Aviva Premiership Round 18

Team Sheets and tactics due by 23:59 hours on Thursday
Predictions open at 00:01 hours on Friday. Predictions Close at 12:00 hours on Saturday

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Sale Sharks vs. Saracens
Sunny, 11 degrees, 7 mph winds.

Sale Sharks
Manager – SJE

01. Marcos Ayerza	09. Danny Care
02. David Paice	10. Aaron Cruden
03. Luc Ducalcon
04. Romain Millo Chluski	11. David Strettle
05. Andries Bekker	12. James Hook
06. Adam Thomson	13. Robbie Freuen
07. Peter O'Mahony	14. Sam Smith
08. Louis Picamoles	15. Nick Abendanon

16. Jerome Schuster 17. Brett Sharman 18. Davit Zirakishvilli 19. Christian Day 20. Wycliffe Palu 21. Ben Spencer 22. Olly Barkley 23. Luke Rooney

General Game Plan:

We will use our strong carriers to attack the gaps in the Sarries line, looking to offload in contact to support runners thus changing the point of attack and keeping our forward momentum going. Care will look to play around the fringes making his usual snipes while Cruden will look to play flat and attack from fly half injecting pace to the proceedings. This will commit the Sarries defence early and leave space in wider channels to exploit with our offloading game. Hook and Cruden will look to rotate at 1st receiver and provide different threats to the Sarries line. If running the ball is not on Cruden and Hook will look to the boot and make use of our excellent lineout options.

At scrum time we will look to contest each and 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. While on Sarries feed we will disrupt the put in looking for penalties or to create rushed, poor ball for the french halfbacks. With 5 jumping options and a reliable thrower at hooker we will look to attack from the lineout mixing things up by bringing the ball down into the maul and tying the Sarries pack up or else playing the ball of the top and injecting serious pace into the play.

On defence, we will use a blitz defence coming up at pace looking to isolate the Sarries ball carriers before they can get to the gain line stopping any momentum and allowing us to hit the breakdown harder. Care 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 and counter attack at pace.

With the blitz defence 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 opposition players providing quick counter attacking ball to be cleared and used against a disorganised defensive line. 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:

•Home Advantage
With a baying home crowd at Edgeley Park, intimidating both Sarries and the ref, Sarries will need to be at their very best to win! We have lost just once at home in the league in the last two seasons.

•Lineout
With some fantastic jumping options on our own ball we will look to really use the lineout as an attacking platform similar to South Africa in recent years. We will look to use a full compliment and mix things up using the maul to tie up the Sarries forward or playing the ball off the top allowing our halfbacks to get on the ball at pace with room outside.

Saracens
Manager – Ozzy3213

01. Tendai Mtwarira	09. Morgan Parra
02. Bismarck du Plessis	10. Francois Trinh-Duc
03. Jannie du Plessis
04. Dave Attwood	11. Tim Visser
05. Lionel Nallet	12. Ma'a Nonu
06. Tom Johnson	13. Jonathon Davies
07. Tom Wood	14. Mark Cueto
08. Joe van Niekerk (c)	15. Alex Goode

16. George Chuter 17. Max Lahiff 18. Brok Harris 19. Graham Kitchener 20. George Smith 21. Paul Hodgson 22. Patric Lambie 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. However, 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.

In good conditions for runing rugby we will look to get the ball in and out quickly at scrum time and get our backs across the gainline to set up strong attacking positions. On Sale put ins we will look to scrummage and get underneath them in order to win the ball agianst the head or force a penalty.


Key Points

• Team to suit tactics/conditions - We are looking to play high tempo, ball in hand rugby so have picked a mobile pack and powerful backline in order to do so.
  
  
• Experience - This is the stage of the season where we have traditionally been strong in this game and have the experience of winning games down the home stretch.
  
  
• Points to Prove - Parra, Trinh-Duc and Nallet all unfairly discarded by a French side that performed poorly. They come back into the team desperate to lay and keen to show that PSA was wrong not to start them.
  
  
• Defensive Strength - We are very solid defensively so Sale will have to take some risks to create scoring chances. if they do not execute perfectly then we have the players to counter quickly and inflict damage.
  

Harlequins vs. Bath Rugby
Cloudy with showers, 10 degrees, 7 mph winds.

Harlequins
Manager – Steven_Sharks

01. Matias Aguero	09. Lee Dickson (c)
02. Matthew Rees	10. Rhys Priestland (k)
03. John Afoa
04. Jerome Thion	11. Zac Guildford
05. George Skivington	12. Riki Flutey
06. Francois Louw	13. Jonathan Joseph
07. David Seymour	14. Joe Rokocoko
08. Chris Henry	15. Rob Kearney

16. Chris Brooker 17. Ceri Jones 18. Brian Mujati 19. James Gaskell 20. Alasdair Strokosch 21. Karl Dickson 22. Rory Clegg 23. George Lowe

Tactics

Tactics

Game Plan

We will base our attacking game on patient ball retention and strong carrying from our side and our defensive game will be based upon slowing down the Bath game. We have got a pack which can play to this game plan. Up front we have experience and strong carriers to get us over the gain line and get us the quick ball we require to bring our backs into the game.

Our ball carriers will look to carry the ball at pace and in numbers and will look to win the collisions and get over the gain line. If we could get the ball away in contact then we will try but we aren’t going to be throwing miracle balls in the conditions.

Dickson will control the tempo when we attack and Priestland will control what part of the field we play in. In these two players we can control two key elements of the game. When our backs get the ball we want them to run at gaps and look to isolate forwards in the defensive line (if there are any).

We will look for our players to look to secure us turnover ball and then we will look to get the ball wide early so as to attack an unorganised defence. I feel our back line is very dangerous on the front foot so we will look to play quickly when we get turnover ball.

Giving nothing to Bath is important to our game plan. We don’t want anything to come easily to Bath and putting them under constant pressure is vital to our plan to disrupt and slow down there game.

Forwards

Wet conditions will mean we will be playing a more controlled game than we might usually with a large pack which will hopefully give Bath a torrid time at the set piece, breakdown and in the loose. We have packed our front 5 with experience and we want to look for them to set up the platform for our win along with a back row which we expect to revel at the breakdown. At our own rucks we will be looking to get quick ball to feed to Dickson and on the opposition ball we will look to have the first man there and get onto the ball or we will commit a few to the ruck to legally slow it down.

At the scrum we will look for our props to get underneath there opposite numbers and turn the screw with to heavy locks in behind them. At the lineout we will look to shorten the line on our own ball and have forwards ready to carry in the midfield. On the opposition ball we will look to put as much pressure on as possible with Thion and Skivington competition hard.

Backs

When we get quick ball we will look to get the ball into Joseph’s hands early so he can do what he does best and finds gaps for himself or put others into space. We have a very dangerous back 3 which will look to pick lines all game and put themselves into space. With ball in hand we can be very dangerous out wide and this is an area we will look to get into when quick ball at the rucks allows it.

Defence

A quick linespeed and aggression in the contact will be key to our defence which will be marshalled by Louw and Flutey. We will have two of our back 3 players deep in anticipation of the kick and Dickson will sweep behind the defensive line.

Key Points

- Get quick ball in possession and play at a fast tempo. When Bath have the ball we do everything we can legally to slow the ball down.

- Test the Bath back three with up and unders and kicks behind them when they are out of position. We don't feel the conditions suit the Bath back 3. We have Kearney who might be the best player ever underneath the highball.

- Look to get very aggressive up front. I feel our front 5 is capable of getting the push on at the scrum as well as winning the forward battle all over the park.

- Take the points when we get the chance. Don't kick loosely but use Priestland's and Kearney's huge boots to win the territory battle when we need to.

Bath Rugby
Manager – inthefastlane

01. Jon Golding	09.Rihcard Wigglesworth
02. Joe Ward	10. Gareth Anscombe
03. Davit Kubrashvilli
04. Louis Deacon	11. Maxime Medard
05.Sam Whitelock	12. Maxime Mermoz
06. Tom Guest	13. Isiah Toeava
07. Beau Robinson	14.Tom Varndell
08. JMF Lobbe	15. Kurtley Beale

16. Dave Wilson 17. Will Tanner 18. Euan Murray 19. James Cannon 20. Sean O’Brian 21. Chris Cook 22. Aurelien Rougerie 23. George North


Tactics

Psychological
15 wins in 17 games is a brilliant record to have and our players are all brimming with confidence. We believe on this form we can’t be beaten and the players have got used to the winning feeling and they would hate to lose. Half backs for Quins have been involved in some huge 6 nations game. Can’t see them being 100%. Kearney has played 4 huge games in 4 weeks and will doubtless be tired.

Overall
We will be looking to make good yards with big carries and keep pressure on starving them of the ball.

Set Piece
Our formidable front row has been picked to win scrums. Golding, Kubrashvilli and Ward will be looking to get in a big hit first. Afoa and Aguero aren’t the worlds best scrummagers and we will look to get at them. Lobbe will control it at the back. We will be using the scrum as an option as much as possible as we feel we can really dominate here. At the lineout we have options with Whitelock and Lobbe capable of taking opposition ball. At the front we have Deacon offering the banker ball. We will really look to take advantage of the scrum and lineout as we feel they are options we have that can change the game.

