Fantasy Aviva Premiership Round Five

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Bath Rugby vs. Sale Sharks
Cloudy, 14 degress, 11mph winds.

Bath Rugby
Manager – inthefastlane

01. Cian Healy	09. Richard Wigglesworth
02. Chris Brooker	10. David Skrela
03. Davit Kubrashvilli
04. Jarrad Hoeata	11. Stuart Hogg
05. Graham Kitchener	12. Anthony Allen
06. James Haskell	13. Aurelien Rougerie
07. David Pocock	14. George North
08. Tom Guest	15. Rob Miller

16. Kane Palmer Newport 17. Will Tanner 18. Jon Golding 19. Tom Donnelly 20. Akapusi Qera 21. Fourie Du Preez 22. Maxime Medard 23. Michael Harris

Overall: Look to dominate in the scrum and use that as a platform to really bring our backs in who will be looking to run at the defence with bad intentions.

Forwards: We will really look to attack and come out on top of the scrum. We have two of the best props in Europe in Kubrashvilli and Healy and we feel we can really punish the Sale scrum, pushing them backwards. Look for Kubrashvilli to really put pressure on Schuster. With our second row partnership we are looking at Jarrad Hoeata to provide the grunt necessary and offering the banker ball while Graham Kitchener will be trying to retain our lineout something we feel he is very capable of doing.

We will be looking for big carries from the forwards with the likes of Guest, Haskell and Healy dangerous runners who can really create gaps for our backs. We will be looking for lots of energy from our forwards to open up holes to be exploited. Our carrying is somewhere we feel we have a distinct advantage and we will look to target the often suspect defence of James Hook. At the breakdown we will look for David Pocock and James Haskell to win turnover ball or manage to slow down opposition ball by going through opponents. They will both be looking to cause as much trouble as possible.

Backs: We will be looking to play running rugby with the ball in our hands. Using our forwards to create space we will look for quick ball and get the likes of Miller, Hogg and North who are all deadly runners, running at the Sale defences. Wigglesworth will control the tempo of the backs and will look to keep the backs calm and composed. We will look to get Allen + Rougerie involved in the game as much as possible. With Miller + Skrela we have a very good kicking game which we will use if we feel necessary to put the ball behind the Sale back three.

Defence: Look to wrap the defensive line and stop them running in from deep. Look to not let Piccles and other carriers get a head of steam.

Substitutes: We have some really good options on the bench who we feel can really add to the game. Golding and Palmer Newport can come in and help strengthen our front row. Donnelly will look to come on and shore up the lineout. Akapusi Qera is a quality player who can really cause trouble around the park. FDP will look to control our tempo late in the game. Harris is another option who can come on and use his boot effectively to put the ball in good positions. Maxime Medard has a little spark that we can potentially use late.


Sale Sharks
Manager – SJE

01. Jerome Schuster	09. Danny Care
02. David Paice	10. Johnny Sexton
03. Luc Ducalcon
04. Stephen Sykes	11. Keith Earls
05. Christian Day	12. James Hook
06. Peter O'Mahony	13. Robbie Freuen
07. Fulgence Quedragao	14. David Strettle
08. Louis Picamoles	15. Nick Abendanon

16. Lee Imolek 17. Darren Dawdiuk 18. Davit Zirakishvilli 19. Dave Attwood 20. Alex Tulou 21. Ben Spencer 22. Yann David 23. Kyle Eastmond

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Key Points

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Attack The Lineout

• With only Kitchner as a recognised jumper on show we feel we can really get at Bath here with the likes of Sykes, Day, POM & Quedragao attacking Brookers throw.

Attack The Scrum

• We have gone with 2 powerful scrummagers at prop and will look to attack the Bath front 5 at scrum time. 4 of the Bath front 5 have started all 5 league games and they must surely be feeling the effects now. We will look to really turn the screw here as the benches come into play.

Nullifying The Pocock Effect

• We have selected two specialists at the breakdown to compete here today. On offense we will follow the All Black playbook looking to target our runners at Pocock and trap him at the base of the ruck.

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Game Plan

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Attack

• We will look to play a fast paced attacking game using big carriers running of the 9/10/12 axis to get us over the gain line and generate quick ball.

• Keeping the ball alive is crucial so our carriers will be looking for support runners to hit on the offload to keep the ball moving and get us further over the gain line.

• Our back three will look to get involved as much as possible running support lines off the halfbacks and midfield looking for the inside ball or offload.

• If for whatever reason we aren’t getting quick ball, we will look to take control of territory with the boots of Sexton & Hook and force Bath to come at us from deep.

Set Piece

• With a powerful front 5 on show we will look to keep the scrum up and use it as a weapon. On our own feed we will look to get the wheel on and give our 8-9-10 axis as much room as possible to attack from.

• In Bath territory, with 5 jumping options to use, we will look to play off the top and move the ball out to Sexton and the backs.

• In our own territory, we will look to take the ball down into the maul and drive ourselves into the right areas.

Defense

• We will look to blitz aggressively, playing on the edge of the offside line and coming up at pace, looking to isolate the ball carrier and stop any opposition momentum before it can get going.

• Danny Care will play sweeper and cover any chips or grubbers behind the defensive line.

• We will leave two players sitting deep to cover any kicks and they will look to counter attack of any loose kicks.

Breakdown

• With the blitz in operation, we will look to be at the breakdown first hitting it hard and fast. If the ball looks available we will flood the breakdown with POM and Quedragao looking to get their hands on the ball.

• If the ball is not immediately available we will only commit 1 or 2 players to legally slow the ball down and instead look to strengthen the defensive line.

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Harlequins vs. Saracens
Sunny Intervals, 15 degrees, 9mph winds.

Harlequins
Manager – Steven_Sharks

01. Joe Marler	09. Karl Dickson
02. Schalk Brits	10. Felipe Contepomi (k)
03. John Afoa
04. Bakkies Botha	11. Tom Biggs
05. Jerome Thion	12. Jamie Roberts
06. Tom Wood	13. Jonathan Joseph
07. Sam Warburton (c)	14. Taku Ngwenya
08. Nick Easter	15. Luke Morahan

16. Matthew Rees 17. Mako Vunipola 18 Kieran Brookes 19. Steve Borthwick 20. Carl Fearns 21. Lee Dickson 22. Greig Laidlaw 23. Andre Taylor

Tactics

Game Plan

Look to play at a quick tempo by using strong carries, offloads and effective rucking from our players. We are going to look to hold on to possession rather than kick it away. This will tire Saracens and should create gaps for our outside backs to exploit. Get our forwards carrying off 9 and 10 and looking to win the collisions and keep the legs pumping in contact to set a target for our forwards to hit to get us quick ball for Dickson and Contepomi to use.

We will be looking for our big carriers (Easter, Roberts, Botha, Brits, Thion, Marler, Afoa) to punch holes and allow us to go wide where out outside backs and flankers will be looking to cause damage with ball in hand.

Forwards

Pack is absolutely full of carriers and this is part of our plan. With the whole team capable of making yards we expect to be able to play some good attacking rugby. We want our forwards to ruck hard and ruck past the ball. We expect our carriers to carry in numbers, aim to win the collisions and then look to keep legs pumping after contact. We will look for the offload if it is on. At the setpiece we will look to really put the pressure on a scrum time and vary our lineout with Wood, Thion and Botha as key jumpers.

Backs

Look to attack spaces and gaps. Pace to burn outwide and will look for Dickson, Contepomi, Roberts and JJ to create the spaces for Ngwenya, Biggs and Morahan to exploit. Dickson will look to snipe all game and Contepomi will control the tempo of the game and we think the right pair to control the game,

Defence

Quick linespeed and aggression in the tackle. Look to double up when we can with on taking legs and the other looking to get hands on the ball. Warburton to look to control the breakdown with the help of Tom Wood and Schalk Brits.


Saracens
Manager – Driver

01.Matt Mullen	09.Jean-Marc Doussain
02.George Chuter	10.Francois Trinh-Duc (K)
03.Craig Mitchell
04.Lionel Nallet	11.Tim Visser
05.Ali Williams	12.Yannick Jauzion
06.Phil Dowson	13.Chris Bell
07.Ross Rennie	14.Mark Cueto
08.Joe Van Nikirk(c)	15.Rory Lamount

16.John Smit 17.Max Lahiff 18.Phil Swainstone 18.Tim Swinson 19.Luke Narraway 20.Paul Hodgson 21.Paddy Jackson 22.Adam Thompstone

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Leicester Tigers vs. Newcastle Falcons
Cloudy, 14 degrees, 9mph winds.

Leicester Tigers
Manager – LukeLovesLuka

01. Andrew Sheridan	09. Dimitri Yachvili
02. Stephen Moore	10. Jonny Wilkinson (k)
03. Dan Cole
04. Pascal Pape	11. Ugo Monye
05. James Horwill (c)	12. Billy Twelvetrees
06. Sean O'Brien	13. Brian O'Driscoll
07. James Scaysbrook	14. Vincent Clerc
08. Ernst Joubert	15. Isa Nacewa

16. Gethin Jenkins 17. Tom Youngs 18. Brian Mujati 19. Simon Shaw 20. Tom Croft 21. Michael Claasens 22. Dominic Waldouck 23. Rene Ranger

Tactics:

We will play to our strengths and play a game built around our intelligent HB's controlling the game, the strength in our set piece and our huge line breakers.

- Ability to play in different ways - we're not here to kick the ball away. We have the personnel in our side to play a mixture of different styles, and we will play the game as we see it.

- Attack at all scrums - Cole and Sheridan to look to really get the shove on against Tonga and Ric. Jenkins and Mujati to attack Wislon and Waller in the second half too.

- Attack at all lineouts. Our lineout is led by Horwill, using Joubert as our banker ball, Pape, SOB and Scaysbrook as our other options. Croft to join the action in the 2nd half to be our banker ball.

- Use massive line-breakers in the tight to tire down the Newcastle defence. The likes of SOB, Scaysbrook, Joubert, Moore, Pape and Horwill used off the shoulder at pace of 9/10 crashing through the Newcastle defence.

- Scaysbrook is the man charged with reaching the breakdown first and look to turnover possession. We will always look to attack quickly off turnover ball. With Scaysbrook, SOB, Cole and Moore, we feel our breakdown play will be crucial today.

