Fantasy Anglo Welsh Cup Round Two

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Harlequins vs. Bath Rugby

Harlequins
Manager – Steven_Sharks

01. Will Collier	09. Karl Dickson
02. Rob Buchanan	10. Quade Cooper
03. Kieran Brookes
04. George Kruis	11. Joe Rokocoko
05. Hugh Pyle	12. Jan Serfontein
06. James Gaskell	13. Jason Emery
07. Will Welch	14. Chris Feauai-Sautia
08. Sam Jones	15. Luke Morahan

16. Rob Hawkins 17. Tadgh Furlong 18. Kyle Sinckler 19. Charlie Matthews 20. Jack Clifford 21. Ryan Glynn 22. Ihaia West 23. Olly Lindsey-Hague

Tactics

Really have a go at Bath. We have strong carriers and quick backs so will look to use the ball in hand and entertain the home crowd.

Bath Rugby
Manager – CJB

01. Jon Golding	09. Chris Cook
02. Will Tanner	10. Gareth Anscombe
03. Carl Rimmer
04. Louis Deacon	11. Olly Woodburn
05. Tom Donnelly	12. Luther Burrell
06. Will Skuse	13. Case Laulua
07. David Seymour	14. Tim Nanai Williams
08. Ben McCalman	15. Isiah Toeava

16. Kane Palmer Newport 17. Chris Brooker 18. Oliver Tomaszczyk 19. Luke Romano 20. David Pocock 21. Richard Wigglesworth 22. Charlie Hodgson 23. Aurelien Rougerie

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Sale Sharks vs. Saracens

Sale Sharks
Manager – SJE

01. Vasil Kakovin	09. Ben Spencer
02. Darren Dawdiuk	10. James Hook
03. Luc Ducalcon
04. Romain Millo Chluski	11. Kyle Eastmond
05. Dave Attwood	12. Jordan Turner-Hall
06. Matt Kvesic	13. Robbie Freuen
07. Matt Todd	14. Keith Earls
08. Alex Tulou	15. Jean-Marcellin Buttin

16. Jerome Schuster 17. Tommy Taylor 18. Neemia Tialata 19. Christian Day 20. Luke Whitelock 21. Nicholas Bezy 22. Tommy Bell 23. Will Addison

Tactics

We will look to control territory and apply pressure on Sarries in key areas looking to force mistakes. When in possession in the right areas of the pitch, we will look to play a strong carrying game, attacking in groups so as to win the collisions and get over the gain line. 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. We will kick all penalties in Sarries territory at goal and take the drop goal option whenever it’s available.

• Spencer & Hook to lead the kicking game and ensure we dominate the territorial battle.

• Massive but mobile front 5 on show and they will look to take Sarries on around the fringes.

• With big carrying options in the front 5 and backs we have been able to go with two on form breakdown specialists in the back row. Look to take real advantage here.

Saracens
Manager – Driver

01.Matt Mullen	09.Will Chudley
02.Hika Elliot	10.Iain Humphreys (K)
03.Ben Tamifuna
04.Bryn Evans (c)	11.Harry Robinson
05.Tim Swinson	12.Chris Bell
06.Ross Rennie	13.Henry Trinder
07.Shane Jennings	14.Rory Lamount
08.Luke Narraway	15.Elliot Daley (k)

16.Scott Spurling 17.Efion Lewis Roberts 18.Phil Swainstone 19.Tom Jubb 20.Rocky Elsom 21.Paul Hodgson 22.Tom Catterick 23.Mark Cueto

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Gloucester vs. London Welsh

Gloucester

01. Coonie ousthuizen	09. Dan Robson
02. Joe grey	10. Johan goosen (k)
03. Guillamon
04. Julien Pierre	11. Jsd
05. George robson	12.Steven donald
06. Alexander Lapandre	13. Rob Horne
07. Deon fourie	14. Zac Guildford
08. Arno Botha	15. Johnny may

16. Tim Payne 17. Rupert harden 18. Jamie george19. James Percival 20. Ardea savea 21. Tj perenara 22. Iain balshaw 23. Richard Kahui

Glos looking to play super quick fast handling game and to move welsh all over the park looking for weaknesses. play to our mobility and ball carrying with offloading.

We have serious gas and attacking intent and will look to use it from the off. We are playing with lots of broken field runners and line breakers.


