Aviva Cup Round 2

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Worcester Warriors v Saracens
Heavy Rain , 9 degrees , 7mph
WorcesterWarriors

Manager – InTheFastLane

01. George Porter	09. Jonny Arr
02. Will Radburn	10. Andy Goode
03. James Currie
04. Nile Dacres	11. Josh Drauniniu
05. James Clutterbuck	12. James Whybrow
06. James Freeman	13. Matt Hopper
07. Jake Abbott	14. Chris Pennell
08. Kai Horstmann	15. Mike Penn

16. Stephen Moore 17. Matt Mullan 18. Tevita Taumoepeau 19. James Percival 20. Maurie Fa’asavalu 21. Will Genia 22. Dan Carter 23. Marcel Garvey

SARCENS
Manager – 'Arry

01. Rhys Gill	09. Ben Spencer
02. John Smit	10. Brock James
03. Carlos Nieto
04. Steve Borthwick	11. Chris Wyles
05. Hugh Vyvyan	12. Adam Powell
06. Kelly Brown	13. Joel Tomkins
07. Andy Saull	14. James Short
08. Ernst Joubert (c)	15. Alex Goode

16. Jamie George 17. Jared Saunders 18. Petrus du Plessis 19. Hayden Smith 20. Jackson Wray 21. Richard Wigglesworth 22. Derick Hougaard 23. Michael Tagicakibau

London Irish v Harlequins
Light Rain , 10 Degrees , 10mph

London Irish
Manager – Pullthestrings

01. Clarke Dermody (c)	09. Joe Simpson
02. James Buckland	10. Daniel Bowden
03. Paulica Ion
04. Steve Mafi	11. Sailosi Tagicakibau
05. Nick Kennedy	12. Shontayne Hape
06. Declan Danahar	13. Regan King
07. David Pocock	14. Tom Homer (k)
08. Chris Hala'ufia	15. Delon Armitage

16. Rob Vickers, 17. Faan Rautenbach, 18. Max Lahiff, 19. Bryn Evans, 20. Jamie Gibson, 21. Darren Allinson, 22. Shane Geraghty, 23 Topsy Ojo

Tactics
In the rainy conditions, we've adjusted our usual game plan to place more emphasis on the set piece and breakdown area. In general, we will use our piston system and look to use our running power to get over the gain line. We'll use the boot sensibly play position. If it's on, we'll trust in our handling ability and have a go.

- Use the set piece as a platform to build attacks. For scrums, big efforts from the engine room to hold it steady. Dermody, Danahar and Hala'ufia come in to add weight. Hala'ufia to pick if it gets messy and set the plaform.

- Similarly with the lineout, use jumpers Kennedy Danahar and Pocock. Opt for full lineouts in their half to tie in their pack and try to initiate a rolling maul to give the backs more time.

- Target the breakdown for possible turnovers, with Pocock staying strong on his feet. When they arise, lets use them to our advantage. If the back three are sparse, look to kick for territory. If there are mis-matches, lets have a go.

- Be disciplined at the breakdown, with a guard and bodyguard at every breakdown to stop those easy yards around the fringes. No excuses here.

- Use the piston system Irish have developed so well. Big runners off Bowden to give us real go forward, inside and outside runs.

- For slow ball, look to get outside their guards and bodyguards to suck in more and more forwards at each breakdown. This will give more time to the backs.

- Simpson to prawl behind the defense line and mop up any breaks or half breaks. Patrol the breakdown area and keep an eye up for numbers.

- Play rugby in their half. Bowden to put us in the right places and alow us to use our lineout weapon.

- Tagi to get involved as much as possible, coming in off his wing and cutting angles of Bowden.

- Homer to go for points at every opportunity.We can have a pop from anywhere in their half. Make them scared to give away penalties in their half, thus giving us more time at the breakdown.

