AP Round 2

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Harlequins v Northampton Saints
Light Rain Shower, 19 Degrees, 7mph Winds 
 
Harlequins
Manager – Steven_Sharks
 

01. Joe Marler	09. Lee Dickson
02. Gary Botha	10. Greig Laidlaw
03. Gjorgi Jgenti
04. Bakkies Botha	11. Luke Morahan
05. Steve Borthwick	12. Jamie Roberts
06. Tom Wood	13. Florian Fritz
07. Sam Warburton	14. Frank Halai
08. Nick Easter	15. Rob Kearney

16. Rob Buchanan 17. Tadgh Furlong 18. Kyle Sinckler 19. George Kruis 20. Lappies Labushagne 21. Karl Dickson 22. Dan Bowden 23. Ben Tapuai
 
Tactics
 
- Use big forwards to get across the gainline and get quick ball from the following rucks.
 
- Look for the pack the control at the set piece, particularly the lineout.
 
- Keep the ball in the Saints half and remain patient with our strong carriers until gaps emerge in the Saints defence.
 
- When in our own half look to kick into spaces if they are there. Can also use Up and unders and crossfield kicks for our big wingers to catch.
 
- In defence we will employ a quick linespeed and look to be aggressive in the collision. When we can we will look to get the turnover in the tackle or from the resulting breakdown.
 
Northampton Saints
Manager: Dammit Chris
 

01. Mako Vunipola	09. Mike Phillips
02. Dylan Hartley(c)	10. Rhys Priestland
03. Carl Hayman
04. Joe Launchbury	11. Christian Wade
05. Samo Manoa	12. Matt Giteau
06. Julian Bonnaire	13. Weslie Fofana
07. Calum Clark	14. Tommy Bowe
08. Billy Vunipola	15. Leigh Halfpenny

Subs: 16. Tatafu Polota-Nau 17. Thomas Domingo 18. Henry Thomas 19. Courtney Lawes 20. James Gaskell 21. Joe Simpson 22. Siti Siviatu 23. Elliot Daly
 
Tactics:
Will play a strong, physical game that looks to bring Quins into a confrontation in the pack. We will be looking for big carries from the likes of both Vunipola's, Clark, Manoa to punch us through the gainline and get Quins on the backfoot defensively and keep the ball going through the phases. This is an area we feel we have an advantage and can then set our backline away and really test the Quins defence.
 
Setpiece: Borthwick and Wood are a threat in the lineout, which is why we've recalled Bonnaire to lead the line and be joined by Manoa, Launchbury and Clark. Hartley is in good form and we will look to get quick ball off attacking lineouts so we can release our strike runners in the backs.
 
With the new scrum rules we will look to secure a good attacking platform and see if we can put Quins under pressure. We've got an all international front row to bring on and this will be an area we will look to dominate.
 
Breakdown/Backrow: Aware this is a key area and in Warburton & Wood we will have to be at the top of our game. We've selected Launchbury and Manoa in the second row to give us extra physicality and presence at the breakdown. We will be looking at Hartley, Vunipola and Clark to clear out Quins here and get us good attacking ball.
 
Territory: An away game so have selected three strong kickers in the backline to see us win the territorial kicking game and pin back Quins in areas where we can pressurise and force mistakes - Halfpenny to take the points at every opportunity.
 
Gainline: Our game is all about getting over the gainline and having strike runners to create opportunities. Pack has the Vunipola's, Launch, Samoa and Clark while backline has Fofana, Giteau and Bowe. Creativity of Priestland and Giteau to help create space and really test Quins.
 
Defence: Defensively we will play an aggressive rush defence, looking to take advantage of any rustiness and Quins losing their main no10 to injury last week. With Giteau and Fofana we have two strong defenders to stop the threat of Roberts and see this as key to beating Quins and stopping their attacking threat.
 
Key selection points:
 
Continuity/Combinations - our team is very much unchanged from last season, no changes in the pack and only Bowe in the backline. Phillips and Priestland have great understanding from internationals.
Form - lot of players in good form.
Subs - strong substitutes bench, which we've made sure is impact for closing stages of the game.

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Sale Sharks v Newcastle Falcons
Light Cloud, 14 Degrees, 9mph Winds 
 
Sale Sharks
Manager – SJE
 

01. Vasil Kakovin	09. Danny Care
02. David Paice	10. Johnny Sexton
03. Davit Zirakishvilli
04. Dave Attwood	11. Simon Zebo
05. Donnacha Ryan	12. Kyle Eastmond
06. Yannick Nyanga	13. Robbie Fruean
07. Fulgence Quedragao	14. Craig Gilroy
08. Louis Picamoles	15. Nick Abendanon

16. Ross Harrison 17. Tommy Taylor 18. Luc Ducalcon 19. Iain Henderson 20. Matt Kvesic 21. Ben Spencer 22. James Hook 23. Will Addison
 
Key Points/Specifics
 

• Good conditions for running rugby and with Falcons set up for a slow paced kicking we will look to inject pace and run from deep.
  
