Aviva Premiership Round Five (Rugby Championship)

First topic message reminder :

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Team Sheets and tactics due by Saturday (20:00)
Predictions due till Tuesday (23:00)

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Bath Rugby v Sale Sharks
Location - The Rec
-Sunny, 14 Degrees, 7mph Winds

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Bath Rugby

Manager – Bathite

01. C.Healy	09. M.Classens (c)
02. L.Mears	10. J.Hook
03. A.Perenise
04. J.Muller	11. K.Eastmond
05. D.Attwood	12. M.Banahan
06. S.O'Brien	13. C.Laulala
07. C.Fearns	14. T.Biggs
08. S.Taylor	15. R.Chisholm

16. K.P-Newport 17. C.Tolufua 18. N.Catt 19. R.Caldwell 20. M.Lund 21. C.Cook 22. S.Donald 23. O.Woodburn

TACTICS

General
- We want to make sure that we play rugby in the opposition half and force handling errors, where we can attack the scrum. Use the physicality of our pack to our advantage, keeping the ball tight in the middle section of the pitch to retain possession and build a platform to attack from. In our third clear to touch and challenge for the ball at lineout.
- With slow ball, use Banahan on the switch off Hook to tie up and fix defenders, looking to get Laulala and Hook half a yard
- Hook to ensure we play sensible rugby in the right areas, kicking long for touch in our 22, using the up and under in the centre of the pitch and delicate grubbers in behind centres to chase and force kickable penalties.
- Banahan leads the rush defence, with SOB/Fearns flying up to cramp 10 for time and space and ensuring he takes the ball deep behind the gainline and starving their outside backs of ball. Classens sweeps up behind for counter attacks

Forwards
* Fearns plays as an openside, looking to secure the breakdown
* Picked a very physical pack to make sure that we defend strongly and smash over the gainline. Fearns to lead pack from base of scrum making hard yards and setting up the ruck for Louw and Fearns to clear out. Fearns to mark opposite 8 in defence to prevent charges from base of scrum
* At the lineout, Muller will lead the calls and look to pressurise oppoistion hooker and compete at every throw
* Use ball carriers of Franks, Louw, Tolufua, O'Brien, Fearns to make hard yards up the pitch and draw defenders into the ruck area, looking to create space around the fringes for Laulala to exploit

Backs
* Chisholm given free rein in attack, looking to come into the line either side of Laulala. Laulala to look for the half gap with power and offload (only if on), with the pace of Biggs and Woodburn on their shoulder to make the break
* Hook to take the ball flat on the gainline, drawing defenders and buying time and space for Banahan. Banahan often used as dummy runner to keep it unpredictable
* Use the inside pass with forward runners of SOB, Louw, Fearns to keep the inside shoulder honest and force the 10 to make tackles.
* Get Laulala on the ball early on and encourage a very pacy back three to run off his shoulder. Only offload if it is on, otherwise, crash it up and use SOB, Fearns, Caldwell to clear out and Louw to secure.
* Eastmond to get free rein in attack, looking to pop up as second receiver. Can interchange with Banahan on the wing

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Sale Sharks

Manager – LondonIrishOllie

01.Andrew Sheridan	09.Hadyn Thomas
02.Gary Botha	10.Nick McLeod
03.Davit Kubriashvilli
04.Yoann Maestri	11.Will Addison
05.Matt Garvey	12.Jonathan Davies
06.James Gaskell	13.Jonathan Joseph
07.Dave Seymour	14.Tom Brady
08.Jordan Crane	15.Rob Miller

Subs 16.Logovoi Mulipola 17.Marc Jones 18.Henry Thomas 19.Frazer McKenzie 20.Richie Vernon 21.Scott Mathie 22.Luther Burrell 23.Cameron Shephard
Tactics

Following struggles at lineout time last week, James Gaskell comes in at 6, with first starts being given to Jonathan Joseph and Matt Garvey after both featured from the bench last week.

Ball Carriers - Our pack is full of ball carriers, with a monster 2nd row combination and Mulipola and Crane also in the pack.

Centres - We feel our centres can create something special and can be our match winners.

