bring on. Tactically I think it is wise for Tigers to play off Yachvilli as it is Wilkos first game, so right decision from Luke. Not sold on JMH at present, need to see how he comes back, early doors for him, so slightly down on rating for me. Lot's of firepower in the Irish backs means they will score, but I don't see them dominating enough up front to stop Tigers from getting some joy in attack as well. Home advantage is a bit of a swinger in this one for me, as there isn't a huge amount between the sides.
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Re: AP Round 8
by Ozzy3213 Fri Nov 04, 2011 8:49 pm
Exeter Chiefs 12 Gloucester 14
Chiefs have got a very experienced pack, ideal for conditions, but then the Glaws pack has a lot of power and dog in it as well. Driver, got a little confused with your game specific tactics which don't tell me how you are going to play and seem to be just telling me that you think a couple of Glaws players will struggle, and there are couple are points that I simply just don't agree with, like ROG being better than Carter in a territory battle. Hape in the form that he has been in in real life the past 2 games will stop Glaws from getting their outside backs in the game, and I can actually seeing this being a pretty dire, error strewn , attritional battle, and basically 10 man rugby. Not sure the Exeter back row really works as a unit, and think as the game wears on Glaws would get on top in the pack. Home advantage and ROG's boot off the tee will keep it close, but a narrow away win for me.
Chiefs have got a very experienced pack, ideal for conditions, but then the Glaws pack has a lot of power and dog in it as well. Driver, got a little confused with your game specific tactics which don't tell me how you are going to play and seem to be just telling me that you think a couple of Glaws players will struggle, and there are couple are points that I simply just don't agree with, like ROG being better than Carter in a territory battle. Hape in the form that he has been in in real life the past 2 games will stop Glaws from getting their outside backs in the game, and I can actually seeing this being a pretty dire, error strewn , attritional battle, and basically 10 man rugby. Not sure the Exeter back row really works as a unit, and think as the game wears on Glaws would get on top in the pack. Home advantage and ROG's boot off the tee will keep it close, but a narrow away win for me.
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Re: AP Round 8
by SirJohnnyEnglish Fri Nov 04, 2011 9:07 pm
Leicester Tigers 20-16 London Irish
Scrum battle is worth the price of admission alone here with two seriously powerful units on show. Can’t call it either way. Lineout battle is fairly even with similar jumping options. Tigers shade it around the park in the front 5 though with the Irish 2nd row lacking carrying wise. Back row battle edges to the Tigers. Two quality 8’s on show but more from the Tigers on the flanks.
At halfback Tigers with a slight edge. JMH lacking form at 10. Irish with a very classy looking midfield combo in cracking form and with a distinct edge over the Tigers combo. Both back 3’s solid defensively and strong coming forward. No advantage either way. Both benches can bring some impact into the game with SBW the main star to come in.
Two solid sides with good game plans but see Tigers getting on top in the back row battle here. Their midfield may struggle up against a strong Irish combo but with home advantage and a good set of halfbacks on show Tigers should pick up the win here.
Exeter Chiefs 15-15 Gloucester Rugby
Exeter get on the front foot in the scrum battle here. Interesting battle at lineout time. Both sides with enough jumping options but Glaws lacking an out and out lineout captain? Not sure Exeter have the options to take full advantage though. Around the park both front 5s are fairly even overall. Back row Glaws have an extra class about them with a top carrying game but the Exeter line up will do exactly what Driver wants and disrupt Gloucester all day long.
Gloucester with the best halfback combo in the league. Not overly sure how Genia would cope in the floods though!! However ROG is perfect for these conditions and will be in his element. In the backlines Gloucester with a bit more in midfield with Kahui the main man on show while in the back 3 Exeter defensively are made for these conditions but Glaws will offer more coming forward. On the bench Gloucester with some impact to come on in the form of Gray and Barnes.
Very scrappy low scoring affair here in these conditions. Glaws have more to offer ball in hand but Chiefs are set up perfectly for the conditions and will really disrupt Gloucester at Sandy Park. Glaws with a lot of impact to bring in late on though. Very tight game to call and im going to give the draw sorry.
London Wasps 23-20 Northampton Saints
Scrum battle edges to Wasps with Nieto giving Stevens a hard time. No edge to either side in the lineout battle. Around the park though Saints with the edge with a very physical but mobile front 5. In the back row its very even on the flanks but Parisse a step up at 8 gives Saints some more go forward.
At half back, Classens offers more at scrumhalf. Gopperth with the stronger boot at flyhalf but Giteau will get his backline moving better. In the backs, midfield battle goes to Wasps. Mc Allister will provide the creative spark for Wasps while Roberts is of the back of a cracking world cup. Back 3 is a decent step up to Saints and they will see more of the ball of this week. On the bench Tuilagi provides great impact for Saints but van der Linde and Mafi give Wasps some decent impact of their own.
