AP Round 10 Part 2

Newcastle Falcons v Gloucester Rugby
Sunny, 4 Degrees, 13mph Winds

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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. Heinrich Brussow 21. Jonny Arr 22. Toby Flood 23. Dan Hipkiss


Tactics

General play - It's all about a high tempo and controlling the ball. Gloucester do not travel to Kingson well and we'll look to hit them at 100mph!!! 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 back 3 to attack Gloucester with. With Youngs and Evans at halfback pulling the strings with good ball we feel we can really get at Gloucester. Evans will look to test out May early on with a few Gary Owens with him playing his forst game at FB for Gloucester (Possibly).

We'll be looking to get the ball to the backs, especially the back 3 and really exploit Gloucester out wide. We'll also be looking to ruthlessly target the breakdown and attack with turnover ball, Youngs will look to sweep behind when Gloucester are in possesion waiting for our trio to get hands on ball. As soon as Richie gets a sniff, Youngs will look to come into play and attack Glocester through thir central channel with disorganised defence.

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 Gloucester's inexperienced hooker 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. We'll look to get POC on early in the second to continue getting quick ball for the set piece.

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. We will be attacking on turnover ball throughout the game and really looking to target Gloucester here with them having no real quality on the deck.

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. We'll be playing a possesion based game so commitment in the rucks will be key. We'll look to isolate JSD against strong runners with his defence being suspect.

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. 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, especially May with him playing his first game at FB for Gloucester in a brand new back 3.

Backline

We have numerous running options and will look 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 and power into the midfield. Bowe will look to run angles off the backline and finish off moves in opposition 22. Bowe will look for work in the midfield and will look for calls off Evans to change the angle of attack and try and play on the possible confusion in the new Gloucester back 3.

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SUBS - As required in the second. POC, Franks, Brussow and Flood on early in the second to really turn the screw. Others as required. Flood may come on at 12 depending on how game is turning out and if another kicking option is required in midfield.


Points to target against opposition

BREAKDOWN - This area will be were the game is won and lost. Richie will look to play rucks and marshall the backrow. With no fetcher or player offering opposition on the deck we'll look to dominate here, either by slowing down attacking ball or gaining turnover ball to attack with.

To continue our domination at the breakdown we'll look to get Brussow on early in the second half for Robshaw and move McCaw to BS. With McCaw & Brussow working in tandom we feel we can dismantle Gloucester at the breakdown.

ATTACK WITH TURNOVER BALL - Youngs will look to sweep behind the first line of defence and look for calls from McCaw when turnover ball is on. With this made, we'll look to get Youngs into the game asap and attack the disorganised Gloucester defence. This could be a huge area for us in the game with JOC and Bowe looking to support him.

FRONT ROW - We think Dawadiuk is a little out of his depth making his first AP start. Kingston v the champions is not the place to settle in and find your feet. Servat will look to hit him hard in the scrum and we will look to put intense pressure on his throw. Gloucester have some good backrow jumpers but if their hooker falls to pieces (As seen for Bath last week) they'll suffer to find a good platform. We also feel Dawadiuk could be a weakness in the scrum so will target him throughout.

GLOUCESTER BACK 3 - I think this is the first outing for the Gloucester all English back 3. Good prem players but we fell if we get good ball out wide we can exploit them, especially JSD's defence and May's positionong at FB. We also don't think Glocuester have much kicking ability past their 10/12 channel (although very good so we'll look to field any kicks we do make away from this channel) and this could be a problem for their back 3.

HOME ADVANTAGE

We are the champions and have won every game at home for over a season and a half. This must have a HUGE effect on teams travelling to Kingston. We are in the fantastic form having won at the couldron that is the Stoop last week. If momentum is measured we are at the peak and Gloucester would need to dominate set piece and breakdown to stand a chance of getting anything from this game.

GOOD RUGBY CONDITIONS

With a hard pitch and good running conditions we see Gloucester have only went for 2 backs on the pitch. We think this may hinder room for change if things arn't going well.

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Gloucester
Manager – anonmattyt

01. Steenkamp	09. Genia
02. Dawadiuk	10. Carter
03. Mas
04. Bakkies	11. Sharples
05. Palmer	12. Barnes
06. Bonnaire	13. Kahui
07. Burger	14. JSD
08. Hari	15. May

16 Wood 17 Gray 18 White 19 Robson 20 Ferris 21 Alberts 22 Lewis 23 Dagg

Tactics
Forwards

we are looking to turn the set pieces in to a war that we believe we will win.

Steenkamp and Mas had great world cups and are up against pdj and Barcella. There is a gap in class there. Dawiduik excelled down in Toulouse against Gary Botha and Servat so should have no worries particularly as we expect mas and guthro to be easily on top against there opposite numbers

Lineout

This is where we see our biggest advantage. Probably the 2 best lineout operators In the world are hari and bonnaire and we are looking to decimate a falcons lineout led by Parling. Lineout is a primary source of good attacking ball so to be without it is crippling.

General.

We are aiming to keep ball in hand and carry close to the ruck and take ball on our own terms. The aim is to keep possession and actually play a slow paced game that is all about carrying hence the 6-2 split. We will use our bench to keep this pressure on.

Backs

Genia will look to Marshall the forwards and keep them moving ruck to ruck and release to carter when it looks like its ready.

Carter will be looking to kick often and turn Newcastle forcing the
To kick back giving us the lineout or for them to try and counter.

He will also be looking to hit forwards off his shoulder and change the point of attack constantly.

As we are playing a kicking and possession game we are expecting to get some loose kicks that our lightning back 3 can counter.

On phone so tactics limited

Key points

1. Lineout superiority
2. 8,9,10,12 is far superior in key matches this wins games and allows you to control the game
3. No genuine 7???? Burger has played there for years and is a known menace at breakdown.
4 Many more kicking options if Evans kicking out of hand is off who can kick for newcastle
5 game changing bench

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I've made this a sticky so it appears in the top box and doesn't get missed.

Pooly gets his own page again lol

Cheers Pete

I'm always on my own page, hate being last! Lol

Newcastle Falcons 23 - 22 Gloucester Rugby

Close battle in the forwards, think Dawadiuk is a good player but a weak link due to the amazing amount of quality that both sides have on display. The forward battle will be huge, think Gloucester edge it in the carrying department they have several options to get them over the gain line, however Newcastle will control the set piece. Think both back lines are good, Newcastle have the extra spark to score tries but Gloucester have Carter there who with Barnes will cause plenty of problems and create several gaps to exploit. Think the extra bit of quality out wide and home advantage wins this one for the Tigers although Gloucester will run them ever so close..