Fantasy Aviva Premiership Round Eighteen

First topic message reminder :

---

Newcastle Falcons vs. Leicester Tigers
Cloudy, 2 degrees, 21 mph winds.

Newcastle Falcons
Manager – Driver

01.Fabian Barcella	09.Ben Youngs
02.Jamie George	10.Aaron Cruden
03.Clerment Ric
04.Brad Thorn	11.Miles Benjiman
05.Juandre Kruger	12.Luke Marshall
06.Tom Croft	13.George Lowe
07.Hienrich Brussouw	14.Adam Ashley-Cooper
08.Chris Masoe(c)	15.James O'Connor (K)

16.Nathan Morris 17.Soane Tonga'uhia 18.Scott Wilson 19.Ed Slater 20.Joel Conlon 21.Jimmy Cowen 22.Jared Payne 23.Ben Williams.

Tactics;

Falcons to play the percentages game , kicking deep into the corners and pinning Tigers back using our set piece as a weapon with Croft and Kruger looking to get at Stephen Moore's throw with no out and out Lineout specialist in the Tigers pack.

We will look to keep the intensity high in the opposition half keeping the ball in phases to give our boomers a chance to launch the ball deep or to move it wide and exploit the space outwide.

We've picked Hienrich Brussouw at 7 as we feel he can prove to be the difference between the 2 sides with turnover ball being the best ball. Brussouw will look to pinch ball and then ship it wide and attack a disjointed Tigers line.

We will look to carry close to the fringes and keep it tight before giving our play makers in Cruden and JOC the chances to create something with our exciting backs.

KEY POINTS

- STRONG SET PIECE - We can see our selves getting plenty of joy at scrum time with a fresh front row able to last the full 80 , the Only change we will make here is Tonga'uhia for Barcella at some point in the 2nd 40 to up the tempo in the loose.

- Lineout work - Kruger will call our lineout and give George plenty of options to throw too. We will mix our line out up with ball being thrown to the front , middle and tail also using shortend lineouts.

-TARGET RORY CLEGG - Clegg is a poor defender and Masoe will look to run down his channel from the base of scrums where we can get a wheel on giving him time to get away from the 7.

- BIG EFFORT IN DEFENSE - Kingston is our fortress and we will throw our bodies on the line to defend. High line speed is key with Youngs covering as sweeper.

- SET RECORD straight - Business end of the season means we have to win every game if we want a home semi.


Leicester Tigers
Manager – LukeLovesLuka

01. Yannick Forestier	09. Dimitri Yachvili (k)
02. Stephen Moore	10. Rory Clegg
03. Cencus Johnston
04. Nathan Hines	11. Drew Mitchell
05. Pascal Pape (c)	12. Billy Twelvetrees
06. Steve Mafi	13. Rene Ranger
07. James Scaysbrook	14. Paul Sackey
08. Ernst Joubert	15. Isa Nacewa

16. Sebastian Bruno 17. Gethin Jenkins 18. Ryan Bower 19. Simon Shaw 20. Thomas Waldrom 21. Micky Young 22. Maxime Mermoz 23. Alex Lewington

Play to our strengths and use Yachvili to dictate and control our heavy pack (avg. 17st 10lb vs Newcastle avg. 16st 10lb) - then look to get the runners in our back line into space.

Key Points:

Target Newcastle's Fatigue
Ben Youngs and Tom Croft come off the back of a gruelling game in Cardiff, whilst Luke Marshall started for Ireland against Italy. In contrast, we have no players starting who started in the 6N last week, and only Jenkins on the bench - who played his 1st game in 3 weeks against England.

League Form Coming into a Big Game
Newcastle haven't won in the league in 4 games, having lost to Quins, Sale and Sarries - and drawing with Welsh recently. We have won our last two and are looking to win this one too. Target this by looking to get points on the board early, getting Newcastle's heads down as quickly as possible.

