Fantasy Aviva Premiership Round Seven

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Bath Rugby vs. Newcastle Falcons
Cloudy, 8 degrees, 14mph winds

Bath Rugby
Manager – inthefastlane

01. Cian Healy	09. Richard Wigglesworth
02. Chris Brooker	10. Charlie Hodgson
03. Davit Kubrashvilli
04. Luke Romano	11. George North
05. Graham Kitchener	12. Anthony Allen
06. James Haskell	13. Stuart Hogg
07. David Pocock	14. Nopolini Nalaga
08. Juan Martin Fernando Lobbe	15. Rob Miller

16. Charlie Faumuina 17. Kevin Mealamu 18. Jon Golding 19. Louis Deacon 20. Tom Guest 21. Aaron Smith 22. Mike Harris 23. Aurelien Rougerie

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 Falcons scrum, pushing them backwards. With our second row partnership we are looking at Luke Romano 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 Lobbe, 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. 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, Nalaga and North who are all deadly runners, running at the Falcons defenders. Wigglesworth will control the tempo of the backs and will look to keep the backs calm and composed. We will look to get Allen + Hogg involved in the game as much as possible. Hodgson will look to get involved in our attack, linking our play

Defence: Look to wrap the defensive line. Look for Pocock to put pressure on Flood who we feel will struggle.

Substitutes: We have some really good options on the bench who we feel can really add to the game. Mealamu, Golding and Faumuina can come in and help strengthen our front row. Deacon is an option who can really add grunt and grit late on. Tom Guest will look to play a get involved with our carrying. Aaron Smith will look to come on and really up the tempo with some sniping runs. Harris will look to provide a good kicking option late while we feel Rougerie can damage tired defences late on.


Newcastle Falcons
Manager – Sgt Pooly

01. Fabien Barcella	09. Ben Youngs
02. Rory Best	10. Toby Flood
03. Paul Doran-Jones
04. Brad Thorn	11. Alex Cuthbert
05. Paul O’Connell(c)	12. Sonny Bill Williams
06. Kelly Brown	13. George Lowe
07. Chris Robshaw	14. Tommy Bowe
08. Toby Faletau	15. Alex Goode

16. Lee Mears 17. Owen Franks 18. Alex Waller 19. Geoff Parling 20. Heinrich Brussow 21. Luke Burgess 22. James O’Connor 23. Miles Benjamin



Tactics

HIGH TEMPO, POSSESION, BIG CARRIES.....GAME CHANGERS IN BACKLINE IN SBW, YOUNGS, FLOOD, BOWE, CUTHBERT

GAME FORM - 5 wins from 6

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 Youngs/Flood to attack with. Look for fast ball off the top of the lineout with POC 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. Youngs 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/Brown 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. Youngs to sweep in behind the defensive line.

Backs:

Basically get the backs into play whenever possible with Flood & Young the spark. Look to get SBW, Bowe & Cuthbert into the game whenever possible. Youngs to play on instinct around the fringes and look to get SBW running angles through the Bath 9/10 axis and 12/13 axis.


POINTS:

SCRUM & LINEOUT – Target throughout, if weakness seen go for the jugular, especially the lineout with Goode/Flood pinging corners
PHYSICAL PACK – Win the collosion and target rucks to drive through opposition
BREAKDOWN – Brussow/Robshaw to work their magic and Youngs to monitor to attack on turnover ball
FORM – We are in great form 5 from 6
BACKS – World class running options and finishers, big game players and finishers to see us through at home
ROLLING MAUL – With our big front 5 look to get the rolling maul going off selected lineouts and eat up the ground
IMPACT BENCH - Keep the temp high and bring on top draw talent to see us over the finishing line.

