Aviva Premiership Round 3 - Week 7

First topic message reminder :

Team Sheets and tactics due by Saturday (18:00)
Predictions due till Monday (18:00)

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Sale Sharks v Worcester Warriors
Weather - Cold with sleet and moderate winds

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Sale Sharks

Manager – LondonIrishOllie

01. Dickinson	09. Peel
02. Jones	10. Wilkinson
03. Kubriashvili
04. Myall	11. Amesbury
05. Schofield	12. Tuiutupou
06. Gaskell	13. Fourie
07. Seymour	14. Brady
08. Vernon	15. McLeod

Subs - 16. MacDonald 17. Thomas 18.Ward 19.Crane 20.H.Fourie 21.Mathie 22.Leota 23.Addison

Tactics

We are looking to use our far superior front 5 to put Worcester under serious pressure at the setpiece.. Jones, has Gaskell, Myall and Schofield to aim at in the lineout and on their throw Shervington will be put under huge pressure, as we will look to mark Percival their primary jumper.

Scrum Time - Kubs, Dickinson and Jones will put Worcester under huge pressure. When they make changes in the front row, they will either have 2 looseheads on the pitch or a tighthead who will play 80 mins meaning late on they will be vunerable at scrum time.

Peel, Wilko and McLeod will user their great kicking games to ensure we play in their territory, which will be extremely important in these conditions.

We will aim to put the game to bed by half time, with Fourie and Tuitupou targeting the extremely suspect defence of Hopper.

Wilkinson will kick everything within range and if we have slow ball at the edge of their 22 we will look to take a DG to keep the scoreboard ticking over.

We will make our front row subs around the 60 minute mark, and MacDonald will enjoy his time against the Loosehead playing tighthead for them, or the tiring tighthead.

If it is on we will look to kick to touch from a penalty and use a driving maul to get over the line. It is a waepon that we are keen to utilise, and with our superior pack we should be able to reap the rewards.

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WorcesterWarriors

Manager – InTheFastLane

01. George Porter	09. Will Genia
02. Ed Shervington	10. Andy Goode
03. Tevita Taumoepeau
04. James Percival	11. Errie Claasens
05. Ben Gulliver	12. Anthony Allen
06. Sam Betty	13. Matt Hopper
07. Jake Abbott	14. Marcel Garvey
08. Kai Horstmann	15. Luke Rooney

16. Alexi Lutui 17. Ceri Jones 18. Matt Mullan 19. Nile Dacres 20. James Haskell 21. Shaun Perry 22. Dan Carter 23. Ma’a Nonu

Tactics
Today we are resting some of our players because we feel 6 weeks playing in a row will start to deteriorate their ability. We feel we can take advantage of Sale’s tired legs and our fresh legs will be able to get on top.

Just into the second half we will pull the trigger on our substitutes. Haskell + Nonu will have a field day running at tired legs, Lutui and Mullan will help us get an edge on the scrum while with more time Carter can really influence the match late.

In the first half we will be looking to use our backs to full effect. We will look to get lots of bodies on the ground if we feel we have any chance of a turnover and Jake Abbott will look to get his hands on the ball. If we can’t turnover we will keep a structured defence with no holes. Once we have our hands on the ball we will look to get running. Will Genia will take the option of his little sniping runs if he sees it is on. Goode will look to try and create space for the runner s outside of him. Allen + Hopper will both be trying to get their hands on the ball and drag defenders into them away from the wings. Hopper especially has proved a deadly runner this season and will happily continue his run if let alone. Once the ball gets to the back three they all can produce magic and a turn of pace that we will look to use.

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Exeter Chiefs v Leicester Tigers
Weather - Cold with light rain and moderate winds

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Leicester Tigers

Manager – Sgt_Pooly

01. Marco Ayerza	09. Sam Harrison
02. Rob Hawkins	10. Toby Flood
03. Julian White
04. Lewis Deacon(c)	11. Horacio Agulla
05. Ed Slater	12. Berrick Barnes
06. Craig Newby	13. Manu Tuilagi
07. Luke Wallace	14. James O’Connor
08. Thomas Waldroum	15. Geordan Murphy

16. Tom Youngs 17. Ryan Bower 18. Kieran Brookes 19. Joe Launchbury 20. Sam Jones 21. James Grindal 22. Billy Twelvetrees 23. Elliott Daley

Tactics

In the good conditions we'll be looking to play at a high tempo and intensity from the off and move the opposition around the park.

