Fantasy Aviva Premiership Round Fifteen

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Bath Rugby vs. London Irish
Sunny, 8 degrees, 6 mph winds

Bath Rugby
Manager – inthefastlane

01. Charlie Faumuania	09. Aaron Smith
02. Kevin Mealamu	10. Charlie Hodgson
03. Carl Rimmer
04. Luke Romano	11. Cory Jane
05. Sam Whitelock	12. Anthony Allen
06. Tom Guest	13. Aurelien Rougerie
07. David Pocock	14. Nopolini Nalaga
08. JMF Lobbe	15. Rob Miller

16. Jon Golding 17. Chris Brooker 18. Davit Kubrashvilli 19. Graham Kitchener 20. James Haskell 21. Richard Wigglesworth 22. Michael Harris 23. Tim Nanai Williams

Overall: Look to play flowing rugby with Hodgson pulling the strings. We will be looking for big carries all over to get over the gainline.

Scrum: We will look to be competitive at scrum time with Lobbe controlling it from the back. Lobbe will control the scrum from number eight. Apply pressure and look to get nudge on throughout. Look to play the ref and if not going our way use as a restart.

Lineout: Our second row partnership is where we really feel we can have advantage. We will look to hammer this advantage home. We have Whitelock and Lobbe leading our lineout whilst Romano offers a good banker ball. We will look to actively pressure the opposition throw. If we see any weakness we will look to slightly alter the game plan, looking for corners in order to put more pressure on the throw.

We will be looking for big carries from the forwards with the likes of Faumuania, Mealamu, Lobbe and Guest 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.

Breakdown: Look to clear hard and fast with Pocock and Lobbe looking to make a real nuisance of themselves and get their hands on the ball

Backs: We will be looking to use the backs in order to create or go through holes. Smith and Hodgson will look to really get the backs going with a good tempo. Smith will attack fringes and try to keep the defence guessing. Look to get our big runners involved as early as possible with Allen, Rougerie, Jane and Nalaga seeing lots of the ball.

Defence: Use a blitz defence in order to put pressure on Irish key decision makers and prevent them from playing. Aaron Smith to sweep in behind.

Substitutes: Our subs will look to keep a high tempo. Golding, Brooker and Kubrashvilli will look to keep the scrum strong. Kitch will look to add grit late as well as another quality lineout operator. Haskell will look to really come on and bully tired legs. Wigglesworth will prove a composed head to control tempo late. Harris + TNW will come on early in the second half and will look to get their hands on the ball for big carries against tired legs.

Irish are a team in transition and with a new manager looking to put his imprint on the team as well as an influx of new players trying to settle in they will surely not be at their best.


London Irish
Manager – Prop_Lyd

01.Matt Stevens	09.Ruan Pienaar (c)
02.Andrew Hore	10.Nick Evans (k)
03.Brok Harris
04.Nick Kennedy	11.Sailosi Tagicakibau
05.Matt Garvey	12.Luke McCalister
06.Yannick Nyanga	13.Conrad Smith
07.Will Fraser	14.JP Pieterson
08.Netani Talei	15.Tom Homer (lk)

16. Tom Lindsay 17. Jean Baptiste-Poux 18. WP Nel 19. Stuart Hooper 20. Ben Morgan 21. Neil De Kock 22. Henry Trinder 23. Marland Yarde

Key Points

Prove Their Worth
With a new coach in place and new players looking to prove themselves they will be looking to put all their efforts into this game. The gameplan will be looking to use our rolling maul and then release our potent backs who are all proven scorers. We can play attractive rugby but for the first 20 mintues we'll play ugly to tire them out.

9-10-12
We feel we have one of the strongest 9-10-12's in the league with 9 and 12 happy to fill in at 10 as well and alter our style of game. We will look to use Pienaar for his eye for a gap, McCalister for his offloading skills and Evans for his calmness and control. Outside them we have a world cup winner in Smith who can make something out of nothing for our dangerous back three.