Scrum Time - Our front 5 is massive, with two powerful 2nd rows and a destructive scrummaging front row we will look to put massive pressure on in this area.


Bench - We have players who can make a real impact. With Thomas, Mulipola and Burrell all in good form and will enjoy playing against a tired defence

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Harlequins v Saracens
Location - Twickenham Stoop
-Sunny, 15 Degrees, 10mph Winds

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Harlequins

Manager – Driver

01.John Smit	09.Richard Wrigglesworth
02.Joe Grey	10.Tom Heathcote (k)
03.James Johnstone
04.Mauritz Botha	11.George North
05.Alistair Hargreaves	12.Wesley Fofana
06.Tom Croft	13.Jared Payne
07.Chris Robshaw (c)	14.James Short
08.Dave Denton	15.Nick Abendonan

16.Will Collier 17.Mark Lambert 18.Chris Budgen 19.George Merrick 20.Hienrich Brussouw 21.Luke Burgess 22.Henry Taylor 23.Ollie Lindsey Hague


Quins to play high intensity game based around hard runners and offloading the ball and having support runners. Wriggles and Heathcote to play what is in front of them looking to shift the ball with North/Short/Bendy looking to come into the line and find the gaps or make them with hard running.

- Shorten lineouts with Denton standing on Heathcote's shoulder looking to run down the 10 channell

- Look to dominate up front with a big physical front 5. Smit , Grey and JJ all great scrummaging players.

- HArgreaves to lead our lineout and call the shots with Croft standing at 2 on the Sarries throw to pressure them.

- Heathcote to build a early lead through penalties when they are in range.

- Payne to inject some magic into the midfield and test Wyles positioning with his wide range of skills.

- JJ and Grey to target brits at the scrum and really put him under pressure.

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Saracens

Manager – ChequeredJersey

01. Mako Vunipola	09. Morgan Parra (k.)
02. Schalk Brits	10. Charlie Hodgson
03. Sekope Kepu
04. Ollie Kohn	11. Vereniki Goneva
05. Donnacha Ryan	12. Anthony Allen
06. Kelly Brown (c.)	13. Chris Wyles
07. Will Fraser	14. Leigh Halfpenny
08. Billy Vunipola	15. Alex Goode

16. Jared Saunders 17. Harry Allen 18. Carlos Nieto 19. Charlie Matthews 20. Jackson Wray 21. Ben Spencer 22. Sam Stanley 23. Drew Mitchell

Tactics-

The weather for this week is sunny so we will play running rugby. Have the back row hitting breakdowns as a unit- Fraser looking for the ball and the other 2 clearing the man. If ball is too slow, keep it tight in the hands of the Vunipolas, Kohn and Kepu. Have Brits (or if he is unavailable, Billy V) waiting deep between 10 and 12 to hit the pop pass at pace and really test Fofana and Heathcote. Good ball will be spread out quickly, with Hodgson standing flat. Goode to be ready to come in as another first or second receiver. If he does this, switch play back inside - ie at second receiver pop inside to Brits or at first send it to the blind side winger so that the defence is wrong-footed. I want the back 3 running ball back off kicks.

In attack in the backs, Allen aim to break through with his lines and Wyles act as a third winger style OC in support

Lineouts- use the short lineout to the front lifter then pop inside when near the try line. On opposition ball don't try and spoil the lineout but be ready to immediately swamp the catcher or scrum half and look for a turnover that way.

Scrum- we have a good solid scrum so let's have Billy running at 10'off it occasionally with flankers in support. Heathcote isn't a metronomic kicker so I don't mind if we give away a few penalties here. Smit is a better hooker than a prop so I want Kepu and Nieto later to really get at him.

Breakdown- as above. Pick the rucks target for turnovers carefully

Defence- blitz lead by Allen. Halfpenny look out for North. Fraser to charge Heathcote and pressurise him, forwards to guard rucks at the fringes tightly.

