Heineken Cup Round Four

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Pool One

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Gloucester vs. Castres Olympique
Cloudy with sunny intervals, 8 degrees, 26 mph winds.
Gloucester
Manager – anonmattyt

01. Steenkamp	09. Lewis
02. Strauss	10. Donald
03. White
04.Gray	11. Sharples
05. Robson	12. Barnes
06.Ferris	13. Kahui
07. Fasivalu	14.JSD
08.Alberts	15. Dagg

16.Wood 17.Dawiduik 18.Harden 19.bakkies 20. Harinordoqouy 21.Genia 22.Carter 23. May

Tactics

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Castres Olympique
Manager – xxx

01.Michael Coetzee	09. Rory Kockett
02. Marc-Antoine Rallier	10. Remi Talles
03. Luc Ducalon
04. Scott Murray	11. Max Evans
05. Rodrigo Ortega	12. Seremaia Baikeinuku
06. Ibrahim Diarra	13. Thomas Sanchou
07. Steve Malonga	14. Romain Martial
08. Chris Masoe	15. Romain Teulet

16. Mathieu Bonello 17. Anton Peikrishvili 18. Rossouw Kruger 19. Matthias Rolland 20. Yannick Caballero 21.Paul Bonnefond 22. Pierre Bernard 23. Thierry Lacrampe

Tactics

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Munster vs. Scarlets

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Pool Two

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Sale Sharks vs. Racing Metro
Cloudy with showers, 6 degrees, 30 mph winds.
Sale Sharks
Manager – SJE

01. Jerome Schuster	09. Nicholas Bezy
02. David Paice	10. Aaron Cruden
03. Neemia Tialata
04. Stephen Sykes	11. Sam Smith
05. Christian Day	12. Olly Barkley
06. Adam Thomson	13. Yann David
07. Julien Salvi	14. Gonzalo Camacho
08. Victor Vito	15. Luke Rooney

16. Imolek 17. Guirado 18. Ducalcon 19. Jones 20. Kvesic 21. Perry 22. Goode 23. Earls

General Game Plan

On attack, we will first look to play in the right areas and control the tempo of the game with our tactical kicking game before looking to our strong carrying game. 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.

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. Bezy 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 Salvi 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 legally slowing down Racing 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 under and disrupt. 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

• Momentum – Racings Heineken adventure is over with 3 losses from 3 games and they are certain to now prioritise the Top 14. They are now on the back of two comprehensive defeats (both real life and in game) and defence has been an issue.

• Conditions – We have gone with a pack strong at both the set piece and breakdown but also with fantastic footballing skills to get at the Metro defence. We have a 9/10/12 combo that can get our backs moving but most importantly can dictate the pace of the game with a strong kicking game keeping us in the right areas

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Racing Metro

01. Julien Brugnaut	09. Mathieu Loree
02. Thomas Biachin	10. Juan Martin Hernandez
03. Juan Pablo Orlandi
04. Lionel Nallet	11. Juan Imhoff
05. Jone Qovu Nailiko	12. Josh Matavisi
06. Antoine Battut	13. Virimi Vakatawa
07. Bernard Le Roux	14. Sireli Bobo
08. Jacques Cronje	15. Gaetan Germain

16. Grégory Arganese 17. Eddy Ben Arous 18. Johan Coetzee 19. Francois Carl Van der Merwe 20. Sebastien Descons 21. Jonathan Wisniewski 22. Johnny Leo'o 23. Sebastian Chabal

Tactics

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Edinburgh vs. Cardiff Blues

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Pool Three

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Leinster vs. Leicester Tigers
Cloudy with showers, 5 degrees, 22 mph winds.
Leinster
Manager – xxx

01. Heinke van der Merwe	09. Isaac Boss
02. Richardt Strauss	10. Jonathan Sexton
03. Mike Ross
04. Leo Cullen	11. Luke Fitzgerald
05. Damien Browne	12. Gordon D'Arcy
06. Kevin McLaughlin	13. Fergus McFadden
07. Sean O'Brien	14. Shane Horgan
08. Jamie Heaslip	15. Rob Kearney

16. Sean Cronin 17. Cian Healy 18. Nathan White 19. Devin Toner 20. Shane Jennings 21. Eoin Reddan 22. Ian Madigan 23. Eoin O'Malley

Tactics

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Leicester Tigers
Manager – LukeLovesLuka

01. Andrew Sheridan	09. Dimitri Yachvili (k)
02. Sebastian Bruno	10. Jonny Wilkinson
03. Dan Cole
04. Dan Vickerman	11. Vincent Clerc
05. James Horwill (c)	12. Yannick Jauzion
06. Tom Croft	13. Florian Fritz
07. David Pocock	14. Cory Jane
08. Thomas Waldrom	15. Isa Nacewa

16. Ben Franks 17. Lee Mears 18. Cencus Johnston 19. Alex Brown 20. Jordan Crane 21. Micky Young 22. Rob Miller 23. Clement Poitrenaud

Tactics

GENERAL:

- Game is built around our powerful setpiece, tactical half backs, intelligent midfield and flying back three. We will use the scrum and lineout as weapons constantly.