Silence Pocock
We know what danger he can cause and we will look to silence him and his backrow colleagues as much as possible. Whether this is taking him out off the ball, holding him down or looking to avoid him in contact. To do this we will look for an offloading game and Nyanga will target him at the breakdown.

Attacking

• We want to force errors from Bath and will be targetting Allen by sending big runners down his channel.

• Pienaar and Evans to play what's in front of them and look to release McCalister (who will be our playmaker) or snipe as much as possible. If it isn't on then Evans will stick it in the corners and, with Kennedy and Garvey we have the number jumpers to gain the ball back.

• Look for runners off of 10 and 12 channel to make the initial break before sending the ball out wide to Pieterson and Tagi.

• We will look to use our big pack to carry alot of ball and, if it isn't on then run off of 9 and take a couple of 'up the jumper' phases to drag defenders in.

• Our back three will look to come off their wings and hit the right angles.

• Control to come off the bench in Hooper and De Kock to shore up our victory and to keep the scoreboard ticking, Poux, Nel and Morgan bring grunt and Trinder and Yarde bring raw talent.

Set Piece

• Strong scrum which will get the edge up on the tighthead side and a good bench to come on as well to continue the pressure, 8-9-10 is a move we will use alot.

• We will use the maul to get ourselves up the pitch quickly and power over from short distance.

• Lineout has been mentioned previously where we have many strong jumpers here who will look to control attacking and defensive ones.

Defending

• Banana blitz defence targetting Hodgson led by Smith so he has no time to kick or give quick ball to the centres, we will protect the channels to stop Smith sniping.

• Pienaar will look to sweep and counter attack off any kick through's.

• We will hit the breakdown quick to give Fraser time to get over the ball and obliterate any protection they have in place.

• If the turnover isn't on we won't commit and will fan out defending inside-out.

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Harlequins vs. Leicester Tigers
Sunny Intervals, 9 degrees, 6 mph winds

Harlequins
Manager – Steven_Sharks

01. Tony Woodcock	09. Lee Dickson
02. Schalk Brits	10. Freddie Burns (k)
03. John Afoa
04. Bakkies Botha	11. Zac Guildford
05. Steve Borthwick (c)	12. Anthony Faainga
06. George Kruis	13. Jonathan Joseph
07. Michael Hooper	14. Luke Morahan
08. Nick Easter	15. Andre Taylor

16. Rob Buchanan 17. Wyatt Crockett 18. Ben Franks 19. James Gaskell 20. Sam Warburton 21. Karl Dickson 22. Quade Cooper 23. Matt Smith

Tactics

Game Plan

Keep the ball in hand in the opposition half and use our strong carriers upfront to make yards and tie in defenders before we look to get the ball into wider channels and into the hands of Joseph and our back three players who are electric with ball in hand. The tempo of the game will be controlled by Lee Dickson and Freddie Burns will look to stand flat and put others into gaps.

Our front 5 (excluding Brits) will look to carry off 9 and the inside shoulder of 10 with Brits and our backrow carrying of 10’s outside shoulder and off 12. The forwards will look to come from deep and will carry at pace. They will look to win the collisions and keep the legs pumping after the initial contact. If the option is one they will look for the offload as we will always look to carry with support so the offload is on or we can ruck quickly and get quick ball.

Key to playing the game at our tempo requires effective rucking and this will be an important part of our tactics.

Forwards

Our pack will look to carry hard and hit rucks hard. We will not attempt to overcommit to rucks as a maximum of 3 should be able to clear out effectively with proper technique low to the ground. The first 3 players to every ruck will do the rucking and the numbers on the players back will not matter.

At the set piece we will look to control the scrums with two technically sounds props backed up by big locks. Woodcock will look to disrupt the Leicester tight head and Afoa will look to get underneath the loosehead. At the lineout we will look to shorten the line when we are between the two 22m lines with Easter and Hooper out in the midfield as carrying options. At the opposition lineout we will look to mark the Leicester jumpers will Kruis, Borthwick and Botha working as a team to pressurise the receiver and the hooker’s throw.