  
• Neither Falcons wing known for their kick chase so Gilroy & Zebo will look to punish loose kicks in the wide channels.
  
  
• No top line kicker in the Falcons side with both young inexperienced 10s struggling with their kicks at goals prevents them from keeping the scoreboard ticking which is essential to their gameplan.
  
  
• Look to attack the lineout with Quedragao jumping at the front forcing Best to hit his men.
  
  
• Pile the pressure on the forward battle in the final quarter with the Falcons bench effectively a man down with Richie McCaw flying across the world for just this match!
  
  

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 opposition 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 ball.
  
  

Set Piece
 

• With a strong technical 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 opposition 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.
  
  

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 Newcastle 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 Quedragao 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.
  
  

 
Newcastle Falcons
 
Manager – Driver
 

01.Ryan Grant	09.Ben Youngs
02.Rory Best (c)	10.George Ford
03.Paul Doran Jones
04.Ed Slater	11.Alex Cuthbert
05.Yoann Maestri	12.Luke Marshall
06.Kelly Brown	13.George Lowe
07.Hienrich Brussouw	14.Chris Ashton
08.Chris Masoe	15.Alex Goode

16.Goerge McGuigan 17.Soana Tonga'uhia 18.Scott Wilson 19.Will Carrick Smith 20.Richie McCaw 21.Sam Harrison 22.Joel Hodgson 23.Charlie Sharples
 
Falcons will look to suffocate the game and ensure it's played in Sales half.
 
We will look to keep possetion as a first and force Sale into a arm wrestle and use the smash and grab tactic in there half and leave with points through the boot.
 
We will look to grind out the phases in the tight with Slater , Maestri , Masoe looking to smash it up in the tight with Brown , Best  and Grant carrying off the 9.
 
Keep it simple at the line out throwing to 2 and 4. We'll call the line before we get there by forming a huddle where best will call it.
 
Big aggressive defence around the fringes looking to ruck past the ball and slow Sale ball down.
 
Brussouw to target break down.
 
Youngs to sweep behimd the line to cover.
 
Bomb balls on Bendy to test him under high ball and kick deep to the corner to force him to kick it out.
 
Ford to kick all penalties in range.
 

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Exeter Chiefs v London Wasps
Light Rain Shower, 19 Degrees, 10mph Winds 
 
Exeter Chiefs 
 
Manager – Fluxy
 
 

01. Logovii Mulipola	09. Maxime Machenaud
02. Rob Webber (C)	10. Stephen Myler (K)
03. Mike Ross
04. Bradley Davies	11. Dom Shipperly
05. Geoff Parling	12. Bundee Aki
06. Sam Jones	13. Aurelien Rougerie
07. Chris Robshaw	14. Zac Guilford
08. Semisi Taulava	15. Matt Tait

16. Sean Cronin 17. Yannick Forestier 18. Will Collier 19. Patricio Albacete 20. Carl Fearns 21. Haydn Thomas 22. Tom Heathcote 23. Alex Dunbar
 
Tactics
 
After a strong showing against the league runners up we look towards our first home game of the season and look to impose ourselves from the off and let the opposition know how we are going to play the game and how we want to dictate the pace of the game. Our brand of rugby is physical and fast, however we won't just run the ball at every opportunity. We will only play in the right areas of the paddock, therefore the intelligence of Myler and Machenaud will dictate when to attack and when we need to clear the lines. We will look to go through simple phases to reproduce quick ball to cut the defence open. We have brilliant leaders all other the pitch in Webber, Parling, Rougerie and Robshaw, and they know what will be provided leadership to get we want from the game - a win. With the changeable conditions, we will look to play a simple expansive game in attack and in defence will look to force Wasps to play from in their 22 and use our strong lineout and kicking game to pressure them. In attack we will look to use the Myler's and Aki's creativity to create space and use the dangerous runners outside them and themselves. 
 

• Mulipola and Ross are solid technicians and will allow Webber freedom to secure our own feed, to provide first phase possession for our backs. We will target Tolofua hooking as he is young and may lack the basics here. This will allow us a secondary push when Tolofua tries too hook the ball.  
  
  
• With a strong line-out, Parling will lead and use himself as banker ball at the in line with Davies jumping in the front and middle. At the back we can look to use Robshaw sparingly. If winning own ball Parling will look to call full number lineouts to tie in the Wasps fowards. 
  
  
• Our whole pack is mobile and capable of snaffling ball at the breakdown. We will all look to offload in the tackle to keep moving the point of attack and tire out the big Wasps pack, this will keep Hamilton and their back row on the move. And prevent them getting over the ball. 
  