Kicking
We will look to put the ball behind the Warriors back three and put pressure on them in their own 22 with Lobbe leading the chase. We shall only use this sparingly though. More often we will look to put the ball out of touch in the Warriors 22 and pressure their lineout. Beale will be our main kicker looking to take on anything in range. FDP offers another box kicking option which we can use. Hodgson also has a decent boot which we will use as a secondary option.

Ball in Hand
With ball in hand we will be looking to continuously get gains in yards and use our dangerous backs whenever possible. We will look for short risk free passes to the likes of Whitelock, Deacon, Lobbe etc who will just run through the Quins defence.

Wigglesworth will look to provide quick service to Anscombe who has the talent to pick a pass or to make some yards. All our back five have the capabilities to clear out defenders and drift through spaces that aren’t there so we will encourage this whenever we have the chance.

Defence
We will look for a quick defensive line to put pressure on the key Quins decision makers. Our defense will leave Beale trailing to get any deep kicks. He will be able to either return with interest or able to make a good run.

We will be looking to isolate runners and force a turnover by getting bodies into the breakdown when we see an opportunity and use Robinson skill in the ground. We feel this is somewhere we can really get an advantage so will look to go for a turnover whenever there is a chance.

Substitutions
We really feel our substitutes can come on and maintain dominance. Euan Murray is well rested and is a destructive scrummager alongside Tanner and Wilson. Cannon we feel can come on and look to win balls in the lineout. SOB will come on and look to cause havoc in the last bit of the game. He will look to do his typical big carries and will look to throw his weight around at the breakdown. Cook will come on and will look to play his usual electric game. Rougerie and North are two world class internationals who can come on and change games with their brilliant running with the ball in hand. We will look to get these involved as much as possible.


London Irish vs. Leicester Tigers
Cloudy with sunny intervals, 9 degrees, 9 mph winds.

London Irish
Manager – stnick88

01. Rodrigo Roncero	09. Ruan Pienaar
02. James Buckland	10. Juan Martin Hernandez
03. Martin Castrogiovanni
04. Matt Garvey	11. Sailosi Tagicakibau
05. Nick Kennedy	12. Sonny Bill Williams
06. Keegan Daniel	13. Conrad Smith
07. Steffon Armitage	14. Bjorn Basson
08. Pierre Spies	15. Delon Armitage

16. Duncan Bell 17. Neil Briggs 18. WP Nel 19. Stuart Hooper 20. Hendrie Fourie 21. Julien Dupuy 22. Luke McAllister 23. Marland Yarde

- In good conditions, play an attacking, running game, similar to the recent victories over Saints and away at Wasps.
- We use the scrum as a an attacking platform, with two great scrummaging props we will look to turn the screw and win penalties or use Spies to pick up and carry or Pienaar to get the ball out to the backs.
- We will look to win the contact area and the collisions. With Castro, Garvey, Spies, Steffon, SBW in the side, we have some big, powerful units who will look to smash over the gain line and put Tigers on the backfoot. We will look for quick ball for Pienaar to use and create opportunities with.
- Kennedy will be our main lineout target and we willl look for quick ball off the top on most occasions, if not use Garvey at the front to create a maul.
- We willl look to dominate possession and tire the Wasps defence. Spies, Daniel, Armitage, Garvey will carry hard and look to make inroads. We will look for Pienaar and JMH to play what is infront of them and put SBW and co into gaps and space. Our wingers, especially Tagicakibau, will come inside and along with Smith, look to gather the offloads from SBW, which he will only do when it is on.
- At the breakdown, we will look to use our powerful flankers and the breakdown skills of Steffon to secure quick ball and slow down opposition ball. Any turnover ball will be counter attacked.
- Pienaar will kick all pens for goal in range. If not we will go for touch and use the lineout as a platform to attack.
- If any attacks become slow and we are in danger of being turned of making a mistake, we will look for JMH to pop over a drop goal to keep the scoreboard ticking over.
- We have plenty of impact off the bench to keep things fresh and hopefully see out the game.

Leicester Tigers
Manager – LukeLovesLuka

01. Andrew Sheridan	09. Dimitri Yachvili (k)
02. Sebastian Bruno	10. Brock James
03. Cencus Johnston
04. Simon Shaw	11. Topsy Ojo
05. James Horwill (c)	12. Billy Twelvetrees
06. Samu Manoa	13. Florian Fritz
07. Johanthan Poff	14. Cory Jane
08. Thomas Waldrom	15. Isa Nacewa

16. Clarke Dermody 17. Tom Youngs 18. Ben Franks 19. Jordan Crane 20. Magnus Lund 21. Chris Cusiter 22. Rob Miller 23. Tom Biggs

TACTICS

We will play a game built around our huge line-breakers, strength in the set piece and attacking back line.

- Attack the scrum as a weapon - and call when we can. Scrum specialist Bruno selected alongside Johnston, with us looking to really get the shove on against newly signed Roncero.

- Strong lineout with Manoa, Horwill as our main jumpers, with Poff and Shaw rotating the target. We will relentlessly target Buckland's throws.

- Massive line-breakersright throughout the side that will look to tire down Irish's defence.
The likes of Waldrom and Manoa used off the shoulder crashing through the Irish defence.

- Poff is the man charged with reaching the breakdown first and look to turnover possession. We will always look to attack quickly off turnover ball.

- In general attacking play, we will play off 9 with Yachvili our general pulling the strings. Look to play attacking running rugby in the backs, getting the likes of Nacewa, Fritz and Jane on the ball.

- Box kicks from Yachili and up and unders from James to give Basson and Tagi problems in the air.
Lightning back three to really get the chase on.

- If the game is tight and the ball isn't coming quickly, James will look to drop into the pocket and keep the scoreboard ticking over with drop goals.

- Yachvili to kick all penalites within range.

- Form and Momentum - we have won 18 of our last 22 games, and are flying right now. Confidence is high right throughout the squad, with competition for places extremely high.

- Attack newly signed Roncero in the set piece, and get after JMH in the tackle, with newly signed Mac on the bench - Irish's only FH replacement.


Gloucester vs. Exeter Chiefs
Cloudy with sunny intervals, 10 degrees, 8 mph winds.

01. Guthro Steenkamp	09. Will Genia
02. Joe Gray	10. Stephen Donald (c)
03. Nicola Mas
04. Bakkies Botha	11. JSD
05. George Robson	12.Berrick Barnes
06. SChalk Burger	13. Richard Kahui
07. Saull	14. Charlie Sharples
08. Willem Alberts	15. Israel Dagg

16. Nick Wood 17. Adriaan Strauss18. Julian White 19. Ali Williams 20. Deacon 21. Dave Lewis 22. Johan Goosen 23. Johnny May

Tactics

Glos welcome Exeter to the fortress kingsholm.

Glaws have serious momentum are at home and have the weather to play exciting rugby.

Glaws tactics

Forwards

Target scrums to get nudge and control
Utilise lineout jumpers to secure own possession and disrupt exeters.
Control tempo of game.
Utilise superior number of ball carriers to get on front foot and use offloading game
Use more physical pack to dominate opposition
Control breakdown

Backs

Wc half backs to control game and look to attack attack when on with super quick ball.
2 kicking options to win territory battle
Quick dynamic back 3 to counter kicked ball.
Greater variety to backline can attack from anywhere


Overall

Game changing bench
Proven winners all over
Momentum
Home record
More ball carriers
More in form players.
Target bp

Exeter Chiefs

1.Wyatt Crockett
2.Lee Mears
3.Ben Alexander
4.Juilian Pierre
5.James Hudson (c)
6.Declan Danahar
7.Shane Jennings
8.Johnnie Beattie

9.Haydn Thomas
10.Colin Slade
11.Vasily Artemyev
12.Damian Traille
13.George Pisi
14.Luke Fitzgerald
15.Luke Arscott

16.Neil Clark 17.Brett Sturgess 18.Hoani Tui 19.Flip Van Der Merwe 20.Ben Skirving 21.Rob Coote 22.Nick Mcleod 23.Mike Tindall

Tactics.

Play the game at a high tempo and keep the ball moving and retain possession and starve Gloucester of any real possession and keep them pinged in there own 22 during the game through the boots of Slade , Traille and Pisi.

This game will be won on the deck and there is not better player on the pitch than Shane Jennings at this , he's turnover rate is key to our game plan and Slade will look to punish Gloucester from the inevitible penalties that Jennings will win.

Thomas will look to give steady service to the in form Colin Slade (New Zealands 2nd choice 10) against Stephen Donald (New Zealands 8th Choice 10 ;-) ). Slade will have a personal motive and in a darby game this is vital. Slade will look to attack the gain line and pull defenders in and mix his game up with a varity of passes , breaks and kicks.

Key Points

- Form - Alberts , Burger , Grey , Robson , Botha , Donald and JSD arn't in the greatest of there form with Bakkies looking warn out in the T14

- Chiefs form - Fitzgerald , Pisi , Slade , Thomas , Arscott , Crockett , Hudson and Peirre are all in good form.

- Chiefs to play at a high fast tempo with Slade attacking the line and moving the ball and making the Glaws pack work to get there


Northampton Saints vs. London Wasps
Cloudy with sunny intervals, 9 degrees, 8 mph winds.