Tight one to call again here. Overall a good even pack battle while both sets of backs will put points on the board. Home advantage is what swings it for me
Bath Rugby 17-22 Harlequins
Neither side getting on top at the scrum in this one really. Think Sharpe could take control of the aerial battle though. Around the park Quins with a slight edge due to the extra quality in the 2nd row on show. Back row battle goes to Bath. Good form from the Quins flanks but the Bath lineup have all been in cracking form recently for club/country.
In the halfbacks FDP a level above Dickson but Contepomi more suited to the conditions for me at 10. In the backs midfield battle is fairly even overall. In the back 3’s though the Bath wingers just arent suited for these conditions and Quins have made sure to target them with a good kicking game. Bath with a bit more to offer from the bench though.
Bath will get an edge in the back row battle but Quins are just set up perfectly. They have a backline to give Varndell and Monye a horrid time in these conditions and Sharpe will take full advantage at the lineout. Quins to nick a good away win here.
Newcastle Falcons 32-23 Worcester Warriors
Scrum battle fairly even. Falcons with a bit more in the props but big Jim Hamilton will help his front row out an awful lot. POC will get some serious joy in the air though. Front 5s fairly even around the park though. Back row battle goes to Newcastle with a step up in quality.
On current form Reddan offers more at scrum half while Evans will get Newcastle moving better. In the backs Newcastle are a step up with some world class talent on show. On the bench Newcastle probably with more quality overall but Worcester with the best impact players with Botha, Roussow, Higginbottom to come in.
Worcester have gone with a very forward oriented game plan and just dont think they have the pack to get on top of a very strong Newcastle here so a home win for the champions for me.
Scrum battle is worth the price of admission alone here with two seriously powerful units on show. Can’t call it either way. Lineout battle is fairly even with similar jumping options. Tigers shade it around the park in the front 5 though with the Irish 2nd row lacking carrying wise. Back row battle edges to the Tigers. Two quality 8’s on show but more from the Tigers on the flanks.
At halfback Tigers with a slight edge. JMH lacking form at 10. Irish with a very classy looking midfield combo in cracking form and with a distinct edge over the Tigers combo. Both back 3’s solid defensively and strong coming forward. No advantage either way. Both benches can bring some impact into the game with SBW the main star to come in.
Two solid sides with good game plans but see Tigers getting on top in the back row battle here. Their midfield may struggle up against a strong Irish combo but with home advantage and a good set of halfbacks on show Tigers should pick up the win here.
Exeter Chiefs 15-15 Gloucester Rugby
Exeter get on the front foot in the scrum battle here. Interesting battle at lineout time. Both sides with enough jumping options but Glaws lacking an out and out lineout captain? Not sure Exeter have the options to take full advantage though. Around the park both front 5s are fairly even overall. Back row Glaws have an extra class about them with a top carrying game but the Exeter line up will do exactly what Driver wants and disrupt Gloucester all day long.
Gloucester with the best halfback combo in the league. Not overly sure how Genia would cope in the floods though!! However ROG is perfect for these conditions and will be in his element. In the backlines Gloucester with a bit more in midfield with Kahui the main man on show while in the back 3 Exeter defensively are made for these conditions but Glaws will offer more coming forward. On the bench Gloucester with some impact to come on in the form of Gray and Barnes.
Very scrappy low scoring affair here in these conditions. Glaws have more to offer ball in hand but Chiefs are set up perfectly for the conditions and will really disrupt Gloucester at Sandy Park. Glaws with a lot of impact to bring in late on though. Very tight game to call and im going to give the draw sorry.
London Wasps 23-20 Northampton Saints
Scrum battle edges to Wasps with Nieto giving Stevens a hard time. No edge to either side in the lineout battle. Around the park though Saints with the edge with a very physical but mobile front 5. In the back row its very even on the flanks but Parisse a step up at 8 gives Saints some more go forward.
At half back, Classens offers more at scrumhalf. Gopperth with the stronger boot at flyhalf but Giteau will get his backline moving better. In the backs, midfield battle goes to Wasps. Mc Allister will provide the creative spark for Wasps while Roberts is of the back of a cracking world cup. Back 3 is a decent step up to Saints and they will see more of the ball of this week. On the bench Tuilagi provides great impact for Saints but van der Linde and Mafi give Wasps some decent impact of their own.
