Fantasy Aviva Premiership Round Twenty-Two

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Newcastle Falcons vs. Gloucester
Cloudy, 12 degrees, 15 mph winds.

Newcastle Falcons
Manager – Driver

01.Fabian Barcella	09.Ben Youngs
02.Rory Best	10.Toby Flood (K)
03.Owen Franks
04.Ed Slater	11.James O'Connor
05.Paul O'Connell (C)	12.Scott Williams
06.Tom Croft	13.Adam Ashley-Cooper
07.Hienrich Brussouw	14.Tommy Bowe
08.Kieron Read	15.Alex Goode

16.Nathan Morris 17.Alex Waller 18.Paul Doran-Jones 19.Brad Thorn 20.Kelly Brown 21.Sam Harrison 22.Aaron Cruden 23.George Lowe

Newcastle Falcons welcome Gloucester to Kingston Park for there final game of the season with the aim of building momentum going into the play offs.

- Falcons to play a high tempo game based around generating quick ball and playing a wide game.

- Use our big carriers to get us on the front foot playing off Flood and taking the ball to the line with intent.

- Youngs and Flood to control the tempo of the game and mixing the game up.

- Target the front row , Barcella and Franks will look to really get at Dan Murphy and JJ.

- Williams and Read to target the 10 channel and run at Goosen and ask questions of his defense.

- Use the pace of O'Connor and Bowe coming late into the line when Flood stands flat to get away from Banahan.

- Test the Gloucester back 3 kicking game with Flood , JOC and Goode keeping a eye on the space around them.

- POC to call the line and mix the options up on our throw and useing Croft to pressure from 2.

- Flood/JOC to kick the goals to gives us the lead and keep the lead growing.


Gloucester
Manager – Mat

01.Dan Murphy	09.Connor Murray
02.Adriaan Strauss	10.Johan Goosen (K)
03.Jamie Johnstone
04.Tom Palmer	11. Iain Balshaw
05.Richie Gray	12.Matt banahan
06.Qera	13.juan De Jongh
07.Julian Salvi	14.Charlie Sharples
08.Jamie Heaslip	15.Israel Folau

16.Nick wood 17.Joe Grey 18.Nicola Mas19.George robson 20.Willem Alberts 21.Dan Robson 22.Berrick Barnes 23. Ryan Mills


Glos travel to Newcastle looking to play a super high paced game in cracking conditions

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Harlequins vs. Northampton Saints
Cloudy, 16 degrees, 12 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. Topsy Ojo
05. Steve Borthwick	12. Jamie Roberts
06. Tom Wood	13. Florian Fritz
07. Sam Warburton (c)	14. Yoann Huget
08. Nick Easter	15. Rob Kearney

16. Gary Botha 17. Joe Marler 18. Juan Figallo 19. George Kruis 20. Michael Hooper 21. Karl Dickson 22. Quade Cooper 23. Jonathan Joseph

Tactics

Game Plan

Retain possession and use our forwards to punch holes, tie in defenders and get us quick ball which we can then send wide into the open spaces. We will look for everything to be played of 9 and 10 with Dickson controlling our tempo and Burns standing flat and putting others into space. Key to this is strong carrying from all our players, good support of the ball carrier and effective rucking to get us quick ball. We will look to employ an offloading game when it's on so as to continue our attacking momentum.

Forwards

Look to really dominate at the scrum and line out. We think this is an area we can get on top and milk some penalties. We will look to put the pressure on Saints at every set piece and on our own ball we will look to shorten the line out to get carriers in the midfield between the two 22m lines. We really need our forwards to get us the hard yards and win the collisions and then keep the legs pumping in contact to continue our forward momentum.

Backs

Game controlled by our half backs. Dickson controls our tempo which we want to be quick and brings others into the game as well as marshalling the forwards. Burns will assess our position and decide when we go wide and get the ball into the hands of our physical centres or pacy back three men. He will stand flat and look to put others into gaps and will occasionally use an attacking kick if it is the best option.

Defence

We will employ a quick line speed which targets the key Saints decision makers at 10 and 12. We will look to double up on the tackle and force the turnover if we can. We will look to attack of turnover ball and get Wood and Warbs all over the breakdown.


Northampton Saints
Manager:- Dammit Chris

01.Thomas Domingo	09.Nick Phipps
02.Moto Mata'u	10.Tyler Bleyendaal
03.Henry Thomas
04.Courtney Lawes	11. Christian Wade
5. Patricio Albacete	12.Weslie Fofana
06. Dan Lydiate(c)	13.Elliot Daly
07. Calum Clark	14. Siti Siviatu
08.Billy Vunipola	15.Leigh Halfpenny(k)

16.TPN 17. Mako Vunipola 18. Ben Teimafano 19. Joe Launchbury 20. Liam Messam 21. Mike Phillips 22. George Ford 23. Ben Foden

Tactics

Overview:
Our game will be based on power and getting over the gainline, generating quick ball and launching attacks at a defence that hasn’t had the chance to align itself. We will look to get the ball wide to our danger men and give Wade, Siviatu and Daly try scoring chances.
We have picked a very mobile pack, full of ball carriers and people to put us on the front foot. We’ve picked a very fresh team after a tough European game and they will be playing for a chance to play in the Heineken Cup Final.

Forwards:
Good conditions, so have picked a team of forwards that are able to carry the ball and keep it alive, we don’t expect there to be as many lineouts/scrums as say in wet conditions, especially with Burns playing. We expect the game to be quite open and have picked a pack to reflect that.

We have made 6 changes to last weeks pack, so will be fresh and ready to take on Quins up front. Defensively at the lineout we will match Lawes with Borthwick and just make life more difficult for the former England captain.

Attack:
Big ball carriers in the pack – Mata’u, Thomas, Albacete, Vunipola, Clark to get us over the gainline and once Quins are on the backfoot we will go wide to Wade, Daly and Siviatu. We will look to play an open and expansive game and look for tries in what coukld be a very high scoring game.

