Fantasy Aviva Premiership Round Twenty

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Newcastle Falcons vs. London Irish
Grey Cloud, 6 degrees, 6mph winds.

Newcastle Falcons
Manager – Driver

01.Fabian Barcella	09.Ben Youngs
02.Rory Best	10.Toby Flood
03.Owen Franks
04.Ed Slater	11.Alex Cuthbert
05.Paul O'Connell	12.Scott Williams
06.Chris Robshaw	13.Adam Ashley Cooper
07.Hienrich Brussouw	14.Tommy Bowe
08.Toby Falatau	15.Alex Goode

16.Jamie George 17.Sone Tonga'uhia 18.Scotty Wilson 19.Brad Thorn 20.Kieran Read 21.Sam Harrison 22.Ben Williams 23.George Lowe

TACTICS

- HIGH INTENSITY

Keep the tempo of the game high with Flood moving the ball into wide areas letting our mobile forwards get around the pitch and test the fitness of the Irish pack with questions being asked about whether or not AJ and Ben Morgan can keep up with the pace.

SET PIECE

We've bought in the best 5 in world rugby to give us a advantage at the lineout where he will look to bank our own ball and target the Irish line with no real operator on show.

Breakdown

Irish have picked two 7s in the hope of winning the battle on the deck and we will look to counter this by going purely for balance in our back row which is key to winning any game. Brussouw will look to steal plenty on the deck whilst the rest of our pack will look to blast rucks to clear Tipuric/Fraser away.

SIMPLE GAME PLAN

Keep it tight and grind Irish down leaving room for oiur dangerous backs to strike and run at the Irish line with Cuthbert and Bowe looking to pick a line off Williams and Cooper.

Blitz Defense with Youngs sweeping.


London Irish
Manager - prop_lyd

01. Jean Baptiste Poux	09. Ruan Pienaar
02. Andrew Hore	10. Nick Evans (k)
03. Adam Jones
04. Stuart Hooper (c)	11. Marland Yarde
05. Hugh Pyle	12. Sereli Naqalevuki
06. Justin Tipuric	13. Conrad Smith
07.Will Fraser	14. Bjorn Basson
08. Ben Morgan	15. Tom Homer (lk)

16. Tom Lindsay 17. Matt Stevens 18. Brok Harris 19. Mamuka Gorgodze 20. Yannick Nyanga 21. Jack Moates 22. Shane Geraghty 23. Guy Armitage

Key Points

Form
We have built up our confidence and are coming in off the back of a couple of good wins against Saints and Sale and will look to continue our good form today against the Falcons who have been struggling and have had a tough game last weekend whilst we had a rest week.

Opensides
We want quick ball for our backs and especially our wingers to attack quickly from. We have picked 2 7's who will alternate hitting rucks. Hooper can lead a lineout just find so we will get quick ball from that. We have brought in Hore to prevent our 7's getting targetted and giving them time to slow down the Falcons ball.


Impact Bench
Our bench has raw power and alot of international experience. Gorgodze coming off the bench will bring the strong running needed against tired legs, Moates can speed up service, Nyanga will look for loose ball and Stevens has been in good form IRL add in Harris' and Lindsay's carrying and the last 20 minutes will be full of impact subs, Armitage hitting good scoring form lately too.

Attacking

• We want to force errors from Falcons 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 Evans (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, Tips and Pyle we have the number jumpers to gain the ball back, we know Falcons 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 and Nyanga, Gorgodze will have a field day against tired legs, excitement to continue to target the tired players through Moates' sniping, heavy impact at the scrum to come on and Armitage and Geraghty can continue to control the game and bring further excitement and pace..

Set Piece

• Strong scrum which will get the edge up on the Jones 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 9 sniping.

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

• We will hit the breakdown quick to give Tipuric and 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. Bath Rugby
Heavy Rain Showers, 11 degrees, 15 mph winds.

Harlequins
Manager – Steven_Sharks

01. Tony Woodcock	09. Greig Laidlaw
02. Schalk Brits	10. Freddie Burns (k)
03. Juan Figallo
04. Bakkies Botha	11. Luke Morahan
05. Steve Borthwick	12. Jamie Roberts
06. Tom Wood	13. Jonathan Joseph
07. Sam Warburton (c)	14. Yoann Huget
08. Nick Easter	15. Rob Kearney

16. Gary Botha 17. Joe Marler 18. Kieran Brookes 19. George Kruis 20. Pierre Spies 21. Karl Dickson 22. Quade Cooper 23. Matt Smith

Tactics

Game Plan

• Retain possession in opposition half. We will look to use our strong carriers to make inroads carrying off 9 and 10 and tie in defenders before we spread the ball wider in to the hands of JJ and our back three in more space.
  