Forwards off the Bench
We have huge amounts of experience on the bench, particualrly in the pack, The likes of Bruno (vs Nathan Morris), Jenkins (vs Scott Wilson), Shaw (vs Ed Slater) and Waldrom (vs Joel Conlon) to look to really get on top of their opponents in the last quarter.

General Tactics:

- Yachvili to control our game, dictating where our huge forwards play the game. We have the personnel in our side to play a mixture of different styles, and we will play the game as we see it.
Kick regularly to Benjamin, targetting him with both high balls and kicks in behind.

- Yachvili and Twelvetrees to support Clegg. In attacking play, we will play with two first recievers in Clegg and Twelvetrees. Keep Newcastle guessing with our attacking options.

- Use the mix of runners in our backline. With the likes of Ranger and Nacewa we have silky runners; Twelvetrees as our powerful centre; and two speedster wingers - we have a real set of options behind Clegg.

- Target the scrum with our huge pack - Two out-and-out scrummaging props in Johnston and Forestier - look to really get the shove on.

- Mafi/Joubert are two of the best lineout jumpers in the AP. Use safe option of Mafi/Joubert at the front, and also use Hines/Pape/Scaysbrook in the middle or at the back. Look to target George's throws with Mafi and Joubert.

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

- 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.

- Yachvili to kick all penalites.

---

Gloucester vs. London Welsh
Light Rain, 5 degrees, 15 mph winds.

Gloucester
Manager – Mat

01. Nick Wood	09. Will genia
02. Rob Buchanan	10. Dan Carter
03. Juan Figallo
04. Eben Etzbeth	11. Israel Dagg
05. George Robson	12. Juan de Jongh
06. Willem Alberts	13. Richard Kahui
07. Qera	14. Charlie Sharples
08. Immanol Harinordoquoy ©	15. Iain Balshaw

16. Deon Fourie 17. Dan Murphy 18. Rupert Harden 19. Tom Palmer 20. Steven Ferris 21. TJ Perenara 22. Ryan lamb 23. Matt Banahan

+ Form/Momentum We are on a great run and are coming off the back of some
Great away league wins. The only game we have lost is with a second team in the LV cup. We have been top of form league
+ Superior carriers we see welsh as lacking some grunt
+ Alexander is a 3 and playing at 1 against Figallo. Also players like taute and elstadt are playing in positions that are there second positions these days.

+ 8,9,10 axis all world class and able
To control a game. Questions over jantjes game at ten
Form
+ Mobile, Dynamic Pack We have selected a pack that can hold their own in the set piece, but who offer a huge amount of carrying and impact.
+ lineout forwards all over able to
Make a massive disruption of welsh ball.

+Impact Bench We have players to bring on who can make a real difference in the scrum and loose. Proven internationals and young dynamic talent

Game plan

We are targetting the Big home win and know we have to win the battle and right to play our quick brand of rugby. We will be looking to get our big runners on the front foot and get over the gain line to produce quick ball for Genia to hit carter to play wide and direct.

Our pack is huge and mobile but great in set piece and we will be targetting the lineouts and Hawkins arrows relentlessly to affect quality of their ball. We will be looking to drive a lot of lineouts to start with to suck them in and looking to pop runners off the back and try and get into the Jantjes channel. Alberts Kahui and co will be targetting this channel throughout the game.

Backrow and 9& 10
To pressure welsh halfbacks. Jantjes thrives on quick attacking ball whereas parra likes play to come of him

As ever we look to keep the ball and force Welsh in to mistakes to start with and will look to build tempo as we start to get on top. Once we have won the battles and rights to play we will open up and start to really increase the tempo with our bench contributing and keeping the foot on the pedal.

