Press Releases

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Post all of your interviews and press releases on here

https://www.606v2.com/t3644-fantasy-aviva-premiership-season-4

Phone tapping again Pete....

Pete

Your turning into rafa benitez with all your 'facts' ahaha

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VSzNYstaAh0

BBC Radio 5 Lives’ Matt Dawson spoke to London Wasps head coach ‘Arry on his Rugby show about an apparent leaked email showing a conversation held between Newcastle Falcons & London Wasps head coaches Pooly and ‘Arry.

Matt Dawson: Glad to have you on the show 'Arry. It seems as though there is more than meets the eye with the Mitchell and McAlister deal that went through yesterday lunchtime.

'Arry: Morning Matt, yes it seems as though people need to hear the full story as to what has happened in this deal. I'm not going to deny that I did have my doubts about Luke (McAlister) but after speaking to him in person it was a deal I couldn't refuse. He spoke about the fact that he is fighting fit and fully focused on the task ahead. It was a very truthful conversation we had and he explained that he could understand my views about him being inconsistent, however he went on to say that during last season he was having off field problems that distracted him and affected his form which have since been solved.

MD: Right I see, well that explains a lot. Several people were somewhat shocked as to how quickly the deal was completed though.

A: Newcastle have been interested in Drew (Mitchell) for a long time. Some negotiations were held in private where myself and Pooly met in person and spoke which not a lot of people knew about. It wasn’t a case of thrashing out a deal it was done very carefully and we ensured that all the parties concerned were happy, I spoke in person with Drew (Mitchell), Luke (McAlister) and Pooly.

MD: Very thorough work there if I may say so ‘Arry. Many people including myself were surprised that you let a player of Drew’s calibre leave the club.

A: Drew is a fantastic player, and he caught the eye of many of the big clubs with his sterling performances for us last season. Newcastle became interested in him last month and Drew had made his mind up that he wanted to join them, we spoke at length and have finally agreed the deal. We all wish him the best of luck at the Falcons.

MD: I see, very interesting stuff. Thanks for speaking to us today ‘Arry. Best of luck for your game with Saracens.

A: No worries mate, cheers.

WILL GREENWOOD PREDICTS FINAL TABLE

1.Leicester Tigers
2.Gloucester
3.Newcastle Falcons
4.London Irish
5.Saracens
6.Sale Sharks
7.Northampton Saints
8.Exeter Chiefs
9.Harlequins
10.Bath
11.London Wasps
12.Worcester Warriors

Will Greenwood denies statement

' As the skills coach at Harlequins it is obvious that Driver has made up these quotes attributed to me. I am not able to comment upon such things as it is a conflict of interest to me. I have been a coach at Quins now for 2 years and am dissapointed that these lies have been printed'

Barnes and Greenwood phone call leaked

Will Greenwood wrote:
'The position of Toulon coach was offered to me this week mate , i'm quite keen on taking it up.'

Stuart Barnes wrote:
Strange call that Will , thought you were happy at Quins as skills coach?

Will Greenwood wrote:
I was up until the last few weeks , i'v mentioned on the Rugby club that Schalk Brits could be a make shift back row but not a permanent one and Steve is just ignoring my advice and is set to play him there this week

Stuart Barnes wrote:
But surely that's not the reason your leaving?

Will Greenwood wrote:
On top of that he think's Liverpool are in with a shot of the top 2! Does he not relies how good Aguero is! I'm going to join up with Toulon in the next few weeks

Wouldn't happen to be the first week of the season would it?

LukeLovesLuka wrote:Wouldn't happen to be the first week of the season would it?

Hell yeah

Sharks explains team selection

Steven Sharks has today explained his reasoning behind his team selection for his sides opening game.