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Gloucester vs. Leicester Tigers
Cloudy, 9 degrees, 13mph winds

Gloucester
Manager - anonmattyt

01. Nick Wood	09. Will Genia
02. Adriaan Strauss	10. Johan Goosen(k)
03. Nicola Mas
04. Richie Grey	11. James Simpson-Daniel
05. George Robson	12. Berrick Barnes
06. Willem Alberts	13. Richard Kahui
07. Alexandre Lapandry	14. Charlie Sharples
08. Immanol Harinordoqouy	15. Johnny May

16. Guthro Steenkamp 17. Joe Gray 18. Rupert Harden 19. Tom Palmer 20. Stephen Ferris 21. Dan Robson 22.Juan De Jongh 23. Iain Balshaw

Tactics

Glos welcome Leicester to fortress Kingsholm. Glos are glad to welcome back some of their key players from RC

We will be aiming to play a high tempo quick game and look to move it wide and keep leicester moving. However we are aware we need to win the territory and possession battle first.

- We Have the ability to play the game many different ways and the ability to raise and slow the tempo as desired
- Key decision makers at 2,8,9,10,12
- Target the scrum with Wood, Strauss and Mas a formidable unit.
- We will attack all lineouts as we see this as a massive area of weakness for Leicester. Hari, Gray, Robson, Lapandry, Alberts will be looking to starve Leicester of lineout ball. see only horwill as a recognised jumper and the lineout is one of the best ways of getting attacking quick ball. we aim to make Moore's darts be under pressure
- Packed with ball carriers and dynamism we will be carrying it in to the heart of leicester looking for gaps and offloads to keep the ball moving
- All glos back 3 looking to attack at any oipportunity and exploit mismatches. they play as a unit in real life which is a huge advantage
- Great kicking options with Genia, Goosen and Barnes able to control the game where needed but also capable of launching blistering attacks
- Aim to get after Yachvilli and Wilko. They are not the most attacking of players and playing off 9 is not the easiest way of playing a quick attacking game so disrupting yachvilli is a key

- We will use a blitz defence with centres up quick as we see the ball from yach to wilko being slow and enabling us to get in their faces.
- huge impact bench with Steenkamp, Grey, Ferris etc all coming on to sure up the win

Key points

- lineout domination- lineout is one of the key areas of possession we see ourselves as having a far superior set up
- Tempo- Glos can play the game many ways allowing variety. we see yach and wilko as not being that capable of opening up the game making defending easier
- Real life form- tons of players in excellent form
- Decision makers in all the key positions
- key players back from the RC


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. Maxime Mermoz
06. Sean O'Brien	13. Brian O'Driscoll
07. Francois Louw	14. Vincent Clerc
08. Thomas Waldrom	15. Isa Nacewa

16. Gethin Jenkins 17. Tom Youngs 18. Cencus Johnston 19. Simon Shaw 20. Tom Croft 21. Micky Young 22. Billy Twelvetrees 23. Rene Ranger

Tactics:

We will play to our strengths and play a game built around our intelligent HB's controlling the game, the power of our pack and the strength in our set piece.

- 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 with our huge pack - Cole and Sheridan to look to really get the shove on against Wood and Mas. Jenkins and Johnston to pile the pressure on agaianst Steenkamp and Harden in the second half.

- Attack at all lineouts. Our lineout is led by Horwill; with Pape, SOB and Louw as our other jumping options.
Some great lineout stealers in our ranks who will pressure every one of Strauss' throws.

- Gigantic pack made up of massive line-breakers, used in the tight to tire down the Gloucester defence. The likes of Waldrom, SOB, Moore, Pape and Horwill to be used to crash through the Gloucester defence.
Look to play an offloading game, with runners always supporting.

- Huge emphasis on our work at the breakdown today and we will always look to turnover possession. With Louw, and the likes of SOB, Cole and BOD, we feel our breakdown play could 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 Mermoz 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. Yachvili to sweep behind with an eye on short kicks.

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

- Wilkinson to kick all penalites.