Kicking- We have plenty of kickers so if there is pressure on get more time by passing to the next one. Halfpenny to take long kicks at goal, Parra the short ones.

subs- If it's going well bring on a couple of young guns. Nieto will come on to give Kepu a rest and once Billy V inevitably starts to tire bring on Wray and let Quins deal with a fresh rampaging 8

We know a lot of Quins' players from their time with us, so our players know how to counter Short, Smit, Botha and Wriggles. Use this to frustrate Quins and don't let friendships stop us being ruthless

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Leicester v Exeter Chiefs
Location - Welford Road
-Sunny, 13 Degrees, 14mph Winds

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Leicester Tigers

Manager – Sgt_Pooly

01. Thomas Domingo	09. Ben Youngs
02. Tom Youngs	10. Toby Flood
03. Martin Castrogiovani
04. Richie Gray	11. Miles Benjamin
05. Geoff Parling	12. James O’Connor
06. Maurie Fa'asalavu	13. Manu Tuilagi
07. Sam Warburton(c)	14. Christian Wade
08. Sergio Parisse	15. Rob Kearney

16. Bismark du Plessis 17. Dan Cole 18. Luke Cowen-Dickie 19. Joe Launchbury 20. Tom Croft 21. Karl Dickson 22. Danny Cipriani 23. Jordan Turner-Hall

Tactics

We will base our game around high tempo, high intensity rugby. We’ll look to use the set piece as a foundation to work from and turn the screw on the opposition if a weakness is seen. We’ll look for big carries from our pack to give us go forward ball which Youngs thrives upon.

We’ll look to target the lineout throughout with 5 top draw options. Parisse, Parling and Gray will look to mark the front, middle and back and put intense pressure on throughout the game.

Flood/JOC will dictate tempo and look to get Manu running angles to either punch holes in the opposition midfield or draw the decoy and allow our back 3 into the game.

When the 3 is on in front of the posts we’ll take and the captain will make the call on set piece if an advantage is seen.



- Turn screw in set piece if weakness seen
- High intensity & keep the ball alive
- Youngs to attack the gaps and allow Flood time to hit the line
- Manu to be used as crash and decoy with back 3 coming into the line
- Target lineout with world class operators
- Warburton/Fasa to marshal breakdown and slow/turnover opp ball

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Exeter Chiefs

Manager – Luke

01. Brett Sturgess	09. Dwayne Peel
02. Simon Alcott	10. Ignacio Mieres (k)
03. Hoani Tui
04. Tom Hayes (c)	11. Matt Jess
05. James Hanks	12. Jason Shoemark
06. Steve Mafi	13. Sireli Naqelevuki
07. James Scaysbrook	14. Richard Kahui
08. Ernst Joubert	15. Luke Arscott

16. Ben Moon 17. Rob Webber 18. John Afoa 19. James Horwill 20. Steffon Armitage 21. Kevin Barrett 22. Ian Humphreys 23. Isa Nacewa

Tactics

We will play a structured game built around our massive ball carriers, the strength of our set piece and getting our backline into space.

- Attack the scrum as a weapon - and call when we can. Look to really get the shove on.

- Use Mieres' boot to attack our strong lineout with Hanks, Joubert, Mafi and Hayes all massive jumpers. We will relentlessly target the opposition's throws.

- Massive line-breakers right throughout the side that will look to tire down the opposition defence. We will use our big carriers consistently to tire down the opposition.
The likes of Tui, Mafi, Scaysbrook, Hayes, Hanks, Joubert and Naqelevuki used off the shoulder crashing through the opposition 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.

- Box kicks from Peel and up and unders from Mieres to give the opposition problems in the air.
Lightning back line to really get the chase on.

- Look to play attacking rugby in the backs, getting the likes of Kahui, Jess and Arscott on the ball when we can.

- Our back three are encouraged to do what they do best - counter attacking and running the ball back. If isolated all have good kicking games, but the counter is what we ask them to look for.

- Mieres to kick all penalites.