Fofana and Siviatu are two key backs at getting us over the gianline.

Defence:
We will play our usual aggressive defensive system, the same which Saracens use in real life – putting pressure on Quins and looking to force mistakes and turnovers. Lydiate returns to the starting lineup to add to the defensive lineup.

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Leicester Tigers vs. London Irish
Cloudy, 15 degrees, 15 mph winds.

Leicester Tigers
Manager – LukeLovesLuka

01. Andrew Sheridan	09. Dimitri Yachvili
02. Stephen Moore	10. Jonny Wilkinson (k)
03. Dan Cole
04. Nathan Hines	11. Rene Ranger
05. James Horwill (c)	12. Billy Twelvetrees
06. Sean O'Brien	13. Brian O'Driscoll
07. Francois Louw	14. Vincent Clerc
08. Ernst Joubert	15. Isa Nacewa

16. Tom Youngs 17. Gethin Jenkins 18. Cencus Johnston 19. Geoff Parling 20. James Scaysbrook 22. Micky Young 22. Dominic Waldouck 23. Kurtley Beale

Play to our strengths and play a game built around our intelligent HB's controlling the game, the power of our huge 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.

Irish form at 9, 10, 12
Look to get the advantage in these key positions with Irish really lacking in sparkling form. We have Yachvili and Twelvetrees who have been playing great rugby, and Wilko who is arguably the form player in Europe right now.

Target the Breakdown
We are placing huge emphasis on our work at the breakdown today. With breakdown expert Francois Louw supported by the likes of SOB, Cole and BOD, we feel our breakdown play could be crucial. Any steal we get we will look to counter attack at real pace.

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 receivers in Wilko and Twelvetrees. Keep Bath guessing with our attacking options.

- Use the different style of runners in our backline. With the likes of BOD, Nacewa and Clerc we have exciting runners, and in Ranger and Twelvetrees some bigger runners. Mix up how we ant to attack.

- Attack all scrums with our huge pack - Really look to get the shove on and if we are getting the advantage keep applying the pressure.

- Target the lineout - led by Horwill. Big jumpers throughout the back five and we will mix up which jumpers we throw to on a consistent basis.
Shortened lineouts with Louw in midfield as crash/decoy option.

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

- Look to win battle at 7 with Louw vs Fraser - Fraser is a good up and coming player, but Louw has been one of the top 7's on the planet over the last 12 months.

- 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 penalties.


London Irish
Manager:- prop

01. Matt Stevens	09. Ruan Pienaar
02. Andrew Hore	10. Nick Evans (k)
03. Adam Jones
04. Matt Garvey	11. Marland Yarde
05. Hugh Pyle	12. Luke McAlister
06. Mamuka Gorgodze (c)	13. Conrad Smith
07.Will Fraser	14. J.P Pieterson
08. Ben Morgan	15. Zane Kirchner (lk)

16. Tom Lindsay 17. Jean-Baptiste Poux 18. Brok Harris 19. Justin Tipuric 20. Stuart Hooper 21. Jack Moates 22. Shane Geraghty 23. Guy Armitage

Key Points

Balanced Backrow
We have picked a big backrow who are well balanced. Gorgodze will look to be abrasive and run at 10 looking to put him off his game. Fraser will look to dismantle the breakdown. Morgan will look to carry the ball all day and be the link man.

8-9-10-12-13
We want quick ball for our half-backs to tactically put us into territory (off the pitch). Our 8-9-10-12-13 will look to be influential and all have played together in this game alot so know each other well. These and Smith can all be standout playmakers who will look to control the game at our tempo in the light rain we will not expect attractive rugby.


Tigers Heads
Tigers have a couple of huge games coming up and, having already cemented a home semi final and the title will their heads really be up for this game?

Attacking

• We want to force errors from Tigers and will target the 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 Garvey, Godzilla, Tips and Pyle we have the number jumpers to gain the ball back, we know Welsh 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 Pieterson 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 Poux and Hooper, Tips 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 slowing down the ball 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 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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London Welsh vs. Worcester Warriors
Cloudy, 14 degrees, 15 mph winds.

London Welsh
Manager Ozzy3213

01. Steven Kitschoff	09. Morgan Parra
02. Rob Hawkins	10. Elton Jantjies
03. Dave Wilson
04. Sitaleki Timani	11. James Simspon-Daniel
05. Jim Hamilton	12. Owen Farrell
06. Tom Johnson	13. Tim Nanai-Williams
07. Thierry Dusautoir (c)	14. Bryan Habana
08. Sione Kalamafoni	15. Gareth Anscombe

16. Chris Whitehead 17. Brett Sturgess 18. Frans Malherbe 19. James Hanks 20. Luke Wallace 21. Paul Hodgson 22. Pat McCabe 23. Digby Ioane

Key Points

• Form/Momentum. We come into this game off the back of a couple of a fantastic win down in Toulouse. We are super confident going in to this game.
  
• Pressure. None on us, we finish 8th win or lose. All the pressure is on Worcester and pressure causes mistakes.
  
• Fired Up. People are playing for starting places in the Amlin final. Our intensity will be huge going in to this game..
  
• 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 Worcester 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. We will only look to kick if there is absolutely no other option on. Pressure forces mistakes, and we will look to capitalise on any that Worcester 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.
  
• Get TNW on the ball with Habana and JSD coming off their wings supporting on his shoulder for the offload.
  
• 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.
  

Worcester Warriors
Manager - stnick88

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

16. Nathan Catt 17. Matthew Rees 18. BJ Botha 19. Dean Schofield 20. Phil Dowson 21. Dwayne Peel 22. Tom Casson 23. Ben Ransom


- Target the scrum. Two big scrummaging props to use the scrum as an attacking platform. We also have two strong locks to back up our props well in the scrum. Any pens won will be kicked for goal if in range by Lambie or to touch if out of range.

