Aviva Premiership Round Eighteen

First topic message reminder :

Team & Tactics - 2000hrs Saturday
Predictions - 2000 hrs Tuesday

---

Exeter Chiefs vs Leicester Tigers
Location - Sandy park
Weather - White Cloud, 10 degrees, 9 mph

---

Exeter Chiefs
Manager – Pooly (Caretaker)

01. Tim Payne	09. TJ Perenara
02. Neil Clark	10. Jonny Wilkinson (k)
03. John Afoa
04. Tommy Hayes	11. Paul Sackey
05. James Horwill(c)	12. Billy Twelvetrees
06. Steve Mafi	13. Richard Kahui
07. Steffon Armitage	14. Cory Jane
08. Ernst Joubert	15. Isa Nacewa

16. Brett Sturgess 17. Simon Alcott 18. Nicholas Mas 19. Pascal Pape 20. Toby Faletau 21. Kevin Barrett 22. Henry Slade 23. Israel Folau

---

Leicester Tigers
Manager – Sgt_Pooly

01. Alex Corbisiero	09. Karl Dickson
02. Bismark Du Plessis	10. Toby Flood
03. Aaron Jarvis
04. Luke Romano	11. Digby Ioane
05. Richie Gray	12. Berrick Barnes
06. Siya Kolisi	13. Matt Smith
07. Liam Gill	14. Christian Wade
08. Willam Alberts	15. James O’Connor

16. Tom Youngs 17. Thomas Domingo 18. Martin Castrogiovani 19. Geoff Parling 20. Sam Warburton 21. Ben Youngs 22. Jordan Turner-Hall 23. Manu Tuilagi

---

---

Gloucester vs London Welsh
Location - Kingsholm Stadium
Weather - Grey Cloud, 6 degrees, 8 mph

---

Gloucester

01. Antoine Guillamone	09. Dan Robson
02. Korree Britton	10. Freddie Burns (k)
03. Rupert Harden
04. Tom Savage	11. Johnny May
05. Sam Whitelock	12. JDJ
06. Akapusi Qera	13. Henry Trinder
07. Sam Cane	14. JSD
08. JVN (c)	15. Pat Lambie

16. Dave Ward 17. Nick Wood 18. Adam Jones 19. Will James 20. Luke Narraway 21. Dimitri Yachvilli 22. Jimmy Gopperth 23. Charlie Sharples

Tactics

Key Points

Strong-Balanced Backrow
JVN brings a very strong carrying game and can run off our outside backs to hit the gaps and power through. Cane brings his breakdown work and learning from the master McCaw can't be a bad thing at international level he will look to make a nuisance of himself. Qera brings abrasiveness and hard hitting tackles, he will bring impact with his loose play and in the tight. These three will be the backbone to a good win.

slow Brussouw
We know how dangerous Brussouw can be and have selected Qera and savage to target him and prevent him slowing down our ball. Match fitness will be key today as we expect a fast game and to get quick ball we will look to put in a few big hits on him to put him off or out of the game.

Impact Bench
We have: Narraway, Robson, Gopperth and Trinder to come off the bench and all are game changers who can continue our abrasive and energetic style of play to push us towards the big win. Gopperth can keep the scoreboard ticking and put up hanging balls if needed to test their back three late in the game. Jones come on only if needed but will want to play especially after winning the 6 nations championship.

Attacking

• We come off the back of a huge win and expect nothing else but another big win.

• Robson and Burns to play what's in front of them and look to release JDJ or snipe as much as possible. If it isn't on then Burns will stick it in the corners and, with Whitelock, Cane, JVN and Savage we have a number of 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 Sharples and May.

• 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.

• Impact bench to shore up our victory and to keep the scoreboard ticking (Gopperth) , Robson and Trinder will play fast-in your face-rugby, James and Narraway will have a field day against tired legs in the loose. Jones will only come on if needed for 15 mins impact max

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 so he has no time to kick or give quick ball to the centres, we will protect the channels to stop 9 sniping.

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

• We will hit the breakdown quick to give Qera and Cane 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.