Northampton Saints
Manager – Dammit Chris

01. Matt Mullan	09. Mike Phillips
02. Rob Webber	10. Matt Giteau (c)
03. Matt Stevens
04. Patricio Albacete	11. Siti Siviatu
05. Courtney Lawes	12. Jean de Villiers
06. Ryan Kankowski	13. Manu Tuilagi
07. Alexander Lapandry	14. Elliot Daly
08. Liam Messam	15. Leigh Halfpenny (k)

16. Mike Haywood 17. Thomas Domingo 18. Carl Hayman 19. Calum Clark 20. Jake Abbott 21. Sam Harrison 22. Danny Cipriani 23. Wesley Fofana

Tactics

Overall - we are aware that to beat Wasps we are going to have to stop their big ball carriers getting over the gainline and play a fast, high-tempo game that makes full use of the entire pitch. We've picked a team that is strong defensively and can take the game to Wasps with our own ball carriers, but has some good creativity and offers a lot of try scoring threats.

Attack - we will continue to play our structured game that evolves working through the phases, getting our big ball carriers on the ball and over the gainline (Albacete, Lawes, Messam, Kankowski, de Villiers, Tuilagi and Siviatu) - but we will look to get the ball wider earlier and get our backthree on the ball and attacking Wasps at pace - Giteau will look to keep Wasps going backwards by mixing his kicking game, grubber kicks, chips over the 12-13 channel and not allow Roberts and Mortlock to settle into a defensive patterns.

Defence - we have set out to stop Wasps ball carriers getting over the gainline - Lawes, Albacete, Kankowski and Messam are all big defensive players and will aim for big hits on Wasps, where we see MAfi and Elsom as particular threats in the pack. We've also chosen de Villiers and Tuilagi as a midfield partnership to counter the running game of Roberts and Mortlock and will look to cut off their options of getting the ball to the back three with a rush defence and specifically target lack of creative player in Wasps midfield.

We also want to make sure that we do not invite Wasps to pressurise us in our own half and when we get the ball (espc. in our own 22) we will get Halfpenny to clear lines and get the ball away from where Wasps ball carriers/mauls can cause us damage.

Set Piece - Our front three is very fresh and we will look to attack the Wasps scrum, espc as we can bring on Domingo and HAyman in the second half. Will look to launch Messam off the back of the scrum to get momentum going forwards.

At the lineout we again have five jumpers we can use, Albacete will lead the calls and early on will look to secure ball, suck in Wasps defenders to mauls and then get the ball wide - will try to bring Messam, Kankowksi attacking Roberts/Mortlock, so in second phase we can then run Tuilagi at a defence that is having to realign without its one of its two midfield lynchpins.

Breakdown - we've got a balanced backrow, Lapandry has been picked as a specialist no7, whilst we have Lawes, Kankowski and Messam there to clearout Wasps at the breakdown with their power. We want to slow down Wasps ball as much as we can in this area, so we can always ensure that our defensive line is set and limit the threat of Roberts.

Key Points
* Playing largely the team that won the LV Cup last week, but have also brought in a Phillips and Halfpenny into the backline who will be on a high from the Grand Slam.
* Target lack of creativity in Wasps 10, 12, 13 by playing a rush defence and stopping the ball going wide - if we make first time tackles then its going to stop a lot of opportunities for Wasps to score tries
* Spread the ball wide and play at a high tempo to move Wasps big ball carriers around the park and play a game they are not comfortable with.

London Wasps
Manager – ‘Arry

01. Perry Freshwater	09. Luke Burgess
02. Benjamin Kayser	10. Steven Myler (k)
03. Carlos Nieto
04. Steve Mafi	11. Noah Cato
05. Dan Tuohy	12. Jamie Roberts
06. Rocky Elsom (c)	13. Stirling Mortlock
07. Deon Stegmann	14. Takudzwa Ngwenya
08. Luke Narraway	15. Mike Brown

16. Andy Titterell 17. Jared Saunders 18. CJ Van Der Linde 19. Mouritz Botha 20. John Hart 21. Nick Phipps 22. Dan Bowden 23. Tom Williams

Tactics
We have picked a gritty, dynamic and physical forward pack which will hopefully get us over the gain line and onto the front foot. We feel that if we can assert ourselves physically and win the forward battle, providing our backs with a solid platform we will be able to beat Northampton Saints. We will look to push Saints onto the back foot and keep them there. We feel very fresh having had two weeks off and will look to tire the Saints out, who wont be as fresh as us, by making them work hard in defence with our dynamic and relentless carrying all game.

In the early stages, we will look to our dynamic forwards to get us onto the front foot by attacking in groups with some grunt and powerful carrying, getting us over the gain line. Hopefully our carriers will suck in Saints defenders, so we can spread the ball out wide to our dangerous runners to make use of the space on offer. We will start as we mean to go on with a high intensity, hitting the collision area hard and driving our players over the gain line. We will look to wear the Saints pack out and create mismatches in midfield to exploit.

Myler will play flat in attack, we will look to Roberts and Mortlock to run plenty of hard lines, especially targeting Giteau and win the collisions to get our offloading game going if it’s on. We will look to attack gaps and half gaps in the Saints defence and target the outside shoulder. We will support our carriers and drive them over the gain line and get quick ball to keep the momentum in our attacks. We will look to create space out wide for our wingers to exploit and make use of.

At the breakdown we will come from low to high in clearing out Saints players to ensure Burgess has clean ball. We will look to the kicking game of Myler to put the ball in behind the Saints wingers and keep them pinned back in their own half where we can pressurize them. We will hopefully be able to build attacks from the scrum and earn some penalties for Myler to make use of. Stegmann with his low centre of gravity will look to (legally) slow down the Saints ball and ensure Phillips has to live off of scraps.

We will look to the scrum to provide us with a platform to build attacks from and keep Saints on the back foot. We will use a shortened line out, and launch our dynamic forwards, who are not in the lineout into midfield. Our back row will look to get in Giteau’s face from the off by really exerting plenty of pressure on him to try and put him off his game. Our experienced half back combination will look to manage and control our game plan. We will look to outmuscle the Saints up front and push them onto the back foot.


Worcester Warriors vs. Newcastle Falcons
Cloudy with sunny intervals, 11 degrees, 11 mph winds.

Worcester Warriors

01. David Flatman	09. Byron Kelleher
02. Richardt Strauss	10. Tom Heathcote (c)
03. BJ Botha
04. Dom Barrow	11. Shane Williams
05. Jim Hamilton	12. Pat McCabe
06. Kearnen Myall	13. Regan King
07. Craig Newby	14. Marcel Garvey
08. Mamuka Gorgodze	15. Ollie Morgan

16. Michael Mayhew 17. Chris Budgen 18. George Porter 19. Ryan Jones 20. Ben Morgan 21. Dwayne Peel 22. Morne Steyn 23. Greig Tonks

Tactics
Forwards: We have picked a pack and big engine room who won't go backwards. Both will look to get the edge on his side and with Hamilton behind him this should be fairly easy to do. Strauss will look to go for each ball and catch Servat off guard. We will look to get the edge on the hit and put them under pressure instantly with a pack used to playing with each other. Our back rown can match them at the breakdown and Gorgodze will always make yards when he picks or carries. Myall and Newby will look to stop the back row in their tracks and put a lot of pressure on the breakdown. Lineouts will be kept simple and we will put two up to compete. Our bench has impact forwards with Budgen, Jones and Morgan all able to change a match.

Backs: Quick ball to Heathcote where Kelleher will provide this he will also look to snipe off 3rd or 4th phase. We will look to put a lot of pressure on Youngs who seems to have a tendancy to lose his head recently. Heathcote will play what's ahead of him, he has an excellent running game and we will look to release our dangerous backline. Any slow ball will go to forwards or off the park. McCabe will lead from the front and look to offload to runners. We will bring Shane into the match as often as possible to work around tired forwards. Heathcote will take 3 points when possible to keep the scores close. We again have game changing subs who will all make an impact and Steyn will be used to help close out a match.

Defecne: Look to have 2 men on Flood stopping the ball being shipped out. We will adopt a blitz drift defence looking to close off any gaps which may appear.

Response: They are going to put Shane under pressure with high balls....look at the many highlights of Shane out jumping the likes of Bowe for balls.

Newcastle Falcons
Manager – Sgt Pooly

01. Fabien Barcella	09. Ben Youngs
02. William Servat	10. Toby Flood
03. Paul Doran-Jones
04. Ed Slater	11. Miles Benjamin
05. Paul O’Connell(c)	12. James O’Connor
06. Duane Vermuelen	13. Jaque Fourie
07. Kelly Brown	14. Tommy Bowe
08. Kieran Read	15. Ben Smith

16. Rory Best 17. Owen Franks 18. Alex Waller 19. Geoff Parling 20. Guy Mercer 21. Jonny Arr 22. Dan Hipkiss 23. Nick Evans

Tactics

General play - It's all about a high tempo and controlling the ball.. If 3 point is on we'll look to take it and until we have a clear lead. Flood will pull the strings at 10 and keep us playing in the right areas of the pitch. Our main aim this week will be getting control in the forwards and getting good ball for our extra quality in the backline to attack Worcester. James O’Connor to alternate with Flood and change tempo of game with quick feet with Fourie & Bowe running lines off JOC and looking for the offload. We’ll look to keep the pace of the game high and the ball alive.

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 Botha throughout the game.