London Welsh
Manager – Ozzy3213

01. Alex Corbisiero	09. Tomas O’Leary
02. Chris Whitehead	10. Butch James
03. Adam Jones
04. Dean Schofield ©	11. Bryan Habana
05. George Skvington	12. Gavin Henson
06. Kevin McLaughlin	13. Jonathan Davies
07. Siya Kolisi	14. Matt Jess
08. Sione Kalamafoni	15. Louis Ludik

16. Bismarck du Plessis 17. Brett Sturgess 18. Werner Kruger 19. James Hanks 20. Luke Wallace 21. Charlie Davies 22. Joel Tomkins 23. Ross Chisholm

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

• Butch James to play what he sees, but in essence we want to control possession and go through the phases.
  
• 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.
  
• Ball carrier to target Glocuester back row making them the tacklers, with support runners then hitting the ruck hard and early and burying them at the bottom of the ruck ensure that they cannot effect turnovers.
  

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. O’Leary 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.
  

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Newcastle Falcons vs. Ospreys

Newcastle Falcons
Manager – Sgt Pooly

01. Alex Waller	09. Luke Burgess
02. Lee Mears	10. James O’Connor
03. Clement Ric
04. Brad Thorn	11. Colin Slade
05. Paul O’Connell©	12. Ben Williams
06. Ed Slater	13. George Lowe
07. Heinrich Brussow	14. Miles Benjamin
08. Jackson Wray	15. Jared Payne

16. Rory Best 17. Scott Wilson 18. Luke Cowen-Dickie 19. Jonny Gray 20. Joel Conlon 21. Jimmy Cowan 22. Henry Slade 23. Francis Saili


Ospreys

01. Marc Thomas	09. Rhys Webb
02. Matthew Dwyer	10. Matthew Morgan
03. Joe Rees
04. Lloyd Peers	11. Will Price
05. James King	12. Jonathan Spratt
06. George Stowers	13. Ben John
07. Sam Lewis (c)	14. Tom Grabham
08. Morgan Allen	15. Ross Jones

16. Scott Otten 17. Nicky Smith 18. Nicky Thomas 19. Rhodri Hughes 20. Arthur Ellis 21. Tom Habberfield 22. Sam Davies 23. Nathan Edwards

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Leicester Tigers vs. London Irish

Leicester Tigers
Manager – LukeLovesLuka

01. Jonny Harris	09. Dimitri Yachvili (k)
02. Sebastien Bruno	10. Billy Twelvetrees
03. Brian Mujati
04. Simon Shaw	11. Rene Ranger
05. Romain Taofifenua	12. Francois Venter
06. Edwin Maka	13. Dominic Waldouck
07. James Scaysbrook	14. Dom Shipperley
08. Ernst Joubert (c)	15. Clement Poitrenaud

16. Andrew Sheridan 17. Jimmy Stevens 18. Ryan Bower 19. Pieter-Steph du Toit 20. Tom Croft 21. Micky Young 22. Brock James 23. Paul Jordaan

Tactics:

- Really target the scrum as often as we can.

- Target the lineout through kicking of Yachvili and 12T - with Joubert, Taofifenua, Shaw and Maka as jumpers.

- Huge carriers in Maka, Taofifenua, Joubert, Shaw and Scaysbrook to gain hard yards in the tight.

- In general attacking play, we will play off 9 with Yachvili our general pulling the strings.

- Use out attacking back three when we can - get the ball wide and look to cause damage.


London Irish
Manager – stnick88

01. Grant Shiells	09. Julien Dupuy
02. Tom Lindsay	10. Elton Jantjies
03. WP Nel
04. Dean Mumm	11. Sailosi Tagicakibau
05. Nick Kennedy	12. Shane Geraghty
06. Keegan Daniel	13. Mathieu Bastereaud
07. Will Fraser	14. Bjorn Basson
08. Netani Talei	15. Anthony Watson

16. Matt Stevens 17. James Buckland 18. Brok Harris 19. Stuart Hooper 20. Jerome Kaino 21. Neal De Kock 22. Lionel Beauxis 23. Guy Armitage


- Play an attacking game, get our talented back line involved as much as possible.

- Keep the ball alive, play an offloading game and dont get bogged down in to an arm wrestle.

- Fraser to target the breakdown and look for quick ball.

- Kick all pens in range, if not go for touch and use Kennedy as our main man.