'We see ourselves as having a strong front 5 for these opening world cup weeks as we have some very experienced and hardened forwards. We see the chance to get the most out of them by playing a certain type of game and that's what we will do. Pressuring the opposition set piece is something we are going to specialise on this season'

on the omission of Brits and Rokococo he had this to say

'They both understand the situation, with so many players away we have had to revamp our style and they aren't in the starting XV this week as we feel we have players who fit into our game plan better. I am pleased to have this much depth in our squad and having Brits of the bench gives us a sensational impact player'

Asked on the likelihood of any others players joining Quins he had this to say

' We aren't actively looking to recruit but as ever if I see value in a deal then I will dip into the market, we are pleased with our dealings so far this summer with quality in the form of Woodcock, Rees, Afoa, Dowson, Louw, Vermaak, Kellaher, Preistland, Contepomi, Faainga, Morahan, Roko and Kearney have all joined and look set to add to what we are building here'

Quins A begin season with defeat of Esher

1. Aston Croall
2. Olly Hayes
3. Leo Halavatau
4. Craig Gillies
5. Charlie Matthews
6. Sam Jones
7. Phil Burgess
8. Mike McFarlane
9. Charlie Mulchrone
10. Henry Pyrgos
11. Maddison Hughes
12. Sam Stuart
13. Alex Cheeseman
14. Chris Elder
15. Ross Chisholm

16. Rob Buchanan
17. Will Collier
18. Sam Twomney
19. George Merrick
20. Jack Clifford
21. Luke Wallace
22. Joe Trayfoot
23. Ryan Glynn
24. Sam Edgerley
25. Charlie Walker


Harlequins won 32 - 6 and each Harlequins player made an impact which pleased coach Steven Sharks who explained how important the players in this side would be to the AP side throughout the season.

IRISH TO RING THE CHANGES FOR SALE?

Speaking after his sides narrow defeat to Harlequins, Irish boss stnick refused to rule out wholesale changes for the lineup to travel to Sale.

'We didn't front up like I expected. We got some joy at the breakdown but our scrum wasn't as stable as I'd of liked and until Kennedy came on we didnt get the dominance at the lineout that we expected. Some of our set moves and back play wasn't as fluid as it could of been which ultimately cost us as there were numerous times when we got in to the Quins 22 and didnt come away with points whereas they were more clinical.
We now head to Sale who had a great away win at Worcester and will be confident going in to this game, so we will prepare hard and come up with a game plan to try and win. I haven't picked my side yet but there will be changes. Matias Aguero, Chris Hala'ufia, Jacques Botes, Juan Martin Hernandez, Nick Kennedy and Sireli Naqalevuki are all in contention for a starting place.'

SARACENS UP AND RUNNING

Saracens head coach LDCPete spoke to day of his delight at his sides 27-19 win over London Wasps on the opening day of the season.

"I thought the guys were tremendous out there and really fronted up well, particularly up front. They (Wasps) came in with a big powerful front 5 and I thought our guys worked exceptionally hard to impose themselves and earn us the right to play. Defensively I thought we were pretty good, which is something we have been working hard on, although I was unhappy with our penalty count and we will be looking to bring that down next weekend against Bath.

They are coming off the back of a heavy defeat at Newcastle and will want to put on a good performance in front of their own fans and we know that we will need to go there and really perform well to win. We've watched the tapes of their game and will be going to The Rec with a game plan which if we execute well we believe we are capable of coming away from there with the win."

The Northampton Herald

It is rumoured that Dammit Chris is going to give first starts of the season to Calum Clark, Liam Gill, Henry Thomas and Joe Launchbury away to Harlequins, in what is expected to be one of the youngest Premiership teams in history.

Anticipated team:

1. Henry Thomas
2. Rob Webber
3. Carl Hayman
4. Dave Attwood
5. Joe Launchbury
6. Calum Clark
7. Liam Gill
8. Liam Messam
9. Stuart Commins
10, Matt Giteau
11. Christian Wade
12. Shane Geraghty
13. Casey Lualala
14. Julian Savea
15. Danny Cipriani

Quins boss delighted with start

Steven Sharks has expressed his delight after the Harlequins began with an important away win at London Irish

' It was an excellent game for us to win against a very strong London Irish team. We executed our tactics well and this lead us to win the game. We were very pleased with the result and are determined to make it two from two against Northampton who also began with a win'

Looking ahead to their first home game he said

'We will probably go into the game as slight favourites due to us being at home but this is a tag we are comfortable with. We have made one or two changes this week but it was important to keep the core of the side together so we have only made changes which we feel benefit our team and increase our chance of winning'

' We feel we have a well balanced side and are confident of getting some good results from the world cup period and then build from there into the rest of the season.'

