About v2AP Round 9
+7
dammit_chris
Sgt_Pooly
'Arry Spurs
CJB
Ozzy3213
Driver
SirJohnnyEnglish
11 posters
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AP Round 9
by SirJohnnyEnglish Sun 20 Nov 2011, 5:35 pm
Team Sheets and tactics due by COB Thur
Predictions open Fri. Results due Sun/Mon
Sale Sharks v Exeter Chiefs
Sunny Intervals, 11 Degrees, 11mph Winds
Sale Sharks
Manager – SJE
16. Lee Imolek 17. Brett Sharman 18. Neemia Tialata 19. Christian Day 20. Victor Vito 21. Shaun Perry 22. Aaron Cruden 23. Jordan Turner Hall
General Game Plan
On attack, we will look to our big carriers to get over the gain line and where possible offload to support runners, breaking the defensive line and keeping our forward momentum going. If running the ball is not on we will look to the boots of Sexton and Hook to put us in the right areas.
On defence, we will use a blitz defence coming up at pace looking to isolate the ball carrier before he gets to the gain line stopping any momentum and allowing us to hit the breakdown hard. Danny Care will act as a sweeper to cover any grubbers behind the line while our back three will sit deep ready to run back any loose kicks.
At the breakdown, if the ball looks available we will look to seriously commit numbers to clear the ruck allowing Thomson and Quedragao to come in and secure us turnover ball. At all other times we will commit 1 or 2 to the breakdown and look to counter ruck slowing down Exeter ball allowing our defensive line more time to set.
We will look to use the set piece as a weapon throughout. We will target the scrum with a technically strong front row looking to get in under to win every hit. With 5 jumping options and a reliable thrower at hook we will look to attack from the lineout. We will look to mix things up bringing the ball down into the maul or playing the ball of the top and spreading it through the backs.
Key Points
• We are unbeaten at home since season two having won every league game here in the last year. Edgeley Park is a fortress and the Chiefs will need to be at their very best to breach it with a passionate crowd cheering us on.
•We are here to play our own game not Exeter’s. We won’t look to get into an arm wrestle but will play our usual style of attacking running rugby looking to move Exeter around the park.
• We have gone with a side full of pace particularly in the back line to really get at the Chiefs. We will be deploying lots of decoy running tying up spare defenders to ensure one on one match ups. We will look to use a full complement of forwards at each lineout allowing one on one match ups in the back line. At scrum time we will look to wheel the Chiefs scrum away from the backline to get some more of these one on one match ups.
• We will look to win the collisions in both attack and defence so we have a target for our forwards to hit when they reach the ruck. We will look to get at the Exeter 10/12 axis from the start and really get on top of the Chiefs here
• As always on defence our back three will sit deep ready for any kicks We expect ROG’s boot to be a big part of Exeter’s attacking game and we want to take it out of play with a pacy and dangerous counter attacking game
Exeter Chiefs
Manager – Driver
16.John Smit 17.Salvator Perugini 18.Dave Wilson 19.James Hudson 20.Declan Danahar 21.Haydn Thomas 22.Steven Myler 23.Adam Thompstone
Tactics
Exeter will look to play a big physical game based around players carrying in the narrow channels around fringes and tie defenders into the contact area. Our pack will look to retain possetion with Byron Kelleher dictating the tempo and keep the Sharks defense honest.
We will look to play the game plan which suits Exeter best and that is to play at a high tempo from the off and really take the game to Sale smashing the ball up the middle with D’Arcy and Bell making head way to create space outwide for the back 3 to exploit or set a platform for ROG to pin Sale inside there own 22.
Moody and Jennings will look to target the breakdown as this is where games can be won or lost.
Pressure is off as we’re not expected to get anything from this so we’ll be pretty relaxed going into this and backing our selves to take points from.
Wilson/Hudson/Myler on at 55 mins to run round and up the tempo and take the game to Sale.
Key Points
1: Hook plays with a lot of individuality , is he really the man to get the best out of Robbie Freaun?
2:Isia Toeava , Luke Fitzgerald and Lee Byrne all have succeeded at the highest level where as Sam Smith and Luke Rooney havn't made the impact most would of expected them to.
3.We have a good attacking backline which can score tries and using front foot ball we will score tries.
Gloucester Rugby v Leicester Tigers
Light Rain, 13 Degrees, 12mph Winds
Gloucester
Manager – anonmattyt
16. Guthro Steenkamp 17. Jamie George 18. Julian White 19. George Robson 20. Julian Bonnaire 21. Dave Lewis 22. Hosea Gear 23. Jonny May
Glaws welcome Leicester to kingsholm and will be looking to really stuff Leicester and send a message through the Ap.
Forwards
Glaws as ever have gone for a hugely physical pack that has great mobility as well as great set piece.
Scrums
We will be looking to really turn the screw with mas targetting Jenkins horribly. We are aiming to sap there energy and force Leicester to bring on london irishs 3.rd choice loosehead Dermody and franks.
We are also looking to our exceptional back 5 to really keep the drive on.
Lineouts
We think we can shred Leicester here and this is an easy win for us. Leicester have no lineout experts and we will pressure with hari palmer bakkies burger and look to destroy their lineout. We have all seen moores darts go under pressure and this will be super pressure.
On our ball we will be looking to catch and drive in our own 22 but after that hit off the top and try and hit runners in midfield and try and move this much slower Leicester pack around.
Breakdown
We see this as a clear advantage to us. They may have pocock but we have a much quicker backrow and hari ferris and burger will be there way before Hines and Waldrom. Burger has played most his rugby at 7 and outperforformed mccaw etc at 7 on occasions. When he was voted best player in the world that was at 7.
Overall.
We are going to play at intensity and not give Leicester the slow game they want. We will look to suck their pack in and move it away again and create the next wave of possession.
We have so many mobile ball carriers and we will change the point of attack and work in pods and move leIcester into positions they dont want to be in.
Defensively we will send numbers in to counter ruck and with our extra pace in back row look to isolate the man and turnover.
Backs
We have the 2 best hbs in the game and they will dictate tempo. Initially we will be looking to kick quick ball in behind their back 3 and win territory battle with Leicester having 2 wings who are not great kickers.
We will also test out Corey Janes positioning as its been a while since he played there .
We have 3 great kicking options which will force Leicester back and make them either kick which means we get the lineout or they try and counter which moves their large pack about even more.
As the game progresses we will up the tempo carter will be looking to hit kahui up and recycle and then hit our ball carrying forwards coming round the corner to set the next phase.
Carter and genia will keep the ball moving from phase to phase looking to eventually create mismatches for us to exploit.
As the game starts to break up our back 3 will counter every kick and quick throw ins etc and break the game up.
Defensively we will blitz wilko who is not the attacking force he was and let 36 have pressure ball.
We see our bench as far
More dynamic and will use as neccesary. Bonnaire will further reinforce our lineout.
Key points
Glaws in form with in form players all over
Far more mobile pack with much better backrow balance. Hines is a second
Row playing 6 for Leicester
Dominant lineout against essentially 3 front jumping locks
More dynamic bench with game breakers every where. If wilko injured who plays 10 nacewa??
All international backline in their right positions.
More kicking options
Leicester Tigers
Manager – LukeLovesLuka
16. Clarke Dermody 17. Lee Mears 18. Ben Franks 19. Alex Brown 20. Tom Croft 21. Nick Easter 22. Micky Young 23. Isa Nacewa
Tactics
GENERAL:
- We have picked a huge carrying pack, tactical HB's and an intelligent midfield in an effort to get our back three into positions where they can hurt Gloucester.
- Defensively we will look to blitz, with Yachvilli sweeping behind the line to deal with any short kicks.
- Yachvili to kick all penalties in range. We also have Wilkinson or Twelvetrees if he is having an off day.
- Utilise our powerful 6/2 split bench to win the game for us in the last quarter. Two technical props in Dermody and Franks, big lineout options in A.Brown and Croft, experienced heads in Easter and Mears, and pace and excitement with Young and Nacewa.
FORWARDS:
- We will look to maintain a strong scrum all game, with a great scrummaging hooker who will look to get after Gray, and two massively powerful props in Jenkins and Johnston to get the shove on. Both Jenkins and Johnston are tall props, so they are told to hold their bind and keep their body and back straight in an effort to stop them being done underneath.
- In the lineout, Hines, Horwill and Pape will be our three main jumpers, and we believe we can get real joy in targeting Gray's throws with these big jumpers. With A.Brown and Croft, and also Easter to come on, we will attack the lineout more and more as the game wears on.
- A massive pack, full to the brim of ball carriers, to give us real go-forward. With the ball in hand we want to attack together in groups so as not to become isolated, and if it is on we will look to offload in or just before the tackle. All players are to act as support runners when they can.
- We will target the breakdown massively with Pocock. Gloucester have no out and out 7 in their team, and we feel we can get gain a big advantage here. Pocock is told to hit the breakdown area fast, looking to get his hands on turnover ball. We want to seriously disrupt the quality of the ball Gloucester can get, and steal as much as we can for our own backs to use.
BACKS:
- We will force Gloucester to play from deep - With the rain, the pitch will be wet, and we will use the big boots of Yachvili, Wilkinson and Twelvetrees to pen Gloucester back in their own 22.
- In general attacking play, we will play off 9 with Yachvili our man in charge. We will look to move Gloucester's pack around, release our strike runners 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.
- Waldrom/Jenkins/Johnston/Horwill/Hines to be used off the shoulder of the half backs, inside or out, and look to crash through the defence.
- Twelvetrees can act as our second receiver, and brings another kicking option when we are looking for territory - he can also 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.
- In Cory Jane we have one of the safest pair of hands in world rugby. The more Gloucester kick to us, the better.
- Our back three are encouraged to do what comes naturally to all of them - counter attacking and running the ball back. 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:
- In-game form - we have won 6 of our last 7 games, averaging 34 points per game. And we also beat Gloucester with Bakkies Botha, Tom Palmer, Stephen Ferris and Schalk Burger in their pack 32-23, only a few weeks ago.
- We have a much heavier pack than Gloucester (on average nearly a stone per player). Matt will harp on about his ball carrying back row, but we have a much stronger carrying front five than Gloucester, whilst Waldrom is the best carrying 8 in the AP and Pocock was Australia's leading carrier at the World Cup.
- Controlling HB's - Gloucester obviously have dangerous attacking HB's, but we have two of the best tactical HB's in the world. With their tactical ability, we will force Gloucester to play from deep, and pen them back in their own 22. We will look to Yachvili and Wilkinson to use their nous and experience to win the crucial tactical battle.
- Target the breakdown with Pocock - Gloucester have no out and out 7 in their team, and we feel we can get gain a big advantage here. Pocock is told to hit the breakdown area fast, looking to get his hands on turnover ball.
- Team packed full of leaders for a huge away game. Horwill and BOD are our inspirational captain and vice, and then behind them we have Jenkins, Hines, Pocock, Yachvili and Wilkinson, and Easter and Dermody off the bench, who are all natural leaders - which is essential for an important away fixture.
London Irish v London Wasps
White Cloud, 12 Degrees, 9mph Winds
London Irish
Manager – stnick88
16. Jean Baptiste Poux 17. James Buckland 18. Duncan Bell 19. Mouritz Botha 20. Kieren Roche 21. Julien Dupuy 22. Sireli Naqalevuki 23. Marland Yarde
Tactics
We going in to this game full of confidence after gaining 5 points in the HC against Harlequins. The conditions are ok and we will look to stick to our usual high tempo game and attack Wasps from the off.
We are ruthlessly targetting the scrum. Castro will look to tear Freshwater apart and gain us a big upper hand here. Our front row are all very effective in the loose as well and we will look to take Wasps on upfront with a powerful backrow of Kaino Fourie Spies. We will look to dominate possession and territory and make Wasps feed off scraps. We have Fourie to scavenge whereas Wasps lack that natural openside.
Pienaar and Bowden will pull the strings, with Bowden being the main play maker and creating the space for SBW and Fourie. We have instructed SBW only to offload when it is on, and not to try the impossible. Fourie and Tait will look to gather these offloads.
JMH to kick all pens for goal, if not go for touch to use Kennedy, Garvey, Kaino and Spies at the lineout. Kennedy will disrupt as much opposition ball as possible.
We will use our big ball carriers, Tonga'uhia, Kaino, Garvey, Spies, Fourie to smash over the gainline and suck in defenders before spreading the ball for Bowden to work his magic and get SBW, Fourie, Tait etc involved.
We will make Wasps ball as scrappy as possible (legally) so that service to Gopperth is limited. He is not the most creative 10 and we will look to pressurise him and really put him on the back foot. We want to keep our own ball alive and moving as Wasps forwards are not as dynamic as ours and we will look to move them around and spot mismatches.
London Wasps
Manager – ‘Arry
16. Tatafu Polota-Nau 17. Charlie Beech 18. CJ Van Der Linde 19. Richard Birkett 20. Tom Johnson 21. Mike Blair 22. Rory Clegg 23. Mike Tindall
Tactics
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 away from London Irish with a hard fought victory. We are really up for the battle and feel we have a great chance of winning. We have several players who are in great form in real life and are on a superb winning run with plenty of momentum.
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 London Irish down.
We have two excellent kicking options in Gopperth and McAlister we will look to kick in behind the London Irish 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 Irish 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 Burgess with clean, quick ball and get our forwards running onto the ball at different angles to pierce the Irish 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 Irish 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 Irish 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 Irish players and will look to attack the fly half channel in the Irish defence and put Bowden 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 Irish 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 Irish 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 London Irish by using the rolling maul. We will look to suck in as many London Irish 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 them going backwards. Our back row will look to really get in Bowden’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 London Irish 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 Irish 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. We have purposefully selected a bench full of impact players who can come on and make a difference.
Harlequins v Newcastle Falcons
Sunny Intervals, 12 Degrees, 9mph Winds
Harlequins
Manager – Steven_Sharks
16. Rob Vickers 17. Joe Marler 18. Brian Mujati 18. James Gaskell 19. Carl Fearns 20. Tomas O'Leary 21. Quade Cooper 22. Freddie Burns
Tactics
We welcome Newcastle and are fully confident that we are going to get a win at the Stoop. We have picked a very experienced side which has 523 international caps in the starting XV. We have picked a forward pack which will be a force both at the set piece and the loose and a backline which will be able to control the tempo of the game and the part of the field in which it will be played. We also have very threatening runners out wide who will score tries given the chance. On the bench we have got one of the best impact players you could wish for in Quade Cooper who will strike fear into a tired Newcastle when he comes on.
Game Plan
Our game plan is to play a patient game in which we build phases and tie in Newcastle defenders. We have picked a side with which we think will control the game for us. We will use our forwards to carry the ball until we get quick ball and have the chance to spread the ball wider to our backs when they have space to cause damage. We have specifically picked 8 forwards who are strong carriers and will take the ball at pace, carry in numbers and most importantly look to win the collision and then keep driving the legs to make ground and get us over the gain line. We want the forwards to attack spaces not faces and run at the gaps. When we get the chance we will look for the offload but we won’t be throwing miracle balls. Offloads are key to a flowing attacking game as its keeps the pace of the attack up. We will be looking for our forwards to carry of 9, 10 and 12 and each to be picking a different line to keep the Newcastle defence guessing.
We will look to use the kicking abilities of our 9, 10, 11, 12 and 15 to our advantage and if we are struggling to build up momentum then we will ping the ball into spaces. We will be careful to kick behind players or to find touch, unless we are using attacking kicks such as up and unders, cross field kicks or grubbers. We will only kick the ball away when we are in our 22 or there is an obvious opportunity such as poor positioning.
If we are to get turnover then we want to make it count by really increasing the tempo and hurting and disorganised defence. We will look to get our big runners involved and look to keep our game flowing. We have the players to hurt Newcastle with ball in hand.
Forwards
As stated in our game plan our forwards are going to be doing a lot of carrying and we want specific players to carry in different areas. We want our front row to be primary carriers of 9, with the locks occasionally doing it. We want our locks and back row carrying of 10 and our back row also to carry in the midfield. We will be looking to put 2, 3 or 4 men into a ruck depending on how easily the ball can be recycled. When the backs want quick ball we will commit as many men as it takes to get this quick ball. We want our forwards to really fly out of the blocks in this game and get on top of Newcastle in the first 20 mins. We have strong forwards coming off of the bench all off which are impact players who will look for get involved should they be required. We aren’t looking to bring players on unless we need to take players off.
Set Piece
At the set piece we are going to really look to pressure Newcastle ball. We are going to have Sharpe and Skivington competing at every lineout and we are going to look for our strong front row to turn the screw at the scrum. We have the Auckland Blues pair making their debut together as a unit at Quins and in between them is the very experienced Matthew Rees. We can’t see them taking a step backwards. We will use 5 man lineouts between the two 22 m lines and will have longer or shorter lines in to give us the option of mauling or getting the ball away quickly when we are close to either try line.
Backs
We will look for our half backs to control the game. They will look for the runners who offer themselves and will look to speed up or slow down the game to suit our game plan. We have deliberately picked a 12 who can control our game and Contepomi will also step in as first receiver when he is required and will be the extra set of eyes to see when Newcastle are short of defenders or disorganised. We will look for George Lowe to continually run lines cutting back infield so as to commit defenders. Contepomi will then look to slide behind him and when he is given the ball he will look to feed one of the back three who will be picking lines and coming from deep. Our blindside winger will be looking to come off his wing for work and Kearney will look to join the line and inject some pace whenever possible.
Defence
In defence we will play with a very quick line speed and aim to put huge pressure on the Newcastle 10 and other decision makers. Our back row will look to hunt him as a pack and make his day miserable. When we can we will look for 2 men to make the tackle with one taking the man’s legs and the other looking to get onto the ball and cause a turnover. We will look to put huge pressure on Newcastle’s ball carriers but we are all aware of not being caught offside.
At rucks we will look to have 2 men compete either by trying to legally turnover the ball or by adopting a good low body position and rucking Newcastle off the ball. Warburton will look to do what he does as well as anybody in the world by getting over the ball and getting us penalties or turnovers.
We will look for our back 3 to stay deep when we don’t have the ball so we can be ready to counter attack when the loose kicks come in.
Key Points
• Build pressure on Newcastle by playing patient rugby, retaining possession, being aggressive in defence and maintaining our discipline.
• Use forwards to punch holes in defence and get us quick ball before using backs against and disorganised defence.
• Win collisions in attack and defence. This will build/halt momentum which will benefit our game.
• Kick only when it’s on or to clear our lines to touch. We certainly don’t want to kick aimlessly.
• Let Warburton loose on the Newcastle 10 and the breakdown. Key player in this game and perhaps the form player in the world in his position.
• When we get turnovers we want to run at a disorganised Newcastle defence which won’t have time to re-align. If that isn’t an option then kick to the spaces which will be there.
• We have some great impact subs to come on and add to our game.
• Kick the points when on. Whilst we want to score tries we know that a win is more important than a few tries.
• We’ve given our key players a good rest. Fatigue will not be an issue for us at any stage.
• Current form: Preistland and Heaslip got MoM in the HC last weekend and Warburton was in the team of the week with Kearney and Marler also being mentioned and they are players in key positions for us so it’s great that they are in good form.
Points based on opposition side/tactics
- There has only been one manager talking about last years result and that's Pooly. You could say that this obsession with last years results is causing complacency in the Newcastle camp and this is an attitude we will look to punish. These comments will go up on the changing rule wall. Made a team talk very very easy.
- We see ourselves as having the much better game managers in our side. We have players who excel in this skill at 9, 10 and 12.
- We really want to target the Lineout. Sharpe and Skivington are both excellent lineout forwards and we will really look to put huge pressure on Parling.
- Our back row will really out huge pressure on Evans. He doesn't have another kicking option outside him and will do the majority of the decision making. We get to him then Newcastle won't function. Also put huge pressure on Youngs and pressure him to ship scrappy ball.
- They can put as many high balls up as they like as Rob Kearney is as good as you get under the high ball and he will take the ball every time. Solid as a rock.
Newcastle Falcons
Manager – Sgt Pooly
16. Tom Lindsay 17. Owen Franks 18. Boris Stankovich 19. Paul O’Connell 20. Chris York 21. Jonny Arr 22. Toby Flood 23. Drew Mitchell
Tactics
Second half pack:
1. Barcella
2. Servat
3. Franks
4. Thorn
5. POC
6. Robshaw
7. McCaw
8. Read
General play - It's all about a high tempo and controlling the ball.. If 3 point is on we'll look to take it and until we have a clear lead. Evans will pull the strings at 10 and keep us playing in the right areas of the pitch. Our main aim this week will be getting control in the forwards and getting good ball for our extra quality in the backline to attack Quins. With Youngs and Evans at halfback pulling the strings with good ball we feel we can really get at Quins, especially through the centre channel. Evans will look to test out Joseph and Roko early on with a few Gary Owens with Barritt looking too put some big hits in to set the tone.