  
• Whole pack capable of carrying, along with some effort from the backs. If Wasps want to target the big guys we can look for them to move the ball on to more forwards standing further outside the guards. Big emphasis on running forwards down the ten and the 13 channel when there is slow ball. 
  
  

 

• We will look to keep the ball alive, preventing them from setting any defensive lines and allowing their back row to get over the ball.
  
  
• Myler is a decent attacker (as proven at the end of last season and first game this season) and look to use a league style move to unlock the defence. Aki can either take it short and through gaps or it can be screened to Rougerie with the 14, and 15 to attack the numbers outside. 
  
  
• We will use a Blitz drift line in defence to cut down Farrells options and push him inside towards our backrow.
  
  
• Look for Taulava to run down Faz's channel off scrums, and big carries down this channel in open play.
  
  
• With Robshaw and Shipperly we looked to keep their roles in defence simple. 
  
  
• Look to use our strong bench for impact later in the game.
  
  
• Myler will kick all points, he can kick from within their half, so this indicates that Wasps should be wary of giving away penalties.
  
  
• With strong set-pieces will look to keep the game and momentum in our favour. If we can open the game up in their half when in control we will. But we will look to ground the Wasps down first with big carrying and solid set piece play. 
  
  

 
London Wasps
Manager  Ozzy3213
 
 

01. Paul James	09. Nick Phipps
02. Christopher Tolofua	10. Owen Farrell
03. Dave Wilson
04. Romain Millo-Chluski	11. Anthony Watson
05. Jim Hamilton	12. Pat McCabe
06. Marcel Coetzee	13. Tim Nanai-Williams
07. Luke Wallace	14. Jack Nowell
08. Steffon Armitage	15. Jaco Taute

16. Rob Hawkins 17. Steven Kitschoff 18. Frans Malherbe 19. George Skivington 20. Tom Johnson 21. Paul Hodgson 22. Elton Jantjies 23. Michele Campagnaro
 
Key Points

• Chiefs have selected Nonu at 12 who is playing for the AB’s this week.  Heathcote or Dunbar will have to play there which is a big step down in quality.
  
  
• Robshaw and Shipperly only signed this week  and no way would be up to speed with defensive patterns and set plays.  We will target them in defence.
  
  
• Mulipola is all about the hit in the scrum and has little technique.  We will target him with two technically minded props in our starting front row.
  
  
• Both wingers can play fullback and are great under the high ball so are ideal for the damp conditions.
  
  
• Our back row can all play 7.  This is a deliberate selection to enable us to target the breakdown.  If we can secure turnovers we will look to launch quick attacks off of them.
  
  
  

 
 
Basic Game Plan
Basic tactical premise will be to play the game in the opposition half.  In our own half Farrell will use his boot to hit the corners and force Exeter to play from deep.  When in the Chiefs half we will use our big carriers to truck it up.  We will look for gaps to make ground and draw defenders in as we cross the gainline, were we will look to recycle quickly by getting men into the ruck and clearing beyond the ball carrier.
 
In defence, as always we will be running a blitz defence.  Our focus will be on the gainline collisions and driving back in the tackle.  Line speed and no dog-legs will be key components for us.  Phipps will sweep in behind the defensive line to counter any chips/grubbers.
 
Specifics

• Take all points on offer off the tee.
  
  
• On our lineout ball we will mix it up to keep Chiefs guessing.  If not going well we will go to banker ball at the front and look suck defenders into the maul to create space in midfield.
  
  
• Target Mulipola, Webber and Taulava when they have the ball.  They are the only powerful carriers in the pack and we will look to hit them hard and early and bring them to ground, before getting over the ball and trying to turn it over.
  
  
• Try to create mismatches by getting our quick back 3 players and TNW on the outside shoulder of less pacy opponents.
  
  

 

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Worcester Warriors v London Irish
Light Rain, 15 Degrees, 7mph Winds 
 
Worcester Warriors
Manager - stnick88
 

01. Nathan Catt	09. Dimitri Yachvili
02. Matthew Rees	10. Francois Trinh-Duc
03. Brian Mujati
04. Alun Wyn-Jones	11. Sailosi Tagicakibau
05. Johann Muller (c)	12. Tom Casson
06. Dave Denton	13. Mathieu Bastereaud
07. Ross Rennie	14. David Strettle
08. Johnnie Beattie	15. Delon Armitage

16. Brett Sturgess 17. Koree Britton 18. BJ Botha 19. James Percival 20. Thomas Waldrom 21. Michael Classens 22. Olly Barkley  23. Tom Williams
 
Tactics
 
- The conditions aren't too bad, but with a bit of rain we won't look to throw the ball around willy nilly. We will play a structured, territorial game with Yach and FTD pulling the strings at half back and getting us in the right areas to play.
- Yach will kick all pens in range to keep scoreboard ticking over.
- Use Bast as a crash ball and decoy runner option.
- Muller to be the main lineout option, with AWJ and Beattie also options. Muller to disrupt as much oppositon ball as possible.
- Forwards to hit the breakdown hard and allow Rennie to secure and turnovers and win pens.
 