Chris as ever Thomas is a 3 not a 1. One day you will understand front row. It is my mission. Thomas is really good and sale apparently have a few good prop prospects. Imolek tidy also

Thomas and Imiolek are handy. Young lad called Ross Harrison is very powerful but raw and only a nipper. New Romanian Cobilas is supposed to be very handy at 3 as well.

Saints positive despite 29-19 defeat

'That was possibly the hardest away game we are going to get all season, and I'm proud of the effort of every one of my players - the wind just got us in the second half and Steenson's boot just pushed us back into our own 22 and the Quins defence was so strong.

We didn't build up a big enough score, 12-0 at half time was never enough, and Julian (Savea) is devastated that he dropped the ball over the tryline on 40mins - a 19-0 lead could have put us out of sight. Steenson hitting two penalties from 50plus metres was a sign of how the match turned.

The wind got us, never seen a match in conditions like that - maybe its something I will address in training, but hopefully we will get back to sunny conditions next week.

We've got some really disappointed lads in their, but at the end of the day we managed to give Chris Whitehead, Joe Launchbury and Christian Wade some more gametime - and they coped well.

We'll come back stronger next week and put on a great performance for our fans.'

AP Team of the Week

1. Brett Sturgess (Exeter Cheifs)
2. Joe Ward (Bath Rugby)
3. Carlos Nieto (London Wasps)
4. Rynhard Elstadt (Saracens Rugby)
5. Erik Lund (Harlequins Rugby)
6. Juan Smith (Newcastle Falcons)
7. Hendrie Fourie (London Irish)
8. Jordan Crane (Sale Sharks)
9. Dwayne Peel (Worcester Warriors)
10. Gareth Steenson (Harlequins)
11. Isa Nacewa (Leicester Tigers)
12. Brad Barrit (Newcastle Falcons)
13. Jonny May (Gloucester Rugby)
14. David Strettle (Sale Sharks)
15. Alex Goode (Saracens Rugby)

Transfer rumours

Newcastle's Chris Robshaw wants to leave the club due to the amount of competition in the Falcons back row.

Quins have released line out specialist Chris Giles and London Wasps and Worcester Warriors are said to be keen on his services

Wales wing George North is meeting Exeter coach Aaron Mauger in new Zealand this week over a move to the premiership side.

Leicester Tigers 8 Ernst Joubert is being lined up by Irish side Munster.

James Hook is set to hand in a transfer request at Sale Sharts as he seeks to play 10 or 15 more.

Bismark Du Plessie is chasing a move to Northampton after Chris offered a massive pay off outside the clubs budget.

Good those Driver, Johnny will love the Hook one

QUINS GET LONG TERM TARGET

Harlequins have finally completed the signing of the Carl Fearns from Exeter after a long chase for the player. The same deal has seen England captain Lewis Moody move to the Chiefs. Steven Sharks had this to say

'We are delighted to add him to our squad, I have always been interested in signing Fearns and he joins a large number of young talented players in our squad. I can see him having a long term future with us and I hope he will help to bring us success.'

'It is a great shame to lose Lewis but we saw it a a sacrifice worth making, we will be announcing our new Club Captain in the near future'

IRISH DETERMINED TO RIGHT WRONGS

London Irish boss stnick refused to be downbeat following his side's second defeat of the season against Sale Sharks.
'We lost to a very good team at a tough place to visit, so we are not downbeat. We felt we played some great rugby at times and it was silly mistakes that cost us. It was an improvement from the opening game of the season and the boys are working hard in training to imrpove on that and hopefully it will all come together this weekend at Franklins Gardens. There is no reason to panic yet, three years ago we didnt win our opening two games of the season and we ended up top of the league and winning the final against Saracens. I am confident the lads will go about their business this weekend and come away with a good result against Northampton.'

Irish have made 4 changes from the side that faced Sale, with Neil Briggs, Mouritz Botha, Keegan Daniel and Matthew Tait coming in to the side, replacing James Buckland, Nick Kennedy, Joe Worsley and Mathieu Bastereaud.