Tight one to call again here. Overall a good even pack battle while both sets of backs will put points on the board. Home advantage is what swings it for me
Bath Rugby 17-22 Harlequins
Neither side getting on top at the scrum in this one really. Think Sharpe could take control of the aerial battle though. Around the park Quins with a slight edge due to the extra quality in the 2nd row on show. Back row battle goes to Bath. Good form from the Quins flanks but the Bath lineup have all been in cracking form recently for club/country.
In the halfbacks FDP a level above Dickson but Contepomi more suited to the conditions for me at 10. In the backs midfield battle is fairly even overall. In the back 3’s though the Bath wingers just arent suited for these conditions and Quins have made sure to target them with a good kicking game. Bath with a bit more to offer from the bench though.
Bath will get an edge in the back row battle but Quins are just set up perfectly. They have a backline to give Varndell and Monye a horrid time in these conditions and Sharpe will take full advantage at the lineout. Quins to nick a good away win here.
Newcastle Falcons 32-23 Worcester Warriors
Scrum battle fairly even. Falcons with a bit more in the props but big Jim Hamilton will help his front row out an awful lot. POC will get some serious joy in the air though. Front 5s fairly even around the park though. Back row battle goes to Newcastle with a step up in quality.
On current form Reddan offers more at scrum half while Evans will get Newcastle moving better. In the backs Newcastle are a step up with some world class talent on show. On the bench Newcastle probably with more quality overall but Worcester with the best impact players with Botha, Roussow, Higginbottom to come in.
Worcester have gone with a very forward oriented game plan and just dont think they have the pack to get on top of a very strong Newcastle here so a home win for the champions for me.
Last edited by SirJohnnyEnglish on Fri Nov 04, 2011 9:08 pm; edited 1 time in total (Reason for editing : Wrong score on the Exeter-Glaws game)
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Re: AP Round 8
by Ozzy3213 Fri Nov 04, 2011 9:08 pm
London Wasps 21 Northampton Saints 19
Two excellent packs, and the set piece battle will be cracking. I do see Stevens at loosehead as the weak link in the scrums and edge that battle to Wasps as a result. I don't really see much give either way in the packs in truth. Looking at the tactics Wasps are right to try to utilise the power they have particularly through the midfield. For Saints I think stopping Simpson from playing his normal sniping game and asking him to play in a way that is unatural to him is a mistake, but trying to stop Roberts getting across the gainline is the right option to try to blunt Wasps. Now, before the season started I said that I would mark down heavily for benches that did not provide cover for 9 and 10, either directly or indirectly by shifting players in the starting XV around. Now I accept that Giteau or Foden can step in at 9 if Simpson gets injured, but who is covering 10? I don't see anyone and have to deduct points for that as I said I would. This is a close game, and ultimately, it is that which hands it to Wasps for me.
Two excellent packs, and the set piece battle will be cracking. I do see Stevens at loosehead as the weak link in the scrums and edge that battle to Wasps as a result. I don't really see much give either way in the packs in truth. Looking at the tactics Wasps are right to try to utilise the power they have particularly through the midfield. For Saints I think stopping Simpson from playing his normal sniping game and asking him to play in a way that is unatural to him is a mistake, but trying to stop Roberts getting across the gainline is the right option to try to blunt Wasps. Now, before the season started I said that I would mark down heavily for benches that did not provide cover for 9 and 10, either directly or indirectly by shifting players in the starting XV around. Now I accept that Giteau or Foden can step in at 9 if Simpson gets injured, but who is covering 10? I don't see anyone and have to deduct points for that as I said I would. This is a close game, and ultimately, it is that which hands it to Wasps for me.
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Re: AP Round 8
by dammit_chris Fri Nov 04, 2011 9:12 pm
Halfpenny is cover at 10 Pete - he's covered for Wales and Cardiff Blues there - should have explained that in my tactics better really.
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Re: AP Round 8
by Ozzy3213 Fri Nov 04, 2011 9:21 pm
Bath Rugby 16 Harlequins 20
On paper two evenly matched sides, I just feel that Quins are better suited to the conditions, in particular in the backs, where I think the lack of a kicking game in shirts 11, 12, 13 and 14 could really hurt Bath. Can see Quins backs using their boots and keeping them in the right areas for long period and that pressure telling on Bath in the end.
On paper two evenly matched sides, I just feel that Quins are better suited to the conditions, in particular in the backs, where I think the lack of a kicking game in shirts 11, 12, 13 and 14 could really hurt Bath. Can see Quins backs using their boots and keeping them in the right areas for long period and that pressure telling on Bath in the end.
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Re: AP Round 8
by Ozzy3213 Fri Nov 04, 2011 9:23 pm
If Halfpenny is your cover for 10 then I would still mark you down for it Chris. He is never a 10 and with the standard in this game he would get ripped to shreds there. I have never seen him included as cover for 10 for club nor country. He may have ended up there briefly in a game, when the 1st, 2nd and 3rd choice 10 had all gone off injured, but he's no more a top class 10 than I am. Sorry.