London Irish
Manager - Prop
 

01. Jerome Schuster	09. Rory Kockott
02. Tom Lindsay	10. Nick Evans
03. Matt Stevens
04. Nick Kennedy	11. Sergeal Petersen
05. Craig Clarke	12. Sereli Naqalevuki
06. Will Fraser	13.  Max Evans
07. Thierry Dusatoir (c)	14. Taku Nqwenya
08. Ben Morgan	15. Niall Morris

|;
16. G.Ellis 17. T.Court 18. T.Smallbone 19. M.Gorgodze 20. E.Jackson 21. J.Moates 22. L.Beauxis 23. R.Henshaw
 
Quick rugby  with a mobile back 5 in the pack,
Strong carriers in the front row who are all technical scrummagers and will use technical skills to get the upper hand on larger units,
Strong lineout with Clarke and Kennedy great lineout leaders,
Quick ball to Kockott and Evans who can put centres into space,
Naqa to make the breaks for M.Evans to pull the strings in playing in the back three hitting the lines and the backrow carrying off the centres,
Defence led by Dusatoir and the other one will look to be first to the breakdown to look for the turnover,
Exciting back three who are all capable of skinning their opponents and stopping them dead in defence.
 
Again struggling for time, I will be more into the game come october after my holiday and when I've fully unpacked everything!
 

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Bath Rugby v Leicester Tigers
Light Rain Shower, 17 Degrees, 8mph Winds 
 
Bath Rugby
Manager – inthefastlane

01. Cian Healy	09. Richard Wigglesworth
02. Richard Hibbard	10. Charlie Hodgson
03. Davit Kubrashvilli
04. Luke Romano	11. Cory Jane
05. Andries Bekker	12. Anthony Allen
06. Brad Shields	13.  Rob Horne
07. David Seymour	14. Nopolini Nalaga
08. Tom Guest	15. Stuart Hogg

16. Chris Brooker 17. Euan Murray 18. Carl Rimmer 19. George Merrick 20. Rhys Ruddock 21.  Fourie Du Preez 22.  Luther Burrell 23. Rob Miller
 
Overall: Look to play flowing rugby with Hodgson pulling the strings. We will be looking for big carries all over to get over the gainline.
 
Scrum: We will look to get an advantage at scrum time with a strong front five picked. Apply pressure and look to get nudge on throughout. Look to play the ref and if not going our way use as a restart.
 
Lineout: At the line out we will look to keep our own ball and challenge the Tigers line out. Romano offers a strong banker ball option at the front whilst Bekker and Shields offer solid jumping options.
 
We will be looking for big carries from the forwards with the likes of Hibbard, Healy, Romano, Shields and Guest dangerous runners who can really create gaps for our backs. We will be looking for lots of energy from our forwards to open up holes to be exploited.
 
Breakdown: Look to clear hard and fast with Seymour and Shields looking to make a real nuisance of themselves and get their hands on the ball
 
Backs: We will be looking to use the backs in order to create or go through holes. Wigglesworth and Hodgson will look to really get the backs going with a good tempo. Wigglesworth will attack fringes and try to keep the defence guessing. Look to get our big runners involved as early as possible with Allen, Horne, Jane and Nalaga seeing lots of the ball.
 
Defence: Use an blitz defence in order to put pressure on Leciester. Wigglesworth sweep in behind
 
Substitutes: Our subs will look to keep a high tempo. Murray, Brooker and Rimmer will look to keep the scrum strong. Merrick will look to add grit late as well as another quality lineout operator. Ruddock can look to really get involved in all facets of the game against tired legs. FDP will prove a composed head to control tempo late. Burrell and Miller will look to come up and provide a threat with their running.
 
Leicester Tigers
Manager – LukeLovesLuka
 

01. Andrew Sheridan	09. Dwayne Peel
02. Tom Youngs	10. Jonny Wilkinson (k)
03. Dan Cole
04. Nathan Hines	11. Henry Speight
05. James Horwill (c)	12. Billy Twelvetrees
06. Ryan Jones	13. Tamati Ellison
07. Jacques Burger	14. Vincent Clerc
08. Ernst Joubert	15. Mike Brown

16. Charlie Clare 17. Benn Robinson 18. Craig Mitchell 19. Kearnan Myall 20. Steve Mafi 21. Micky Young 22. Brock James 23. Kurtley Beale
 
Tactics:
 
In wet conditions we will play to our strengths and play a game built around our intelligent HB's controlling the game and the power of our side.
 