Lineout

Securing lineout ball will be key. POC will look to lead the line and use Slater as banker ball from the front and Read, Brown & Vermeulen as a strong options at the middle and back. We shall look to get target opposition ball throughout the game. Read & Vermeulen offer us top draw options in the backrow and will help us put the squeeze on here.

Target Breakdown & Rucks
We'll look to commit to rucks to secure our own ball whilst using the physicality of our pack to try and drive Worcester off their own ball.

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, POC, Servat, Brown, Vermeulen, Slater giving us options in the loose. We’ll look to vary the angles of attack with Flood using the reverse ball now.

Backs

Halfbacks

With a solid platform Youngs will look to snipe around and find gaps in the opposion defense, especially at 2/3rd phase attacks when defenses start to fray. Youngs gives us a massive threat and will look to mix his game up throughgout the game. Flood 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 Fourie leading the line.

Backline balance

JOC will act as 2nd playmaking option whilst Fourie will give us a huge physical threat on the outside. JOC will look for space in the midfield and to get his hands on the ball as much as possible.

---

Points to target against opposition

TARGET LINEOUT – World class options in the pack and put squeeze on opposition
TARGET SCRUM – Throughout and with Franks off the bench
CROSSFIELD KICK – Get Bowe one on one with Williams
KING – Look to get Fourie running at King in open play with Bowe & Benjamin coming into the line
FLANKERS - Play left/right rather than BS/OS with all 3 backrowers adept here

Easy 4 points this week....................

Exeter Chiefs team to play Gloucester

1.Wyatt Crockett
2.Lee Mears
3.Ben Alexander
4.Juilian Pierre
5.James Hudson (c)
6.Declan Danahar
7.Shane Jennings
8.Johnnie Beattie

9.Haydn Thomas
10.Colin Slade
11.Vasily Artemyev
12.Damian Traille
13.George Pisi
14.Luke Fitzgerald
15.Luke Arscott

16.Neil Clark 17.Brett Sturgess 18.Hoani Tui 19.Flip Van Der Merwe 20.Ben Skirving 21.Rob Coote 22.Nick Mcleod 23.Mike Tindall

Tactics.

Play the game at a high tempo and keep the ball moving and retain possession and starve Gloucester of any real possession and keep them pinged in there own 22 during the game through the boots of Slade , Traille and Pisi.

This game will be won on the deck and there is not better player on the pitch than Shane Jennings at this , he's turnover rate is key to our game plan and Slade will look to punish Gloucester from the inevitible penalties that Jennings will win.

Thomas will look to give steady service to the in form Colin Slade (New Zealands 2nd choice 10) against Stephen Donald (New Zealands 8th Choice 10 ;-) ). Slade will have a personal motive and in a darby game this is vital. Slade will look to attack the gain line and pull defenders in and mix his game up with a varity of passes , breaks and kicks.

Key Points

- Form - Alberts , Burger , Grey , Robson , Botha , Donald and JSD arn't in the greatest of there form with Bakkies looking warn out in the T14

- Chiefs form - Fitzgerald , Pisi , Slade , Thomas , Arscott , Crockett , Hudson and Peirre are all in good form.

- Chiefs to play at a high fast tempo with Slade attacking the line and moving the ball and making the Glaws pack work to get there

Back to the AP.....quite liked the 2 weeks off

Leicester Tigers have named their side to play London Irish this week.

Tigers manager LukeLovesLuka has stuck to his promise and made a host of changes to the side that played in the Anglo-Welsh Cup final last week.

Tigers make a total of 12 changes from last week, with only Cencus Johnston remaining in the pack, and Billy Twelvetrees and Isa Nacewa remaining in the back line. Simon Shaw makes his first start alongside captain James Horwill in the second row, having appeared from the bench in Tigers' last two games.


Leicester Tigers
Manager – LukeLovesLuka

01. Andrew Sheridan	09. Dimitri Yachvili (k)
02. Sebastian Bruno	10. Brock James
03. Cencus Johnston
04. Simon Shaw	11. Topsy Ojo
05. James Horwill (c)	12. Billy Twelvetrees
06. Samu Manoa	13. Florian Fritz
07. Johanthan Poff	14. Cory Jane
08. Thomas Waldrom	15. Isa Nacewa

16. Clarke Dermody 17. Tom Youngs 18. Ben Franks 19. Jordan Crane 20. Magnus Lund 21. Chris Cusiter 22. Rob Miller 23. Tom Biggs

TACTICS

We will play a game built around our huge line-breakers, strength in the set piece and attacking back line.

- Attack the scrum as a weapon - and call when we can. Scrum specialist Bruno selected alongside Johnston, with us looking to really get the shove on against newly signed Roncero.

- Strong lineout with Manoa, Horwill as our main jumpers, with Poff and Shaw rotating the target. We will relentlessly target Buckland's throws.

- Massive line-breakersright throughout the side that will look to tire down Irish's defence.
The likes of Waldrom and Manoa used off the shoulder crashing through the Irish defence.

- Poff is the man charged with reaching the breakdown first and look to turnover possession. We will always look to attack quickly off turnover ball.

- In general attacking play, we will play off 9 with Yachvili our general pulling the strings. Look to play attacking running rugby in the backs, getting the likes of Nacewa, Fritz and Jane on the ball.

- Box kicks from Yachili and up and unders from James to give Basson and Tagi problems in the air.
Lightning back three to really get the chase on.

- If the game is tight and the ball isn't coming quickly, James will look to drop into the pocket and keep the scoreboard ticking over with drop goals.

- Yachvili to kick all penalites within range.

- Form and Momentum - we have won 18 of our last 22 games, and are flying right now. Confidence is high right throughout the squad, with competition for places extremely high.

- Attack newly signed Roncero in the set piece, and get after JMH in the tackle, with newly signed Mac on the bench - Irish's only FH replacement.

After a two weeks off Quins are ready to go into a vital 5 match run in which will at best see them make a very surprising foray into the top 4 but at worst see them drop out of the HC places for next season.

'We have 5 cup finals. 3 at Home and 3 Away and these games will require us to perform at our very highest levels to come away with a minimum of 3 wins which we feel we require. We've picked a strong side and we will be going for strong sides week in week out to try and get us the highest finish possible in the AP table'

Harlequins
Manager – Steven_Sharks

01. Matias Aguero	09. Lee Dickson (c)
02. Matthew Rees	10. Rhys Priestland (k)
03. John Afoa
04. Jerome Thion	11. Zac Guildford
05. George Skivington	12. Riki Flutey
06. Francois Louw	13. Jonathan Joseph
07. David Seymour	14. Joe Rokocoko
08. Chris Henry	15. Rob Kearney

16. Chris Brooker 17. Ceri Jones 18. Brian Mujati 19. James Gaskell 20. Alasdair Strokosch 21. Karl Dickson 22. Rory Clegg 23. George Lowe

Tactics

Tactics

Game Plan

We will base our attacking game on patient ball retention and strong carrying from our side and our defensive game will be based upon slowing down the Bath game. We have got a pack which can play to this game plan. Up front we have experience and strong carriers to get us over the gain line and get us the quick ball we require to bring our backs into the game.

Our ball carriers will look to carry the ball at pace and in numbers and will look to win the collisions and get over the gain line. If we could get the ball away in contact then we will try but we aren’t going to be throwing miracle balls in the conditions.

Dickson will control the tempo when we attack and Priestland will control what part of the field we play in. In these two players we can control two key elements of the game. When our backs get the ball we want them to run at gaps and look to isolate forwards in the defensive line (if there are any).

We will look for our players to look to secure us turnover ball and then we will look to get the ball wide early so as to attack an unorganised defence. I feel our back line is very dangerous on the front foot so we will look to play quickly when we get turnover ball.

Giving nothing to Bath is important to our game plan. We don’t want anything to come easily to Bath and putting them under constant pressure is vital to our plan to disrupt and slow down there game.

Forwards

Wet conditions will mean we will be playing a more controlled game than we might usually with a large pack which will hopefully give Bath a torrid time at the set piece, breakdown and in the loose. We have packed our front 5 with experience and we want to look for them to set up the platform for our win along with a back row which we expect to revel at the breakdown. At our own rucks we will be looking to get quick ball to feed to Dickson and on the opposition ball we will look to have the first man there and get onto the ball or we will commit a few to the ruck to legally slow it down.

At the scrum we will look for our props to get underneath there opposite numbers and turn the screw with to heavy locks in behind them. At the lineout we will look to shorten the line on our own ball and have forwards ready to carry in the midfield. On the opposition ball we will look to put as much pressure on as possible with Thion and Skivington competition hard.

Backs

When we get quick ball we will look to get the ball into Joseph’s hands early so he can do what he does best and finds gaps for himself or put others into space. We have a very dangerous back 3 which will look to pick lines all game and put themselves into space. With ball in hand we can be very dangerous out wide and this is an area we will look to get into when quick ball at the rucks allows it.

Defence

A quick linespeed and aggression in the contact will be key to our defence which will be marshalled by Louw and Flutey. We will have two of our back 3 players deep in anticipation of the kick and Dickson will sweep behind the defensive line.

Key Points

- Get quick ball in possession and play at a fast tempo. When Bath have the ball we do everything we can legally to slow the ball down.

- Test the Bath back three with up and unders and kicks behind them when they are out of position. We don't feel the conditions suit the Bath back 3. We have Kearney who might be the best player ever underneath the highball.