- Muller to be our main lineout jumper and caller and disrupt as much oppositon ball as possible.

- Rennie to target the breakdown to secure quick ball and any turnovers. Denton and Percival to hit rucks quick and hard.

- Waldrom, Denton, Percival, Mujati, Beast, Bast to be used as big carriers to make inroads.

- Lambie and Barkley to control play, get us in the right areas before we start throwing the ball around too much.

- Put pressure on Jantjies at fly half. He has not been on great form in the super rugby this year and we will look to not let him settle and gain any rythm.

- This is a massive game for us, vital in our hopes of staying up. The lads are fired up!

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Sale Sharks vs. London Wasps
Cloudy, 13 degrees, 16 mph winds.

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. Peter O'Mahony	13. Robbie Freuen
07. Matt Kvesic	14. Simon Zebo
08. Louis Picamoles	15. Nick Abendaon

16. Jerome Schuster 17. Tommy Taylor 18. Luc Ducalcon 19. Dave Attwood 20. Tom Savage 21. Ben Spencer 22. James Hook 23. Sam Smith

Key Points

Target the halfbacks!

• Big runners on attack and big tacklers on defence lining up down the 9/10 channel to ruffle some feathers. Lack of form here for Wasps at the moment and if the hb’s can be ruffled Wasps will struggle. Bench won’t help with Houghard making his debut and Heathcote inexperienced.

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 Wasps 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 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 Wasps 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 Wasps lineouts Bekker will stand at the front and challenge. At 6ft 10" they 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 Wasps 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 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.

London Wasps
Manager – Fluxy

01. Ryan Grant	09. Maxime Machenaud (K)
02. Rob Webber	10. Rhys Priestland
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. Matt Tait
08. Netani Talei	15. Mike Brown

16. Sean Cronin 17. Ben Robinson 18. Shaun Knight 19. Mouritz Botha 20. Carl Fearns 21. Francois Hougaard 22. Tom Heathcote 23. Keith Earls

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. Priestland and Machenaud will pull the strings form midfield. If Sharks 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 Priestland. This will drag Sharks 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.

We will do everything it takes to win this game even by a last minute drop-goal, its all about keeping mistakes to a minimum and applying pressure upon the Sharkks players in defence. Even the best players are prone to mistakes and giving away penalties and we have 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 the wheel and cut the scrum off from the opposing back-line.
  
  
• Put pressure upon every opposing scrum and line out. Not every feed or throw will be straight.
  
  
• 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, or to put Barritt and Pisi into space.
  
  
• 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 Sharks possession.
  
  
• Look to isolate Pickles, Bekker, POM or any forwards and then get men competing for the ball. It will either be turnover ball spun out wide or a penalty to us.
  
  
• Priestland will look to use our 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 Sharks wings with kicks in behind them and look to make them make tough decisions in defence - especially with some height advantage in our back-line.
  
  
• 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.
  
  
• Players like Zirakisvilli, Ayerza, Bekker, POM, Picamoles, Care, Sexton and Abdenanon and played a large amount of games this season in the league as well as internationals. Look to exploit tired legs later on and test their mentality on a long draining season.
  
  
• 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.
  
  
• 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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Saracens vs. Bath Rugby
Sunny Intervals, 15 degrees, 14 mph winds.

Saracens
Manager – DHLS07

01. Matt Mullan	09. Dewaldt Duvenage
02. John Smit	10. Morne Steyn
03. Jannie du Plessis
04. Flip van der Merwe	11. Tim Visser
05. Louis Deacon	12. Ma'a Nonu
06. Liam Gill	13. Matt Hopper
07. Steffon Armitage	14. Adam Thompstone
08. Alessandro Zanni	15. Ben Smith

16. George Chuter 17. Paul James 18. Phil Swainston 19. Rob Simmons 20. Keegan Daniel 21. Chris Cook 22. Gareth Steenson 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 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, where we will play our flankers as left and right.


Bath Rugby
Manager – inthefastlane

01. Cian Healy	09. Aaron Smith
02. Kevin Mealamu	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. Rob Miller

16. Charlie Faumuania 17. Chris Brooker 18. Carl Rimmer 19. James Gaskell 20. David Seymour 21. Fourie Du Preez 22. Luther Burrell 23. Stuart Hogg

Look to play exciting, attacking free flowing rugby
Get the ball into Hodgsons hands as much as possible, he will playmake

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Worst time go and play Sale. What would inspire players to win more; a place in playoffs or safety from relegation?

50/50 that one mate.

I cost myself safety weeks ago when I forgot to put in a side against Wuss. Oh well.

In a highly unlikely situation all bottom teams could finish on equal points which would be quite funny if it happened!

A lbp for you and not woss means both on 26. Who stays up?

I think it's head to head and I've got a feeling Wuss stay.

In fact both of us have won against each in the league this season so not sure.

Last league game for ages...

London Welsh make 7 changes to the side that won down in Toulouse last week for their final league game of the season at home to Worcester Warrriors. Steven Kitschoff, Sitaleki Timani, Thierry Dusautoir and Sione Kalamafoni come into the pack, with Elton Jantjies, Tim Nanai-Williams and Bryan Habana coming into the backline.

Head coach Ozzy3213 had this to say;-

"The performance last week down in France was excellent, and those guys laid down real markers for a starting jersey in the final. We've freshened up this week and brought back in some top quality players, who now have an opportunity to stick their hand up and give me a selection headache in two weeks time. Every player at the club wants to be running out onto the field at the RDS on 17th May and that is huge motivation for these guys to put in a shift this weekend. We also want to finish well in front of our fans who have been magnificent this season and I am sure will be again this weekend."