- In general attacking play, we will play off 9 with Yachvili our general pulling the strings. We want Yach and Wilko to control the game, mixing up the point of our attack and looking for where the gaps are. We want 12T and BOD on the ball looking to send our back three into space.

- We will look to employ a blitz defence, focusing on a quick line speed to hit the ball carrier before he gets to the gainline. We have aggressive forwards to carry out this instruction.

- Unload our powerful bench to impact the game in the second half.

- Wilkinson to kick all penalites.


Key Points:

Home Advantage
Our home record is sensational, and we always feel we will win games at Welford Road. We feel we have the players to control the game, and in front of our own fans, Welford Road is a fortress.

Freshness in pack
We have brought in Sheridan, Moore and Scaysbrook to give us fresh impetous in the pack. First game of the season for these three and we will look to them to really go hard from the off.

Control at 8, 9, 10
With the have huge amounts of experience we have in these key rolls, we aim to really control the game from the first whistle to the last. Joubert to control the base of the scrum, and in Yach and Wilko to control the tempo of the game and where the game is played on the pitch.


Newcastle Falcons
Manager – Sgt Pooly

01. Soane Tonga’uiha	09. Luke Burgess
02. Rory Best	10. Toby Flood
03. Clement Ric
04. Brad Thorn	11. Miles Benjamin
05. Geoff Parling	12. Sonny Bill-Williams
06. Chris Robshaw	13. George Lowe
07. Heinrich Brussow	14. Alex Cuthbert
08. Toby Faletau	15. James O’Connor

16. Lee Mears 17. Scott Wilson 18. Alex Waller 19. Paul O’Connell 20. Kelly Brown 21. Ben Youngs 22. Ben Williams 23. Tommy Bowe

Tactics

HIGH TEMPO, POSSESION, BIG CARRIES.....GAME CHANGERS IN BACKLINE IN JOC, BURGESS, SBW

Game plan...Fast paced, high intensity, offloading, dynamic rugby. We’ll look to hit the ground running and hit the opposition fast from the off. We’ll be aiming to control possession and go through the phases. Flood will play flat and look to get our backline into the game whenever possible and keep the high tempo going throughout.

Set piece:

In the decent conditions look to get the ball in and out for Burgess/Flood to attack with. Look for fast ball off the top of the lineout with Parling making the calls. If weakness seen in either set piece we’ll look to exploit.

Pack & Breakdown:

Look for strong carries from our pack, tying in the opposition forwards. We’ll be looking to keep the ball alive and look for the offload when on. Our backrow will target the breakdown and look to get in a second tackler to tie up the opposition carriers. Burgess will wait for the call and look to sweep up any turnover ball getting us on the front foot.

DEFENCE:

Look to neutralise the opposition early on and allow out backrow to dominate affairs. Thorn/Tonga/Ric in particular will look to hit the ruck hard and remove attempted turnovers from the equation allowing us to ruck over the ball and control the breakdown. Robshaw will look to target the opposition fly half early on and pressure his kicking. Burgess to sweep in behind the defensive line.

Backs:

Basically get the backs into play whenever possible with Flood & JOC the spark. JOC will come into the line and offer 2nd playmaking option with SBW offering go to ball and decoy. Look to get JOC & Cuthbert into the game whenever possible. Burgess to play on instinct around the fringes and look to get JOC in to release to use his gas through the middle.


POINTS:

LINEOUT - Cut Tigers kicking options out by targeting lineout and dominating with Parling & POC
PHYSICAL PACK – Win the collosion and target rucks to drive through opposition
BREAKDOWN – Brussow/Robshaw to work their magic and Burgess to monitor to attack on turnover ball
BACK 3 - With Yach & Wilko looking to kick we'll look to break on the counter with JOC/Cuthbert running the ball back
ROLLING MAUL – With our big front 5 look to get the rolling maul going off selected lineouts and eat up the ground

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London Welsh vs. Gloucester
Cloudy, 14 degrees, 10mph winds.

London Welsh
Manager – Ozzy3213

01. Alex Corbisiero	09. Morgan Parra
02. Bismarck du Plessis	10. Owen Farrell
03. Adam Jones
04. Nathan Hines	11. Christian Wade
05. George Skivington	12. Jonathan Davies
06. Kevin McLaughlin	13. Darren Cave
07. Thierry Dusautoir ©	14. Matt Jess
08. Sione Kalamafoni	15. Louis Ludik

16. Chris Whitehead 17. Brett Sturgess 18. David Wilson 19. James Hanks 20. Ofisa Treviranus 21. Charlie Davies 22. Butch James 23. Ross Chisholm

Tactics

Basic Game Plan

Basic tactical premise for us to control possession and be solid defensively. Focus will be on winning the gainline collisons in both attack and defence. In order to do this we have picked a very big pack to try to physically dominate this area of the game. We will look to apply pressure to Gloucester by keeping the ball for long periods and wearing them down defensively, and also by maintaining a solid defence and denying them opportunities to get on the score board. Pressure forces mistakes, and we will look to capitalise on any that Gloucester make.

Attacking specifics

• Play off 9. Parra to be key decision maker in the backs.
  
• Big carriers to run hard and staright in midfield off early phase ball, particularly attacking the 10 channel to suck defenders in and create space out wide for Wade, Jess and Ludik.
  
• Carriers to look to hit gaps rather than defenders and keep the ball alive by offloading to support runners. We want to play at pace and force them to scramble in defence and this means ensuring as few rucks as possible by playing the offloading game.
  
• Support runners to ruck past the ball quickly if the carrier goes to ground in order to secure quick ball to go again.
  
• All opportunities for points with the boot to be taken by Parra (penalties or drop goals).
  
• If at any time we feel that we are in danger of conceding a turnover then Parra or Farrell will use their boot to kick for touch deep in Gloucester territory.
  

Defensive specifics

• Darren Cave will be defensive captain.
  
• We will look to play a blitz defence with quick line speed to hit the ball carrier before he gets to the gainline and knock him back even further. Parra will sweep in behind.
  
• We will not overcommit to the breakdown. If a turnover is on, we will go for it, otherwise we will legally slow the ball and maintain a solid defensive line to blitz from.
  
• Maintain discipline and do not give away penalties.
  

Key Points

• Gloucesters key tactics revolve around dominating physically up front, where they will look to win the collisions and dominating the lineout. You can check if you want to, but in the pack every one of our players is heavier than their direct opponent, and will not be dominated physically. We have also brought in Kevin McLaughlin to strengthen our lineout and deny Gloucester dominance there.
  
• Home advantage has to count for a few points surely.
  
• If we can get at Lamb defensively his attacking game is very likely to go awry as well handing us the advantage in the game. We will be targeting this from the outset.
  
• We are solid defensively in midfield with real attacking threat out wide (Jess is the leading scorer in the AP and Wade has 3 in 4 games for Wasps)
  
• We have no traditional fetcher, but with BdP in the side the balance of our pack is good as he is better at the breakdown than most opensides.
  

Gloucester
Manager – Mat

01. Guthro Steenkamp	09. Will Genia
02. Joe Grey	10. Ryan Lamb(k)
03. Nicola Mas
04. Julien Pierre	11. James Simpson-Daniel
05. George Robson	12. Matt Scott
06. CJ Stander	13. Richard Kahui
07. Alexandre Lapandry	14. Zac Guildford
08. Immanol Harinordoqouy	15. Iain Balshaw

16. Nick Wood17. Deon Fourie 18 Rupert Harden 19. Tom Palmer 20. Jamie Heaslip 21. Dan Robson 22. Rob Horne 23. Charlie Sharples


Tactics

We will play heads up rugby and look to play an expansive game based around attacking and scoring tries. However when needed we can keep it tight and will only look to play when we have the right to

ATTACK ALL SCRUMS- We have 2 world class props and the form hooker in the AP backed up by Pierre and Robson it makes a dynamic unit

USE LINEOUT DOMINANCE- we have Pierre, Robson, Hari, CJ and Lapandry which is a frightening line up of lineout forwards. We will use this to win good quality ball whilst also using it to poach theirs or pressure the lineout. Initially we will look to use the rolling maul but as we look to get more expansive we will be using off the top to go wide


USE OUR BIG BALL CARRIERS- Pierre, CJ, Heaslip, Robson, Grey, Steenkamp will all be carrying aggressively and looking to get us on the front foot and win the collisions. this will enable us produce quick ball to go wide and score tries. Genia will also be looking to pick up from any break and get on the shoulders and utilise his abilities to catch packs napping

PUT NUMBERS INTO THE BREAKDOWN- We have a seriously mobile pack and will be looking to send numbers in to slow welsh ball and also too steal some great turnover ball.

Generally attacking wise Genia will be our leader he will be organising the pack and will be making sure Lamb gets high quality ball.

We will employ a blitz defence with Genia sweeping in behind

[b]WE WILL USE OUR IMPACT BENCH- it is packed with quality and will take the game away


KEY POINTS

COHESIVE TEAM- we have been playing together for years and have established settled team
LINEOUT DOMINATION- We have serious options and will look to starve Sarries
PACK MOBILITY
TRY SCORING BACKS and SERIOUS IMPACT BENCH- we are looking to score tries galore and have pace and trickery to burn

CONTROL FROM 8 and 9- they will dictate tempo

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Northampton Saints vs. London Wasps
Cloudy, 14 degrees, 11mph winds.

Northampton Saints
Manager – Dammit Chris

01. Sona Taumalolo	09 Joe Simpson
02. Dylan Hartley	10.Matt Giteau
03. Carl Hayman
04. Courtney Lawes	11. Siti Siviatu
05. Joe Launchbury	12. Ashley Beck
06. Julian Bonnaire	13. Manu Tuilagi
07. Julian Salvi	14. Chris Ashton
08. Sergio Parisse (c)	15. Leigh Halfpenny (k)

16. Rob Webber 17. Logovi'i Mulipola 18. Henry Thomas 19. Alun Wyn Jones 20. Dan Lydiate 21. Mike Phillips 22. George Ford 23. Ben Foden

Tactics

Overview - To play a game based on power, speed, pressure and aggression. To use the extra physicality and ball carrying power of our pack to gain an advantage for open play and look to get over the gainline and create gaps for our backline to exploit, aiming to outscore Wasps on the try front and for Halfpenny to nail all his shots at goal. Aggressive defence and will look to target the breakdown for turnover ball to attack with.