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Re: AP Round 8
by prop_lyd Fri Nov 04, 2011 11:37 pm
Guys a ciuoke if yiu haven't done the worcester match! Will predict tomorrow
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Re: AP Round 8
by 'Arry Spurs Sat Nov 05, 2011 9:17 am
Leicester Tigers 22 - 18 London Irish
Very even pack battle, think Tigers have that added bit of quality in there to really set out a good platform for them, but Irish are oozing pure power. Think the Tigers half backs will control and dictate the play well and bring in their strike runners. Like the spark that London Irish have in their backline and can see them scoring some tries but I feel home advantage and better half backs wins this one for Luke.
Exeter Chiefs 16 - 18 Gloucester Rugby
Huge battle up front, think Exeter have the bigger pack but Gloucester have more dynamism and ball carriers that will set them out a solid platform. Think that O'Gara will do a good job for the Chiefs, but I think that Gloucester have that added bit of quality in their backline that will see them through. Genia and Carter will see them to a hard fought victory against an impressive Exeter line up.
Saracens 22 - 22 Sale Sharks
Very tight forward battle, I think it's even in the front fives but I prefer the balance of the Sarries back row to that of Sale's. Prefer the Sale half backs as I feel they will be able to control the flow of play well and execute their game plan efficiently, really rate Sexton. I like the balance of both back lines and really like Pete's midfield but feel that this one is too close to call.
Bath Rugby 17 - 20 Harlequins
Again, a very close encounter to call. I prefer the Quins forwards as I feel they have more grit and experience in there which is what you need in such poor conditions. Bath do have plenty of power in the forwards which will make for a real scrap. Can see Sharpe dictating at lineout time. I like the Bath half backs, but feel Quins are suited better to these conditions. Think the tactic of targetting the Bath wingers is a good one from Steve and I can see Contepomi having a really good game and providing plenty of control.
Very even pack battle, think Tigers have that added bit of quality in there to really set out a good platform for them, but Irish are oozing pure power. Think the Tigers half backs will control and dictate the play well and bring in their strike runners. Like the spark that London Irish have in their backline and can see them scoring some tries but I feel home advantage and better half backs wins this one for Luke.
Exeter Chiefs 16 - 18 Gloucester Rugby
Huge battle up front, think Exeter have the bigger pack but Gloucester have more dynamism and ball carriers that will set them out a solid platform. Think that O'Gara will do a good job for the Chiefs, but I think that Gloucester have that added bit of quality in their backline that will see them through. Genia and Carter will see them to a hard fought victory against an impressive Exeter line up.
Saracens 22 - 22 Sale Sharks
Very tight forward battle, I think it's even in the front fives but I prefer the balance of the Sarries back row to that of Sale's. Prefer the Sale half backs as I feel they will be able to control the flow of play well and execute their game plan efficiently, really rate Sexton. I like the balance of both back lines and really like Pete's midfield but feel that this one is too close to call.
Bath Rugby 17 - 20 Harlequins
Again, a very close encounter to call. I prefer the Quins forwards as I feel they have more grit and experience in there which is what you need in such poor conditions. Bath do have plenty of power in the forwards which will make for a real scrap. Can see Sharpe dictating at lineout time. I like the Bath half backs, but feel Quins are suited better to these conditions. Think the tactic of targetting the Bath wingers is a good one from Steve and I can see Contepomi having a really good game and providing plenty of control.
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Re: AP Round 8
by Sgt_Pooly Sat Nov 05, 2011 9:18 am
Leicester 26–23 Irish
Irish take scrum with great props but evened up a little with Bruno. Tigers have this back in lineout and backed with good tactical kicking could get at the Irish lineout. Bit more for Leicester in halfbacks and backs are great from both sides with cracking options. Home advantage and a bit more in the back 5 and halfbacks see Leicester through.
Irish take scrum with great props but evened up a little with Bruno. Tigers have this back in lineout and backed with good tactical kicking could get at the Irish lineout. Bit more for Leicester in halfbacks and backs are great from both sides with cracking options. Home advantage and a bit more in the back 5 and halfbacks see Leicester through.
Last edited by Sgt_Pooly on Sat Nov 05, 2011 9:53 am; edited 1 time in total
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Re: AP Round 8
by dammit_chris Sat Nov 05, 2011 9:28 am
Exeter 12-12 Gloucester
Exeter have got their tactics right and home advantage gets them the draw for me. Mat gets the draw because player for player he has the better class, just see this being a really tough, error strewn game that wont have many scoring opportunities because the way both teams ahve set out to play. The rain doesnt help either!