- Gain a platform up front for our backs to utilise.

- Attack the lineout as much as we can using the tactical kicking of Yachvili and Wilkinson. Croft, Vickerman and Horwill as our main jumpers.

- Call for scrums when we can if we are getting the advantage we expect to.

- Look to Waldrom, Horwill, Pocock, Croft, Vickerman, Sheridan and Bruno to give us real go-forward with their carrying.

- Pocock is the man charged with reaching the breakdown first, securing first phase possession for us and pilfering the possession of Leinster.

- In general attacking play, we will play off 9 with Yachvili pulling the strings. Yachvili and Wilkinson to manage the tempo of the game, control where the game is to be played and to play the game as they see it.

- Our back three are encouraged to do what they do best - 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.

- Early on Yachvili to kick all penalites within range, but we won't necessarily go for the 3 points as the game progresses. Horwill to make the call dependant on the success of the lineout.

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Montpellier vs. Glasgow

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Pool Four

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Newcastle Falcons vs. ASM Clermont Auvergne
Cloudy with showers, 4 degrees, 29 mph winds.
Newcastle Falcons
Manager – Sgt Pooly

01. Boris Stankovich	09. Ben Youngs
02. Andrew Hore(c)	10. Toby Flood
03. Owen Franks
04. Dean Schofield	11. Miles Benjamin
05. Geoff Parling	12. Maxime Mermoz
06. Kelly Brown	13. Dan Hipkiss
07. Heinrich Brussow	14. Sean Maitland
08. Duane Vermeulen	15. Ben Smith

16. Marius Tincu 17. Paul Doran-Jones 18. Alex Waller 19. Paul O'Connell 20. Juan Smith 21. Jonny Arr 22. James O'Connor 23. Jared Payne

Tactics

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ASM Clermont Auvergne

01. Vincent Debaty	09. Morgan Parra
02. Benjamin Kayser	10. Brock James
03. David Zirakashvili
04. Julian Pierre	11. Julien Malzieu
05. Nathan Hines	12. Wesley Fofana
06. Gerhard Vosloo	13. Aurelien Rougerie
07. Alexandre Lapandry	14. Sitiveni Sivivatu
08. Julein Bonnaire	15. Lee Byrne

16. Ti'i Paulo 17. Daniel Kotze 18. Clement Ric 18. Jamie Cudmore 19. Elvis Vermeulen 20. Kevin Senio 21. David Skrela 22. Regan King

Tactics

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Aironi vs. Ulster Rugby

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Pool Five

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Ospreys vs. Saracens
Cloudy, 8 degrees, 32 mph winds.
Ospreys
Manager – xxx

01. Duncan Jones	09. Rhys Webb
02. Richard Hibbard	10. Dan Biggar
03. Cai Griffiths
04. Ryan Jones	11. Shane Williams
05. Jonathan Thomas	12. Ashley Beck
06. Tom Smith	13. Andrew Bishop
07. Justin Tipuric	14. Tommy Bowe
08. Joe Bearman	15. Richard Fussell

16. Huw Bennett 17. Ryan Bevington 18. Aaron Jarvis 19. Ian Gough 20. George Stowers 21. Tom Isaacs 22. Matthew Morgan 22. Sonny Parker

Tactics

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Saracens
Manager – Ozzy3213

01. Tendai Mtwarira	09. Francois Hougaard
02. Gary Botha	10. Patric Lambie
03. Jannie du Plessis
04. Dave Attwood	11. Tom Homer
05. Steve Borthwick	12. Owen Farrell
06. Alessandro Zanni	13. Damien Traille
07. George Smith	14. Mark Cueto
08. Luke Narraway(c)	15. Alex Goode

16. Bismarck du Plessis 17. Alex Corbisiero 18. Adam Jones 19. Lionel Nallet 20. Raphael Lakafia 21. Paul Hodgson 22. Ma'a Nonu 23. James Short

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.

Key Points

• Mental Advantage - We comfortably beat the Ospreys last week securing a bonus point and denying them one. If they lose this game they are out, and that is the sort of pressure that causes mistakes to be made.
  