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London Welsh v Gloucester
Location - Kassam Stadium
-Sunny Intervals, 14 Degrees, 13mph Winds

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London Welsh

Manager – Fluxy

01. Rhys Gill	09. Paul Hodgson
02. Tom Lindsay	10. Nick Evans (k)
03. Craig Mitchell
04. Paul O'Connell (C)	11. Topsy Ojo
05. Dean Mumm	12. Brad Barritt
06. Tom Johnson	13. George Lowe
07. Will Welch	14. Adam Thompstone
08. Nick Easter	15. Hugo Southwell

16. Paul James 17. Dave Wilson 18. David Paice 19. Tim Swinson 20. Ashley Johnson 21. Joel Hodgson 22. Dominic Waldlouck 23. Ben Ransom

Tactics
We look to impose ourselves from the off and let the opposition know how we are going to play the game and how we want to dictate the pace of the game. Our brand of rugby is physical and fast, however we won't just run the ball at every opportunity. We will only play in the right areas of the paddock, and Evans knows when to attack and when we need to clear the lines. We will look to go through simple phases to reproduce quick ball to cut the defence open. We have brilliant leaders all other the pitch in POC, Easter, Hodgson and Evans, and they know what will be required to get we want from the game - a win. After last weeks god win, we will look to build some momentum and look to take another win at home.

Tactics

• Gill and Mitchell are solid technicians and will secure our own feed, to provide first phase possession for our backs. Gill will look to put pressure on the Sharks feed. With James and Wilson to come on, our scrummaging should remain a threat throughout the game.
  
  
• Without a lineout leader in the Glos pack, O'Connell will target the lineout and use Mumm as a banker ball at the front of the line with POC jumping in the middle.
  
  
• Our whole pack is mobile and capable of snaffling ball at the breakdown. Collectively we will look to (legally!) slow down Glos' ball as much possible, only committing men to rucks if the turnover is on.
  
  
• The backrow will target the Glos halfbacks, allowing them no time on the ball, which will lead to them rushing and making mistakes.
  
  
• Evans will look to angle runners either side of the Roberts who will be slow to turn, to get in behind the defensive line. Barritt running at their weak inside shoulders, to break gainline
  
  
• Off any first phase possession, there Barritt will run a straight line to get over the gainline to provide quick ball whilst the opposition defence is still organising itself.
  
  
• With the possibility of a greasy ball, we will look to keeping the passes simple and not to extravagant to keep handling errors down. If penned in our 22, we look kick and chase towards the Sharks back three, with pressure errors and possession could arise for us.
  
  
• Look to use our strong bench for impact later in the game.
  
  
• Evans will kick all points, unless POC dictates we have a dominate set piece at the moment in time.

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Gloucester

Manager – prop_lyd

01. Nick Wood	09. Dan Robson
02. Scott Lawson	10. Freddie Burns (k)
03. Adam Jones
04. Tom Savage	11. JSD
05. Jim Hamilton	12. Jamie Roberts
06. Alisdair Strokosch	13. Henry Trinder
07. Akapusi Qera	14. Johnny May
08. JVN(c)	15. Iain Balshaw

16. Darren Dawiduk 17. Dan Murphy 18. Rupert Harden 19. Andy Hazell 20.Luke Narraway 21. Dimitri Yachvilli 22. Mike Tindall 23. Charlie Sharples

Forwards
*Heavy front row who will look to gain the edge at scrum time by going up on Jones' side. Wood'll lead the hit and we will challenge for their ball every time.

*2nd rows are there to cause problems at the breakdown and lineout. If we secure quick lineout ball we will release the backs if now, we have the forwards to maul it forwards.

*Back row'll be there to slow down the ball at the breakdown. Qera will look to impose himself on their 10 and put him off his game. Strong runners from the base of the scrum allowing Robson to take the ball at pace.

*Bench has players who have done well in the front row this season winning 2 penalty tries at scrum time and Hazell and Narraway will add the cool heads.

Backs
*9-10 to play on the front foot and put the ball in their territory to challenge at the lineouts. Burns will look to run quite a lot of it to release our centres and the back row running off of him.

*Centres are only going one way...forward and will be tough to bring down. Roberts will take up first phase ball and look for quick recylcing to release the backs against a stretched defence. Trinder to continue making inroads on the angle.