Pooly 'Im young, I'm handsome and I'm a great manager'

Newcastle supremo Pooly sparked a media scrum outside the Newcastle training ground on the day 'Gay Rabbit' Gate hit the North East.

In response to a series of akward questions relating to his personal life and the pre-match television he asks his players to watch Pooly was seen to grow irksome with the questions from journalists - after five minutes of intense questioning he remarked 'I'm young, I'm handsome and I'm a great manager' and then stormed out of the press conference.

How this will effect his preparations for the game against Gloucester only time will tell.

ENDS-

Are you cracking up! Lol

I read an article about Ronaldo, which said the same thing and then the rest is history...

Leicester Welcome Huge Signings

Leicester Tigers have shocked everyone in rugby today with the signing of Jonny Wilkinson. Also on their way to Leicester are scrum half Chris Cusiter, lock Pascal Pape and winger Topsy Ojo.

Manager LukeLovesLuka said "to be honest I thought we were done with our transfer business this summer, but when the chance to sign Jonny comes your way it's difficult to turn it down. Jonny is one of the most feared rugby players in world rugby, and to be able to bring him to the club is a great coup for everyone involved.

Jonny will hopefully settle in straight away, and we look forward to him marshalling our back line. We have lost Toby (Flood), but I feel we have made the right call to further our progress. Losing Ben (Youngs) was a blow, but when we have the likes of Dimitri (Yachvili), Micky (Young) and now Chris (Cusiter) as options at half back, we feel it is a hit we can afford to take.

Pascal (Pape) is a top professional, and an International enforcer. He will compete with the likes of Jarrad (Hoeata) and Chris (Jack) for a place in our side. It was time to let Brad (Thorn) go, who has been a great servant to club and country for so many years.

Topsy (Ojo) gives us something else in our back line and I am delighted to have him on board. He is a great finisher with pace to burn, and will go straight into our squad for next week’s game."

It's a sign of a good deal when you don't know who came out the best. For ne wilko much better than flood but youngs better than cussiter. Thorn better than pape but off to Japan and old. Ojo better than amesbury.

A really equal deal

Exeter head coach Driver told BBC Radio Devon:

"I think the key to a decent Premiership season, as we know from last year, is you've just got to fight for points everywhere you can.

"We've got a losing bonus point, we're ticking along, we're in our second year of the Premiership, let's keep our feet on the ground and let's keep moving forward.

"I think we feel we matched them in most areas of the game at least, outdid them in some, particularly in some of the forward exchanges."

---

Exeter head coach Driver tells BBC Radio Devon about Exeter's latest recruits:

''The club are delighted to be able to welcome former All Black Ben Blair to the club and eagerly await the arrival of Byron Kelleher and England skipper Lewis Moody to the club both joining from Quins , we've had our eyes on these players for a while and think they will suit our game plan down to a tee , Ben May even get the nod at full back for this weeks fixture (London Wasps)''

''But with new arrivals they has to be departures and we've lost George Skivington , Carl Fearns and Tomas O'Leary who we wish the best to in there careers''

When asked about George North rumors Driver had this to say

''George is a fantastic young prospect and we'd be foolish to pass any opportunity to sign him ,We spoke to him over the summer about a possible switch and he said he would be interested in a move to the club which has the biggest future in English rugby''

Bonus Points Crucial

Leicester Manager LukeLovesLuka on Tigers' start to the season, how close the league is and new signings.

"It's been a bit of a strange start to the season. We started brilliantly against Exeter, scoring 4 tries and conceding none, and then we have had two away games at Wasps and Newcastle.

This league is such a tough one. Away wins are few and far between, especially against the top sides, so you view a bonus point loss as a good result sometimes. Take Newcastle - I think they've won every game since I took over when playing at home, so you take what you can get, dust yourselves down, and then make sure you win your home games.

With the league being so tight this year from top to bottom, bonus points will for sure be crucial come May. Every bonus point we get we cherish, and to have 3 out of 3 so far is a solid start for us.

We've further strengthened our playing squad this weekend with Brock James, Dan Vickerman, Lee Mears and Napolioni Nalaga coming in. Brock brings us a wealth of experience at 10, and is available all year so is someone I have been looking at a while. Dan was at Leicester before, so we will be welcoming back an old friend and Lee will give us more options at hooker. Brock will go straight into our squad this week.