Tigers 27 - 28 Irish
Was so hard to call, home advantage counted as a lot for me, but the issue that I have with the Tigers team is that I can't quite see where they will get over the gainline, they dont have any carriers in their backrow and the Irish backline is very aggressive and hard in the tackle area. I think Irish could get an early lead and then the subs of Tigers brings it back, but as they are looking for a win it could let SBW and Tait have some extra space to get a win.
Saracens 25 - 22 Sale
Feel that the added kicking options in the backline could make a big difference for Sarries here, they got 10, 12 and 15 who can effectively kick Sale to their own territory. Farrell v TH is a good midfield battle, but Owen's got a great defence and can see him using a bit more intelligence to swing the battle Sarries way. Packs are very even, can't see Sale getting enough ball away from home to win this.
Bath 9 - 9 Quins -
Heavy rain and another low scoring game where defences will be on top and the conditions are going to really stop the Bath backline playing - both wings and centres for Bath are much more suited to dry conditions and Hodgson plays his best in the dry. Think that the Quins backline will eat them up all day. But I dont see that the Quins pack will force home this advantage and the Bath backrow will cause trouble for Quins all afternoon.
Newcastle 29 - 23 Worcester
Too much power, class and everything for Worcester in this game - only Worcesters spoiling tactics keep the scoreboard this low. Think the ability to score out wide really helps Pooly and his 10-13 axis will get tries for the backthree. THink there are more try threats out wide for Newcastle to score the opportunities.
Exeter have got their tactics right and home advantage gets them the draw for me. Mat gets the draw because player for player he has the better class, just see this being a really tough, error strewn game that wont have many scoring opportunities because the way both teams ahve set out to play. The rain doesnt help either!
Tigers 27 - 28 Irish
Was so hard to call, home advantage counted as a lot for me, but the issue that I have with the Tigers team is that I can't quite see where they will get over the gainline, they dont have any carriers in their backrow and the Irish backline is very aggressive and hard in the tackle area. I think Irish could get an early lead and then the subs of Tigers brings it back, but as they are looking for a win it could let SBW and Tait have some extra space to get a win.
Saracens 25 - 22 Sale
Feel that the added kicking options in the backline could make a big difference for Sarries here, they got 10, 12 and 15 who can effectively kick Sale to their own territory. Farrell v TH is a good midfield battle, but Owen's got a great defence and can see him using a bit more intelligence to swing the battle Sarries way. Packs are very even, can't see Sale getting enough ball away from home to win this.
Bath 9 - 9 Quins -
Heavy rain and another low scoring game where defences will be on top and the conditions are going to really stop the Bath backline playing - both wings and centres for Bath are much more suited to dry conditions and Hodgson plays his best in the dry. Think that the Quins backline will eat them up all day. But I dont see that the Quins pack will force home this advantage and the Bath backrow will cause trouble for Quins all afternoon.
Newcastle 29 - 23 Worcester
Too much power, class and everything for Worcester in this game - only Worcesters spoiling tactics keep the scoreboard this low. Think the ability to score out wide really helps Pooly and his 10-13 axis will get tries for the backthree. THink there are more try threats out wide for Newcastle to score the opportunities.
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Re: AP Round 8
by Sgt_Pooly Sat Nov 05, 2011 9:52 am
Saracens 19-21 Sale
See Schuster getting at JdP but evened up by BdP and Beast, bit more in loose for Sarries though. Really hard to split the engine rooms, Chulski stronger than Elstadt and Matfield, Bekker. Matfield marked down a little due to lack of gametime but enough to provide a threat. Stacks of lineout options in Sarries backrow though. Prefer the Sale backrow with great balance and only Wood/Todd a close contest.
Sale set out much better in the halfbacks, not a game for Hougaard to thrive. Not seeing much creativity Sarries 10-13, Farrell more a 10 and seems he needs a creative 10 to play well at 12. Sorry Pete but balance there is wrong for me and hinders ball to your back 3. Tried and tested for Sale and prefer both centres. See the Sale back 3 getting better ball throughout. Sarries bench set out well for conditions and would have liked to see some of those start.
If this was heavy rain would see Sarries dominating with game plan and lineup. Just think they lack a little creativity and are top heavy with players who are more comftable kicking possession away and Sale have the talent to take advantage. Kudos for Sarries lineout tactic that would pay dividends but see Sale controlling despite this.
See Schuster getting at JdP but evened up by BdP and Beast, bit more in loose for Sarries though. Really hard to split the engine rooms, Chulski stronger than Elstadt and Matfield, Bekker. Matfield marked down a little due to lack of gametime but enough to provide a threat. Stacks of lineout options in Sarries backrow though. Prefer the Sale backrow with great balance and only Wood/Todd a close contest.