Pack/SetPiece

- very strong front row with each starting player on very good form, aim to use the scrum as a platform for attacking and to place Wasps under pressure.

- use Bonnaire's lineout skills to get quick ball and get fast attacks and to match the threat of Wentzel.

- Salvi is a key figure at the breakdown&will have to be at his best to battle Poff. Will be supported by a quick pack with Lawes and Launchbury looking to clear out any Wasps players to free Salvi to target the ball.

- if the ball is there to be won at the breakdown we will put numbers in and get the fast ball to launch attacks from. Use extra physicality to get advantage here.

Attack -

- feel we have a very strong pack that has more physicality and ball carriers than Wasps, so should see more ball to attack with and have the option to go route one with the forwards - will aim to get Taumalolo, Lawes, Launchbury and Parisse on the ball as much as we can early on and set the game up as a really physical confrontation.

- aware that the Wasps backline is good defensively, so Simpson's snipes will play a big role, as well as working through the phases and tyring to suck the Wasps backs out of position. Tuilagi and Siviatu to be used to punch holes and then get the ball to Ashton and Halfpenny.

- mix up the attack and look to attack Wasps at pace where we have an advantage in both pack and backline. Will look to score tries and play an offloading game to create gaps.

Defence -

- aggressive defence that is led by Lawes and Launchbury in the forwards who are there to force Wasps into mistakes and allow us to counter attack.

- will implement a blitz defence, with Tuilagi looking to marshall Pisi and keep the main Wasps playmaker out of the game.

Key points -

- strong pack to play our gameplan and put Wasps under pressure, big ball carriers to get us over the gainline and open up gaps for the backs.

- look to play a more physical game than Wasps are used to, aggressive defence to force mistakes and turnovers.

- strong bench to come on in the final 30minutes

- great form in real life - Hartley, Launchbury, Bonnaire, Parisse, Giteau, Tuilagi and all back three.


London Wasps
Manager – ‘Arry

01. Ben Daley	09. Mike Blair
02. Sean Cronin	10. Stephen Jones (k)
03. Carlos Nieto
04. Mouritz Botha	11. Matt Banahan
05. Marco Wentzel (c)	12. Brad Barritt
06. Steve Mafi	13. George Pisi
07. Jonathan Poff	14. Tom Varndell
08. Ben Mowen	15. Mike Brown

16. Nathan Morris 17. Charlie Beech 18. Shaun Knight 19. Dan Tuohy 20. Dewald Potgieter 21. Haydn Thomas 22. Rhys Preistland 23. Jamie Elliott

Tactics
We will look to play at a high tempo with pace and intensity. Our forwards will look to carry hard, attacking gaps in the Northampton Saints defensive line, getting us over the gain line and onto the front foot. We will ensure our carriers have plenty of support to offload to, so we can continue our attacks.

We will look to recycle the ball quickly by getting good numbers to the breakdown, with the first few players rucking past the ball to clear out the Saints players, allowing Blair to get quick, clean ball for us to get out wide and attack the space on offer. We will look to create mismatches in midfield and will target the outside shoulder of the Saints players.

Line speed and aggression is key for us in defence, we will try and prevent Saints from having time on the ball by having quick line speed and tackling their carriers before they reach the gain line, knocking them back and forcing them into mistakes, where we can exert pressure and try and get turnovers.

Stephen Jones will look to kick in behind the Saints wingers and put us deep into their territory where we will look to really pressurize and go after their lineout. Wentzel will be our main go to man, we will also look to use Mafi and Mowen at the tail of the lineout where we can launch attacks from and get our big centers running at Matt Giteau, whom our back row will look to be in the face of all game.

With the ball in hand, we will look to win the collisions and get our offloading game going. Barritt will look to take the contact and give us line breaking options with Pisi running good outside lines, we will attack gaps and half gaps in the Saints defensive line. We will use Banahan as another crash ball option, coming in off his wing, looking to suck in Saints defenders before spreading the ball and making use of the space.

At the scrum, on our own ball, we will look to turn the scrum legally to erase the Saints back row from helping out in defence before starting our own attacks. We will look to control possession and be patient, recycling the ball through several phases with Blair and Jones controlling our play. We aim to move the ball around, changing the point of attack to tire out the Saints pack.

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Worcester Warriors vs. London Irish
Cloudy, 14 degrees, 8mph winds.

Worcester Warriors
Manager - prop_lyd

01. Paul James	09. Eion Reddan
02. Gary Botha	10. Tom Heathcote
03. BJ Botha
04. Jim Hamilton (c)	11. Sean Maitland
05. Luke Charteris	12. Olly Barkley (k)
06. Mamuka Gorgodze	13. Matt Hopper
07. Justin Tipuric	14. James Short
08. Ben Morgan	15. Rob Cook

16. Richardt Strauss 17. Nathan Catt 18 Chris Budgen 19. Ollie Kohn 20. Ryan Jones 21. Kerr Barlow 22. Julien Malzieu 23. Ollie Morgan
Tactics

Forwards

We have picked a strong front row who will look to edge up on the tightheads side to allow Morgan more time to pick from the base of the scrum.

A strong 2^nd row who will target the lineout and we will utilise the lineout as out main weapon of attack providing both quick ball and allow us to maul with a very heavy and efficient pack.

Back row again is strong and we will look to counter act the breakdown as well as picking up and keeping the game tight which is why we have picked the pack we have. Morgan and Gorgodze will look to run off of 12-13 to create the gaps for the wingers.


Backs

Both Heathcote and Barkley are there to clear our lines and put us down into opposition territory. This is where we will use our lineout force. However; Heathcote is an exciting runner and he will stand deep at times to create the space for our outside backs to hit the gaps.

Barkley will look for quick offloads to wingers or back row who will target the 9-10 channel to bring the ball back into our forwards. This should create overlaps and suck in the defence before quick ball out wide.

We have a very experienced back 3 who can all interchange if needs be. They will look to run as much ball as possible but not get isolated so we can keep to our gameplan.

After 30 minutes, if we are getting joy off 1^st phase ball we will continue to use it but; for the first 30minutes it will be the forwards ball unless something is on.

Barkley will take all kicks at goal he is confident in.


Defence

We will use a banana defence. People have picked up on our 10-12 defence so we will make sure we have one of our stronger pack members on their shoulders to assist in the tackle and look for quick turnover ball. Any turnovers will be punted off the pitch in the oppositions half unless a massive gap is obvious.

We will look to not commit too many at the breakdown so we can defend strongly from inside out and stop any gaps. If we see an available turnover we will take it but no silly penalties. Pressure will be put on their scrum half to use the ball quickly and put 10 under pressure.


Overall

Forward orientated play with experienced players. Backs to get us into good positions and only throw the ball about when it’s on, other than that our pack and strong pack bench will be controlling the game and rolling us towards the opposition’s tryline.

We are very fired up for this match and have a strong set of leaders in the squad who will look to get us the win and rattle the opposition. It’s time to make people take notice of the Warriors.


London Irish
Manager – stnick88

01. Jean Baptiste Poux	09. Julien Dupuy
02. Tom Lindsay	10. Nick Evans
03. Martin Castrogiovanni
04. Matt Garvey	11. Marland Yarde
05. Johann Muller	12. Sireli Naqalevuki
06. Keegan Daniel	13. Max Evans
07. Steffon Armitage	14. JP Pieterson
08. Pierre Spies	15. Delon Armitage

16. Matt Stevens 17. Motu Ma'tu 18. Grant Shiells 19. Stuart Hooper 20. Hendrie Fourie 21. Neal De Kock 22. Shane Geraghty 23. Sailosi Tagicakibau

London Irish have made two changes from last weeks impressive bonus point win over Bath, with hooker Tom Lindsay replacing James Buckland who drops out of the match day squad, and JP Pieterson coming in on the wing for Sailosi Tagicakibau. Youngster and Irish's top try scorer this season Marland Yarde keeps his place in the side and stnick believes on this form he is knocking on Stuart Lancasters door.

'Consistency is key, and we want to pick up where we left off last week. We played superbly and I want to see those levels of intensity for 80 minutes against a big, tough Warriors side. We have scored a lot of points this season and our pace is troubling teams. Marland has stood out for me in the backline, his workrate is superb and when he gets going he is not only a hard man to catch but a hard man to stop. If he keeps banging in the tries I'm sure he will feature for the Saxons and possibly even England before too long.'

Tactics

- Target the set piece, we will look to turn the screw at scrum time with two big scrummaging props. Any pens won will be kicked by Evans for goal if in range.
- Muller is our main go to guy at the lineout. He will also try to disrupt opposition ball. Spies, Garvey and Daniel are our other options to keep Worcester guessing. We will look for quick ball off the top to get the ball to Evans to release our quick backline.
- We are looking to attack and run all game long. Evans will manage from 10 and look to put our runners in gaps and get us in the right areas of the pitch. The forwards will make the hard yards and create as much space as possible to get the backs in.
- If for any reason our attacking play isnt working, we have Geraghty and Tagicakibau on the bench who can change the game and give us a different option in attack.
- With Armitage on such good form, we will look to target the breakdown and seek turnovers. We will look to get to the rucks fast, drive back any opposition and allow Armitage to go for the turnover. We will be careful about this though and not look to give away easy penalties.
- JP Pieterson will come off his wing and look to work off Naqa's shoulder. Naqa is very good at breaking through the first tackle and is a good offloader, so JP will look to track his runs and take any offloads.
- We will look to target Worcesters defence. The 10,12,13 channel is a new combo and we will look to get Naqa, Spies running at Barkley and Hopper and creating space.

---

Perfect conditions for the trip to Welsh. Will get my side in later.

Saracens release the team to play Harlequins.