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London Wasps vs. Worcester Warriors

London Wasps
Manager – ‘Arry

01. Charlie Beech	09. Haydn Thomas
02. Nathan Morris	10. Stephen Jones (k)
03. Shaun Knight
04. Mouritz Botha	11. Tom Varndell
05. Marco Wentzel (c)	12. Dan Bowden
06. Dewald Potgieter	13. Matt Banahan
07. Jonathan Poff	14. Jamie Elliott
08. Billy Vunipola	15. Steven Myler

16. Huia Edmonds 17. Rhodri Jones 18. Carlos Nieto 19. Samu Manoa 20. Roger Wilson 21. Jonah Holmes 22. Dan Hipkiss 23. Jack Wallace


Worcester Warriors

01. Nathan Catt	09. Dwayne Peel
02. Korree Britton	10. Tom Heathcote (k)
03. Samson Lee
04. Ollie Kohn	11. James Short
05. Leo Cullen)	12. Sam Vesty
06. Tom Savage (c)	13. Jon Clarke
07. Chris Walker	14. Eli Walker
08. Ben Morgan	15. Rob Cook

16. Gary Botha 17. Chris Budgen 18. Beast 19. Juan Cruz Guilleman 20. Kearnen Myall 21. Eoin Reddan 22. Julien Malzieu 23. Sean Maitland

*Scrummaging pack to get the edge and Cullen will control the lineouts,
*Carriers in backrow and Walker to slow ball down and get turnovers,
*Impact bench of forwards who will be used,
*Territory is key but if it's on quick ball Heathcote will ship it,
*Vesty to look to get big runners involved,
*Back row to run off shoulders with all having good pace,
*Go for goal if needed,
*We want to take good form into the league,
*3 international backs to come on on the hour and hit tired and inexperienced defence,
*Fast-blitz defence with Peel sweeping.

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Newport Gwent Dragons vs. Northampton Saints

Newport Gwent Dragons

01. Tim Ryan	09. Jonathan Evans
02. Sam Parry	10. Lewis Robling
03. Dan Way
04. Ian Nimmo	11. Hallam Amos
05. Adam Jones	12. Pat Leach
06. Ieuan Jones	13. Ashley Smith
07. Jevon Groves	14. Will Harries
08. Nic Cudd	15. Dan Evans

16. Steve Jones17. Nathan Buck 18. Owen Evans 19. Josh Tyler 20. Andrew Coombs 21. Liam Davies 22. Steffan Jones 23. Ross Wardle


Northampton Saints
Manager – Dammit Chris

01. Loti Mulipola	09. Joe Simpson
02. Rob Webber	10. Danny Cipriani
03. Henry Thomas
04. Patricio Albacete	11. Siti Siviatu
05. Alun Wyn Jones	12. Matt Giteau
06. Calum Clark	13. Matt Tait
07. Julian Salvi	14. Christian Wade
08. Ashley Johnson	15. Niall Morris

Subs: 16. Mike Haywood 17. Sebastien Taofifenua 18. Carl Hayman 19. Courtney Lawes 20. Ben Nutley 21. Sam Harrison 22. George Ford 23. Ben Foden

Struggling to get online properly at work - pretty sure that none of the players I have picked will be part of the internationals this weekend, as think all are injured for next 2-3 weeks at least (Wyn Jones, Lawes, Albacete mainly - if anyone could make some changes for me if any of them get picked then would be appreciated!).

Tactics - to play a controlled game through the forwards, working through the phases and looking to get dominance up front, using the set piece to get attacking ball for the backline. Aggressive defence, forcing mistakes and turnovers - bring on youngsters in second half.

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Scarlets vs. Blues

Got that up fast Pete

Early start at work this morning, so did the results and got this thread up before anyone else was in.

You work near Camberley then?

Yes mate, I work in Guildford, but I cover the Camberley area. In fact I will be the duty DC for Camberley tomorrow.

I have just taken a new Job in Camberley. Start their in the New Year. Actually looking at houses in Guildford/Merrow area with a view to potentially moving down.

Will probably end up commuting though as i am loathe to leave Bristol

Nice round there, you get many run ins with Sandhurst lot Pete?

I used to live near Fleet/Hook way, Blackbush market was always good on a Sunday.

Not too far Matt, straight on M4.

its about 2 hours each way door to door so similar to what i do now. just fancy cutting my commute.

