Fantasy Amlin Challenge Cup Round Four

---

Amlin Challenge Cup Round Three

P1 Connacht v Sale Sharks

Connacht

01. Dennis Buckley	09. Kieran Marmion
02. Adrian Flavin	10. Dan Parks
03. Nathan White (c)
04. Michael Swift	11. Fetu'u Vainikolo
05. Mike McCarthy	12. Dave McSharry
06. John Muldoon	13. Eoin Griffin
07. Willie Faloon	14. Tiernan O'Halloran
08. Eoin McKeon	15. Robbie Henshaw

16. Jason Harris Wright 17. Brett Wilkinson 18. Ronan Loughney 19. George Naoupu 20. Johnny O'Connor 21. Dave Moore 22. Miah Nikora 23. Mata Fifita


Sale Sharks
Manager – SJE

01. Jerome Schuster	09. Danny Care
02. David Paice	10. James Hook
03. Luc Ducalcon
04. Dave Attwood	11. Kyle Eastmond
05. Christian Day	12. Francois Steyn
06. Alex Tulou	13. Keith Earls
07. Fulgence Quedragao	14. David Strettle
08. Louis Picamoles	15. Nick Abendanon

16. Marcos Ayerza 17. Darren Dawdiuk 18. Davit Zirakishvilli 19. Brodie Retalick 20. Iain Henderson 21. Ben Spencer 22. Johnny Sexton 23. Will Addison

Conditions

Per BBC Weather: Sunny Intervals, 9 Degrees, 7mph Winds

Key Points

• We are under no illusions Galway is a tough place to go these days. We will be looking to keep hold of the ball as much as possible and have selected a massive back row to do so. We will look to take Connacht on at the set piece with a strong scrummaging front row on show. Winning the contact battle and getting on the front foot is crucial.

• Filed the bench with big mobile forwards to keep up the high intensity carrying game in the last quarter. Sexton will relish coming on against tired legs.

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 Hook & Steyn and force Connacht to come at us from deep.

• 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 Connacht territory, with 5 jumping options to use, we will look to play off the top and move the ball out to Hook 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 Connacht momentum before it can get going.

• 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 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.

---

P1 Mont de Marsan v Bordeaux-Begles

---

---

P2 Perpignan v Worcester Warriors

Perpignan

01. Jerome Schuster	09. David Mele
02. Maxime Delonca	10. Gilles Bosch
03. Nicolas Mas
04. Guillaume Vilaceca	11. Adrien Plante
05. Romain Taofifenua	12. Gavin Hume
06. Yoann Vivalda	13. Lifeimi Mafi
07. Bertrand Guiry	14. Farid Sid
08. Henry Tuilagi	15. Joffrey Michel

16. Guilhem Guirado 17. Sebastien Taofifenua 18. Pascal Cotet 19. Sebastien Vahaamahina 20. Luke Narraway 21. Florian Cazenave 22. Armand Batlle 23. Sione Piukala


Worcester Warriors
Manager - prop_lyd

01. Paul James	09. Kerr Barlow
02. Korree Britton	10. Tom Heathcote
03. Chris Budgen
04. Ollie Kohn	11. Julien Malzieu
05. Leo Cullen	12. Pat McCabe
06. Tom Savage	13. Jon Clarke
07. Justin Tipuric	14. Marcel Garvey
08. Ben Morgan	15. Sean Maitland

16. Richardt Strauss 17. Nathan Catt 18. Fraser Balmain 19. Jim Hamilton 20. Ryan Jones 21. Eoin Reddan 22. Sam Vesty 23. Fergus McFadden

Tactics
Forwards to run hard, heavy pack to battle against their big pack, big carriers and plenty of lineout options here, we want to win well so will ruffle their feathers and look to control the breakdown.

Backs to play what's in front of them, we have form and strong runners who will look to offload to our big lumps to begin with we want territory then we will look for Clarke and Maitland on the angles.