Saracens
Manager – Driver

01.Matt Mullen	09.Jean-Marc Doussain
02.George Chuter	10.Francois Trinh-Duc (K)
03.Craig Mitchell
04.Lionel Nallet	11.Tim Visser
05.Ali Williams	12.Yannick Jauzion
06.Phil Dowson	13.Chris Bell
07.Ross Rennie	14.Mark Cueto
08.Joe Van Nikirk(c)	15.Rory Lamount

16.John Smit 17.Max Lahiff 18.Phil Swainstone 18.Tim Swinson 19.Luke Narraway 20.Paul Hodgson 21.Paddy Jackson 22.Adam Thompstone

Northampton Saints
Manager – Dammit Chris

01. Sona Taumalolo	09 Joe Simpson
02. Dylan Hartley	10.Matt Giteau
03. Carl Hayman
04. Courtney Lawes	11. Siti Siviatu
05. Joe Launchbury	12. Ashley Beck
06. Julian Bonnaire	13. Manu Tuilagi
07. Julian Salvi	14. Chris Ashton
08. Sergio Parisse (c)	15. Leigh Halfpenny (k)

Subs:

16. Rob Webber 17. Logovi'i Mulipola 18. Henry Thomas 19. Alun Wyn Jones 20. Dan Lydiate 21. Mike Phillips 22. George Ford 23. Ben Foden

Tactics

Overview - To play a game based on power, speed, pressure and aggression. To use the extra physicality and ball carrying power of our pack to gain an advantage for open play and look to get over the gainline and create gaps for our backline to exploit, aiming to outscore Wasps on the try front and for Halfpenny to nail all his shots at goal. Aggressive defence and will look to target the breakdown for turnover ball to attack with.

Pack/SetPiece

- very strong front row with each starting player on very good form, aim to use the scrum as a platform for attacking and to place Wasps under pressure.

- use Bonnaire's lineout skills to get quick ball and get fast attacks and to match the threat of Wentzel.

- Salvi is a key figure at the breakdown&will have to be at his best to battle Poff. Will be supported by a quick pack with Lawes and Launchbury looking to clear out any Wasps players to free Salvi to target the ball.

- if the ball is there to be won at the breakdown we will put numbers in and get the fast ball to launch attacks from. Use extra physicality to get advantage here.

Attack -

- feel we have a very strong pack that has more physicality and ball carriers than Wasps, so should see more ball to attack with and have the option to go route one with the forwards - will aim to get Taumalolo, Lawes, Launchbury and Parisse on the ball as much as we can early on and set the game up as a really physical confrontation.

- aware that the Wasps backline is good defensively, so Simpson's snipes will play a big role, as well as working through the phases and tyring to suck the Wasps backs out of position. Tuilagi and Siviatu to be used to punch holes and then get the ball to Ashton and Halfpenny.

- mix up the attack and look to attack Wasps at pace where we have an advantage in both pack and backline. Will look to score tries and play an offloading game to create gaps.

Defence -

- aggressive defence that is led by Lawes and Launchbury in the forwards who are there to force Wasps into mistakes and allow us to counter attack.

- will implement a blitz defence, with Tuilagi looking to marshall Pisi and keep the main Wasps playmaker out of the game.

Key points -

- strong pack to play our gameplan and put Wasps under pressure, big ball carriers to get us over the gainline and open up gaps for the backs.

- look to play a more physical game than Wasps are used to, aggressive defence to force mistakes and turnovers.

- strong bench to come on in the final 30minutes

- great form in real life - Hartley, Launchbury, Bonnaire, Parisse, Giteau, Tuilagi and all back three.

anonmattyt wrote:Perfect conditions for the trip to Welsh. Will get my side in later.

Conditions are set for an attacking game plan that's for sure. I don't suspect there will be many changes to my side from the one I put out last week.

Tough trip for Falcons this week....

Should be a good one Luke, wish it was at my place

One of the 100% records has got to go. I wonder what odds Paddy Power would give on the draw.

Haha....At least we're starting to get players back now

Lol.

Cracking game in prospect - might look to freshen things up a bit. Teams have had 4 gruelling games. Will likely get team up tomorrow afternoon.

Yea I was thinking of resting a few in the pack

Harlequins
Manager – Steven_Sharks

01. Joe Marler	09. Karl Dickson
02. Schalk Brits	10. Felipe Contepomi (k)
03. John Afoa
04. Bakkies Botha	11. Tom Biggs
05. Jerome Thion	12. Jamie Roberts
06. Tom Wood	13. Jonathan Joseph
07. Sam Warburton (c)	14. Taku Ngwenya
08. Nick Easter	15. Luke Morahan

16. Matthew Rees 17. Mako Vunipola 18 Kieran Brookes 19. Steve Borthwick 20. Carl Fearns 21. Lee Dickson 22. Greig Laidlaw 23. Andre Taylor

Tactics

Tactics

Game Plan

Look to play at a quick tempo by using strong carries, offloads and effective rucking from our players. We are going to look to hold on to possession rather than kick it away. This will tire Saracens and should create gaps for our outside backs to exploit. Get our forwards carrying off 9 and 10 and looking to win the collisions and keep the legs pumping in contact to set a target for our forwards to hit to get us quick ball for Dickson and Contepomi to use.

We will be looking for our big carriers (Easter, Roberts, Botha, Brits, Thion, Marler, Afoa) to punch holes and allow us to go wide where out outside backs and flankers will be looking to cause damage with ball in hand.

Forwards

Pack is absolutely full of carriers and this is part of our plan. With the whole team capable of making yards we expect to be able to play some good attacking rugby. We want our forwards to ruck hard and ruck past the ball. We expect our carriers to carry in numbers, aim to win the collisions and then look to keep legs pumping after contact. We will look for the offload if it is on. At the setpiece we will look to really put the pressure on a scrum time and vary our lineout with Wood, Thion and Botha as key jumpers.

Backs

Look to attack spaces and gaps. Pace to burn outwide and will look for Dickson, Contepomi, Roberts and JJ to create the spaces for Ngwenya, Biggs and Morahan to exploit. Dickson will look to snipe all game and Contepomi will control the tempo of the game and we think the right pair to control the game,

Defence

Quick linespeed and aggression in the tackle. Look to double up when we can with on taking legs and the other looking to get hands on the ball. Warburton to look to control the breakdown with the help of Tom Wood and Schalk Brits.

May add more later these have been rushed.

Gloucester RFC
Manager – Mat

01. Guthro Steenkamp	09. Will Genia
02. Joe Grey	10. Ryan Lamb(k)
03. Nicola Mas
04. Julien Pierre	11. James Simpson-Daniel
05. George Robson	12. Matt Scott
06. CJ Stander	13. Richard Kahui
07. Alexandre Lapandry	14. Zac Guildford
08. Immanol Harinordoqouy	15. Iain Balshaw

16. Nick Wood17. Deon Fourie 18 Rupert Harden 19. Tom Palmer 20. Jamie Heaslip 21. Dan Robson 22. Rob Horne 23. Charlie Sharples


Tactics

We will play heads up rugby and look to play an expansive game based around attacking and scoring tries. However when needed we can keep it tight and will only look to play when we have the right to

ATTACK ALL SCRUMS- We have 2 world class props and the form hooker in the AP backed up by Pierre and Robson it makes a dynamic unit

USE LINEOUT DOMINANCE- we have Pierre, Robson, Hari, CJ and Lapandry which is a frightening line up of lineout forwards. We will use this to win good quality ball whilst also using it to poach theirs or pressure the lineout. Initially we will look to use the rolling maul but as we look to get more expansive we will be using off the top to go wide


USE OUR BIG BALL CARRIERS- Pierre, CJ, Heaslip, Robson, Grey, Steenkamp will all be carrying aggressively and looking to get us on the front foot and win the collisions. this will enable us produce quick ball to go wide and score tries. Genia will also be looking to pick up from any break and get on the shoulders and utilise his abilities to catch packs napping

PUT NUMBERS INTO THE BREAKDOWN- We have a seriously mobile pack and will be looking to send numbers in to slow welsh ball and also too steal some great turnover ball.

Generally attacking wise Genia will be our leader he will be organising the pack and will be making sure Lamb gets high quality ball.

We will employ a blitz defence with Genia sweeping in behind

[b]WE WILL USE OUR IMPACT BENCH- it is packed with quality and will take the game away


KEY POINTS

COHESIVE TEAM- we have been playing together for years and have established settled team
LINEOUT DOMINATION- We have serious options and will look to starve Sarries
PACK MOBILITY
TRY SCORING BACKS and SERIOUS IMPACT BENCH- we are looking to score tries galore and have pace and trickery to burn

CONTROL FROM 8 and 9- they will dictate tempo/

GOOD LUCK PETE

You not decide Matt lol

Had formatting issues Pooly to say the least and then wrong players. it was a how not to submit a team example

It's better than your norm, getting there.

Might have it nailed by season 8

one day we will get full names, capital letters etc!

never got why you type out Immanol Harinorodoquy in full but dont put joe infront of Grey!

Chaps just for you i have amended to be correct for you. Its because i am often in a rush or on a mobile to be honest with you.

feel honoured. thanks mate.

fair enough i hate typing on my iphone, if i dont do explanations on predictions its because im on my iphone.
laptop has packed in so only chance i get to do explanations is if im in the office on fridays.

Leicester Tigers
Manager – LukeLovesLuka

01. Andrew Sheridan	09. Dimitri Yachvili
02. Stephen Moore	10. Jonny Wilkinson (k)
03. Dan Cole
04. Pascal Pape	11. Ugo Monye
05. James Horwill (c)	12. Billy Twelvetrees
06. Sean O'Brien	13. Brian O'Driscoll
07. James Scaysbrook	14. Vincent Clerc
08. Ernst Joubert	15. Isa Nacewa

16. Gethin Jenkins 17. Tom Youngs 18. Brian Mujati 19. Simon Shaw 20. Tom Croft 21. Michael Claasens 22. Dominic Waldouck 23. Rene Ranger

Tactics:

We will play to our strengths and play a game built around our intelligent HB's controlling the game, the strength in our set piece and our huge line breakers.

- Ability to play in different ways - we're not here to kick the ball away. We have the personnel in our side to play a mixture of different styles, and we will play the game as we see it.

- Attack at all scrums - Cole and Sheridan to look to really get the shove on against Tonga and Ric. Jenkins and Mujati to attack Wislon and Waller in the second half too.

- Attack at all lineouts. Our lineout is led by Horwill, using Joubert as our banker ball, Pape, SOB and Scaysbrook as our other options. Croft to join the action in the 2nd half to be our banker ball.

- Use massive line-breakers in the tight to tire down the Newcastle defence. The likes of SOB, Scaysbrook, Joubert, Moore, Pape and Horwill used off the shoulder at pace of 9/10 crashing through the Newcastle defence.