Yea I don't blame you. I used to do a 100mile round trip every day, was wiped by the time the weekend came.

Just do a 450mile Friday/Sunday one now, it's really nice rolling out of bed into work which is about 30 yards from the mess.

Don't really get much drama from the lot at the RMA to be honest Pooly, generally it's the mob from either Deepcut or Pirbright who tend to get punchy on a night out in town. To be honest I am glad that I'm not in uniform anymore dealing with town centre violence on a Friday and Saturday night, as I think it's fair to say that my approach to dealing with people who cause problems whilst drunk, in particular the squaddies, is probably a bit different to hwo it is expected that they be dealt with these days.

Seriously don't get paid enough to deal with some of the crap that can go down in town/city centres. Not a job I'd fancy.

That 999 emergency in Blackpool is a good watch, some right scum bags live in the Vegas of the North.

I like that show, it gives a fairly accurate account of what it's like out there.

Be mint throwing drunks about sounds a great job

Lot of work again this week - if I don;t get the time to put my team up then it's going to be pretty much:

1. Loti Mulipola 2. Rob Webber 3. Henry Thomas 4. Calum Clark 5. Patricio Albacete 6. Dan Lydiate 7. Ben Nutley 8. Ashley Johnson 9. Sam Harrison 10. Danny Cipriani 11. Christian Wade 12. Matt Giteau 13. Matt Tait 14. Siti Siviaty 15. Ben Foden

Subs: 16. Mike Haywood 17. Sebastien Taofifenua 18. Carl Hayman 19. Alun Wyn Jones 20. Julian Salvi 21. Joe Simpson 22. George Ford 23. Matt Tait

You have Matthew Tait down twice mate.

Not having a pop Chris but why don't you just put your side in or don't put it in instead of saying "it's going to pretty much this".

There was a rule that once you named your side that was that.

That's a fair point Pooly, and really this applies to everyone, not just Chris as we've all done it.

If you don't think you will be on later in the week so can't wait to see who is selected in international teams, then you need to just put your team in when you can, and with who you know is going to be available. Changing your team or putting either/or's in there is unfair on your opponents and creates more work for whoever is doing the match thread.

Purely do it early because of work at the moment, I can't spend all my time commenting etc, but would rather have a team up just in case I can't get back on Thursday, or put a late team in so no one can do their tactics properly.

Only changes would be international call ups

Doesnt lydiate play for the dragons in this?

But you're not putting in a team, you're just saying "it'll be something like this".

As Pete says, just put your team in and if there's Int call ups that can be sorted.

Pretty sure that's what I've just done - if I'm not around on Thursday or after the call ups than that is what my team will be. Like I said am doing a lot of hours at work, so can't always get on and would rather have some sort of team posted on here so if I can't get on then at least I have a team there to play.

Saracens announce team for trip to Sale Sharks.

Saracens make 4 changes to the side which beat Leicester Tigers. Matt Mullen , Ross Rennie , Elliot Daley and Henry Trinder come into the side in the place of Max Lahiff , Rhys Ruddock , Adam Thompstone and Chris Bell. Rennie has been released by the Scotland team to allow them to try new players in the 7 role to ensure back up behind Rennie.

'We've decided to mix things up in the back row , Ross likes to get amongst it in the loose and run about a bit so we've penciled him in at 6 this week with a breakdown specialist at 7 in Shane Jennings who is up there with the best of them in terms of his work on the deck. It was a tough decision to drop Rhys who put in a monster shift last week and made some big carries but we've decided we have to give this unit a crack of the wip'

Saracens
Manager – Driver

01.Matt Mullen	09.Will Chudley
02.Hika Elliot	10.Iain Humphreys (K)
03.Ben Tamifuna
04.Bryn Evans (c)	11.Harry Robinson
05.Tim Swinson	12.Chris Bell
06.Ross Rennie	13.Henry Trinder
07.Shane Jennings	14.Rory Lamount
08.Luke Narraway	15.Elliot Daley (k)

16.Scott Spurling 17.Efion Lewis Roberts 18.Phil Swainstone 19.Tom Jubb 20.Rocky Elsom 21.Paul Hodgson 22.Tom Catterick 23.Mark Cueto

Doesn't matter Chris, you carry on fella

Harlequins
Manager – Steven_Sharks

01. Will Collier	09. Karl Dickson
02. Rob Buchanan	10. Quade Cooper
03. Kieran Brookes
04. George Kruis	11. Joe Rokocoko
05. Hugh Pyle	12. Jan Serfontein
06. James Gaskell	13. Jason Emery
07. Will Welch	14. Chris Feauai-Sautia
08. Sam Jones	15. Luke Morahan

16. Rob Hawkins 17. Tadgh Furlong 18. Kyle Sinckler 19. Charlie Matthews 20. Jack Clifford 21. Ryan Glynn 22. Ihaia West 23. Olly Lindsey-Hague

Tactics

Really have a go at Bath. We have strong carriers and quick backs so will look to use the ball in hand and entertain the home crowd.