Backs

Burns will look to stand flat and put others into gaps. Faainga will run a crash line as an option with Burns having forwards, Joseph or Taylor as other options to hit. Morahan in particular will look to come off his wing and look for work as a strong carrier. Dickson and Burns know we need to tie in defenders before we pass the ball out wider so that JJ and the back 3 have more spaces to exploit. Burns will occasionally look to get us into a good position when we are inside our own half if Leicester’s defence is well organised. He will also look to force errors using up and under’s and a strong chase from our ¾’s.

Defence

Quick line speed and controlled by Faainga and we will look to double up in the tackle with one man looking to win the collision and the other looking to target the ball. At the breakdown we will look for our players to try and secure the turnover if they are the first man there. Hooper in particular will search for the turnover but we will not be giving away penalties at the breakdown as we will be disciplined. If we can legally slow the ball down we will but not giving away penalties is key to our game.


Leicester Tigers
Manager – LukeLovesLuka

01. Andrew Sheridan	09. Dimitri Yachvili (k)
02. Stephen Moore	10. Kurtley Beale
03. Cencus Johnston
04. Pascal Pape (c)	11. Ugo Monye
05. Nathan Hines	12. Dominic Waldouck
06. Francois Louw	13. Rene Ranger
07. James Scaysbrook	14. Vincent Clerc
08. Ernst Joubert	15. Isa Nacewa

16. Sebastian Bruno 17. Lee Imiolek 18. Brian Mujati 19. Simon Shaw 20. Thomas Waldrom 21. Michael Claasens 22. Jonny Wilkinson 23. Paul Sackey

We will play an attacking, offloading game getting our backline into space by using the huge carriers in our pack and the brains of our HB's

Key Points:

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

Impact off the Bench
Look to utilise our bench in the 2nd half to dominate Quins. Bruno and Mujati to keep the set piece on track, and Waldrom to add serious carrying options. Introduce Wilko in the 2nd half to tie the game up for us.

Away Form
12 wins out of 14 in the league, we are absolutely flying at the minute sitting top of the pile. Our away form has been a real plus point - having already beat Irish, Sale, Saracens, Wasps, Welsh and Worcester away from home.

General Tactics:

- Attack all scrums with our huge pack - Two out-and-out scrummaging props in Johnston and Sheridan - look to really get the shove on.

- Attack all lineouts. Use safe option of Joubert at the front, and also use Hines/Pape/Scaysbrook in the middle or at the back.
Shortened lineouts with Louw in midfield as crash/decoy option.

- Physical, abrasive pack made up of massive line-breakers. The likes of Louw, Hines, Pape, Joubert and Moore to be used to win the collisions in attack.
Play an offloading game.

- Look to win battle at the breakdown - Louw and Scaysbrook to really look to get into the breakdown and give Quins problems.

- Yachvili and Beale to control proceedings - We want to play an attacking, running game, and have selected Beale at 10 to carry gameplan this out.

- Serious runners in the back line in the dry conditions. In Beale and Ranger alone, we have some serious options to attack Quins and test their back line defensively.

- 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, and look to win the collisions in defence. Yachvili to sweep behind with an eye on short kicks.

- Use Wilkinson to win us the game - We want to introduce Wilko in the 2nd half to control the territory and win the game for us.

Yachvili to kick all penalites.

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London Welsh vs. Sale Sharks
Sunny, 8 degrees, 6 mph winds

London Welsh
Manager – Ozzy3213

01. Alex Corbisiero	09. Morgan Parra
02. Bismarck du Plessis	10. Elton Jantjies
03. Dave Wilson
04. Sitaleki Timani	11. James Simpson-Daniel
05. George Skivington	12. Pat McCabe
06. Tom Johnson	13. Digby Ioane
07. Maurie Fa'asavalu	14. Bryan Habana
08. Duane Vermeulen (c)	15. Jaco Taute

16. Chris Whitehead 17. Steven Kitschoff 18. Ben Alexander 19. James Hanks 20. Luke Wallace 21. Paul Hodgson 22. Owen Farrell 23. Andrew Trimble

Tactics

Key Points

• Home Advantage Always has to be worth a few points in predictions.
  