*Back 3 have a lot of pace and JSD has shown he has his moments of class when required! Balshaw has been doing well in France so gets a start today. They will all go looking for work and play at a high tempo.

*Bench has the experience of Yachvilli and Tindall and the sheer pace of Sharples to run at tired legs.

Defence
*Blitz banana led by Trinder and looking to go one low and one to wrap up the ball. We will challenge for turnover ball if it's on and if not look to slow their ball down.

*Robson will sweep.

Overall
We will play a fast paced game with our forwards looking to suck in their defence before releasing the backs. Robson and Burns know each other really well and will play to each other's strengths. If nothing is on we will clear our lines and put pressure on Welsh at lineout and by coming up as one solid line. Attack is our main weapon and on the counter attack we will look to run hard and straight to create the gaps and the overlaps. Burns will kick for goal when the option is there. We want 5 points from this match.

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Northampton Saints v London Wasps
Location - Franklin Gardens
-Sunny, 14 Degrees, 14mph Winds

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Northampton Saints

Manager – SirJohnnyEnglish

01. Soane Tonga'uiha	09. Lee Dickson
02. Richardt Strauss	10. Johnny Sexton
03. Brian Mujati
04. Manu Samoa	11. Chris Ashton
05. Christian Day	12. Sonny Bill Williams
06. Stephen Ferris	13. George Pisi
07. Tom Wood	14. Vasily Artemiev
08. Roger Wilson	15. Ben Foden

16. Steven Kitshoff 17. Dylan Hartley 18. Paul Doran-Jones 19. Mark Sorenson 20. Phil Dowson 21. Martin Roberts 22. Stephen Myler 23. Jamie Elliot

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Key Points

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Attack The Midfield

• We will look to get our big carriers running directly at the Wasps midfield particularly Geraghty. Ashton will run off the shoulder of SBW as he runs at the midield and look for the offload in behind the Wasps defence.

Attack The Scrum

• It is no coincidence that we have selected Mujati at TH against Tim Payne following the game Friday night in real life. We will look to really turn the screw here particularly when the bench come into play with no specialist TH on the Wasps bench.

Win The Contact

• We will look to really impose ourselves on Wasps and win the contact battle with a pack full of ball carriers, particularly in the front 5. We feel Wasps are lacking carrying options outside of Waldrom and we will look to constantly keep them on the back foot with our blitz defence.

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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 of 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 Dickson & Sexton and force Wasps 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 more room as possible to attack from.

• In Wasps 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 Wasps momentum before it can get going.

• Dickson will act as a 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 Strauss & Wood 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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London Wasps

Manager – CF

01.Tim Payne	09.Danny Care
02.George Chuter	10. Owen Farrell
03.Nicholas Mas
04.George Skivington	11.Tom Varndell
05. Marco Wentzel	12. Shane Geragty
06.Thierry Dusautoir	13. Billy Twelvetrees
07.Julien Salvi	14. Ugo Monye
08.Thomas Waldrom	15. Mike Brown

16. Boris Stankovich 17. Chris Brooker 18. Matt Stevens 19. James Cannon 20. Jacques Burger 21. Jimmy Gopperth 22. Jacque Fourie 23. Mark Cueto

We need to get some wins under our belts, to kick start our season!

Need to make sure we are solid at set pieces, nothing silly, and make sure we are difficult to take ball off. Make sure we get quick ball from the scrums and rucks etc, to get the ball to the backs so we can the northampton side ragged.

Make sure we stay disclipined at the breakdown and dont incur silly penatlies and giving away easy points. The backs can run the ball, and we can bring on the likes of the under rated Fourie and Cueto from the bench if needed..

if it goes wrong, we can revert to a kicking game, through Farell and Geraghty..