- Scaysbrook is the man charged with reaching the breakdown first and look to turnover possession. We will always look to attack quickly off turnover ball. With Scaysbrook, SOB, Cole and Moore, we feel our breakdown play will be crucial today. 

- In general attacking play, we will play off 9 with Yachvili our general pulling the strings. We want Yach and Wilko to control the game, mixing up the point of our attack and looking for where the gaps are. We want 12T and BOD on the ball looking to send our back three into space.

- We will look to employ a blitz defence, focusing on a quick line speed to hit the ball carrier before he gets to the gainline. We have aggressive forwards to carry out this instruction.

- Unload our powerful bench to impact the game in the second half.

- Wilkinson to kick all penalites.


Key Points:

Home Advantage
Our home record is sensational, and we always feel we will win games at Welford Road. We feel we have the players to control the game, and in front of our own fans, Welford Road is a fortress.
 
Freshness in pack
We have brought in Sheridan, Moore and Scaysbrook to give us fresh impetous in the pack. First game of the season for these three and we will look to them to really go hard from the off.

Control at 8, 9, 10
With the have huge amounts of experience we have in these key rolls, we aim to really control the game from the first whistle to the last. Joubert to control the base of the scrum, and in Yach and Wilko to control the tempo of the game and where the game is played on the pitch.

London Wasps
Manager – ‘Arry

01. Ben Daley	09. Mike Blair
02. Sean Cronin	10. Stephen Jones (k)
03. Carlos Nieto
04. Mouritz Botha	11. Matt Banahan
05. Marco Wentzel (c)	12. Brad Barritt
06. Steve Mafi	13. George Pisi
07. Jonathan Poff	14. Tom Varndell
08. Ben Mowen	15. Mike Brown

16. Nathan Morris 17. Charlie Beech 18. Shaun Knight 19. Dan Tuohy 20. Dewald Potgieter 21. Haydn Thomas 22. Rhys Preistland 23. Jamie Elliott

Tactics
We will look to play at a high tempo with pace and intensity. Our forwards will look to carry hard, attacking gaps in the Northampton Saints defensive line, getting us over the gain line and onto the front foot. We will ensure our carriers have plenty of support to offload to, so we can continue our attacks.

We will look to recycle the ball quickly by getting good numbers to the breakdown, with the first few players rucking past the ball to clear out the Saints players, allowing Blair to get quick, clean ball for us to get out wide and attack the space on offer. We will look to create mismatches in midfield and will target the outside shoulder of the Saints players.

Line speed and aggression is key for us in defence, we will try and prevent Saints from having time on the ball by having quick line speed and tackling their carriers before they reach the gain line, knocking them back and forcing them into mistakes, where we can exert pressure and try and get turnovers.

Stephen Jones will look to kick in behind the Saints wingers and put us deep into their territory where we will look to really pressurize and go after their lineout. Wentzel will be our main go to man, we will also look to use Mafi and Mowen at the tail of the lineout where we can launch attacks from and get our big centers running at Matt Giteau, whom our back row will look to be in the face of all game.

With the ball in hand, we will look to win the collisions and get our offloading game going. Barritt will look to take the contact and give us line breaking options with Pisi running good outside lines, we will attack gaps and half gaps in the Saints defensive line. We will use Banahan as another crash ball option, coming in off his wing, looking to suck in Saints defenders before spreading the ball and making use of the space.

At the scrum, on our own ball, we will look to turn the scrum legally to erase the Saints back row from helping out in defence before starting our own attacks. We will look to control possession and be patient, recycling the ball through several phases with Blair and Jones controlling our play. We aim to move the ball around, changing the point of attack to tire out the Saints pack.

Bath Rugby
Manager – inthefastlane

01. Cian Healy	09. Richard Wigglesworth
02. Chris Brooker	10. David Skrela
03. Davit Kubrashvilli
04. Jarrad Hoeata	11. Stuart Hogg
05. Graham Kitchener	12. Anthony Allen
06. James Haskell	13. Aurelien Rougerie
07. David Pocock	14. George North
08. Tom Guest	15. Rob Miller

16. Kane Palmer Newport 17. Will Tanner 18. Jon Golding 19. Tom Donnelly 20. Akapusi Qera 21. Fourie Du Preez 22. Maxime Medard 23. Michael Harris

Overall: Look to dominate in the scrum and use that as a platform to really bring our backs in who will be looking to run at the defence with bad intentions.

Forwards: We will really look to attack and come out on top of the scrum. We have two of the best props in Europe in Kubrashvilli and Healy and we feel we can really punish the Sale scrum, pushing them backwards. Look for Kubrashvilli to really put pressure on Schuster. With our second row partnership we are looking at Jarrad Hoeata to provide the grunt necessary and offering the banker ball while Graham Kitchener will be trying to retain our lineout something we feel he is very capable of doing.

We will be looking for big carries from the forwards with the likes of Guest, Haskell and Healy dangerous runners who can really create gaps for our backs. We will be looking for lots of energy from our forwards to open up holes to be exploited. Our carrying is somewhere we feel we have a distinct advantage and we will look to target the often suspect defence of James Hook. At the breakdown we will look for David Pocock and James Haskell to win turnover ball or manage to slow down opposition ball by going through opponents. They will both be looking to cause as much trouble as possible.

Backs: We will be looking to play running rugby with the ball in our hands. Using our forwards to create space we will look for quick ball and get the likes of Miller, Hogg and North who are all deadly runners, running at the Sale defences. Wigglesworth will control the tempo of the backs and will look to keep the backs calm and composed. We will look to get Allen + Rougerie involved in the game as much as possible. With Miller + Skrela we have a very good kicking game which we will use if we feel necessary to put the ball behind the Sale back three.

Defence: Look to wrap the defensive line and stop them running in from deep. Look to not let Piccles and other carriers get a head of steam.

Substitutes: We have some really good options on the bench who we feel can really add to the game. Golding and Palmer Newport can come in and help strengthen our front row. Donnelly will look to come on and shore up the lineout. Akapusi Qera is a quality player who can really cause trouble around the park. FDP will look to control our tempo late in the game. Harris is another option who can come on and use his boot effectively to put the ball in good positions. Maxime Medard has a little spark that we can potentially use late.

01. Paul James	09. Eion Reddan
02. Gary Botha	10. Tom Heathcote
03. BJ Botha
04. Jim Hamilton (c)	11. Sean Maitland
05. Luke Charteris	12. Olly Barkley (k)
06. Mamuka Gorgodze	13. Matt Hopper
07. Justin Tipuric	14. James Short
08. Ben Morgan	15. Rob Cook

16. Richardt Strauss 17. Nathan Catt 18 Chris Budgen 19. Ollie Kohn 20. Ryan Jones 21. Kerr Barlow 22. Julien Malzieu 23. Rob Cook

Tactics


Forwards



We have picked a strong front row who will look to edge up on the tightheads side to allow Morgan more time to pick from the base of the scrum.



A strong 2^nd row who will target the lineout and we will utilise the lineout as out main weapon of attack providing both quick ball and allow us to maul with a very heavy and efficient pack.



Back row again is strong and we will look to counter act the breakdown as well as picking up and keeping the game tight which is why we have picked the pack we have. Morgan and Gorgodze will look to run off of 12-13 to create the gaps for the wingers.



Backs



Both Heathcote and Barkley are there to clear our lines and put us down into opposition territory. This is where we will use our lineout force. However; Heathcote is an exciting runner and he will stand deep at times to create the space for our outside backs to hit the gaps.



Barkley will look for quick offloads to wingers or back row who will target the 9-10 channel to bring the ball back into our forwards. This should create overlaps and suck in the defence before quick ball out wide.



We have a very experienced back 3 who can all interchange if needs be. They will look to run as much ball as possible but not get isolated so we can keep to our gameplan.



After 30 minutes, if we are getting joy off 1^st phase ball we will continue to use it but; for the first 30minutes it will be the forwards ball unless something is on.



Barkley will take all kicks at goal he is confident in.



Defence



We will use a banana defence. People have picked up on our 10-12 defence so we will make sure we have one of our stronger pack members on their shoulders to assist in the tackle and look for quick turnover ball. Any turnovers will be punted off the pitch in the oppositions half unless a massive gap is obvious.

We will look to not commit too many at the breakdown so we can defend strongly from inside out and stop any gaps. If we see an available turnover we will take it but no silly penalties. Pressure will be put on their scrum half to use the ball quickly and put 10 under pressure.



Overall



Forward orientated play with experienced players. Backs to get us into good positions and only throw the ball about when it’s on, other than that our pack and strong pack bench will be controlling the game and rolling us towards the opposition’s tryline.



We are very fired up for this match and have a strong set of leaders in the squad who will look to get us the win and rattle the opposition. It’s time to make people take notice of the Warriors.

Newcastle Falcons
Manager – Sgt Pooly

01. Soane Tonga’uiha	09. Luke Burgess
02. Rory Best	10. Toby Flood
03. Clement Ric
04. Brad Thorn	11. Miles Benjamin
05. Geoff Parling	12. Sonny Bill-Williams
06. Chris Robshaw	13. George Lowe
07. Heinrich Brussow	14. Alex Cuthbert
08. Toby Faletau	15. James O’Connor

16. Lee Mears 17. Scott Wilson 18. Alex Waller 19. Paul O’Connell 20. Kelly Brown 21. Ben Youngs 22. Ben Williams 23. Tommy Bowe

Tactics

HIGH TEMPO, POSSESION, BIG CARRIES.....GAME CHANGERS IN BACKLINE IN JOC, BURGESS, SBW

Game plan...Fast paced, high intensity, offloading, dynamic rugby. We’ll look to hit the ground running and hit the opposition fast from the off. We’ll be aiming to control possession and go through the phases. Flood will play flat and look to get our backline into the game whenever possible and keep the high tempo going throughout.

Set piece:

In the decent conditions look to get the ball in and out for Burgess/Flood to attack with. Look for fast ball off the top of the lineout with Parling making the calls. If weakness seen in either set piece we’ll look to exploit.

Pack & Breakdown:

Look for strong carries from our pack, tying in the opposition forwards. We’ll be looking to keep the ball alive and look for the offload when on. Our backrow will target the breakdown and look to get in a second tackler to tie up the opposition carriers. Burgess will wait for the call and look to sweep up any turnover ball getting us on the front foot.