- Look to get very aggressive up front. I feel our front 5 is capable of getting the push on at the scrum as well as winning the forward battle all over the park.

- Take the points when we get the chance. Don't kick loosely but use Priestland's and Kearney's huge boots to win the territory battle when we need to.

Having rested a number of key men in the Anglo Welsh semi final a fortnight ago Saracens bring back a number of internationals for this weeks visit to Edgeley Park. Whilst recalling three backs who saw some action in the 6 Nations championship head coach Ozzy3213 has resisted the temptation to throw the likes of Adam Jones, Thierry Dusatoir and Alessandro Zanni back in after a heavy workload over the past few weeks.

Head coach Ozzy3213 had this to say.

"We are really looking forward to getting back to league action this week. The guys are well rested and are straining at the leash to get out there and finish the season strongly. Traditionally we have been very good down the final straight and have the experience to get results away from home which is vital at this stage. Sale will provide us with a stern thest this week, and we will have to be on our game, but I am confident that if we perform at our best we can come back from Stockport with a result.

Saracens
Manager – Ozzy3213

01. Tendai Mtwarira	09. Morgan Parra
02. Bismarck du Plessis	10. Francois Trinh-Duc
03. Jannie du Plessis
04. Dave Attwood	11. Tim Visser
05. Lionel Nallet	12. Ma'a Nonu
06. Tom Johnson	13. Jonathon Davies
07. Tom Wood	14. Mark Cueto
08. Joe van Niekerk (c)	15. Alex Goode

16. George Chuter 17. Max Lahiff 18. Brok Harris 19. Graham Kitchener 20. George Smith 21. Paul Hodgson 22. Patric Lambie 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. However, 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.

In good conditions for runing rugby we will look to get the ball in and out quickly at scrum time and get our backs across the gainline to set up strong attacking positions. On Sale put ins we will look to scrummage and get underneath them in order to win the ball agianst the head or force a penalty.


Key Points

• Team to suit tactics/conditions - We are looking to play high tempo, ball in hand rugby so have picked a mobile pack and powerful backline in order to do so.
  
  
• Experience - This is the stage of the season where we have traditionally been strong in this game and have the experience of winning games down the home stretch.
  
  
• Points to Prove - Parra, Trinh-Duc and Nallet all unfairly discarded by a French side that performed poorly. They come back into the team desperate to lay and keen to show that PSA was wrong not to start them.
  
  
• Defensive Strength - We are very solid defensively so Sale will have to take some risks to create scoring chances. if they do not execute perfectly then we have the players to counter quickly and inflict damage.
  
  

Anybody know if Prop can name a side this week??

He's back from Rome so am guessing he should be able to.

Cool, thought he was still away

London Wasps
Manager – ‘Arry

01. Perry Freshwater	09. Luke Burgess
02. Benjamin Kayser	10. Steven Myler (k)
03. Carlos Nieto
04. Steve Mafi	11. Noah Cato
05. Dan Tuohy	12. Jamie Roberts
06. Rocky Elsom (c)	13. Stirling Mortlock
07. Deon Stegmann	14. Takudzwa Ngwenya
08. Luke Narraway	15. Mike Brown

16. Andy Titterell 17. Jared Saunders 18. CJ Van Der Linde 19. Mouritz Botha 20. John Hart 21. Nick Phipps 22. Dan Bowden 23. Tom Williams

Tactics
We have picked a gritty, dynamic and physical forward pack which will hopefully get us over the gain line and onto the front foot. We feel that if we can assert ourselves physically and win the forward battle, providing our backs with a solid platform we will be able to beat Northampton Saints. We will look to push Saints onto the back foot and keep them there. We feel very fresh having had two weeks off and will look to tire the Saints out, who wont be as fresh as us, by making them work hard in defence with our dynamic and relentless carrying all game.

In the early stages, we will look to our dynamic forwards to get us onto the front foot by attacking in groups with some grunt and powerful carrying, getting us over the gain line. Hopefully our carriers will suck in Saints defenders, so we can spread the ball out wide to our dangerous runners to make use of the space on offer. We will start as we mean to go on with a high intensity, hitting the collision area hard and driving our players over the gain line. We will look to wear the Saints pack out and create mismatches in midfield to exploit.

Myler will play flat in attack, we will look to Roberts and Mortlock to run plenty of hard lines, especially targeting Giteau and win the collisions to get our offloading game going if it’s on. We will look to attack gaps and half gaps in the Saints defence and target the outside shoulder. We will support our carriers and drive them over the gain line and get quick ball to keep the momentum in our attacks. We will look to create space out wide for our wingers to exploit and make use of.

At the breakdown we will come from low to high in clearing out Saints players to ensure Burgess has clean ball. We will look to the kicking game of Myler to put the ball in behind the Saints wingers and keep them pinned back in their own half where we can pressurize them. We will hopefully be able to build attacks from the scrum and earn some penalties for Myler to make use of. Stegmann with his low centre of gravity will look to (legally) slow down the Saints ball and ensure Phillips has to live off of scraps.

We will look to the scrum to provide us with a platform to build attacks from and keep Saints on the back foot. We will use a shortened line out, and launch our dynamic forwards, who are not in the lineout into midfield. Our back row will look to get in Giteau’s face from the off by really exerting plenty of pressure on him to try and put him off his game. Our experienced half back combination will look to manage and control our game plan. We will look to outmuscle the Saints up front and push them onto the back foot.

London Irish
Manager – stnick88

01. Rodrigo Roncero	09. Ruan Pienaar
02. James Buckland	10. Juan Martin Hernandez
03. Martin Castrogiovanni
04. Matt Garvey	11. Sailosi Tagicakibau
05. Nick Kennedy	12. Sonny Bill Williams
06. Keegan Daniel	13. Conrad Smith
07. Steffon Armitage	14. Bjorn Basson
08. Pierre Spies	15. Delon Armitage

16. Duncan Bell 17. Neil Briggs 18. WP Nel 19. Stuart Hooper 20. Hendrie Fourie 21. Julien Dupuy 22. Luke McAllister 23. Marland Yarde

- In good conditions, play an attacking, running game, similar to the recent victories over Saints and away at Wasps.
- We use the scrum as a an attacking platform, with two great scrummaging props we will look to turn the screw and win penalties or use Spies to pick up and carry or Pienaar to get the ball out to the backs.
- We will look to win the contact area and the collisions. With Castro, Garvey, Spies, Steffon, SBW in the side, we have some big, powerful units who will look to smash over the gain line and put Tigers on the backfoot. We will look for quick ball for Pienaar to use and create opportunities with.
- Kennedy will be our main lineout target and we willl look for quick ball off the top on most occasions, if not use Garvey at the front to create a maul.
- We willl look to dominate possession and tire the Wasps defence. Spies, Daniel, Armitage, Garvey will carry hard and look to make inroads. We will look for Pienaar and JMH to play what is infront of them and put SBW and co into gaps and space. Our wingers, especially Tagicakibau, will come inside and along with Smith, look to gather the offloads from SBW, which he will only do when it is on.
- At the breakdown, we will look to use our powerful flankers and the breakdown skills of Steffon to secure quick ball and slow down opposition ball. Any turnover ball will be counter attacked.
- Pienaar will kick all pens for goal in range. If not we will go for touch and use the lineout as a platform to attack.
- If any attacks become slow and we are in danger of being turned of making a mistake, we will look for JMH to pop over a drop goal to keep the scoreboard ticking over.
- We have plenty of impact off the bench to keep things fresh and hopefully see out the game.

Don't worry Pooly....I'll be naming my side tonight so long as I find time!!

Northampton Saints
Manager – Dammit Chris

01. Matt Mullan	09. Mike Phillips
02. Rob Webber	10. Matt Giteau (c)
03. Matt Stevens
04. Patricio Albacete	11. Siti Siviatu
05. Courtney Lawes	12. Jean de Villiers
06. Ryan Kankowski	13. Manu Tuilagi
07. Alexander Lapandry	14. Elliot Daly
08. Liam Messam	15. Leigh Halfpenny (k)

16. Mike Haywood 17. Thomas Domingo 18. Carl Hayman 19. Calum Clark 20. Jake Abbott 21. Sam Harrison 22. Danny Cipriani 23. Wesley Fofana

Tactics

Overall - we are aware that to beat Wasps we are going to have to stop their big ball carriers getting over the gainline and play a fast, high-tempo game that makes full use of the entire pitch. We've picked a team that is strong defensively and can take the game to Wasps with our own ball carriers, but has some good creativity and offers a lot of try scoring threats.

Attack - we will continue to play our structured game that evolves working through the phases, getting our big ball carriers on the ball and over the gainline (Albacete, Lawes, Messam, Kankowski, de Villiers, Tuilagi and Siviatu) - but we will look to get the ball wider earlier and get our backthree on the ball and attacking Wasps at pace - Giteau will look to keep Wasps going backwards by mixing his kicking game, grubber kicks, chips over the 12-13 channel and not allow Roberts and Mortlock to settle into a defensive patterns.

Defence - we have set out to stop Wasps ball carriers getting over the gainline - Lawes, Albacete, Kankowski and Messam are all big defensive players and will aim for big hits on Wasps, where we see MAfi and Elsom as particular threats in the pack. We've also chosen de Villiers and Tuilagi as a midfield partnership to counter the running game of Roberts and Mortlock and will look to cut off their options of getting the ball to the back three with a rush defence and specifically target lack of creative player in Wasps midfield.