---

London Welsh

Manager – Fluxy

01. Rhys Gill	09. Ruan Pienaar (K)
02. David Paice	10. Nick Evans
03. David Wilson
04. George Kruis	11. Topsy Ojo
05. Steve Borthwick (C)	12. Dominic Waldlouck
06. Tom Johnson	13. George Lowe
07. Hienrich Brussow	14. Horacio Agulla
08. Ashley Johnson	15. Maxime Medard

16. Paul James 17. Frans Malherbe 18. Tom Lindsay 19. Paul O'Connell 20. Jackson Wray 21. Will Chudley 22. Brad Barritt 23. Ben Ransom

Tactics

With a strong record at home the team will look to build on recent form and set up a strong finish to the campaign. 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, and Evans knows when to attack and when we need to clear the lines. We will look to go through simple phases to reproduce quick ball to cut the defence open. We have brilliant leaders all other the pitch in Borthwick, Pienaar and Evans, and they know what will be required to get we want from the game - a win. With the decent conditions, we will look to play a simple expansive game in attack and in defence will look to force Glos to play from in their 22 and use our strong lineout and kicking game to pressure them.

• Gill and Wilson are solid technicians and will secure our own feed, to provide first phase possession for our backs. A big target for us here is to get under the inexperienced front-row and make them go backwards with constant pressure.
  
  
• With a strong lineout, Borthwick will lead the lineout and use himself as banker ball at the front of the line with Kruis jumping in the middle. If winning own ball Borthwick will look to call full number lineouts to tie in the Glos fowards.
  
  
• Our whole pack is mobile and capable of snaffling ball at the breakdown. We will look to offload in the tackle to keep moving the point of attack and tire out the big Glos pack, this will keep Savage, Cane and Qera away from turning over our possesion.
  
  
• 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. Big empahsis on running forward down the ten channel when there is slow ball.
  
  
• We will look to keep the ball alive, preventing them from setting any defensive lines. Evans will direct traffic with the use of quick pods systems outside the guards of the rucks, and target any of our forwards against their backs.
  
  
• We will use a banana drift line in defence to cut down Burns' options and push him inside towards our backrow.
  
  
• Evans has some dangerous backs out side him, and will look to use them at every valid opportunity after we have tied in forwards or created mismatches in the defensive line.
  
  
• 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.
  
  
• Pienaar will kick all points, he can kick from within their half, so this indicates that Glos should be wary of giving away penalties.
  
  
• This is a big game for the two teams, and we realise that it will be heated. Therefore with the experience in our side we will look to not give away silly penalties, but punish those given to us.

---

---

London Irish vs Worcester Warriors
Location - Madjeski Stadium
Weather - Grey Cloud, 5 degrees, 10 mph

---

London Irish

Manager – Mad for Chelsea

01. Dean Greyling	09. Joe Simpson
02. Stephen Moore	10. Quade Cooper
03. Euan Murray
04. Simon Shaw	11. Sailosi Tagicakibau
05. Bryn Evans	12. Shontayne Hape
06. Jerome Kaino	13. Matt Tait
07. David Pocock (c)	14. David Strettle (k)
08. Imanol Harinordoquy	15. Delon Armitage

16. Rhys Marshall, 17. Tom Smallbone, 18. Gethin Jenkins, 19. Nick Kennedy, 20. Andy Saull, 21. Jack Moates, 22. Brock James, 23. Aurelien Rougerie

Tactics

Look to play in the right areas of the pitch. Don't fling it about wily-nilly, but if it's on, go for it. Rely on a strong backrow to secure the possession we need. Murray returns to the side to add some class at TH. Having opted out of a 6N game for religious reasons he should still be more than fresh enough. Jenkins goes to the bench due to tiredness, but again having missed the penultimate match should have more than enough for a nice little cameo when the opposition are weary. Tait replaces Rougerie in midfield, and this allows Armitage (returning from suspension) to slot in at full-back.

- strong front row, should gain at least parity in the set piece. We've picked a second row with plenty of grunt to help that.

- Harinordoquy is line-out captain, and has plenty of options at his disposal, both to secure our own throw, and to challenge the opposition.