We welcome Sarries this week to Welford Road. Pete has built a top squad, and his side have started well. I see it being a very good game, but we will look to extend our home record and will be hoping we get the win."

"Falcons finally get their man!"

A delighted Pooly today unveiled marque signing Ben Youngs to the press after months of negations with Leicester Tigers. Pooly:

"I'm absolutely delighted with the deal, we sent a team out to NZ to conclude personal terms and this finishes off months of talks with Leicester.

Ben is delighted to be joining the champions and can't wait to link up with some of the young lads such as James O'Connor.

He was truly gutted to leave the Tigers but fancied a new challenge, Toby coming in to was a big part of the move and I can't wait to see them link up with the full squad. He's a world class talent, right up there with the Genia's & Parra's of the world and has the potential to be the best, him and Pretorious give us great options in the 9 shirt. Sarel was one the best 9's in the S15 and we were delighted to get him in, he's such a threat around the fringes and scares the living daylights out of the opposition, it promises to be a great contest and I expect them to really push each other.

We'll look to ease the new boys in slowly, they'll be pretty wiped after the WC so they'll get a few weeks off games once they return. We'll then look to get then involved in some local games to give them a chance to form on field relationships, it's all about knowing each others game at the end of the day"

On losing Wilkinson:

"Johnny is a legend up here but after talking on the phone with him for hours he felt he required a new challenge. He's took us to a Heineken Cup and Premiership in two seasons and will always be welcome at Kingston. It wasn't about money as rumoured in the papers, I wish him all the best and imagine he'll be a huge success at Tigers."

On bringing in Brad Thorn:

"The best 4 in world rugby? Possibly, think Bakkies might argue with that but Brad is such a workhorse and will look to really add to our engine room. Him quitting Int rugby was the big thing for us, we'll have him available during the breaks and he'll bring a vast amounts of experience to the side. He's coming in on a full time contract but will look to get involved in the coaching set-up next season"

On losing Pascal Pape and Topsy Ojo:

"Two top draw players. Pape has struggled to get past Donnacha but is such a physical threat and one of the best locks in France, he'll be a big loss. Tospy has been a great servant to the club, helping us to he two titles. He's had Miles Benjmain on his heals for the last 6 months or so and with his form it was hard to leave him out of the side. Topsy will be a big hit at Leicester and we welcome Charlie back to the club after a couple of years away. He's a very solid back 3 player and will get plenty of gametime during the winter months."

SBW FUTURE UP IN THE AIR

The man who can't keep out of the spotlight, Sonny Bill Williams, is back in the headlines again, this time with the news that he could be on his way out of LV Champions London Irish. News of some unrest has sparked a mass of interest in the All Black centre and Irish boss stnick has confirmed he has received numerous enquiries and offers. However, he was quick to state that the rumours had no truth behind them and he fully expected Sonny Bill to return to Irish after the WC and form a formidable centre partnership with Springbok Jacques Fourie.

Sale Sharks sign up young starlet

Sale Sharks today announced the signing of 19 year old Ben Spencer. After a whirlwind of a season for Cambridge, Spencer has found himself called up to the England Counties and England U20's squad. He know finds himself moving north to Sale Sharks to link up with their squad and will hope to see first team action in the coming months as the Sharks look to improve on last seasons 5th place finish.

How have you signed Spencer? I thought you said he was mine for 1 million.

Sorry Pete mate was a bid for 1m by me. Dont mind starting again for him though due to the misunderstanding

I just got confused mate, what with you doing the budgets and the convoy about the mayhews I thought you were doing the accepting and rejecting as well. I think driver needs to lay down the rules and overseas things, gets confusing otherwise as to who is doing what, or maybe I'm just getting old and senile.

No your more then right mate can see how it is confusing needs to be taken control of and sorted out

Quins boss 'Shocked' at start.

Steven Sharks has today admitted to being shocked at how his side had started this Aviva Premiership season.