Key Points:

Form and Momentum
8 wins out of 8, having already beat Sale, Castres, Saracens and London Welsh away from home - we are absolutely flying at the minute and have so much confidence. In stark contrast- Gloucester have lost half of all their games so far this season.

Breakdown Advantage
We are placing huge emphasis on our work at the breakdown today. With breakdown expert Francois Louw - supported by the likes of SOB, Cole and BOD, we feel our breakdown play could be crucial. Any opportunity that we get, we will look to win turnover ball.

Real Life Form
Our squad is packed full of players who are playing very well in real life. The likes of Sheridan, Wilko, Monye and Louw are playing some of their best rugby in a long time. Cole, Waldrom, Pape, Mermoz, BOD and Clerc have all started the season in fine form. On the bench too with Youngs, Cencus, 36 and Ranger all playing well.

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London Irish vs. Harlequins
Cloudy, 9 degrees, 12mph winds

London Irish
Manager – stnick88

01. Jean Baptiste Poux	09. Ruan Pienaar
02. Tom Lindsay	10. Nick Evans
03. Martin Castrogiovanni
04. Matt Garvey	11. Marland Yarde
05. Johann Muller	12. Luke McAllister
06. Marcell Coeztee	13. Mathieu Bastereaud
07. Steffon Armitage	14. JP Pieterson
08. Keegan Daniel	15. Delon Armitage

16. Matt Stevens 17. Andrew Hore 18. WP Nel 19. Stuart Hooper 20. Hendrie Fourie 21. Julien Dupuy 22. Shane Geraghty 23. Guy Armitage

Tactics

- Play the game in the right areas. Pienaar, Evans and Mac to dictate this. We can still attack and will still run the ball but also we want to dominate territory. Our 9,10,12 are on good form and can control the game for us.

- Armitage will look to dominate the breakdown, win us penalties and secure quick ball. With Evans and Mac in attack we have great playmakers who can put people like Bast, JP, Yarde and Delon in space. JP will come off his wing and look for gaps to be put through.

- Evans to kick all pens for goal, if out of range go for touch. Muller is our main lineout jumper but Garvey and Daniel will also be used to keep Quins guessing. We will look for quick ball off the top and use Bast as a decoy runner as well as ball carrier to get over the gainline.

- We will target the scrum with two big powerful scrummaging props on our side. We will look to win as many pens as poss to kick points from.

- We will look to big hits in on Roberts and shut him down quickly to stop Quins gaining as much momentum.

- We have a fresh side as a lot of players were rested in the HC. We also have a lot of form players, in key positions like 8, 9, 10, 12. With Steffon at 7 we have the form 7 in the NH and will look to boss the breakdown and control the game at home.


Harlequins
Manager – Steven_Sharks

Harlequins name a strong side to face London Irish, who sit one place above them in the League table. We have come off two impressive '5 pointers' in the HC and face a London Irish side who have come off worst in both of their titanic battle in the last two weeks.

01. Joe Marler	09. Lee Dickson
02. Schalk Brits	10. Freddie Burns (k)
03. John Afoa
04. Bakkies Botha	11. Tom Biggs
05. Steve Borthwick	12. Jamie Roberts
06. Dave Denton	13. Florian Fritz
07. Sam Warburton (c)	14. Yoann Huget
08. Nick Easter	15. Rob Kearney

16. Matthew Rees 17. Mako Vunipola 18. Ben Franks 19. Jerome Thion 20. Tom Wood 21. Karl Dickson 22. Quade Cooper 23. Jonathan Joseph

Tactics

Game Plan

The conditions allow us to play to our strengths, which mean’s controlling the tempo and the territory of the game. We will look to tie in defenders with strong carries from our mobile and physical pack before we then look to send the ball wider where Burns can pull the strings. We are going to look to maintain possession when in the Irish half so as to tire the Irish players as they make tackle after tackle. Rucking is a vital part of our game and we need our forwards to ruck effectively and ruck past the ball for two reasons, so Dickson can get quick ball and play at a quick tempo, and to negate the threat of Steffon Armitage.