DEFENCE:

Look to neutralise the opposition early on and allow out backrow to dominate affairs. Thorn/Tonga/Ric in particular will look to hit the ruck hard and remove attempted turnovers from the equation allowing us to ruck over the ball and control the breakdown. Robshaw will look to target the opposition fly half early on and pressure his kicking. Burgess to sweep in behind the defensive line.

Backs:

Basically get the backs into play whenever possible with Flood & JOC the spark. JOC will come into the line and offer 2nd playmaking option with SBW offering go to ball and decoy. Look to get JOC & Cuthbert into the game whenever possible. Burgess to play on instinct around the fringes and look to get JOC in to release to use his gas through the middle.


POINTS:

LINEOUT - Cut Tigers kicking options out by targeting lineout and dominating with Parling & POC
PHYSICAL PACK – Win the collosion and target rucks to drive through opposition
BREAKDOWN – Brussow/Robshaw to work their magic and Burgess to monitor to attack on turnover ball
BACK 3 - With Yach & Wilko looking to kick we'll look to break on the counter with JOC/Cuthbert running the ball back
ROLLING MAUL – With our big front 5 look to get the rolling maul going off selected lineouts and eat up the ground

Good luck Luke, should be a good one

You have brussouw in your team twice pooly

Sale Sharks
Manager – SJE

01. Jerome Schuster	09. Danny Care
02. David Paice	10. Johnny Sexton
03. Luc Ducalcon
04. Stephen Sykes	11. Keith Earls
05. Christian Day	12. James Hook
06. Peter O'Mahony	13. Robbie Freuen
07. Fulgence Quedragao	14. David Strettle
08. Louis Picamoles	15. Nick Abendanon

16. Lee Imolek 17. Darren Dawdiuk 18. Davit Zirakishvilli 19. Dave Attwood 20. Alex Tulou 21. Ben Spencer 22. Yann David 23. Kyle Eastmond

---

Key Points

---

Attack The Lineout

• With only Kitchner as a recognised jumper on show we feel we can really get at Bath here with the likes of Sykes, Day, POM & Quedragao attacking Brookers throw.

Attack The Scrum

• We have gone with 2 powerful scrummagers at prop and will look to attack the Bath front 5 at scrum time. 4 of the Bath front 5 have started all 5 league games and they must surely be feeling the effects now. We will look to really turn the screw here as the benches come into play.

Nullifying The Pocock Effect

• We have selected two specialists at the breakdown to compete here today. On offense we will follow the All Black playbook looking to target our runners at Pocock and trap him at the base of the ruck.

---

Game Plan

---

Attack

• We will look to play a fast paced attacking game using big carriers running of the 9/10/12 axis to get us over the gain line and generate quick ball.

• Keeping the ball alive is crucial so our carriers will be looking for support runners to hit on the offload to keep the ball moving and get us further over the gain line.

• Our back three will look to get involved as much as possible running support lines off the halfbacks and midfield looking for the inside ball or offload.

• If for whatever reason we aren’t getting quick ball, we will look to take control of territory with the boots of Sexton & Hook and force Bath to come at us from deep.

Set Piece

• With a powerful front 5 on show we will look to keep the scrum up and use it as a weapon. On our own feed we will look to get the wheel on and give our 8-9-10 axis as much room as possible to attack from.

• In Bath territory, with 5 jumping options to use, we will look to play off the top and move the ball out to Sexton and the backs.

• In our own territory, we will look to take the ball down into the maul and drive ourselves into the right areas.

Defense

• We will look to blitz aggressively, playing on the edge of the offside line and coming up at pace, looking to isolate the ball carrier and stop any opposition momentum before it can get going.

• Danny Care will play sweeper and cover any chips or grubbers behind the defensive line.

• We will leave two players sitting deep to cover any kicks and they will look to counter attack of any loose kicks.

Breakdown

• With the blitz in operation, we will look to be at the breakdown first hitting it hard and fast. If the ball looks available we will flood the breakdown with POM and Quedragao looking to get their hands on the ball.

• If the ball is not immediately available we will only commit 1 or 2 players to legally slow the ball down and instead look to strengthen the defensive line.

---

Tactics Word Count: 495

London Irish
Manager – stnick88

01. Jean Baptiste Poux	09. Julien Dupuy
02. Tom Lindsay	10. Nick Evans
03. Martin Castrogiovanni
04. Matt Garvey	11. Marland Yarde
05. Johann Muller	12. Sireli Naqalevuki
06. Keegan Daniel	13. Max Evans
07. Steffon Armitage	14. JP Pieterson
08. Pierre Spies	15. Delon Armitage

16. Matt Stevens 17. Motu Ma'tu 18. Grant Shiells 19. Stuart Hooper 20. Hendrie Fourie 21. Neal De Kock 22. Shane Geraghty 23. Sailosi Tagicakibau

London Irish have made two changes from last weeks impressive bonus point win over Bath, with hooker Tom Lindsay replacing James Buckland who drops out of the match day squad, and JP Pieterson coming in on the wing for Sailosi Tagicakibau. Youngster and Irish's top try scorer this season Marland Yarde keeps his place in the side and stnick believes on this form he is knocking on Stuart Lancasters door.

'Consistency is key, and we want to pick up where we left off last week. We played superbly and I want to see those levels of intensity for 80 minutes against a big, tough Warriors side. We have scored a lot of points this season and our pace is troubling teams. Marland has stood out for me in the backline, his workrate is superb and when he gets going he is not only a hard man to catch but a hard man to stop. If he keeps banging in the tries I'm sure he will feature for the Saxons and possibly even England before too long.'

Tactics

- Target the set piece, we will look to turn the screw at scrum time with two big scrummaging props. Any pens won will be kicked by Evans for goal if in range.
- Muller is our main go to guy at the lineout. He will also try to disrupt opposition ball. Spies, Garvey and Daniel are our other options to keep Worcester guessing. We will look for quick ball off the top to get the ball to Evans to release our quick backline.
- We are looking to attack and run all game long. Evans will manage from 10 and look to put our runners in gaps and get us in the right areas of the pitch. The forwards will make the hard yards and create as much space as possible to get the backs in.
- If for any reason our attacking play isnt working, we have Geraghty and Tagicakibau on the bench who can change the game and give us a different option in attack.
- With Armitage on such good form, we will look to target the breakdown and seek turnovers. We will look to get to the rucks fast, drive back any opposition and allow Armitage to go for the turnover. We will be careful about this though and not look to give away easy penalties.
- JP Pieterson will come off his wing and look to work off Naqa's shoulder. Naqa is very good at breaking through the first tackle and is a good offloader, so JP will look to track his runs and take any offloads.
- We will look to target Worcesters defence. The 10,12,13 channel is a new combo and we will look to get Naqa, Spies running at Barkley and Hopper and creating space.

London Welsh make 2 changes to the matchday 23 for this weeeks visit of Gloucester to the Kassam Stadium. Brett Sturgess and Ofisa Treviranus come in for Steven Kitschoff and Maurie Fa'asavalu and both begin the match on the bench, where Kevin McLaughlin stepds up to replace Fa'asavalu in the back row. Adam Jones and Owen Farell also return to the starting XV from the bench, replacing David Wilson and Butch James. Head coach Ozzy3213 had this to say;-

"We have made minimal changes this week, but the changes we have made are for specific reasons and with our opposition in mind. We know how Gloucester will come and look to play, and that will be by being very physical and targeting the set piece. I feel that we have the pack to cope with what they will bring and lay a platform for our backline to cause them some problems. It will be a tough game I have no doubt, but I am confident that if we can front up, then it's a game that we can win."

London Welsh
Manager – Ozzy3213

01. Alex Corbisiero	09. Morgan Parra
02. Bismarck du Plessis	10. Owen Farrell
03. Adam Jones
04. Nathan Hines	11. Christian Wade
05. George Skivington	12. Jonathan Davies
06. Kevin McLaughlin	13. Darren Cave
07. Thierry Dusautoir ©	14. Matt Jess
08. Sione Kalamafoni	15. Louis Ludik

16. Chris Whitehead 17. Brett Sturgess 18. David Wilson 19. James Hanks 20. Ofisa Treviranus 21. Charlie Davies 22. Butch James 23. Ross Chisholm

Tactics

Basic Game Plan

Basic tactical premise for us to control possession and be solid defensively. Focus will be on winning the gainline collisons in both attack and defence. In order to do this we have picked a very big pack to try to physically dominate this area of the game. We will look to apply pressure to Gloucester by keeping the ball for long periods and wearing them down defensively, and also by maintaining a solid defence and denying them opportunities to get on the score board. Pressure forces mistakes, and we will look to capitalise on any that Gloucester make.

Attacking specifics

• Play off 9. Parra to be key decision maker in the backs.
  
• Big carriers to run hard and staright in midfield off early phase ball, particularly attacking the 10 channel to suck defenders in and create space out wide for Wade, Jess and Ludik.
  
• Carriers to look to hit gaps rather than defenders and keep the ball alive by offloading to support runners. We want to play at pace and force them to scramble in defence and this means ensuring as few rucks as possible by playing the offloading game.
  
• Support runners to ruck past the ball quickly if the carrier goes to ground in order to secure quick ball to go again.
  
• All opportunities for points with the boot to be taken by Parra (penalties or drop goals).
  
• If at any time we feel that we are in danger of conceding a turnover then Parra or Farrell will use their boot to kick for touch deep in Gloucester territory.
  

Defensive specifics

• Darren Cave will be defensive captain.
  
• We will look to play a blitz defence with quick line speed to hit the ball carrier before he gets to the gainline and knock him back even further. Parra will sweep in behind.
  
• We will not overcommit to the breakdown. If a turnover is on, we will go for it, otherwise we will legally slow the ball and maintain a solid defensive line to blitz from.
  
• Maintain discipline and do not give away penalties.
  

Key Points

• Gloucesters key tactics revolve around dominating physically up front, where they will look to win the collisions and dominating the lineout. You can check if you want to, but in the pack every one of our players is heavier than their direct opponent, and will not be dominated physically. We have also brought in Kevin McLaughlin to strengthen our lineout and deny Gloucester dominance there.
  
• Home advantage has to count for a few points surely.
  
• If we can get at Lamb defensively his attacking game is very likely to go awry as well handing us the advantage in the game. We will be targeting this from the outset.
  