  
• Conditions - In blustery conditions we have selected a backline who all have excellent kicking games which we will use to put real bombs up on the Ospreys back three and force them into handling errors. Our back three are all also comfortable at full back and good under the high ball in case the Ospreys attempt to do the same to us.
  
  
• Bench - We have World Class players on our bench to bring on to either see the game out or turn it our way if needs be.
  

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Biarritz Olympique vs. Benetton Treviso

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Pool Six

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London Irish vs. Connacht
Sunny, 9 degrees, 26 mph winds.
London Irish
Manager – stnick88

01. Soane Tonga'uhia	09. Julien Dupuy
02. James Buckland	10. Juan Martin Hernandez
03. WP Nel
04. Matt Garvey	11. Marland Yarde
05. Nick Kennedy	12. Butch James
06. George Stowers	13. Mathieu Bastereaud
07. Keegan Daniel	14. Sailosi Tagicakibau
08. Xavier Rush	15. Delon Armitage

16. Darren Fearn 17. Neil Briggs 18. Jean Baptiste Poux 19. Mouritz Botha 20. Hendrie Fourie 21. Ruan Pienaar 22. Matthew Tait 23. Sonny Bill Williams

Tactics

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Connacht
Manager – xxx

01. Brett Wilkison	09. Frank Murphy
02. Ethienne Reynecke	10. Niall O'Connor
03. Ronan Loughey
04. Dave Gannon	11. Tiernan O'Halloran
05. Mike McCarthy	12. David McSharry
06. John Muldoon	13. Kyle Tonetti
07. Ray Ofisa Treviranus	14. Mark McCrea
08. George Naoupu	15. Gavin Duffy

16. Adrian Flavin 17. Denis Buckley 18. Rodney Ah You 19. Michael Kearney 20. Eoin McKeon 21. Paul O'Donahoe 22. Matthew Jarvis 23. Fetu'u Vainikolo

Tactics

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Toulouse vs. Harlequins
Cloudy, 13 degrees, 6 mph winds.
Toulouse
Manager – xxx

01. Jean-Baptiste Poux	09. Luke Burgess
02. Gary Botha	10. Luke McAllister
03. Census Johnston
04. Gregory Lamboley	11. Timoci Matanavou
05. Yoaan Maestri	12. Yannick Jauzion
06. Yannick Nyanga	13. Florian Fritz
07. Thierry Dusatoir	14. Vincent Clerc
08. Louis Picamoles	15. Maxime Medard

16. William Servat 17. Yohan Montes 18. Yassine Boutemane 19. Romain Millo-Chluski 20. Jean-Marc Doussain 21. Yves Donguy 22. Yann David 23. Shaun Sowerby

Tactics

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Harlequins
Manager – Steven_Sharks

01. Joe Marler	09. Karl Dickson
02. Schalk Brits	10. Quade Cooper (k)
03. John Afoa
04. Nathan Sharpe	11. Cedric Heymans
05. George Skivington	12. Riki Flutey
06. Francois Louw	13. Jonathan Joseph
07. Sam Warburton (c)	14. Joe Rokocoko
08. Jamie Heaslip	15. Rob Kearney

16. Matthew Rees 17. Tony Woodcock 18. Kieran Brookes 19. James Gaskell 20. Carl Fearns 21. Lee Dickson 22. Felipe Contepomi 23. George Lowe


Tactics

Teams who have beaten Toulouse at Toulouse do it by taking the game to Toulouse and playing adventurous running rugby. This is what we will try to do here and have picked a team for it. We have a very quick and adventurous backline who will look to run the ball at Toulouse. We also have a numerous amount of very talented carriers in our pack.

Attack

We are going to look to have a a very quick tempo in attack. We want to commit as little men as possible to each ruck and get quick ball for Dickson to give to Cooper and our backs. We will look for our forwards to carry to get us hard yards but we will be more fluid than usual with players carry in different areas (ie not just of 9 and 10). We want our players to carry in numbers and look for the offload whenever it is on.

We will look for our quicker backs to isolate the slower of the Toulouse defenders and make the linebreaks. We are looking to score tries and to keep a rapid tempo.

Defence

In Defence we will look to be far more structured. We have picked a top class back row to disrupt the play of Toulouse and we have a side which is solid defensively. Cooper will defend at blindside wing with Roko coming into 10 and Heymans shifting to openside wing. This gives us a very exciting attacking back 3 for loose Toulouse kicks.

Key Points

-We have picked a side capable of executing a game plan with a pack which I don't think Toulouse will bully when we are defending.

-We have a side packed with game changers. We have some of the most exciting players in the world in our side and they have the license to try things and to score us tries.