London Welsh
Manager Ozzy3213

01. Steven Kitschoff	09. Morgan Parra
02. Rob Hawkins	10. Elton Jantjies
03. Dave Wilson
04. Sitaleki Timani	11. James Simspon-Daniel
05. Jim Hamilton	12. Owen Farrell
06. Tom Johnson	13. Tim Nanai-Williams
07. Thierry Dusautoir (c)	14. Bryan Habana
08. Sione Kalamafoni	15. Gareth Anscombe

16. Chris Whitehead 17. Brett Sturgess 18. Frans Malherbe 19. James Hanks 20. Luke Wallace 21. Paul Hodgson 22. Pat McCabe 23. Digby Ioane

Key Points

• Form/Momentum. We come into this game off the back of a couple of a fantastic win down in Toulouse. We are super confident going in to this game.
  
• Pressure. None on us, we finish 8th win or lose. All the pressure is on Worcester and pressure causes mistakes.
  
• Fired Up. People are playing for starting places in the Amlin final. Our intensity will be huge going in to this game..
  
• 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 Worcester 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. We will only look to kick if there is absolutely no other option on. Pressure forces mistakes, and we will look to capitalise on any that Worcester 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.
  
• Get TNW on the ball with Habana and JSD coming off their wings supporting on his shoulder for the offload.
  
• 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.
  

Harlequins
Manager – Steven_Sharks

01. Tony Woodcock	09. Lee Dickson
02. Schalk Brits	10. Freddie Burns (k)
03. John Afoa
04. Bakkies Botha	11. Topsy Ojo
05. Steve Borthwick	12. Jamie Roberts
06. Tom Wood	13. Florian Fritz
07. Sam Warburton (c)	14. Yoann Huget
08. Nick Easter	15. Rob Kearney

16. Gary Botha 17. Joe Marler 18. Juan Figallo 19. George Kruis 20. Michael Hooper 21. Karl Dickson 22. Quade Cooper 23. Jonathan Joseph

Tactics

Game Plan

Retain possession and use our forwards to punch holes, tie in defenders and get us quick ball which we can then send wide into the open spaces. We will look for everything to be played of 9 and 10 with Dickson controlling our tempo and Burns standing flat and putting others into space. Key to this is strong carrying from all our players, good support of the ball carrier and effective rucking to get us quick ball. We will look to employ an offloading game when it's on so as to continue our attacking momentum.

Forwards

Look to really dominate at the scrum and line out. We think this is an area we can get on top and milk some penalties. We will look to put the pressure on Saints at every set piece and on our own ball we will look to shorten the line out to get carriers in the midfield between the two 22m lines. We really need our forwards to get us the hard yards and win the collisions and then keep the legs pumping in contact to continue our forward momentum.

Backs

Game controlled by our half backs. Dickson controls our tempo which we want to be quick and brings others into the game as well as marshalling the forwards. Burns will assess our position and decide when we go wide and get the ball into the hands of our physical centres or pacy back three men. He will stand flat and look to put others into gaps and will occasionally use an attacking kick if it is the best option.

Defence

We will employ a quick line speed which targets the key Saints decision makers at 10 and 12. We will look to double up on the tackle and force the turnover if we can. We will look to attack of turnover ball and get Wood and Warbs all over the breakdown.

Newcastle Falcons

Manager – Driver

01.Fabian Barcella	09.Ben Youngs
02.Rory Best	10.Toby Flood (K)
03.Owen Franks
04.Ed Slater	11.James O'Connor
05.Paul O'Connell (C)	12.Scott Williams
06.Tom Croft	13.Adam Ashley-Cooper
07.Hienrich Brussouw	14.Tommy Bowe
08.Kieron Read	15.Alex Goode

16.Nathan Morris 17.Alex Waller 18.Paul Doran-Jones 19.Brad Thorn 20.Kelly Brown 21.Sam Harrison 22.Aaron Cruden 23.George Lowe

Newcastle Falcons welcome Gloucester to Kingston Park for there final game of the season with the aim of building momentum going into the play offs.

- Falcons to play a high tempo game based around generating quick ball and playing a wide game.

- Use our big carriers to get us on the front foot playing off Flood and taking the ball to the line with intent.

- Youngs and Flood to control the tempo of the game and mixing the game up.

- Target the front row , Barcella and Franks will look to really get at Dan Murphy and JJ.

- Williams and Read to target the 10 channel and run at Goosen and ask questions of his defense.

- Use the pace of O'Connor and Bowe coming late into the line when Flood stands flat to get away from Banahan.

- Test the Gloucester back 3 kicking game with Flood , JOC and Goode keeping a eye on the space around them.

- POC to call the line and mix the options up on our throw and useing Croft to pressure from 2.

- Flood/JOC to kick the goals to gives us the lead and keep the lead growing.

Gloucester

Manager – Mat

01.Dan Murphy	09.Connor Murray
02.Adriaan Strauss	10.Johan Goosen (K)
03.Jamie Johnstone
04.Tom Palmer	11. Iain Balshaw
05.Richie Gray	12.Matt banahan
06.Qera	13.juan De Jongh
07.Julian Salvi	14.Charlie Sharples
08.Jamie Heaslip	15.Israel Folau

16.Nick wood 17.Joe Grey 18.Nicola Mas19.George robson 20.Willem Alberts 21.Dan Robson 22.Berrick Barnes 23. Ryan Mills

We travel to Newcastle looking to take advantage of their patchy form and seal the win.

We will look to play very open and run anything that's on. We have gone for a rotated team with massive pace and power and will be keeping the ball alive.

Specifics

- use the sheer number of carriers in the team to generate front foot ball.
- target lineouts with our 5 jumpers and go after best throw.
- look to take quick throw ins and counter any kicks with folau
- target breakdown with a real terrier Backrow
- play at 100% knowing huge impact bench to come on
- stretch newcastles team out wide
- use Murray to put youngs off his game

London Wasps

Manager – Fluxy

01. Ryan Grant	09. Maxime Machenaud (K)
02. Rob Webber	10. Rhys Priestland
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. Matt Tait
08. Netani Talei	15. Mike Brown

16. Sean Cronin 17. Ben Robinson 18. Shaun Knight 19. Mouritz Botha 20. Carl Fearns 21. Francois Hougaard 22. Tom Heathcote 23. Keith Earls

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. Priestland and Machenaud will pull the strings form midfield. If Sharks 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 Priestland. This will drag Sharks 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.