We will be targeting the new centre partnership of McCabe and Nanai Williams they will not be familiar

Specifics

- send Kahui gear Alberts etc at Jantjes channel
- take all points on offer with carter
- look to use the bomb early on to target jsd And taute.
- Territory early doors and pressure their lineout
- kick in behind back 3 and pressure welsh lack of
Kicking in back 3
- put pressure on parra Bath have no
Kicking game apart from parra and can be targeted and pressure built
- Dagg and Balshaw to interchange at fb to counter the errant kicking.
- blitz defence with scrum half sweeping
- look to send in numbers to breakdown to disrupt and turnover.
- target welsh new combos to
Take advantage of their unfamiliarity
- carry relentlessly to keep ball and build pressure. We only use the ball when we have front foot quality ball


London Welsh
Manager – Ozzy3213

01. Ben Alexander	09. Morgan Parra
02. Rob Hawkins	10. Elton Jantjies
03. Dave Wilson
04. Rynhardt Elstadt	11. James Simpson-Daniel
05. James Hanks	12. Pat McCabe
06. Tom Johnson	13. Tim Nanai Williams
07. Siya Kolisi	14. Bryan Habana
08. Duane Vermeulen ©	15. Jaco Taute

16. Chris Whitehead 17. Brett Sturgess 18. Martin Castrogiovanni 19. Semisi Taulava 20. Luke Wallace 21. Tomas O’Leary 22. Gareth Anscombe 23. Joel Tomkins

Key Points

• Form/Momentum. We come into this game unbeaten in 15 matches, in form, full of confidence and with great momentum. We have also beaten Gloucester once the league this season and take confidence from that.
  
• Lack of real life form for Gloucester. Etzebeth, Alberts, de Jongh and Kahui have played no rugby so far this season, and Genia has 40 minutes as the Reds lost to the Force. They cannot be considered to have any form.
  
• Defensive frailties in the Gloucester back 3. Dagg has shown defensive frailties so far this season, and Balshaw’s issues there are well documented.
  
• Welsh defence. Solid defenders throughout the team mean that it will take something special to score points against us.
  

Basic Game Plan
Basic tactical premise for us to control possession and be solid defensively. We have picked a very mobile pack to try to put pace on the game up front. We will be looking for gaps rather than contact and looking to offload to support runners. 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.

Specifics

• Support runners to ruck past the ball quickly if the carrier goes to ground in order to secure quick ball to go again.
  
• JSD and Habana to both be tracking inside ball and coming off their wings looking for offloads from the ball carrier.
  
• If the wind gets up, then put some high balls in the corners asking question of Balshaw in the damp conditions.
  
• 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.
  

---

London Irish vs. Worcester Warriors
Light Rain, 5 degrees, 15 mph winds.

London Irish
Manager - prop_lyd

01. Jean Baptiste-Poux	09. Ruan Pienaar
02. Hika Elliot	10. Nick Evans(k)
03. Brok Harris
04. Stuart Hooper (c)	11. Marland Yarde
05. Hugh Pyle	12. Shane Geraghty
06. Mamuka Gorgodze	13. Conrad Smith
07. Will Fraser	14. Bjorn Basson
08. Ben Morgan	15. Zane Kirchner

16. Tom Lindsay 17. Matt Stevens 18. Charlie Beech 19. Dean Mumm 20. Scott Higginbotham 21. Jack Moates 22. Lionel Beauxis 23. Henry Trinder

Key Points

Heavy Pack
Our backrow has a bit of everything with carrying, aggressiveness and work on the floor. We will look for them to use all of their attributes to slow down We have picked a very heavy pack to grind out quick ball and control the set piece. We have international experience across our pack and in Hooper we have someone who can control a lineout and in Pyle an exciting runner. Our back row brings the balance of strength (Godzilla) who will target the 10-12 channel, Breakdown work (Fraser) who will slow down ball and the link player (Morgan) who will make the hard yards and look to speed up play.

Playmakers
Conrad Smith is a hugely respected playmaker here and we will use him to call our moves and exploit any weaknesses when we have quick ball. Evans and Pienaar can put us in the places we want to be. Off the back of the scrum Morgan will make the hard yards and look for offloads if on.

Target 10-12 Channel
We will target their 10-12 channel in both attack and defence. Gorgodze and Morgan will look to run at their weaker shoulders and make the hard yards before looking for the offloads to the support runners.