'I never expected to be unbeaten after 5 games. I thought we'd be weak at this stage of the season and therefore both our form and league position would suffer. We now have players such as Richie Vernon, Alasdair Strokosch, Fabio Ongaro and Gonzalo Canale. Players with this sort of experience coming back to us can only be a good thing.'

Sharks explained how it would be very unlikely that any of the Returning players would play against Leicester but said it wouldn't be long untill he could turn to these players.

Tigers Welcome Back Twelvetrees

Leicester Tigers today welcomed back Billy Twelvetrees to the club after he re-signed from Saracens. Twelvetrees left almost exactly a year ago when he signed for Sarries on October 15th 2010, but has re-joined Tigers in a deal that sees Damien Traille switch the opposite way.

Manager LukeLovesLuka said "we welcome Billy back with open arms. We were always reluctant to let him leave in the first place, but the deal that saw him leave saw Aurelien Rougerie come on board, and he was crucial for us last year.

Billy is a special player, with top class distribution. We have been hunting around for a centre for a while now, and Billy has an exceptional pass off both hands, a massive boot and is very solid in defence. He is more than capable at 12 or 13, or even 10, and his versatility is a great factor for us.

I am sure the prospect of lining up alongside the likes Jonny (Wilkinson), Brian (O'Driscoll) and Yannick (Jauzion) is mouth-watering for him - and he will learn so much for our senior guys. We can't wait to see him back in the shirt doing the business."

Saracens head coach Ozzy3213 speaks to the press.

After Saracens win at home to Newcastle Falcons today head coach Ozzy3213 spoke to the press;-

"I'm really pleased for the players and the fans after that performance. Newcastle came with a strong side, and our guys really fronted up and laid down a marker for the rest of the season. From 1 to 23 nobody left everything out there and everyone was completely exhausted in the dressing room afterwards.

It won't have escaped people that Billy Twelvetrees was left out of the 23 today, and I can confirm that he has rejoined Leicester Tigers. We have a lot of young English talent in the centres such as Owen (Farrell) and Henry (Trinder) and I felt that the opportunity to bring in someone of the class and experience of Damien Traille was one that we needed to take. We wish Billy all the best and hope he flourishes back at Leicester Tigers."

RWC PLAYERS RETURN IMPROVES CHIEFS - GUSCOTT

Speaking to BBC Radio Devon former England center Jeremy Guscott has discussed how impressed he is with the improvement in the Exeter Chiefs squad with only a handful of there RWC players back.

'The Chiefs showed last season how they have the dog and determination to stay up and had a game plan what worked based around a solid set piece , they tried to change it this year and it hasn't worked for them just by looking at there pack for this week you can see they have gone back to it'

'They've picked big physical front 5 players in Perugini , Davit , Shawsy and Slater to start with Sheridan , Kayser , Wilson , Short and Wallace all to come from the bench , the two dogged turnover machines in Lewis Moody and Shane Jennings should give George Ford plenty of goal kicking practice with the penalties they will win not just vs the Os but AP teams''

Tigers Not Quite Roaring But Going Well

Leicester Tigers have made a good start to the new Aviva Premiership season, sitting in the playoff positions after 6 games, having ended Quins' unbeaten streak at Welford Road this week with a convincing bonus point win.

With two Anglo Welsh Cup games coming up against Scarlets and Gloucester, Tigers have a couple of weeks before their next league game against Sale - where the majority of the squad's players who were at the World Cup should be available.

Manager LukeLovesLuka said "the win against Quins was a great result, and we played really, really well. Topsy (Ojo) got his first two tries for the club, which was great to see, and our 4 tries means we are now the joint highest try scoring side in the league. Credit has go to go to our backs, who have been brilliant for us this International period, and have seen us pick up 5 bonus points in 6 games.

I've got some tough decisions to make over the coming weeks. 20 tries in 6 games shows you we are playing great rugby. We have some great players to welcome back into the sqaud, but every player will have to fight for the shirt."

After the signing of Billy Twelvetrees recently, the Leicester manager was also quizzed on whether the rumours are true he wants to bring a blindside flanker in.

"It's something me and the coaching staff have talked about. We want a squad that gives us 2 or 3 top options in each position, and we might be a little light in specialist 6's. But then we have players such as Magnus (Lund), Thomas (Waldrom), Nathan (Hines) and even James (Horwill) who can all play there, so we shall see."