- Attack at all scrums with our huge pack - Cole and Sheridan to look to really get into the opposition. Lots of scrums in wet weather and an area we will look to target if winning.
 
- Attack at all lineouts. Use Joubert or Hines at the front and Horwill off the top as our three key options.
Shortened lineouts with Burger in midfield as crash or decoy option.
 
- Put serious pressure on Hibbard's throws with Joubert at the front on all Bath throws.
 
- Gigantic pack made up of massive line-breakers, used in the tight to tire down the Bath defence. The likes of Youngs, Burger, Jones, Horwill and Hines to be used to target the Bath 10 channel.
 
- Target the breakdown - huge emphasis on our work at the breakdown today and we will always look to turnover possession. With Burger, and the likes of Cole and BOD, we feel our breakdown play could be crucial today.
 
- No overly ambitious passing - In wet conditions we will either look to kick to gain territory or look to keep ball in hand and take it through the middle.
 
- In attacking play, we will play with the option of 2 first recievers in Wilko and Twelvetrees. We want to control the game, mixing up the point of our attack and looking for where the gaps are.
 
- 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. We have aggressive forwards to carry out this instruction. Peel to sweep behind with an eye on short kicks.
 
- Wilkinson to kick all penalites.
 

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Saracens v Gloucester Rugby
Light Rain, 17 Degrees, 8mph Winds
 
Saracens
Manager – Pooly
 

01. Matt Mullen	09. Dewaldt Duvenage
02. Tiaan Liebenberg	10. Gareth Steenson
03. Sekope Kepu
04. Robins Tchale-Watchou	11. Tom Vardell
05. Louis Deacon	12. Fergus McFadden
06. Keegan Daniel	13. Matt Hopper
07. Alessandro Zanni	14. Adam Thompstone
08. Jordan Crane	15. Lee Byrne

16. Chris Whitehead 17. Max Lahiff 18. Hoani Tui 19. Kevin McLaughlin 20. Beau Robinson 21. Chris Cook 22. Iain Humphreys 23. Gio Aplon
 
Tactics
- Play the power game in the forwards with huge front 5, big carrries through opposition middle and look to keep hold of ball
- Target Wood in the scrum and look disrupt Gloucester set piece. Big lock combo to back up and Gray & Palmer not known as strong scrummagers
- Strong kicking options at halfback to allow us kick into channels (esp behind Rhule) once forwards brought dragged in to defence. Use this as a surprise alternitive to keep opp on toes
- Look to get at Rhule who can struggle positionally and one on one
- Dev to sweep in behind and allow blitz defence to get in face of key decision makers
- Look for big front 5 to get through the gate and allow Zanni and Daniel chance to slow/steal opp ball (Robinson to provide this too in 2nd)
- Play it tight and keep it simple, kick for goals and try and stop opp from getting in game.
 
Gloucester
Manager- Matt
 

01.Nick Wood	09.Connor Murray
02. Joe Grey	10.Berrick Barnes
03.Nicola mas
04.Tom Palmer	11.Johnny May
05.Richie Gray	12.Matt Scott
06.Arno Botha	13.Matt Banahan
07.Qera	14.Rhaymond Rhule
08.Jamie Heaslip	15.Masi

16.Ofa tufungisi  17.Rupert Harden 18.Jamie George19.Elliot Stooke 20.Immanol Harinordoquoy 21.Dan Robson 22.Ryan Lamb 23.Iain Balshaw
 
Glos tactics
 
-Look to target scrum with Mas going after Mullan in a big way
- target line out from off. Glos have gray heasli botha p Palmer and Qera who are all good line out operators
- Murray to hassle opposite number and slow and disrupt ball
- look to drive line outs to start to suck in Saracens and then pop off to dynamic backrow carriers getting beyond the gain line
- as game progresses use off the top more to isolate our centres and outside backs against Saracens. Jdj footwork to target hopper
-play at a tempo and give a platform to launch our backs. We have better carriers in the pack and will use this to get on top and create the base to expand
- Barnes to kick early doors to win territory and target varndell and thompstone
- as game progresses tempo raises with Rhule may Masi Jdj all thriving on broken play
-  utilise our class at 8,9,10,12 to dictate game and tempo throughout
- kick all penalties
- better backs 9-15
- look to run them ragged with stronger more mobile pack, carriers and superior backbone
 

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Newcastle Falcons

Manager – Driver

01.Ryan Grant	09.Ben Youngs
02.Rory Best (c)	10.George Ford
03.Paul Doran Jones
04.Ed Slater	11.Alex Cuthbert
05.Yoann Maestri	12.Luke Marshall
06.Kelly Brown	13.George Lowe
07.Hienrich Brussouw	14.Chris Ashton
08.Chris Masoe	15.Alex Goode

16.Goerge McGuigan 17.Soana Tonga'uhia 18.Scott Wilson 19.Will Carrick Smith 20.Richie McCaw 21.Sam Harrison 22.Joel Hodgson 23.Charlie Sharples

Falcons will look to suffocate the game and ensure it's played in Sales half.