Forwards

The quality of our pack speaks for itself. We are packed with carriers who will be carrying hard and in numbers and will look to offload if it’s on. When they reach contact they will aim to win the collisions and keep pumping the legs in contact.

We will look to control the set piece with a strong front row starting and then coming off the bench. Borthwick will control the lineout as he does so well.

Backs

Half backs will look to control the tempo and put others into space. In the midfield we have two huge carriers who will tie in defenders and put others into space. In the back 3 we have pace to burns and 3 fantastic finishers who will take most of their half chances. We will look to put them into spaces.

Defence

Quick line speed and double up in the tackle when we can. Look to win the collisions and knock irish back and stop there momentum. Warburton to cause havoc at the breakdown.

Key Points

Form players – we have a side full of them. They make a difference.

Strong carrying – we have load s of carriers and we need them to cross the gainline to make rucking easy for us. The quick ball comes easier when we make dents in the Irish defence.

Quick ruck ball - we have to ruck hard to get us quick ball. Front 5 key to this.

Form – We are coming off of two BP wins. Irish come of two tiring defeats

Freshness – many of our side have been able to rest for at least one game in last two weeks so are raring to go.

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Northampton Saints vs. Saracens
Light Rain, 7 degrees, 12mph winds

Northampton Saints
Manager - dammit_chris

01. Thomas Domingo	09. Joe Simpson
02. Dylan Hartley (c)	10. Juan Martin Hernandez
03. Carl Hayman
04. Bradley Davies	11. Chris Ashton
05. Alun Wyn Jones	12. Wesley Fofana
06. Courtney Lawes	13. Manu Tuilagi
07. Sam Cane	14. Christian Wade
08. Sergio Parisse	15. Leigh Halfpenny (k)

16. Rob Webber 17. Sona Taumalolo 18. Henry Thomas 19. Joe Launchbury 20. Julian Bonnaire 21. Mike Phillips 22. Danny Cipriani 23. Julian Savea

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 Sarries 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 - this is a key area we are wanting to target against Sarries.

Pack/SetPiece/Breakdown

- Will look for the pack to work through the phases, keep the ball away from Saracens. Have a lot of gainline breakers and real physicality throughout.

- Four lineout jumpers in Wyn Jones, Davies, Lawes and Parisse - Hartley been in great form and will mix up the lineout and use it as an attacking platform. Will use Lawes athleticism to get at the Sarries lineout and attack their ball.

- Solid scrum with Domingo, Hartley and Hayman in top form - again will use as an attacking platform for Parisse and Simpson to run from.

- big emphasis this week on the breakdown, we will look to attack this area in numbers and force turnovers and dominate - have picked a fast, dynamic backrow and Fofana and Tuilagi in midfield are also excellent at this. Getting quick ball is key as have a lot of try scorers in the backline, all of whom are again in very good form.

Attack -

- feel we have a very strong pack that has more physicality, pace and ball carriers than Sarries counterparts, so should see more ball to attack with and have the option to go route one with the forwards. Want the pack to get us over the gainline and spread ball wide to the backs.

- Hernandez to control the game at 10, with really strong 12-13 combination and we will look to attack through the midfield as see this area as somewhere we have an advantage and can punch holes in the Sarries defence.

- Great form in the outside backs with a lot of tries at the weekend Tuilagi (2), Fofana (2), Wade (2) and Halfpenny (1). Confident if we get the ball to them there are a lot of tries on offer in the conditions.

Defence -

- aggressive defence that is led by Lawes in the forwards who is at blindside this week so he can go straight for the Sarries backline and put in hard hits.

- will implement a blitz defence, with Fofana and Tuilagi the defensive brick in the midfield. Force Sarries into a kicking game, which will give the ball to our backthree.

Key points -

- Home advantage, good try scoring form and a lot of players in very good form in real life.