Harlequins
Manager – Driver

01.Joe Marler	09.Luke Burgess
02.Tom Lindsey	10.Nick Evans(k)©
03.Chris Budgen
04.Charlie Matthews	11.Adam Ashley-Cooper
05.George Skivington	12.Tom Casson
06.Connor Clifford	13.Elliot Daly
07.Will Skinner	14.Andy Short
08.Nick Easter	15.Hugo Southwell

16.Joe Grey 17.Kieron Brookes 18.Mark Lambert 18.Tom Denton 20.Matt Kvesic 21.Nic Berry 21.Danny Cipriani 22.Sam Smith

Quins will look to be physical in wet conditions and dominate Irish up front by opting to retain Budgen at TH for he’s Scrummaging abilities. We plan to play a territory based game using the boots of Burgess and Evans to ping Irish into there own half and build the pressure on them and punish them on the scoreboard.

*Quins to keep the phases and wait for opportunities to arise for us in attack and put pressure on the Irish defense with AAC , Short and Southwell all joining the line from blind angles and depth.

*Easter and Burguss will control the tempo of the game and look to cause problems by suddenly injecting energy if the game is slow.
Test Irish back 3 in the rain with high hanging kicks.

*Play whats in front of us.

*AAC to mark up Tagi and hit him hard and psychologically test the Irish backs seeing there go to man smashed in the tackle

Exeter Chiefs v Gloucester Rugby
Heavy Rain , 10 Degrees , 10mph

Exeter Chiefs

Head Coach – Ozzy3213

01. Perry Freshwater	09. Haydn Thomas
02. Bismarck du Plessis	10. Aaron Cruden
03. Craig Mitchell
04. Tommy Hayes	11. Josh Tatupu
05. James Horwill (c)	12. Sireli Naqalevuki
06. Tom Johnson	13. Richard Kahui
07. Steffon Armitage	14. Gonzalo Camacho
08. Richard Baxter	15. Isa Nacewa

16. Scott Spurling 17. Luke Cowan-Dickie 18. Lloyd Fairbrother 19. Addison Lockley 20. Joel Conlon 21. James Lightfoot-Brown 22. Henry Slade 23. Jack Nowell

Tactics

In the conditions we will play a forward dominated game and turn this into a scrap. We will look to get big carriers across the gainline and support players to the contact area quickly to ruck past the ball and free it up quickly to go again.

We will use the boots of Cruden and Nacewa to play the game in the Gloucester half of the field. Off lineouts we will look to use the maul to good effect. In defence we will blitz with Haydn Thomas sweeping behind.

Gloucester

Manager – prop_lyd

01. Dan Murphy	09. Dave Lewis
02. Korree Britton	10. Freddie Burns (k)
03. Dario Chistolini
04. Will James	11. Johnny May
05. Tom Savage	12. Mike Tindall
06. Peter Buxton	13. Henry Trinder
07. Alasdair Strokosch	14. Ian Clark
08. Luke Narraway (c)	15. Ollie Morgan

16. Matais Cortese 17. Rupert Harden 18. Shaun Knight 19. Sam Whitelock 20. Akapusi Qera 21. Dan Robson 22.Ryan Mills 23. JSD

Tactics
We are giving a few players their chance to stake their claim for a starting spot this week and want to see points proven with a big pack and pace and youth in the backs. We will look to play simple rugby in the backs with easy hands and exploiting the gaps when they come. We will look to push Sale to force the ball out wide and block off any attack they atempt. Fast attractive rugby is the aim today.

Forwards
*Front row to look to hold their own and this is their chance to prove their worth here, look to go low and drive up on Chistolini.
*Look to target their lineout with Strokosch marshalling the troops here.
*Use our experienced Backrow to put pressure on their breakdown and use their 'skills' to slow the ball down.
*Put pressure on 10 to prevent him playing well and slowing down their ball.
*Use our bench wisely with Harden, Qera and Whitelock able to come on and change the game or shore up problem places if required.