• Form/Momentum We are unbeaten in 12 matches, with 10 wins and 2 draw (away at Saints & Tigers).
  
• Sale Fatigue Ouedraogo, Sexton and Zebo all started both 6 Nations games for their countries and are thrown straight in here from the start. (I appreciate that the Irish boys never finished the England game, but still a big ask being thrown in. The two I've started both have had minutes off the bench and have points to prove.)
  
• Sefensive Strength Solid defenders throughout the team mean that it will take something special to score points against us.
  
• Mobile, Dynamic Pack We have selected a pack that can hold their own in the set piece, but will be good in open play, as the conditions are set to allow decent running rugby.
  
• Impact Bench We have players to bring on who can make a real difference in the game.
  

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 dynamic, physical and mobile pack to dominate this area of the game. We will however be looking for gaps rather than contact and looking to offload to support runners. We will look to apply pressure to Sale 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 Sale make.

Specifics

• Support runners to ruck past the ball quickly if the carrier goes to ground in order to secure quick ball to go again.
  
• Parra to use his boot to keep us playing in the right area of the field.
  
• Keep the scoreboard ticking over by taking all penalties on offer.
  
• 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, counter rucking and hitting on the break. If it is not on to win the ball, we will send in a couple of players to legally slow it, and get our defensive line set quickly and strongly a la France in the World Cup. We want to control the gainline in defence and attack.
  
• Look to play quick from the scrum and lineout, going off the top and quickly into midfield as our default option. We will mix it up dependant on the situation though. Bekker is the go to man for the Sale lineout and we will look to attack him on their throw. If they start going elsewhere we will contest accordingly.
  

Sale Sharks
Manager – SJE

01. Marcos Ayerza	09. Danny Care
02. David Paice	10. Johnny Sexton
03. Davit Zirakishvilli
04. Brodie Retalick	11. Kyle Eastmond
05. Andries Bekker	12. Francois Steyn
06. Fulgence Quedragao	13. Robbie Freuen
07. Matt Kvesic	14. Simon Zebo
08. Wycliffe Palu	15. Nick Abendanon

16. Ross Harrison 17. Darren Dawdiuk 18. Luc Ducalcon 19. Dave Attwood 20. Alex Tulou 21. Ben Spencer 22. James Hook 23. Will Addison

Key Points
6 Nations Players
Sexton & Zebo return having played less than half an hour last week. Quedragao returns to the club looking to prove himself to the French management. After playing only 50 minutes last week he is ready and raring for Welsh.

Breakdown
There is a misbalance to the Welsh back row at the breakdown and so we have selected two flankers strong here and they, with the help of Retalick, Bekker & Ayerza, will look to make a mess of Welsh ball.

Defensive Frailties
Attack Ioane, who is not a 13, with Freuen running down his channel and the wings running lines either side looking to get in behind.

Attacking

• Look to play high tempo, high intensity rugby. Ball in hand, look to use our big line breakers to make the hard yards and tie up defenders creating space in wider channels for Sexton to exploit.

• We see the offload as a crucial weapon and our carriers will all be looking to offload in contact, continuing our forward momentum and breaking the defensive line.

• Care will look to tie the Welsh backrow to the breakdown with his sniping game allowing Sexton to play flat on the gain line. Sexton will look to bring our dangerous runners in to the game or find mismatches for himself to hit on the wrap around.

• Our back three will look to get involved as much as possible running support lines of the midfield looking for the inside ball or offload.

Set Piece

• With a powerful front 5 on show we will look to keep the scrum up and use it as a weapon. On our own feed we will look to get the wheel on and give our 8-9-10 axis as much room as possible to attack from.

• In Welsh territory, with 4 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.

• On Welsh lineouts Bekker will stand at the front and challenge. At 6ft 10" Welsh will need to have their darts spot on.