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

Tigers continue to rotate, and make 10 changes to the side that played Saracens last week.

It is again a Tigers side peppered with academy players - Jonny Harris, Romain Taofifenua, Edwin Maka, Francois Venter and Dom Shipperley start whilst the likes of Jimmy Stevens, Ryan Bower, Pieter-Steph du Toit and Paul Jordaan will come off the bench. Amongst the younger players are older heads such as Sebastien Bruno, Simon Shaw, Ernst Joubert and Dimitri Yachvili.

And it is Ernst Joubert who captains the side.


Leicester Tigers
Manager – LukeLovesLuka

01. Jonny Harris	09. Dimitri Yachvili (k)
02. Sebastien Bruno	10. Billy Twelvetrees
03. Brian Mujati
04. Simon Shaw	11. Rene Ranger
05. Romain Taofifenua	12. Francois Venter
06. Edwin Maka	13. Dominic Waldouck
07. James Scaysbrook	14. Dom Shipperley
08. Ernst Joubert (c)	15. Clement Poitrenaud

16. Andrew Sheridan 17. Jimmy Stevens 18. Ryan Bower 19. Pieter-Steph du Toit 20. Tom Croft 21. Micky Young 22. Brock James 23. Paul Jordaan

Tactics:

- Really target the scrum as often as we can.

- Target the lineout through kicking of Yachvili and 12T - with Joubert, Taofifenua, Shaw and Maka as jumpers.

- Huge carriers in Maka, Taofifenua, Joubert, Shaw and Scaysbrook to gain hard yards in the tight.

- In general attacking play, we will play off 9 with Yachvili our general pulling the strings.

- Use out attacking back three when we can - get the ball wide and look to cause damage.

Northampton Saints trip to Newport Dragons
Manager – Dammit Chris

01. Loti Mulipola	09. Joe Simpson
02. Rob Webber	10. Danny Cipriani
03. Henry Thomas
04. Patricio Albacete	11. Siti Siviatu
05. Alun Wyn Jones	12. Matt Giteau
06. Calum Clark	13. Matt Tait
07. Julian Salvi	14. Christian Wade
08. Ashley Johnson	15. Niall Morris

Subs: 16. Mike Haywood 17. Sebastien Taofifenua 18. Carl Hayman 19. Courtney Lawes 20. Ben Nutley 21. Sam Harrison 22. George Ford 23. Ben Foden

Struggling to get online properly at work - pretty sure that none of the players I have picked will be part of the internationals this weekend, as think all are injured for next 2-3 weeks at least (Wyn Jones, Lawes, Albacete mainly - if anyone could make some changes for me if any of them get picked then would be appreciated!).

Tactics - to play a controlled game through the forwards, working through the phases and looking to get dominance up front, using the set piece to get attacking ball for the backline. Aggressive defence, forcing mistakes and turnovers - bring on youngsters in second half.

Newcastle Falcons
Manager – Sgt Pooly

01. Alex Waller	09. Luke Burgess
02. Lee Mears	10. James O’Connor
03. Clement Ric
04. Brad Thorn	11. Colin Slade
05. Paul O’Connell©	12. Ben Williams
06. Ed Slater	13. George Lowe
07. Heinrich Brussow	14. Miles Benjamin
08. Jackson Wray	15. Jared Payne

16. Rory Best 17. Scott Wilson 18. Luke Cowen-Dickie 19. Jonny Gray 20. Joel Conlon 21. Jimmy Cowan 22. Henry Slade 23. Francis Saili

Bath Rugby
Manager – CJB

01. Jon Golding	09. Chris Cook
02. Will Tanner	10. Gareth Anscombe
03. Carl Rimmer
04. Louis Deacon	11. Olly Woodburn
05. Tom Donnelly	12. Luther Burrell
06. Will Skuse	13. Case Laulua
07. David Seymour	14. Tim Nanai Williams
08. Ben McCalman	15. Isiah Toeava

16. Kane Palmer Newport 17. Chris Brooker 18. Oliver Tomaszczyk 19. Luke Romano 20. David Pocock 21. Richard Wigglesworth 22. Charlie Hodgson 23. Aurelien Rougerie

Murray is playing for Scotland this weekend.