Backs
*Quick ball to Burns who will look to release the young wingers who both have pace to burn. If nothing's on then pin them into the corners and add pressure on lineouts.
*Centres to go route A straight through the defence looking for the offloads to the forward support or the back 3's who all have pace to burn.
*Wingers to run back any kicked ball looking for space and forwards to support them.
*Tindall to lead an 'in your face' defence with a forward looking to steal/slow down ball at each breakdown.
*Use our bench with Mills adding more fresh legs and JSD able to slot in anywhere and make a chance out of nothing.

Sale Sharks v Leicester Tigers
Light Rain , 10 Degrees , 8mph

Sale Sharks
Manager – LondonIrishOllie

01.Andrew Sheridan	09.Scott Mathie
02.Marc Jones	10.Nick McLeod
03.Henry Thomas
04.Andrei Ostrikov	11.Will Addison
05.Kearnan Myall	12.Luther Burrell
06.Onosai Auva'a	13.Jonny Leota
07.Dave Seymour	14.Tom Brady
08.Jordan Crane	15.Joaquin Tucalet

Subs - 16.Nathan Charles 17.Lee Imoliek 18.Vadim Cobilas 19.Frazer McKenzie 20.Hendre Fourie 21.Andy Powell 22.Cillian Willis 23.Rob Miller

TACTICS

Look to target White in the loose, especially considering he started last week. Crane and Ostrikiv to carry lots. MacLeod and Mathie to play territory.

Leicester Tigers
Manager – Sgt_Pooly

01. Boris Stankovich	09. Danny Care
02. Tom Youngs	10. Toby Flood
03. Julian White
04. Ed Slater	11. Charlie Walker
05. Graham Kitchener	12. Billy Twelvetrees
06. Joe Launchbury	13. George Lowe
07. Luke Wallace	14. Matt Smith
08. Jacques Cronje(c)	15. Niall Morris

16. Rob Hawkins 17. Marco Ayerza 18. Ryan Bowers 19. Lewis Deacon 20. Craig Newby 21. Sam Harrison 22. George Ford 23. Miles Benjamin

TACTICS:

- Target set piece (scrum especially) with two of the best scrummaging props in the AP
- Numerous jumpers to secure own ball & put pressure on opposition (Kitch/Slater/Launch/Cronje)
- Look to get mobile/powerful back five into game and win the contact driving opposition back and smashing every ruck
- Target turnover ball & look to slow opposition with Wallace key
- Care & Ford to dictate tempo and Tweletrees offers 2nd kicking option
- Play conditions and high intensity rugby to wear opposition down
- Impact bench to see game out

Bath Rugby v London Wasps
Light Rain , 9 Degrees , 9mph

Bath Rugby

01. N.Catt	09. C.Cook
02. R.Batty	10. S.Donald
03. K.Palmer-Newport
04. S.Hooper	11. O.Woodburn
05. J.Muller	12. F.Steyn (k)
06. M.Lund	13. C.Laulala
07. G.Mercer	14. T.Biggs
08. B.Skirving	15. I.Dagg

16. O.Franks 17. P.Dixon 18. C.Beech 19. J.Beaumont 20. F.Louw 21. M.Classens 22. K.Eastmond 23. R.Chisholm

TACTICS
We are unbeaten at home and on a good run of form, but if the result is in doubt, we have the likes of Mears, Louw, Classens to come off the bench and make a real impact. If we have a comfortable lead, we look to introduce Beaumont and Eastmond for some crucial gametime experience.

We have picked a mobile team, who will look to play exciting, attacking rugby and play with instinct. We want the youngster to continue their development by playing their natural game, with the experience of Muller, Lund, Donald and Steyn throughout the core to ensure we keep a professional performance and come away with the win.
The axis of Donald and Steyn gives us plenty of kicking options, to ensure we play in the right areas and to give us the territory to play our attacking game. Steyn to kick penalties, to ensure we come away with points on each visit to the 22. If slow ball, use Steyn's drop goal as a weapon, using scoreboard pressure to disrupt Quins and unsettle the home crowd. With two lineout leaders in Hooper and Muller in the team, we will look to challenge at the lineout and use it as a real opportunity to tie in opposition forwards, creating space out wide.