We will look to set a tone in the set piece with our big scrummaging front 5 and will look for the squeeze from the off. Parling will lead the line and we will look to target the opposition's throw with Newby/Parling marshalling the front/middle of the line. We'll use big carries from our pack to draw in the opposition defence with Harrison marshalling and looking for gaps to exploit around the fringes.

Wallace 7 Newby will target the breakdown with Harrison sniping around and playing flat to the line to allow Barnes & Manu space to run into. JOC will come looking for the ball in midfield and link up with Manu causing problems in the opposition midfield. We'll look to refresh pack around 60mins + and keep up the intensity.

Barnes will act as second playmaker and look to bring our backs into play and exploit Manu’s physicalty with mismatches and also as a decoy to draw the opposition defense.

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Gloucester Rugby v Northampton Saints
Weather - Cold with light rain and moderate winds

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Gloucester

Manager – prop_lyd

01. Dario Chistolini	09. Dave Lewis
02. Darren Dawiduk	10. Freddie Burns
03. Rupert Harden
04. Alex Brown	11. JSD
05. Will James	12. EFS
06. Peter Buxton	13. Mike Tindall
07. Akapusi Qera	14. Jonny May
08.Luke Narraway (c)	15. Patrick Lambie

16. Matais Cortese 17. Shaun Knight 18. Dan Murphy 19. Matt Cox 20. Brett Deacon 21. Dan Robson 22. Henry Trinder 23. Ollie Morgan

Forwards
*Front 3 to look to hold their own and Dawiduk solid in the lineout.
*Experience in 2nd rows where we will get alot of quick lineout ball and use James for his intimidation.
*Buxton and Qera to cause havoc at the breakdown.
*Narraway to lead from front and use his strong carrying game and look for runners off his shoulders.
*In defense, hit hard and 2nd man at the breakdown to look to clear it out for counter possession but also we will look to jackel our ball carrier to give us quick ball.

Backs
*Experience in the centres who will look to play in JSD and May to hit the gaps,
*Burns to look for quick go-forward ball and use EFS to find the gaps,
*Lambie to pick his spots to hit,
*Look to clear ball in our own 22 (Burns and Lambie) and make sure they go dead.....run the others and look to exploit tired forwards,
*Blitz banana defence adding pressure and stopping the ball getting past 10.

Overall
We have an experienced team looking to force the mistakes and capitalise using our pacy and unreadable backs to exploit any gaps or mistakes. We will look to get the crowd behind us as we avenge 2 defeats we didn't expect and get our season back on track. Fast rugby is the aim with the hard ground meaning the ball will give more bounce for chips ahead and we can add pressure on this. Forwards will look to ruffle a few feathers and get into their heads and the backs will score the points and get rid of the Saints' optimism. Big impetus on mental strength and attractive running expecting nothing more than a win, we will take points when available.

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Northampton Saints

Manager – SirJohnnyEnglish

01. Paul Doran-Jones	09. Martin Roberts
02. Brett Sharman	10. Stephen Myler
03. Brian Mujati
04. Samu Manoa	11. Vasily Artemiev
05. Christian Day	12. James Downey
06. Kieran Read	13. John Clarke
07. Tom Wood	14. Jamie Elliot
08. Roger Wilson	15. Greig Tonks

16. Alex Waller 17. Andy Long 18. Danny Herriot 19. Mark Sorenson 20. Calum Clark 21. Stuart Commins 22. Ryan Lamb 23. Noah Cato

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General Game Plan:

We want to play the game in the right areas and force mistakes from Gloucester. Myler will look to use an intelligent kicking game to put us in Gloucester territory. When there we will look to attack in groups so as to win the collisions, using our strong carriers to attack gaps and half gaps in the Glaws line, looking to offload in contact to support runners thus changing the point of attack getting us over the gain line and keeping our forward momentum going.

On defence, we will use a blitz defence coming up at pace looking to isolate the Glaws ball carriers before they can get to the gain line stopping any momentum and allowing us to hit the breakdown harder. Roberts will act as a sweeper to cover any grubbers or chips behind the line while our back three will sit deep ready to cover any kicks down the touch lines.

With the blitz in operation we will look to be at the breakdown first hitting it fast and hard. The first two players on the scene will look to ruck past the ball and clear out the Glaws players providing quick counter attacking ball to be used against a disorganised defense. If the ball does not look available we will not commit to the ruck and look to strengthen the defensive line instead.