Forwards
Set Piece
We'll be looking to use the set piece as a platform to set up attacks. Our tactics during each game may change if we spot a weakness in the oppposition set piece during the 80mins. This is the role of the team captain.
Scrum - We'll be looking to set a platform and use the scrum to get fast ball to out 9/10 axis. Servat, PDJ and Barcella are excellent technical scrummagers who will give us a sound foundation and look to get at their opposite numbers from the off. If a weakness is seen we’ll look to keep the push on and drive the opposition back, taking scrum options at pens if totally on top. If not we’ll be using the scrum as restart and getting the ball in and out so we can attack the opposition 9/10 axis. We think we may get an edge in this week with Barcella and Servat looking to target Afoa throughout the game.
Lineout
Securing lineout ball will be key. Parling will look to lead the line and use Thorn as banker ball from the front and Read, McCaw & Robshaw as a strong options at the middle and back. We shall look to get target opposition ball throughout the game.
Target Breakdown & Rucks
We'll look to commit to rucks to secure our own ball whilst targetting the opposition when it's on. McCaw will look to slow opposion ball down whilst looking for the turnover whilst Robshaw and Read are also excellent on the deck so will look to do this all game.
ISOLATED RUNNERS –Our pack will look to get the contact area asap and join the tackle thus making a maul. With us in control of the tackle area or ruck as it is now, we’ll look to keep the runner up until the ref awards a scrum in out advantage. This is a system we used to success numerous times last season and is especially handy in the damp conditions as forwards look to take the ball up more.
Huge carrying
We have huge carrying options in the pack and we'll look to use them throughout the game to wear the opposition down and give us a point of attack. We'll look to mix this up with Read coming off the scrum and Barcella, Robshaw, Servat, Parling, Thorn, McCaw giving us numerous options in tight and loose. We’ll look to vary the angles of attack with Evans using the reverse ball now and again with Read, Thorn, McCaw and Robshaw coming in. The 9/10 axis will hit early on and if successful will be used to draw the opposition defence in.
Backs
Halfbacks
With a solid platform Youngs will look to snipe around and find gaps in the opposion defense, especially at 2/3rd phase attacks when defenses start to fray. Youngs gives us a massive threat and will look to mix his game up throughgout the game. Evans will play his natural game and come into the line flat. He’ll look to mix the play up with varying passes and look to hit behind the back 3 if on. Youngs will sweep up behind a blitz defense with Barritt leading the line. Youngs will look to deploy the box kick and leave it hanging to test the opposition back 3.
Backline balance
We have numerous running options and the option to mix things up in the backline. Barritt gives Evans go to ball if needed and we'll look to get JOC in as second receiver to give us a different focal point. AAC will look to come off the shoulder of attacks and inject pace into the midfield. Bowe will look to run angles off the backline and finish off moves in opposition 22.
Points to target against opposition
After studying the opposition over a number of weeks we’ll be looking to specifically target these areas:
SCRUM – We feel we have a good edge in the scrum and will target this. Our front row is a serious unit and backed with Thorn will provide serious grunt. Owen Franks will come on at half time and provide a top class TH to attack Woodcock and Marler.
QUINS ENGINE ROOM – With Quins playing two 5’s we feel they might lack a bit of physicality and power in the set piece and around the park. We will look to use the rolling maul and target rucks because of this.
LINEOUT – We have 5 top jumpers starting and feel confident about securing our own ball. POC will come at half time and look to dismantle the Quins set piece.
BREAKDOWN – With MCaw, Read & Robshaw targeting the breakdown we’ll look to get the upper hand here throughout the game
REAL LIFE FORM – We have numerous players right at the top of their game and feel Quins lack a bit of real life form with Skivington, Rees, Dowson, Dickson, Contepomi and Roko not in the best of nick. This is just my opinion though of course.
IN GAME FORM – Top of the table in the AP and Premiership, only beaten once home and away all season
LAST GAME AT THE STOOP – We have no fears about travelling to the Stoop after winning 18-30 last time out…possible mental issues for Quins though?
QUINS MIDFIELD – We’ll look to get at Contepomi who plays much more of his rugby at 10 these days and paired with Lowe we feel Quins could be vulnerable in the 10/12/13 axis. We’ll look to get Read and Thorn running down these channels early on and especially Priestland to test him out.
2nd HALF PACK – We this pack on the park we feel we can really turn the screw on and dominate the forward battle giving Evans plenty of good clean ball.
Northampton Saints v Saracens
Light Rain, 12 Degrees, 7mph Winds
Northampton Saints
Manager – Dammit_Chris
Subs: 16. Rob Webber 17. Matt Stevens 18. Sakari Taulafo 19. Bradley Davies 20. Simon Taylor 21. Sam Harrison 22. Danny Cipriani 23. Manu Tuilagi
Tactics: Overview
Our gameplan revolves around possession, patience, territory and explosive ball carrying to break over the Saracens gainline and provide Simpson and Giteau with front foot ball. It also involves an aggressive defence that will look to clear the breakdown with numbers and power, instead of competing directly for the ball.
Our attack is based on building through the phases, controlling the ball and building momentum. We will use powerful ball carriers, Lawes, Albacete, Messam, Elsom and Parisse, de Villiers to run off the back of mauls & rucks and Giteau to get over the gainline and provide Saints with front foot ball for the backs. We will stand Giteau flat and have runners off him, with Evans at 13 we have a further outlet to control the game and bring the back three into play. We will look to try and utilise any defences frailties between Nonu and Trinder who havent played that many games together.
With power in the forwards and lots of attacking threats in the backline we do have the ability to score tries and will look for Giteau to control the game and when running is not an option he will kick the ball deep and give Halfpenny, Ashton and Evans a target of closing down Homer and test whether he is ready to step up to world class level. We will look to scrag him and close him down and put them under pressure.
In defence we will look to get Lawes rampaging around the pitch looking for big hits, particularly on Sarries half backs. This will be an example of our aggressive approach in defence, which we will use to put pressure on the Sarries team and have Elsom & Messam also putting in big tackles. Special attention will be placed on marshalling Nonu with de Villiers and a backrow coming in to double up. If we stop Nonu getting over the gainline then Sarries wont get over the gainline.
At the breakdown we will look to commit players to clear their Saracens counterparts out of the contact area – instead of going for the ball we will instead focus on putting Sarries under pressure and maintain a good defensive line around the fringes. If we can cause Sarries away from the breakdown area then Simpson will be asked to attack and snipe as much as possible, using his pace to get behind the Sarries defence. This is a different approach to normal and looks to play to our strengths, which is a more physical presence than most other teams – we will ensure Simpson is close to the breakdown so he can get hold of any quick ball and attack.
We will use the set piece to put Sarries under pressure, we have a huge scrum and welcome the return of Domingo. This allows us to play Stevens from the bench who can have a better impact later on in the game. We’ve got a very solid scrummaging unit and with Lawes, Albacete, Elsom, Messam and Parisse we have good lineout options.
Defensively at lineouts that are more than 30 metres from our tryline we will put Simpson in the 5metre channel, add Hartley into the lineout as an extra lifter to allow us to attack the Sarries lineout and then push Elsom in between Giteau and de Villiers as an additional defender to smash into Nonu and stop him crossing the gainline. We hope this will force the Sarries 10 to kick deep.
Game Specific Tactics
• Use powerful runners – we will look to bully Saracens out of the game by playing an aggressive style, which hounds them, forcing mistakes and putting in big hits. We will get our runners on the ball and look to cross the gainline, offload to build forward momentum and get our backline into space to score tries.
• Control possession, territory and tempo – we will aim to control the tempo of the game and use Giteau’s experience to move us into areas where we can force Saracens into mistakes and put them under pressure. We will look to dictate the tempo of the game, building through the phases and then exploding into action, moving ball from left to right and looking for weaknesses in Sarries defence.
• Play Giteau flat – each opportunity we have to get Giteau close to the gainline we will take because he has the hands and ability to take on the Sarries defence and bring runners into the game. He will mix up his game, use forwards and utilise Max Evans as the second playmaker and channel runners into the 13 channel. Kicks will be used to place Tom Homer under pressure and closed down by the chasers, particularly to tackle Saracens usual blitz defence – mixing up his options will create gaps and get Sarries guessing and making mistakes.
• Keep Scoreboard Ticking – we have selected Leigh Halfpenny in this game to give us an extremely good kicking option from long-distance knowing that he will need to keep the scoreboard ticking over and cancel out the threat of a similar kicking game from Homer. With more of a try scoring threat in the Saints team we believe that if we match Sarries on the penalty front we will get more tries.
• Build Pressure – Unbeaten at home, all the big guns back we will be lifted to take the game to Sarries and put the visiting team under a lot of pressure. We have a marauding forward pack that can put in big hits and put Sarries ballcarriers under a lot of pressure. Where possible we will look to keep Sarries off the deck in the tackle and drive them backwards, so our players are instantly going forward in the breakdown battle with players going in to clear out the opposition.
Key Points
• Confidence and Freshness – over the last month the Saints team has been scoring tries for fun and has recorded huge back to back wins with a young team that has lifted confidence. It has also allowed us to rest the front five, none have played more than 60minutes over the last two weeks and purposefully rested to come back flying in the AP (particularly after tough WC).
• Try scoring threat – at home Saints will run the ball and look to score tries out wide and cause Saracens to chase the game. Are Saracens able to score more tries than Saints because with Giteau and Halfpenny Saints will be able to match them on the penalty count.
• Ball carrying and big hits – we will make sure that our pack does a lot of ball carrying and turn this into a really physical game to take Saracens out of their comfort zone and pressurise them at every single opportunity.
• Leadership – Saints have a team packed full of leaders – Hartley, Hayman, Albacete, Elsom, Parisse in the pack (with Davies and Taylor on the bench) and the experience of Giteau and de Villiers in the backline. This is a good mix and allows players like Lawes, Messam, Foden and Ashton to flourish.
Saracens
Manager – Ozzy3213
16. George Chuter 17. Tendai Mtwarira 18. Jannie du Plessis 19. Steve Borthwick 20. Luke Narraway 21. Paul Hodgson 22. Owen Farrell 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 Joe van Niekerk 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
Worcester Warriors v Bath Rugby
Light Rain, 13 Degrees, 11mph Winds
Worcester Warriors
Manager – prop_lyd
16. Chris Fortey 17. George Porter 18.Chris Budgen 18. Kearnen Myall 19. Ben McCalman 20. Eion Reddan 21. Morne Steyn 22. Sam Vesty
Tactics
Forwards
We have picked a strong scrummaging front row with a heavy engine room to trouble all the scrums and intimidate the opponents up front. Our lineouts will be key as we look to catch and drive alot of ball and we have jumpers all over the back 5. The front 5 will do the donkey work creating quick ball and disrupting the opposition's defence. The back row have players who can make an impact both come the breakdown and in open play. Jones and Higs will look for turnover ball and Morgan will use his form to make the breaks from the back of the scrum and the 12-13 channel.
Backs
We have pace all over our backline and we will look to use it as much as possible. Robinson will receive quick ball from Peel and any slow ball will go to the forward on his shoulder. McCabe will run the backs giving Robinson the simple decision of to kick or pass, we will look to pin them back when in our own half but will look to run when in theirs. Clarke is a powerful runner and McCabe can create the gaps for our back 3 who are loaded with pace and form. We will look to play attractive rugby in good conditions and trouble them with a variety of kicks to touch and bomb's with 3 chasers.
Defence
Lead by McCabe, hard and rush defence looking to prevent the ball getting past 12. The back 5 in the pack will look to tackle the ball so long as another is around the legs. Peel will sweep with O.Morgan to counter attack.
Overall
*Attractive rugby,
*Hard hitting upfront to dominate and put them off their game,
*Big impact bench which will be used to test tired legs,
*Backs to look to run this show when in the opposition's half,
*Slow ball is forwards ball,
*Pressure Bath and intimidate them into mistakes,
*Robinson to go for goal when nothing is on from the penalties,
*Continue our excellent development and gain a massive victory.
Bath Rugby
Manager – inthefastlane
16 Cian Healy 17 Joe Ward 18 Petrus Du Plessis 19 Rob Simmons 20 Dan Lydiate 21 Richard Wigglesworth 22 Anthony Allen 23 Tom Varndell
Tactics
General
We'll look to control territory and only play in the right areas of the pitch in the slippery positions. Hodgson will keep us ticking over with Steyn's kicking being vital. We'll look to control the ball and keep the offloading to a minimum. Lobbe will act as chase man and really put pressure on Garvey.
We'll look to use the bench in the second to keep up pack control.
Set Piece
We have some of the on form scrummagers in the world and will look to use the scrum as a platform. We feel we can really use this to advantage in the latter part of the game where the props on our bench can use their advantage. We feel a big part of our game will be the lineout. Lobbe and Whitelock are our main jumpers while Deacon offers a strong banker ball if needed. Simmons will maintain our dominance from the bench. Look to put pressure on the Warrior jumpers forcing turnovers.
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. Beale, FDP and Hodgson are also useful kickers who can be utilised. We will look to test Marcel Garvey in the wet, he is not good on the turn so we will be looking to put balls in behind him.
Other points
- Conservative rugby but if there is a chance to get my back three going then let them run at defenders
- Look to slow Worcester ball down with Armitage looking to create turnovers
- Go through phases with big carries from the likes of SOB
Predictions open Fri. Results due Sun/Mon
Sale Sharks v Exeter Chiefs
Sunny Intervals, 11 Degrees, 11mph Winds
Sale Sharks
Manager – SJE
| 01. Marcos Ayerza | 09. Danny Care |
| 02. David Paice | 10. Johnny Sexton |
| 03. Luc Ducalcon | |
| 04. Romain Millo Chluski | 11. David Strettle |
| 05. Andries Bekker | 12. Jame Hook |
| 06. Adam Thomson | 13. Robbie Freuen |
| 07. Fulgence Quedragao | 14. Sam Smith |
| 08. Louis Picamoles | 15. Luke Rooney |
16. Lee Imolek 17. Brett Sharman 18. Neemia Tialata 19. Christian Day 20. Victor Vito 21. Shaun Perry 22. Aaron Cruden 23. Jordan Turner Hall
General Game Plan
On attack, we will look to our big carriers to get over the gain line and where possible offload to support runners, breaking the defensive line and keeping our forward momentum going. If running the ball is not on we will look to the boots of Sexton and Hook to put us in the right areas.
On defence, we will use a blitz defence coming up at pace looking to isolate the ball carrier before he gets to the gain line stopping any momentum and allowing us to hit the breakdown hard. Danny Care will act as a sweeper to cover any grubbers behind the line while our back three will sit deep ready to run back any loose kicks.
At the breakdown, if the ball looks available we will look to seriously commit numbers to clear the ruck allowing Thomson and Quedragao to come in and secure us turnover ball. At all other times we will commit 1 or 2 to the breakdown and look to counter ruck slowing down Exeter ball allowing our defensive line more time to set.
We will look to use the set piece as a weapon throughout. We will target the scrum with a technically strong front row looking to get in under to win every hit. With 5 jumping options and a reliable thrower at hook we will look to attack from the lineout. We will look to mix things up bringing the ball down into the maul or playing the ball of the top and spreading it through the backs.
Key Points
• We are unbeaten at home since season two having won every league game here in the last year. Edgeley Park is a fortress and the Chiefs will need to be at their very best to breach it with a passionate crowd cheering us on.
•We are here to play our own game not Exeter’s. We won’t look to get into an arm wrestle but will play our usual style of attacking running rugby looking to move Exeter around the park.
• We have gone with a side full of pace particularly in the back line to really get at the Chiefs. We will be deploying lots of decoy running tying up spare defenders to ensure one on one match ups. We will look to use a full complement of forwards at each lineout allowing one on one match ups in the back line. At scrum time we will look to wheel the Chiefs scrum away from the backline to get some more of these one on one match ups.
• We will look to win the collisions in both attack and defence so we have a target for our forwards to hit when they reach the ruck. We will look to get at the Exeter 10/12 axis from the start and really get on top of the Chiefs here
• As always on defence our back three will sit deep ready for any kicks We expect ROG’s boot to be a big part of Exeter’s attacking game and we want to take it out of play with a pacy and dangerous counter attacking game
Exeter Chiefs
Manager – Driver
| 01. Andrew Sheridan | 09. Byron Kelleher |
| 02. Ben Kayser | 10. Ronan O’Gara |
| 03. Davit Zirkashvilli | |
| 04. Simon Shaw | 11. Luke Fitzgerald |
| 05. Juillian Pierre | 12. Gordan D’Arcy |
| 06. Lewis Moody | 13. Chris Bell |
| 07. Shane Jennings | 14. Isia Toeava |
| 08. Ben Skirving | 15. Lee Byrne |
16.John Smit 17.Salvator Perugini 18.Dave Wilson 19.James Hudson 20.Declan Danahar 21.Haydn Thomas 22.Steven Myler 23.Adam Thompstone
Tactics
Exeter will look to play a big physical game based around players carrying in the narrow channels around fringes and tie defenders into the contact area. Our pack will look to retain possetion with Byron Kelleher dictating the tempo and keep the Sharks defense honest.
We will look to play the game plan which suits Exeter best and that is to play at a high tempo from the off and really take the game to Sale smashing the ball up the middle with D’Arcy and Bell making head way to create space outwide for the back 3 to exploit or set a platform for ROG to pin Sale inside there own 22.
Moody and Jennings will look to target the breakdown as this is where games can be won or lost.
Pressure is off as we’re not expected to get anything from this so we’ll be pretty relaxed going into this and backing our selves to take points from.
Wilson/Hudson/Myler on at 55 mins to run round and up the tempo and take the game to Sale.
Key Points
1: Hook plays with a lot of individuality , is he really the man to get the best out of Robbie Freaun?
2:Isia Toeava , Luke Fitzgerald and Lee Byrne all have succeeded at the highest level where as Sam Smith and Luke Rooney havn't made the impact most would of expected them to.
3.We have a good attacking backline which can score tries and using front foot ball we will score tries.
Gloucester Rugby v Leicester Tigers
Light Rain, 13 Degrees, 12mph Winds
Gloucester
Manager – anonmattyt
| 01. Nick Wood | 09. Genia |
| 02. Joe Gray | 10. Dan Carter |
| 03. Nicolas Mas | |
| 04. Bakkies Botha | 11. Sharples |
| 05. Palmer(c) | 12. Berrick barnes |
| 06. Steven Ferris | 13. Richard kahui |
| 07. Schalk Burger | 14. JSD |
| 08. Immanol Harinordoqouy | 15. Israel dagg |
16. Guthro Steenkamp 17. Jamie George 18. Julian White 19. George Robson 20. Julian Bonnaire 21. Dave Lewis 22. Hosea Gear 23. Jonny May
Glaws welcome Leicester to kingsholm and will be looking to really stuff Leicester and send a message through the Ap.
Forwards
Glaws as ever have gone for a hugely physical pack that has great mobility as well as great set piece.
Scrums
We will be looking to really turn the screw with mas targetting Jenkins horribly. We are aiming to sap there energy and force Leicester to bring on london irishs 3.rd choice loosehead Dermody and franks.
We are also looking to our exceptional back 5 to really keep the drive on.
Lineouts
We think we can shred Leicester here and this is an easy win for us. Leicester have no lineout experts and we will pressure with hari palmer bakkies burger and look to destroy their lineout. We have all seen moores darts go under pressure and this will be super pressure.
On our ball we will be looking to catch and drive in our own 22 but after that hit off the top and try and hit runners in midfield and try and move this much slower Leicester pack around.
Breakdown
We see this as a clear advantage to us. They may have pocock but we have a much quicker backrow and hari ferris and burger will be there way before Hines and Waldrom. Burger has played most his rugby at 7 and outperforformed mccaw etc at 7 on occasions. When he was voted best player in the world that was at 7.
Overall.
We are going to play at intensity and not give Leicester the slow game they want. We will look to suck their pack in and move it away again and create the next wave of possession.
We have so many mobile ball carriers and we will change the point of attack and work in pods and move leIcester into positions they dont want to be in.
Defensively we will send numbers in to counter ruck and with our extra pace in back row look to isolate the man and turnover.
Backs
We have the 2 best hbs in the game and they will dictate tempo. Initially we will be looking to kick quick ball in behind their back 3 and win territory battle with Leicester having 2 wings who are not great kickers.
We will also test out Corey Janes positioning as its been a while since he played there .
We have 3 great kicking options which will force Leicester back and make them either kick which means we get the lineout or they try and counter which moves their large pack about even more.
As the game progresses we will up the tempo carter will be looking to hit kahui up and recycle and then hit our ball carrying forwards coming round the corner to set the next phase.