GENERAL
* We have the advantage of some consistency in selection and haven't made huge changes from last week, unlike our opponents. I wanted to keep some fluidity in the team, to ensure we can follow up with another win.

BACKS
* In our 22 use Donald and Steyn to kick long, but find touch. Play sensible rugby in our half, mixing up the point of attack with Donald and Steyn interchanging and Steyn dropping in behind as a second playmaker, looking for gaps upfield
* Donald and Steyn to take the ball flat on the gainline, looking to test opposition fly halves defence at every opportunity, using the crash ball to break the gainline and set up a ruck for quick ball
* Dagg encouraged to come into the line during attack and given a free rein, looking to track the shoulders of Steyn and Lualala when they make the half break. Look to isolate Gopperth in defence
* Steyn to lead the rush defence, pressurising the half backs and looking for intercepts. Banahan and Chisholm unleashed after 50 mins to test tired defence, the former will relish running at tired defenders

FORWARDS
* Use channel 1 ball at scrum time to get the ball into Cook's hands as quickly as possible. Power of Lund and control of Skirving to set up the ruck
* Mercer plays as the out and out 7, making a nuisance of himself and unsettling the opposition half backs
* Utilise the mobility of the pack and use the big ball carriers of the props to earn the hard yards.
* Always call for a full lineout, tying in all opposition forwards, to expose the backs, where we think we have a real advantage in terms of quality, pace and power
* Some key positions such as the front 5 see some changes from last week to ensure fresh legs for the set piece battle

London Wasps
Manager – Stnick88

01. Tim Payne	09. Karl Dickson
02. Chris Brooker	10. Nicky Robinson
03. Ben Broster
04. Ross Filipo	11. Tom Varndell
05. Marco Wenztel	12. James Fitzpatrick
06. Michael Lipman	13. Joe Ansbro
07. Julien Salvi	14. Richard Haughton
08. Pedrie Wannenburg	15. Jimmy Gopperth

16. Zak Tau'lafo 17. Aaron Jarvis 18. George Chuter 19. Matt Garvey 20. Tinus Du Plessis 21. Charlie Davies 22. Chris Bell 23. Jonathan Joseph

Wasps make numerous changes to the side that beat Northamton last week, with Tim Payne, Chris Brooker, Ross Filipo, Marco Wenztel, Julien Salvi, James Fitzpatrick, Richard Haughton and debutant Joe Ansbro coming in for Zak Taul'afo, George Chuter, Matt Garvey, Richard Birkett, Tinus Du Plessis, Jordan Turner-Hall, Alesana Tuilagi and Jonathan Joseph.

Northampton Saints v Newcastle Falcons
Heavy Rain , 10 Degrees , 9mph

Northampton Saints
Manager – SirJohnnyEnglish

01. Alex Waller	09. Ryan Glynn
02. Richardt Strauss	10. Ryan Lamb
03. Brian Mujati
04. Mark Sorenson	11. Scott Armstrong
05. Christian Day	12. John Clarke
06. James Craig	13. Jamie Elliot
07. Teminia Harrison	14. Noah Cato
08. Roger Wilson	15. Greig Tonks

16. Ethan Waller 17. Brett Sharman 18. Paul Doran-Jones 19. Samu Manoa 20. James Ingle 21. Stuart Commins 22. Stephen Myler 23. Tom Stephenson

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Newcastle Falcons

Manager – Fluxy

01. Grant Shiells	09. Jordi Pasqualin
02. David Paice	10. Tom Heathcote (K)
03. Dave Wilson
04. Bob Casey	11. Luke Fielden
05. Simon Shaw (C)	12. Steven Shingler
06. Ben Nutley	13. Joe Ansbro
07. Will Welch	14. Suka Hufanga
08. Jerome Kaino	15. Nick Abendanon