London Wasps
Manager – ‘Arry

01. Charlie Beech	09. Haydn Thomas
02. Nathan Morris	10. Stephen Jones (k)
03. Shaun Knight
04. Mouritz Botha	11. Tom Varndell
05. Marco Wentzel (c)	12. Dan Bowden
06. Dewald Potgieter	13. Matt Banahan
07. Jonathan Poff	14. Jamie Elliott
08. Billy Vunipola	15. Steven Myler

16. Huia Edmonds 17. Rhodri Jones 18. Carlos Nieto 19. Samu Manoa 20. Roger Wilson 21. Jonah Holmes 22. Dan Hipkiss 23. Jack Wallace

01. Nathan Catt	09. Dwayne Peel
02. Korree Britton	10. Tom Heathcote (k)
03. Samson Lee
04. Ollie Kohn	11. James Short
05. Leo Cullen)	12. Sam Vesty
06. Tom Savage (c)	13. Jon Clarke
07. Chris Walker	14. Eli Walker
08. Ben Morgan	15. Rob Cook

16. Gary Botha 17. Chris Budgen 18. Beast 19. Juan Cruz Guilleman 20. Kearnen Myall 21. Eoin Reddan 22. Julien Malzieu 23. Sean Maitland

*Scrummaging pack to get the edge and Cullen will control the lineouts,
*Carriers in backrow and Walker to slow ball down and get turnovers,
*Impact bench of forwards who will be used,
*Territory is key but if it's on quick ball Heathcote will ship it,
*Vesty to look to get big runners involved,
*Back row to run off shoulders with all having good pace,
*Go for goal if needed,
*We want to take good form into the league,
*3 international backs to come on on the hour and hit tired and inexperienced defence,
*Fast-blitz defence with Peel sweeping.

01. Coonie ousthuizen	09. Dan Robson
02. Joe grey	10. Johan goosen (k)
03. Guillamon
04. Julien Pierre	11. Jsd
05. George robson	12.Steven donald
06. Alexander Lapandre	13. Rob Horne
07. Deon fourie	14. Zac Guildford
08. Arno Botha	15. Johnny may

16. Tim Payne 17. Rupert harden 18. Jamie george19. James Percival 20. Ardea savea 21. Tj perenara 22. Iain balshaw 23. Richard Kahui

Glos looking to play super quick fast handling game and to move welsh all over the park looking for weaknesses. play to our mobility and ball carrying with offloading.

We have serious gas and attacking intent and will look to use it from the off. We are playing with lots of broken field runners and line breakers.

London Welsh make a number of changes for this weeks trip to Gloucester in the Anglo Welsh Cup. Head coach Ozzy3213 had this to say.

“This is a competition that we want to do well in, so despite being affected by international call ups we have selected what we consider to be a strong side. Kingsholm is always a tough place to go, and we know that we will need to go there and be at our best if we want to come away with a win.”

London Welsh
Manager – Ozzy3213

01. Alex Corbisiero	09. Tomas O’Leary
02. Chris Whitehead	10. Butch James
03. Adam Jones
04. Dean Schofield ©	11. Bryan Habana
05. George Skvington	12. Gavin Henson
06. Kevin McLaughlin	13. Jonathan Davies
07. Siya Kolisi	14. Matt Jess
08. Sione Kalamafoni	15. Louis Ludik

16. Bismarck du Plessis 17. Brett Sturgess 18. Werner Kruger 19. James Hanks 20. Luke Wallace 21. Charlie Davies 22. Joel Tomkins 23. Ross Chisholm

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

• Butch James to play what he sees, but in essence we want to control possession and go through the phases.
  
• 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.
  
• Ball carrier to target Glocuester back row making them the tacklers, with support runners then hitting the ruck hard and early and burying them at the bottom of the ruck ensure that they cannot effect turnovers.
  

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. O’Leary 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.
  