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Key Points:

•Momentum

We are two wins from two and make the trip to Kingsholm to play a winless Gloucester side. We know if we can get in at half time ahead the Gloucester heads will drop!

•Scrum

We will contest every engagement! On our own feed we will look to get the wheel on and create extra room for our 8-9-10 axis to work in. On Glaws ball we will disrupt the put in looking for penalties or to create rushed poor ball for the Gloucester halfbacks.

Our front row has the power and technique to cause Gloucester real problems, particularly Chistolini, and we want to draw plenty of penalties and perhaps a trip to the bin.

•Lineout

With 5 jumpers and minimal challenge on our ball, we want to really use the lineout as an attacking platform like South Africa in recent years. We will use a full compliment and play the ball off the top allowing our halfbacks to get on the ball at pace with room outside.

In the line on opposition ball we will look for Tom Wood to mark Alex Brown and cut out the main Glaws jumping option, leaving Read and Day to take advantage and poach the ball.


•Intelligent Kicking

Myler will look to employ low kicks in behind the Glaws wingers and away from the fullback looking for touch where we will look to take advantage of our lineout dominance.

If the wingers are sitting deep Myler will employ intelligent cross field kicks in the space in front of them for our wingers to run on to and gain easy territory.

We will look test May out in particular. Myler will look to execute kick and chases and crossfield kicks into his corner on turnover ball with May likely to be infield out of position.

•Breakdown

We want to punish the lack of a real Gloucester breakdown expert with Qera not renowned for his skill here at all. Working on the blitz our front 5 will look to get to the breakdown first and clear the ruck leaving Wood to poach.

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Harlequins v London Irish
Weather - Cold with sunny intervals and light winds

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London Irish

Manager – Pullthestrings

01. Clarke Dermody (c)	09. Joe Simpson
02. David Paice	10. Steve Shingler (k)
03. Paulică Ion
04. Bob Casey	11. Topsy Ojo
05. Steve Mafi	12. Shontayne Hape
06. Declan Danaher	13. Joe Ansbro
07. David Pocock	14. Adam Thompstone
08. Alex Gray	15. Delon Armitage (k)

16. James Buckland, 17. Faan Rautenbach, 18. Max Lahiff, 19. Bryn Evans, 20. Jamie Gibson, 21. Darren Allinson, 22. Shane Geraghty, 23 Jonathan Spratt

Tactics
Off the back of a very good win last week, confidence is high and we aim to repeat the result this week. We have a lot of young talent across the park and we can't be scared to back ourselves and take opportunities when they arise.

- Look to put the screw on at the scrum to allow Gray to play on the front foot.

- Big Bob Casey to control the lineout, using primary jumpers Maif and Pocock. Opt for full lineouts in their half to tie in their pack and go for off-the-top ball to get wide quickly.

- Our focus is the breakdown. We'll look to slow their ball down (legally) and really go for turnover opportunities when they arise.

- Be disciplined at the breakdown, with a guard and bodyguard at every breakdown to stop runs from Easter etc getting them easy yards.

- Pocock to prowl and cut off any big runs from the Quins midfield. Simpson to sweep behind the defence to organise and make any covering tackles.

- Simpson to put tempo on the game, quickly getting the ball away from the breakdown and away from Care and Evans. Look to snipe to keep them guessing.

- Play rugby in their half. Shingler to pick his marks and put us in the right places.

- Delon to go for points at every opportunity. With his big boot, that's anywhere in their half. Make them scared to give away penalties in their half, thus giving us more time at the breakdown.

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Bath Rugby v Newcastle Falcons
Weather - Cold with light rain and moderate winds

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Bath Rugby

Manager - Bathite

01.D.Flatman	09.M.Claassens
02.R.Batty	10.S.Donald
03.O.Franks
04.D.Attwood	11.M.Banahan
05.S.Hooper (c)	12.O.Barkley
06.B.Skirving	13.M.Carraro
07.G.Mercer	14.O.Woodburn
08.C.Fearns	15.N.Abendanon

16.A.Perenise 17.R.Batty 18.N.Catt 19.R.Caldwell 20.L.Moody 21.C.Cook 22.T.Heathcote 23.F.Eastmond