  
• Control. We are intending to control the game upfront and in the half backs, especially in our own 22 where we will look to use the boots of Laidlaw, Kearney and Burns to get us into the opposition half but when in our own half we might look to use up and unders and cross field kicks and kicks behind any out of position Bath players to gain us territory. In the Bath half though we do not kick and we build up patiently.
  
  
• Control the breakdown. We will look for our players to ruck hard to get us quick ball. The first men to the breakdown are required to join the ruck and move the Bath players away from the ball. Key to controlling the ruck area is players carrying with support and staying on their feet after the collision until told to go down by their support.

Forwards

Up front we are looking to exert dominance and set piece and the ruck and maul with our big front 5. When our forwards are carrying we are looking for them to carry in numbers and keep the legs pumping after contact and win the collisions. When the offload is on we will look to use it to continue our attacking momentum and not give Bath a chance to reorganise their defence.

At the set piece we will look to really pressure Bath at the scrum and at the lineout. If we are seeing any dominance we will look to milk this area for penalties and points. We will commit as many men as is needed to get the quick ball at rucks if required.

Backs

In the backs we are looking for Laidlaw and Burns to control the game for us. When we are on the front foot Burns will control our play at 10 and will get the ball when he wants it but as we are building up momentum and have slower ball Laidlaw will decide whether he makes the play or passes it on to Burns. Burns will always be standing flat when we have quick ball and will look to hit Roberts of a back rower on a hard line or spread it wider to JJ in open spaces.

Defence

In defence we will look to have a quick line speed and put pressure on the Bath decision makers. Warburton and Wood will look to disrupt at the breakdown and we will look to legally slow the ball down when we can. Discipline is key and we will not give away cheap penalties. When we can we will double up in the tackle with one make taking the legs and the other the ball.

Key Points

To be added.


Bath Rugby
Manager – inthefastlane

01. Cian Healy	09. Aaron Smith
02. Chris Brooker	10. Charlie Hodgson
03. Davit Kubrashvilli
04. Graham Kitchener	11. George North
05. Sam Whitelock	12. Anthony Allen
06. Tom Guest	13. Jonathan Davies
07. David Pocock	14. Cory Jane
08. JMF Lobbe	15. Stuart Hogg

16. Jon Golding 17. Will Tanner 18. Carl Rimmer 19. Luke Romano 20. James Gaskell 21. Fourie Du Preez 22. Rob Horne 23. Richard Lane

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Leicester Tigers vs. London Wasps
White Cloud, 10 degrees, 9 mph winds.

Leicester Tigers
Manager – LukeLovesLuka

01. Gethin Jenkins	09. Dimitri Yachvili
02. Stephen Moore	10. Jonny Wilkinson (k)
03. Dan Cole
04. Nathan Hines	11. Rene Ranger
05. Geoff Parling	12. Billy Twelvetrees
06. Ryan Jones	13. Brian O'Driscoll (c)
07. Sean O'Brien	14. Vincent Clerc
08. Ernst Joubert	15. Isa Nacewa

16. Tom Youngs 17. Lee Imiolek 18. Cencus Johnston 19. James Horwill 20. James Scaysbrook 22. Micky Young 22. Dominic Waldouck 23. Drew Mitchell

Play to our strengths and play a game built around our intelligent HB's controlling the game, the power of our pack and look to get the runners in our backline into space.

Key Points:

Home Advantage
Our home record is sensational, and we always feel we will win games at Welford Road. We feel we have the players to control the game, and in front of our own fans, Welford Road is a fortress.

Experience at 2, 8, 9, 10
Huge amounts of experience and intelligence in these key positions and we will aim to really control the game. Yach and Wilko to control the tempo of the game and where it is played.

Target Wasps' Wingers
If its the right option, use excellent kicking game of Yach, Wilko and Twelvetrees to target Wasps' back three with a mixture of kicks. Lightning back line to chase high balls to pressure every single catch Wasps have to make.