Attacking

• We want to force errors from Warriors and will target the 10-12 channel by sending big runners down his channel.

• Pienaar and Evans to play what's in front of them and look to release Gerghaty (who will link with Smith with quick ball) or snipe as much as possible. If it isn't on then Evans will stick it in the corners and, with Hooper, Gorgodze and Pyle we have the number jumpers to gain the ball back, we know Bonnaire will be dangerous here so will look to avoid his area and mix up our lineouts.

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

• 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.

• Experience to close out the win in Stevens, Higginbotham and Mumm, excitement to continue to target the tired players through Moates' sniping, heavy impact at the scrum to come on and Trinder and Beauxis can continue to control the game and bring further excitement and pace..

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 10-12 led by Smith so he has no time to kick or give quick ball to the centres (we will have a backrower on Evans' shoulder to look for quick turnover ball, we will protect the channels to stop Thomas 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.

Worcester Warriors
Manager - stnick88

01. Tendai Mtawarira	09. Tawera Kerr-Barlow
02. Richardt Strauss	10. Francois Trinh-Duc
03. Werner Kruger
04. Dean Schofield	11. Eli Walker
05. Johann Muller (c)	12. Olly Barkley
06. Tom Savage	13. Yannick Jauzion
07. Shane Jennings	14. James Short
08. Raphael Lakafia	15. Delon Armitage

16. Matt Parr 17. Koree Britton 18. Oliver Tomaszczyk 19. Luke Charteris 20. Ross Rennie 21. Dwayne Peel 22. Tom Casson 23. Ben Ransom

Team News
- Worcester welcome back Delon Armitage from his 8 week ban. Johhnie Beattie, Ryan Jones, Sean Maitland, Alun Wyn-Jones and Mathieu Bastereaud have been given the week off following the 6 Nations. Numerous injuries have ruled out the likes of Pierre Spies, Brian Mujati, Ali Williams and BJ Botha, but the Warriors are able to call upon Raphael Lakafia, Werner Kruger, Shane Jennings and Yannick Jauzion who are all fit and raring to go.

Tactics

- Look to win the forward battle. Big collisions, big carries and get over the gainline. Wear Irish down in defence.

- Earn the right to go wide. We will not do this too early and wait until defenders are sucked in before spreading it to the wings.

- Barkley to kick all pens for goals.

- FTD and Barkley to be the play makers, getting us in the right areas of the pitch.

- Jennings to be a menace at the breakdown and slow down as much ball as possible.

- Kerr-Barlow to snipe around the fringes and look for gaps to exploit.

---

Sale Sharks vs. Bath Rugby
Cloudy, 2 degrees, 21 mph winds.

Sale Sharks
Manager – SJE

01. Jerome Schuster	09. Kahn Fotuaili'i
02. David Paice	10. Johnny Sexton
03. Davit Zirakishvilli
04. Brodie Retalick	11. Simon Zebo
05. Andries Bekker	12. Jordan Turner Hall
06. Fulgence Quedragao	13. Francois Steyn
07. Matt Kvesic	14. David Strettle
08. Victor Vito	15. Nick Abendanon

16. Vasil Kakovin 17. Tommy Taylor 18. Luc Ducalcon 19. Christian Day 20. Temani Harrison 21. Ben Spencer 22. James Hook 23. Luke Rooney

Key Points

Target Heathcote

Look to send our midfield running down his channel. With a tackle completion rate of 66% in the Prem this season this is an area we can make some ground. Quedragao will look to rush up on defence and get in his face. With no back up flyhalf in the match day squad if Heathcote can be frazzled Bath are in serious trouble.

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.

• Sexton will look to play flat on the gain line andbring 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 halfbacks and 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 Bath territory, with 5 jumping options to use, we will look to play off the top and move the ball out to Sexton and the backs. In our own territory, we will look to take the ball down into the maul and drive ourselves into the right areas.