We will look to keep possetion as a first and force Sale into a arm wrestle and use the smash and grab tactic in there half and leave with points through the boot.

We will look to grind out the phases in the tight with Slater , Maestri , Masoe looking to smash it up in the tight with Brown , Best and Grant carrying off the 9.

Keep it simple at the line out throwing to 2 and 4. We'll call the line before we get there by forming a huddle where best will call it.

Big aggressive defence around the fringes looking to ruck past the ball and slow Sale ball down.

Brussouw to target break down.

Youngs to sweep behimd the line to cover.

Bomb balls on Bendy to test him under high ball and kick deep to the corner to force him to kick it out.

Ford to kick all penalties in range.

Whens Cruden flying in to play this game then Driver since hes training with the All Blacks this week and hoping to make their bench at the weekend

Is he? Generel mistake on my part consider my team changed.

10.George Ford
22.Joel Hodgson

Tough picking a side this week.  Am down to the bare bones in a couple of positions.

I struggled this week with consistency in selection with me losing my starting 5 ,8 , 12 and 13 from last week. Happy with the side i'v managed too field , some exciting players in there and i'm confident we'll come away from Salford with something. Hopefully a win.

I'm down to academy wingers, as Habana is on international duty and SJE maimed Ioane and Yarde for me!!!  Just glad it's not a key decision making position.

That's the killer , losing your decision makers. I'v seen slater call the tigers line now and again but he's not a genuine lineout tech. Maestri calls Toulouse's and they have a decent enough set piece.

Mind you there's always banker ball....

Worcester Warriors
Manager - stnick88

01. Nathan Catt	09. Dimitri Yachvili
02. Matthew Rees	10. Francois Trinh-Duc
03. Brian Mujati
04. Alun Wyn-Jones	11. Sailosi Tagicakibau
05. Johann Muller (c)	12. Tom Casson
06. Dave Denton	13. Mathieu Bastereaud
07. Ross Rennie	14. David Strettle
08. Johnnie Beattie	15. Delon Armitage

16. Brett Sturgess 17. Koree Britton 18. BJ Botha 19. James Percival 20. Thomas Waldrom 21. Michael Classens 22. Olly Barkley  23. Tom Williams

Tactics

- The conditions aren't too bad, but with a bit of rain we won't look to throw the ball around willy nilly. We will play a structured, territorial game with Yach and FTD pulling the strings at half back and getting us in the right areas to play.
- Yach will kick all pens in range to keep scoreboard ticking over.
- Use Bast as a crash ball and decoy runner option.
- Muller to be the main lineout option, with AWJ and Beattie also options. Muller to disrupt as much oppositon ball as possible.
- Forwards to hit the breakdown hard and allow Rennie to secure and turnovers and win pens.

Conditions up

Driver wrote:That's the killer , losing your decision makers. I'v seen slater call the tigers line now and again but he's not a genuine lineout tech. Maestri calls Toulouse's and they have a decent enough set piece.

Mind you there's always banker ball....

Is there such a thing as banker ball with Rory Bests throwing?

Harlequins
Manager – Steven_Sharks

01. Joe Marler	09. Lee Dickson
02. Gary Botha	10. Greig Laidlaw
03. Gjorgi Jgenti
04. Bakkies Botha	11. Luke Morahan
05. Steve Borthwick	12. Jamie Roberts
06. Tom Wood	13. Florian Fritz
07. Sam Warburton	14. Frank Halai
08. Nick Easter	15. Rob Kearney

16. Rob Buchanan 17. Tadgh Furlong 18. Kyle Sinckler 19. George Kruis 20. Lappies Labushagne 21. Karl Dickson 22. Dan Bowden 23. Ben Tapuai

Tactics

- Use big forwards to get across the gainline and get quick ball from the following rucks.

- Look for the pack the control at the set piece, particularly the lineout.

- Keep the ball in the Saints half and remain patient with our strong carriers until gaps emerge in the Saints defence.

- When in our own half look to kick into spaces if they are there. Can also use Up and unders and crossfield kicks for our big wingers to catch.

- In defence we will employ a quick linespeed and look to be aggressive in the collision. When we can we will look to get the turnover in the tackle or from the resulting breakdown.