We will do everything it takes to win this game even by a last minute drop-goal, its all about keeping mistakes to a minimum and applying pressure upon the Sharkks players in defence. Even the best players are prone to mistakes and giving away penalties and we have 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 the wheel and cut the scrum off from the opposing back-line.
  
  
• Put pressure upon every opposing scrum and line out. Not every feed or throw will be straight.
  
  
• 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, or to put Barritt and Pisi into space.
  
  
• 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 Sharks possession.
  
  
• Look to isolate Pickles, Bekker, POM or any forwards and then get men competing for the ball. It will either be turnover ball spun out wide or a penalty to us.
  
  
• Priestland will look to use our 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 Sharks wings with kicks in behind them and look to make them make tough decisions in defence - especially with some height advantage in our back-line.
  
  
• 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.
  
  
• Players like Zirakisvilli, Ayerza, Bekker, POM, Picamoles, Care, Sexton and Abdenanon and played a large amount of games this season in the league as well as internationals. Look to exploit tired legs later on and test their mentality on a long draining season.
  
  
• 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.
  
  
• 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.

Northampton Saints
Manager: Dammit Chris

Northampton Saints name 13 changes to the side that beat Clermont in extra time in the Heineken Cup semi final last weekend. Courtney Lawes and Calum Clark are the only players who remain in the starting lineup. Dan Lydiate returns to captain the side and Tyler Bleyendaal makes his full Aviva Premiership debut after having impressed in LV Cup games.

Speaking on his team selection, Saints manager Dammit Chris, stated "Last weekends game was brutal, one of the hardest we have had during my time as manager at the club. The extra forty minutes saw a few knocks and we've chosen to give guys like Carl Hayman, Sergio Parisse, Sam Cane, Manu Tuilagi, Chris Ashton and Julian Savea a week off and bring some fresh legs into the starting line up - we are expecting a hard game against Quins who are looking to secure a home semi final, but we are confident in our ability to score tries and given them a very good game".

01.Thomas Domingo	09.Nick Phipps
02.Moto Mata'u	10.Tyler Bleyendaal
03.Henry Thomas
04.Courtney Lawes	11. Christian Wade
5. Patricio Albacete	12.Weslie Fofana
06. Dan Lydiate(c)	13.Elliot Daly
07. Calum Clark	14. Siti Siviatu
08.Billy Vunipola	15.Leigh Halfpenny(k)

16.TPN 17. Mako Vunipola 18. Ben Teimafano 19. Joe Launchbury 20. Liam Messam 21. Mike Phillips 22. George Ford 23. Ben Foden


Tactics

Overview:
Our game will be based on power and getting over the gainline, generating quick ball and launching attacks at a defence that hasn’t had the chance to align itself. We will look to get the ball wide to our danger men and give Wade, Siviatu and Daly try scoring chances.
We have picked a very mobile pack, full of ball carriers and people to put us on the front foot. We’ve picked a very fresh team after a tough European game and they will be playing for a chance to play in the Heineken Cup Final.

Forwards:
Good conditions, so have picked a team of forwards that are able to carry the ball and keep it alive, we don’t expect there to be as many lineouts/scrums as say in wet conditions, especially with Burns playing. We expect the game to be quite open and have picked a pack to reflect that.

We have made 6 changes to last weeks pack, so will be fresh and ready to take on Quins up front. Defensively at the lineout we will match Lawes with Borthwick and just make life more difficult for the former England captain.

Attack:
Big ball carriers in the pack – Mata’u, Thomas, Albacete, Vunipola, Clark to get us over the gainline and once Quins are on the backfoot we will go wide to Wade, Daly and Siviatu. We will look to play an open and expansive game and look for tries in what coukld be a very high scoring game.

Fofana and Siviatu are two key backs at getting us over the gianline.

Defence:
We will play our usual aggressive defensive system, the same which Saracens use in real life – putting pressure on Quins and looking to force mistakes and turnovers. Lydiate returns to the starting lineup to add to the defensive lineup.

Leicester Tigers have named their side to play London Irish this week.

Tigers make four changes to the side that beat Bath 30-20 last time out. They make three of the four of the changes in the pack, with Andrew Sheridan and Francois Louw returning from injury - and Stephen Moore coming into the side in place of Tom Youngs. Vincent Clerc replaces Drew Mitchell in the back three too.


Leicester Tigers
Manager – LukeLovesLuka

01. Andrew Sheridan	09. Dimitri Yachvili
02. Stephen Moore	10. Jonny Wilkinson (k)
03. Dan Cole
04. Nathan Hines	11. Rene Ranger
05. James Horwill (c)	12. Billy Twelvetrees
06. Sean O'Brien	13. Brian O'Driscoll
07. Francois Louw	14. Vincent Clerc
08. Ernst Joubert	15. Isa Nacewa

16. Tom Youngs 17. Gethin Jenkins 18. Cencus Johnston 19. Geoff Parling 20. James Scaysbrook 22. Micky Young 22. Dominic Waldouck 23. Kurtley Beale

Play to our strengths and play a game built around our intelligent HB's controlling the game, the power of our huge 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.

Irish form at 9, 10, 12
Look to get the advantage in these key positions with Irish really lacking in sparkling form. We have Yachvili and Twelvetrees who have been playing great rugby, and Wilko who is arguably the form player in Europe right now.

Target the Breakdown
We are placing huge emphasis on our work at the breakdown today. With breakdown expert Francois Louw supported by the likes of SOB, Cole and BOD, we feel our breakdown play could be crucial. Any steal we get we will look to counter attack at real pace.

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 receivers in Wilko and Twelvetrees. Keep Bath guessing with our attacking options.