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Worcester Warriors v London Irish
Location - Sixways
-Sunny, 14 Degrees, 13mph Winds

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Worcester Warriors

Manager – InTheFastLane

01. George Porter	09. Will Genia
02. Stephen Moore	10. George Ford
03. Kyle Sinckler
04. Gerhard Mostert	11. Luke Rooney
05. George Robson	12. Steven Shingler
06. Matt Kvesic	13. Alex Grove
07. Andy Saull	14. Marcel Garvey
08. Sam Betty	15. Eerie Claasens

16. Stephen Moore 17. Joe Marler 18. Tevita Taumoepeau 19. Graham Kitchener 20. Ben Morgan 21. Jonny Arr 22. Matt Hooper 23. David Strettle

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London Irish

Manager – Pullthestrings

01. Gethin Jenkins	09. Joe Simpson
02. James Buckland	10. Brock James
03. Euan Murray
04. Bryn Evans	11. Tom Homer (k)
05. Tom Palmer	12. Daniel Bowden
06. Jerome Kaino	13. Aurelien Rougerie
07. David Pocock (c)	14. Sailosi Tagicakibau
08. Imanol Harinordoquy	15. Delon Armitage

16. Rob Herring, 17. Max Lahiff, 18. Leo Halavatau, 19. Nick Kennedy, 20. Tom Guest, 21. Darren Allinson, 22. Regan King, 23. Alesana Tuilagi

Tactics
- We need to crack on at the start of the season and win these games whilst the conditions suit our play, standing us in good stead for the Winter.

- Be solid at the set piece to create a decent platform to attack from. We have big players on the bench to ensure we keep solid for the full game. Look to really gain confidence and stability at scrum time. Quick ball to James if we're stable, Harinordoquy to pick and go if it's messy

- In the lineout, we'll dominate. So many options. Opt for full lineouts mostly in their half to tie in their pack, leaving more space out wide. Compete for their ball.

- Play in their half initially. Look for territory and target their back three. When the game opens up a bit, we'll go from anyway if it's on.

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

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

- Simpson to keep the tempo high, getting the ball quickly away from the breakdown and releasing the backs. The back three to be hungry and look to get involved.

- Big efforts in defence, particularly from Bowden and Rougerie to deal with their big midfield. Pocock to work his socks off getting across and chopping them down before they get momentum.

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

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

- Bench is full of impact players to keep the intensity high and have a run at Baths tired legs.

Welsh 27-27 Gloucester

Good front 5 battle, again think Gloucester have edge in the scrum but Welsh will control the lineout with POC leading the way. Gloucester will dominate the backrow and some great running threats in the backs. THink Welsh miss a trick playing it simple in the conditions and I think this will play into Gloucesters hands a bit to allow them a high scoring draw.

Saints 25-20 Wasps

Interesing selections from Waps, esp in the backs. I think they'll need a few weeks to get some fluidity. Great pack battle and really not too much in it but Saints have edge in the backs with some real big hitters and will edge Wasps out with a better game plan.

Worcester 18-25 Irish

Lack of game plan hinders Worcester. Some serious form issues in the Irish team but they have some big names and quality. Too much here for Worcester.

Bath 14 - 16 Sale Sharks

It's a toughie this one. Up front Sale have the beating of Bath, with their powerful front five. This will free up their backrow. However baths backrow is full of quality but will be going backwards for most of the day. Most of their good stuff will come through Hook, but he is under pressure all day. Sale's tidy halfback pairing will get the best out their centres and a roaming Miller from the back. Last minute scrum penalty to Sale will see them get a well earned victory.

Harlequins 18 - 19 Saracens

It's a brilliant little derby game. Front rows even in my mind, but line out battle just going Sarries with Ryan being capable of running a line out effective here. Quins classy backrow is good. But the lack of cohesion as a unit would hinder them. Sarries have a promising unit. But will get ambushed by the ability of the Quins one. The classy halfbacks of Sarries will Marshall a good backline and allow a dangerous back three to roam. The Quins halfbacks are a decent pairing. And they have a very good attacking backline. But in defence I can them struggling and having to call in Bendy to make a lot is saves. In the end I can maybe just see a Parra penalty snatching.

Leicester Tigers 28 - 13 Exeter Chiefs

It's a tough place to go, Leicester away. And I can't but help thinking chiefs will struggle all day here. Up front the front five battle goes to tigers. The line out is a much closer affair, but still can't see past tigers. Again Chuefs have a solid unit in the backrow. But can't look past the class of the tiggers. Out wide its a similar story. With only mieres and kahui the only players able to make any notable contribution against a strong Leicester unit.