Saints to give youth a chance.

Northampton Saints are expected to name a young team against Saracens for this weekends Anglo Welsh fixture, with Jackson Wray, Henry Thomas, Mako Vunipola, Ben Nutley and Jack Wallace all expected to make the match day 23. It is also anticipated that Juan Pablo Orlandi and Max Evans could feature, with Joe Simpson expected to make the bench.

Dammit Chris stated 'It's an exciting time at Saints with the amount of exciting young talent we've got coming through the ranks right now and we are busy developing the next generation of stars that could join the likes of Courtney Lawes, Manu Tuilagi, Dylan Hartley, Chris Ashton and Ben Foden in the England set up.

We expect that Pete will be adopting the same approach for this weekend's game, so it should be a great game to watch as with players like Ben Ransom, George Kruis and Alex Waller, Sarries have got a brilliant youth setup and I'm thoroughly looking forward to watching the game"

With Jamie Elliott, George Ford, Ben Nutley, Elliot Daly and Alex Day selected for the England u20s for the 2011/2012 season the future certainly looks in safe hands at Northampton, who place the development of English talent as one of their main goals.

Driver praise youngsters in LV cup.

Exeter Chiefs boss Driver has hailed the impact of youngsters George Ford , Charlie Pilgrim , Adam Thompstone and try scorer Sep Visser.

The guys really stood up against the Ospreys and played well going forward and were exceptional in defense , unfortunately the way selection works they might not get the nod this week.

Sep Visser is expected to retain his place on the wing or shift to full back.

Saints record second big win in a fortnight

After a slow start to the season Northampton Saints are beginning to build some momentum after beating Saracens 35-22 at Franklins Gardens and for the second time in a week scored four tries.

Dammit Chris stated "I was delighted with how we played against Sarries at the weekend, we had a really young team out, with 18 players in the match day squad under 24. Of course the pack was anchored by Sergio Parisse, which did wonders for Liam Gill and Jackson Wray, who we feel are two international stars in the making and we want to give them as much game time as possible in the Anglo-Welsh Cup.

It was also great seeing how much Joe Simpson brought to the team, his pace at the base of the scrum and rucks caused Sarries a constant worry and to score from 80 metres was just sensational.

This week we've opted to give Dylan Hartley, Matt Stevens, Courtney Lawes and Manu Tuilagi a chance to blow off some steam after what they all feel was an extremely disappointing World Cup for them. We've also put Fodes and Ashton onto the bench to get a run out in the final twenty minutes.

I'm also looking forward to see how Jamie Elliot, Jack Wallace and Christian Wade do in the backthree, its a young side at the back, but the talent they have on display is quite frightening - Elliot and Wade are two of the best attacking youngsters in Europe, so if we can give them a platform they are going to score tries for us"

Sharks fear's World Cup Burnout

Steven Sharks has today expressed concerns as to the amount of World Cup players being played so quickly after returning from an intense World Cup Build up and tournament.

'Whilst they mighten show signs of immediate fatigue, I expect it will catch up with them as the season comes to it's conclusion. We are making a point to rest our players who have had long World Cups with upto 4 weeks off in some cases'

Hazell and David Leave Leciester

Andy Hazell and Yann David have left Leciester Tigers and returned to Gloucester and Sale respectively.

Hazell started one game in his loan spell with the Tigers, and came off the bench 5 times, whilst David started twice and came off the bench once.

Manager LukeLovesLuka said "both Andy and Yann were great to bring in on loan for the World Cup period. To be able to bring in someone of Andy's experience was great for us, and he featured in all but one of our matchday squads.

Yann came into the side on a couple of occassions, and his understanding with Yannick (Jauzion), Florian (Fritz) and Clement (Poitrenaud) really worked in our favour. I was delighted to see him go over for a try in our win over Quins - is was the least he deserved for his work ethic.

Both players were consummate professionals during their spell with us, and to be honest i'd be very keen to get them both back in one way or another. The lads in the squad really took to both of them, and they were great to have around the place.

We welcome back Tim (Molenaar) and Jordan (Crane), and are very happy to have both guys back in the mix."