Perpignan will be fired up after their loss away from home and we will confront this and test their short fuse. We want to keep the scoreboard ticking so hard blitz defence with 9 peeling and look for turnovers and pressure. Go for goal when in range.

---

P2 Femi-CZ VEA Rovigo v Bizkaia Gernika RT

---

---

P3 London Wasps v Bayonne

London Wasps

Manager – Fluxy

01. Ben Robinson	09. Nick Phipps
02. Sean Cronin	10. Rhys Priestland
03. Shaun Knight
04. Mouritz Botha	11. Jamie Elliot
05. Donnacha Ryan	12. Brad Barritt
06. Aaron Shingler	13. Casey Laulala
07. John Barclay	14. Topsy Ojo
08. Jordan Crane	15. Mike Brown

16. Tatafu Polota-Nau 17. Charlie Beech 18. Carlos Nieto 19. Dan Tuohy 20. Dave Dennis 21. Jonah Holmes 22. Dan Bowden 23. Jack Wallace


Bayonne

01. Aretz Iguiniz	09. Mike Phillips
02. David Roumieu	10. Benjamin Boyet
03. Nemiah Tialata
04. Abdellatif Boutaty	11. Marvin O'Connor
05. Mark Chisholm (c)	12. Gabi Lovobalavu
06. Jean-Jo Marmouyet	13. Thibault Lacroix
07. Dwayne Haare	14. Sam Gerber
08. Julien Puricelli	15. Scott Spedding

16. Francois Da Ros 17. Pierre Philippe Lafond 18. Vitolio Manukula 19. Robin Linde 20. Cedric Garcia 21. Marc Baget 22. Matthieu Ugalde 23. Cedric Heymans

---

P3 Newport Gwent Dragons v Rugby Mogliano

---

---

P4 Cammi Rugby Calvisano v Bath Rugby

Calvisano

01. Andrea Lovotti	09. Gullo Palazzani
02. Luigi Ferraro	10. Paul Griffen
03. Gabriele Morelli
04. Jaco Erasmus	11. Ben de Jager
05. Alessio Zdrilich	12. Andy Vilk
06. Giacomo Brancoli	13. Pablo Canavosio
07. Gabriele Cicchinelli	14. Alberto Bergamo
08. Samu Vunisa	15. Shaun Berne

16. Andrea Gavazzi 17. Luca Scarsini 18. Marco Coletti 19. Luca Beccaris 20. Jacopo Salvetti 21. Simon Picone 22. Andrea Marcato 23. Tommy Castello


Bath Rugby
Manager - CJB

01. Jon Golding	09. Richard Wigglesworth
02. Will Tanner	10. David Skrela
03. Carl Rimmer
04. Luke Romano	11. George North
05. Tom Donnelly	12. Luther Burrell
06. Brad Shields	13. JJ Engelbrecht
07. David Seymour	14. Richard Lane
08. Tom Guest	15. Isiah Toeava

16. Ben Alexander 17. Chris Brooker 18. Davit Kubrashvilli 19. Louis Deacon 20. James Haskell 21. Aaron Smith 22. Mike Harris 23. Tim Nanai Williams

---

P4 Agen v Bucharest Wolves

---

---

P5 London Welsh v Grenoble

London Welsh
Manager – Ozzy3213

01. Steven Kitschoff	09. Paul Hodgson
02. Chris Whitehead	10. Owen Farrell
03. Frans Malherbe
04. Dean Schofield ©	11. Digby Ioane
05. James Hanks	12. Patric Lambie
06. Tom Johnson	13. Darren Cave
07. Luke Wallace	14. Bryan Habana
08. Duane Vermeulen	15. Jaco Taute

16. Rob Hawkins 17. Brett Sturgess 18. David Wilson 19. Rynhardt Elstadt 20. Siya Kolisi 21. Eric Escande 22. Gavin Henson 23. Andrew Trimble

Basic Game Plan

Basic tactical premise for us to control possession and be solid defensively. Focus will be on winning the gainline collisions 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 Grenoble 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 Grenoble make.