Sale set out much better in the halfbacks, not a game for Hougaard to thrive. Not seeing much creativity Sarries 10-13, Farrell more a 10 and seems he needs a creative 10 to play well at 12. Sorry Pete but balance there is wrong for me and hinders ball to your back 3. Tried and tested for Sale and prefer both centres. See the Sale back 3 getting better ball throughout. Sarries bench set out well for conditions and would have liked to see some of those start.
If this was heavy rain would see Sarries dominating with game plan and lineup. Just think they lack a little creativity and are top heavy with players who are more comftable kicking possession away and Sale have the talent to take advantage. Kudos for Sarries lineout tactic that would pay dividends but see Sale controlling despite this.
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Re: AP Round 8
by Guest Sat Nov 05, 2011 10:06 am
One at a time as on phone
Bath 18-9 quins.
Total mismatch in front row and particularly back row. Wet
Conditions. Bath will dominate. Would
Be a higher score to bath if they played Whitelock and lydiate who are excellent wet weather playrrs
Bath 18-9 quins.
Total mismatch in front row and particularly back row. Wet
Conditions. Bath will dominate. Would
Be a higher score to bath if they played Whitelock and lydiate who are excellent wet weather playrrs
Guest- Guest
Re: AP Round 8
by Sgt_Pooly Sat Nov 05, 2011 10:14 am
Wasps 20-16 Saints
Another cracking contest. See Wasps shading scrum but good lineout options for Saints in the backrow making up for them not having a genuine lineout operator and great Sants pairing around the park. Parisse the class act in the backrow but think Wasps edge 6/7. Lapandry is not a scavenging OS at all and he'd suffer against Burger if used in this role. Think Wasps shade the halfbacks in the conditions and both Wasps centres stronger. Devistating back 3 that will cause havoc of they get some ball but not sure Saints centres are the pairing to do this.
Understand Chris going 6/2 but odd sub choices which if Giteau got injured they'd be left with no 10 and not great 9 options tbh. Bit harsh on Saints but Arry has made some safe calls and have players to see them through.
Another cracking contest. See Wasps shading scrum but good lineout options for Saints in the backrow making up for them not having a genuine lineout operator and great Sants pairing around the park. Parisse the class act in the backrow but think Wasps edge 6/7. Lapandry is not a scavenging OS at all and he'd suffer against Burger if used in this role. Think Wasps shade the halfbacks in the conditions and both Wasps centres stronger. Devistating back 3 that will cause havoc of they get some ball but not sure Saints centres are the pairing to do this.
Understand Chris going 6/2 but odd sub choices which if Giteau got injured they'd be left with no 10 and not great 9 options tbh. Bit harsh on Saints but Arry has made some safe calls and have players to see them through.
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Re: AP Round 8
by Guest Sat Nov 05, 2011 10:27 am
Sarries 11-7 sale. Sarries kicking options key. Jinny relying on sexton who had a mare last few months. Great game
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Re: AP Round 8
by Guest Sat Nov 05, 2011 10:30 am
Leicester 15-14 Irish. Hone advantage and game of day for me. Leicester lose scrum but have just enough. Great Leicester lineout and half backs
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Re: AP Round 8
by dammit_chris Sat Nov 05, 2011 10:58 am
Pooly really surprised by your comments on Farrell - he's been the inform 12 in the AP this season, each game he's setting up tries. Definitely not a 10, he's an out and out 12 - just ask Brad Barritt who is being asked to play more and more at 13 because of Farrell. Think he gives Pete a great balance to the midfield.
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Re: AP Round 8
by Sgt_Pooly Sat Nov 05, 2011 11:00 am
It's all opinions Chris. Barritt played 12 against Gloucester and Farrell 13.
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Re: AP Round 8
by Ozzy3213 Sat Nov 05, 2011 11:05 am
'tis all opinions and everyone is entitled to theirs. 
I do have a question for you Pooly about your opinion on 1 of my players (not Farrell) but will ask it in an hour after predos have closed as I don't want it to be seen to be trying to influence any predos yet to come in.
I do have a question for you Pooly about your opinion on 1 of my players (not Farrell) but will ask it in an hour after predos have closed as I don't want it to be seen to be trying to influence any predos yet to come in.
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Re: AP Round 8
by Sgt_Pooly Sat Nov 05, 2011 11:06 am
Bath 18-16 Quins
See the scrum shading to the home side with slightly stronger props on show. Bit more grunt for Quins in the engine room that'll give them so go forward in the conditions. Prefer the Bath backrow and with carrying of all 3 players have options in the conditions, Heaslip will be in his element here though.