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

- strong bench to come on in the final 30minutes and have been picked for their impact.


SARACENS

01.Matt Mullen	09.Dewaldt Duvenage
02.John Smit(c)	10.Iain Humphreys
03.Ben Tameifuna
04.Lionel Nallet	11.Tim Visser
05.Ali Williams	12.Chris Bell
06.Joe Van Niekerk	13.Henry Trinder
07.Ross Rennie	14.Adam Thompstone
08.Luke Narraway	15.Ben Smith

16.George Chuter 17.Max Lahiff 18.Jannie Du Plessie 19.Tim Swinson 20.Phil Dowson 21.Will Chudley 22.Francois Trinh-Duc 23.Mark Cueto

Play a big physical game around attacking the fringes and coming round the corner and using our ball carriers throught out our side. Our team is based around playing the game in the right areas with our half backs getting us into the right positions.

- Use our rolling maul and get it going from kick offs and lineouts to put the saints pack under pressure and tone the crowd down.

- Put the Saints back 3 under pressure , we’ve picked two giant wings in Visser (6,4 and 240ibs) and Thompstone (6ft and 222ibs) so they’ll be a strong kick chase from them and JVN and Rennie in the back row.

- Target the Saints lineout , AWJ has stopped calling the O’s lineout in real life with Ryan Jones now leading it and Lawes is a poor jumper and even worse under pressure from Ali Williams one of the best 5s in the buissness.

- Duvenage to snipe and tie the fringe defenders in to give Viss , Thom ,Rennie and JVN holes to run at and break the line.

- Ihump to keep a eye open for the crossfield in the Saints half with Visser bombing down on Wade.

- Mullen , Smit , Tameifuna , Nallet and Williams is a powerful front 5 and will look to secure clean ball at the scrum and disrupt the Saints scrum with Smit getting at Hartley by scrummaging under him and forcing him to pop up and having a few quite words to test Hartleys temper.

- Blitz/Fan defence with Trinder looking to get up on Manu early doors , Fofana loves to step back inside and will be met by Ross Rennie covering the 10/12 channel. 9 to sweep behind

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London Wasps vs. London Welsh
Cloudy, 8 degrees, 8mph winds

London Wasps
Manager – ‘Arry

01. Ben Daley	09. Haydn Thomas
02. Sean Cronin	10. Rhys Preistland (k)
03. Carlos Nieto
04. Samu Manoa	11. Tom Varndell
05. Marco Wentzel (c)	12. Brad Barritt
06. Steve Mafi	13. George Pisi
07. Jonathan Poff	14. Topsy Ojo
08. Roger Wilson	15. Mike Brown

16. Nathan Morris 17. Charlie Beech 18. Shaun Knight 19. Mouritz Botha 20. Dewald Potgieter 21. Mike Blair 22. Dan Bowden 23. Matt Banahan

Tactics
We will look to our forwards to carry hard, attacking gaps in the London Welsh defensive line, getting us over the gain line and onto the front foot. We will ensure our carriers have plenty of support, so we can continue our attacks. We will look the likes of Manoa, Mafi and Cronin to get us over the gain line.

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

Line speed and aggression is key for us in defence, we will try and prevent London Welsh 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.

Preistland will look to kick in behind the London Welsh wingers and put us deep into their territory where we will look to really pressurize them and look to force them into errors. Thomas will look to snipe around the fringes and get our forwards running onto the ball.

Wentzel will be our main go to man, we will also look to use Mafi and Wilson at the tail of the lineout where we can launch attacks from and get our big centers running at the London Welsh fly half, whom our back row will look to be in the face of all game.

With the ball in hand, we will look to punch holes in the London Welsh defensive line and get the ball to our back three. 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 London Welsh defensive line.

At the scrum, on our own ball, we will look to turn the scrum legally to erase the London Welsh 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 Thomas and Preistland controlling our play.