16. Tom Mercey 17. Rob Vickers 18. Darren Fearns 19. Bob Casey 20. Hienrich Brussow 21. Tom May 22. Jack Cuthbert 23. Paul Hodgson

Tactics
General Gameplan;
We will be up in the opposition faces, not giving them a moment to spare, pressure will grow and lead to mistakes and penalties.
Our pack is fully committed to the Falcons cause and the front five along with the backrow will look to dominate the collisions and rucks to give us forward momentum. This will get us over the gainline each time, and will cause the opposition defence to always be on the back foot.
The quality possession from our clever and dynamic forward play will allow us to release our potent backline, with Pasqualin looking to play intelligently by getting the ball away from the rucks as quick as possible in attack. This will allow Heathcote and Shingler to pull the strings in midfield and create mismatches so we can spread the ball out wide to our dangerous runners to make use of the space on offer.

Key Points;

Strong Spine; With our powerful front five, we will get the drive on, on our ball to create space and time for our 8-9-10.

Scrums; Against their ball we will get the shove and attempt to wheel the scrum so that their halfbacks become isolated from their backline.

Lineouts;will be a solid supply for possession for us, as our pack contains four strong and athletic jumpers.

Defensive set up;The pressure here will lead to mistakes and opportunities from scrums and penalties for us to take advantage of. We will always challenge their lineout, other than when we are on our own five metre, where will look to sack the jumper as soon as he lands on his feet.

Breakdowns; We have selected a very physical and committed team, and will always work for each other and put their bodies online for one another. We will legally slow down ball and look for turnovers.

Defensive line; We won't commit more than two players to any of the rucks on their ball, unless the turnover is on. If they have won the ball we look to get into line and then press at the same speed. The scrum-half will sweep behind, with the fullback also further back - creating three lines of defence.

Backs; We will look to play some simple rugby at this stage against a good team at home. Backs to be clever look for mismatches and numbers advantages to work opportunities to put our wingers or whoever is spare over the try line. Heathcote will direct traffic offering a spark to get an exciting midfield moving.

Penalties; Heathcote will look to take all penalties within his range, unless Shaw dictates we have a serious advantage at the lineout where will kick for touch.

Substitutions; We willl look to use our powerful bench to make some momentum changing substitutes and to allow us to blood new players and combinations.

Irish 21-20 Quins
Exeter 24-17 Glos
Sale 15-12 Tigers
Bath 13-18 Wasps
Saints 14-20 Falcons

PREDICTIONS CLOSED

RESULTS:

Worcester Warriors 12-30 Saracens
London Irish 29-20 Harlequins
Exeter Chiefs 30-16 Gloucester
Sale Sharks 24-15 Leicester Tigers
Bath Rugby 14-24 London Wasps
Northampton Saints 16-23 Newcastle Falcons



Full Bonus for:

Bathite, Driver, Pooly, Nick, Flux, Ollie

Half bonus for:

SJE, ITFL, Ozzy

No bonus:

Pull, Prop

My first full bonus in a while haha

it's a long time coming

You're like one of those sexy ladies who patrol Boro......only do a bit of work when they need a fix

(In your case a foreign signing)

Top 3 all lose convincingly, indication of priorities?

Well played Wasps, good win mate

Sgt_Pooly wrote:You're like one of those sexy ladies who patrol Boro......only do a bit of work when they need a fix ;)

(In your case a foreign signing)

There are ladies in boro?

Not just ladies, "sexy" ladies in Boro?!

In sexy ladies I meant smack heads in track suits...

each to their own

I'm starting to wonder about Pooly's perception on women/men.

Sarcasm boys...come on!!! lol

Yeah yeah, the only way to change my perception of you is to give me Care..

We'll have to keep things as they are then