- Karl Dickson has been picked for his electric pace. Anyone who watched Quins at the start of the season will have seen how well he was playing and how crucial he was to the way Quins were playing. He will snipe at Toulouse all game.

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Warm in Ireland...

22 degrees in Ireland and 4 in the 'toon!

Have amended Dublin, put the wind speed in the temperature bit!

Was going to pack the shorts....

Pool One

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Gloucester vs. Castres Olympique
Cloudy with sunny intervals, 8 degrees, 26 mph winds.
Gloucester
Manager – anonmattyt

01. Steenkamp	09. Lewis
02. Strauss	10. Donald
03. White
04.Gray	11. Sharples
05. Robson	12. Barnes
06.Ferris	13. Kahui
07. Fasivalu	14.JSD
08.Alberts	15. Dagg

16.Wood 17.Dawiduik 18.Harden 19.bakkies 20. Harinordoqouy 21.Genia 22.Carter 23. May

Leicester Tigers have named their side to play Leinster at the Aviva Stadium in the Heineken Cup this week.

Only Sebastian Bruno, Dan Cole, Dan Vickerman and Vincent Clerc keep their place in the starting XV, as manager LukeLovesLuka makes wholesale changes from the side that beat Leinster 32 - 20 at Welford Road.


Leicester Tigers
Manager – LukeLovesLuka

01. Andrew Sheridan	09. Dimitri Yachvili (k)
02. Sebastian Bruno	10. Jonny Wilkinson
03. Dan Cole
04. Dan Vickerman	11. Vincent Clerc
05. James Horwill (c)	12. Yannick Jauzion
06. Tom Croft	13. Florian Fritz
07. David Pocock	14. Cory Jane
08. Thomas Waldrom	15. Isa Nacewa

16. Ben Franks 17. Lee Mears 18. Cencus Johnston 19. Alex Brown 20. Jordan Crane 21. Micky Young 22. Rob Miller 23. Clement Poitrenaud

Tactics

GENERAL:

- Game is built around our powerful setpiece, tactical half backs, intelligent midfield and flying back three. We will use the scrum and lineout as weapons constantly.

- Gain a platform up front for our backs to utilise.

- Attack the lineout as much as we can using the tactical kicking of Yachvili and Wilkinson. Croft, Vickerman and Horwill as our main jumpers.

- Call for scrums when we can if we are getting the advantage we expect to.

- Look to Waldrom, Horwill, Pocock, Croft, Vickerman, Sheridan and Bruno to give us real go-forward with their carrying.

- Pocock is the man charged with reaching the breakdown first, securing first phase possession for us and pilfering the possession of Leinster.

- In general attacking play, we will play off 9 with Yachvili pulling the strings. Yachvili and Wilkinson to manage the tempo of the game, control where the game is to be played and to play the game as they see it.

- Our back three are encouraged to do what they do best - 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.

- Early on Yachvili to kick all penalites within range, but we won't necessarily go for the 3 points as the game progresses. Horwill to make the call dependant on the success of the lineout.

After a fantastic away win away to Clermont we name a strong team for the return fixture at Kingston Park.

Newcastle Falcons
Manager – Sgt Pooly

01. Boris Stankovich	09. Ben Youngs
02. Andrew Hore(c)	10. Toby Flood
03. Owen Franks
04. Dean Schofield	11. Miles Benjamin
05. Geoff Parling	12. Maxime Mermoz
06. Kelly Brown	13. Dan Hipkiss
07. Heinrich Brussow	14. Sean Maitland
08. Duane Vermeulen	15. Ben Smith

1. Marius Tincu 17. Paul Doran-Jones 18. Alex Waller 19. Paul O'Connell 20. Juan Smith 21. Jonny Arr 22. James O'Connor 23. Jared Payne

Harlequins
Manager – Steven_Sharks

01. Joe Marler	09. Karl Dickson
02. Schalk Brits	10. Quade Cooper (k)
03. John Afoa
04. Nathan Sharpe	11. Cedric Heymans
05. George Skivington	12. Riki Flutey
06. Francois Louw	13. Jonathan Joseph
07. Sam Warburton (c)	14. Joe Rokocoko
08. Jamie Heaslip	15. Rob Kearney

16. Matthew Rees 17. Tony Woodcock 18. Kieran Brookes 19. James Gaskell 20. Carl Fearns 21. Lee Dickson 22. Felipe Contepomi 23. George Lowe


Tactics

Teams who have beaten Toulouse at Toulouse do it by taking the game to Toulouse and playing adventurous running rugby. This is what we will try to do here and have picked a team for it. We have a very quick and adventurous backline who will look to run the ball at Toulouse. We also have a numerous amount of very talented carriers in our pack.