London Welsh
Manager – Ozzy3213

01. Alex Corbisiero	09. Morgan Parra
02. Bismarck du Plessis	10. Patric Lambie
03. Adam Jones
04. Dean Schofield	11. Digby Ioane
05. George Skivington	12. Owen Farrell
06. Tom Johnson	13. Jonathon Davies
07. Thierry Dusautoir ©	14. Bryan Habana
08. Duane Vermeulen	15. Jaco Taute

16. Chris Whitehead 17. Brett Sturgess 18. David Wilson 19. Sitaleki Timani 20. Maurie Fa’asavalu 21. Tomas O’Leary 22. Joel Tomkins 23. Matt Jess

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 Wasps 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 Wasps make.

Attacking specifics

• In good conditions we will look to keep possession and run the ball, with Parra and Lambie dictating the tempo and angles of attack. Ioane and Habana will both look to hit good lines off the 10, 12 and 13's shoulders. We will also use them as decoys with Taute hitting the line looking for gaps.
  
• Big carriers to run hard and straight in midfield off early phase ball.
  
• 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 or Farrell(penalties or drop goals).
  

Defensive specifics

• 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

• We come in with confidence, having picked up points in every game so far this season and having secured back to back wins inthe Amlin Cup the last 2 weeks..
  
• Strength and quality in the key controlling positions (2,8,9 and 10) which you need to win away from home..
  
• We are solid defensively in midfield with real attacking threat out wide.
  
• 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.
  

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Worcester Warriors vs. Sale Sharks
Cloudy, 8 degrees, 10mph winds

Worcester Warriors
Manager - prop_lyd

01. Beast	09. Eoin Reddan
02. Gary Botha	10. Olly Barkley (k)
03. BJ Botha
04. Luke Charteris	11. Julien Malzieu
05. Jim Hamilton (c)	12. Fergus McFadden
06. Mamuka Gorgodze	13. Jon Clarke
07. Justin Tipuric	14. James Short
08. Ben Morgan	15. Rob Cook

16. Korree Britton 17. Paul James 18. Chris Budgen 19. Ryan Jones 20. Tom Savage 21. Dwayne Peel 22. Sam Vesty 23. Sean Maitland

Tactics
Forwards

Strong front row who will look to edge up on the tighthead to give Morgan more time to pick the scrum. Botha to put pressure on their put in.

A strong 2nd row who will target the lineout and we will utilise the lineout as out main weapon of attack providing 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. Morgan and Gorgodze will look to run off of 12-13 to create the gaps.

A good bench with old heads who can slow down the play and Savage to bring on more power.
Pack to cause issues at the breakdown and play 'ball up the jumper's' rugby.


Backs

Barkley to ping the ball into the corners unless an overlap has been created.. This is where we will use our lineout force 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, Mcfadden and Clarke will run straight and hard and look for the offload.

We have a strong back 3 and Cook is a strong clearer of lines. Malzieu brings the brute force and in defence will hold his own and Short can bring some flair. 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 1st 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.

IF THIS DEFENCE IS NOT WORKING then we will bring Malzieu in to stand at 12 and use his heavy hitting to prevent the ball being spun out wide. We will look to stop Wasps playing by slowing the ball down at the breakdown.

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 our pack and strong pack bench will be controlling the game and rolling us towards the opposition’s tryline.

We are very fired up, have a set of leaders in the squad, want another win and to rattle the opposition.


Sale Sharks
Manager – SJE

01. Marcos Ayerza	09. Danny Care
02. David Paice	10. Johnny Sexton
03. Davit Zirakishvilli
04. Dave Attwood	11. Kyle Eastmond
05. Andries Bekker	12. Francois Steyn
06. Adam Thomson	13. Robbie Freuen
07. Fulgence Quedragao	14. Keith Earls
08. Louis Picamoles	15. Nick Abendanon

16. V. Kakovin 17. D. Dawdiuk 18. L. Ducalcon 19. C. Day 20. M. Kvesic 21. B. Spencer 22. J. Hook 23. W. Addison

Key Points

• 5 genuine jumping options on show to secure the lineout. The Worcester "pinging the corners" game will play straight into our hands.