- Use the different style of runners in our backline. With the likes of BOD, Nacewa and Clerc we have exciting runners, and in Ranger and Twelvetrees some bigger runners. Mix up how we ant to attack.

- Attack all scrums with our huge pack - Really look to get the shove on and if we are getting the advantage keep applying the pressure.

- Target the lineout - led by Horwill. Big jumpers throughout the back five and we will mix up which jumpers we throw to on a consistent basis.
Shortened lineouts with Louw in midfield as crash/decoy option.

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

- Look to win battle at 7 with Louw vs Fraser - Fraser is a good up and coming player, but Louw has been one of the top 7's on the planet over the last 12 months.

- 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 penalties.

01. Matt Stevens	09. Ruan Pienaar
02. Andrew Hore	10. Nick Evans (k)
03. Adam Jones
04. Matt Garvey	11. Marland Yarde
05. Hugh Pyle	12. Luke McAlister
06. Mamuka Gorgodze (c)	13. Conrad Smith
07.Will Fraser	14. J.P Pieterson
08. Ben Morgan	15. Zane Kirchner (lk)

16. Tom Lindsay 17. Jean-Baptiste Poux 18. Brok Harris 19. Justin Tipuric 20. Stuart Hooper 21. Jack Moates 22. Shane Geraghty 23. Guy Armitage

Key Points

Balanced Backrow
We have picked a big backrow who are well balanced. Gorgodze will look to be abrasive and run at 10 looking to put him off his game. Fraser will look to dismantle the breakdown. Morgan will look to carry the ball all day and be the link man.

8-9-10-12-13
We want quick ball for our half-backs to tactically put us into territory (off the pitch). Our 8-9-10-12-13 will look to be influential and all have played together in this game alot so know each other well. These and Smith can all be standout playmakers who will look to control the game at our tempo in the light rain we will not expect attractive rugby.


Tigers Heads
Tigers have a couple of huge games coming up and, having already cemented a home semi final and the title will their heads really be up for this game?

Attacking

• We want to force errors from Tigers and will target the 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 Garvey, Godzilla, Tips and Pyle we have the number jumpers to gain the ball back, we know Welsh 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 Pieterson 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 Poux and Hooper, Tips 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 slowing down the ball 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 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 Mtawrira	09. Tawera Kerr-Barlow
02. Richardt Strauss	10. Pat Lambie
03. Brian Mujati
04. James Percival	11. Sean Maitland
05. Johann Muller (c)	12. Olly Barkley
06. Dave Denton	13. Mathieu Bastereaud
07. Ross Rennie	14. David Strettle
08. Thomas Waldrom	15. Delon Armitage

16. Nathan Catt 17. Matthew Rees 18. BJ Botha 19. Dean Schofield 20. Phil Dowson 21. Dwayne Peel 22. Tom Casson 23. Ben Ransom


- Target the scrum. Two big scrummaging props to use the scrum as an attacking platform. We also have two strong locks to back up our props well in the scrum. Any pens won will be kicked for goal if in range by Lambie or to touch if out of range.

- Muller to be our main lineout jumper and caller and disrupt as much oppositon ball as possible.

- Rennie to target the breakdown to secure quick ball and any turnovers. Denton and Percival to hit rucks quick and hard.

- Waldrom, Denton, Percival, Mujati, Beast, Bast to be used as big carriers to make inroads.

- Lambie and Barkley to control play, get us in the right areas before we start throwing the ball around too much.

- Put pressure on Jantjies at fly half. He has not been on great form in the super rugby this year and we will look to not let him settle and gain any rythm.

- This is a massive game for us, vital in our hopes of staying up. The lads are fired up!

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. Peter O'Mahony	13. Robbie Freuen
07. Matt Kvesic	14. Simon Zebo
08. Louis Picamoles	15. Nick Abendaon

16. Jerome Schuster 17. Tommy Taylor 18. Luc Ducalcon 19. Dave Attwood 20. Tom Savage 21. Ben Spencer 22. James Hook 23. Sam Smith

Key Points

Target the halfbacks!

• Big runners on attack and big tacklers on defence lining up down the 9/10 channel to ruffle some feathers. Lack of form here for Wasps at the moment and if the hb’s can be ruffled Wasps will struggle. Bench won’t help with Houghard making his debut and Heathcote inexperienced.

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 Wasps 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 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 Wasps 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 Wasps lineouts Bekker will stand at the front and challenge. At 6ft 10" they 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 Wasps 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 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.

Saracens
Manager – DHLS07

01. Matt Mullan	09. Dewaldt Duvenage
02. John Smit	10. Morne Steyn
03. Jannie du Plessis
04. Flip van der Merwe	11. Tim Visser
05. Louis Deacon	12. Ma'a Nonu
06. Liam Gill	13. Matt Hopper
07. Steffon Armitage	14. Adam Thompstone
08. Alessandro Zanni	15. Ben Smith

16. George Chuter 17. Paul James 18. Phil Swainston 19. Rob Simmons 20. Keegan Daniel 21. Chris Cook 22. Gareth Steenson 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 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, where we will play our flankers as left and right.

Bath Rugby
Manager – inthefastlane

01. Cian Healy	09. Aaron Smith
02. Kevin Mealamu	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. Rob Miller

16. Charlie Faumuania 17. Chris Brooker 18. Carl Rimmer 19. James Gaskell 20. David Seymour 21. Fourie Du Preez 22. Luther Burrell 23. Stuart Hogg

Look to play exciting, attacking free flowing rugby
Get the ball into Hodgsons hands as much as possible, he will playmake

Put some basic tactics in, new IT system at work isn't letting me edit at all.

OP updated, predictions OPEN

Newcastle Falcons 32-24 Gloucester

Scrum: Edge to Newcastle with Murphy struggling at this level.
Lineout: Falcons to disrupt with top jumpers and Glaws lacking a strong line out leader.
Breakdown: Decent battle here and neither side edge.
HB's: Goosen struggling for form at the moment. Falcons edge.
Attack: Bit more quality across the backs for Falcons.
Defence: Glaws back three susceptible to a good kicking game.
Bench: Great impact of the bench for Glaws will open the game up late on.
Tactics: Killer for Glaws who seem to be resting up for the playoffs this week. Falcons set up well and pick up a strong win against a rudderless Glaws.