General Tactics:

- Yachvili and Wilko to control proceedings - but we're not here to kick the ball away. We have the personnel in our side to play a mixture of different styles, and we will play the game as we see it.

- In attacking play, we will play with the option of 2 first recievers in Wilko and Twelvetrees. Keep Wasps guessing with our attacking options.

- Different style of runners in the backline. With the likes of BOD, Nacewa and Clerc we have exciting runners, and in Ranger and Twelvetrees some bigger runners.

- Attack all scrums with our huge pack - Look to really get the shove on with Moore looking to get on top of Webber in particular.

- Target the lineout - led by Parling. Five big jumpers, and we will mix up which jumpers we throw to on a consistent basis.
Always look to steal on Wasps throws putting real pressure on Webber.

- Physical, abrasive pack made up of massive line-breakers. The likes of SOB, Jones, Hines, Joubert 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.

- Wilkinson to kick all penalites.


London Wasps
Manager – Fluxy

01. Ryan Grant	09. Maxime Machenaud (K)
02. Rob Webber	10. Brock James
03. Logovii Mulipola
04. Bradley Davies	11. Tom Varndell
05. Donnacha Ryan (C)	12. Brad Barritt
06. Iain Henderson	13. George Pisi
07. John Barclay	14.Topsy Ojo
08. Netani Talei	15. Mike Brown

16. Sean Cronin 17. Ben Robinson 18. Shaun Knight 19. Mouritz Botha 20. Jonathon Poff 21. Jonah Holmes 22. Dan Bowden 23. Rhys Priestland

Tactics
With a tough away trip this week, it mostly about damage limitation. With the weather not looking too suited to expansive rugby we will look to dominate the possession and territory, with the use of clever kicks, or by using our very athletic and strong carrying pack. James and Machenaud will pull the strings form midfield, under little pressure. If Leicester want to score against our strong defence they will have run the ball from within their 22.

In attack we will look for the overlap or to develop one by the use of simple phases to reproduce quick ball to cut the defence open. Slow ball we will look to set up pods and runners off James. This will drag Leicester defenders further apart and produce wholes or mismatches. This allows the use of our dangerous back three that have been in great form with ball in hand.

There won't be much flashy play this week, its all about keeping mistakes to a minimum and applying pressure upon the Tigers players in defence. Even the best players are prone to mistakes and giving away penalties and we have two kickers that can keep punishing these penalties and mistakes.

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 TIgers do not possess the most technical props. Looking to wheel and cut the scrum off from the opposing backline.
  
  
• Put pressure upon every opposing scrum and line out. Not every feed or throw will be straight in the conditions.
  
  
• With a strong lineout, Ryan will lead the lineout and use himself as banker ball at the front of the line with Davies jumping in the middle. Look to run full number lineouts to tie in the opposing pack. This will create space for our backs, and time to get a clean kick away.
  
  
• 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 Tigers possession.
  
  
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• James will look to use our pacy backline only in the right situations. Just because we are in a dogfight doesn't mean we can't not turn on the style to score tries. He can use Barritt as a straight line option to make yards or go out the back to the pace of Pisi and our back three.
  
  
• Machenaud willl control the pack and direct traffic, just like all little french general scrum half's. He will take look to test the Tigers wings with kicks in behind them and look to make them make tough decisions in defence - especially with some height advantage in our backline.
  
  
• 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. Target Youngs's throwing late-on as he can be got at.
  
  
• Machenaud to kick all on opportunity points, within range. Any other penalties will be sent long to gain a territorial edge with our strong lineout.

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London Welsh vs. Northampton Saints
Heavy rain showers, 10 degrees, 14 mph winds.

London Welsh
Manager – Ozzy3213

01. Ben Alexander	09. Morgan Parra
02. Bismarck du Plessis	10. Owen Farrell
03. Dave Wilson
04. Jim Hamilton	11. Digby Ioane
05. James Hanks	12. Pat McCabe
06. Thierry Dusautoir	13. Joel Tomkins
07. Luke Wallace	14. Bryan Habana
08. Duane Vermeulen	15. Gareth Anscombe

16. Rob Hawkins 17. Steven Kitschoff 18. Martin Castrogiovanni 19. Semisi Taulava 20. Tom Johnson 21. Paul Hodgson 22. Tim Nanai-Williams 23. Semisi Taulava

Key Points

• Continuity. Our 8,9,10 combination have played together lots and will control the game for us. Saints 8,9,10 have never started a game as a unit before.
  