General gameplan
We will look to play sensible rugby in our half, especially in the first half, to prevent giving away easy penalties for Gopperth to kick and stop the Falcons getting early points. We want to force Newcastle to play phases, where we think we can win quick turnover ball and attack a disorganised scramble defence. We use the left and right boots of Barkley/Donald to clear our lines to touch and use up+under when in centre field

With Newcastle missing Servat and Shiells, we look to pressurise the thrower at the lineout and have picked our lineout expert, Stuart Hooper to combat this. We feel that stealing ball at lineout time gives us the chance to use our pacey and powerful backs in broken play, an area of real advantage over the opposition. We think that a big pack can dominate at home up front and with 30mins to go, we have a real impact bench.

Defensively, we know that Gopperth likes to kick and Carraro will be leading the blitz defence to encourage Jimmy to do so, with Banahan defending at 12. Mercer gets in Gopperth's face and tries to force proceedings, so that our electric back three can counter attack poor kicks.

Backs play
* Classens, Donald, Barkley axis use vast experience to control the tempo. Donald takes the ball flat on the gameline, looking for a physical mismatch
* Donald runs hard at Gopperth, using Banahan, Carraro, Fearns, Attwood and Franks off his shoulder to attract the 10 12 channel and create space out wide
* Donald to use up and under in own half to clear lines, with Banahan, Bendy and Woodburn kick chasing and challenging well in the air
* Banahan defends at 12 and often steps in as second receiver, allowing Barkley time to drop diagonal grubbers in behind for Woodburn and Bendy to chase
* Carraro picked for his defensive leadership, he will look for the man and ball hit at 13, where we can secure quick ball

Forwards play
* After 50mins, Catt, Mears and Perenise coming on to refresh the set piece dominance and Moody replacing Mercer to continue the pressure on the opposition 10
* Use bulk of the front five at scrumtime to create a solid set piece. Look to use strength advantage to apply pressure on opposing scrums, so backrow must deal with scrappy ball
* Jump at 1&2 on opposition lineout, pressurising the hooker's throw.
* Always compete for throw to discourage and impeded off the top ball
* Mercer starts the game as an out and out fetcher, looking to disrupt Gopperth, looking to force him inside and kick quickly, so back three can take advantage of loose kicks

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Newcastle Falcons

Manager – Fluxy

01. Jon Golding	09. Chris Pilgrim
02. Rob Vickers	10. Jimmy Gopperth (K)
03. Tom Mercey
04. James Hudson (C)	11. Paul Diggin
05. Tim Swinson	12. James Fitzpatrick
06. Magnus Lund	13. Tom May
07. Hienrich Brussow	14. Jack Cuthbert
08. Ally Hogg	15. Luke Fielden

16. Ashley Wells 17. Joe Graham 18. Adrian Fondse 19. Michael Lipman 20. Will Chudley 21. Jeremy Manning 22. Seb Stegmann 23. Darren Fearn

General Tactics

A few weeks into the season, and there is a need for a little squad rotation to prevent the onset of fatique. Furthermore there are a few losses in the line-up due to international call-ups. However there have been some recoveries from injuries and also the chance for some quality fringe players to prove that they have a case for a first team call up.

Depsite playing away to a decent team, we still have a chance to win this game with our tactics. We will look to restrict the Bath game plan, and also with their tactics they seem to be detrimental to their usual play as some aspects of ther tactics will suit us down to the ground.

Attack


• Playing the right areas and using our strengths - Using the boots of; Gopperth, May and Manning to get the forwards in the oppositions half. This will be key to our game, as no team can score tries consistently from in their own 22. The ball will be pinged into space between the back three and defensive lines and kicking into the corners, instead of down the throats of the Bath players.
  
  We have a very dominant front row at the scrum and at lineout time.
  
  
• Lineout - We have a large number of quality lineout jumpers and a very cleverly run lineout with Hudson at the helm. This should be a main focus of possession either from the disruption of opposition ball or just claiming our own. Also with the selection of Vickers at hook, doesn't mean we lose quality in our throwing at the lineout and at scrum time too.
  
  
• Ball Carriers - Falcons have a range of ball carriers from Hogg, Lund and Vickers to Fitzpatrick and May, and players like these will get us over the gain line so we can play some rugby in the oppositions half.
  
  
• Penalties - When the oppurtunity arises Gopperth shall take all kickable points within his rage. Cuthbert to kick any long range penalties that Gopperth cannot make.
  