• On opposition lineouts Bekker will stand at the front and challenge. At 6ft 10" Bath 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 Bath momentum before it can get going.

• Fotuaili'i 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.

Bath Rugby
Manager – inthefastlane

01. Jon Golding	09. Aaron Smith
02. Chris Brooker	10. Tom Heathcote
03. Davit Kubrashvilli
04. Luke Romano	11. No polini Nalaga
05. Graham Kitchener	12. Anthony Allen
06. Brad Shields	13. Rob Horne
07. David Pocock	14. Aurelian Rougerie
08. Tom Guest	15. Cory Jane

16. Cian Healy 17. Will Tanner 18. Carl Rimmer 19. James Gaskell 20. David Seymour 21. Fourie Du Preez 22. Luther Burrell 23. George North

Overall: Look to play flowing rugby with Smith 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 Guest controlling it from the back.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 Kitchener leading our lineout whilst Romanp 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 Kubs, Romano 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 Shields 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 Heathcote 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 Sale key decision makers and prevent them from playing. Aaron Smith to sweep in behind.

Substitutes: Our subs will look to keep a high tempo

---

Saracens vs. Harlequins
Light Rain, 4 degrees, 17 mph winds.

Saracens Football Club
Manager – DHLS07

01. Max Lahiff	09. Dewaldt Duvenage
02. John Smit (c)	10. Gareth Steenson
03. Jannie du Plessis
04. Flip van der Merwe	11. Lachie Turner
05. James Craig	12. Ma'a Nonu
06. Liam Gill	13. Fergus McFadden
07. Steffon Armitage	14. Adam Thompstone
08. Keegan Daniel	15. Ben Smith

16. George Chuter 17. Paul James 18. Phil Swainston 19. Lionel Nallet 20. Matt Hankin 21. Chris Cook 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.


Harlequins
Manager – Steven_Sharks

01. Wyatt Crockett	09. Karl Dickson
02. Schalk Brits (C)	10. Freddie Burns (k)
03. Kieran Brookes
04. Bakkies Botha	11. Luke Morahan
05. George Kruis	12. Anthony Faainga
06. David Denton	13. Florian Fritz
07. Michael Hooper	14. Ross Chisholm
08. Nick Easter	15. Andre Taylor

16. Matthew Rees 17. Will Collier 18. Kyle Sinckler 19. Charlie Matthews 20. Carl Fearns 21. Luke McGrath 22. Quade Cooper 23. Jonathan Joseph

Tactics

Game Plan

Retain the ball and build phases using the strong carriers in our pack to make yards, punch holes and tie in defenders. Once defenders are tied in we will spread the ball wide and get our pacy backs into space. We will look for our carriers to carry in numbers so they can offload after or just before contact, or they can set up a ruck quickly and get quick back for the half backs. These tactics rely on quick ball so we are going to commit and extra man into the rucks to negate the effect of Gill and Armitage.

We will look to win the collisions in attack and defence and keep the legs pumping in contact before going to ground when we have forward momentum.

Forwards

We will attempt to control the lineout with Kruis in charge and 4 other excellent jumping options. We will shorten the lineout between 22m lines to four and use Denton, Easter and Hooper as carrying options in the midfield. At the scrum we will play it by ear. if we are dominant we will look to milk penalties whilst if we are struggling we will get the ball in and out quickly. At the rucks we will look to ruck players out the way effectively and get them off their feet so they can't get to the ball.

Backs

We will get Karl Dickson sniping at the fringes to keep the Saracens defence honest whilst Burns will stand flat and bring others into play. We have Faainga and Fritz cutting lines as well as Brits, Denton, Easter and Hooper carrying in the midfield. Faainga will cut lines all game targeting Steenson in the defensive line. Our blindside winger will come infield looking for work and Taylor will join the line at pace and do what he does best.

Defence

Faainga to captain our defence and we will employ a quick line speed and look to double up in the tackle with one man taking the legs and the other targeting the ball. We will look to legally slow down the Saracens ball with Hooper targeting the breakdown.