• We are solid defensively in midfield with real attacking threat out wide (Jess is the leading scorer in the AP and Wade has 3 in 4 games for Wasps)
  
• We have no traditional fetcher, but with BdP in the side the balance of our pack is good as he is better at the breakdown than most opensides.
  

Just waiting for tactics from Driver and then we can open predictions.

Predictions are OPEN

Prop you have Rob Cook twice mate. Will try and get predos done by 4ish today - then get ready to see how much Nicky Robinson gets smashed up by Lawes and Manoa this game. He can't look forward to this game!

Ah balls meant to be shepherd!!

which one, starting or bench?

Olly Morgan on bench please

Edited

Cheers fella!!

Bath v Sale
- Slight edge to the home side upfront, good scrum and Healy great in the loose and Kitchener looking sharp. Bath backroow good, Picamoles a lot better than Guest but Pocock at breakdown helps. Prefer the Sale halfbacks and Abendanon is dangerous on form but Bath edge the backline with North the standout.
28-26

Harlequins v Saracens
- Really tight upfront, Saracens have a lot of experience and fight in their pack. Bit more in the loose from Quins with Marler and Brits. Close backrows, cant really separate. Slight edge to the home backline and think they just have enough to nick it with Roberts / JJ a good combo.
26-25

Leicester v Newcastle - Clash of the Titans. No real edge upfront some great combos. Think Tigers edge the scrum though and a great lock combo for them. Half combos are solid, more of a controlling combo for the home side. Backlines are close, 12T looking decent recently no idea about SBW in Japan. Great game this but think at Welford and with an edge in the pack Tigers win.
21-18

London Welsh v Gloucester - Big game this for Welsh, down the bottom all home games are vital. Glos have suffered from the RC and think Welsh have a bit more structure to them, solid set piece and pack to get them on front foot. Farrell on slightly dodgy form but on the front foot can control. Back 3 is dangerous if not big names. Glos also have threats out wide. Lamb looking OK this season but can be got at. Big home win for Welsh, but not the prettiest of games.
24-22

Saints v Wasps
- Saints on a bit of a roll this season, they have a good mobile pack for expansive rugby. Think Wasps pack is built more for the colder months where they can really get a strangehold on games, and Jones can control and kick them to wins. Like the Wasps backline, again not massive world class names but think they will click and some good form players like Barritt, Pisi and Brown and Varndell. But think Saints backline has enough at home to win it.
32-28

Harlequins 28-20 Saracens

Game plans are crucial with sides so tight in the league now so this is a big mark down for Driver. Set piece battle is fairly tight with not a lot between the front 5s but Quins front row will give them a lot more around the park. Backrow is fairly tight on current form. Only Wood stands out as better than his opposition at the moment so a marginal advantages to Quins. Halfbacks go to Sarrries. Very entertaining pair on show and they could open up any defence. Back threes are fairly even but midfield edges to Quins. Neither combo with the greatest form at the moment but Quins with an extra touch of class. Quins pack to get through more work and although Sarries will have a few moments of brilliance they are very unstructured today and won’t build any momentum.

Bath 14-17 Sale

Front row to Bath, Paice coming back should here you here though SirJ. Like both 2^nd rows but think Bath have a bit more ‘grunt’ however, they will struggle at the lineout where Sale will cause problems. 2 good back rows but Sale take it, just, with the number 8 position. Pocock will cause problems but I like Sale’s attack running at him to keep him on the ground. Great form for the Sale 9-10 and I prefer Hook at 12. Not much to split in the centres and in the back 3. I think the Sale hb’s will take this.



Quins 18-12 Sarries

No tactics don’t help here for Sarries! I prefer the Quins front row and the two 2^nd rows are even with very experienced players. Sarries would have the ‘dog’ in the back row but it’s just a step up in class for Quins. The big hitters in the Sarries backline will stop Quins running away here and exploiting gaps. I think this will be down to the powering the Quins front and back row’s winning the penalties.



Tigers 19-18 Falcons

Maul will work here for Falcons but Tigers will get the shove on in the front row especially with the depth on the bench too. Lineout will be edged to Falcons and that’s the same with the back row just, although the Tigers back row will carry very well and I really rate Scaysbrook. Prefer the Tigers 9-10 and feel that they will control a change in the game when needed. In the outside backs Falcons have the better centre partnership but 12T getting quick ball off Wilkinson will be deadly. Looking at the back 3 Tigers just have enough with Monye doing ok at the moment. The better backs subs for Falcons will get them back in the game but it’s just taken by Tigers with home advantage the nail in the coffin. Hardest one to predict this season for me!



Welsh 18-17 Glos
Huge and inform Welsh pack means they will win the battle up front here. Glos will get some joy but I like the balance of the Welsh back row a lot and their front row will get some joy here. Welsh also get the edge at the half backs and have the players who will edge past Glos here with JD2 and Wade in good form at the moment. Glos have a good impact bench which will run Welsh close but with their tactics in place I can see a Welsh victory.


Saints 22-18 Wasps
Much stronger pack for Saints here with their front row enjoying dominance. Wasps will get some clean lineout ball but Saints back row will slow that down. 9 to Saints and 10 to Wasps, can see the Saints getting better ball though. Jones'll keep Wasps in it but Saints just too strong.

Sorry last 2 games aren't in detail....happy to answer any p.m's on those 2 games.

Warriors 26 - 31 Irish
A really big battle between the packs, which is very even and not much give on either side. The balance of the Warriors pack is very good, but during the RC I see a real issue with the 10-12-13 channel and with Evans dictating play and possibly being the form player in Europe I can see Irish taking a real advantage here, espc with the big Fijian playing at 12, and bring Armitage and JP into the attack. Warriors will score a few tries with their backline, but defensive issues in the midfield give Irish the away win.

Bath 24 - 22 Sale

Again see this as being a very tight battle in the forwards, can see a few issues for both teams at lineout but this will add to the game. The Sale halfback combination is always going to keep them close in games, but I see the rest of the backline perhaps just missing that top class runner to change a game for them in this game. George North is in top form and a match winner for me in this. Very close, but Bath just edge at home.

Harlequins 32-31 Saracens
Very good team put out by Driver here, the team will certainly disrupt Quins at home and the pack is a beast that you don't want to be playing against in wet conditions. At home Sarries would have won, but a lot of Quins players are showing good form, espc Easter and playing Wood swings it to the home side for me. Wet conditions and the away team could have sneaked it as not fully convinced with the Quins backthree, but do give good attacking options in this weather. Both teams have plenty of tries in them.

Leicester 20 - 17 Newcastle -
Massive contest in this one - Leicester set out their gameplan to be controlled by the halfpacks and a platform built on the pack and this reminds me of how Tigers used to play and win games. Very few teams will come away from Welford Road with points, but Falcons will give them a decent game. Big issue for me was whether Brussow would dominate the breakdwown and whilst he certainly gets the upper hand on the Tigers no7, I see that the Tigers pack and having BOD who is great at the breakdown just about evens that up. Important part for me in this was looking at whether the Falcons front row replacements could come on and get at the Tigers forwards in final 20-30mins, and I just didnt see that happening to change the game.

London Welsh 22-21 Gloucester
Tough to call, but I really do like the Welsh pack in this and the control that the no9 has for them. Gloucester will run the game close and do have a few more names in the backline, but at present I see Lamb as a bit of a liability controlling the game and that for me costs Gloucester a win and gives Welsh their first win of the season. Both teams have their tactics spot on, just see the 9/10 combo of Welsh giving them that bit more for the win.

Bath 29 - 26 Sale

Not a great deal of give in either front rows, quite evenly matched. Fairly similar story in the second rows, neither pairing has enough to dominate the other. Prefer Bath's flankers and Sale's 8, so slight edge to the home side. Think Bath just sneak the pack. Sale take the HB's comfortably, but beyonf there it is very even with some top players on display. Think Bath, at home, have enough to secure the points.


Harlequins 22 - 21 Saracens

Think QUins just edge the front row but think as a pairing Sarries just edge the second row. Two very talented back rows on display - both have good balance and some real stars on show, tought to split. Very slight edge to Sarries at the HB's, but Quins comfortably take the centres. Not much in either back three, both sides lack top quality. Really good game this one - Sarries put up a strong fight, but Quins take it with home advantage.


Welsh 25 - 21 Gloucester

Good front row battle that Welsh just edge although two really good units. Tight in the second row with no clear winner, Hines probably the standout. Similar story in the back row with it being a good battle, with Dus and Hari the best on show. Two top SH's supported by off form FH's leave this game a tad scrappy for me. SLight edge to Welsh in the centres, with slight edge to Glaws in the back three. Really tight game with not a lot in it all over the park. Parra to kick more than Lamb and home advantage seals it for Welsh.


Saints 34 - 30 Wasps

Saints take the front row with a stronger unit, second rows tight but see advanatge to Wasps in the lineout with Wentzel and Mafi. Ever so slight edge to Saints in the back three but two nice units that are well balanced. Probably edge Wasps in the HB's, and slight edge to Wasps in the centres. Two good back three's, Wasps have some serious form there. Really tight game this one. Think Saints sneak the pack, and at home this is just enough, but Wasps looking better and better. High scorer.


Worcester 22 - 24 Irish

Slight edge to Irish in the front row but Worcs not far behind. Tight in the second rows, and tight in the back rows with two very strong back fives on display. Irish sneak the HB's through Evans, and two good center pairings. Irish take the back three for me. Quite a close game this one, but I just think Irish have that extra quality in most departments, and take a very good away victory here.

Bath 23 - 25 Sale

Both front 5's lacking compared to some in the league. Probably give the edge to Sale but not by much. Sale shoud have better of scrum and lineout. Back rows both competitive. Slight edge to Sale as a unit.

Half backs to Sale, but outside backs comfortably to Bath. It's just a matter of how much ball Bath can get to their backs. In the end I don't think they will get enough and Sale will win.

Leicester 23 - 21 Newcastle

Prefer the Leicester front row in general. I little more in the scrum. Think Newcastle will have a little more in the lineout but so much more in the loose in the Leicester back 5. They will cross the gainline much more regularly. Breakdown advantage to Newcastle.

Half backs tough. I prefer Newcastle in the loose but Leicester will control the game much better. Outside backs pretty even although I expect Flood to get more out of his than Wilkinson will. A little more quality on the Leicester bench. They will destroy Falcons scrum if Waller and Wilson are on at any point.