  Defence
  
  
• Defensive line - We shall look to get up as the fast as the slowest man, and then drift the line man on man, in the direction of the play. Scrum-half covers behind as a pendulum.
  
  
• Halfbacks - The back row will look to be on the backs of the Bath halfbacks, not giving them any time or space. Brussow will be straight up on Donald and or Heathcote to give them a "warm welcome". This should then lead to pressure and mistakes which will equal mistakes.
  
  
• Compete at the breakdown - Look to give the opposition no time to settle in to plays or not to take any ruck lightly, as this will lead to mistakes from the forwards an panicked kicks and decisions from the backs. Brussow and Lund should be first to rucks.
  
  
• Substitutions - Ashley Wells on for Tom Mercey at 60 minutes, likewise Fearn on for Golding at the same time. Welch on for Hogg if we were losing in the second half. Also if we are down by a more than ten points we can bring on Manning to inject some pace and direction for Gopperth. And finally Stegmann on for Diggin at 65 minutes.
  

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London Wasps v Saracens
Weather - Cold with white cloud and light winds

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London Wasps

Manager – Stnick88

01. Tim Payne	09. Nic Berry
02. George Chuter	10. Danny Cipriani
03. Ben Broster
04. Matt Garvey	11. Tom Varndell
05. Marco Wentzel	12. Dominic Waldouck
06. Tinus Du Plessis	13. Jonathan Joseph
07. Julien Salvi	14. Richard Haughton
08. John Hart	15. Hugo Southwell

16. Zak Taulafo 17. Jeremy Castex 18. Andy Titterell 19. Richard Birkett 20. Jonathan Poff 21. Charlie Davies 22. Ryan Davis 23. Chris Bell

- Play a fast paced game, using Garvey, Du Plessis, Hart, Salvi to make the hard yards and recycle quick ball to get Waldouck, Varndell and JJ etc running in space.

- Cipriani to kick all pens for goals in range, if not go for touch.

- Wentzel to attack as much opposition ball as possible at lineout. Any stolen ball will be countered.

- We will look to get the ball out of scrums quickly and get Cipriani pulling the strings and looking to put JJ and Waldouck through gaps in the defence.

- JJ will look to test Tomkins positionally as he has barely played any union at all and wont be fully used to the defensive patterns.

- We want to use our superior pace and will run loose ball back with intent.

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SARCENS

Manager – Luke

01. Rhys Gill	09. Ben Spencer
02. Schalk Brits	10. Derick Hougaard (k)
03. Carlos Nieto
04. George Kruis	11. Joe Maddock
05. Steve Borthwick (c)	12. Adam Powell
06. Jacques Burger	13. Joel Tomkins
07. Andy Saull	14. James Short
08. Ernst Joubert	15. Alex Goode

16. Jared Saunders 17. John Smit 18. Petrus du Plessis 19. Hugh Vyvyan 20. Jackson Wray 21. Richard Wigglesworth 22. Nils Mordt 23. Michael Tagicakibau

Tactics

We will work as units and play a structured game. We will use the scrum and lineout as weapons.

- Attack the lineout as much as we can using the tactical kicking of Spencer and Hougaard. Borthwick to lead, supported by Joubert, Kruis and Saull.

- Call for scrums when we can if we are getting the advantage we expect to. Joubert to control from the base.

- Look to all of our forwards to give us real go-forward with their carrying.

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

- Hougaard is given license to play the game as he sees it. We do ask that he uses our lineout ability to put pressure on the opposition, so a kicking game will be employed, but if he sees an opportunity to attack out wide - that is his call.

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

- Use a very powerful bench to tie the game up in the last 20/30 mins.

Results?

Results

Sale Sharks 28-16 Worcester Warriors

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Exeter Chiefs 0-30* Leicester Tigers

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Gloucester Rugby *22-26 Northampton Saints

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Harlequins 0-30* London Irish

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Bath Rugby 28-17 Newcastle Falcons

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London Wasps 22-19* Saracens

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* = Bonus point earned

Sorry about the delay on that guys got caught up late at training last night

Full bonus for Bathite, Prop, Pooly, Pull, Nick, SJE and Olllie.
Half bonus for ITFL

I'll do the table in a bit

Cheers Pull

Scrub that, cheers lads

Are we open to do our u21 foreign bid now? if so, is it just on the foreigns page yeah?