We also want to make sure that we do not invite Wasps to pressurise us in our own half and when we get the ball (espc. in our own 22) we will get Halfpenny to clear lines and get the ball away from where Wasps ball carriers/mauls can cause us damage.

Set Piece - Our front three is very fresh and we will look to attack the Wasps scrum, espc as we can bring on Domingo and HAyman in the second half. Will look to launch Messam off the back of the scrum to get momentum going forwards.

At the lineout we again have five jumpers we can use, Albacete will lead the calls and early on will look to secure ball, suck in Wasps defenders to mauls and then get the ball wide - will try to bring Messam, Kankowksi attacking Roberts/Mortlock, so in second phase we can then run Tuilagi at a defence that is having to realign without its one of its two midfield lynchpins.

Breakdown - we've got a balanced backrow, Lapandry has been picked as a specialist no7, whilst we have Lawes, Kankowski and Messam there to clearout Wasps at the breakdown with their power. We want to slow down Wasps ball as much as we can in this area, so we can always ensure that our defensive line is set and limit the threat of Roberts.

Key Points
* Playing largely the team that won the LV Cup last week, but have also brought in a Phillips and Halfpenny into the backline who will be on a high from the Grand Slam.
* Target lack of creativity in Wasps 10, 12, 13 by playing a rush defence and stopping the ball going wide - if we make first time tackles then its going to stop a lot of opportunities for Wasps to score tries
* Spread the ball wide and play at a high tempo to move Wasps big ball carriers around the park and play a game they are not comfortable with.

Bath Rugby
Manager – inthefastlane

01. Jon Golding	09.Rihcard Wigglesworth
02. Joe Ward	10. Gareth Anscombe
03. Davit Kubrashvilli
04. Louis Deacon	11. Maxime Medard
05.Sam Whitelock	12. Maxime Mermoz
06. Tom Guest	13. Isiah Toeava
07. Beau Robinson	14.Tom Varndell
08. JMF Lobbe	15. Kurtley Beale

16. Dave Wilson 17. Will Tanner 18. Euan Murray 19. James Cannon 20. Sean O’Brian 21. Chris Cook 22. Aurelien Rougerie 23. George North


Tactics

Psychological
15 wins in 17 games is a brilliant record to have and our players are all brimming with confidence. We believe on this form we can’t be beaten and the players have got used to the winning feeling and they would hate to lose. Half backs for Quins have been involved in some huge 6 nations game. Can’t see them being 100%. Kearney has played 4 huge games in 4 weeks and will doubtless be tired.

Overall
We will be looking to make good yards with big carries and keep pressure on starving them of the ball.

Set Piece
Our formidable front row has been picked to win scrums. Golding, Kubrashvilli and Ward will be looking to get in a big hit first. Afoa and Aguero aren’t the worlds best scrummagers and we will look to get at them. Lobbe will control it at the back. We will be using the scrum as an option as much as possible as we feel we can really dominate here. At the lineout we have options with Whitelock and Lobbe capable of taking opposition ball. At the front we have Deacon offering the banker ball. We will really look to take advantage of the scrum and lineout as we feel they are options we have that can change the game.

Kicking
We will look to put the ball behind the Warriors back three and put pressure on them in their own 22 with Lobbe leading the chase. We shall only use this sparingly though. More often we will look to put the ball out of touch in the Warriors 22 and pressure their lineout. Beale will be our main kicker looking to take on anything in range. FDP offers another box kicking option which we can use. Hodgson also has a decent boot which we will use as a secondary option.

Ball in Hand
With ball in hand we will be looking to continuously get gains in yards and use our dangerous backs whenever possible. We will look for short risk free passes to the likes of Whitelock, Deacon, Lobbe etc who will just run through the Quins defence.

Wigglesworth will look to provide quick service to Anscombe who has the talent to pick a pass or to make some yards. All our back five have the capabilities to clear out defenders and drift through spaces that aren’t there so we will encourage this whenever we have the chance.

Defence
We will look for a quick defensive line to put pressure on the key Quins decision makers. Our defense will leave Beale trailing to get any deep kicks. He will be able to either return with interest or able to make a good run.

We will be looking to isolate runners and force a turnover by getting bodies into the breakdown when we see an opportunity and use Robinson skill in the ground. We feel this is somewhere we can really get an advantage so will look to go for a turnover whenever there is a chance.

Substitutions
We really feel our substitutes can come on and maintain dominance. Euan Murray is well rested and is a destructive scrummager alongside Tanner and Wilson. Cannon we feel can come on and look to win balls in the lineout. SOB will come on and look to cause havoc in the last bit of the game. He will look to do his typical big carries and will look to throw his weight around at the breakdown. Cook will come on and will look to play his usual electric game. Rougerie and North are two world class internationals who can come on and change games with their brilliant running with the ball in hand. We will look to get these involved as much as possible.

01. David Flatman	09. Byron Kelleher
02. Richardt Strauss	10. Tom Heathcote (c)
03. BJ Botha
04. Dom Barrow	11. Shane Williams
05. Jim Hamilton	12. Pat McCabe
06. Kearnen Myall	13. Regan King
07. Craig Newby	14. Marcel Garvey
08. Mamuka Gorgodze	15. Ollie Morgan

16. Michael Mayhew 17. Chris Budgen 18. George Porter 19. Ryan Jones 20. Ben Morgan 21. Dwayne Peel 22. Morne Steyn 23. Greig Tonks

Tactics
Forwards: We have picked a pack and big engine room who won't go backwards. Both will look to get the edge on his side and with Hamilton behind him this should be fairly easy to do. Strauss will look to go for each ball and catch Servat off guard. We will look to get the edge on the hit and put them under pressure instantly with a pack used to playing with each other. Our back rown can match them at the breakdown and Gorgodze will always make yards when he picks or carries. Myall and Newby will look to stop the back row in their tracks and put a lot of pressure on the breakdown. Lineouts will be kept simple and we will put two up to compete. Our bench has impact forwards with Budgen, Jones and Morgan all able to change a match.

Backs: Quick ball to Heathcote where Kelleher will provide this he will also look to snipe off 3rd or 4th phase. We will look to put a lot of pressure on Youngs who seems to have a tendancy to lose his head recently. Heathcote will play what's ahead of him, he has an excellent running game and we will look to release our dangerous backline. Any slow ball will go to forwards or off the park. McCabe will lead from the front and look to offload to runners. We will bring Shane into the match as often as possible to work around tired forwards. Heathcote will take 3 points when possible to keep the scores close. We again have game changing subs who will all make an impact and Steyn will be used to help close out a match.

Defecne: Look to have 2 men on Flood stopping the ball being shipped out. We will adopt a blitz drift defence looking to close off any gaps which may appear.

Response: They are going to put Shane under pressure with high balls....look at the many highlights of Shane out jumping the likes of Bowe for balls.

Good Luck Pooly

Mat wrote:

01. Guthro Steenkamp	09. Will Genia
02. Joe Gray	10. Stephen Donald (c)
03. Nicola Mas
04. Bakkies Botha	11. JSD
05. George Robson	12.Berrick Barnes
06. SChalk Burger	13. Richard Kahui
07. Saull	14. Charlie Sharples
08. Willem Alberts	15. Israel Dagg

16. Nick Wood 17. Adriaan Strauss18. Julian White 19. Ali Williams 20. Deacon 21. Dave Lewis 22. johan Goosen 23. Johnny May

Tactics
To follow

Glos welcome Exeter to the fortress kingsholm.

Glaws have serious momentum are at home and have the weather to play exciting rugby.

Glaws tactics

Forwards

Target scrums to get nudge and control
Utilise lineout jumpers to secure own possession and disrupt exeters.
Control tempo of game.
Utilise superior number of ball carriers to get on front foot and use offloading game
Use more physical pack to dominate opposition
Control breakdown

Backs

Wc half backs to control game and look to attack attack when on with super quick ball.
2 kicking options to win territory battle
Quick dynamic back 3 to counter kicked ball.
Greater variety to backline can attack from anywhere


Overall

Game changing bench
Proven winners all over
Momentum
Home record
More ball carriers
More in form players.
Target bp

Newcastle Falcons
Manager – Sgt Pooly

01. Fabien Barcella	09. Ben Youngs
02. William Servat	10. Toby Flood
03. Paul Doran-Jones
04. Ed Slater	11. Miles Benjamin
05. Paul O’Connell(c)	12. James O’Connor
06. Duane Vermuelen	13. Jaque Fourie
07. Kelly Brown	14. Tommy Bowe
08. Kieran Read	15. Ben Smith

16. Rory Best 17. Owen Franks 18. Alex Waller 19. Geoff Parling 20. Guy Mercer 21. Jonny Arr 22. Dan Hipkiss 23. Nick Evans

Tactics

General play - It's all about a high tempo and controlling the ball.. If 3 point is on we'll look to take it and until we have a clear lead. Flood will pull the strings at 10 and keep us playing in the right areas of the pitch. Our main aim this week will be getting control in the forwards and getting good ball for our extra quality in the backline to attack Worcester. James O’Connor to alternate with Flood and change tempo of game with quick feet with Fourie & Bowe running lines off JOC and looking for the offload. We’ll look to keep the pace of the game high and the ball alive.

