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

Sorry fella...I think that the 12 is the s.a under 20's guy right? Just felt that the experience from Bath would help quick ball here.

Great prospects Both Steve. Sefontein brilliant as Is emery at u 20

This is the palce where I give my academy kids a bit of a run out too! Get to find out who people'll think will make it!

Quins 20 Bath 23
Gloucester 26 Welsh 20
Newcastle 30 Ospreys 18
Tigers 17 Irish 20
Wasps 27 Wuss 19
NGD 15 Northampton 32

quins 26-24 bath
sale 23-28 sarries

falcons 42-20 ospreys
wasps 37-19 worcester
dragons 12-30 saints
Irish 25 -25 Leicester

Matt-if you don't mind could you say where I'm geting that hammering from please?

Prop I would say from my fat fingers lol I had it as 17-19 to you. Bloody phones !

Ok cheers matt! Sorry for questioning you and 'Arry I hope you don't mind me bringing that up.

I would have noticed and corrected anyhow. Touch screen and giant mitts don't go together

Harlequins 21-23 Bat

Just a bit more quality out for Bath

Sale 24-24 Sarries

Good game, Sarries a little better but home advantage

Gloucester 26-25 Welsh

Very tight, had to to look over this one for a while. 2 good sides very equal

Tigers 19-23 Irish

Bit more balance to the Irish side, Tigers miss big names

Wasps 20-19 Worcester

Another close one

Dragons 16-32 Saints

Dragons are gash

anonmattyt wrote:I would have noticed and corrected anyhow. Touch screen and giant mitts don't go together

That's why I've stuck with my bb!!

Sharks 23-17 Sarries
Gloucester 24-22 Welsh
Falcons 33-22 Ospreys
Tigers 18-19 Irish
Wasps 26-24 Worcester
Dragons 17-32 Saints

Quins 21 - 18 Bath
Sale 22 - 20 Saracens
Gloucester 35 - 30 London Welsh
Newcastle 20 - 6 Ospreys
Leicester 15 - 18 London Irish
NPG 13 - 33 Saints

Surprised i beat you Pete

I'm not mate, it looked a tight one on paper and I thought at home you would take it. I think most people only had a a point or two in it in their predos which was about right. The one thing I thought might swing it my way was a bit more experience for me at 8,9,10, but sadly not to be!

How on earth do these groups work! Baffles me completely every single season, must be the strangest group stages of any competition in the world.