London Irish
Manager – stnick88

01. Grant Shiells	09. Julien Dupuy
02. Tom Lindsay	10. Elton Jantjies
03. WP Nel
04. Dean Mumm	11. Sailosi Tagicakibau
05. Nick Kennedy	12. Shane Geraghty
06. Keegan Daniel	13. Mathieu Bastereaud
07. Will Fraser	14. Bjorn Basson
08. Netani Talei	15. Anthony Watson

16. Matt Stevens 17. James Buckland 18. Brok Harris 19. Stuart Hooper 20. Jerome Kaino 21. Neal De Kock 22. Lionel Beauxis 23. Guy Armitage


- Play an attacking game, get our talented back line involved as much as possible.

- Keep the ball alive, play an offloading game and dont get bogged down in to an arm wrestle.

- Fraser to target the breakdown and look for quick ball.

- Kick all pens in range, if not go for touch and use Kennedy as our main man.

I might be late with my team this week. Tax deadline over here today so up the walls. Would it be alright to get it in in the morning Pete?

Is Reddan playing for Ireland this week or is Marshall there with Murray?

Redden is not in the side this week Prop.


SJE , I'v added Bell at 12 as part of our loan agreement around Fickou.

Cheers fella: Arry, Reddan will be on the bench and not Godwin

SirJohnnyEnglish wrote:I might be late with my team this week. Tax deadline over here today so up the walls. Would it be alright to get it in in the morning Pete?

No worries mate, I'll update the thread after you've got it in.

Pooly Luke Marshall in Ireland set up I think

Cheers Matt, forgot he was involved

Sale Sharks
Manager – SJE

01. Vasil Kakovin	09. Ben Spencer
02. Darren Dawdiuk	10. James Hook
03. Luc Ducalcon
04. Romain Millo Chluski	11. Kyle Eastmond
05. Dave Attwood	12. Jordan Turner-Hall
06. Matt Kvesic	13. Robbie Freuen
07. Matt Todd	14. Keith Earls
08. Alex Tulou	15. Jean-Marcellin Buttin

16. Jerome Schuster 17. Tommy Taylor 18. Neemia Tialata 19. Christian Day 20. Luke Whitelock 21. Nicholas Bezy 22. Tommy Bell 23. Will Addison

Tactics

We will look to control territory and apply pressure on Sarries in key areas looking to force mistakes. When in possession in the right areas of the pitch, we will look to play a strong carrying game, attacking in groups so as to win the collisions and get over the gain line. 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. We will kick all penalties in Sarries territory at goal and take the drop goal option whenever it’s available.

• Spencer & Hook to lead the kicking game and ensure we dominate the territorial battle.

• Massive but mobile front 5 on show and they will look to take Sarries on around the fringes.

• With big carrying options in the front 5 and backs we have been able to go with two on form breakdown specialists in the back row. Look to take real advantage here.

Cheers for taking the late teamsheet Pete! The mania that is tax deadline day is over for another year thankfully

No worries bud. Match thread updated and predictions OPEN

(No need to predict on Blues vs. Scarlets, will use the proper result.)

quins 26-24 bath
sale 23-20 sarries
glos 29-29 welsh
falcons 27-20 ospreys
wasps 21-19 worcester
dragons 12-30 saints

Last meeting of the day just got cancelled so added predictions

Harlequins 26 -24 Bath
Although Bath have got a really impressive bench I don't think at any stage they are going to exert enough dominance in the front five. Quins have some good options there, but also like their half back pairing that has just the right balance of control and flair.

Sale 22 - 19 Saracens
Packs very even, but extra quality in the Sale backline - though with Humpheys and Daly kicking for Sarries this game is going to stay close.

Gloucester 27 - 26 London Welsh
Tough game to call, home advantage sways it for me and I'm not yet convinced with Henson in the games I've seen him play, so a little bit of a markdown there.

Newcastle Falcons 28 - 12 Ospreys
Routine win.

London Wasps 26 - 23 Worcester
Two very inexperienced front rows, again neither really gets the better of the other here. Give lineout advantage to Wasps and think that they have some better finishers in the backline. But Warriors bench very good and brings game back. Wasps win.

Leicester Tigers 25 - 24 London Irish
Toughest game to call of the week - like both teams over this period, but again don't quite see the Irish pack dominating this to get them a win at a very high in confidence Tigers. Yachvilli key in this game.