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 Botha throughout the game.

Lineout

Securing lineout ball will be key. POC will look to lead the line and use Slater as banker ball from the front and Read, Brown & Vermeulen as a strong options at the middle and back. We shall look to get target opposition ball throughout the game. Read & Vermeulen offer us top draw options in the backrow and will help us put the squeeze on here.

Target Breakdown & Rucks
We'll look to commit to rucks to secure our own ball whilst using the physicality of our pack to try and drive Worcester off their own ball.

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, POC, Servat, Brown, Vermeulen, Slater giving us options in the loose. We’ll look to vary the angles of attack with Flood using the reverse ball now.

Backs

Halfbacks

With a solid platform Youngs will look to snipe around and find gaps in the opposion defense, especially at 2/3rd phase attacks when defenses start to fray. Youngs gives us a massive threat and will look to mix his game up throughgout the game. Flood 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 Fourie leading the line.

Backline balance

JOC will act as 2nd playmaking option whilst Fourie will give us a huge physical threat on the outside. JOC will look for space in the midfield and to get his hands on the ball as much as possible.

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Points to target against opposition

TARGET LINEOUT – World class options in the pack and put squeeze on opposition
TARGET SCRUM – Throughout and with Franks off the bench
CROSSFIELD KICK – Get Bowe one on one with Williams
KING – Look to get Fourie running at King in open play with Bowe & Benjamin coming into the line
FLANKERS - Play left/right rather than BS/OS with all 3 backrowers adept here

Tactics will be in soon

Sale Sharks
Manager – SJE

01. Marcos Ayerza	09. Danny Care
02. David Paice	10. Aaron Cruden
03. Luc Ducalcon
04. Romain Millo Chluski	11. David Strettle
05. Andries Bekker	12. James Hook
06. Adam Thomson	13. Robbie Freuen
07. Peter O'Mahony	14. Sam Smith
08. Louis Picamoles	15. Nick Abendanon

16. Jerome Schuster 17. Brett Sharman 18. Davit Zirakishvilli 19. Christian Day 20. Wycliffe Palu 21. Ben Spencer 22. Olly Barkley 23. Luke Rooney

General Game Plan:

We will use our strong carriers to attack the gaps in the Sarries line, looking to offload in contact to support runners thus changing the point of attack and keeping our forward momentum going. Care will look to play around the fringes making his usual snipes while Cruden will look to play flat and attack from fly half injecting pace to the proceedings. This will commit the Sarries defence early and leave space in wider channels to exploit with our offloading game. Hook and Cruden will look to rotate at 1st receiver and provide different threats to the Sarries line. If running the ball is not on Cruden and Hook will look to the boot and make use of our excellent lineout options.

At scrum time we will look to contest each and 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. While on Sarries feed we will disrupt the put in looking for penalties or to create rushed, poor ball for the french halfbacks. With 5 jumping options and a reliable thrower at hooker we will look to attack from the lineout mixing things up by bringing the ball down into the maul and tying the Sarries pack up or else playing the ball of the top and injecting serious pace into the play.

On defence, we will use a blitz defence coming up at pace looking to isolate the Sarries ball carriers before they can get to the gain line stopping any momentum and allowing us to hit the breakdown harder. Care 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 and counter attack at pace.

With the blitz defence 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 opposition players providing quick counter attacking ball to be cleared and used against a disorganised defensive line. 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:

•Home Advantage
With a baying home crowd at Edgeley Park, intimidating both Sarries and the ref, Sarries will need to be at their very best to win! We have lost just once at home in the league in the last two seasons.

•Lineout
With some fantastic jumping options on our own ball we will look to really use the lineout as an attacking platform similar to South Africa in recent years. We will look to use a full compliment and mix things up using the maul to tie up the Sarries forward or playing the ball off the top allowing our halfbacks to get on the ball at pace with room outside.

Sale team changed for injuries!

Will get the match thread fully updated first thing in the morning.

SirJohnnyEnglish wrote:Sale team changed for injuries!

I done the same, looking forward to bringing Parling & Robshaw back. 5 English whilst Ints are on is hard to do!

Is it ok to start predicting for some games or not really? Thinking time wise for me! Although may be able to do it early in work

-" Form - Alberts , Burger , Grey , Robson , Botha , Donald and JSD arn't in the greatest of there form with Bakkies looking warn out in the T14"

A career in stand up awaits you driver

Glos 30-24 Exeter
Quite a bit of player slating here isn't there?! Think the leadership battle will go to Exeter but I can see Glos taking some advantage from the quick ball. Jennings will work tirelessly but will need more support than he has I feel against Burger and Saull. In the backs I see it fairly even apart form at half-back. Exeter will run them close but Glos will run away.

Quins 20-22 Bath
Bath have selected a strong squad and I think targetting Kearney will eventually pay off after some tough games for him. Quins keep it close with the up front battle but think Priestland will need a bit more confidence before coming straight back in.

Irish 22-25 Leicester
Two very strong and fresh teams here! The back row battle will be epic with the slight edge going to Irish. The Garvey-Kennedy partnership will see them home up front but I'd give the backs to Tigers apart from the centre partnership where I feel 13T could come unstuck against SBW.

Saints 9-6 Wasps
Both have picked players who've been in very physical games although I think they will be on a high so won't trouble it too much in the 1st half. In the 2nd half things may get a bit tired so I'm looking at a forwards battle here. I see front rows to Wasps, 2nd row to Saints and back row even. It's the impact from the bench that'll just edge it to Saints.

Sale 18-19 Sarries
Very close game to predict here. Think Sale will lead the back row with POM and Picamoles in good form. Sarries need FTD to be on form and I think that utilising the heavy centre partnership will see them through here. Hook needs a bit more form.

Glos 36-31 Exeter
Do like Driver's tactics of using the boot and keeping Gloucester back in their own 22, but the conditions are very much suited to the Gloucester backthree, Genia, Barnes etc and this is a really big factor and can see Gloucester having some fun out wide, especially with the pack Mat has put out. I do think Exeter are capabale of getting a big score themselves, espc with Slade playing at no10.

Quins 27-26 Bath
Really good game this, so many different and interesting battles on the pitch - Quins front five is really solid, possibly has the slight edge, but Bath backrow is awesome and will cause some massive problems. I like the balance of the Quins backline, and although Ainscombe is a top talent, he's up against Priestland, which is a big challenge. Home advantage and half backs just sways this (hard to judge Wigglesworth form against Dickson after his long injury).


Irish 26-24 Leicester
If the rain had come down then I'd have given this game to Leicester, but conditions are more suited to the home team today, who I think are slightly more set up to play a more expansive style. I like the Hernandez/SBW combination, espc with Smith at 13, one of the best midfields in the game. When the Tiger bench gets unloaded this game is going to go down to the wire!

Sale 31-31 Sarries
Really close game here, both teams are set up and will offer some very different attacking options - think the forward battle is very close and hard to give either a big advantage one way or the other, both teams coming off a week and a bits rest, so no fatigue issues - for me the game comes down to whether Sale can stop the Sarries midfield getting over the gainline, and whether they can get their 10-12 moving the ball out quick enough to get around Nonu and Davies defence. Can see Sarries midfield causing trouble for 80mins, but with exception of Visser I dont see who can take advanatge of the line breaks in the Sarries backthree - do like the attacking options for Sale outwide - so going for a really enjoyable high-scoring draw, as both teams offer such different attacking games.

Worcester 19 - 23 Newcastle
That is some Newcastle team, think there is too much power in the pack and they will be very well controlled by Youngs and Flood and the backline is very good. I do see the Worcester pack being very competitive, especially when they can bring on Jones and Morgan in the second half and can see them really getting back into the game and causing Newcastle some issues there - but Newcastle too strong overall and get the away win.

Sale 23 - 23 Saracens

I think both TH's will struggle in this game and this will lead to the scrum's not providing stable ball for the backs. Lineouts pretty even so not much give in the set piece. I prefer the Sale back row but I prefer the Saracens half backs and midfield. Back 3's are pretty even. Gone through the tactics with a toothcomb to try and find poor tactical points but I can't find any so sadly can't seperate the game

London Irish 32 - 27 Leicester Tigers

Packs are pretty even with perhaps the slight edge to Irish. Really like the mobility of the Irish back 5 in the scrum and think they will be a huge presence in the loose. Irish backline is irresistable and will score tries. I think Irish are just stronger across the board here and get a great win.

Gloucester 34 - 27 Exeter

Typical Gloucester side here. They will but tough and aggressive up front and have pace outwide and they are looking very good for the run in. Exeter aren't weak at all but they just don't have the same level of player as Gloucester have here.

Northampton 25 - 24 Wasps

A good battle. The midfields in particular should be a ding dong battle with some enormous hits going in. Packs are pretty even across the board with perhaps a slight advantage to Wasps. Half backs go to Saints as do the outside backs (just).

Worcester 15 - 22 Newcastle

Falcons very strong here and have that little bit more across the park except perhaps the lineout where I can see a bit of joy for Worcester. Pooly has a had a couple of small injuries to the likes of POC and Flood at a good time so they are fresh when the might usually have been out of action.