LV CHANCE FOR SISI AND YARDE

London Irish have named academy stars David Sisi and Marland Yarde in their starting line up to face Newcastle Falcons this weekend. After recording a bonus point win at Harlequins in the first round of the LV with tries from Gonzalo Tiesi, Keegan Daniel, Matthew Tait and Joe Maddock, Irish will look to continue their good form against a strong Falcons side who have named Ben Youngs and Nick Evans at halfback.
Irish give first starts of the season to Soane Tonga'uhia, Ruan Pienaar and J.P Pieterson, as well as Sisi and Yarde, who have all returned from the World Cup. Irish have also named a strong bench including Pierre Spies, Delon Armitage and Martin Castrogiovanni, to give them some game time before next week's game at home to Bath.

SAINTS LOOK TO RECORD 3 WINS IN A ROW

Today Dammit Chris named a young side to travel to the Ospreys with the view of winning three games in a row for the first time this season.

"We've got a young team, and we will certainly be looking to put in a big performance against the Ospreys this week - the last few games we've played some of our best rugby and I'm delighted that guys like Christian Wade, Joe Laucnhberry and Henry Thomas have provided that spark that we've been missing recently.

This week I'm delighted to give Elliot Daly a run on the wing and we've got a lot of hope with Jamie Elliot who is one of the best finishers I think I've seen come through youth team rugby - both are in the England u20s squad this year, which speaks volums for their talent.

Its good to bring back Dylan, Matt (Stevens), Courtney and Manu into the starting lineup - each really wants to make a point this week and they were so keen to play that I had to give them a start - but we've agreed that they'll be coming off mostly after 40mins to keep them fresh for the Newcastle game next week.

We didnt want to throw them straight into that game at all, as ideally you'd want a run out before the game of that importance."

SAINTS GUNNING FOR CHAMPIONS AFTER COMPREHENSIVE WIN IN WALES

Northampton Saints impressive winning streak continued at the Liberty Stadium this weekend as Saints secured their third try scoring bonus point win in as many weeks.

Speaking after the game Saints assistant coach Jim Mallinder stated "the boys were exceptional this weekend, we were able to throw in a lot of our youngsters today and I delighted to see at how well so many of them stepped up. Elliott Daly, Henry Thomas and Joe Launchberry were brilliant and all have got big futures ahead of them".

Mallinder continued "We're all looking forward to taking on top of the table Newcastle next week and our form over the last few weekends has got us all very confident about our play and ability to score some tries. We've got a few selection headaches to sort out this week, but we will be picking a team that can take the game to Newcastle and get over the gainline, I think that will be key to beating them next week as our back three is capable of tearing any team to pieces with attacking ball.

I think that will see us partner de Villiers and Tuilagi together in midfield and hand recalls to Fodes and Chris Ashton - it's then a question of who we play on the other wing, Siti, Max Evans or Wadey, who has been brilliant over the last month.

We're also delighted that Sergio (Parisse) and Patricio (Albacete) will both be starting after some great displays in New Zealand - we've got a strong pack now and we seem to really have upped the level of aggression in defence over the last few weeks. I'm not going to lie about it, but Newcastle is the game we have been waiting for and its a game to show that we should be a top four team and capable of winning trophies - we want to set out a statement for the other teams in the league next week and lay down a marker that sets the tone until May.

When we make it four wins from four next weekend we'll show everyone that we are well and truly back in business"

FALCONS WELCOME BACK WORLD CUP STARS

After a dramatic World Cup and tight final victory by the hosts New Zealand, Newcastle Falcons welcomed back the remainder of their International players. Pooly:

"The NZ lads flew in late last night and we had a squad meet up this afternoon. Richie and a few of the others were a bit goosed and are looking forward to a few days off.

They'll be a full training session on Monday bar the lads who were part of the final who'll be back in Wednesday. They're itching to get back into the side after watching the boys play so well whilst they were away. We've got to be sensible though and season is a marathon not a sprint, they'll be eased back into the fold.

Some have played more than others whilst away so some are pretty fresh to be honest. The lads who stayed behind have done a superb job and we've been up there like we were all of last season, the lads just love winning, it becomes such a habit!"