Harlequins 10-17 Bath Rugby

Bit more experience to the Bath front 5 and see them doing well at the scrum in this one. Both sides should hold their own lineout. Backrow battle edges to Bath with more at 7 & 8. Halfbacks to Quins. Even out of from Cooper is a class above here. In the backs will admit to not seeing a lot of the Quins youngsters although all are highly rated. Think the tough running of the Bath midfield will cause a few problems on defence. Baths bench is a class apart with call ups being very kind on CJB. Bath stronger overall in most areas and take the win.


Gloucester 17-20 Welsh

See Welsh getting a little more out of the scrum but it won’t be an area of dominance. Lineout wise Welsh have the stronger jumpers and should be dangerous of attacking ball but Glaws should hold their own. See Glaws getting a little bit more of the breakdown battle but Welsh have the stronger carriers. Halfbacks shading to Glaws marginally with Goosen the stronger 10 on show. Midfield to Welsh. Stronger in both positions on current form while the back 3 is fairly even. From the bench Glaws have the better runners but Welsh look stronger at the basics. Think Pete has played to his strengths in this one and see them out muscling Glaws enough to sneak a win at Kingsholm.


Newcastle Falcons 32-18 Ospreys

Falcons stronger everywhere and with some of the stars on show will look a class apart in this one.


Leicester Tigers 18-20 London Irish

Both LHs will struggle in this one but see Bruno giving more support and steadying the ship a little. Lineout is even. Kennedy on form would have had a big say in this one. Nothing between the backrows with some good form for both sides. Halfbacks to the away side. 36 doesn’t usually do to well at flyhalf. See defensive issues for both centre combos but Bast will be the biggest weapon on offence. Tigers have a bit more on show in the back three. Tight game but Irish have that little more at halfback and midfield to open the defence.


London Wasps 14-18 Worcester Warriors

Don’t see anything between the forwards overall. Very tight affair. Same to be said at halfback. More in midfield for Wasps but don’t see an awful lot overall between the back threes. See Worcester really upping the tempo in the backs and at scrum time as the subs come in and this is the key decider for me.


Newport Gwent Dragons 6-31 Northampton Saints

Very poor Dragons side on show and can’t see past a comprehensive Saints win.

Sale 24 - 20 Saracens

Sale stronger in the backline which gets them this win. They have plenty of power and their pack gets them enough ball to make that advantage count.

Gloucester 26 - 25 London Welsh

Slight advantage to Welsh upfront with the stronger front 5 but prefer the Gloucester back row. The backlines are tough but prefer Gloucester but only just. Makes for s slight Gloucester win.

Newcastle 34 - 13 Ospreys

Routine win. Ospreys do well to keep it that close.

Leicester 25 - 28 London Irish

There is a little bit more for Irish overall which gives them a fine away win. Feel that the Irish have a better balance across the side as some lethal finishers out wide.

Wasps 22 - 20 Worcester

Good contest. I suspect that Wasps will be able to get some good ball and I think there backs have enough to grind out a win. Bowden should put Banahan into gaps. Home advantage gets them a decent win.

NPG 18 - 29 Northampton

similar to Falcons game. It is going to be a comfortable win for Saints with a much stronger side.

Quins 15-19 Bath
Front row to Quins just. 2nd row to Bath. Bit more in the Bath backrow. 9-10 to Quins. Not heard of the Quins centres to be honest! Back 3 to Bath and a strong bench.

Sale 25-19 Saracens
Front row to Sale who have more in the 2nd rows. Back rows is just given to Sarries. Not splitting the halfbacks. Centres to Sharks who also have a bit more in the back three. Good bench from both but Sharks take it.

Gloucester 30-29 London Welsh
Strong Welsh front row here. Bit more from Glos 2nd rows. Backrows even. Good form 9's from both and 10's doing well. Not sure who get's the advantage in outside backs either! Little bit more off bench for Glos but Welsh have BDP who will make a difference, just just giving it to Glos. High scoring game.

Newcastle 38-12 Ospreys
Too much all over for Falcons

Leicester 22-24 London Irish
Bit more in Tigers front row. 2nd rows to Irish. Back row to Tigers. 9-10 to Tigers. Centres and outside backs to Irish who will get the edge here. Think the Irish outside backs will take this.

NPG 15-30 Northampton
Too much all over for Saints and a great impact bench!

Not a problem about the centres prop. I promise you will know about them in the near future.