Carter and genia will keep the ball moving from phase to phase looking to eventually create mismatches for us to exploit.
As the game starts to break up our back 3 will counter every kick and quick throw ins etc and break the game up.
Defensively we will blitz wilko who is not the attacking force he was and let 36 have pressure ball.
We see our bench as far
More dynamic and will use as neccesary. Bonnaire will further reinforce our lineout.
Key points
Glaws in form with in form players all over
Far more mobile pack with much better backrow balance. Hines is a second
Row playing 6 for Leicester
Dominant lineout against essentially 3 front jumping locks
More dynamic bench with game breakers every where. If wilko injured who plays 10 nacewa??
All international backline in their right positions.
More kicking options
Leicester Tigers
Manager – LukeLovesLuka
| 01. Gethin Jenkins | 09. Dimitri Yachvili (k) |
| 02. Stephen Moore | 10. Jonny Wilkinson |
| 03. Cencus Johnston | |
| 04. Pascal Pape | 11. Tom Biggs |
| 05. James Horwill (c) | 12. Billy Twelvetrees |
| 06. Nathan Hines | 13. Brian O'Driscoll |
| 07. David Pocock | 14. Topsy Ojo |
| 08. Thomas Waldrom | 15. Cory Jane |
16. Clarke Dermody 17. Lee Mears 18. Ben Franks 19. Alex Brown 20. Tom Croft 21. Nick Easter 22. Micky Young 23. Isa Nacewa
Tactics
GENERAL:
- We have picked a huge carrying pack, tactical HB's and an intelligent midfield in an effort to get our back three into positions where they can hurt Gloucester.
- Defensively we will look to blitz, with Yachvilli sweeping behind the line to deal with any short kicks.
- Yachvili to kick all penalties in range. We also have Wilkinson or Twelvetrees if he is having an off day.
- Utilise our powerful 6/2 split bench to win the game for us in the last quarter. Two technical props in Dermody and Franks, big lineout options in A.Brown and Croft, experienced heads in Easter and Mears, and pace and excitement with Young and Nacewa.
FORWARDS:
- We will look to maintain a strong scrum all game, with a great scrummaging hooker who will look to get after Gray, and two massively powerful props in Jenkins and Johnston to get the shove on. Both Jenkins and Johnston are tall props, so they are told to hold their bind and keep their body and back straight in an effort to stop them being done underneath.
- In the lineout, Hines, Horwill and Pape will be our three main jumpers, and we believe we can get real joy in targeting Gray's throws with these big jumpers. With A.Brown and Croft, and also Easter to come on, we will attack the lineout more and more as the game wears on.
- A massive pack, full to the brim of ball carriers, to give us real go-forward. With the ball in hand we want to attack together in groups so as not to become isolated, and if it is on we will look to offload in or just before the tackle. All players are to act as support runners when they can.
- We will target the breakdown massively with Pocock. Gloucester have no out and out 7 in their team, and we feel we can get gain a big advantage here. Pocock is told to hit the breakdown area fast, looking to get his hands on turnover ball. We want to seriously disrupt the quality of the ball Gloucester can get, and steal as much as we can for our own backs to use.
BACKS:
- We will force Gloucester to play from deep - With the rain, the pitch will be wet, and we will use the big boots of Yachvili, Wilkinson and Twelvetrees to pen Gloucester back in their own 22.
- In general attacking play, we will play off 9 with Yachvili our man in charge. We will look to move Gloucester's pack around, release our strike runners 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.
- Waldrom/Jenkins/Johnston/Horwill/Hines to be used off the shoulder of the half backs, inside or out, and look to crash through the defence.
- Twelvetrees can act as our second receiver, and brings another kicking option when we are looking for territory - he can also 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.
- In Cory Jane we have one of the safest pair of hands in world rugby. The more Gloucester kick to us, the better.
- Our back three are encouraged to do what comes naturally to all of them - counter attacking and running the ball back. 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:
- In-game form - we have won 6 of our last 7 games, averaging 34 points per game. And we also beat Gloucester with Bakkies Botha, Tom Palmer, Stephen Ferris and Schalk Burger in their pack 32-23, only a few weeks ago.
- We have a much heavier pack than Gloucester (on average nearly a stone per player). Matt will harp on about his ball carrying back row, but we have a much stronger carrying front five than Gloucester, whilst Waldrom is the best carrying 8 in the AP and Pocock was Australia's leading carrier at the World Cup.
- Controlling HB's - Gloucester obviously have dangerous attacking HB's, but we have two of the best tactical HB's in the world. With their tactical ability, we will force Gloucester to play from deep, and pen them back in their own 22. We will look to Yachvili and Wilkinson to use their nous and experience to win the crucial tactical battle.
- Target the breakdown with Pocock - Gloucester have no out and out 7 in their team, and we feel we can get gain a big advantage here. Pocock is told to hit the breakdown area fast, looking to get his hands on turnover ball.
- Team packed full of leaders for a huge away game. Horwill and BOD are our inspirational captain and vice, and then behind them we have Jenkins, Hines, Pocock, Yachvili and Wilkinson, and Easter and Dermody off the bench, who are all natural leaders - which is essential for an important away fixture.
London Irish v London Wasps
White Cloud, 12 Degrees, 9mph Winds
London Irish
Manager – stnick88
| 01. Soane Tonga'uhia | 09. Ruan Pienaar |
| 02. Rory Best | 10. Daniel Bowden |
| 03. Martin Castrogiovanni | |
| 04. Matt Garvey | 11. Paul Sackey |
| 05. Nick Kennedy | 12. Sonny Bill Williams |
| 06. Jerome Kaino | 13. Jaque Fourie |
| 07. Hendrie Fourie | 14. Matthew Tait |
| 08. Pierre Spies | 15. Juan Martin Hernandez |
16. Jean Baptiste Poux 17. James Buckland 18. Duncan Bell 19. Mouritz Botha 20. Kieren Roche 21. Julien Dupuy 22. Sireli Naqalevuki 23. Marland Yarde
Tactics
We going in to this game full of confidence after gaining 5 points in the HC against Harlequins. The conditions are ok and we will look to stick to our usual high tempo game and attack Wasps from the off.
We are ruthlessly targetting the scrum. Castro will look to tear Freshwater apart and gain us a big upper hand here. Our front row are all very effective in the loose as well and we will look to take Wasps on upfront with a powerful backrow of Kaino Fourie Spies. We will look to dominate possession and territory and make Wasps feed off scraps. We have Fourie to scavenge whereas Wasps lack that natural openside.
Pienaar and Bowden will pull the strings, with Bowden being the main play maker and creating the space for SBW and Fourie. We have instructed SBW only to offload when it is on, and not to try the impossible. Fourie and Tait will look to gather these offloads.
JMH to kick all pens for goal, if not go for touch to use Kennedy, Garvey, Kaino and Spies at the lineout. Kennedy will disrupt as much opposition ball as possible.
We will use our big ball carriers, Tonga'uhia, Kaino, Garvey, Spies, Fourie to smash over the gainline and suck in defenders before spreading the ball for Bowden to work his magic and get SBW, Fourie, Tait etc involved.
We will make Wasps ball as scrappy as possible (legally) so that service to Gopperth is limited. He is not the most creative 10 and we will look to pressurise him and really put him on the back foot. We want to keep our own ball alive and moving as Wasps forwards are not as dynamic as ours and we will look to move them around and spot mismatches.
London Wasps
Manager – ‘Arry
| 01. Perry Freshwater | 09. Luke Burgess |
| 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. Tatafu Polota-Nau 17. Charlie Beech 18. CJ Van Der Linde 19. Richard Birkett 20. Tom Johnson 21. Mike Blair 22. Rory Clegg 23. Mike Tindall
Tactics
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 away from London Irish with a hard fought victory. We are really up for the battle and feel we have a great chance of winning. We have several players who are in great form in real life and are on a superb winning run with plenty of momentum.
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 London Irish down.
We have two excellent kicking options in Gopperth and McAlister we will look to kick in behind the London Irish 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 Irish 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 Burgess with clean, quick ball and get our forwards running onto the ball at different angles to pierce the Irish 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 Irish 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 Irish 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 Irish players and will look to attack the fly half channel in the Irish defence and put Bowden 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 Irish 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 Irish 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 London Irish by using the rolling maul. We will look to suck in as many London Irish 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 them going backwards. Our back row will look to really get in Bowden’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 London Irish 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 Irish 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. We have purposefully selected a bench full of impact players who can come on and make a difference.
Harlequins v Newcastle Falcons
Sunny Intervals, 12 Degrees, 9mph Winds
Harlequins
Manager – Steven_Sharks
| 01. Tony Woodcock | 09. Lee Dickson |
| 02. Matthew Rees | 10. Rhys Preistland (k) |
| 03. John Afoa | |
| 04. George Skivington | 11. Joe Rokocoko |
| 05. Nathan Sharpe | 12. Felipe Contepomi |
| 06. Phil Dowson | 13. George Lowe |
| 07. Sam Warburton (c) | 14. Jonathan Joseph |
| 08. Jamie Heaslip | 15. Rob Kearney |
16. Rob Vickers 17. Joe Marler 18. Brian Mujati 18. James Gaskell 19. Carl Fearns 20. Tomas O'Leary 21. Quade Cooper 22. Freddie Burns
Tactics
We welcome Newcastle and are fully confident that we are going to get a win at the Stoop. We have picked a very experienced side which has 523 international caps in the starting XV. We have picked a forward pack which will be a force both at the set piece and the loose and a backline which will be able to control the tempo of the game and the part of the field in which it will be played. We also have very threatening runners out wide who will score tries given the chance. On the bench we have got one of the best impact players you could wish for in Quade Cooper who will strike fear into a tired Newcastle when he comes on.
Game Plan
Our game plan is to play a patient game in which we build phases and tie in Newcastle defenders. We have picked a side with which we think will control the game for us. We will use our forwards to carry the ball until we get quick ball and have the chance to spread the ball wider to our backs when they have space to cause damage. We have specifically picked 8 forwards who are strong carriers and will take the ball at pace, carry in numbers and most importantly look to win the collision and then keep driving the legs to make ground and get us over the gain line. We want the forwards to attack spaces not faces and run at the gaps. When we get the chance we will look for the offload but we won’t be throwing miracle balls. Offloads are key to a flowing attacking game as its keeps the pace of the attack up. We will be looking for our forwards to carry of 9, 10 and 12 and each to be picking a different line to keep the Newcastle defence guessing.
We will look to use the kicking abilities of our 9, 10, 11, 12 and 15 to our advantage and if we are struggling to build up momentum then we will ping the ball into spaces. We will be careful to kick behind players or to find touch, unless we are using attacking kicks such as up and unders, cross field kicks or grubbers. We will only kick the ball away when we are in our 22 or there is an obvious opportunity such as poor positioning.
If we are to get turnover then we want to make it count by really increasing the tempo and hurting and disorganised defence. We will look to get our big runners involved and look to keep our game flowing. We have the players to hurt Newcastle with ball in hand.
Forwards
As stated in our game plan our forwards are going to be doing a lot of carrying and we want specific players to carry in different areas. We want our front row to be primary carriers of 9, with the locks occasionally doing it. We want our locks and back row carrying of 10 and our back row also to carry in the midfield. We will be looking to put 2, 3 or 4 men into a ruck depending on how easily the ball can be recycled. When the backs want quick ball we will commit as many men as it takes to get this quick ball. We want our forwards to really fly out of the blocks in this game and get on top of Newcastle in the first 20 mins. We have strong forwards coming off of the bench all off which are impact players who will look for get involved should they be required. We aren’t looking to bring players on unless we need to take players off.
Set Piece
At the set piece we are going to really look to pressure Newcastle ball. We are going to have Sharpe and Skivington competing at every lineout and we are going to look for our strong front row to turn the screw at the scrum. We have the Auckland Blues pair making their debut together as a unit at Quins and in between them is the very experienced Matthew Rees. We can’t see them taking a step backwards. We will use 5 man lineouts between the two 22 m lines and will have longer or shorter lines in to give us the option of mauling or getting the ball away quickly when we are close to either try line.
Backs
We will look for our half backs to control the game. They will look for the runners who offer themselves and will look to speed up or slow down the game to suit our game plan. We have deliberately picked a 12 who can control our game and Contepomi will also step in as first receiver when he is required and will be the extra set of eyes to see when Newcastle are short of defenders or disorganised. We will look for George Lowe to continually run lines cutting back infield so as to commit defenders. Contepomi will then look to slide behind him and when he is given the ball he will look to feed one of the back three who will be picking lines and coming from deep. Our blindside winger will be looking to come off his wing for work and Kearney will look to join the line and inject some pace whenever possible.
Defence
In defence we will play with a very quick line speed and aim to put huge pressure on the Newcastle 10 and other decision makers. Our back row will look to hunt him as a pack and make his day miserable. When we can we will look for 2 men to make the tackle with one taking the man’s legs and the other looking to get onto the ball and cause a turnover. We will look to put huge pressure on Newcastle’s ball carriers but we are all aware of not being caught offside.
At rucks we will look to have 2 men compete either by trying to legally turnover the ball or by adopting a good low body position and rucking Newcastle off the ball. Warburton will look to do what he does as well as anybody in the world by getting over the ball and getting us penalties or turnovers.
We will look for our back 3 to stay deep when we don’t have the ball so we can be ready to counter attack when the loose kicks come in.
Key Points
• Build pressure on Newcastle by playing patient rugby, retaining possession, being aggressive in defence and maintaining our discipline.
• Use forwards to punch holes in defence and get us quick ball before using backs against and disorganised defence.
• Win collisions in attack and defence. This will build/halt momentum which will benefit our game.
• Kick only when it’s on or to clear our lines to touch. We certainly don’t want to kick aimlessly.
• Let Warburton loose on the Newcastle 10 and the breakdown. Key player in this game and perhaps the form player in the world in his position.
• When we get turnovers we want to run at a disorganised Newcastle defence which won’t have time to re-align. If that isn’t an option then kick to the spaces which will be there.
• We have some great impact subs to come on and add to our game.
• Kick the points when on. Whilst we want to score tries we know that a win is more important than a few tries.
• We’ve given our key players a good rest. Fatigue will not be an issue for us at any stage.
• Current form: Preistland and Heaslip got MoM in the HC last weekend and Warburton was in the team of the week with Kearney and Marler also being mentioned and they are players in key positions for us so it’s great that they are in good form.
Points based on opposition side/tactics
- There has only been one manager talking about last years result and that's Pooly. You could say that this obsession with last years results is causing complacency in the Newcastle camp and this is an attitude we will look to punish. These comments will go up on the changing rule wall. Made a team talk very very easy.
- We see ourselves as having the much better game managers in our side. We have players who excel in this skill at 9, 10 and 12.
- We really want to target the Lineout. Sharpe and Skivington are both excellent lineout forwards and we will really look to put huge pressure on Parling.
- Our back row will really out huge pressure on Evans. He doesn't have another kicking option outside him and will do the majority of the decision making. We get to him then Newcastle won't function. Also put huge pressure on Youngs and pressure him to ship scrappy ball.
- They can put as many high balls up as they like as Rob Kearney is as good as you get under the high ball and he will take the ball every time. Solid as a rock.
Newcastle Falcons
Manager – Sgt Pooly
| 01. Fabien Barcella | 09. Ben Youngs |
| 02. William Servat | 10. Nick Evans |
| 03. Paul Doran-Jones | |
| 04. Brad Thorn | 11. James O’Connor |
| 05. Geoff Parling | 12. Brad Barritt |
| 06. Chris Robshaw | 13. Conrad Smith |
| 07. Richie McCaw(c) | 14. Tommy Bowe |
| 08. Kieran Read | 15. Adam Ashley-Cooper |
16. Tom Lindsay 17. Owen Franks 18. Boris Stankovich 19. Paul O’Connell 20. Chris York 21. Jonny Arr 22. Toby Flood 23. Drew Mitchell
Tactics
Second half pack:
1. Barcella
2. Servat
3. Franks
4. Thorn
5. POC
6. Robshaw
7. McCaw
8. Read
General play - It's all about a high tempo and controlling the ball.. If 3 point is on we'll look to take it and until we have a clear lead. Evans will pull the strings at 10 and keep us playing in the right areas of the pitch. Our main aim this week will be getting control in the forwards and getting good ball for our extra quality in the backline to attack Quins. With Youngs and Evans at halfback pulling the strings with good ball we feel we can really get at Quins, especially through the centre channel. Evans will look to test out Joseph and Roko early on with a few Gary Owens with Barritt looking too put some big hits in to set the tone.
Forwards
Set Piece
We'll be looking to use the set piece as a platform to set up attacks. Our tactics during each game may change if we spot a weakness in the oppposition set piece during the 80mins. This is the role of the team captain.
Scrum - We'll be looking to set a platform and use the scrum to get fast ball to out 9/10 axis. Servat, PDJ and Barcella are excellent technical scrummagers who will give us a sound foundation and look to get at their opposite numbers from the off. If a weakness is seen we’ll look to keep the push on and drive the opposition back, taking scrum options at pens if totally on top. If not we’ll be using the scrum as restart and getting the ball in and out so we can attack the opposition 9/10 axis. We think we may get an edge in this week with Barcella and Servat looking to target Afoa throughout the game.
Lineout
Securing lineout ball will be key. Parling will look to lead the line and use Thorn as banker ball from the front and Read, McCaw & Robshaw as a strong options at the middle and back. We shall look to get target opposition ball throughout the game.
Target Breakdown & Rucks
We'll look to commit to rucks to secure our own ball whilst targetting the opposition when it's on. McCaw will look to slow opposion ball down whilst looking for the turnover whilst Robshaw and Read are also excellent on the deck so will look to do this all game.
ISOLATED RUNNERS –Our pack will look to get the contact area asap and join the tackle thus making a maul. With us in control of the tackle area or ruck as it is now, we’ll look to keep the runner up until the ref awards a scrum in out advantage. This is a system we used to success numerous times last season and is especially handy in the damp conditions as forwards look to take the ball up more.
Huge carrying
We have huge carrying options in the pack and we'll look to use them throughout the game to wear the opposition down and give us a point of attack. We'll look to mix this up with Read coming off the scrum and Barcella, Robshaw, Servat, Parling, Thorn, McCaw giving us numerous options in tight and loose. We’ll look to vary the angles of attack with Evans using the reverse ball now and again with Read, Thorn, McCaw and Robshaw coming in. The 9/10 axis will hit early on and if successful will be used to draw the opposition defence in.
Backs
Halfbacks
With a solid platform Youngs will look to snipe around and find gaps in the opposion defense, especially at 2/3rd phase attacks when defenses start to fray. Youngs gives us a massive threat and will look to mix his game up throughgout the game. Evans will play his natural game and come into the line flat. He’ll look to mix the play up with varying passes and look to hit behind the back 3 if on. Youngs will sweep up behind a blitz defense with Barritt leading the line. Youngs will look to deploy the box kick and leave it hanging to test the opposition back 3.
Backline balance
We have numerous running options and the option to mix things up in the backline. Barritt gives Evans go to ball if needed and we'll look to get JOC in as second receiver to give us a different focal point. AAC will look to come off the shoulder of attacks and inject pace into the midfield. Bowe will look to run angles off the backline and finish off moves in opposition 22.
Points to target against opposition
After studying the opposition over a number of weeks we’ll be looking to specifically target these areas:
SCRUM – We feel we have a good edge in the scrum and will target this. Our front row is a serious unit and backed with Thorn will provide serious grunt. Owen Franks will come on at half time and provide a top class TH to attack Woodcock and Marler.
QUINS ENGINE ROOM – With Quins playing two 5’s we feel they might lack a bit of physicality and power in the set piece and around the park. We will look to use the rolling maul and target rucks because of this.
LINEOUT – We have 5 top jumpers starting and feel confident about securing our own ball. POC will come at half time and look to dismantle the Quins set piece.
BREAKDOWN – With MCaw, Read & Robshaw targeting the breakdown we’ll look to get the upper hand here throughout the game
REAL LIFE FORM – We have numerous players right at the top of their game and feel Quins lack a bit of real life form with Skivington, Rees, Dowson, Dickson, Contepomi and Roko not in the best of nick. This is just my opinion though of course.
IN GAME FORM – Top of the table in the AP and Premiership, only beaten once home and away all season
LAST GAME AT THE STOOP – We have no fears about travelling to the Stoop after winning 18-30 last time out…possible mental issues for Quins though?
QUINS MIDFIELD – We’ll look to get at Contepomi who plays much more of his rugby at 10 these days and paired with Lowe we feel Quins could be vulnerable in the 10/12/13 axis. We’ll look to get Read and Thorn running down these channels early on and especially Priestland to test him out.