Key Points

Retain Possession -Keep the ball in hand outside of our 22. Starve Saracens of possession and they can't do anything.

Quick ruck ball and offloads - We need to ruck effectively to get quick ball so we can build our attack and keep the momentum going with offloads. We need to ruck well to negate Gill and Armitage.

Target the lineout - We will look to really get at the Saracens line out. Craig had just joined and there is no other noted leaders in the pack.

Target Steenson,McFadden and Smith in defence - When we get the chance we will target McFadden's positioning at 13 and Steenson and Smith's tacklig, as they both have a tendancy to fall of the tackle.

Kick the points - A win here will be huge to our season and play-off hopes. We are going all out for the win and will take the points whenever they are on offer.

---

London Wasps vs. Northampton Saints
Light Rain, 3 degrees, 24 mph winds.

London Wasps
Manager – Fluxy

01. Ben Robinson	09. Maxime Machenaud
02. Rob Webber	10. Rhys Priestland
03. Logovii Mulipola
04. Bradley Davies	11. Tom Varndell
05. Mourtiz Botha	12. Dan Bowden
06. Iain Henderson	13. Tomasso Benevenuti
07. Jonathon Poff	14. Topsy Ojo
08. Dave Dennis	15. Geordan Murphy

16. Sean Cronin 17. Alec Hepburn 18. Shaun Knight 19. Alistair Hargreaves 20. John Barclay 21. Jonah Holmes 22. Brock James 23. Jamie Elliot

Tactics
At home we will look to test a Saints team that has been rotated a lot and have little cohesion. With the Wasps crowd behind the boys, we will look to play simple abrasive rugby. The brand of rugby we want to play 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 Machenaud and Priestland will look to keep us penned in the Saints 22. If the Saints lads are going 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 Priestland. This will drag Saints defenders further apart and produce wholes or mismatches. With 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. With the decent conditions, we have some dangerous backs with ball in hand and will look to cut loose when the opportunity arises.

Tactics

• We have some great technicians in the scrum and with our big front five, this is an area we want to get an advantage in. Look to target this area, as Saints don't possess the most technical props. Looking to wheel and cut the scrum off from the opposing backline.
  
  
• With a strong lineout, Barclay will lead the lineout and use himself as banker ball at the front of the line with Botha jumping in the middle. Look to run full number lineouts to tie in the opposing pack. This will create space for our backs.
  
  
• Look to clear every ruck out quickly. Much like England and NZ we want to cleanly win our own possession and quickly.
  
  
• Similar to the point above but we want to legally get men over the ball and competing for possession to slow down the Saints possession.
  
  
• 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.
  
  
• Preistland will look to use our pacy backline often. Just because we are in a dogfight doesn't mean we can't not turn on the style to score tries. Use Bowden as the creative lynch-pin in midfield and allow time and space for our back line to wreak havoc, or as another kicking option.
  
  
• Machenaud willl control the pack and direct traffic, just like all little french general scrum half's. He will take look to test the Saints back three with kicks in behind them and look to make them make tough decisions in defence.
  
  
• We will run a banana blitz in defence, with Machenaud sweeping. This will cut down the time and space for their danger midfield and halfbacks. Sending them inside to the guards of the rucks and creating a chance of isolation and turnover.
  
  
• 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.
  
  
• Priestland to kick all on opportunity points, within range. Any other penalties will be sent long to gain a territorial edge with our strong lineout.

Northampton Saints
Manager - dammit_chris

01. Sona Taumalolo	09. Nick Phipps
02. Tatafu Polota-Nau	10. Juan Martin Hernandez (k)
03. Henry Thomas
04. Callum Clark	11. Christian Wade
05. Patricio Albecete	12. Marcelo Bosch
06. Julian Bonnaire	13. Elliot Daly
07. Sam Cane	14. Juan Imhoff
08. Billy Vunipola	15. Ben Foden(c)

16. Mike Haywood 17. Ben Teimafano 18. Carl Hayman 19. Cadeyn Neville 20. Liam Messam 21. Alex Day 22. Danny Cipriani 23. Ben Nutley

Tactics:
High on confidence from last weeks LV Cup Final triumph Saints will look to build and implement the same tactics, especially after having beaten Wasps less than two weeks ago.