Defending

• 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 Welsh 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 & Kvesic 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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Saracens vs. Newcastle Falcons
Sunny, 8 degrees, 7 mph winds

Saracens Football Club
Manager – DHLS07

01. Matt Mullan	09. Dewaldt Duvenage
02. John Smit (c)	10. Gareth Steenson
03. Jannie du Plessis
04. Flip van der Merwe	11. Luke Fitzgerald
05. Louis Deacon	12. Ma'a Nonu
06. Keegan Daniel	13. Jean de Villiers
07. Steffon Armitage	14. Adam Thompstone
08. Joe van Niekerk	15. Ben Smith

16. George Chuter 17. Max Lahiff 18. Sekope Kepu 19. Rob Simmons 20. Phil Dowson 21. Will Chudley 22. Ian Humphreys 23. Mark Cueto

Tactics

- Very much a traditional South African game plan as adopted by Heyneke Meyer.

- Big emphasis on the forwards dominating their opponents with their physicality.

- Tight forward dominated game with big carriers punching holes in the opposition defence.

- Kick/Chase game using our wingers to hunt the ball as it drops and if the opposition winger takes it to wrap him up in the tackle and isolate him to either win us the turnover or the penalty.

- Really go for it on turnover ball and get the ball through the hands and exploit the disorganised defence.

- Play in the right areas, territory over possession.

- Solid defensive line with Steffon Armitage either stealing or slowing the ball at the breakdown.


Newcastle Falcons
Manager – Driver

01.Soane Tonga'uhia	09.Jimmy Cowen
02.Agustin Creevey	10.Toby Flood
03.Paul Doran Jones
04.Ed Slater	11.Adam Ashley Cooper
05.Brad Thorn	12.Scott Williams
06.Tom Croft	13.George Lowe
07.Richie McCaw (c)	14.Alex Cuthbert
08.Chris Masoe	15.Jared Payne

16.Luke Cowen Dickie 17.Alex Waller 18.Owen Franks 19.Juandre Kruger 20.Joel Conlon 21.Ben Youngs 22.Henry Slade 23.Dom Shipperly

Falcons have picked a big front 5 to get them on on the front foot with plenty of power in the set piece mixed in with a prowesk in the loose. This will suit us down to a tea as it will allow our mobile back row and dynamic backs to make the use of space around the fringes and outwide. Jimmy Cowen and Toby Flood will play what is in front of them and keeping the tempo high by moving the ball wide.

- Use our big scrummaging props to secure our ball at he scrum and get Creevy to hook the ball clean back with us focusing on a intial driver to allow Masoe/Cowen to mix the game up.

- As well as feeding the backs Jimmy Cowen will look to snipe and take the ball to the line and test Saracens offside and the refs patience.

- Toby Flood will play what is in front of him , kicking in behind the wings or spreading the ball with our back 3 hitting the line.

• Target Fitzgerald and Thompstones kicking game by kicking the ball right in behind them forcing them to hang deep and give Cuthbert and AAC broken field to run at.
  

- Tom Croft to call the lineout and target the opposition throw with him and Thorn getting at them. Throw to McCaw at the tail aswell

- McCaw to do what he does and target the deck along with running round in the loose and linking play.

- McCaw and Masoe will look to target the isolated runners and smash them and look for the turnover

- Scott Williams to take the ball flat and at the line being used as a pivot with Flood on the run round or the wings coming off him

- Flood to kick the goals to build us a lead and to boom it into there half from penalties in our half

- Short kick offs 15metres at most , but hanging high to let us get under the ball and lift Croft to claim it.