Both good halfbacks for conditions and nothing in the midfields. Cracking kicking options for Quins in back 3 but Steyn could be huge for Bath and Monye is solid. Great tactics for Steve but Bath look a little stronger in the pack and home advantage sees them through.
See the scrum shading to the home side with slightly stronger props on show. Bit more grunt for Quins in the engine room that'll give them so go forward in the conditions. Prefer the Bath backrow and with carrying of all 3 players have options in the conditions, Heaslip will be in his element here though.
Both good halfbacks for conditions and nothing in the midfields. Cracking kicking options for Quins in back 3 but Steyn could be huge for Bath and Monye is solid. Great tactics for Steve but Bath look a little stronger in the pack and home advantage sees them through.
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Re: AP Round 8
by Sgt_Pooly Sat Nov 05, 2011 11:07 am
I really like Farrell but he just looks stronger at 10 for me. Ideal territory type 10, not sure he has the running game yet for centre.
Pete PM me if you like
Pete PM me if you like
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Re: AP Round 8
by Ozzy3213 Sat Nov 05, 2011 11:09 am
I'll hold off on the PM Pooly, and ask on here in a bit, as it would be good for me to gauge everyone's opinion on him to be honest.
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Re: AP Round 8
by prop_lyd Sat Nov 05, 2011 11:10 am
Exeter 14-15 Gloucester
Tigers 20-17 Irish
Saracens 20-19 Sale
Bath 12-16 Quins
Wasps 24-20 Saints
Sorry no time for predos...as driver said was rather drunk last night so regretting it now getting ready to go out for lunch!
Tigers 20-17 Irish
Saracens 20-19 Sale
Bath 12-16 Quins
Wasps 24-20 Saints
Sorry no time for predos...as driver said was rather drunk last night so regretting it now getting ready to go out for lunch!
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Re: AP Round 8
by LukeLovesLuka Sat Nov 05, 2011 11:12 am
Exeter 15 - 19 Gloucester
Really feel for Driver as I just don't see any form in his side. Maybe O'Gara, but no-one stands out for me as showing up in the last few months. But they do have a grizzly front 5 that will make life hard for Gloucester, but think the away side have too much quality today.
Wasps 21 - 21 Saints
Bit of form lacking for Chris up front, but a good battle nevertheless. Wasps have more power but Saints have the better players for me in the pack. Wasps seem to have the form centres around at the minute, but Saints back three is so dangerous I see them having real success here. Tough to call this one.
Saracens 23 - 17 Sale
SJE has really targeted the lineout, and though I think he has a point, the last person in the world you want to target in the lineout is Matfield. "We expect Matfield to keep it simple and call a lot of ball to himself" - key phrase and whilst it is spot on, if doesn't work in his favour for me. Other than that I see Sarries stronger throughout and taking a good win.
Bath 24 - 19 Harlequins
Really enjoying Bath's pack these days, and at home see them gaining an advantage here. Surprised Steve is still picking Rees over Brits. Quins back line looks a bit uneven with Kearney and Preistland playing on the wing and full back. ITFL get Steyn at IC mate. Bath have that bit too much at home.
Really feel for Driver as I just don't see any form in his side. Maybe O'Gara, but no-one stands out for me as showing up in the last few months. But they do have a grizzly front 5 that will make life hard for Gloucester, but think the away side have too much quality today.
Wasps 21 - 21 Saints
Bit of form lacking for Chris up front, but a good battle nevertheless. Wasps have more power but Saints have the better players for me in the pack. Wasps seem to have the form centres around at the minute, but Saints back three is so dangerous I see them having real success here. Tough to call this one.
Saracens 23 - 17 Sale
SJE has really targeted the lineout, and though I think he has a point, the last person in the world you want to target in the lineout is Matfield. "We expect Matfield to keep it simple and call a lot of ball to himself" - key phrase and whilst it is spot on, if doesn't work in his favour for me. Other than that I see Sarries stronger throughout and taking a good win.
Bath 24 - 19 Harlequins
Really enjoying Bath's pack these days, and at home see them gaining an advantage here. Surprised Steve is still picking Rees over Brits. Quins back line looks a bit uneven with Kearney and Preistland playing on the wing and full back. ITFL get Steyn at IC mate. Bath have that bit too much at home.