2nd HALF PACK – We this pack on the park we feel we can really turn the screw on and dominate the forward battle giving Evans plenty of good clean ball.
Northampton Saints v Saracens
Light Rain, 12 Degrees, 7mph Winds
Northampton Saints
Manager – Dammit_Chris
| 01. Thomas Domingo | 09. Joe Simpson |
| 02. Dylan Hartley | 10. Matt Giteau |
| 03. Carl Hayman | |
| 04. Courtney Lawes | 11. Leigh Halfpenny |
| 05.Patricio Albacete | 12. Jean de Villiers |
| 06. Rocky Elsom | 13. Max Evans |
| 07. Liam Messam | 14. Chris Ashton |
| 08. Sergio Parisse(c) | 15. Ben Foden |
Subs: 16. Rob Webber 17. Matt Stevens 18. Sakari Taulafo 19. Bradley Davies 20. Simon Taylor 21. Sam Harrison 22. Danny Cipriani 23. Manu Tuilagi
Tactics: Overview
Our gameplan revolves around possession, patience, territory and explosive ball carrying to break over the Saracens gainline and provide Simpson and Giteau with front foot ball. It also involves an aggressive defence that will look to clear the breakdown with numbers and power, instead of competing directly for the ball.
Our attack is based on building through the phases, controlling the ball and building momentum. We will use powerful ball carriers, Lawes, Albacete, Messam, Elsom and Parisse, de Villiers to run off the back of mauls & rucks and Giteau to get over the gainline and provide Saints with front foot ball for the backs. We will stand Giteau flat and have runners off him, with Evans at 13 we have a further outlet to control the game and bring the back three into play. We will look to try and utilise any defences frailties between Nonu and Trinder who havent played that many games together.
With power in the forwards and lots of attacking threats in the backline we do have the ability to score tries and will look for Giteau to control the game and when running is not an option he will kick the ball deep and give Halfpenny, Ashton and Evans a target of closing down Homer and test whether he is ready to step up to world class level. We will look to scrag him and close him down and put them under pressure.
In defence we will look to get Lawes rampaging around the pitch looking for big hits, particularly on Sarries half backs. This will be an example of our aggressive approach in defence, which we will use to put pressure on the Sarries team and have Elsom & Messam also putting in big tackles. Special attention will be placed on marshalling Nonu with de Villiers and a backrow coming in to double up. If we stop Nonu getting over the gainline then Sarries wont get over the gainline.
At the breakdown we will look to commit players to clear their Saracens counterparts out of the contact area – instead of going for the ball we will instead focus on putting Sarries under pressure and maintain a good defensive line around the fringes. If we can cause Sarries away from the breakdown area then Simpson will be asked to attack and snipe as much as possible, using his pace to get behind the Sarries defence. This is a different approach to normal and looks to play to our strengths, which is a more physical presence than most other teams – we will ensure Simpson is close to the breakdown so he can get hold of any quick ball and attack.
We will use the set piece to put Sarries under pressure, we have a huge scrum and welcome the return of Domingo. This allows us to play Stevens from the bench who can have a better impact later on in the game. We’ve got a very solid scrummaging unit and with Lawes, Albacete, Elsom, Messam and Parisse we have good lineout options.
Defensively at lineouts that are more than 30 metres from our tryline we will put Simpson in the 5metre channel, add Hartley into the lineout as an extra lifter to allow us to attack the Sarries lineout and then push Elsom in between Giteau and de Villiers as an additional defender to smash into Nonu and stop him crossing the gainline. We hope this will force the Sarries 10 to kick deep.
Game Specific Tactics
• Use powerful runners – we will look to bully Saracens out of the game by playing an aggressive style, which hounds them, forcing mistakes and putting in big hits. We will get our runners on the ball and look to cross the gainline, offload to build forward momentum and get our backline into space to score tries.
• Control possession, territory and tempo – we will aim to control the tempo of the game and use Giteau’s experience to move us into areas where we can force Saracens into mistakes and put them under pressure. We will look to dictate the tempo of the game, building through the phases and then exploding into action, moving ball from left to right and looking for weaknesses in Sarries defence.
• Play Giteau flat – each opportunity we have to get Giteau close to the gainline we will take because he has the hands and ability to take on the Sarries defence and bring runners into the game. He will mix up his game, use forwards and utilise Max Evans as the second playmaker and channel runners into the 13 channel. Kicks will be used to place Tom Homer under pressure and closed down by the chasers, particularly to tackle Saracens usual blitz defence – mixing up his options will create gaps and get Sarries guessing and making mistakes.
• Keep Scoreboard Ticking – we have selected Leigh Halfpenny in this game to give us an extremely good kicking option from long-distance knowing that he will need to keep the scoreboard ticking over and cancel out the threat of a similar kicking game from Homer. With more of a try scoring threat in the Saints team we believe that if we match Sarries on the penalty front we will get more tries.
• Build Pressure – Unbeaten at home, all the big guns back we will be lifted to take the game to Sarries and put the visiting team under a lot of pressure. We have a marauding forward pack that can put in big hits and put Sarries ballcarriers under a lot of pressure. Where possible we will look to keep Sarries off the deck in the tackle and drive them backwards, so our players are instantly going forward in the breakdown battle with players going in to clear out the opposition.
Key Points
• Confidence and Freshness – over the last month the Saints team has been scoring tries for fun and has recorded huge back to back wins with a young team that has lifted confidence. It has also allowed us to rest the front five, none have played more than 60minutes over the last two weeks and purposefully rested to come back flying in the AP (particularly after tough WC).
• Try scoring threat – at home Saints will run the ball and look to score tries out wide and cause Saracens to chase the game. Are Saracens able to score more tries than Saints because with Giteau and Halfpenny Saints will be able to match them on the penalty count.
• Ball carrying and big hits – we will make sure that our pack does a lot of ball carrying and turn this into a really physical game to take Saracens out of their comfort zone and pressurise them at every single opportunity.
• Leadership – Saints have a team packed full of leaders – Hartley, Hayman, Albacete, Elsom, Parisse in the pack (with Davies and Taylor on the bench) and the experience of Giteau and de Villiers in the backline. This is a good mix and allows players like Lawes, Messam, Foden and Ashton to flourish.
Saracens
Manager – Ozzy3213
| 01. Alex Corbisiero | 09. Morgan Parra |
| 02. Bismarck du Plessis | 10. Francois Trinh-Duc |
| 03. Adam Jones | |
| 04. Lionel Nallet | 11. Digby Ioane |
| 05. Victor Matfield | 12. Ma'a Nonu |
| 06. Thierry Dusautoir | 13. Henry Trinder |
| 07. Tom Wood | 14. Mark Cueto |
| 08. Joe van Niekerk (c) | 15. Tom Homer |
16. George Chuter 17. Tendai Mtwarira 18. Jannie du Plessis 19. Steve Borthwick 20. Luke Narraway 21. Paul Hodgson 22. Owen Farrell 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 Joe van Niekerk 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 breakdown - we will really target the breakdown as we feel with have definite advantage in this area, with 2 flankers who are very good on the deck and Bismarck du Plessis who is as a monster at the breakdown in our side, whereas we see no specialist 7, or players who are great on the deck in the Saints side.
- Control possession - as per our generic tactics we will look to run the ball and go through the phases unless we are in a really difficult position in our 22. With it being slightly damp, we will shorten up our offloading game, and if necessary take the contact and recycle from the breakdown as per the above tactical point. If we are are really struggling within our own 22 then we will look to find touch and contest the lineout, but our main focus is on keeping possession and recycling the ball. We will not kick direct to the Saints back three.
- Accumulate points and build pressure - Every penalty within 60 yards of the posts we will kick for goal, with Homer easily able to hit the target from that distance. If we can get in front we will keep ticking the scoreboard over and force Saints to have to try things which is likely to cause them to make errors and open up further opportunities for us.
- Play off 9 - Morgan Parra will be our little general and be our primary game controller out there. He does not have responsibilty for goal kicking today, so is free to focus on managing the game for us.
Key Points
- Match Sharpness - We have freshened up with 4 players coming into the side this week, but we are also battle hardened after winning two tough Heineken Cup games. Saints have been in two easy matches and may not be able to automatically raise the level of their game up right at the start of this match.
- Form - As stated we are in good in game form, and sitting second in the table, whereas Saints have been inconsistent and have already dropped points at home this season. We also have players in good real life form, along with world class individuals in our team.
- Pressure/Mental Toughness - Saints are playing this game knowing that they cannot afford to lose if they want to challenge for a play off place. That is pressure to play under and can cause mistakes. We know we have some room manouvere due to our previous form, and being away from home there is no pressure on us to win this so we can play our natural game. Do Saints have the mental toughness to get the job done?
Worcester Warriors v Bath Rugby
Light Rain, 13 Degrees, 11mph Winds
Worcester Warriors
Manager – prop_lyd
| 01. David Flatman | 09. Dwayne Peel |
| 02. Richardt Strauss | 10. Nicky Robinson (k) |
| 03. BJ Botha | |
| 4. Danie Russouw | 11. Shane Williams |
| 05. Jim Hamilton | 12. Pat McCabe |
| 06. Ryan Jones (c) | 13. Jon Clarke |
| 07. Scott Higginbotham | 14. Marcel Garvey |
| 08. Ben Morgan | 15. Ollie Morgan |
16. Chris Fortey 17. George Porter 18.Chris Budgen 18. Kearnen Myall 19. Ben McCalman 20. Eion Reddan 21. Morne Steyn 22. Sam Vesty
Tactics
Forwards
We have picked a strong scrummaging front row with a heavy engine room to trouble all the scrums and intimidate the opponents up front. Our lineouts will be key as we look to catch and drive alot of ball and we have jumpers all over the back 5. The front 5 will do the donkey work creating quick ball and disrupting the opposition's defence. The back row have players who can make an impact both come the breakdown and in open play. Jones and Higs will look for turnover ball and Morgan will use his form to make the breaks from the back of the scrum and the 12-13 channel.
Backs
We have pace all over our backline and we will look to use it as much as possible. Robinson will receive quick ball from Peel and any slow ball will go to the forward on his shoulder. McCabe will run the backs giving Robinson the simple decision of to kick or pass, we will look to pin them back when in our own half but will look to run when in theirs. Clarke is a powerful runner and McCabe can create the gaps for our back 3 who are loaded with pace and form. We will look to play attractive rugby in good conditions and trouble them with a variety of kicks to touch and bomb's with 3 chasers.
Defence
Lead by McCabe, hard and rush defence looking to prevent the ball getting past 12. The back 5 in the pack will look to tackle the ball so long as another is around the legs. Peel will sweep with O.Morgan to counter attack.
Overall
*Attractive rugby,
*Hard hitting upfront to dominate and put them off their game,
*Big impact bench which will be used to test tired legs,
*Backs to look to run this show when in the opposition's half,
*Slow ball is forwards ball,
*Pressure Bath and intimidate them into mistakes,
*Robinson to go for goal when nothing is on from the penalties,
*Continue our excellent development and gain a massive victory.
Bath Rugby
Manager – inthefastlane
| 01. Jon Golding | 09. Fourie Du Preez |
| 02. Kevin Mealamu | 10. Charlie Hodgson |
| 03. Davit Kubrashvilli | |
| 04. Louis Deacon | 11. Ugo Monye |
| 05.Sam Whitelock | 12. Francois Steyn |
| 06. Sean O’Brien | 13. Aurelien Rougerie |
| 07. Steffon Armitage | 14. Maxime Medard |
| 08. Juan Martin Fernandez Lobbe | 15. Kurtley Beale |
16 Cian Healy 17 Joe Ward 18 Petrus Du Plessis 19 Rob Simmons 20 Dan Lydiate 21 Richard Wigglesworth 22 Anthony Allen 23 Tom Varndell
Tactics
General
We'll look to control territory and only play in the right areas of the pitch in the slippery positions. Hodgson will keep us ticking over with Steyn's kicking being vital. We'll look to control the ball and keep the offloading to a minimum. Lobbe will act as chase man and really put pressure on Garvey.
We'll look to use the bench in the second to keep up pack control.
Set Piece
We have some of the on form scrummagers in the world and will look to use the scrum as a platform. We feel we can really use this to advantage in the latter part of the game where the props on our bench can use their advantage. We feel a big part of our game will be the lineout. Lobbe and Whitelock are our main jumpers while Deacon offers a strong banker ball if needed. Simmons will maintain our dominance from the bench. Look to put pressure on the Warrior jumpers forcing turnovers.
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. Beale, FDP and Hodgson are also useful kickers who can be utilised. We will look to test Marcel Garvey in the wet, he is not good on the turn so we will be looking to put balls in behind him.
Other points
- Conservative rugby but if there is a chance to get my back three going then let them run at defenders
- Look to slow Worcester ball down with Armitage looking to create turnovers
- Go through phases with big carries from the likes of SOB
Last edited by SirJohnnyEnglish on Fri 25 Nov 2011, 8:32 am; edited 3 times in total
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Re: AP Round 9
by Ozzy3213 Mon 21 Nov 2011, 12:25 pm
Saracens return to Aviva Premiership action buoyed by consecutive wins in the Heineken Cup, the second of which was a comprehensive victory away at Biarritz. Head coach Ozzy3213 makes 4 changes to that side, with Bismarck du Plessis, Thierry Dusautoir, Ma'a Nonu and Tom Homer replacing Gary Botha, Alessandro Zanni, Jonathon Davies and Alex Goode in the starting XV, and he had this to say about the game.
"We are full of confidence after two excellent results in the Heineken Cup, but we have to put that aside this week as we return to Premiership action. Franklins Gardens is always a tough place to go, but we are pleased with being able to bring some world class players back into the side this week. I can also confirm that it is going to be Victor's (Matfield) last game for us as he has decided to retire and concentrate full time on coaching our forwards. He is determined to go out with a big performance, and the boys are also wanting to give him the sort of send off that he deserves at the end of a fantastic career."
Saracens
Manager – Ozzy3213
16. George Chuter 17. Tendai Mtwarira 18. Jannie du Plessis 19. Steve Borthwick 20. Luke Narraway 21. Paul Hodgson 22. Owen Farrell 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 Joe van Niekerk 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
"We are full of confidence after two excellent results in the Heineken Cup, but we have to put that aside this week as we return to Premiership action. Franklins Gardens is always a tough place to go, but we are pleased with being able to bring some world class players back into the side this week. I can also confirm that it is going to be Victor's (Matfield) last game for us as he has decided to retire and concentrate full time on coaching our forwards. He is determined to go out with a big performance, and the boys are also wanting to give him the sort of send off that he deserves at the end of a fantastic career."
Saracens
Manager – Ozzy3213
| 01. Alex Corbisiero | 09. Morgan Parra |
| 02. Bismarck du Plessis | 10. Francois Trinh-Duc |
| 03. Adam Jones | |
| 04. Lionel Nallet | 11. Digby Ioane |
| 05. Victor Matfield | 12. Ma'a Nonu |
| 06. Thierry Dusautoir | 13. Henry Trinder |
| 07. Tom Wood | 14. Mark Cueto |
| 08. Joe van Niekerk (c) | 15. Tom Homer |
16. George Chuter 17. Tendai Mtwarira 18. Jannie du Plessis 19. Steve Borthwick 20. Luke Narraway 21. Paul Hodgson 22. Owen Farrell 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 Joe van Niekerk 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 breakdown - we will really target the breakdown as we feel with have definite advantage in this area, with 2 flankers who are very good on the deck and Bismarck du Plessis who is as a monster at the breakdown in our side, whereas we see no specialist 7, or players who are great on the deck in the Saints side.
- Control possession - as per our generic tactics we will look to run the ball and go through the phases unless we are in a really difficult position in our 22. With it being slightly damp, we will shorten up our offloading game, and if necessary take the contact and recycle from the breakdown as per the above tactical point. If we are are really struggling within our own 22 then we will look to find touch and contest the lineout, but our main focus is on keeping possession and recycling the ball. We will not kick direct to the Saints back three.
- Accumulate points and build pressure - Every penalty within 60 yards of the posts we will kick for goal, with Homer easily able to hit the target from that distance. If we can get in front we will keep ticking the scoreboard over and force Saints to have to try things which is likely to cause them to make errors and open up further opportunities for us.
- Play off 9 - Morgan Parra will be our little general and be our primary game controller out there. He does not have responsibilty for goal kicking today, so is free to focus on managing the game for us.
Key Points
- Match Sharpness - We have freshened up with 4 players coming into the side this week, but we are also battle hardened after winning two tough Heineken Cup games. Saints have been in two easy matches and may not be able to automatically raise the level of their game up right at the start of this match.
- Form - As stated we are in good in game form, and sitting second in the table, whereas Saints have been inconsistent and have already dropped points at home this season. We also have players in good real life form, along with world class individuals in our team.
- Pressure/Mental Toughness - Saints are playing this game knowing that they cannot afford to lose if they want to challenge for a play off place. That is pressure to play under and can cause mistakes. We know we have some room manouvere due to our previous form, and being away from home there is no pressure on us to win this so we can play our natural game. Do Saints have the mental toughness to get the job done?
Last edited by Ozzy3213 on Tue 22 Nov 2011, 3:37 pm; edited 2 times in total
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Re: AP Round 9
by CJB Mon 21 Nov 2011, 3:55 pm
Bath Rugby
Manager – inthefastlane
16 Cian Healy 17 Joe Ward 18 Petrus Du Plessis 19 Rob Simmons 20 Dan Lydiate 21 Richard Wigglesworth 22 Anthony Allen 23 Tom Varndell
Manager – inthefastlane
| 01. Jon Golding | 09. Fourie Du Preez |
| 02. Kevin Mealamu | 10. Charlie Hodgson |
| 03. Davit Kubrashvilli | |
| 04. Louis Deacon | 11. Ugo Monye |
| 05.Sam Whitelock | 12. Francois Steyn |
| 06. Sean O’Brien | 13. Aurelien Rougerie |
| 07. Steffon Armitage | 14. Maxime Medard |
| 08. Juan Martin Fernandez Lobbe | 15. Kurtley Beale |
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Re: AP Round 9
by Sgt_Pooly Tue 22 Nov 2011, 12:09 am
I'd be happy with a similar result as last year at the stoop!
HARLEQUINS 18 NEWCASTLE FALCONS 30
HARLEQUINS 18 NEWCASTLE FALCONS 30
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Re: AP Round 9
by dammit_chris Tue 22 Nov 2011, 1:49 pm
Northampton Saints team for Saracens Match
Manager: Dammit Chris
Northampton Saints have enjoyed their last two outings in the Amlin Cup racking up two massive victories and allowing a number of their first team squad to rest and prepare for the Aviva Premiership. The front five have been given plenty of rest over the last two weeks, with no player appearing for more than sixty minutes.
They pick a massive pack, that is full of ball carrying options from 1-8 and it is apparent that this is where manager Dammit Chris is putting a lot of the emphasis this week to smash over the Saracens gainline and get front foot ball to attack off of.
Subs: 16. Rob Webber 17. Matt Stevens 18. Sakari Taulafo 19. Bradley Davies 20. Simon Taylor 21. Sam Harrison 22. Danny Cipriani 23. Manu Tuilagi
Tactics: Overview
Our gameplan revolves around possession, patience, territory and explosive ball carrying to break over the Saracens gainline and provide Simpson and Giteau with front foot ball. It also involves an aggressive defence that will look to clear the breakdown with numbers and power, instead of competing directly for the ball.
Our attack is based on building through the phases, controlling the ball and building momentum. We will use powerful ball carriers, Lawes, Albacete, Messam, Elsom and Parisse, de Villiers to run off the back of mauls & rucks and Giteau to get over the gainline and provide Saints with front foot ball for the backs. We will stand Giteau flat and have runners off him, with Evans at 13 we have a further outlet to control the game and bring the back three into play. We will look to try and utilise any defences frailties between Nonu and Trinder who havent played that many games together.
With power in the forwards and lots of attacking threats in the backline we do have the ability to score tries and will look for Giteau to control the game and when running is not an option he will kick the ball deep and give Halfpenny, Ashton and Evans a target of closing down Homer and test whether he is ready to step up to world class level. We will look to scrag him and close him down and put them under pressure.
In defence we will look to get Lawes rampaging around the pitch looking for big hits, particularly on Sarries half backs. This will be an example of our aggressive approach in defence, which we will use to put pressure on the Sarries team and have Elsom & Messam also putting in big tackles. Special attention will be placed on marshalling Nonu with de Villiers and a backrow coming in to double up. If we stop Nonu getting over the gainline then Sarries wont get over the gainline.