Huge contest. I think home advantage is important here and if at Newcastle Pooly would have won, although that said on a neutral venue I'd still give Leicester the narrow win for the strong back 5 of the scrum and control at 9 and 10 in a game which will be decided on the tightest of margins.

London Welsh 25 - 22 Gloucester

The pack goes to London Welsh here. The unit is strong and covers all bases. Gloucester not weak but not quite able to match Welsh in this area. Particularly the physicality of Welsh impresses me up front, think they might blow Gloucester away a little in that area.

Backs go to Gloucester, but Ryan Lamb isn't the man to lead Gloucester to victory here, even with Genia inside him. More for Gloucester in outside backs but enough there Welsh to score some tries. Game likely to be very open which will benefit Gloucester.

Northampton 28 - 25 London Wasps

packs pretty tight. Little bit more for Saints though I think across the board. Plenty in the loose from Launchbury and Lawes in the row but potentially short in lineout but that is nullified by Bonnaire and Parisse.

Backs also marginally to Saints as well. Few more strike runners and generally a little more in attack, particularly at 10 and 12. Good defensively for Wasps but at the Gardens Saints have to much.

Worcester 23 - 23 London Irish

Packs go to Worcester, A fine back row which is amongst the best in the league. Front 5's are closer. Irish not weak but at home I think the Worcester pack will get on top.

Irish steam roller the backs though. Much stronger in most positiions and very dangerous with ball in hands. Physicality and flare in good portions.

Will get predos in, in the morning

Quins 28-22 Sarries
No tactics from Driver settles this. Close teams. Overall edge to Quins forwards. Sarries have a good set of half backs but Quins have enough with home advantage and a gameplan.

Tigers 24-23 Falcons
So tough to call. Maybe slight edge to Tigers in the forwards although Falcons have a strong back row. Love the half back combo from Leicester and the form probably gives this to them despite a strong 11-15 from Falcons.

Welsh 18-15 Gloucester
Think Welsh have better forwards with a stronger front row. Not much in the backs but Ryan Lamb just looks so out of his depth and it cost Gloucester here.

Saints 25-23 Wasps
See Saints as marginally stronger overall. Second row and centres are to Wasps and its close in the Half backs. But at home Saints have enough.

Warriors 26-25 Irish
I think Warriors have a very strong set of forwards with a really good back row that could make the difference. Evans will be huge in the half backs and a solid set of backs from Irish, but just enough at home

Bath 20 - 23 Sale
Harlequins 25 - 20 Saracens
Leicester 23 - 20 Newcastle
London Welsh 21 - 20 Gloucester
Worcester 25 - 23 London Irish

Sorry for no explanations, got poor signal

CJB wrote:Irish 26-25 Warriors
Evans and home advantage are the deciding factors here for me. Without Evans Warriors would get the win and back at home they would get the win.

CJB

I can't allow this to stand given your comments as Worcester are at home and it appears that you have thought they are away and gone with Irish having home advantage for the win.

Can I ask you to predict this one again please mate.

Bath 20 - 23 Sale
Sale have the pack to win this and deny bath much ball.as ever sale half backs excellent. Bath great outside backs just will not have enough ball

Harlequins 23 - 20 Saracens

Slight front 5 advantage and home advantage see quins squeak it. Good game. Like sarries half backs.
Leicester 25/ 20 Newcastle

Leicester will boss the scrum big time and have more people to get them over the gain line. They then have the ideal half backs to dictate the game. Rc means pooly and myself significantly weakened.

Leicester bench much stronger. Waller and Wilson cannot play this level. They would get anhilated.

Falcons better lineout and still have a good side but Leicester and saints excellent teams in RC


Worcester 25 - 24
London Irish


Tremendous match. Basically Worcester pack vs Irish backs. If irish could get on the front fOot they would win however I see Worcester carrying lots of ball and Irish not winning enough ball.

To clarify a few points that will run through my predictions. Home advantage is worth 3 points to me. When I talk about a man for man advantage I am talking about a significant difference in the players in terms of a combination of ability and form. Where there is only a small difference I am calling that as even. Key positions for me in terms of controlling the game are 2, 8, 9 and 10 and I will put more weight on those shirts in terms of gaining an advantage. Physicality, particularly at the contact area/gainline is also a big thing for me.


Bath Rugby 21 Sale Sharks 28

Home advantage for Bath, but looking at the sides I see an advantage for Sale in both the scrum and lineout. In terms of physicality there is little between the sides so no give either way. Both have decent attacking threats, but I would say that Bath maybe have a little better defence. Tactically I would say Sale have it spot on, playing a fast paced offloafing game and trying to keep Pocock out of things in terms of the breakdown. Man for man, I would have Bath better in two shirts (14 and 7) and Sale better in four (2,8,9 and 10). The issue for Bath therefore is that Sale in terms of players are better in what I believe are key positions. Coupled with the fact that I see them getting the upper hand in both set pieces, I can really see them controlling the game. I also see them having a better bench to see the game out, so for me it's a comfortable away win.


Harlequins 31 Saracens 20

Home advantage for Quins, but I see a marginal edge in the scrum Saracens and also in the lineout, where Quins have good jumping options but ne real lineout leader. I see more physicality in the Quins pack though and see them winning the gainline battle, which is a key area for me. No tactics from Saracens hurt them, and Quins gameplan is right for the players that they have. Man for man I have Quins as better in 5 jerseys (2,3,6,12 and 13) with Saracens stronger in two (8 and 11). That gives them one fo the key positions each, with no real give either way in the half backs. Overall for me then, home advantage, slightly better quality and form in player terms, more physicality and good tactics make this a comfortable win for Harlequins.


Leicester Tigers 26 Newcastle Falcons 21

Home advantage for Tigers, who I also see as getting the edge in the scrum battle here. Nothing either way at the lineout with neither side really able to dominate in that area. In terms of the physicality of the sides, the attacking and defensive abilities, and the tactics employed, again there is nothing in it. Man for man I give it to the Tigers in three shirts (3,5 and 13), and to Falcons in one (12). Neither therefore have an advantage in the key positions or terms of physicality. Therefore it comes down to home advantage, slightly better attacking platform in the scrum for Tigers and a couple of man for man advantages, which give Tigers the win.


Northampton Saints 32 London Wasps 23

Home advantage for Saints. I see now real winner in the scrums, and I give Wasps the lineout with Wentzel the standout for me. In terms of physicality, I have to go with Saints, and feel they can get a decent gainline advantage here. Wasps have a more solid defence than Saints, but Saints the more potent attack, so they kind of balance each other out. Man for man I give Saints the edge in four jerseys (1,2,4 and 8), with Wasps ahead in one (5). There is nothing in the tactical battle, but two key positions go to Saints at 2 and 8, and coupled with their pack dominating the collisions I can see them getting the ball to really get at Wasps. At home, it's a win by a decent margin.


Worcester Warriors 25 London Irish 20

Home advantage for Worcester, who also get a nudge on in the scrum for me. Nothing in the lineouts either way, but I think the Worcester pack have the edge in the physicality stakes and will get an advantage at the gainline. Lot's of attacking threat in the Irish backs though. Man for man I have Worcester in two positions (1 and 2) and Irish four (3, 10, 14 and 15). That's one key controlling position each, so I have to have a look into how that fits into where the other advantages are. Despite being the better 10, Evans will have a lot poorer quality ball from his pack to use, and I think that Heathcote will be on the front foot more and has enough ability to cause problems with that. Good game this one, but at home and with a dominant pack I see Worcester taking the spoils.

Saints 21-19 wasps Saints win because they have the better side and more strike runners.

Wasps have some great form in back 3. Great half back battle. For me giteau loses ratings at ten as he no longer plays there much.

Can see wasps getting joy at lineout with bonnaire there only real option. Mafi and Wentzel great at this aspect. Wasps second win second row battle also with a genuine pairing. Lawes and launchbury do not do any of the donkey work you expect from second rows and could mean saints not clearing rucks quick enough thus getting slow ball.

However saints ooze class in lots of positions and have some very dynamic runners.

Leicester Tigers 23-20 Newcastle Falcons

Slight edge to Tigers at the scrum. Good battle at the lineout and neither side will dominate. Backrow battle marginally edges to Falcons. SOB the stand out player but a little more for Falcons at 7 & 8. Halfbacks on current form go to Tigers with Wilko playing some of his best rugby in France at the moment. Midfield battle goes to Falcons with SBW getting the best out of Lowe. Back threes fairly even with quality in both. Good pack battle on show but Tigers at home will get more from their possession with Wilo firing on all cylinders.

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London Welsh 18-16 Gloucester

Good battle at the set piece here and neither side will get an advantage. Welshs front 5 will get through a little more around the park though. In the backrow Welsh stronger at 6 & 7 but difference at 8 levels the battle up here. Halfbacks on most recent form fairly even but a slight edge to Glaws in getting the back line moving. Lamb can be got at though on defence. Midfield battle goes to Welsh on form. Little edge to Gloucester in the back 3 but some very good form for Welsh. I can’t see either side dominating a single area here and home advantage is the defining factor for me.

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Northampton Saints 28-23 London Wasps

See both THs getting some joy at the scrum in this one. Good battle at the lineout as well and neither side will get on top. The Saints front 5 will have more impact around the park though. Backrow goes to Saints with a good line up on show. Halfbacks edge to Saints as well. Midfield battle is fairly even as is the back three with some very good form on show for Wasps. Saints pack seals them some good possession in this one getting through more work around the park and they have the backs to take advantage.

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Worcester Warriors 19-18 London Irish

Cracking battle at the scrum with some great technicians at prop but I think Worcester shade just slightly as a unit. Lineout wise both sides should hold their own ball. Both front 5s will get around the park. Back row battle goes to Worcester. Very destructive unit and they will outwork and out carry Irish. Halfbacks go to Irish with a classy unit. Irish that bit stronger from 11-15 as well. Worcester plugging the defence up a little this week but they will still lose ground in the 10-12-13 axis through the game. McCabe has been deeply missed for Worcester during the Rugby Championship. Good game here. Irish have the ability to score from anywhere but I see Worcester giving young Heathcote a bit of an arm chair ride and getting a lot of possession and with home advantage they sneak a win against a good Irish side.