- the backrow is niecly balanced, with some mighty fine players, and should dominate the breakdown.

- a nice attacking backline, which we'll look to get going whenever possible. Looking to our dynamic half-back pairing to really move things along.

- blitz defense, looking to cut off the outside channels, and force them back under pressure.

- always have a couple of players back to field kicks. Counter-attack off any loose kicking.

---

Worcester Warriors

Manager – InTheFastLane

01. George Porter	09. Will Genia
02. Tafata Polota Nau	10. Dan Carter
03. Juan Figallo
04. George Robson	11. Julien Savea
05. Graham Kitchener	12. Maa Nonu
06. Matt Kvesic	13. Matt Hopper
07. Michael Hooper	14. Tom Homer
08. Liam Messam	15. Kurtley Beale

16. Joe Marler 17. Will Radburn 18. Tevita Taumepeau 19. Gerhard Mostert 20. Ben Morgan 21. Shaun Perry 22. Robbie Freaun 23. Alex Cuthbert

Overall: Look for strong running rugby led by our half back combination who will look to control our tempo and keep us playing in the right areas.

In these conditions we don’t expect to experience many scrums. However when we do scrum look for to get a good squeeze and win penalties.

At the lineout we feel we have a big advantage and if we can develop this advantage early we shall look to switch the game plan and look for corners with the boot. Robson, Kitchener and Messam are all quality jumpers and we will look to switch up the lineout.

As well as performing in the set piece we will be looking to get our forwards making some big carries in open play. We will be looking to burst into space and makes gains with the likes of Morgan, TPN, Figallo and Messam on the ball.

Look to attack the breakdown hard and fast with lots of bodies looking to slow down or turn over Irish ball. We have picked a back row that we feel can really target the breakdown. Hooper + Kvesic are both breakdown masters and will look to target Pocock and take him out of the game. Messam will also look to help at this area.

Strong half back combination will be looking to control the tempo of our game. Will Genia will play his natural game mixing it up with his passing and his sniping runs. Dan Carter is our main playmaker and will look to use his vast array of talents to adapt to the game. He will look to get his running and passing game involved while his kicking offers another option.

The back five will be looking to make inroads with their attacking running. Nonu will be look to make strong runs, crashing through defences. He will look to draw in defences to offer more space for our other runners. Hooper is a very exciting runner and will be looking for gaps where he can make ground. Homer, Beale and Savea will be looking to make use of the spaces with their movement. Target Cooper who has defensive fragilities.

Use an arrowhead defence targeting Tait which will lead to Cooper trying to take too much on and will lead to eventual mistakes.

With Carter, Genia, Beale and Homer we have some quality boots and we will look to take advantage. If we experience dominance at the lineout look to put the ball into corners. Genia will also use his box kick abilities to give our players something to chase.

We will look to make full use of our bench. Marler, Radian + Taumoepeau are quality options who will look to get involved around the park and at scrumtime. Mostert will look to add grit on late on as well as Morgan who will look to get lots of carries in against tired legs. Freaun + Cuthbert add similar big running options late on and we will look to get the ball in their hands whenever possible.

---

---

Sale Sharks vs Bath Rugby
Location - Salford City Stadium
Weather - Grey Cloud, 3 degrees, 14 mph

---

Sharks

---

Bath Rugby
Manager – Bathite

01. Nathan Catt	09. Micheal Classens
02. Adrian Strauss	10. James Hook (k)
03. Owen Franks
04. Johann Muller	11. Tom Biggs
05. Dave Attwood	12. Francois Steyn
06. Francois Louw (C)	13. Elliot Daly
07. Julian Salvi	14. Tommy Bowe
08. Sione Kalamafoni	15. Israel Dagg

16. John Golding 17. Christophe Tolufua 18. Kane Palmer-Newport 19. Rynhardt Eldsadt 20. Sean O'Brien 21. Chris Cook 22. Olly Barkley 23. Matt Banahan

Tactics

• Basic game around the big front five, being mobile and strong in contact. The whole pack can carry the ball well, Hook and Claasens will use a simple pod system to get front foot ball.
  