Attack

We are going to look to have a a very quick tempo in attack. We want to commit as little men as possible to each ruck and get quick ball for Dickson to give to Cooper and our backs. We will look for our forwards to carry to get us hard yards but we will be more fluid than usual with players carry in different areas (ie not just of 9 and 10). We want our players to carry in numbers and look for the offload whenever it is on.

We will look for our quicker backs to isolate the slower of the Toulouse defenders and make the linebreaks. We are looking to score tries and to keep a rapid tempo.

Defence

In Defence we will look to be far more structured. We have picked a top class back row to disrupt the play of Toulouse and we have a side which is solid defensively. Cooper will defend at blindside wing with Roko coming into 10 and Heymans shifting to openside wing. This gives us a very exciting attacking back 3 for loose Toulouse kicks.

Key Points

-We have picked a side capable of executing a game plan with a pack which I don't think Toulouse will bully when we are defending.

-We have a side packed with game changers. We have some of the most exciting players in the world in our side and they have the license to try things and to score us tries.

- Karl Dickson has been picked for his electric pace. Anyone who watched Quins at the start of the season will have seen how well he was playing and how crucial he was to the way Quins were playing. He will snipe at Toulouse all game.

London Irish
Manager – stnick88

01. Soane Tonga'uhia	09. Julien Dupuy
02. James Buckland	10. Juan Martin Hernandez
03. WP Nel
04. Matt Garvey	11. Marland Yarde
05. Nick Kennedy	12. Butch James
06. George Stowers	13. Mathieu Bastereaud
07. Keegan Daniel	14. Sailosi Tagicakibau
08. Xavier Rush	15. Delon Armitage

16. Darren Fearn 17. Neil Briggs 18. Jean Baptiste Poux 19. Mouritz Botha 20. Hendrie Fourie 21. Ruan Pienaar 22. Matthew Tait 23. Sonny Bill Williams

Tactics

After a bonus point win in Connacht, we will look for the same again here. We have made a couple of changes to freshen up the team, but we will look to overpower and blow Connacht away. We have superior class throughout and will look to make the hard yards and win the set piece battle before getting the backs involved. Hernandez will pull the strings and get the big runners making inroads. When the space opens up, we will get the likes of Tagicakibau, Bastereaud and Armitage exploiting it. Hernandez to kick all goals.

These are last weeks teams. Pete I've left it to you to decide who replaces the players in both sides (Nacewa and Adam Jones I think)

Castres

01.Michael Coetzee	09. Rory Kockett
02. Marc-Antoine Rallier	10. Remi Talles
03. Luc Ducalon
04. Scott Murray	11. Max Evans
05. Rodrigo Ortega	12. Seremaia Baikeinuku
06. Ibrahim Diarra	13. Thomas Sanchou
07. Steve Malonga	14. Romain Martial
08. Chris Masoe	15. Romain Teulet

16. Mathieu Bonello 17. Anton Peikrishvili 18. Rossouw Kruger 19. Matthias Rolland 20. Yannick Caballero 21.Paul Bonnefond 22. Pierre Bernard 23. Thierry Lacrampe

Racing Metro

01. Julien Brugnaut	09. Mathieu Loree
02. Thomas Biachin	10. Juan Martin Hernandez
03. Juan Pablo Orlandi
04. Lionel Nallet	11. Juan Imhoff
05. Jone Qovu Nailiko	12. Josh Matavisi
06. Antoine Battut	13. Virimi Vakatawa
07. Bernard Le Roux	14. Sireli Bobo
08. Jacques Cronje	15. Gaetan Germain

16. Grégory Arganese 17. Eddy Ben Arous 18. Johan Coetzee 19. Francois Carl Van der Merwe 20. Sebastien Descons 21. Jonathan Wisniewski 22. Johnny Leo'o 23. Sebastian Chabal

Leinster

01. Heinke van der Merwe	09. Isaac Boss
02. Richardt Strauss	10. Jonathan Sexton
03. Mike Ross
04. Leo Cullen	11. Luke Fitzgerald
05. Damien Browne	12. Gordon D'Arcy
06. Kevin McLaughlin	13. Fergus McFadden
07. Sean O'Brien	14. TBC
08. Jamie Heaslip	15. Rob Kearney

16. Sean Cronin 17. Cian Healy 18. Nathan White 19. Devin Toner 20. Shane Jennings 21. Eoin Reddan 22. Ian Madigan 23. Eoin O'Malley