At the breakdown we will look to commit players to clear their Saracens counterparts out of the contact area – instead of going for the ball we will instead focus on putting Sarries under pressure and maintain a good defensive line around the fringes. If we can cause Sarries away from the breakdown area then Simpson will be asked to attack and snipe as much as possible, using his pace to get behind the Sarries defence. This is a different approach to normal and looks to play to our strengths, which is a more physical presence than most other teams – we will ensure Simpson is close to the breakdown so he can get hold of any quick ball and attack.
We will use the set piece to put Sarries under pressure, we have a huge scrum and welcome the return of Domingo. This allows us to play Stevens from the bench who can have a better impact later on in the game. We’ve got a very solid scrummaging unit and with Lawes, Albacete, Elsom, Messam and Parisse we have good lineout options.
Defensively at lineouts that are more than 30 metres from our tryline we will put Simpson in the 5metre channel, add Hartley into the lineout as an extra lifter to allow us to attack the Sarries lineout and then push Elsom in between Giteau and de Villiers as an additional defender to smash into Nonu and stop him crossing the gainline. We hope this will force the Sarries 10 to kick deep.
Game Specific Tactics
• Use powerful runners – we will look to bully Saracens out of the game by playing an aggressive style, which hounds them, forcing mistakes and putting in big hits. We will get our runners on the ball and look to cross the gainline, offload to build forward momentum and get our backline into space to score tries.
• Control possession, territory and tempo – we will aim to control the tempo of the game and use Giteau’s experience to move us into areas where we can force Saracens into mistakes and put them under pressure. We will look to dictate the tempo of the game, building through the phases and then exploding into action, moving ball from left to right and looking for weaknesses in Sarries defence.
• Play Giteau flat – each opportunity we have to get Giteau close to the gainline we will take because he has the hands and ability to take on the Sarries defence and bring runners into the game. He will mix up his game, use forwards and utilise Max Evans as the second playmaker and channel runners into the 13 channel. Kicks will be used to place Tom Homer under pressure and closed down by the chasers, particularly to tackle Saracens usual blitz defence – mixing up his options will create gaps and get Sarries guessing and making mistakes.
• Keep Scoreboard Ticking – we have selected Leigh Halfpenny in this game to give us an extremely good kicking option from long-distance knowing that he will need to keep the scoreboard ticking over and cancel out the threat of a similar kicking game from Homer. With more of a try scoring threat in the Saints team we believe that if we match Sarries on the penalty front we will get more tries.
• Build Pressure – Unbeaten at home, all the big guns back we will be lifted to take the game to Sarries and put the visiting team under a lot of pressure. We have a marauding forward pack that can put in big hits and put Sarries ballcarriers under a lot of pressure. Where possible we will look to keep Sarries off the deck in the tackle and drive them backwards, so our players are instantly going forward in the breakdown battle with players going in to clear out the opposition.
Key Points
• Confidence and Freshness – over the last month the Saints team has been scoring tries for fun and has recorded huge back to back wins with a young team that has lifted confidence. It has also allowed us to rest the front five, none have played more than 60minutes over the last two weeks and purposefully rested to come back flying in the AP (particularly after tough WC).
• Try scoring threat – at home Saints will run the ball and look to score tries out wide and cause Saracens to chase the game. Are Saracens able to score more tries than Saints because with Giteau and Halfpenny Saints will be able to match them on the penalty count.
• Ball carrying and big hits – we will make sure that our pack does a lot of ball carrying and turn this into a really physical game to take Saracens out of their comfort zone and pressurise them at every single opportunity.
• Leadership – Saints have a team packed full of leaders – Hartley, Hayman, Albacete, Elsom, Parisse in the pack (with Davies and Taylor on the bench) and the experience of Giteau and de Villiers in the backline. This is a good mix and allows players like Lawes, Messam, Foden and Ashton to flourish.
[b]
Manager: Dammit Chris
Northampton Saints have enjoyed their last two outings in the Amlin Cup racking up two massive victories and allowing a number of their first team squad to rest and prepare for the Aviva Premiership. The front five have been given plenty of rest over the last two weeks, with no player appearing for more than sixty minutes.
They pick a massive pack, that is full of ball carrying options from 1-8 and it is apparent that this is where manager Dammit Chris is putting a lot of the emphasis this week to smash over the Saracens gainline and get front foot ball to attack off of.
| 01. Thomas Domingo | 09. Joe Simpson |
| 02. Dylan Hartley | 10. Matt Giteau |
| 03. Carl Hayman | |
| 04. Courtney Lawes | 11. Leigh Halfpenny |
| 05.Patricio Albacete | 12. Jean de Villiers |
| 06. Rocky Elsom | 13. Max Evans |
| 07. Liam Messam | 14. Chris Ashton |
| 08. Sergio Parisse(c) | 15. Ben Foden |
Subs: 16. Rob Webber 17. Matt Stevens 18. Sakari Taulafo 19. Bradley Davies 20. Simon Taylor 21. Sam Harrison 22. Danny Cipriani 23. Manu Tuilagi
Tactics: Overview
Our gameplan revolves around possession, patience, territory and explosive ball carrying to break over the Saracens gainline and provide Simpson and Giteau with front foot ball. It also involves an aggressive defence that will look to clear the breakdown with numbers and power, instead of competing directly for the ball.
Our attack is based on building through the phases, controlling the ball and building momentum. We will use powerful ball carriers, Lawes, Albacete, Messam, Elsom and Parisse, de Villiers to run off the back of mauls & rucks and Giteau to get over the gainline and provide Saints with front foot ball for the backs. We will stand Giteau flat and have runners off him, with Evans at 13 we have a further outlet to control the game and bring the back three into play. We will look to try and utilise any defences frailties between Nonu and Trinder who havent played that many games together.
With power in the forwards and lots of attacking threats in the backline we do have the ability to score tries and will look for Giteau to control the game and when running is not an option he will kick the ball deep and give Halfpenny, Ashton and Evans a target of closing down Homer and test whether he is ready to step up to world class level. We will look to scrag him and close him down and put them under pressure.
In defence we will look to get Lawes rampaging around the pitch looking for big hits, particularly on Sarries half backs. This will be an example of our aggressive approach in defence, which we will use to put pressure on the Sarries team and have Elsom & Messam also putting in big tackles. Special attention will be placed on marshalling Nonu with de Villiers and a backrow coming in to double up. If we stop Nonu getting over the gainline then Sarries wont get over the gainline.
At the breakdown we will look to commit players to clear their Saracens counterparts out of the contact area – instead of going for the ball we will instead focus on putting Sarries under pressure and maintain a good defensive line around the fringes. If we can cause Sarries away from the breakdown area then Simpson will be asked to attack and snipe as much as possible, using his pace to get behind the Sarries defence. This is a different approach to normal and looks to play to our strengths, which is a more physical presence than most other teams – we will ensure Simpson is close to the breakdown so he can get hold of any quick ball and attack.
We will use the set piece to put Sarries under pressure, we have a huge scrum and welcome the return of Domingo. This allows us to play Stevens from the bench who can have a better impact later on in the game. We’ve got a very solid scrummaging unit and with Lawes, Albacete, Elsom, Messam and Parisse we have good lineout options.
Defensively at lineouts that are more than 30 metres from our tryline we will put Simpson in the 5metre channel, add Hartley into the lineout as an extra lifter to allow us to attack the Sarries lineout and then push Elsom in between Giteau and de Villiers as an additional defender to smash into Nonu and stop him crossing the gainline. We hope this will force the Sarries 10 to kick deep.
Game Specific Tactics
• Use powerful runners – we will look to bully Saracens out of the game by playing an aggressive style, which hounds them, forcing mistakes and putting in big hits. We will get our runners on the ball and look to cross the gainline, offload to build forward momentum and get our backline into space to score tries.
• Control possession, territory and tempo – we will aim to control the tempo of the game and use Giteau’s experience to move us into areas where we can force Saracens into mistakes and put them under pressure. We will look to dictate the tempo of the game, building through the phases and then exploding into action, moving ball from left to right and looking for weaknesses in Sarries defence.
• Play Giteau flat – each opportunity we have to get Giteau close to the gainline we will take because he has the hands and ability to take on the Sarries defence and bring runners into the game. He will mix up his game, use forwards and utilise Max Evans as the second playmaker and channel runners into the 13 channel. Kicks will be used to place Tom Homer under pressure and closed down by the chasers, particularly to tackle Saracens usual blitz defence – mixing up his options will create gaps and get Sarries guessing and making mistakes.
• Keep Scoreboard Ticking – we have selected Leigh Halfpenny in this game to give us an extremely good kicking option from long-distance knowing that he will need to keep the scoreboard ticking over and cancel out the threat of a similar kicking game from Homer. With more of a try scoring threat in the Saints team we believe that if we match Sarries on the penalty front we will get more tries.
• Build Pressure – Unbeaten at home, all the big guns back we will be lifted to take the game to Sarries and put the visiting team under a lot of pressure. We have a marauding forward pack that can put in big hits and put Sarries ballcarriers under a lot of pressure. Where possible we will look to keep Sarries off the deck in the tackle and drive them backwards, so our players are instantly going forward in the breakdown battle with players going in to clear out the opposition.
Key Points
• Confidence and Freshness – over the last month the Saints team has been scoring tries for fun and has recorded huge back to back wins with a young team that has lifted confidence. It has also allowed us to rest the front five, none have played more than 60minutes over the last two weeks and purposefully rested to come back flying in the AP (particularly after tough WC).
• Try scoring threat – at home Saints will run the ball and look to score tries out wide and cause Saracens to chase the game. Are Saracens able to score more tries than Saints because with Giteau and Halfpenny Saints will be able to match them on the penalty count.
• Ball carrying and big hits – we will make sure that our pack does a lot of ball carrying and turn this into a really physical game to take Saracens out of their comfort zone and pressurise them at every single opportunity.
• Leadership – Saints have a team packed full of leaders – Hartley, Hayman, Albacete, Elsom, Parisse in the pack (with Davies and Taylor on the bench) and the experience of Giteau and de Villiers in the backline. This is a good mix and allows players like Lawes, Messam, Foden and Ashton to flourish.
[b]
Last edited by dammit_chris on Thu 24 Nov 2011, 3:37 pm; edited 2 times in total
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Re: AP Round 9
by Ozzy3213 Tue 22 Nov 2011, 1:51 pm
Going to be an interesting game Chris, all about the tactics now! 
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Re: AP Round 9
by dammit_chris Tue 22 Nov 2011, 1:54 pm
Certainly will be! I am going to refrain from saying anything derogatory about Tom Homer's ginger beard this week. It's going to be tough though!
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Re: AP Round 9
by Ozzy3213 Tue 22 Nov 2011, 1:56 pm
You can slate his beard if you want mate, just don't give away any penalties within about 60 yards of the posts
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Re: AP Round 9
by dammit_chris Tue 22 Nov 2011, 2:14 pm
We've bought in a load of mirrors for the fans to angle into his eyes when his lining up those kicks - thinking is that it will set his ginger beard on fire and stop him slotting those massive kicks!
It's similar to why I picked Halfpenny instead of Siviatu or Benvenuti - long distance kicking!
It's similar to why I picked Halfpenny instead of Siviatu or Benvenuti - long distance kicking!
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Re: AP Round 9
by Steven_Sharks Tue 22 Nov 2011, 2:16 pm
Harlequins[/b]
Manager – Steven_Sharks
16. Rob Vickers 17. Joe Marler 18. Brian Mujati 18. James Gaskell 19. Carl Fearns 20. Tomas O'Leary 21. Quade Cooper 22. Freddie Burns
Tactics
We welcome Newcastle and are fully confident that we are going to get a win at the Stoop. We have picked a very experienced side which has 523 international caps in the starting XV. We have picked a forward pack which will be a force both at the set piece and the loose and a backline which will be able to control the tempo of the game and the part of the field in which it will be played. We also have very threatening runners out wide who will score tries given the chance. On the bench we have got one of the best impact players you could wish for in Quade Cooper who will strike fear into a tired Newcastle when he comes on.
Game Plan
Our game plan is to play a patient game in which we build phases and tie in Newcastle defenders. We have picked a side with which we think will control the game for us. We will use our forwards to carry the ball until we get quick ball and have the chance to spread the ball wider to our backs when they have space to cause damage. We have specifically picked 8 forwards who are strong carriers and will take the ball at pace, carry in numbers and most importantly look to win the collision and then keep driving the legs to make ground and get us over the gain line. We want the forwards to attack spaces not faces and run at the gaps. When we get the chance we will look for the offload but we won’t be throwing miracle balls. Offloads are key to a flowing attacking game as its keeps the pace of the attack up. We will be looking for our forwards to carry of 9, 10 and 12 and each to be picking a different line to keep the Newcastle defence guessing.
We will look to use the kicking abilities of our 9, 10, 11, 12 and 15 to our advantage and if we are struggling to build up momentum then we will ping the ball into spaces. We will be careful to kick behind players or to find touch, unless we are using attacking kicks such as up and unders, cross field kicks or grubbers. We will only kick the ball away when we are in our 22 or there is an obvious opportunity such as poor positioning.
If we are to get turnover then we want to make it count by really increasing the tempo and hurting and disorganised defence. We will look to get our big runners involved and look to keep our game flowing. We have the players to hurt Newcastle with ball in hand.
Forwards
As stated in our game plan our forwards are going to be doing a lot of carrying and we want specific players to carry in different areas. We want our front row to be primary carriers of 9, with the locks occasionally doing it. We want our locks and back row carrying of 10 and our back row also to carry in the midfield. We will be looking to put 2, 3 or 4 men into a ruck depending on how easily the ball can be recycled. When the backs want quick ball we will commit as many men as it takes to get this quick ball. We want our forwards to really fly out of the blocks in this game and get on top of Newcastle in the first 20 mins. We have strong forwards coming off of the bench all off which are impact players who will look for get involved should they be required. We aren’t looking to bring players on unless we need to take players off.
Set Piece
At the set piece we are going to really look to pressure Newcastle ball. We are going to have Sharpe and Skivington competing at every lineout and we are going to look for our strong front row to turn the screw at the scrum. We have the Auckland Blues pair making their debut together as a unit at Quins and in between them is the very experienced Matthew Rees. We can’t see them taking a step backwards. We will use 5 man lineouts between the two 22 m lines and will have longer or shorter lines in to give us the option of mauling or getting the ball away quickly when we are close to either try line.
Backs
We will look for our half backs to control the game. They will look for the runners who offer themselves and will look to speed up or slow down the game to suit our game plan. We have deliberately picked a 12 who can control our game and Contepomi will also step in as first receiver when he is required and will be the extra set of eyes to see when Newcastle are short of defenders or disorganised. We will look for George Lowe to continually run lines cutting back infield so as to commit defenders. Contepomi will then look to slide behind him and when he is given the ball he will look to feed one of the back three who will be picking lines and coming from deep. Our blindside winger will be looking to come off his wing for work and Kearney will look to join the line and inject some pace whenever possible.
Defence
In defence we will play with a very quick line speed and aim to put huge pressure on the Newcastle 10 and other decision makers. Our back row will look to hunt him as a pack and make his day miserable. When we can we will look for 2 men to make the tackle with one taking the man’s legs and the other looking to get onto the ball and cause a turnover. We will look to put huge pressure on Newcastle’s ball carriers but we are all aware of not being caught offside.
At rucks we will look to have 2 men compete either by trying to legally turnover the ball or by adopting a good low body position and rucking Newcastle off the ball. Warburton will look to do what he does as well as anybody in the world by getting over the ball and getting us penalties or turnovers.
We will look for our back 3 to stay deep when we don’t have the ball so we can be ready to counter attack when the loose kicks come in.
Key Points
• Build pressure on Newcastle by playing patient rugby, retaining possession, being aggressive in defence and maintaining our discipline.
• Use forwards to punch holes in defence and get us quick ball before using backs against and disorganised defence.
• Win collisions in attack and defence. This will build/halt momentum which will benefit our game.
• Kick only when it’s on or to clear our lines to touch. We certainly don’t want to kick aimlessly.
• Let Warburton loose on the Newcastle 10 and the breakdown. Key player in this game and perhaps the form player in the world in his position.
• When we get turnovers we want to run at a disorganised Newcastle defence which won’t have time to re-align. If that isn’t an option then kick to the spaces which will be there.
• We have some great impact subs to come on and add to our game.
• Kick the points when on. Whilst we want to score tries we know that a win is more important than a few tries.
• We’ve given our key players a good rest. Fatigue will not be an issue for us at any stage.
• Current form: Preistland and Heaslip got MoM in the HC last weekend and Warburton was in the team of the week with Kearney and Marler also being mentioned and they are players in key positions for us so it’s great that they are in good form.
Points based on opposition side/tactics
- There has only been one manager talking about last years result and that's Pooly. You could say that this obsession with last years results is causing complacency in the Newcastle camp and this is an attitude we will look to punish. These comments will go up on the changing rule wall. Made a team talk very very easy.
- We see ourselves as having the much better game managers in our side. We have players who excel in this skill at 9, 10 and 12.
- We really want to target the Lineout. Sharpe and Skivington are both excellent lineout forwards and we will really look to put huge pressure on Parling.
- Our back row will really out huge pressure on Evans. He doesn't have another kicking option outside him and will do the majority of the decision making. We get to him then Newcastle won't function. Also put huge pressure on Youngs and pressure him to ship scrappy ball.
- They can put as many high balls up as they like as Rob Kearney is as good as you get under the high ball and he will take the ball every time. Solid as a rock.
Manager – Steven_Sharks
| 01. Tony Woodcock | 09. Lee Dickson |
| 02. Matthew Rees | 10. Rhys Preistland (k) |
| 03. John Afoa | |
| 04. George Skivington | 11. Joe Rokocoko |
| 05. Nathan Sharpe | 12. Felipe Contepomi |
| 06. Phil Dowson | 13. George Lowe |
| 07. Sam Warburton (c) | 14. Jonathan Joseph |
| 08. Jamie Heaslip | 15. Rob Kearney |
16. Rob Vickers 17. Joe Marler 18. Brian Mujati 18. James Gaskell 19. Carl Fearns 20. Tomas O'Leary 21. Quade Cooper 22. Freddie Burns
Tactics
We welcome Newcastle and are fully confident that we are going to get a win at the Stoop. We have picked a very experienced side which has 523 international caps in the starting XV. We have picked a forward pack which will be a force both at the set piece and the loose and a backline which will be able to control the tempo of the game and the part of the field in which it will be played. We also have very threatening runners out wide who will score tries given the chance. On the bench we have got one of the best impact players you could wish for in Quade Cooper who will strike fear into a tired Newcastle when he comes on.
Game Plan
Our game plan is to play a patient game in which we build phases and tie in Newcastle defenders. We have picked a side with which we think will control the game for us. We will use our forwards to carry the ball until we get quick ball and have the chance to spread the ball wider to our backs when they have space to cause damage. We have specifically picked 8 forwards who are strong carriers and will take the ball at pace, carry in numbers and most importantly look to win the collision and then keep driving the legs to make ground and get us over the gain line. We want the forwards to attack spaces not faces and run at the gaps. When we get the chance we will look for the offload but we won’t be throwing miracle balls. Offloads are key to a flowing attacking game as its keeps the pace of the attack up. We will be looking for our forwards to carry of 9, 10 and 12 and each to be picking a different line to keep the Newcastle defence guessing.
We will look to use the kicking abilities of our 9, 10, 11, 12 and 15 to our advantage and if we are struggling to build up momentum then we will ping the ball into spaces. We will be careful to kick behind players or to find touch, unless we are using attacking kicks such as up and unders, cross field kicks or grubbers. We will only kick the ball away when we are in our 22 or there is an obvious opportunity such as poor positioning.
If we are to get turnover then we want to make it count by really increasing the tempo and hurting and disorganised defence. We will look to get our big runners involved and look to keep our game flowing. We have the players to hurt Newcastle with ball in hand.
Forwards
As stated in our game plan our forwards are going to be doing a lot of carrying and we want specific players to carry in different areas. We want our front row to be primary carriers of 9, with the locks occasionally doing it. We want our locks and back row carrying of 10 and our back row also to carry in the midfield. We will be looking to put 2, 3 or 4 men into a ruck depending on how easily the ball can be recycled. When the backs want quick ball we will commit as many men as it takes to get this quick ball. We want our forwards to really fly out of the blocks in this game and get on top of Newcastle in the first 20 mins. We have strong forwards coming off of the bench all off which are impact players who will look for get involved should they be required. We aren’t looking to bring players on unless we need to take players off.
Set Piece
At the set piece we are going to really look to pressure Newcastle ball. We are going to have Sharpe and Skivington competing at every lineout and we are going to look for our strong front row to turn the screw at the scrum. We have the Auckland Blues pair making their debut together as a unit at Quins and in between them is the very experienced Matthew Rees. We can’t see them taking a step backwards. We will use 5 man lineouts between the two 22 m lines and will have longer or shorter lines in to give us the option of mauling or getting the ball away quickly when we are close to either try line.