Again we will to play a game where me make few mistakes, so we've picked a 10-12-13 combination that can put us deep into Wasps territory and a large pack that can force mistakes with a physical/aggressive defence. Our game will be based around territory, getting our forwards over the gaininline, putting Wasps under pressure and using Bonnaire to generate quick ball at the lineout. We will work through the phases and get into good positions to launch our backs - no risk rugby early on and feed off any mistake that Wasps make, with a very good counter attacking backline.

Territory & going through the phases Pack full of big ball carriers to get over the gainline and put us on the front foot. We will aim to be more physical than Wasps upfront and dominate territory and possession. Patient game, no mistakes. Three excellent kickers in Hernandez, Bosch and Daly to control territory. Look to force Wasps into mistakes or conceding penalties and are a threat from 55metres with Daly's boot.

Attack: We will go through the phases and get our big ball carriers on the ball early on (Taumalolo, Thomas, TFN, Albacete, Messam, Vunipola). When we break the defensive line that is when we will go out wide and put pace on the game. We've got try scorers all over the backline and genuine pace out wide.

Bosch makes his Saints debut, but with Hernandez and Imhoff in the backline there will be an instant understanding between the Argentinians, which will allow our backline to flow.

Phipps to control the game at no9, by bringing in the forwards to make hard yards around the fringes and suck in Wasps defence - we want to create overlaps for the likes of Wade, Daly and Foden.

Defence: We've picked a powerful front five and will look to play very physical defence with big hits coming in from the likes of Taumalolo, Thomas, Clark and Vunipola. Same defensive system as England utilise, based around physicality and aggression in the pack, forcing mistakes.

Phipps to sweep behind defensive line, but also have Daly and Wade's pace for any linebreaks and Foden as one of the best tackling fullbacks in world rugby.

Set piece: Strong scrum and lineout jumpers of Bonnaire, Albacete and Clark - will use the lineout to set up more phases for our forwards to go through and generate quick ball from those phases and first phase is to use Bosch or Foden to punch holes in Wasps defence.

From the base of the scrum Vunipola to attack Priestland.

Breakdown: Calum Clark always comes close to top of turnover stats in AP and in addition we have recalled Cane to the starting lineup in order to really target this area. Will use Vunipola, Albacete and the front row to clear out the Wasps players at the breakdown and make this a really physical contest.

Key Points:
• Patient game, working through the phases and getting powerful runners over the gainline.
• Make the game as physical as possible as feel have advantage over Wasps in that aspect.
• Win tactical kicking battle with Hernandez, Bosch and Daly...
• Attack Wasps set piece, especially lineout in the absence of Wentzel.
• Send big runners down the Wasps 10/12 channel to suck in defenders and create space outwide to exploit.

---

How are the scores worked out again Pete? I tried to work out whether I had a TBP last night and I ended up with a different score.

My scores averaged 22.4 and then 9 winning predictions. Is that how its done? I'm sure I've asked this before.

22.4 + 4.5 for 9 winning predos (0.5 for each) = 26.9 which as the decimal is .5 or above is rounded up giving you 27.

That's part why I am so gutted for Fluxy, as him and Chris got 2.5 each as the add on for winning predos, but due to the overall scores it was 18.9 - 19.5 before that, which left it 21.4-22.0 which meant Fluxy got rounded down.

Some real tight ones this week. Falcons vs. Tigers was a narrow margin as well.

I always forget it is 0.5 for a win. Cheers

Wow, was a close one with Wasps this week, thought it was going to be a draw!

Delighted with that result, very tight.

That's you guaranteed play offs

That's heartbreaking

Would've been happy with the LBP, but being that close to winning is gutting.

That's rough luck Fluxy !