ASM Clermont Auvergne

01. Vincent Debaty	09. Morgan Parra
02. Benjamin Kayser	10. Brock James
03. David Zirakashvili
04. Julian Pierre	11. Julien Malzieu
05. Nathan Hines	12. Wesley Fofana
06. Gerhard Vosloo	13. Aurelien Rougerie
07. Alexandre Lapandry	14. Sitiveni Sivivatu
08. Julein Bonnaire	15. Lee Byrne

16. Ti'i Paulo 17. Daniel Kotze 18. Clement Ric 18. Jamie Cudmore 19. Elvis Vermeulen 20. Kevin Senio 21. David Skrela 22. Regan King

Ospreys

01. Duncan Jones	09. Rhys Webb
02. Richard Hibbard	10. Dan Biggar
03. TBC
04. Ryan Jones	11. Shane Williams
05. Jonathan Thomas	12. Ashley Beck
06. Tom Smith	13. Andrew Bishop
07. Justin Tipuric	14. Tommy Bowe
08. Joe Bearman	15. Richard Fussell

16. Huw Bennett 17. Ryan Bevington 18. Aaron Jarvis 19. Ian Gough 20. George Stowers 21. Tom Isaacs 22. Matthew Morgan 22. Sonny Parker

Connacht

01. Brett Wilkison	09. Frank Murphy
02. Ethienne Reynecke	10. Niall O'Connor
03. Ronan Loughey
04. Dave Gannon	11. Tiernan O'Halloran
05. Mike McCarthy	12. David McSharry
06. John Muldoon	13. Kyle Tonetti
07. Ray Ofisa Treviranus	14. Mark McCrea
08. George Naoupu	15. Gavin Duffy

16. Adrian Flavin 17. Denis Buckley 18. Rodney Ah You 19. Michael Kearney 20. Eoin McKeon 21. Paul O'Donahoe 22. Matthew Jarvis 23. Fetu'u Vainikolo

Toulouse

01. Jean-Baptiste Poux	09. Luke Burgess
02. Gary Botha	10. Luke McAllister
03. Census Johnston
04. Gregory Lamboley	11. Timoci Matanavou
05. Yoaan Maestri	12. Yannick Jauzion
06. Yannick Nyanga	13. Florian Fritz
07. Thierry Dusatoir	14. Vincent Clerc
08. Louis Picamoles	15. Maxime Medard

16. William Servat 17. Yohan Montes 18. Yassine Boutemane 19. Romain Millo-Chluski 20. Jean-Marc Doussain 21. Yves Donguy 22.
Yann David 23. Shaun Sowerby

Sale Sharks
Manager – SJE

01. Jerome Schuster	09. Nicholas Bezy
02. David Paice	10. Aaron Cruden
03. Neemia Tialata
04. Stephen Sykes	11. Sam Smith
05. Christian Day	12. Olly Barkley
06. Adam Thomson	13. Yann David
07. Julien Salvi	14. Gonzalo Camacho
08. Victor Vito	15. Luke Rooney

16. Imolek 17. Guirado 18. Ducalcon 19. Jones 20. Kvesic 21. Perry 22. Goode 23. Earls

General Game Plan

On attack, we will first look to play in the right areas and control the tempo of the game with our tactical kicking game before looking to our strong carrying game. 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.

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. Bezy 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 Salvi 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 legally slowing down Racing 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 under and disrupt. 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

• Momentum – Racings Heineken adventure is over with 3 losses from 3 games and they are certain to now prioritise the Top 14. They are now on the back of two comprehensive defeats (both real life and in game) and defence has been an issue.

• Conditions – We have gone with a pack strong at both the set piece and breakdown but also with fantastic footballing skills to get at the Metro defence. We have a 9/10/12 combo that can get our backs moving but most importantly can dictate the pace of the game with a strong kicking game keeping us in the right areas

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When are predos open as don't think I am going to be online over Sat/Sunday and would like to do them nowish...

Predos are open from midnight Thursdays. Pete has the page updated since last night

Gloucester 27 - 14 Castres
Still don't rate Castres, they play a points accumalating game with the boot and last weeks game against Saints was a bit of a freak result, brought about by injuries and Saints made so many mistakes. The Gloucester bench is going to sway this one.

Sale 21-11 Metro
Sale have a bit too much at home this week and Racing arent playing very well at the minute. Think the French league has Clermont and Toulouse as the standouts and then a lot of the other clubs are on a different level to them.

Leinster 19 - 19 Tigers
Hard place to go away and Leinster are looking like the only team that can challenge the two big French clubs in real life. The Tigers pack has enough in it and the half backs will see them get a very tough draw. Not sure if they quite have it in them to win though, as Leinster are on top form.