Sale v Saracens - Don't see either side getting a huge advantage upfront, some good match ups and can see both sides winning some penalties. Slight edge to the Sarries French combo but Care and Cruden has a little more flair. Nonu and Davies are both threats for Sarries but Hook and Freuan can defend it well. Slight lack of spark in Sarries back 3 but Visser is a scoring machine who runs hard. Close game here, home advantage helps Sale, slight egde to Sarries but they wont dominate upfront enough to win.
22-22

Quins v Bath - Can see both looseheads being got at by their opponent in the scrum. Fluteys lack of form at 12 wont help Priestland out but Dickson can control the tempo well. Young Anscombe is a talent but will be tested here. Think Baths backs are great in attack but could be got at defensively. Some good running threats in Quins backline and they have enough to sneak a home win.
24-23

Glos v Chiefs - Glos on a roll right now and will be hard to stop. They have the pack to get on the front foot and the backs to score tries. Not massive fan of Donald, especially as captain! but Barnes will help him and pace outwide is immense for Glos. Chiefs have a good scrapping side but too much class for home side.
32-25

Saints v Wasps - Wasps strong in the scrum but Saints front row offers more in the loose. Think the locks and backrow is a little stronger from the home side but dont like Kankowski at 6. Roberts/Mortlock will run hard and cause Saints problems but their centres are powerful and can do damage of their own. Little bit more in the backs for Saints and at home sees them home.
27-24

Worc v Falcons - Similar to Glos game, Falcons on form and have too much all over. They will get on the front foot, which is what Youngs and Flood need, and they can unleash their backline to dangerous affect.
19-24

Sale 20-22 Sarries
Do think Sarries have the slight edge here which negates home advantage.

Irish 24-23 Tigers
Slight edge to Irish in the forwards and the backs have eenough to see it through

Glos 31-26 Exeter
Deadly backs I think will hurt Exeter

Saints 18-16 Wasps
Think Saints will use the win in the Amlin to push on.

Warriors 20-24 Falcons
Newcastle have too much although having Morgan on the bench is scary

Harlequins 26 Bath Rugby 25
London Irish 27 Leicester Tigers 26
Gloucester 30 Exeter Chiefs 26
Northampton Saints 25 London Wasps 22
Worcester Warriors 19 Newcastle Falcons 23

quins 29 Bath 27
London Irish 27 Leicester 24
Northampton 28 wasps 21
Sale 20 Saracens 20
Worcester 20 Falcons 27

Quins 23-17 Bath

Slight edge in the front 5 to Quins. Bath with a bit more quality in the back row on paper but Lobbe hard to rate levels it out. Halfbacks are a step up to Quins though with Wiggles again very hard to rate. Flutey another hard to rate in the backs but both sides have plenty of quality. Quins edge the pack overall and stronger at halfback get a good home win


Irish 26-21 Tigers

Tiny bit more for Irish in the front 5. Great backrow battle on show. Halfbacks 1 a piece but Irish are a step up in midfield with a great unit. Tight one here with the sides mostly even but Irish will get a lot more out of midfield and win at home.


Gloucester 29-23 Exeter

Glaws can get on top at the scrum here but the backrow battle will be evenly fought. Bit more in the backs overall for Glaws. Gloucester with a bit more all round and at Kingsholm keep the momentum going.


Saints 22-22 Wasps

Wasps can get a real edge at the scrum here for me. Very similar engine rooms on show but Saints with a bit more quality. Back rows are fairly even. Saints with a tad more quality on show but don’t rate Kanks at 6. The backs are fairly even overall. Saints with a bit more in the back 3 maybe but not sure either back 3 will see a lot of ball with the midfields on show. Very tight affair on show and can’t see either side getting on top long enough to take it.


Worcester 19-26 Falcons

Bit more quality for Falcons throughout the pack but back row isn’t particularly well balanced. Again bit more for Newcastle across the backline and they should see a good win.

Harlequins 29Bath Rugby 25 tough game. Quins half backs offer more. Hard to rate wiggles who at best is average but out for so long

London Irish 27 Leicester Tigers 26 Irish midfield wins this game great blend pretty even elsewhere. Conrad smith comfortably best 13 around now Fourie is in Japan
Sale 23 Saracens 23 sarries have enough here to give sale a fright.
Love the sale backrow in these conditions very athletic although lacking brains. Sarries unlucky FTD is misfiring. Can see sarries making lots of chances but not having enough to finish off out wide.
Northampton Saints 25 London Wasps 22 home advantage and just a bit too much
Worcester Warriors 19 Newcastle Falcons 23 a real battle but falcons quality will out. Very unbalanced Newcastle backrow will see them make a meal
Of it and intro of Worcester subs will make a difference. Think falcons a much better side with Evans playing. Flood not played much recently. Joc and Fourie would be some partnership although not sure how to rate players playing in Japan. Playing at such a low level must affect players ???


 

Quins 28 - 25 Bath
London Irish 26 - 24 Leicester Tigers
Sale 22 - 21 Saracens
Worcester 20 - 23 Newcastle
Glocuester 25 - 20 Exeter

Worcester playing twice this week Arry? lol

Sorry mate was in a rush as usual!

Playing rugby today like?

Nope not today mate, I'll be sat with a few tinnies watching the football

Your maturing well young Arry

Sale 24-22 Saracens

Sarries push them all the way but Sale edge pack, esp backrow and give backs better ball.

Quins 24-23 Bath

Another tight one, Bath backs will push hard but Quins tough at home.

London Irish 30-28 Tigers

Strong Irish side win a bit to spare, good game.

Gloucester 27-20 Exeter

Gloucester stronger most areas except engine room. Slight form issues for home side but too much quality.

Saints 26-23 Wasps

Saints coming into form in a tight one.Wasps compete in pack but home advantage sees win.

Sale 21 - 21 Saracens

Tough to call front row, Sarries better on paper, but Beast not playing negates it a bit. Maybe slight edge to Sale in the back 5 but two excellent units on show. Still give the edge to Sarries in the HB's, and and in the centres, but not a massive gap. Arguably Sarries take the back three. I think Sale have more in the pack, and Sarries more in the backs. Sorry to sit on the fence.



Harlequins 32 - 30 Bath

Edge to Quins in the front row, but think the second rows are about even. Similar story in the back rows - Louw probably the standout right now. I think the game will be won in the HB's with Quins on top here. Two really dangerous back divisions with tries a plenty. Quins just enough at home.



Gloucester 28 - 18 Exeter

Edge to the home side in the scrum, with Mas getting at Crockett in particular. Slightly stronger 2nd row from Gloucester, and taking the back row too with a stronger unit. Better control at HB for the home side, and the home side looking more dangerous with ball in hand. Dominance in most areas sees a strong win.



Saints 25 - 21 Wasps

Advantage Wasps in the front row for me, but Saints take the second row, although Mafi's form means not by much. Not sure on Kank at 6, see the back row battle as quite even. Saints take the HB's, and the centre battle is a real war, tough to call. Edge to the home side in the back three. Saints slightly stronger and at home too.



Worcester 20 - 25 Newcastle

Falcons take the scrum battle, and the second rows too with more quality. Great back row battle with 2 good units, Brown off form and Worcester some good form. Bit more about Falcons in the HB's, and beyond there Falcons with more quality. Falcons have too much all over here, and a good away win for them.

Sale v Sarries this week is the toughest game I've ever had to predict on and looks like other people had the same problem.

Same here Steven. Could not separate them. Had sarries as a better team with more guile but not the ability to finish sale off. Home advantage is always worth a bit.

Just got in, and will knock the results up shortly. Thought my game would be close, think it's a draw with a quick scan through, although it may be that SJE has won it by 1 point.

Results

Sale Sharks 24 Saracens 24
Harlequins 35 Bath Rugby 25
London Irish 36 Leicester Tigers 26
Gloucester 40 Exeter Chiefs 24
Northampton Saints 32 London Wasps 20
Worcester Warriors 19 Newcastle Falcons 34

No bonus point again

Sale Sharks 24 Saracens 24
Tries: Abendanon, Freuan : Mtwarira, Goode
Cons: Cruden : Parra
Pens: Cruden 4 : Parra 4

Harlequins 35 Bath Rugby 25
Tries: Henry, Thion, Aguero, Afoa, Jones : Ward, Toeava, Guest
Cons: Priestland 5 : Anscombe 2
Pens: : Anscombe 2

London Irish 36 Leicester Tigers 26
Tries: Garvey, Hernandez, Tagicakibau 2, Daniel : Jane, Horwill
Cons: Pienaar : Yachvilli 2
Pens: Pienaar 3 : Yachvilli 4

Gloucester 40 Exeter Chiefs 24
Tries: Dagg, Alberts, Simpson-Daniel, Goosen : Pisi 2, Mears
Cons: Donald 2, Goosen 2 : Slade 3
Pens: Donald 4 : Slade

Northampton Saints 32 London Wasps 20
Tries: Giteau, Sivivatu, Webber, Albacete : Roberts, Brown
Cons: Halfpenny 3 : Myler 2
Pens: Halfpenny 2 : Myler 2

Worcester Warriors 19 Newcastle Falcons 34
Tries: Gorgodze : Flood, O’Connor 2, Bowe
Cons: Heathcote : Flood 4
Pens: Heathcote 4 : Flood 2

Can't wait for the new points system next season!!

Will make games a lot closer.