- Blitz line with Cowen sweeping along with support from blindside wing.[list][*]

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London Wasps vs. Gloucester
Sunny, 7 degrees, 5 mph winds

London Wasps
Manager – Fluxy

01. Benn Robinson	09. Haydn Thomas
02. Huia Edmonds	10. Brock James
03. James Slipper
04. Bradley Davies	11. Tom Varndell
05. Marco Wentzel (C)	12. Dan Bowden
06. Dave Dennis	13. George Pisi
07. Jonathan Poff	14. Topsy Ojo
08. Jordan Crane	15. Matt Tait

16. Rob Webber 17. Alec Hepburn 18. Shaun Knight 19. Dan Tuohy 20. Gus Jones 21. Mike Blair 22. Stephen Myler 23. Jamie Elliot

Tactics
Adams Park is our fortress and we want to make it difficult for anyone that wants to come and even look for a LBP. We look to impose ourselves from the off and let the opposition know how we are going to play the game and how we want to dictate the pace of the game. Our brand of rugby is physical and fast, however we won't just run the ball at every opportunity. We will only play in the right areas of the paddock, therefore James will look to keep us penned in the Glos 22. If the Glos are to score against us they will have to run the ball 80+ metres. We will look to go through simple phases to reproduce quick ball to cut the defence open. Slow ball we will look to set up pods and runners off James , as this will drag Glos defenders further apart and produce wholes or mismatches. We have a physical pack and will look to dominate from 1-10, so we will to set quick rucks to tie in their boys to allow time and space for our backs. We have experienced players all other the pitch in Wentzel, James and Pisi, and they will lead the team. With the changeable conditions, we will keep the gameplan simple and effective.

Tactics

• Solid scrummagers on and off the bench, we will look to secure our own ball and at least pressure the Glos feed. Sometimes look to legally wheel their feed to cut of the scrum-half from the backline.
  
  
• With a strong lineout, Wentzel will lead the lineout and use himself as banker ball at the front of the line with Poff jumping in the middle. Look to run full number lineouts to tie in the opposing pack.
  
  
• Our whole pack is mobile and capable of snaffling ball at the breakdown. With Saull not being the most acclompished on the deck, we will pile men intot the rucks to secure turnover possession.
  
  
• The backrow will target the halfbacks, allowing them no time on the ball, which will lead to them rushing and making handling errors and mistakes.
  
  
• We will look to keep the ball alive, preventing them from setting any defensive lines and moving the point of attack. They have some very big boys and some good fetchers, so constantly moving the ruck will tire them out and prevent them from snaffling any possession. James will direct traffic with the use of quick pods systems outside the guards of the rucks.
  
  
• James to use Pisi and Dennis to get over the gainline, quick ball will be span out to the backs in the next phase.
  
  
• James will look to kick in behind Gear and May, both of whom aren't best defensively when under high ball pressure, likewise with Balshaw prone to the odd mistake under the high ball.
  
  
• We will run a slow drift line in defence, with Thomas sweeping. We won't look to blitz, as with the line the Glos carriers then have to go through us. If they begin to look to kick, a blitz can be deployed later on.
  
  
• Look to use our strong bench for impact later in the game. To get an advantage in the scrum, and collisions with big impact players.
  
  
• James kick all points, he can kick from within their half, so this indicates that Glos should be wary of giving away penalties.
  
  
• With home advantage it should be even harder to get a win for the away team, even if they have better quality in their team. There are other aspects to a game than just ability

Gloucester
Manager – Mat

01. Nick Wood	09. Will Genia
02. Adriaan Strauss	10. Dan Carter
03. Jamie Johnstone
04. Eben Etzebeth	11. Hosea Gear
05. George Robson	12. Berrick Barnes
06. Willem Alberts	13. Juan de Jongh
07. Andy Saull	14.J onny May
08. Immanol Harinordoquoy	15. Iain Balshaw

16. Dan Murphy 17. Joe Grey 18. Juan Figallo 19. Tom Palmer 20. Steven Ferris 21. Dan Robson 22. Israel Dagg 23. Charlie Sharples
Tactics

Glos travel to Adams park bang in form having won away at Saints last week. We will be targeting a bonus point win away to a wasps side with very poor form currently. We will be playing a controlled balanced game focused on getting our big ball carriers on the front foot and then looking to play for position targetting in behind ojo and varndell or looking to open it up and create mismatches like may did against pisi on the weekend.

We will put a huge emphasis on the set pieces and think our big scrummaging pack and multiple jumpers can have a field day.

Control the ball and territory and you win.