Harlequins 35-30 Northampton

Scrum: Quins getting a good advantage here with Thomas & Matau struggling.
Lineout: Quins to disrupt with Saints lacking a strong line out leader.
Breakdown: Better balance to the Quins pack and they will get on top.
HB's: Quins more capable of getting the game moving.
Attack: Fairly even overall both sides strong here.
Defence: Both sides similar standard. Both 10s could be caught.
Bench: Good impact for both and neither get advantage here.
Tactics: Quins right to target the set piece but the open game plan from both isn’t going to see many set pieces. Feel Quins slow Saints down enough to win at home.


Leicester 23-19 London Irish

Scrum: Good battle at the scrum but Tigers with a slight edge.
Lineout: More quality jumpers for Tigers causes problems for Irish.
Breakdown: Good battle between the flanks but Tigers with more across the pack (& BOD!) to help out.
HB's: Form a slight issue for Irish but both combos control well.
Attack: Bit more for Tigers from the back three.
Defence: Both sides strong.
Bench: Tipuric will do well against tired legs but Tigers can up the carrying tempo.
Tactics: Not sure looking for territory off the field is the right approach for Irish as I see them struggling a little in the lineout.


London Welsh 24-28 Worcester

Scrum: Slight edge to Worcester.
Lineout: Decent battle here with decent jumpers. Both hookers not always the most accurate.
Breakdown: Lots of tacking from the Welsh backrow but will be outworked ta the breakdown a little.
HB's: Edge to Worc. Janties struggling this year.
Attack: Bit more of a carrying threat from Worcester and see them making ground easier.
Defence: Questions over Barkley defensively. Both 13s could be pulled around positionally.
Bench: Both similar overall. Welsh more capable of changing the game plan up though.
Tactics: Both sides set up well as always. Just feel Worc will win the collisions in this one and have more to play for. They have enough to pick up a massive away win here.


Saracens 20-17 Bath

Scrum: No real edge either way.
Lineout: Edge to Bath. No real get out option for Sarries and they will struggle when pressured.
Breakdown: Good little battle here. Both sides can turn over a bit of ball.
HB's: Smith struggling when pressured at the moment. Hodgson more capable of getting the backs going though.
Attack: Bit more quality to the Bath backline.
Defence: Both sides solid overall.
Bench: Sarries more capable of controlling the tempo in the final quarter.
Tactics: Killer for Bath. On the lineups feel they have enough to squeak an away win but tactics are always crucial for me.

Falcons 30-22 Glos
SP: Falcons strong here, can see Murphy struggling.
BK: Both good, feel Read a bit better than Heaslip.
HB: Evens.
AT: Not sure about Balshaw on wing, think Falcons have the edge.
BE: Glos have a bit more impact.
TA: Not much from either really, little bit more from Falcons.

Quins 22-21 Saints
SP: A bit more from Quins.
BK: Feel Quins take this battle just.
HB: Evens.
AT: Can see Saints a little stronger but not much in it.
BE: Good impact from both, like the Saints bench.
TA: Quins set out well in defence. Quick ball and strong carriers help Saints. Quins pack takes it.

Welsh 23-25 Warriors
SP: Bit more for Warriors.
BK: Welsh better here.
HB: Quick ball will help Warriors.
AT: Strong carriers from both and pace out wide.
BE: Welsh have good impact, Warriors no pushovers.
TA: Simple rugby for Welsh helps but Warriors have more to play for and feel they’ll carry stronger.

Sharks 24-22 Wasps
SP: Prefer the Sharks lock pairing, just.
BK: Wasps good at 7, Sharks better at 8.
HB: Again a bit more from Sharks.
AT: Pretty steady from both.
BE: Feel Wasps have a little bit more here.
TA: Sharks do well with high intensity and targeting half-backs. Wasps will get some joy playing for penalties but don’t think it’ll be enough.

Sarries 25-22 Bath
SP: Bath have a slight edge.
BK: 2 good lineups, Sarries balanced well.
HB: Kicking duel here.
AT: Bath edge it here.
BE: Sarries have control, Bath have impact.
TA: Sarries have more to their gameplan and use backrows well. Bath not having any is massive as I predict quite a bit on tactics.

Falcons 35 - 27 Glos
Can see Newcastle romping away early doors here, Driver's team is starting to look very good again and at home will be very difficult to beat. Mat has obviously rested quite a few players and I can see Falcons being quite dominant and then the bench can see a bit of a late rally, but there will be a lot of tries from both sides. Not much by way of tactics from Gloucester so game wont be as close.

Tigers 26 - 23 London Irish
Tigers are a very tough team to beat at home, so powerful throughout their pack and backline and will get a lot of ball against Irish. I still see them as a team that grinds out victories and wont be as expansive as they could be to really take advantage of the forward power. Wilko guarantees you 16-18 points a game and a couple of tries will be too much for a well balanced Irish team.

Welsh 21-21 Warriors
Hard for any team to win away, but would say that as Warriors are playing for their survival in the AP then they are going to really up their game for this and manage to get the draw. At scrum time Warriors have an advantage, but conditions wont result in many, but when they do it could be a fair few penalties! Welsh backline is very good and a lot of creativity and try scorers there, yet I do like the way that Warriors can get over the gainline and this will cause problems in its own.

Sharks 27-25 Wasps
Really hard one to call, think Sale do have the edge overall, especially at home. Again Wasps tactics are spot on to try and get an away win, but they become unstuck with the form of Priestland, who is very hard to rate. I am not the biggest fan of the Sale centre combination, I can see a lot of moves stopping with Steyn and think Hook would be a better choice, but with Sexton in control this will be a home win.