  
• Muller to run lineout, Attwood and Louw as back up jumpers, great advantage and possession to be had here against Sharks.
  
  
• Mobile back-row that can carry and be a nuisance at the breakdown, either turning ball over or slowing it down.
  
  
• Claasens and Hook to play a simple game, slow ball goes to forwards to gain momentum. Quick ball shipped into Steyns hand who will look to get the back three and Daly into spaces.
  
  
• Hook to kick, Steyn to kick for long range penalties.
  
  
• Dagg to marshal the back-three and look to counter any poor kicks to him or his back-three.
  
  
• In the decent conditions, simple but small popping of the ball to big carriers coming in at angles will keep Sharks defence going backwards.

---

---

Saracens vs Harlequins
Location - Allianz Stadium
Weather - Grey Cloud, 4 degrees, 8 mph

---

Saracens

Manager – ChequeredJersey

01. Matt Mullan	09. Julien Dupuy (k)
02. Schalk Brits	10. Charlie Hodgson
03. Sekope Kepu
04. Ollie Kohn	11. Tom Williams
05. Bakkies Botha	12. Anthony Allen
06. Richie McCaw (c.)	13. Conrad Smith
07. Will Fraser	14. Chris Wyles
08. Nick Easter	15. Beauden Barrett

16. Mako Vunipola 17. Rob Hawkins 18. Ben Tameifuna 19. Charlie Matthews 20. Billy Vunipola 21. Ben Spencer 22. Tom Casson 23. Leigh Halfpenny

With our hard artificial pitch and dry (although still cloudy) weather, Saracens will be looking to stretch our running muscles this week.

Breakdown- 2 7s sharing the duties, supported by Easter and Kohn clearing out and an all-pack effort at the rucks. 1 seven to chase the ball at all times the other to link/set defence. If we can get a man to opposition ball before they get support, throw players at it to turn it over. Otherwise, let the men named slow/secure ball and don't over-commit.

Attack- build moment through drives down the centre and the edges of rucks with big carriers like Botha and Brits running onto pops from Dupuy or pick and drives in units of 3 forwards. When the quick ball is there, spin it through Hodgson (playing flat) and use Allen as the spear point in attack, with Smith supporting and providing a hand outside him, Brits (and later Billy) on the inside for the pop and the wingers looking for the ball. Barrett to join the line to switch the direction of attack. Whatever happens, every break must be supported and Smith is the master of this.

Defence- I want Fraser to skip out Steyn on the rush and cut down Fofana's space. Generally Blitz, with Hodgson looking to charge down Steyn. Guard the fringes of rucks at all times, one of McCaw or Easter should be free to do this. Watch out for the chip, which I want Brits to cover and punish by running back. Wyles and Barrett to defend deeper kicks and look to run back linking with the likes of Williams and Brits, but if it's not on then kick into space or high. All kicks to be chased as we should win some with McCaw and Fraser competing. Watch their centres who will move around the line.

Lineout- led by Botha, who will jump at the front of opposition throws to disrupt them. Throw a mix of front (banker ball), middle and long (even to the backs if it's on and unexpected) and again if things are going well take a risk with a trick lineout popping back to Brits in the 5m line. Utilise our backrow as all are excellent options.

Scrum- Technical props and huge second rows should see us shove on our own ball. If we do, run moves off the backrow as all have lovely hands and this will allow us momentum for the backs. Once Billy is on, have him run a bit (supported by the flanks) at Morne and the wingers to really test their tackling.

Kicking- Dupuy to take points when they are easy but don't strain any kicks. If the game is tight, bring Leigh on and he will kick anything on offer with his enormous range and metronomic accuracy. Use the crossfield in their 22 and kick for possession not territory where possible and appropriate.

Subs- Mako and Ben are big carriers and dangers in the loose we can bring on to break the game up and to freshen up our front row without losing technique in the scrum. Bring Billy on for at least 20 mins to run at tired legs. Otherwise play it by ear. Barrett covers 10, Allen 13.

Other- we will offload out of the tackle IF it's on and Habana is elsewhere. No loose passes when he's around. If he is, then take contact and we will win the breakdown anyway. Also, let's send some forwards at Fofana occasionally and see if he can tackle.