We feel they are light on carrying and size and will look to exploit this.
As ever our spine is strong at. 2 ,8,9,10,12 and this allows us to boss the game


- hugely target scrums particularly Edmonds who struggle with set piece full stop. Great in loose mind.
- challenge every lineout. Feel they are overly reliant on wentzel whereas we have 5 jumpers. Will look to pressure Edmunds throw
- look to send numbers in to breakdown as they are quite light and we think we can target this

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Worcester Warriors vs. Northampton Saints
Sunny Intervals, 9 degrees, 4 mph winds

Worcester Warriors
Manager - stnick88

01. Tendai Mtawarira	09. Dwayne Peel
02. Richardt Strauss	10. Patrick Lambie
03. BJ Botha
04. Dean Schofield	11. Julien Malzieu
05. Luke Charteris	12. Olly Barkley
06. Tom Savage	13. Matt Hopper
07. Ross Rennie	14. James Short
08. Pierre Spies	15. Marcelo Bosch

16. Korree Britton 17. Nathan Catt 18. Paul James 19. Kearnen Myall 20. Shane Jennings 21. Tawera Kerr-Barlow 22. Sam Vesty 23. Olly Morgan

Tactics

Look to win the battle upfront. We have a big powerful Saffa front row who will look to get us an advantage at scrum time. Beast and Strauss are lively in the loose and will look to carry and make hard yards. We have a powerful engine room of Schofield and Charteris that will look to control the tight areas. Charteris will be our main go to man in the lineout, with Spies, Schofield and Savage also providing options.

We have picked a big backrow to overpower Saints with. Savage at 6 gives us real grunt and workrate. Rennie will target the breakdown and look to stop any Saints momentum.

At half backs, Peel and Lambie will control the game and look to get us in the right areas. We have Barkley at 12 to give us a second kicking option and we will look to kick in behind Wade and test him with high balls as he is up against Malzieu who is a big strong runner and can really give Wade a physical game.

Lambie will kick all pens for goal. Any out of range will be kicked for touch. We will try and secure lineout ball and use our powerful front 8 to maul forwards.

We are not expecting to play the most attractive rugby ever, but it will be effective, forward dominated power rugby to squeeze the Saints and stop them playing.


Northampton Saints
Manager – Dammit Chris

01.Thomas Domingo	09.Joe Simpson
02.TFN	10.Matt Giteau
03.Carl Hayman
04.Mano Samoa	11.Ben Foden
05.Patricio Albacete(c)	12.Ashley Beck
06.Julian Bonnaire	13.Elliot Daly
07.Calum Clark	14.Christian Wade
08.Liam Messam	15.Juan Martin Hernandez(k)

16.Dylan Hartley 17.Mako Vunipola 18. Henry Thomas 19. Courtney Lawes 20. Same Cane 21. Nick Phipps 22. Danny Cipriani 23. Julian Savea

Tactics: We have picked a strong forward pack to take on Worcester up front and ensure that they do not get the upper hand and control possession. We will bring on Hartley, Vunipola and Lawes at half time and up the intensity of the game and allow our backline to play a fast paced game that aims to really put Worcester on the backfoot. To use our bench to win the game.

Attack: We have pace throughout our backline and will look to secure quick ball from our pack and look to use Giteau's passing ability to pull holes in the Worcester defence and put Wade, Foden and Daly into space. Will look to send our big ball runners into the Worcester midfield and get over the gainline.

In form Simpson to snipe around the fringes.

Will bring Hernandez into the midfield to add to the Saints kicking game and pin Worcester in areas where we can force them into mistakes and turnovers.

Take points when they are on offer (Hernandez & Daly's boot).

Defence: Need to stop the Worcester pack building momentum and have picked a strong defensive pack to ensure we put Worcester players on their backsides before they can form mauls.

Will be playing a blitz defence to put pressure on the Worcester midfield and will have Simpson sweeping behind defensive line.

Foden selected on wing to copy England's defensive system.

Set piece: Make sure we are competitive in the scrum and use our bench to secure some dominance in the second half. With Bonnaire and Albacete in the Lineout we will look to generate quick attacking ball for our backline and put Worcester under pressure here.