• Lineout. Mata’u has poor darts, we will look to really target him and have the athletic Hanks marking Bonnaire wherever he stations himself in the lineout.
  
• Pressure. All on Saints as they are fighting for a play off spot. None on us and we are free to play some rugby.
  
• Welsh Defence. Solid defenders throughout the team mean that it will take something special to score points against us.
  
• Impact Bench. Our bench is packed with players who can make a difference for us in the final quarter. We also have a 6-2 forward split.
  

Basic Game Plan
Slight change for us today as we are going to put boot to ball a bit more and play a bit of a territorial game using Parra, Farrell and Anscombe to put us deep in the Saints half. Once there we will control possession keeping the ball in tight to the ruck, with plenty of pick and goes. We have picked a very powerful mobile pack ensure that we compete in all areas up front. When we kick it will be in behind looking for touch, as well as high balls with our wingers pressurising the catcher in the wet windy conditions.

Specifics

• Support runners to ruck past the ball quickly if the carrier goes to ground in order to secure quick ball to go again.
  
• If we are not getting anywhere going through the phases, Parra,Farrell and Asncombe will use their boots to take us downfield and put pressure on Saints. We will take the drop goal if we need to.
  
• 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.
  

Northampton Saints
Manager:- Dammit Chris

01. Thomas Domingo	09. Nick Phipps
02. Moto Mata'u	10. Juan Martin Hernandez (k)
03. Carl Hayman
04. Courtney Lawes	11. Julian Savea
05. Patricio Albacete(c)	12. Matt Giteau
06. Julian Bonnaire	13. Manu Tuilagi
07. Julian Salvi	14. Chris Ashton
08. Billy Vunipola	15. Ben Foden

Subs: 16. Tatafu Polota-Nau 17. Mako Vunipola 18. Henry Thomas 19. Joe Launchbury 20. Sergio Parisse 21. Mike Phillips 22. Elliot Daly 23. Christian Wade

Tactics:Saints are full of confidence having won the last six games in a row. Our game is based on power, getting over the gainline with our big ball carriers and playing with a real physicality to force mistakes from London Welsh. We have picked an impact bench, which we will use throughout the game, and have a very strong kicking game with Hernandez and Giteau pulling the strings at 10 and 12. We have picked a very mobile pack that will move the ball around and be able to play at a high tempo to stretch the LW defence and create gaps for our dangerous backthree.

We will also look for Salvi to target Luke Wallace throughout the game and use his experience to win the no7 battle.

Attack: We will be able to mix up our attack throughout the 80minutes, we are happy to play a patient game, work through the phases and make hard yards, use Bonnaire's lineout presence to secure good attacking ball or to start rolling mauls in the LW half. But our team is full of gainline breakers Vunipola, Matu'a, Albacete, Savea and Tuilagi and we will look to get over the gainline at every possibility, especially with Matt Giteau's range of passing in midfield as he is the master at beating blitz defences.

Great try scoring form in recent weeks with Ashton, Tuilagi and Savea all playing well. We will look to keep hold of the ball and make Sarries work for every bit of possession.

Defence: We've picked a powerful and mobile pack who can put in big hits and look to force Welsh into turnovers and mistakes. We will look to utilise a similar defensive system to Saracens and England, based around physicality and slowing down the oppositions attack.

Nick Phipps to sweep behind the defensive line.

Set piece: Best lineout technician on the park is Bonnaire, we will look to keep the calls fairly straightforward and use Albcete or Lawes as banker ball, but Bonnaire can get quick ball for our backs and we will look to get Savea and Tuilagi running off Giteau here. Scrum will be used as an attacking platform with DOmingo and Hayman and then Billy V running off the back.

Breakdown: We've got a fresh Salvi into this game and we will be looking to use his experience to target Luke Wallace. With a mobile pack and presence of TUilagi in midfield we will put numbers in to clear out any Welsh players and look for turnovers and penalties.

Key Points:

• Strong pack, which can improve with the bench options we can bring on, together with good form puts us in good stead for a potential away win.
• Playing a really physical game, a lot of great ball carriers to get us over the gainline and then attack with our backs from quick ball.
• We see that we have more attacking flair, pace and gainline breakers in our backline so can outscore Sarries on the try front. Take all points on offer.
• Welcome Sarries playing a high tempo, offloading game and will put pressure on Parra and Farrell and look them to force this part of the game, as it isn;t either of their natural styles.
• Impact bench - make full use of this in the second half, espc pack - TFN, Mako V and Parisse to come on early.
• Target the breakdown and securing turnover ball

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Sale Sharks vs. Gloucester
White Cloud, 9 degrees 5 mph winds.