Newcastle 27-27 Clermont
Think Clermont are the form team in Europe at the moment and Newcastle arent near full strength in this game. Matching the backline up player by player I have each of the French clubs players on better form/quality apart from Flood who I think is better than James. In saying that I think the Newcastle pack has a bit too much in terms of grunt for Clermont who wont win away at Newcastle.

Ospreys 17-18 Sarries
Very close game, Pete has gone for a young team and I was going to go for a draw originally but then think the Ospreys have gone down big time since they lost Hook, Bryne and Phillips and would have Cardiff and Dragons as better sides. The Sarries kicking game wins it for me.

Irish 26-12 Connacht
Think Connacht are the worst Irish province by some way, nothing really away from home when they are up against a near full international team from 1-23. Big, easy win.

Toulouse 23-22 Quins
Pretty much same as that set out for Clermont. Best two clubs in world rugby and for me its very difficult to go away and win a game. Going to be close, but think Quins will fall just short. Can't really pick a difference in the pack, but Toulouse half backs and centres slightly better and home ad gets them the win.

Gloucester 32-19 Castres Olympique
Matt has brought some of the big boys in after a good Castres performance in real life last week and should see a bonus point win here against a Castres side whom in game have nothing to play for. We all know how the french go when their already out

Leinster 19-17 Leicester Tigers
Pack battle very tight here. Half backs one a piece while backs go to Tigers. Leinster at home though and with more impact to come from the bench and need a win to stay in the Heino and think they will take this by the skin of their teeth.

Newcastle Falcons 20-13 ASM Clermont Auvergne
Clermont in cracking form in real life and it will be some serious pack battle here. Looking through the siides not much difference in overall quality although Newcastle will have more to bring on from the bench. With this and playing at home Falcons pick up a good win

Ospreys 17-25 Saracens
Too much in the pack for Sarries here and they should gurantee progression with a good win in Wales

London Irish 27-9 Connacht
Irish stronger everywhere and should pick up a good win here.

Toulouse 25-19 Harlequins
Toulouse with a slight edge throughout the pack in this one and with good form in the backs. Its all to play for in Pool 6 so Toulouse will give it a good go and should pick up the win here.

Gloucester 34 - 12 Castres

Gloucester have way too much at home. Dominance in pretty much every area, and a back line that causes Castres havoc defensively.

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Sale 24 - 15 Racing Metro

SJE right to play a strong team, and they take this one confrtably in the end.

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Newcastle 30 - 26 Clermont

Clermont tend to not travel well and Pooly has picked just a strong enough team to take the win. Clermont's backline will cause some problems though. High scoring game.

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Ospreys 18 - 25 Saracens

Sarries pack should make this a comfortable ride for Lambie and co.

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Irish 28 - 15 Connacht

Irish way too strong all over the park for Connacht.

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Toulouse 24 - 19 Harlequins

Really great pack battle that is fairly even. But Toulouse look way more dangerous in the backs, and at home, take this one for me.

Think wind hinders scores slightly

Gloucester 20-14 Castres

Castres have a real beefy pack that will give Gloucester issues till 60mins then extra class will come through. Think Robson/Gray would be awsome come lineout time but might underpower Gloucester a little around the park, could cost Matt in prem but not in this game.

Sale 22-12 Metro

Classy Sale side will dominate Metro from the off

Leinster 22-24 Tigers

Think Leinster are amazing but they won't face many teams with the lineup Luke can put out. Belting game

Ospreys 18-18 Sarries

Close game that Sarries would win at home. Just lacking a little in the backs to get a famous victory at one of the toughest places to go in Europe

Irish 25-5 Connact

Easy won for Irish, pack control sets tone

Toulouse 33-29 Harlequins

Great game and ferocious pack battle, see Toulouse getting good advantage in scrum and little bit more quality in the backs. Soz Steve

Gloucester 27 - 6 Castres

Mismatch. Too much from Gloucester in all areas. Castres very handy but not upto it here.

Sale 19 - 10 Racing

Similar to the first game but think Metro will put up more of a fight.

Leinster 21 - 26 Leicester

Leicester needed to put out a strong side and they have here. Always comfortable but don't see them running away with it.

Newcastle 23 - 23 Clermont

Clermont are very strong and only really see and advantage for Newcastle on the flanks and at 10. Fortunately these are important positions and see's Newcastle get the draw.

Ospreys 12 - 15 Saracens

Not going to be a great game here but a very attritional affair. Stupid amount of kickers in the Sarries side which is why I'm surprised to see Sarries want to run the ball.

London Irish 24 - 13 Connacht

Irish a bit to good but Connacht are now mugs so it won't be a mullering. Comfortable.