Northampton Saints team to play Quins
Manager: Dammit Chris

01. Mako Vunipola	09. Mike Phillips
02. Dylan Hartley(c)	10. Rhys Priestland
03. Carl Hayman
04. Joe Launchbury	11. Christian Wade
05. Samo Manoa	12. Matt Giteau
06. Julian Bonnaire	13. Weslie Fofana
07. Calum Clark	14. Tommy Bowe
08. Billy Vunipola	15. Leigh Halfpenny

Subs: 16. Tatafu Polota-Nau 17. Thomas Domingo 18. Henry Thomas 19. Courtney Lawes 20. James Gaskell 21. Joe Simpson 22. Siti Siviatu 23. Elliot Daly

Tactics:
Will play a strong, physical game that looks to bring Quins into a confrontation in the pack. We will be looking for big carries from the likes of both Vunipola's, Clark, Manoa to punch us through the gainline and get Quins on the backfoot defensively and keep the ball going through the phases. This is an area we feel we have an advantage and can then set our backline away and really test the Quins defence.

Setpiece: Borthwick and Wood are a threat in the lineout, which is why we've recalled Bonnaire to lead the line and be joined by Manoa, Launchbury and Clark. Hartley is in good form and we will look to get quick ball off attacking lineouts so we can release our strike runners in the backs.

With the new scrum rules we will look to secure a good attacking platform and see if we can put Quins under pressure. We've got an all international front row to bring on and this will be an area we will look to dominate.

Breakdown/Backrow: Aware this is a key area and in Warburton & Wood we will have to be at the top of our game. We've selected Launchbury and Manoa in the second row to give us extra physicality and presence at the breakdown. We will be looking at Hartley, Vunipola and Clark to clear out Quins here and get us good attacking ball.

Territory: An away game so have selected three strong kickers in the backline to see us win the territorial kicking game and pin back Quins in areas where we can pressurise and force mistakes - Halfpenny to take the points at every opportunity.

Gainline: Our game is all about getting over the gainline and having strike runners to create opportunities. Pack has the Vunipola's, Launch, Samoa and Clark while backline has Fofana, Giteau and Bowe. Creativity of Priestland and Giteau to help create space and really test Quins.

Defence: Defensively we will play an aggressive rush defence, looking to take advantage of any rustiness and Quins losing their main no10 to injury last week. With Giteau and Fofana we have two strong defenders to stop the threat of Roberts and see this as key to beating Quins and stopping their attacking threat.

Key selection points:

Continuity/Combinations - our team is very much unchanged from last season, no changes in the pack and only Bowe in the backline. Phillips and Priestland have great understanding from internationals.
Form - lot of players in good form.
Subs - strong substitutes bench, which we've made sure is impact for closing stages of the game.

Sale Sharks
Manager – SJE

01. Vasil Kakovin	09. Danny Care
02. David Paice	10. Johnny Sexton
03. Davit Zirakishvilli
04. Dave Attwood	11. Simon Zebo
05. Donnacha Ryan	12. Kyle Eastmond
06. Yannick Nyanga	13. Robbie Fruean
07. Fulgence Quedragao	14. Craig Gilroy
08. Louis Picamoles	15. Nick Abendanon

16. Ross Harrison 17. Tommy Taylor 18. Luc Ducalcon 19. Iain Henderson 20. Matt Kvesic 21. Ben Spencer 22. James Hook 23. Will Addison

Key Points/Specifics

• Good conditions for running rugby and with Falcons set up for a slow paced kicking we will look to inject pace and run from deep.
  
• Neither Falcons wing known for their kick chase so Gilroy & Zebo will look to punish loose kicks in the wide channels.
  
• No top line kicker in the Falcons side with both young inexperienced 10s struggling with their kicks at goals prevents them from keeping the scoreboard ticking which is essential to their gameplan.
  
• Look to attack the lineout with Quedragao jumping at the front forcing Best to hit his men.
  
• Pile the pressure on the forward battle in the final quarter with the Falcons bench effectively a man down with Richie McCaw flying across the world for just this match!

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 opposition 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 ball.

Set Piece

• With a strong technical 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 opposition 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.

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 Newcastle 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 Quedragao 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 – Pooly
 

01. Matt Mullen	09. Dewaldt Duvenage
02. Tiaan Liebenberg	10. Gareth Steenson
03. Sekope Kepu
04. Robins Tchale-Watchou	11. Tom Vardell
05. Louis Deacon	12. Fergus McFadden
06. Keegan Daniel	13. Matt Hopper
07. Alessandro Zanni	14. Adam Thompstone
08. Jordan Crane	15. Lee Byrne

16. Chris Whitehead 17. Max Lahiff 18. Hoani Tui 19. Kevin McLaughlin 20. Beau Robinson 21. Chris Cook 22. Iain Humphreys 23. Gio Aplon
 
Tactics
- Play the power game in the forwards with huge front 5, big carrries through opposition middle and look to keep hold of ball
- Target Wood in the scrum and look disrupt Gloucester set piece. Big lock combo to back up and Gray & Palmer not known as strong scrummagers
- Strong kicking options at halfback to allow us kick into channels (esp behind Rhule) once forwards brought dragged in to defence. Use this as a surprise alternitive to keep opp on toes
- Look to get at Rhule who can struggle positionally and one on one
- Dev to sweep in behind and allow blitz defence to get in face of key decision makers
- Look for big front 5 to get through the gate and allow Zanni and Daniel chance to slow/steal opp ball (Robinson to provide this too in 2nd)
- Play it tight and keep it simple, kick for goals and try and stop opp from getting in game.