Sale Sharks
Manager – SJE

01. Jerome Schuster	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. Peter O'Mahony	13. Gael Fickou
07. Fulgence Quedragao	14. David Strettle
08. Louis Picamoles	15. Nick Abendanon

16. Vasil Kakovin 17. Tommy Taylor 18. Luc Ducalcon 19. Dave Attwood 20. Matt Kvesic 21. Ben Spencer 22. James Hook 23. Sam Smith


Gloucester
Manager – mat

01. Nick Wood	09. Will Genia
02. Joe Grey	10. Dan Carter
03. Nicola Mas
04. Richie Grey	11. Matt Banahan
05. George Robson	12. Matt Scott
06. Willem Alberts	13. Richard Kahui
07. Akapusi Qera	14. Charlie Sharples
08. Jamie Heaslip	15. Israel Dagg

16. Coenie Ousthuizen 17. Rob Buchanan 18. Rupert Harden 19. Tom palmer 20. Immanol Harinordoquoy 21. Dan Robson 22. Israel Folau 23. Ryan Mills

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Saracens vs. Worcester Warriors
Heavy Rain Showers, 10 degrees, 13 mph winds.

Saracens
Manager – DHLS07

01. Paul James	09. Dewaldt Duvenage
02. John Smit	10. Morne Steyn
03. Jannie du Plessis
04. Flip van der Merwe	11. Mark Cueto
05. James Craig	12. Ma'a Nonu
06. Liam Gill	13. Matt Hopper
07. Steffon Armitage	14. Adam Thompstone
08. Kegan Daniel	15. Ben Smith

16. George Chuter 17. Max Lahiff 18. Phil Swainston 19. Ollie Kohn 20. Alessandro Zanni 21. Chris Cook 22. Gareth Steenson 23. Tim Visser

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 Armitgae and Liam Gill either stealing or slowing the ball at the breakdown.
- Have gone with a bit of mobility in the back row as well as power, wehere we will play our flankers as left and right.


Worcester Warriors
Manager - stnick88

01. Tendai Mtawrira	09. Tawera Kerr-Barlow
02. Richardt Strauss	10. Pat Lambie
03. Brian Mujati
04. Dean Schofield	11. Sean Maitland
05. Johann Muller (c)	12. Tom Casson
06. Dave Denton	13. Mathieu Bastereaud
07. Ross Rennie	14. James Short
08. Thomas Waldrom	15. Delon Armitage

16. Nathan Catt 17. Matthew Rees 18. Werner Kruger 19. Tom Savage 20. Phil Dowson 21. Dwayne Peel 22. Olly Barkley 23. Ben Ransom

Tactics

- Target the scrum. We have a big powerful front row and will look to put Sarries scrum under pressure. Any pens won will be kicked for goal by Lambie in range, if not to touch for the lineout.

- Muller our lineout caller. He will also look to disrupt as much opposition ball as possible.

- Plenty of carriers. Denton, Waldrom, Beast, Mujati, Strauss, Bastereaud will all be used to get us over the gain line. Rennie will be a menace at the breakdown and look for turnovers to counter Sarries with.

- TKB and Lambie to play what is infront of them and get us in the right areas. TKB to snipe around the fringes and look for gaps.

- Bastereaud to act as a crash ball runner and a decoy runner. He will attract a lot of defensive attention and gives a chance for the in-form Casson to make breaks. We will also look for Maitland to come off his wing and run off Bastereaud and gather any offloads if they are on.

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Just had a look at our game Matt. Super tight by my calculations its come down to rounding up/down the scores

Have you won. ?

Had it a 1 point win to me 25-24 I think but only quickly knocked it up

Fair play. I am on a great run so you will have done well to win. Had to rotate a few.

Your Back 5 form is great Pom pickles Bekker etc but thought i would have won backs particularly centres. Home advantage is big. I had it a draw if I was predoing myself. Types predoing in on my iPhone and It came out paedoing. Really have to watch that

Will do results tomorrow, been away all weekend, home late tonight.

I missed out on a LBP! I really thought I had that in the bag at least.