Backs
We will look for our half backs to control the game. They will look for the runners who offer themselves and will look to speed up or slow down the game to suit our game plan. We have deliberately picked a 12 who can control our game and Contepomi will also step in as first receiver when he is required and will be the extra set of eyes to see when Newcastle are short of defenders or disorganised. We will look for George Lowe to continually run lines cutting back infield so as to commit defenders. Contepomi will then look to slide behind him and when he is given the ball he will look to feed one of the back three who will be picking lines and coming from deep. Our blindside winger will be looking to come off his wing for work and Kearney will look to join the line and inject some pace whenever possible.
Defence
In defence we will play with a very quick line speed and aim to put huge pressure on the Newcastle 10 and other decision makers. Our back row will look to hunt him as a pack and make his day miserable. When we can we will look for 2 men to make the tackle with one taking the man’s legs and the other looking to get onto the ball and cause a turnover. We will look to put huge pressure on Newcastle’s ball carriers but we are all aware of not being caught offside.
At rucks we will look to have 2 men compete either by trying to legally turnover the ball or by adopting a good low body position and rucking Newcastle off the ball. Warburton will look to do what he does as well as anybody in the world by getting over the ball and getting us penalties or turnovers.
We will look for our back 3 to stay deep when we don’t have the ball so we can be ready to counter attack when the loose kicks come in.
Key Points
• Build pressure on Newcastle by playing patient rugby, retaining possession, being aggressive in defence and maintaining our discipline.
• Use forwards to punch holes in defence and get us quick ball before using backs against and disorganised defence.
• Win collisions in attack and defence. This will build/halt momentum which will benefit our game.
• Kick only when it’s on or to clear our lines to touch. We certainly don’t want to kick aimlessly.
• Let Warburton loose on the Newcastle 10 and the breakdown. Key player in this game and perhaps the form player in the world in his position.
• When we get turnovers we want to run at a disorganised Newcastle defence which won’t have time to re-align. If that isn’t an option then kick to the spaces which will be there.
• We have some great impact subs to come on and add to our game.
• Kick the points when on. Whilst we want to score tries we know that a win is more important than a few tries.
• We’ve given our key players a good rest. Fatigue will not be an issue for us at any stage.
• Current form: Preistland and Heaslip got MoM in the HC last weekend and Warburton was in the team of the week with Kearney and Marler also being mentioned and they are players in key positions for us so it’s great that they are in good form.
Points based on opposition side/tactics
- There has only been one manager talking about last years result and that's Pooly. You could say that this obsession with last years results is causing complacency in the Newcastle camp and this is an attitude we will look to punish. These comments will go up on the changing rule wall. Made a team talk very very easy.
- We see ourselves as having the much better game managers in our side. We have players who excel in this skill at 9, 10 and 12.
- We really want to target the Lineout. Sharpe and Skivington are both excellent lineout forwards and we will really look to put huge pressure on Parling.
- Our back row will really out huge pressure on Evans. He doesn't have another kicking option outside him and will do the majority of the decision making. We get to him then Newcastle won't function. Also put huge pressure on Youngs and pressure him to ship scrappy ball.
- They can put as many high balls up as they like as Rob Kearney is as good as you get under the high ball and he will take the ball every time. Solid as a rock.
Last edited by Steven_Sharks on Thu 24 Nov 2011, 9:41 pm; edited 1 time in total
Steven_Sharks- Posts : 7528
Join date : 2011-04-19
Location : Chester/Manchester
Re: AP Round 9
by prop_lyd Tue 22 Nov 2011, 8:11 pm
| 01. David Flatman | 09. Dwayne Peel |
| 02. Richardt Strauss | 10. Nicky Robinson (k) |
| 03. BJ Botha | |
| 4. Danie Russouw | 11. Shane Williams |
| 05. Jim Hamilton | 12. Pat McCabe |
| 06. Ryan Jones (c) | 13. Jon Clarke |
| 07. Scott Higginbotham | 14. Marcel Garvey |
| 08. Ben Morgan | 15. Ollie Morgan |
16. Chris Fortey 17. George Porter 18.Chris Budgen 18. Kearnen Myall 19. Ben McCalman 20. Eion Reddan 21. Morne Steyn 22. Sam Vesty
Tactics
Forwards
We have picked a strong scrummaging front row with a heavy engine room to trouble all the scrums and intimidate the opponents up front. Our lineouts will be key as we look to catch and drive alot of ball and we have jumpers all over the back 5. The front 5 will do the donkey work creating quick ball and disrupting the opposition's defence. The back row have players who can make an impact both come the breakdown and in open play. Jones and Higs will look for turnover ball and Morgan will use his form to make the breaks from the back of the scrum and the 12-13 channel.
Backs
We have pace all over our backline and we will look to use it as much as possible. Robinson will receive quick ball from Peel and any slow ball will go to the forward on his shoulder. McCabe will run the backs giving Robinson the simple decision of to kick or pass, we will look to pin them back when in our own half but will look to run when in theirs. Clarke is a powerful runner and McCabe can create the gaps for our back 3 who are loaded with pace and form. We will look to play attractive rugby in good conditions and trouble them with a variety of kicks to touch and bomb's with 3 chasers.
Defence
Lead by McCabe, hard and rush defence looking to prevent the ball getting past 12. The back 5 in the pack will look to tackle the ball so long as another is around the legs. Peel will sweep with O.Morgan to counter attack.
Overall
*Attractive rugby,
*Hard hitting upfront to dominate and put them off their game,
*Big impact bench which will be used to test tired legs,
*Backs to look to run this show when in the opposition's half,
*Slow ball is forwards ball,
*Pressure Bath and intimidate them into mistakes,
*Robinson to go for goal when nothing is on from the penalties,
*Continue our excellent development and gain a massive victory.
Last edited by prop_lyd on Thu 24 Nov 2011, 7:12 pm; edited 1 time in total
prop_lyd- Posts : 10387
Join date : 2011-01-28
Age : 36
Location : Rogerstone, Wales
Re: AP Round 9
by 'Arry Spurs Wed 23 Nov 2011, 10:15 am
London Wasps
Manager – ‘Arry
16. Tatafu Polota-Nau 17. Charlie Beech 18. CJ Van Der Linde 19. Richard Birkett 20. Tom Johnson 21. Mike Blair 22. Rory Clegg 23. Mike Tindall
Tactics
To come...
Manager – ‘Arry
| 01. Perry Freshwater | 09. Luke Burgess |
| 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. Tatafu Polota-Nau 17. Charlie Beech 18. CJ Van Der Linde 19. Richard Birkett 20. Tom Johnson 21. Mike Blair 22. Rory Clegg 23. Mike Tindall
Tactics
To come...
'Arry Spurs- Posts : 1051
Join date : 2011-11-02
Re: AP Round 9
by stnick88 Wed 23 Nov 2011, 10:53 am
London Irish
Manager – stnick88
16. Jean Baptiste Poux 17. James Buckland 18. Duncan Bell 19. Mouritz Botha 20. Kieren Roche 21. Julien Dupuy 22. Sireli Naqalevuki 23. Marland Yarde
Tactics
We going in to this game full of confidence after gaining 5 points in the HC against Harlequins. The conditions are ok and we will look to stick to our usual high tempo game and attack Wasps from the off.
We are ruthlessly targetting the scrum. Castro will look to tear Freshwater apart and gain us a big upper hand here. Our front row are all very effective in the loose as well and we will look to take Wasps on upfront with a powerful backrow of Kaino Fourie Spies. We will look to dominate possession and territory and make Wasps feed off scraps. We have Fourie to scavenge whereas Wasps lack that natural openside.
Pienaar and Bowden will pull the strings, with Bowden being the main play maker and creating the space for SBW and Fourie. We have instructed SBW only to offload when it is on, and not to try the impossible. Fourie and Tait will look to gather these offloads.
JMH to kick all pens for goal, if not go for touch to use Kennedy, Garvey, Kaino and Spies at the lineout. Kennedy will disrupt as much opposition ball as possible.
We will use our big ball carriers, Tonga'uhia, Kaino, Garvey, Spies, Fourie to smash over the gainline and suck in defenders before spreading the ball for Bowden to work his magic and get SBW, Fourie, Tait etc involved.
We will make Wasps ball as scrappy as possible (legally) so that service to Gopperth is limited. He is not the most creative 10 and we will look to pressurise him and really put him on the back foot. We want to keep our own ball alive and moving as Wasps forwards are not as dynamic as ours and we will look to move them around and spot mismatches.
Manager – stnick88
| 01. Soane Tonga'uhia | 09. Ruan Pienaar |
| 02. Rory Best | 10. Daniel Bowden |
| 03. Martin Castrogiovanni | |
| 04. Matt Garvey | 11. Paul Sackey |
| 05. Nick Kennedy | 12. Sonny Bill Williams |
| 06. Jerome Kaino | 13. Jaque Fourie |
| 07. Hendrie Fourie | 14. Matthew Tait |
| 08. Pierre Spies | 15. Juan Martin Hernandez |
16. Jean Baptiste Poux 17. James Buckland 18. Duncan Bell 19. Mouritz Botha 20. Kieren Roche 21. Julien Dupuy 22. Sireli Naqalevuki 23. Marland Yarde
Tactics
We going in to this game full of confidence after gaining 5 points in the HC against Harlequins. The conditions are ok and we will look to stick to our usual high tempo game and attack Wasps from the off.
We are ruthlessly targetting the scrum. Castro will look to tear Freshwater apart and gain us a big upper hand here. Our front row are all very effective in the loose as well and we will look to take Wasps on upfront with a powerful backrow of Kaino Fourie Spies. We will look to dominate possession and territory and make Wasps feed off scraps. We have Fourie to scavenge whereas Wasps lack that natural openside.
Pienaar and Bowden will pull the strings, with Bowden being the main play maker and creating the space for SBW and Fourie. We have instructed SBW only to offload when it is on, and not to try the impossible. Fourie and Tait will look to gather these offloads.
JMH to kick all pens for goal, if not go for touch to use Kennedy, Garvey, Kaino and Spies at the lineout. Kennedy will disrupt as much opposition ball as possible.
We will use our big ball carriers, Tonga'uhia, Kaino, Garvey, Spies, Fourie to smash over the gainline and suck in defenders before spreading the ball for Bowden to work his magic and get SBW, Fourie, Tait etc involved.
We will make Wasps ball as scrappy as possible (legally) so that service to Gopperth is limited. He is not the most creative 10 and we will look to pressurise him and really put him on the back foot. We want to keep our own ball alive and moving as Wasps forwards are not as dynamic as ours and we will look to move them around and spot mismatches.
Last edited by stnick88 on Thu 24 Nov 2011, 6:21 pm; edited 1 time in total
stnick88- Posts : 5345
Join date : 2011-05-10
Re: AP Round 9
by LukeLovesLuka Wed 23 Nov 2011, 1:42 pm
Leciester Tigers have made four changes to the side that demolished Montpellier in the Heineken Cup last week.
Tigers travel to Gloucester this week in great form, and have included Cencus Johnston at tighthead with Ben Franks dropping to the bench, Pascal Pape replaces Alex Brown, in-form winger Tom Biggs comes in for Vincent Clerc and Brian O'Driscoll returns to the 13 jersey with Yannick Jauzion missing out.
Manger LukeLovesLuka said "we've picked a massive pack - I think it's the biggest i've ever picked - in anticpation for a huge battle with Gloucester this week. Gloucester have had an indifferent start to the season, but can not be underestimated, and the boys are completely focused.
It has the makings of a classic, and i'd certainly be willing to pay the entrance fee. I can't wait."
Leicester Tigers
Manager – LukeLovesLuka
16. Clarke Dermody 17. Lee Mears 18. Ben Franks 19. Alex Brown 20. Tom Croft 21. Nick Easter 22. Micky Young 23. Isa Nacewa
Tactics
GENERAL:
- We have picked a huge carrying pack, tactical HB's and an intelligent midfield in an effort to get our back three into positions where they can hurt Gloucester.
- Defensively we will look to blitz, with Yachvilli sweeping behind the line to deal with any short kicks.
- Yachvili to kick all penalties in range. We also have Wilkinson or Twelvetrees if he is having an off day.
- Utilise our powerful 6/2 split bench to win the game for us in the last quarter. Two technical props in Dermody and Franks, big lineout options in A.Brown and Croft, experienced heads in Easter and Mears, and pace and excitement with Young and Nacewa.
FORWARDS:
- We will look to maintain a strong scrum all game, with a great scrummaging hooker who will look to get after Gray, and two massively powerful props in Jenkins and Johnston to get the shove on. Both Jenkins and Johnston are tall props, so they are told to hold their bind and keep their body and back straight in an effort to stop them being done underneath.
- In the lineout, Hines, Horwill and Pape will be our three main jumpers, and we believe we can get real joy in targeting Gray's throws with these big jumpers. With A.Brown and Croft, and also Easter to come on, we will attack the lineout more and more as the game wears on.
- A massive pack, full to the brim of ball carriers, to give us real go-forward. With the ball in hand we want to attack together in groups so as not to become isolated, and if it is on we will look to offload in or just before the tackle. All players are to act as support runners when they can.
- We will target the breakdown massively with Pocock. Gloucester have no out and out 7 in their team, and we feel we can get gain a big advantage here. Pocock is told to hit the breakdown area fast, looking to get his hands on turnover ball. We want to seriously disrupt the quality of the ball Gloucester can get, and steal as much as we can for our own backs to use.
BACKS:
- We will force Gloucester to play from deep - With the rain, the pitch will be wet, and we will use the big boots of Yachvili, Wilkinson and Twelvetrees to pen Gloucester back in their own 22.
- In general attacking play, we will play off 9 with Yachvili our man in charge. We will look to move Gloucester's pack around, release our strike runners 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.
- Waldrom/Jenkins/Johnston/Horwill/Hines to be used off the shoulder of the half backs, inside or out, and look to crash through the defence.
- Twelvetrees can act as our second receiver, and brings another kicking option when we are looking for territory - he can also 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.
- In Cory Jane we have one of the safest pair of hands in world rugby. The more Gloucester kick to us, the better.
- Our back three are encouraged to do what comes naturally to all of them - counter attacking and running the ball back. 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:
- In-game form - we have won 6 of our last 7 games, averaging 34 points per game. And we also beat Gloucester with Bakkies Botha, Tom Palmer, Stephen Ferris and Schalk Burger in their pack 32-23, only a few weeks ago.
- We have a much heavier pack than Gloucester (on average nearly a stone per player). Matt will harp on about his ball carrying back row, but we have a much stronger carrying front five than Gloucester, whilst Waldrom is the best carrying 8 in the AP and Pocock was Australia's leading carrier at the World Cup.
- Controlling HB's - Gloucester obviously have dangerous attacking HB's, but we have two of the best tactical HB's in the world. With their tactical ability, we will force Gloucester to play from deep, and pen them back in their own 22. We will look to Yachvili and Wilkinson to use their nous and experience to win the crucial tactical battle.
- Target the breakdown with Pocock - Gloucester have no out and out 7 in their team, and we feel we can get gain a big advantage here. Pocock is told to hit the breakdown area fast, looking to get his hands on turnover ball.
- Team packed full of leaders for a huge away game. Horwill and BOD are our inspirational captain and vice, and then behind them we have Jenkins, Hines, Pocock, Yachvili and Wilkinson, and Easter and Dermody off the bench, who are all natural leaders - which is essential for an important away fixture.
Tigers travel to Gloucester this week in great form, and have included Cencus Johnston at tighthead with Ben Franks dropping to the bench, Pascal Pape replaces Alex Brown, in-form winger Tom Biggs comes in for Vincent Clerc and Brian O'Driscoll returns to the 13 jersey with Yannick Jauzion missing out.
Manger LukeLovesLuka said "we've picked a massive pack - I think it's the biggest i've ever picked - in anticpation for a huge battle with Gloucester this week. Gloucester have had an indifferent start to the season, but can not be underestimated, and the boys are completely focused.
It has the makings of a classic, and i'd certainly be willing to pay the entrance fee. I can't wait."
Leicester Tigers
Manager – LukeLovesLuka
| 01. Gethin Jenkins | 09. Dimitri Yachvili (k) |
| 02. Stephen Moore | 10. Jonny Wilkinson |
| 03. Cencus Johnston | |
| 04. Pascal Pape | 11. Tom Biggs |
| 05. James Horwill (c) | 12. Billy Twelvetrees |
| 06. Nathan Hines | 13. Brian O'Driscoll |
| 07. David Pocock | 14. Topsy Ojo |
| 08. Thomas Waldrom | 15. Cory Jane |
Tactics
GENERAL:
- We have picked a huge carrying pack, tactical HB's and an intelligent midfield in an effort to get our back three into positions where they can hurt Gloucester.
- Defensively we will look to blitz, with Yachvilli sweeping behind the line to deal with any short kicks.
- Yachvili to kick all penalties in range. We also have Wilkinson or Twelvetrees if he is having an off day.
- Utilise our powerful 6/2 split bench to win the game for us in the last quarter. Two technical props in Dermody and Franks, big lineout options in A.Brown and Croft, experienced heads in Easter and Mears, and pace and excitement with Young and Nacewa.
FORWARDS:
- We will look to maintain a strong scrum all game, with a great scrummaging hooker who will look to get after Gray, and two massively powerful props in Jenkins and Johnston to get the shove on. Both Jenkins and Johnston are tall props, so they are told to hold their bind and keep their body and back straight in an effort to stop them being done underneath.
- In the lineout, Hines, Horwill and Pape will be our three main jumpers, and we believe we can get real joy in targeting Gray's throws with these big jumpers. With A.Brown and Croft, and also Easter to come on, we will attack the lineout more and more as the game wears on.
- A massive pack, full to the brim of ball carriers, to give us real go-forward. With the ball in hand we want to attack together in groups so as not to become isolated, and if it is on we will look to offload in or just before the tackle. All players are to act as support runners when they can.
- We will target the breakdown massively with Pocock. Gloucester have no out and out 7 in their team, and we feel we can get gain a big advantage here. Pocock is told to hit the breakdown area fast, looking to get his hands on turnover ball. We want to seriously disrupt the quality of the ball Gloucester can get, and steal as much as we can for our own backs to use.
BACKS:
- We will force Gloucester to play from deep - With the rain, the pitch will be wet, and we will use the big boots of Yachvili, Wilkinson and Twelvetrees to pen Gloucester back in their own 22.
- In general attacking play, we will play off 9 with Yachvili our man in charge. We will look to move Gloucester's pack around, release our strike runners 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.
- Waldrom/Jenkins/Johnston/Horwill/Hines to be used off the shoulder of the half backs, inside or out, and look to crash through the defence.
- Twelvetrees can act as our second receiver, and brings another kicking option when we are looking for territory - he can also 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.
- In Cory Jane we have one of the safest pair of hands in world rugby. The more Gloucester kick to us, the better.
- Our back three are encouraged to do what comes naturally to all of them - counter attacking and running the ball back. 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:
- In-game form - we have won 6 of our last 7 games, averaging 34 points per game. And we also beat Gloucester with Bakkies Botha, Tom Palmer, Stephen Ferris and Schalk Burger in their pack 32-23, only a few weeks ago.
- We have a much heavier pack than Gloucester (on average nearly a stone per player). Matt will harp on about his ball carrying back row, but we have a much stronger carrying front five than Gloucester, whilst Waldrom is the best carrying 8 in the AP and Pocock was Australia's leading carrier at the World Cup.
- Controlling HB's - Gloucester obviously have dangerous attacking HB's, but we have two of the best tactical HB's in the world. With their tactical ability, we will force Gloucester to play from deep, and pen them back in their own 22. We will look to Yachvili and Wilkinson to use their nous and experience to win the crucial tactical battle.
- Target the breakdown with Pocock - Gloucester have no out and out 7 in their team, and we feel we can get gain a big advantage here. Pocock is told to hit the breakdown area fast, looking to get his hands on turnover ball.
- Team packed full of leaders for a huge away game. Horwill and BOD are our inspirational captain and vice, and then behind them we have Jenkins, Hines, Pocock, Yachvili and Wilkinson, and Easter and Dermody off the bench, who are all natural leaders - which is essential for an important away fixture.
Last edited by LukeLovesLuka on Thu 24 Nov 2011, 11:29 am; edited 1 time in total
LukeLovesLuka- Posts : 5865
Join date : 2011-04-19
Age : 40
Location : London
Re: AP Round 9
by Sgt_Pooly Wed 23 Nov 2011, 3:29 pm
We travel to the Stoop full of confidence after two bonus point wins in the HC and sitting pretty at the top of the Premiership. Richie McCaw is welcomed back into the side after an enforced rest and is fresh and ready to face young upstart Warburton. We bring back numerous faces such as Youngs, Evans, Read, Robshaw, Smith after the 2 week European break and come into this one fresh and firing.