Northampton Saints 22 - 18 London Wasps

It's a very close battle up front. With Saibts just edging it in the scrum and line out. Breakdown can see Wasps pinching more ball. But Saints more capable of slowing ball down. This will hinder the wasps backline which has little cohesion. And force Farrell to kick ball away. The well gelled Saints backline will make some headway. Wasps bench will add some fight late on. But can't see past the boot of Sexton and a few tries from the Saints back three.

Bath Rugby 23 - 19 Sale Sharks

Slight advantage to sale upfront. Prefer their set piece strength. Two pretty even second rows wit similar quality on display. Bath take the back row wit SOB the standout. Packs pretty even  overall. Big advantage to the home side at HB, and a good centre battle, neither side dominating. Neither side has enough to dominate back three. Think Bath have just enough at home.

Harlequins 24 - 22 Saracens

Don't see much in the front row to be honest, neither side has enough to dominate. Similar story in the second row with two solid pairings. Bit more quality in Quins' back row sees them come out on top. Much prefer Sarries HBs and they get a real advantage here. Quins centre partnership much more dangerous, with two good back threes. Quins, at home, nick a tight game. 

London Welsh 25 - 23 Gloucester

Glaws take the initative in the scrum with a solid front row. Welsh have the bigger names, but I like Glaws' form in the 2nd row. Two good back rows, just prefer Welsh's unit though. Similar story with the HBs with Welsh just nicking it. Really good centre battle with not a lot in it, and Glaws just take the back threes. Tough to split these two - at home and with top back row and HBs, gonna edge to Welsh. 

Worcester Warriors 16 - 19 London Wasps

Both teams will solid front fives. With line out going to Wuss and the Scrum to Irish it becomes a battle of the collisions and the breakdown and can see Irosh winning that especially if their scrum can manouevere the wuss backrow out of the way. Kvesic and Saull will work hard but will be outclassed. Outwide the tyro Genia will always be dangerous with ball in hand. But can see the rest of the backs struggling. Irish have a solid and well thought out unit and will impose themselves. Wuss have a good bench to bring on, but it will be a too late on to make a telling difference.

Guys,

Might not predict tonight as i'v got 2 weeks worth of work to do for my apprentaship in 6 hours. Should of done it during my week off last week and over the weekend but was too busy living life in the fast lane and FIFA 13 came out which really didn't help!

Northampton Saints 27 - 23 London Wasps

See Saints getting the upper hand up front, with two strong 2nd rows with not a great deal between them. Back row battle is fantastic that i just couldn't split. I give the slight edge to Saints in the HBs but two strong duos, and they dominate the centres. Wasps great form in back three takes it for them. Good game, but saints bit stronger.

Worcester Warriors 18 - 28 London Irish

Irish take the front row with a slightly stronger unit. Two fairly even 2nd rows, maybe slight edge to he home side. Irish dominate the back row which proves key. One apiece in the HBs, with Irish taking the centres. They also take the back three. No tactics and Irish much stronger sees this as comfortable. 

Quins 23 Sarries 22
Leicester 28 Exeter 20
Welsh 19 Gloucester 18
Saints 27 Wasps 20
Worcester 15 Irish 21

Bath 16-20 Sale
Quins 26-21 Sarries
Tigers 31-21 Exeter
Welsh 21-23 Gloucester
Saints 26-22 Wasps

Results:

Bath Rugby 22-20 Sale Sharks
Harlequins 26-23 Saracens
Leicester Tigers 33-20 Exeter Chiefs
London Welsh 25-23 Gloucester Rugby
Northampton Saints 28-22 London Wasps
Worcester Warriors 17-28 London Irish

Bonus:

Full: SJE, Prop, Bathite, Pooly, Fluxy, Luke
Half: CJ, CF, Ollie, CJB

Flaming hell!

I wish the cut was still 8pm now!

Great result for you Flux beating runners up, bet Prop is gutted!

Show's you how fast things can change CJ.

MARK