Gloucester 35 Castres 12
Strong team from Matt with a lot more round the park for me and maybe the edge at scrum time even with Steenkamp at LH , Rory Kockett and Max Evans are only players in Castres team who will cause Glaws problems.

Sale 27 Racing Metro 12
Sale have caught Racing in some horrid form at the moment and take advatage of this. Strong pack will dominate Metro up front and more than enough in backs to take this.

Leinster 20 Leicester Tigers 20
Leinster at home are pretty much unbeatable and with the RDS behind them they cause Tigers all sorts of problems and snatch a draw at the death.

Falcons 35 Clermount 28
Clermount have the better back line but falcons should dominate possetion through the pack but it won't be easy against a hardened Clermount team.

Ospreys 12 Saracens 24
Jones and Thomas in the engine room don't have the muscle to compete in ospreys front 5 and they struggle for clean ball. Sarries backs all have solid kicking games and ping Ospreys ball and grind it out.

London Irish 53 Connacht 12
Connacht should't have got off the bus lol. Irish stronger through out

Toulouse 8 Quins 7
Great pack battle but Toulouse back line is on fire at the minute.

Leinster 19-21Leicester Tigers

Tough battle just think Leicester have extra quality. Can see Leicester just having that bit more control

Newcastle Falcons 12-15 ASM Clermont Auvergne
Clermont in cracking form in real life and can't see how people have awarded falcons the win. Vermaulen get little ratings because out for so long. Falcons pack outgunned with the back 5 a mismatch with all clermont players in form. Backs man for man clermont better. wind and the fact that Newcastle have winning mentality makes it closer. Different weather and I would have had clermont by 10-15

Ospreys 17-22Saracens
Too much in the pack for Sarries here and they should gurantee progression with a good win in Wales

London Irish 37-9 Connacht
Irish stronger everywhere and bp win easily

Toulouse 25-23Harlequins
Toulouse with such good form and I would pay to watch this titanic game.

 
Metro 8-32 sale easy win metro have no Interest in this game

glos 29-22 castres
sale 24-17 metro
leinster 17-17 leicester
newcastle 16-19 clermont
ospreys 10-12 saracens
toulouse 19-18 harlequins

Gloucester 30-21 Castres Olympique

Leinster 18-18 Leicester Tigers

Newcastle Falcons 32-25 ASM Clermont Auvergne

Ospreys 9-15 Saracens

Sale 30-15 Metro

London Irish 42-12 Connacht

Toulouse 28-21 Harlequins

Don't forget the Amlin lads:

https://www.606v2.com/t20042-amlin-challange-cup-round-4

Results:

Gloucester 37-15 Castres Olympique

Sale Sharks 33-13 Racing Metro

Leinster 20-23 Leicester Tigers

Newcastle Falcons 28-24 ASM Clermont Auvergne

Ospreys 14-27 Saracens

London Irish 41-11 Connacht

Toulouse 31-20 Harlequins

SCORERS

Gloucester 37-15 Castres Olympique

Tries: Dagg, Sharples, Barnes, Alberts, May
Conversions: Donald (3)
Penalties: Donald (2)

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Penalties: Talles (5)

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Sale Sharks 33-13 Racing Metro

Tries: Paice, Rooney (2), Cruden
Pens: Cruden (2)
Penalties: Cruden (3)

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Tries:Bobo
Conversions: Hernandez (1)
Penalties: Hernandez (2)

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Leinster 20-23 Leicester Tigers

Tries: Fitzgerald, McFadden
Conversions: Sexton (2)
Penalties: Sexton (2)

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Tries: Croft, Jane
Conversions: Yachvili (2)
Penalties: Yachvili (3)

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Newcastle Falcons 28-24 ASM Clermont Auvergne

Tries: Franks, Youngs, Maitland
Conversions: Flood (2)
Penalties: Flood (3)

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Tries: Fofana (2), Byrne
Conversions: Parra (3)
Penalties: Parra

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Ospreys 14-27 Saracens

Tries: Williams (2)
Conversions: Biggar (2)

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Tries: Zanni, Cueto, Narraway
Cons: Homer (3)
Penalties: Homer (2)

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London Irish 41-11 Connacht

Tries: Tagicakibau (3), Daniel, Dupuy
Conversions: Dupuy (5)
Pens: Dupuy (2)

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Tries: Tonetti
Penalties: O'Connor (2)

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Toulouse 31-20 Harlequins

Tries: Clerc (2), Matanavou, Picamoles
Conversions: McAlister (4)
Penalties: McAlister

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Tries: Louw, Heaslip
Conversions: Cooper (2)
Penalties: Cooper (2)

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