Grenoble

01. Albertus Buckle	09. Jonathan Pelissie
02. Anthony Hegarty	10. Nicolas Laharrague
03. Karim Kouider
04. Thibault Rey	11. Florian Ninard
05. Andrew Farley (c)	12. Aloisio Butonidualevu
06. Florent Fourcade	13. Ronald Cooke
07. Fabien Alexandre	14. Matthieu Nicolas
08. Flavein Nouhaillaguet	15. Joaquim Tuculet

16. Laurent Bouchet 17. Romain David 18. Gregory Fabro 19. Jonathan Best 20. Rida Jaouher 21. Viliame Waqaseduadua 22. Clement Darbo 23. Florian Faure

---

P5 Stade Francais Paris v I Cavilieri Prato

---

---

London Welsh make a number of changes to the side that earned a try bonus point against Grenoble in France, for this weeks return visit to the Kassam Stadium. In the pack Steven Kitschoff, Frans Malherbe, Tom Johnson , Luke Wallace and Duane Vermeulen replace Brett Sturgess and David Wilson who drop to the bench, and the injured back row trio of Ofisa Treviranus, Maurie Fa’asavalu and Sione Kalamafoni. Paul Hodgson gets a first start at scrum half, and Owen Farrell returns to the 10 jersey, with Patric Lambie moving to 12 and Gavin Henson to the bench. Digby Ioane, Bryan Habana and Jaco Taute all return in the back three as Welsh set their stall out to score some tries in front of their owns fans this week.

London Welsh
Manager – Ozzy3213

01. Steven Kitschoff	09. Paul Hodgson
02. Chris Whitehead	10. Owen Farrell
03. Frans Malherbe
04. Dean Schofield ©	11. Digby Ioane
05. James Hanks	12. Patric Lambie
06. Tom Johnson	13. Darren Cave
07. Luke Wallace	14. Bryan Habana
08. Duane Vermeulen	15. Jaco Taute

16. Rob Hawkins 17. Brett Sturgess 18. David Wilson 19. Rynhardt Elstadt 20. Siya Kolisi 21. Eric Escande 22. Gavin Henson 23. Andrew Trimble

01. Jon Golding	09. Richard Wigglesworth
02. Will Tanner	10. David Skrela
03. Carl Rimmer
04. Luke Romano	11. George North
05. Tom Donnelly	12. Luther Burrell
06. Brad Shields	13. JJ Engelbrecht
07. David Seymour	14. Richard Lane
08. Tom Guest	15. Isiah Toeava

16. Ben Alexander 17. Chris Brooker 18. Davit Kubrashvilli 19. Louis Deacon 20. James Haskell 21. Aaron Smith 22. Mike Harris 23. Tim Nanai Williams

01. Paul James	09. Kerr Barlow
02. Korree Britton	10. Tom Heathcote
03. Chris Budgen
04. Ollie Kohn	11. Julien Malzieu
05. Leo Cullen	12. Pat McCabe
06. Tom Savage	13. Jon Clarke
07. Justin Tipuric	14. Marcel Garvey
08. Ben Morgan	15. Sean Maitland

16. Richardt Strauss 17. Nathan Catt 18. Fraser Balmain 19. Jim Hamilton 20. Ryan Jones 21. Eoin Reddan 22. Sam Vesty 23. Fergus McFadden

Tactics
Forwards to run hard, heavy pack to battle against their big pack, big carriers and plenty of lineout options here, we want to win well so will ruffle their feathers and look to control the breakdown.

Backs to play what's in front of them, we have form and strong runners who will look to offload to our big lumps to begin with we want territory then we will look for Clarke and Maitland on the angles.

Perpignan will be fired up after their loss away from home and we will confront this and test their short fuse. We want to keep the scoreboard ticking so hard blitz defence with 9 peeling and look for turnovers and pressure. Go for goal when in range.