• With Barkley playing deep this allows us to get up on the blitz and stop Gorgodze/Morgan building any momentum

• Real impact of the bench. Massive front row to come on and attack the scrum while an in-form Hook and Addison give us game changers in the backs.

Tactics

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 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 Sexton & Steyn and win the kicking battle against Barkley.

• 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 Worcester 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.

• We will play an aggressive blitz on defence, playing on the edge of the offside line and coming up at pace, looking to isolate the ball carrier and stop any Worcester momentum before it can get going.

• Danny Care 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 ball.

• 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 Thomson & Quedragao looking to get his 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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Bath Rugby 22 - 20 Newcastle Falcons
Very tight in the forward battle, can't see either side getting the upper hand at the lineout or at the scrum. Both backlines are strong, Hodgson in great form can see his passing game really benefitting Bath's strike runners. Two very good benches, think home advantage just wins it for Bath.

Gloucester Rugby 23 - 21 Leicester Tigers
It's going to be an absolutely massive battle up front, two big packs, Leicester perhaps have the more dynamic one. Can see Tigers getting the upper hand in the scrum, but I think with Lapandry and Hari Glous will control the lineout. Wilko in good form, think Gloucester have serious threat out wide, prefer the balance of their backline.

London Irish 28 - 28 Harlequins
Great game, think both sides will score tries, very even up front both sides have players in form. Too hard to seperate the two. Can see Burns really bringing Quins to life, would like to see Joseph back in the starting line up though. Evans class act, both sides cancel eachother out.

Northampton Saints 28 - 24 Saracens
Pack goes to Saints and along with home advantage I can see them winning well, Sarries but up a good fight but the Saints have momentum and good form, backline so good.

Worcester Warriors 20 - 18 Sale Sharks
Close pack battle, edge just to Worcester who have some players in good form. Think Barkley is key for Worcester, home advantage and just that edge in the forwards hands them an impressive win over Sale.

Wasps 19-21 welsh key positions welsh win it. Wasps secOnd row may dismantle lineout though

For f ucks sake!

Happy with That result, didn't expect it! Guessing sirj will be out for blood when the warriors head north

SCORERS

Bath Rugby 27 (T: Healy, Romano, Miller C: Hodgson 3 P: Hodgson 2)
Newcastle Falcons 24 (T: Thorn, Bowe, Benjamin C: Flood 3 P: Flood)

Gloucester 25 (T: Alberts, Simpson-Daniel, Sharples C: Goosen 2 P: Goosen 2)
Leicester Tigers 24 (T: Cole, O'Driscoll, Croft C: Wilkinson 3 P: Wilkinson)

London Irish 27 (T: McAlister, Coetzee, Stevens C: Evans 3 P: Evans 2)
Harlequins 23 (T: Cooper, Dickson C: Cooper 2 P: Burns 2, Cooper 1)

Northampton Saints 29 (T: Cane 2, Cipriani C: Halfpenny P: Halfpenny 4)
Saracens 22 (T: Smith, Chuter P: Humphreys 4)

London Wasps 20 (T: Poff, Beech C: Priestland 2 P: Priestland 2)
London Welsh 25 (T: Ioane, Taute, Habana C: Farrell P: Farrell 2)

Worcester Warriors 25 (T: BJ Botha, Gorgodze, Barkley C: Barkley 2 P: Barkley 2)
Sale Sharks 22 (T: Ayerza, Picamoles P: Sexton 4)




Prop, that's a cracking result for you mate, likewise CJB with that win. Last year it was SJE who worked wonders with his squad, potential for you two to do the same this season.

Knew I was in for a hard job when I saw your backrow Prop! You've got some players hitting really good form at the moment. Doing a crack job with your squad