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Re: AP Round 8
by Driver Sat Nov 05, 2011 11:14 am
Tigers 24 London Irish 20
Saracens 15 Sale 15
Bath 10 Quins 15
Wasps 19 Saints 15
Off to rugby soon so can't write up , will post later with details if wanted
Saracens 15 Sale 15
Bath 10 Quins 15
Wasps 19 Saints 15
Off to rugby soon so can't write up , will post later with details if wanted
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Re: AP Round 8
by Sgt_Pooly Sat Nov 05, 2011 11:15 am
Exeter 16–16 Gloucester
Belting game this one with Driver seeming really up for it! Edge up front for Exeter in the conditions I feel with a very strong front row. Both engine rooms will really add to the scrum and it will be a very physical encounter around the park with 4 beasts of locks. Gloucester backrow a class above in the carrying department but a really nice balance to Exeter with Jennings bringing a strong ground game. No doubt there is more quality in the Gloucester backline and if sunny they’d win this by 10. Just think Exeter are set up great for the conditions and at home they'll really push Gloucester hard.
Belting game this one with Driver seeming really up for it! Edge up front for Exeter in the conditions I feel with a very strong front row. Both engine rooms will really add to the scrum and it will be a very physical encounter around the park with 4 beasts of locks. Gloucester backrow a class above in the carrying department but a really nice balance to Exeter with Jennings bringing a strong ground game. No doubt there is more quality in the Gloucester backline and if sunny they’d win this by 10. Just think Exeter are set up great for the conditions and at home they'll really push Gloucester hard.
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Re: AP Round 8
by Sgt_Pooly Sat Nov 05, 2011 11:16 am
Guys, can you remember to predo mine and props game. Seems the extra game is getting forgot about
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Re: AP Round 8
by Ozzy3213 Sat Nov 05, 2011 11:17 am
Not Homer, I think we all know your opinion on him by now! lol
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Re: AP Round 8
by Guest Sat Nov 05, 2011 12:06 pm
Wasps 19-19 saints draw home advantage saves arry. Evenly matched
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Re: AP Round 8
by Ozzy3213 Sat Nov 05, 2011 12:06 pm
RESULTS
Leicester Tigers 31 London Irish 21
Exeter Chiefs 16 Gloucester 21
London Wasps 27 Northampton Saints 21
Saracens 25 Sale Sharks 20
Bath Rugby 21 Harlequins 22
Newcastle Falcons 31 Worcester Warriors 17
Leicester Tigers 31 London Irish 21
Exeter Chiefs 16 Gloucester 21
London Wasps 27 Northampton Saints 21
Saracens 25 Sale Sharks 20
Bath Rugby 21 Harlequins 22
Newcastle Falcons 31 Worcester Warriors 17
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Re: AP Round 8
by LukeLovesLuka Sat Nov 05, 2011 12:07 pm
It's ITFL's b'day. Imagine he was out on the white lightning last night 
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Re: AP Round 8
by Sgt_Pooly Sat Nov 05, 2011 12:09 pm
Lol....bloody teenagers! Prob looting Primark and getting a smelly finger
Massive wins for Gloucester & Quins.
Massive wins for Gloucester & Quins.
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Re: AP Round 8
by SirJohnnyEnglish Sat Nov 05, 2011 12:17 pm
Just get this in now predictions are over... Sexton had a mare kicking at the world cup but the rest of his game was more then fine. Since coming back for Leinster he hit 23 points last weekend and didnt miss a kick winning man of the match against Munster last night.Definately over his struggles with the world cup ball!
Some big away wins there. Very impressed with Steves win. Congratulations on the win Pete happy to take the bonus point from your place
Some big away wins there. Very impressed with Steves win. Congratulations on the win Pete happy to take the bonus point from your place
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Re: AP Round 8
by Ozzy3213 Sat Nov 05, 2011 12:24 pm
Massive for Quins. Swung back and forth through the predos that one.
Pooly, want your opinion on Lambie, more on what sort of player you see him as rather than how highly or lowly you rate him
I ask because you said in your predo that Farrell needs a creative 10 in order to play well at 12, which I don't have any issue with. I ask mainly because I see Lambie as being creative. I don't see him as a spend all game kicking for the corners type 10, so just wondered how you and others see him?
Ta
Pooly, want your opinion on Lambie, more on what sort of player you see him as rather than how highly or lowly you rate him
I ask because you said in your predo that Farrell needs a creative 10 in order to play well at 12, which I don't have any issue with. I ask mainly because I see Lambie as being creative. I don't see him as a spend all game kicking for the corners type 10, so just wondered how you and others see him?
Ta
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Re: AP Round 8
by LukeLovesLuka Sat Nov 05, 2011 12:25 pm
Why didn't you play FTD at 10 and Lambie at 15 Pete?
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Re: AP Round 8
by Ozzy3213 Sat Nov 05, 2011 12:26 pm
I would have needed to fit another EQ player in somewhere else if I had done that luke, and wanted FTD as an impact sub off the bench in any case.
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