Director of Rugby as Wasps, Flux has named his side for the home Amlin cup game against Bayonne. His side, much changed from last week contains most of his acquisitions; Donnacha Ryan, Aaraon Shingler, John Barclay, Jordan Crane, Casey Laulala. Flux stated in a press conference that he hoped these players are the right guys to bring in a no-nonsense mentality to the side.

London Wasps

Manager – Fluxy

01. Ben Robinson	09. Nick Phipps
02. Sean Cronin	10. Rhys Priestland
03. Shaun Knight
04. Mouritz Botha	11. Jamie Elliot
05. Donnacha Ryan	12. Brad Barritt
06. Aaron Shingler	13. Casey Laulala
07. John Barclay	14. Topsy Ojo
08. Jordan Crane	15. Mike Brown

16. Tatafu Polota-Nau 17. Charlie Beech 18. Carlos Nieto 19. Dan Tuohy 20. Dave Dennis 21. Jonah Holmes 22. Dan Bowden 23. Jack Wallace

Sale Sharks
Manager – SJE

01. Jerome Schuster	09. Danny Care
02. David Paice	10. James Hook
03. Luc Ducalcon
04. Dave Attwood	11. Kyle Eastmond
05. Christian Day	12. Francois Steyn
06. Alex Tulou	13. Keith Earls
07. Fulgence Quedragao	14. David Strettle
08. Louis Picamoles	15. Nick Abendanon

16. Marcos Ayerza 17. Darren Dawdiuk 18. Davit Zirakishvilli 19. Brodie Retalick 20. Iain Henderson 21. Ben Spencer 22. Johnny Sexton 23. Will Addison

Conditions

Per BBC Weather: Sunny Intervals, 9 Degrees, 7mph Winds

Key Points

• We are under no illusions Galway is a tough place to go these days. We will be looking to keep hold of the ball as much as possible and have selected a massive back row to do so. We will look to take Connacht on at the set piece with a strong scrummaging front row on show. Winning the contact battle and getting on the front foot is crucial.

• Filed the bench with big mobile forwards to keep up the high intensity carrying game in the last quarter. Sexton will relish coming on against tired legs.

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 Hook & Steyn and force Connacht to come at us from deep.

• 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 Connacht territory, with 5 jumping options to use, we will look to play off the top and move the ball out to Hook 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 Connacht momentum before it can get going.

• 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 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.

Predictions OPEN

Connacht 18 Sale Sharks 24

SJE has given Connacht the respect they deserve and put out some big guns, giving Sale enough in the team to get a good away win at the Sportsground.


Perpignan 20 Worcester Warriors 19

If my memory is right, the Perpignan ground is known as 'the bear pit' as it is a really tough place to go and win. They are still in this pool, and will eb up for this one. There isn't much between the sides really, and at home I think they just nick it.


London Wasps 27 Bayonne 20

Bayonne not a bad side, but Wasps better and at home will win. Like the mobility in the Wasps pack


Calvisano 3 Bath Rugby 40

Calvisano are shoite. Even at home Bath have way too much for them.

Connacht 15-25 Sale
USAP 15-15 Worcester
Wasps 30-15 Bayonne
Calvisano 6-35 Bath
Welsh 40-3 Grenoble

Connacht 15 - 28 Sale Sharks
I know Connacht beat Biarritz at home last week, but Biarritz are a shocking team this season and SJE's team has too much class from 1-15 and the bench for the Irish team to trouble them.

Perpignan 15 - 18 Worcester Warriors
I like the pack that Prop has put out and the form of his backrow is a huge factor here for me. Got tactics spot on and I don;t think Perpignan's kickers will punish Warriors enough, whilst Heathcoate can.

London Wasps 28 - 9 Bayonne
Wasps at home too strong - not sure about creativity in 12/13 channels though as could have been 40+ points really.