---

Harlequins

Manager – Driver

01.Marcos Ayerza	09.Richard Wrigglesworth(c)
02.John Smit	10.Morne Steyn (k)
03.Will Collier
04.Eben Etzebeth	11.Bryan Habana
05.Alistair Hargreaves	12.Wesley Fofana
06.Iain Henderson	13.Adam Ashley Cooper
07.Marcell Coatzee	14.Mark Cueto
08.Dave Denton	15.Jared Payne

16.Nathan Morris 17.Mark Lambert 18.James Johnstone 19.Mouritz Botha 20.Jamie Gibson 21.Bryn Hall 22.Tom Heathcote 23.Ollie Lindsey Hague

Quins have gone for a power based game plan based around the big carriers in our pack in Ayerza , Smit , Etzebeth , Henderson , Coatzee and Denton along with Fofana and Ashley Cooper in the midfield.

- Keep the scrum strong , Collier has been starting for Quins at 3 recently and smashing opposition LH.

- Retain possetion against the Sarries line. Blitz the tackler away in contact to keep the chances of turnover low.

-Steyn to test Sarries backs 3s position game with Kicks in behind with Habana and Cueto chasing with neither being on the small side.

-Fofana/AAC to take the ball to the gain line and ask questions of the Sarries back line with Habana/Cueto/Payne coming into the line to cause problems

- GET FOFANA AND DENTON RUNNING AT HODGSON

-Etz to challange the Sarries throw from 2 with Hargreaves calling the lineout from the middle mixing it up.

-Jumpers from 4-8 in our pack giving John Smit plenty of targets with Etzebeth and Hargreaves targeting the Sarries Lineout.

-Wrigglesworth to control the tempo , feeding Steyn the ball at the right times and using his own vision to snipe and put the ball in behind Sarries.

-Blitz Defence to stop Sarries backs playing with Wrigglesworth sweeping behind

---

---

London Wasps vs Northampton Saints
Location - Adams Park
Weather - Grey Cloud, 7 degrees, 9 mph

---

London Wasps

Manager – CF

01. Tendai Mtawaria	09. Danny Care
02. George Chuter	10. Owen Farrell (K)
03. Matt Stevens
04. Marco Wentzel	11. Ugo Monye
05. James Cannon	12. Chris Bell
06. Tinius Du Plessis	13. Alex Cheeseman
07. Pedrie Wannenburg	14. Paul Sackey
08. Thomas Waldrom (C)	15. Mike Brown

REPLACEMENTS: 16. Dimitri Swarzeski 17. Hoani Tui 18. Ben Broster 19. George Skivington 20. Micky Young 21. Nicky Robinson 22. Luke Marshall 23. Tom Varndell

still tinkering with different players in different positions as we dont have a lot to play for now...we are pretty much down however players still have a chance to impress ahead of future games and seasons. Pace in the backline helps in this game also with the likes of Marshall and Varndell coming off the bench will help as game goes on, Also in the forwards with Swarzeski and Tui to come off the bench is a strong point as well.

---

Saints

---

RESULTS:
Exeter Chiefs* 24-26 Leicester Tigers
Gloucester 24-21 London Welsh*
London Irish* 20-26 Worcester Warriors
Saracens* 22-23 Harlequins

Sale Sharks 0-30 Bath Rugby*
London Wasps* 30-0 Northampton Saints

Full Bonus:Flux, CJ, Prop, Pooly, Driver

Half:CJB

Fined: Wasps

Page bonus: Flux

MARK

Damn it! So close.

Happy to sneak through with that win. Unlucky Fluxy. My late charge to top four could happen again!!

Looks like it could be. But Quins and bath both won this week. So it'll be close.

Think we have seen the advantage of building a squad rather than the first XV this week.

Sarries crashing is big shock, thye've been unstoppable lately.

Big win for Quins

Glad I've built a bit of depth. Full team available for this week coming bar Dawiduk!

ChequeredJersey wrote:Please predict, CF

sorry pal completely forgot.

Gutted to lose that

Delighted with that win , Has to be the game of the season so far CJ.