The Stoop has been a happy hunting ground in the past and Harlequins must be sick of seeing us after our 30-18 win there last season.
Newcastle Falcons
Manager – Sgt Pooly
16. Tom Lindsay 17. Owen Franks 18. Boris Stankovich 19. Paul O’Connell 20. Chris York 21. Jonny Arr 22. Toby Flood 23. Drew Mitchell
Tactics
Second half pack:
1. Barcella
2. Servat
3. Franks
4. Thorn
5. POC
6. Robshaw
7. McCaw
8. Read
General play - It's all about a high tempo and controlling the ball.. If 3 point is on we'll look to take it and until we have a clear lead. Evans will pull the strings at 10 and keep us playing in the right areas of the pitch. Our main aim this week will be getting control in the forwards and getting good ball for our extra quality in the backline to attack Quins. With Youngs and Evans at halfback pulling the strings with good ball we feel we can really get at Quins, especially through the centre channel. Evans will look to test out Joseph and Roko early on with a few Gary Owens with Barritt looking too put some big hits in to set the tone.
Forwards
Set Piece
We'll be looking to use the set piece as a platform to set up attacks. Our tactics during each game may change if we spot a weakness in the oppposition set piece during the 80mins. This is the role of the team captain.
Scrum - We'll be looking to set a platform and use the scrum to get fast ball to out 9/10 axis. Servat, PDJ and Barcella are excellent technical scrummagers who will give us a sound foundation and look to get at their opposite numbers from the off. If a weakness is seen we’ll look to keep the push on and drive the opposition back, taking scrum options at pens if totally on top. If not we’ll be using the scrum as restart and getting the ball in and out so we can attack the opposition 9/10 axis. We think we may get an edge in this week with Barcella and Servat looking to target Afoa throughout the game.
Lineout
Securing lineout ball will be key. Parling will look to lead the line and use Thorn as banker ball from the front and Read, McCaw & Robshaw as a strong options at the middle and back. We shall look to get target opposition ball throughout the game.
Target Breakdown & Rucks
We'll look to commit to rucks to secure our own ball whilst targetting the opposition when it's on. McCaw will look to slow opposion ball down whilst looking for the turnover whilst Robshaw and Read are also excellent on the deck so will look to do this all game.
ISOLATED RUNNERS –Our pack will look to get the contact area asap and join the tackle thus making a maul. With us in control of the tackle area or ruck as it is now, we’ll look to keep the runner up until the ref awards a scrum in out advantage. This is a system we used to success numerous times last season and is especially handy in the damp conditions as forwards look to take the ball up more.
Huge carrying
We have huge carrying options in the pack and we'll look to use them throughout the game to wear the opposition down and give us a point of attack. We'll look to mix this up with Read coming off the scrum and Barcella, Robshaw, Servat, Parling, Thorn, McCaw giving us numerous options in tight and loose. We’ll look to vary the angles of attack with Evans using the reverse ball now and again with Read, Thorn, McCaw and Robshaw coming in. The 9/10 axis will hit early on and if successful will be used to draw the opposition defence in.
Backs
Halfbacks
With a solid platform Youngs will look to snipe around and find gaps in the opposion defense, especially at 2/3rd phase attacks when defenses start to fray. Youngs gives us a massive threat and will look to mix his game up throughgout the game. Evans will play his natural game and come into the line flat. He’ll look to mix the play up with varying passes and look to hit behind the back 3 if on. Youngs will sweep up behind a blitz defense with Barritt leading the line. Youngs will look to deploy the box kick and leave it hanging to test the opposition back 3.
Backline balance
We have numerous running options and the option to mix things up in the backline. Barritt gives Evans go to ball if needed and we'll look to get JOC in as second receiver to give us a different focal point. AAC will look to come off the shoulder of attacks and inject pace into the midfield. Bowe will look to run angles off the backline and finish off moves in opposition 22.
Points to target against opposition
After studying the opposition over a number of weeks we’ll be looking to specifically target these areas:
SCRUM – We feel we have a good edge in the scrum and will target this. Our front row is a serious unit and backed with Thorn will provide serious grunt. Owen Franks will come on at half time and provide a top class TH to attack Woodcock and Marler.
QUINS ENGINE ROOM – With Quins playing two 5’s we feel they might lack a bit of physicality and power in the set piece and around the park. We will look to use the rolling maul and target rucks because of this.
LINEOUT – We have 5 top jumpers starting and feel confident about securing our own ball. POC will come at half time and look to dismantle the Quins set piece.
BREAKDOWN – With MCaw, Read & Robshaw targeting the breakdown we’ll look to get the upper hand here throughout the game
REAL LIFE FORM – We have numerous players right at the top of their game and feel Quins lack a bit of real life form with Skivington, Rees, Dowson, Dickson, Contepomi and Roko not in the best of nick. This is just my opinion though of course.
IN GAME FORM – Top of the table in the AP and Premiership, only beaten once home and away all season
LAST GAME AT THE STOOP – We have no fears about travelling to the Stoop after winning 18-30 last time out…possible mental issues for Quins though?
QUINS MIDFIELD – We’ll look to get at Contepomi who plays much more of his rugby at 10 these days and paired with Lowe we feel Quins could be vulnerable in the 10/12/13 axis. We’ll look to get Read and Thorn running down these channels early on and especially Priestland to test him out.
2nd HALF PACK – We this pack on the park we feel we can really turn the screw on and dominate the forward battle giving Evans plenty of good clean ball.
The Stoop has been a happy hunting ground in the past and Harlequins must be sick of seeing us after our 30-18 win there last season.
Newcastle Falcons
Manager – Sgt Pooly
| 01. Fabien Barcella | 09. Ben Youngs |
| 02. William Servat | 10. Nick Evans |
| 03. Paul Doran-Jones | |
| 04. Brad Thorn | 11. James O’Connor |
| 05. Geoff Parling | 12. Brad Barritt |
| 06. Chris Robshaw | 13. Conrad Smith |
| 07. Richie McCaw(c) | 14. Tommy Bowe |
| 08. Kieran Read | 15. Adam Ashley-Cooper |
16. Tom Lindsay 17. Owen Franks 18. Boris Stankovich 19. Paul O’Connell 20. Chris York 21. Jonny Arr 22. Toby Flood 23. Drew Mitchell
Tactics
Second half pack:
1. Barcella
2. Servat
3. Franks
4. Thorn
5. POC
6. Robshaw
7. McCaw
8. Read
General play - It's all about a high tempo and controlling the ball.. If 3 point is on we'll look to take it and until we have a clear lead. Evans will pull the strings at 10 and keep us playing in the right areas of the pitch. Our main aim this week will be getting control in the forwards and getting good ball for our extra quality in the backline to attack Quins. With Youngs and Evans at halfback pulling the strings with good ball we feel we can really get at Quins, especially through the centre channel. Evans will look to test out Joseph and Roko early on with a few Gary Owens with Barritt looking too put some big hits in to set the tone.
Forwards
Set Piece
We'll be looking to use the set piece as a platform to set up attacks. Our tactics during each game may change if we spot a weakness in the oppposition set piece during the 80mins. This is the role of the team captain.
Scrum - We'll be looking to set a platform and use the scrum to get fast ball to out 9/10 axis. Servat, PDJ and Barcella are excellent technical scrummagers who will give us a sound foundation and look to get at their opposite numbers from the off. If a weakness is seen we’ll look to keep the push on and drive the opposition back, taking scrum options at pens if totally on top. If not we’ll be using the scrum as restart and getting the ball in and out so we can attack the opposition 9/10 axis. We think we may get an edge in this week with Barcella and Servat looking to target Afoa throughout the game.
Lineout
Securing lineout ball will be key. Parling will look to lead the line and use Thorn as banker ball from the front and Read, McCaw & Robshaw as a strong options at the middle and back. We shall look to get target opposition ball throughout the game.
Target Breakdown & Rucks
We'll look to commit to rucks to secure our own ball whilst targetting the opposition when it's on. McCaw will look to slow opposion ball down whilst looking for the turnover whilst Robshaw and Read are also excellent on the deck so will look to do this all game.
ISOLATED RUNNERS –Our pack will look to get the contact area asap and join the tackle thus making a maul. With us in control of the tackle area or ruck as it is now, we’ll look to keep the runner up until the ref awards a scrum in out advantage. This is a system we used to success numerous times last season and is especially handy in the damp conditions as forwards look to take the ball up more.
Huge carrying
We have huge carrying options in the pack and we'll look to use them throughout the game to wear the opposition down and give us a point of attack. We'll look to mix this up with Read coming off the scrum and Barcella, Robshaw, Servat, Parling, Thorn, McCaw giving us numerous options in tight and loose. We’ll look to vary the angles of attack with Evans using the reverse ball now and again with Read, Thorn, McCaw and Robshaw coming in. The 9/10 axis will hit early on and if successful will be used to draw the opposition defence in.
Backs
Halfbacks
With a solid platform Youngs will look to snipe around and find gaps in the opposion defense, especially at 2/3rd phase attacks when defenses start to fray. Youngs gives us a massive threat and will look to mix his game up throughgout the game. Evans will play his natural game and come into the line flat. He’ll look to mix the play up with varying passes and look to hit behind the back 3 if on. Youngs will sweep up behind a blitz defense with Barritt leading the line. Youngs will look to deploy the box kick and leave it hanging to test the opposition back 3.
Backline balance
We have numerous running options and the option to mix things up in the backline. Barritt gives Evans go to ball if needed and we'll look to get JOC in as second receiver to give us a different focal point. AAC will look to come off the shoulder of attacks and inject pace into the midfield. Bowe will look to run angles off the backline and finish off moves in opposition 22.
Points to target against opposition
After studying the opposition over a number of weeks we’ll be looking to specifically target these areas:
SCRUM – We feel we have a good edge in the scrum and will target this. Our front row is a serious unit and backed with Thorn will provide serious grunt. Owen Franks will come on at half time and provide a top class TH to attack Woodcock and Marler.
QUINS ENGINE ROOM – With Quins playing two 5’s we feel they might lack a bit of physicality and power in the set piece and around the park. We will look to use the rolling maul and target rucks because of this.
LINEOUT – We have 5 top jumpers starting and feel confident about securing our own ball. POC will come at half time and look to dismantle the Quins set piece.
BREAKDOWN – With MCaw, Read & Robshaw targeting the breakdown we’ll look to get the upper hand here throughout the game
REAL LIFE FORM – We have numerous players right at the top of their game and feel Quins lack a bit of real life form with Skivington, Rees, Dowson, Dickson, Contepomi and Roko not in the best of nick. This is just my opinion though of course.
IN GAME FORM – Top of the table in the AP and Premiership, only beaten once home and away all season
LAST GAME AT THE STOOP – We have no fears about travelling to the Stoop after winning 18-30 last time out…possible mental issues for Quins though?
QUINS MIDFIELD – We’ll look to get at Contepomi who plays much more of his rugby at 10 these days and paired with Lowe we feel Quins could be vulnerable in the 10/12/13 axis. We’ll look to get Read and Thorn running down these channels early on and especially Priestland to test him out.
2nd HALF PACK – We this pack on the park we feel we can really turn the screw on and dominate the forward battle giving Evans plenty of good clean ball.
Last edited by Sgt_Pooly on Thu 24 Nov 2011, 2:02 pm; edited 1 time in total
Sgt_Pooly- Posts : 36294
Join date : 2011-04-27
Re: AP Round 9
by Guest Thu 24 Nov 2011, 11:02 am
Manager – Mat
| 01. Nick Wood | 09. Genia |
| 02. Joe Gray | 10. Dan Carter |
| 03. Nicolas Mas | |
| 04. Bakkies Botha | 11. Sharples |
| 05. Palmer(c) | 12. Berrick barnes |
| 06. Steven Ferris | 13. Richard kahui |
| 07. Schalk Burger | 14. JSD |
| 08. Immanol Harinordoqouy | 15. Israel dagg |
16. Guthro Steenkamp 17. Jamie George 18. Julian White 19. George Robson 20. Julian Bonnaire 21. Dave Lewis 22. Hosea Gear 23. Jonny May
Guest- Guest
Re: AP Round 9
by Ozzy3213 Thu 24 Nov 2011, 4:23 pm
Just as a quick point as one of Chris openers (not tactics) is that Saints have picked a massive pack with emphasis on smashing over the gainline, here are the weight comparisons courtesy of scrum.com
Ours is bigger. Only by 1lb overall, but it is bigger.
Game on
| Saints | --- | Sarries | |
| 1. Domingo vs. Corbisiero | 235 | lbs | 264 |
| 2. Hartley vs. du Plessis | 242 | lbs | 244 |
| 3. Hayman vs. Jones | 262 | lbs | 275 |
| 4. Lawes vs. Nallet | 252 | lbs | 252 |
| 5. Albacete vs. Matfield | 253 | lbs | 238 |
| 6. Elsom vs. Dusautoir | 246 | lbs | 222 |
| 7. Messam vs. Wood | 240 | lbs | 231 |
| 8. Parisse vs. van Niekerk | 233 | lbs | 238 |
| Total | 1963 | lbs | 1964 |
Ours is bigger. Only by 1lb overall, but it is bigger.
Game on
Ozzy3213- Moderator
- Posts : 18500
Join date : 2011-01-29
Age : 48
Location : Sandhurst
Re: AP Round 9
by dammit_chris Thu 24 Nov 2011, 4:38 pm
Knew you'd pick up on that - point I was trying to portray was that Saints have more aggressive, hard-hitting players and better ball carrying in the pack.
And yours is only bigger because Jones likes his pies
And yours is only bigger because Jones likes his pies
dammit_chris- Posts : 8685
Join date : 2011-05-03
Re: AP Round 9
by SirJohnnyEnglish Thu 24 Nov 2011, 5:12 pm
After impressive back to back wins in the Heineken cup Sale Sharks return to domestic duty where they continue their attempts to make the playoffs welcoming Exeter Chiefs to Edgeley Park.
Talking about his team selection SJE had this to say:
After some fantastic performances over the last few weeks picking the squad for this weekends game was ridiculously hard.
With a gnarly Chiefs side on visit it's important that we are strong in the set piece this week so Marcos and Luc will look to anchor us at scrum time while Andries Bekker comes back in to lead the lineout. More important though is our mobility around the park and this front 5 has been selected to really get about.
We have opted for a backrow strong at the breakdown to combat the Chiefs flankers but with that extra carrying ability to really get at Exeter. Louis comes in at 8 and is really looking to get his hands on the ball here.
While in the backs we will look to our dynamic 9/10/12 axis as always to get our pacy backline moving. Johnny and James are two of the best playmaking backs around and are looking forward to running out in the good conditions predicted for this weekend.
Sale Sharks
Manager – SJE
16. Lee Imolek 17. Brett Sharman 18. Neemia Tialata 19. Christian Day 20. Victor Vito 21. Shaun Perry 22. Aaron Cruden 23. Jordan Turner Hall
Talking about his team selection SJE had this to say:
After some fantastic performances over the last few weeks picking the squad for this weekends game was ridiculously hard.
With a gnarly Chiefs side on visit it's important that we are strong in the set piece this week so Marcos and Luc will look to anchor us at scrum time while Andries Bekker comes back in to lead the lineout. More important though is our mobility around the park and this front 5 has been selected to really get about.
We have opted for a backrow strong at the breakdown to combat the Chiefs flankers but with that extra carrying ability to really get at Exeter. Louis comes in at 8 and is really looking to get his hands on the ball here.
While in the backs we will look to our dynamic 9/10/12 axis as always to get our pacy backline moving. Johnny and James are two of the best playmaking backs around and are looking forward to running out in the good conditions predicted for this weekend.
Sale Sharks
Manager – SJE
| 01. Marcos Ayerza | 09. Danny Care |
| 02. David Paice | 10. Johnny Sexton |
| 03. Luc Ducalcon | |
| 04. Romain Millo Chluski | 11. David Strettle |
| 05. Andries Bekker | 12. Jame Hook |
| 06. Adam Thomson | 13. Robbie Freuen |
| 07. Fulgence Quedragao | 14. Sam Smith |
| 08. Louis Picamoles | 15. Luke Rooney |
16. Lee Imolek 17. Brett Sharman 18. Neemia Tialata 19. Christian Day 20. Victor Vito 21. Shaun Perry 22. Aaron Cruden 23. Jordan Turner Hall
SirJohnnyEnglish- Posts : 8536
Join date : 2011-05-10
Age : 36
Location : Limerick
Driver- Posts : 11038
Join date : 2011-04-20
Age : 32
Location : Hartlepool
Re: AP Round 9
by SirJohnnyEnglish Thu 24 Nov 2011, 5:15 pm
Cheers mate will be back on later with tactics and to update the page. Best of luck with the game 
SirJohnnyEnglish- Posts : 8536
Join date : 2011-05-10
Age : 36
Location : Limerick
Re: AP Round 9
by Driver Thu 24 Nov 2011, 5:18 pm
I would have had mine in on Monday but i'v got a 1700 word assigment due in tomorrow and so far i'v done about 150 words lol.
Driver- Posts : 11038
Join date : 2011-04-20
Age : 32
Location : Hartlepool
Re: AP Round 9
by Driver Thu 24 Nov 2011, 5:26 pm
Exeter Chiefs team for Sale Sharks
15.Lee Byrne (Wales)
14.Isia Toeava (New Zealand)
13.Chris Bell (England)
12.Gordan D’Arcy (Ireland)
11.Luke Fitzgerald (Ireland)
10.Ronan O’Gara (Ireland)
9. Byron Kelleher (New Zealand)
1.Andrew Sheridan (England)
2.Ben Kayser (France)
3.Davit Zirkashvilli (Georgie)
4.Simon Shaw (England)
5.Juillian Pierre (France)
6.Lewis Moody (England)
7.Shane Jennings (Ireland)
8.Ben Skirving (England)
16.John Smit 17.Salvator Perugini 18.Dave Wilson 19.James Hudson 20.Declan Danahar 21.Haydn Thomas 22.Steven Myler 23.Adam Thompstone
Tactics
Exeter will look to play a big physical game based around players carrying in the narrow channels around fringes and tie defenders into the contact area. Our pack will look to retain possetion with Byron Kelleher dictating the tempo and keep the Sharks defense honest.
We will look to play the game plan which suits Exeter best and that is to play at a high tempo from the off and really take the game to Sale smashing the ball up the middle with D’Arcy and Bell making head way to create space outwide for the back 3 to exploit or set a platform for ROG to pin Sale inside there own 22.
Moody and Jennings will look to target the breakdown as this is where games can be won or lost.
Pressure is off as we’re not expected to get anything from this so we’ll be pretty relaxed going into this and backing our selves to take points from.
Wilson/Hudson/Myler on at 55 mins to run round and up the tempo and take the game to Sale.
Key Points
1: Hook plays with a lot of individuality , is he really the man to get the best out of Robbie Freaun?
2:Isia Toeava , Luke Fitzgerald and Lee Byrne all have succeeded at the highest level where as Sam Smith and Luke Rooney havn't made the impact most would of expected them to.
3.We have a good attacking backline which can score tries and using front foot ball we will score tries.
Best of luck SJE has potential to be a classic this one!
15.Lee Byrne (Wales)
14.Isia Toeava (New Zealand)
13.Chris Bell (England)
12.Gordan D’Arcy (Ireland)
11.Luke Fitzgerald (Ireland)
10.Ronan O’Gara (Ireland)
9. Byron Kelleher (New Zealand)
1.Andrew Sheridan (England)
2.Ben Kayser (France)
3.Davit Zirkashvilli (Georgie)
4.Simon Shaw (England)
5.Juillian Pierre (France)
6.Lewis Moody (England)
7.Shane Jennings (Ireland)
8.Ben Skirving (England)
16.John Smit 17.Salvator Perugini 18.Dave Wilson 19.James Hudson 20.Declan Danahar 21.Haydn Thomas 22.Steven Myler 23.Adam Thompstone
Tactics
Exeter will look to play a big physical game based around players carrying in the narrow channels around fringes and tie defenders into the contact area. Our pack will look to retain possetion with Byron Kelleher dictating the tempo and keep the Sharks defense honest.
We will look to play the game plan which suits Exeter best and that is to play at a high tempo from the off and really take the game to Sale smashing the ball up the middle with D’Arcy and Bell making head way to create space outwide for the back 3 to exploit or set a platform for ROG to pin Sale inside there own 22.
Moody and Jennings will look to target the breakdown as this is where games can be won or lost.
Pressure is off as we’re not expected to get anything from this so we’ll be pretty relaxed going into this and backing our selves to take points from.
Wilson/Hudson/Myler on at 55 mins to run round and up the tempo and take the game to Sale.