Calvisano 6 - 55 Bath Rugby
No need for explanation.

Welsh 60 - 5 Grenoble
Big win here, great finishers out wide and a pack to provide them with the perfect platform to attack from.

Connacht 18-26 Sale-too much in back row and impact bench helps Sale.


Wasps 27-16 Bayonne-Outside backs wins this match.


Calvisano 8-45 Bath-Bath just way too strong from 9 to 15.


Welsh 50-6 Grenoble-Welsh' back 3 will have a field day here.

Connacht 19 - 23 Sale

Very tough fixture. Might have gone with Spencer's boot in Connacht as Care's influence limited by conditions up there. Still have enough to win the game and avoided a potential banana skin.

Perpignan 19 - 18 Worcester

Perpignan have the side to win here. Very tough game for Prop and Worcester but I think the Perpignan pack have enough to get the win, especially in France.

Wasps 25 - 13 Bayonne

Good Wasps side take a decent win. Not sure how much ball the Wasps back 3 will see with Barritt and Laulala in the midfield but there pack has enough to win the game. Good game.

Calvisano 12 - 47 Bath

Routine win here. Fancy Bath to win this cup.

London Welsh 43 - 6 Grenoble

Another easy one. Welsh have to much across the board.

Connacht 9 Sale 16
Perpinguan 18 Worcester 15
Wasps 24 Bayonne 19
Calvisano 0 Bath 45
London Welsh 55 Grenoble 6

Connacht 20 - 26 Sale

SJE right to play the big guns. Not an easy to place to go, but Sale have too much about them here.


Perpignan 21 - 22 Worcester

Perpignan's pack is huge. Think they may dominate front 5, although Worcs' back row is very competitive. PreferWorcs' back though, and 11-15 they look dangerous,and think they have enough to outscore Perpignan.


Wasps 28 - 15 Bayonne

Wasps way too strong.


Calvisano 18 - 37 Bath

Bath way too strong.


London Welsh 42 - 9 Grenoble

Welsh way too strong.

Man my game is going to be close!!!!!!!

Connacht 17-23 Sale
Sale have taken a strong squad to Ireland and its enough to get the result

Perpignan 19-21 Worcester
Perpignan have a scary, scary pack but not so much elsewhere. Prop can get a famous away win in France.

Wasps 26-17 Bayonne
Too strong from Wasps at home.

Welsh 48-5 Grenoble
Absolute smashing from quality Welsh side

Perpignan 12-19 Worcester Warriors
See the french getting the better of the set piece here but Worcester with more in the backrow and get on top there. Little bit more in the backs for Worcester with Malziue, McCabe and Maitand a level above wht Perpignan have to offer. Decent win for Props men.

London Wasps 25-15 Bayonne
Wasps will struggle at the lineout with a lot of new faces on show particularly a brand new lineout leader but the pack will get through a lot of work around the park and give the strike runners in the backs the ball they need.

Cammi Rugby Calvisano 9-34 Bath Rugby
Walk in the park.

London Welsh 42-12 Grenoble
Deecent pack on show will give decent ball to a super strong backline. Big win for Welsh.

SirJ

Connacht 9 Sale 16 sale
More class Connacht plucky
Perpinguan 12 Worcester 15 prop gets anhilated in scrum but back
Row keeps him in it. Backs to worcester easily and a great win.
Wasps 24 Bayonne 8 routine love the Bayonne 8 the bulldozer in real life
Calvisano 7 Bath 63 not a game
London Welsh 55 Grenoble 6 same as above. Our teams so
Good that there are no contests in Amlin

Results:

Connacht Rugby (1T) 16-28 Sale Sharks (3T)
Perpignan (0T) 18-21 Worcester Warriors (2T)
London Wasps (4T) 31-15 Bayonne (0T)
Cammi Rugby Calvisano (1T) 8-49 Bath Rugby (7T)
London Welsh (7T) 52-7 Grenoble (1T)