Sarries 25-19 Bath
LIke the Sarries pack and it will be tough ask for any team to win there. THe backrow especially good and will really disrupt Bath ball. I do find it quite hard to see what Bath's tactics are overall as not much detail and they lose out of getting the game closer.

Newcastle 31 - 24 Gloucester

Overall I see the packs as going to Newcastle. Front rows pretty level with the edge slightly to Falcons with Murphy standing out a little. Locks to Newcastle with Slater and POC playing well. Back rows good I like Salvi and Qera as a flank combo but there is just more class about the Newcastle unit. Half backs a good contest but think Newcastle just edge it with Youngs ahead of Murray and Flood ahead of Goosen. I'm no massive fan of Banahan a 12 so give the edge in the centres to Falcons. Back three's I can't call. Overall at home and the advantage in most areas this a big win for Newcastle.

Leicester 26 - 26 London Irish

Up front it's a great contest. Think the front rows are marginally to Leicester with Stevens struggling a little as loose head. Elsewhere it is two very strong front rows. Edge to Leicester in the row although Pyle in fine form but so are the Leicester pair. Back rows I think go to Irish with a unit which is packed with carrying with two industrious flankers. Half backs to Irish as I see them as more able to bring in their outside backs and play with more expansion than the Leicester pair who I still see as a little one-dimensional. Centres also edged to Irish with 36 a little bit below the other three centres. Back threes evens for me. Can't split.

London Welsh 24 - 23 Worcester

Think Worcester have the advantage in the front row with Welsh strong in the 2nd row. Back row's even for me with some big units crashing into each other. Half backs edge to Worcester for me as I'm still not convinced by Jantjes. Two excellent sets of outside backs. TNW v Basteraud will be an excellent contest and Barkley v Farrell as controlling 12's. Two excellent back threes which will likely nulify each other. Overall I think Welsh have just enough to scrape home.

Sale 27 - 25 London Wasps

Not a lot for me in the front 5's or the set piece in this one. There is an advantage in the back row for Sale which gives them the edge in the pack in general. Sale are stronger at half back and this sets them up well to get the most out of there outside backs who given space and front foot ball will cause problems. Tactics are right for Wasps as very few beat Sale at home, but Sale have enough to get the win.

Saracens 24 - 24 Bath

A bit more in the Bath front 5 here but there is no real dominance. Saracens should control the breakdown and nulify Pocock with two great flankers in Gill and Armitage. Overall I prefer the Saracens unit in the back row think it has a better balance to it. Half backs and outside backs to Bath though with a strong strong set of backs which will cause any side problems. Tactics have robbed Bath of a few wins lately and do again here.

Newcastle 35-33 Gloucester
Harlequins 33-29 Northampton
Leicester 31-26 London Irish
London Welsh 32-29 Worcester
Sale 32-31 Wasps

Newcastle 26 - 22 Gloucester

Quins 28 - 24 Saints

Welsh 21 - 22 Warriors

Sale 30 - 25 Wasps

Sarries 26 - 26 Bath

Newcastle 27-22 Gloucester
Quins 31-25 Saints
Leicester 25-23 Irish
Welsh 22-25 Warriors
Sale 28-25 Wasps

Newcastle Falcons 24 - 22 Gloucester

Both sides have rotated here, with eyes on the latter parts of the season. Falcons have rotated a bit better however and have a bit more quality and fluency in their gameplan and style. Hence at home will seal a decent win.

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Harlequins 32 - 26 Northampton Saints

Great game here, with Quins maybe just having a bit more up front which allows their halfbacks and backs to play with some panache. Saints have some good form in their own players as well especially in the halfbacks. Bit more in the backs with Saints and the benches are good but more impact form Quins. Quins to pick a hard thought win at home late on with a team try.

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Leicester Tigers 25 - 23 London Irish

Some great form in the Tigers team and with some good momentum as well Tigers make a big impression with this win. Irish have the quality players to challenge Tigers, but some form and injured players in key positions means they falter here.

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London Welsh 26 - 22 Worcester Warriors

Up front, this is one of the closest battles in the league. Their is just enough power and grit from Welsh to cope with the quality of the Wuss pack. Backs Welsh just have a bit more in some positions, and with a little more quality in the bench, just feel with Welsh being at home they can hold through the boots of Parra and Faz.

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Saracens 29 - 29 Bath

This is a cracking fight up front, and as I said Sarries make this a fight. Bath just have enough star quality to overcome the might of the sarries in the forwards and in the backs as well. Lack of game plan here for Bath costs them and Sarries with their crowd behind the just steal a draw at the death

Newcastle Falcons 28 Gloucester 22

Little bit more quality and in a couple of positions form from the Newcastle pack. Two decent backlines, but at home and needing the win for a play off spot I think Newcastle are comfortable here.

Harlequins 24 Northampton Saints 20

Better balance to the Quins pack, home advantage and Saints minds being on the Heino final mean it's a home win.

Leicester Tigers 27 London Irish 23

Tigers have one of the best packs in the game, with real in form players in it. The halfbacks will dictate off the back of that and will control the game for Tigers for a comfortable win.

Sale Sharks 30 London Wasps 25

Two teams desperate for the win for different reasons. In those circumstances I tend to favour the home side. Wasps are hurt really by Priestland at 10 and I can see Sexton dominating that battle and getting his side the 4 tries they want for maximum points.

Saracens 21 Bath Rugby 17

Not much between the teams on paper, Bath a little better overall, but they have nothing to play for and no tactics, whereas Saracens still need the win to guarantee safety and would be more fired up for the game.

Bath 21-21
Sarries

Quins 31-29 Saints
Leicester 25-23 Irish
Welsh 22-22 Warriors
Sale 28-25 Wasps

Bath 23 Saracens 20
Quins 28 Northampton 25
Leicester 27 London Irish 24
London Welsh 25 Worcester 24
Sale 19 Wasps 16