Key Points
1: Hook plays with a lot of individuality , is he really the man to get the best out of Robbie Freaun?
2:Isia Toeava , Luke Fitzgerald and Lee Byrne all have succeeded at the highest level where as Sam Smith and Luke Rooney havn't made the impact most would of expected them to.
3.We have a good attacking backline which can score tries and using front foot ball we will score tries.
Best of luck SJE has potential to be a classic this one!
Last edited by Driver - RIP 606 on Thu 24 Nov 2011, 8:03 pm; edited 1 time in total
Driver- Posts : 11038
Join date : 2011-04-20
Age : 32
Location : Hartlepool
Re: AP Round 9
by 'Arry Spurs Thu 24 Nov 2011, 6:19 pm
Will get my tactics in later, am very busy with work at the moment.
'Arry Spurs- Posts : 1051
Join date : 2011-11-02
Re: AP Round 9
by Guest Thu 24 Nov 2011, 7:40 pm
[quote="anonmattyt"]
Manager – Mat
16. Guthro Steenkamp 17. Jamie George 18. Julian White 19. George Robson 20. Julian Bonnaire 21. Dave Lewis 22. Hosea Gear 23. Jonny May
Glaws welcome Leicester to kingsholm and will be looking to really stuff Leicester and send a message through the Ap.
Forwards
Glaws as ever have gone for a hugely physical pack that has great mobility as well as great set piece.
Scrums
We will be looking to really turn the screw with mas targetting Jenkins horribly. We are aiming to sap there energy and force Leicester to bring on london irishs 3.rd choice loosehead Dermody and franks.
We are also looking to our exceptional back 5 to really keep the drive on.
Lineouts
We think we can shred Leicester here and this is an easy win for us. Leicester have no lineout experts and we will pressure with hari palmer bakkies burger and look to destroy their lineout. We have all seen moores darts go under pressure and this will be super pressure.
On our ball we will be looking to catch and drive in our own 22 but after that hit off the top and try and hit runners in midfield and try and move this much slower Leicester pack around.
Breakdown
We see this as a clear advantage to us. They may have pocock but we have a much quicker backrow and hari ferris and burger will be there way before Hines and Waldrom. Burger has played most his rugby at 7 and outperforformed mccaw etc at 7 on occasions. When he was voted best player in the world that was at 7.
Overall.
We are going to play at intensity and not give Leicester the slow game they want. We will look to suck their pack in and move it away again and create the next wave of possession.
We have so many mobile ball carriers and we will change the point of attack and work in pods and move leIcester into positions they dont want to be in.
Defensively we will send numbers in to counter ruck and with our extra pace in back row look to isolate the man and turnover.
Backs
We have the 2 best hbs in the game and they will dictate tempo. Initially we will be looking to kick quick ball in behind their back 3 and win territory battle with Leicester having 2 wings who are not great kickers.
We will also test out Corey Janes positioning as its been a while since he played there .
We have 3 great kicking options which will force Leicester back and make them either kick which means we get the lineout or they try and counter which moves their large pack about even more.
As the game progresses we will up the tempo carter will be looking to hit kahui up and recycle and then hit our ball carrying forwards coming round the corner to set the next phase.
Carter and genia will keep the ball moving from phase to phase looking to eventually create mismatches for us to exploit.
As the game starts to break up our back 3 will counter every kick and quick throw ins etc and break the game up.
Defensively we will blitz wilko who is not the attacking force he was and let 36 have pressure ball.
We see our bench as far
More dynamic and will use as neccesary. Bonnaire will further reinforce our lineout.
Key points
Glaws in form with in form players all over
Far more mobile pack with much better backrow balance. Hines is a second
Row playing 6 for Leicester
Dominant lineout against essentially 3 front jumping locks
More dynamic bench with game breakers every where. If wilko injured who plays 10 nacewa??
All international backline in their right positions.
More kicking options
Good luck Luke !
Manager – Mat
| 01. Nick Wood | 09. Genia |
| 02. Joe Gray | 10. Dan Carter |
| 03. Nicolas Mas | |
| 04. Bakkies Botha | 11. Sharples |
| 05. Palmer(c) | 12. Berrick barnes |
| 06. Steven Ferris | 13. Richard kahui |
| 07. Schalk Burger | 14. JSD |
| 08. Immanol Harinordoqouy | 15. Israel dagg |
16. Guthro Steenkamp 17. Jamie George 18. Julian White 19. George Robson 20. Julian Bonnaire 21. Dave Lewis 22. Hosea Gear 23. Jonny May
Glaws welcome Leicester to kingsholm and will be looking to really stuff Leicester and send a message through the Ap.
Forwards
Glaws as ever have gone for a hugely physical pack that has great mobility as well as great set piece.
Scrums
We will be looking to really turn the screw with mas targetting Jenkins horribly. We are aiming to sap there energy and force Leicester to bring on london irishs 3.rd choice loosehead Dermody and franks.
We are also looking to our exceptional back 5 to really keep the drive on.
Lineouts
We think we can shred Leicester here and this is an easy win for us. Leicester have no lineout experts and we will pressure with hari palmer bakkies burger and look to destroy their lineout. We have all seen moores darts go under pressure and this will be super pressure.
On our ball we will be looking to catch and drive in our own 22 but after that hit off the top and try and hit runners in midfield and try and move this much slower Leicester pack around.
Breakdown
We see this as a clear advantage to us. They may have pocock but we have a much quicker backrow and hari ferris and burger will be there way before Hines and Waldrom. Burger has played most his rugby at 7 and outperforformed mccaw etc at 7 on occasions. When he was voted best player in the world that was at 7.
Overall.
We are going to play at intensity and not give Leicester the slow game they want. We will look to suck their pack in and move it away again and create the next wave of possession.
We have so many mobile ball carriers and we will change the point of attack and work in pods and move leIcester into positions they dont want to be in.
Defensively we will send numbers in to counter ruck and with our extra pace in back row look to isolate the man and turnover.
Backs
We have the 2 best hbs in the game and they will dictate tempo. Initially we will be looking to kick quick ball in behind their back 3 and win territory battle with Leicester having 2 wings who are not great kickers.
We will also test out Corey Janes positioning as its been a while since he played there .
We have 3 great kicking options which will force Leicester back and make them either kick which means we get the lineout or they try and counter which moves their large pack about even more.
As the game progresses we will up the tempo carter will be looking to hit kahui up and recycle and then hit our ball carrying forwards coming round the corner to set the next phase.
Carter and genia will keep the ball moving from phase to phase looking to eventually create mismatches for us to exploit.
As the game starts to break up our back 3 will counter every kick and quick throw ins etc and break the game up.
Defensively we will blitz wilko who is not the attacking force he was and let 36 have pressure ball.
We see our bench as far
More dynamic and will use as neccesary. Bonnaire will further reinforce our lineout.
Key points
Glaws in form with in form players all over
Far more mobile pack with much better backrow balance. Hines is a second
Row playing 6 for Leicester
Dominant lineout against essentially 3 front jumping locks
More dynamic bench with game breakers every where. If wilko injured who plays 10 nacewa??
All international backline in their right positions.
More kicking options
Good luck Luke !
Guest- Guest
Re: AP Round 9
by SirJohnnyEnglish Thu 24 Nov 2011, 9:23 pm
Sale Sharks
Manager – SJE
16. Lee Imolek 17. Brett Sharman 18. Neemia Tialata 19. Christian Day 20. Victor Vito 21. Shaun Perry 22. Aaron Cruden 23. Jordan Turner Hall
General Game Plan
On attack, we will look to our big carriers to get over the gain line and where possible offload to support runners, breaking the defensive line and keeping our forward momentum going. If running the ball is not on we will look to the boots of Sexton and Hook to put us in the right areas.
On defence, we will use a blitz defence coming up at pace looking to isolate the ball carrier before he gets to the gain line stopping any momentum and allowing us to hit the breakdown hard. Danny Care will act as a sweeper to cover any grubbers behind the line while our back three will sit deep ready to run back any loose kicks.
At the breakdown, if the ball looks available we will look to seriously commit numbers to clear the ruck allowing Thomson and Quedragao to come in and secure us turnover ball. At all other times we will commit 1 or 2 to the breakdown and look to counter ruck slowing down Exeter ball allowing our defensive line more time to set.
We will look to use the set piece as a weapon throughout. We will target the scrum with a technically strong front row looking to get in under to win every hit. With 5 jumping options and a reliable thrower at hook we will look to attack from the lineout. We will look to mix things up bringing the ball down into the maul or playing the ball of the top and spreading it through the backs.
Key Points
• We are unbeaten at home since season two having won every league game here in the last year. Edgeley Park is a fortress and the Chiefs will need to be at their very best to breach it with a passionate crowd cheering us on.
•We are here to play our own game not Exeter’s. We won’t look to get into an arm wrestle but will play our usual style of attacking running rugby looking to move Exeter around the park.
• We have gone with a side full of pace particularly in the back line to really get at the Chiefs. We will be deploying lots of decoy running tying up spare defenders to ensure one on one match ups. We will look to use a full complement of forwards at each lineout allowing one on one match ups in the back line. At scrum time we will look to wheel the Chiefs scrum away from the backline to get some more of these one on one match ups.
• We will look to win the collisions in both attack and defence so we have a target for our forwards to hit when they reach the ruck. We will look to get at the Exeter 10/12 axis from the start and really get on top of the Chiefs here
• As always on defence our back three will sit deep ready for any kicks We expect ROG’s boot to be a big part of Exeter’s attacking game and we want to take it out of play with a pacy and dangerous counter attacking game
Nasty Driver sounds like an all nighter! Best of luck for both the match and essay!!
Manager – SJE
| 01. Marcos Ayerza | 09. Danny Care |
| 02. David Paice | 10. Johnny Sexton |
| 03. Luc Ducalcon | |
| 04. Romain Millo Chluski | 11. David Strettle |
| 05. Andries Bekker | 12. Jame Hook |
| 06. Adam Thomson | 13. Robbie Freuen |
| 07. Fulgence Quedragao | 14. Sam Smith |
| 08. Louis Picamoles | 15. Luke Rooney |
16. Lee Imolek 17. Brett Sharman 18. Neemia Tialata 19. Christian Day 20. Victor Vito 21. Shaun Perry 22. Aaron Cruden 23. Jordan Turner Hall
General Game Plan
On attack, we will look to our big carriers to get over the gain line and where possible offload to support runners, breaking the defensive line and keeping our forward momentum going. If running the ball is not on we will look to the boots of Sexton and Hook to put us in the right areas.
On defence, we will use a blitz defence coming up at pace looking to isolate the ball carrier before he gets to the gain line stopping any momentum and allowing us to hit the breakdown hard. Danny Care will act as a sweeper to cover any grubbers behind the line while our back three will sit deep ready to run back any loose kicks.
At the breakdown, if the ball looks available we will look to seriously commit numbers to clear the ruck allowing Thomson and Quedragao to come in and secure us turnover ball. At all other times we will commit 1 or 2 to the breakdown and look to counter ruck slowing down Exeter ball allowing our defensive line more time to set.
We will look to use the set piece as a weapon throughout. We will target the scrum with a technically strong front row looking to get in under to win every hit. With 5 jumping options and a reliable thrower at hook we will look to attack from the lineout. We will look to mix things up bringing the ball down into the maul or playing the ball of the top and spreading it through the backs.
Key Points
• We are unbeaten at home since season two having won every league game here in the last year. Edgeley Park is a fortress and the Chiefs will need to be at their very best to breach it with a passionate crowd cheering us on.
•We are here to play our own game not Exeter’s. We won’t look to get into an arm wrestle but will play our usual style of attacking running rugby looking to move Exeter around the park.
• We have gone with a side full of pace particularly in the back line to really get at the Chiefs. We will be deploying lots of decoy running tying up spare defenders to ensure one on one match ups. We will look to use a full complement of forwards at each lineout allowing one on one match ups in the back line. At scrum time we will look to wheel the Chiefs scrum away from the backline to get some more of these one on one match ups.
• We will look to win the collisions in both attack and defence so we have a target for our forwards to hit when they reach the ruck. We will look to get at the Exeter 10/12 axis from the start and really get on top of the Chiefs here
• As always on defence our back three will sit deep ready for any kicks We expect ROG’s boot to be a big part of Exeter’s attacking game and we want to take it out of play with a pacy and dangerous counter attacking game
Nasty Driver sounds like an all nighter! Best of luck for both the match and essay!!
SirJohnnyEnglish- Posts : 8536
Join date : 2011-05-10
Age : 36
Location : Limerick
Re: AP Round 9
by Driver Thu 24 Nov 2011, 9:26 pm
An all nighter my arse!!!!! I'v just pinched this lasses i know who done it last year lol - reworded it of course
Driver- Posts : 11038
Join date : 2011-04-20
Age : 32
Location : Hartlepool
SirJohnnyEnglish- Posts : 8536
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Location : Limerick
Re: AP Round 9
by Ozzy3213 Thu 24 Nov 2011, 9:35 pm
dammit_chris wrote:Knew you'd pick up on that - point I was trying to portray was that Saints have more aggressive, hard-hitting players and better ball carrying in the pack.
And yours is only bigger because Jones likes his pies
Pies it may be, but he'll still take some shifting in the scrum
More aggressive and hard hitting than Bismarck, JvN and Dusautoir???............................... Interesting!!!
I'm sure the 8 full internationals in my pack are quaking at the thought of Lawes and co jumping out of the line and trying to smash them and leaving gaps for us to exploit!
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- Posts : 18500
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Re: AP Round 9
by Driver Thu 24 Nov 2011, 9:37 pm
Johnny - Ha!
Take it the rumours are true about Lawes being a bit slow must not have listened at Sarries training hey Pete?
Take it the rumours are true about Lawes being a bit slow must not have listened at Sarries training hey Pete?
Driver- Posts : 11038
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Re: AP Round 9
by Steven_Sharks Thu 24 Nov 2011, 9:42 pm
Tactics updated. Apologies for there length.
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Join date : 2011-04-19
Location : Chester/Manchester
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Re: AP Round 9
by Driver Thu 24 Nov 2011, 9:52 pm
Some cracking fixtures this week
IFL needs to get his tactics in a risk a wolloping in preados from me
IFL needs to get his tactics in a risk a wolloping in preados from me
Driver- Posts : 11038
Join date : 2011-04-20
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Re: AP Round 9
by SirJohnnyEnglish Thu 24 Nov 2011, 10:01 pm
Just two sets of tactics to go and predictions can start
SirJohnnyEnglish- Posts : 8536
Join date : 2011-05-10
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Re: AP Round 9
by Driver Thu 24 Nov 2011, 10:02 pm
ITFL will be in a bit later , appears he has an essay to do as well lol
Driver- Posts : 11038
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Re: AP Round 9
by SirJohnnyEnglish Thu 24 Nov 2011, 10:13 pm
Some cracking work on tactics this week! Just reading through alot of them now. Great games on show this week 
SirJohnnyEnglish- Posts : 8536
Join date : 2011-05-10
Age : 36
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Re: AP Round 9
by prop_lyd Thu 24 Nov 2011, 10:32 pm
Jeez Steve...i'm going to have to book the day off for your match!!
prop_lyd- Posts : 10387
Join date : 2011-01-28
Age : 36
Location : Rogerstone, Wales
Re: AP Round 9
by Steven_Sharks Thu 24 Nov 2011, 10:34 pm
I was trapped in my flat yesterday cz they were doing something to the floors in the block. Can only watch so much of the US office.
Steven_Sharks- Posts : 7528
Join date : 2011-04-19
Location : Chester/Manchester
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Re: AP Round 9
by LukeLovesLuka Thu 24 Nov 2011, 10:43 pm
Mat, 36 or Nacewa covers 10. I'll bite my tongue in some Of your other comments.
LukeLovesLuka- Posts : 5865
Join date : 2011-04-19
Age : 40
Location : London
Re: AP Round 9
by CJB Thu 24 Nov 2011, 11:05 pm
Tactics
General
We'll look to control territory and only play in the right areas of the pitch in the slippery positions. Hodgson will keep us ticking over with Steyn's kicking being vital. We'll look to control the ball and keep the offloading to a minimum. Lobbe will act as chase man and really put pressure on Garvey.
We'll look to use the bench in the second to keep up pack control.
Set Piece
We have some of the on form scrummagers in the world and will look to use the scrum as a platform. We feel we can really use this to advantage in the latter part of the game where the props on our bench can use their advantage. We feel a big part of our game will be the lineout. Lobbe and Whitelock are our main jumpers while Deacon offers a strong banker ball if needed. Simmons will maintain our dominance from the bench. Look to put pressure on the Warrior jumpers forcing turnovers.
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. Beale, FDP and Hodgson are also useful kickers who can be utilised. We will look to test Marcel Garvey in the wet, he is not good on the turn so we will be looking to put balls in behind him.
Other points
- Conservative rugby but if there is a chance to get my back three going then let them run at defenders
- Look to slow Worcester ball down with Armitage looking to create turnovers
- Go through phases with big carries from the likes of SOB
General
We'll look to control territory and only play in the right areas of the pitch in the slippery positions. Hodgson will keep us ticking over with Steyn's kicking being vital. We'll look to control the ball and keep the offloading to a minimum. Lobbe will act as chase man and really put pressure on Garvey.
We'll look to use the bench in the second to keep up pack control.
Set Piece
We have some of the on form scrummagers in the world and will look to use the scrum as a platform. We feel we can really use this to advantage in the latter part of the game where the props on our bench can use their advantage. We feel a big part of our game will be the lineout. Lobbe and Whitelock are our main jumpers while Deacon offers a strong banker ball if needed. Simmons will maintain our dominance from the bench. Look to put pressure on the Warrior jumpers forcing turnovers.
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. Beale, FDP and Hodgson are also useful kickers who can be utilised. We will look to test Marcel Garvey in the wet, he is not good on the turn so we will be looking to put balls in behind him.
Other points
- Conservative rugby but if there is a chance to get my back three going then let them run at defenders
- Look to slow Worcester ball down with Armitage looking to create turnovers
- Go through phases with big carries from the likes of SOB
CJB- Posts : 5762
Join date : 2011-04-24
Age : 30
Location : Croydon
Re: AP Round 9
by Guest Thu 24 Nov 2011, 11:06 pm
Luke forgot about 36 sorry not a bad option. Think we could both make comments or " harp" on lol
Guest- Guest
Re: AP Round 9
by Driver Thu 24 Nov 2011, 11:09 pm
Longest tactics you'v done this year isn't it IFL? lol
Driver- Posts : 11038
Join date : 2011-04-20
Age : 32
Location : Hartlepool
Re: AP Round 9
by CJB Thu 24 Nov 2011, 11:12 pm
Up there
usually have a similar format...not too good with tactics...it's what I blame all my losses on :L
usually have a similar format...not too good with tactics...it's what I blame all my losses on :L
CJB- Posts : 5762
Join date : 2011-04-24
Age : 30
Location : Croydon
LukeLovesLuka- Posts : 5865
Join date : 2011-04-19
Age : 40
Location : London
Re: AP Round 9
by 'Arry Spurs Thu 24 Nov 2011, 11:16 pm
LONDON WASPS TACTICS
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 away from London Irish with a hard fought victory. We are really up for the battle and feel we have a great chance of winning. We have several players who are in great form in real life and are on a superb winning run with plenty of momentum.
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 London Irish down.
We have two excellent kicking options in Gopperth and McAlister we will look to kick in behind the London Irish 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 Irish 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 Burgess with clean, quick ball and get our forwards running onto the ball at different angles to pierce the Irish 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 Irish 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 Irish 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 Irish players and will look to attack the fly half channel in the Irish defence and put Bowden 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 Irish 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 Irish 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 London Irish by using the rolling maul. We will look to suck in as many London Irish 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 them going backwards. Our back row will look to really get in Bowden’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 London Irish 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 Irish 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. We have purposefully selected a bench full of impact players who can come on and make a difference.
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 away from London Irish with a hard fought victory. We are really up for the battle and feel we have a great chance of winning. We have several players who are in great form in real life and are on a superb winning run with plenty of momentum.
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 London Irish down.
We have two excellent kicking options in Gopperth and McAlister we will look to kick in behind the London Irish 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 Irish 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 Burgess with clean, quick ball and get our forwards running onto the ball at different angles to pierce the Irish 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 Irish 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 Irish 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 Irish players and will look to attack the fly half channel in the Irish defence and put Bowden 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 Irish 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 Irish 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 London Irish by using the rolling maul. We will look to suck in as many London Irish 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 them going backwards. Our back row will look to really get in Bowden’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 London Irish 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 Irish 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. We have purposefully selected a bench full of impact players who can come on and make a difference.
'Arry Spurs- Posts : 1051
Join date : 2011-11-02
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