Breakdown: We will put numbers in to the breakdown, slow down the ball and ensure that our defence is set to stop Worcester going through the phases. In the second half we will bring on Cane and push for turnovers and generate quick ball.

Key Points:
• Look to contain Worcester in first half and then win the game with our bench.
• Hernandez/Giteau/Daly kicking game to allow Saints to win the territory battle.
• Hartley, Vunipola and LAwes on at half time to up intensity in our pack.
• Lineout: Use as an attacking platform,
• Bring on Savea and Cane early in the second half.

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Quins 23 Tigers 23
Welsh 20 Sale 19
Wuss 19 Saints 19
Wasps 21 Gloucester 21

Mat, think you've missed off predicting Worcester vs. Northampton

Nick, think you've missed off predicting Wasps vs. Gloucester

Be good if we can get full sets.

Just Fluxy to do his other than those two games.

Worcester 20-21 saints

Great to have nick back and sets them out well. Think it will be a real ding dong battle

Can't split scrums and lineouts. Half backs interesting battle personally prefer Kerr Barlow but peel an excellent player also on his day.

Worry about Worcester centre pairing defensively and for me Bosch is best defensive 13 in world so wasted at fb.
For me it's the saints bench forwards that enable them to keep momentum and snatch it. Would have Worcester winning until Chris puts on bench forwards

Bath 23 - 16 London Irish

Baths, strong pack will create some quick ball for them in this game and will cause havoc with Smith and Hodgson controlling the game. Lineout will garner some possesion for Irish but its only a slight foothold. Irish have a better balanced backline, and probably the best non-international halfback pairing in the world at the moment. but with their fowards going backwards, The backline goes to waste.

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Harlequins 28 - 27 Leicester Tigers

Up front this one is just about even. Back fives are strong, and the lineouts are just edged to Quins. I like the balance in their backrow and can see Louw and Hooper negating one another. Yach and Dickson will control their forwards well and Yach will keep Tigers in this game. Not a big fan of Beale at 10 but he can attack and get his backs moving well. Both backlines have some form issues which doesn't give any clear advantage to either. The benches are both even. For me Quins at home with a decent lineout will pinch a last minute drop goal.

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London Welsh 24 - 23 Sale Sharks

This is a big game, were the battle up front is hotly contested. Scrums are just edged in Welshs favour, but lineouts will go to Sharks. The breakdown for me is very close, both will good jackals and enforcers to clean out and create quick ball. Care and Parra will control and attack well, but can see Sexton controlling the game a bit better than Janjties. Not a fan of Ioane at 13, would much rather see Taute there but Welsh look dangerous out wide. Likewise for Sharks. What edges this one is the fatique of Sharks, and the controlling influence of Faz to kick Welsh into a good home win.

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Worcester Warriors 19 - 16 Northampton Saints

Saints edge the scrum, but lineout wise go awry with TPN and Samoa coming in straight in will cause some confusion. Warriors are a tidy unit in the back five and make a fight out of the forward battle, and get a foothold in the breakdown with Rennie on the deck. I prefer Warriors halfbacks, as Peel can control and Lambie can attack and control relatively well. Giteau seen more as 12 these days?! Saints have a better backline with ball in hand and look dangerous. Wuss look a little disjointed would much prefer to Bosch at 13, and are a bit weaker in the back three compared to Saints. A little controversial but see Warriors nicking this one, with better front five subs helping them control their possession and pace of the game.

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Saracens 18 - 22 Newcastle Falcons

Big contest up front with some big units. Scrums are just about even but can see the lineouts being closer still. Creevy has been at Falcons for a while so no issues here for me. Again breakdown is close, both living off turnover will make an exciting game but Falcons will do better with ball in hand. Falcons have the better backs to exploit space, but Sarries are too bad themselves. Steenson will gather a LBP for Sarries, but Falcons are just a bit too strong in key positions.

Wasps 20-23 Gloucester

Seriously happy with that. Two wins on the trot.