Exeter Chiefs 

Manager – Fluxy

01. Logovii Mulipola	09. Maxime Machenaud
02. Rob Webber (C)	10. Stephen Myler (K)
03. Mike Ross
04. Bradley Davies	11. Dom Shipperly
05. Geoff Parling	12. Bundee Aki
06. Sam Jones	13. Aurelien Rougerie
07. Chris Robshaw	14. Zac Guilford
08. Semisi Taulava	15. Matt Tait

16. Sean Cronin 17. Yannick Forestier 18. Will Collier 19. Patricio Albacete 20. Carl Fearns 21. Haydn Thomas 22. Tom Heathcote 23. Alex Dunbar

Tactics

After a strong showing against the league runners up we look towards our first home game of the season and look to impose ourselves from the off and let the opposition know how we are going to play the game and how we want to dictate the pace of the game. Our brand of rugby is physical and fast, however we won't just run the ball at every opportunity. We will only play in the right areas of the paddock, therefore the intelligence of Myler and Machenaud will dictate when to attack and when we need to clear the lines. We will look to go through simple phases to reproduce quick ball to cut the defence open. We have brilliant leaders all other the pitch in Webber, Parling, Rougerie and Robshaw, and they know what will be provided leadership to get we want from the game - a win. With the changeable conditions, we will look to play a simple expansive game in attack and in defence will look to force Wasps to play from in their 22 and use our strong lineout and kicking game to pressure them. In attack we will look to use the Myler's and Aki's creativity to create space and use the dangerous runners outside them and themselves. 

• Mulipola and Ross are solid technicians and will allow Webber freedom to secure our own feed, to provide first phase possession for our backs. We will target Tolofua hooking as he is young and may lack the basics here. This will allow us a secondary push when Tolofua tries too hook the ball.  
  
  
• With a strong line-out, Parling will lead and use himself as banker ball at the in line with Davies jumping in the front and middle. At the back we can look to use Robshaw sparingly. If winning own ball Parling will look to call full number lineouts to tie in the Wasps fowards. 
  
  
• Our whole pack is mobile and capable of snaffling ball at the breakdown. We will all look to offload in the tackle to keep moving the point of attack and tire out the big Wasps pack, this will keep Hamilton and their back row on the move. And prevent them getting over the ball. 
  
  
• Whole pack capable of carrying, along with some effort from the backs. If Wasps want to target the big guys we can look for them to move the ball on to more forwards standing further outside the guards. Big emphasis on running forwards down the ten and the 13 channel when there is slow ball. 
  

• We will look to keep the ball alive, preventing them from setting any defensive lines and allowing their back row to get over the ball.
  
  
• Myler is a decent attacker (as proven at the end of last season and first game this season) and look to use a league style move to unlock the defence. Aki can either take it short and through gaps or it can be screened to Rougerie with the 14, and 15 to attack the numbers outside. 
  
  
  
• We will use a Blitz drift line in defence to cut down Farrells options and push him inside towards our backrow.
  
  
  
• Look for Taulava to run down Faz's channel off scrums, and big carries down this channel in open play.
  
  
  
• With Robshaw and Shipperly we looked to keep their roles in defence simple. 
  
  
  
• Look to use our strong bench for impact later in the game.
  
  
  
• Myler will kick all points, he can kick from within their half, so this indicates that Wasps should be wary of giving away penalties.
  
  
  
• With strong set-pieces will look to keep the game and momentum in our favour. If we can open the game up in their half when in control we will. But we will look to ground the Wasps down first with big carrying and solid set piece play. 
  

Bath Rugby
Manager – inthefastlane

01. Cian Healy	09. Richard Wigglesworth
02. Richard Hibbard	10. Charlie Hodgson
03. Davit Kubrashvilli
04. Luke Romano	11. Cory Jane
05. Andries Bekker	12. Anthony Allen
06. Brad Shields	13.  Rob Horne
07. David Seymour	14. Nopolini Nalaga
08. Tom Guest	15. Stuart Hogg

16. Chris Brooker 17. Euan Murray 18. Carl Rimmer 19. George Merrick 20. Rhys Ruddock 21.  Fourie Du Preez 22.  Luther Burrell 23. Rob Miller

Overall: Look to play flowing rugby with Hodgson pulling the strings. We will be looking for big carries all over to get over the gainline.

Scrum: We will look to get an advantage at scrum time with a strong front five picked. Apply pressure and look to get nudge on throughout. Look to play the ref and if not going our way use as a restart.

Lineout: At the line out we will look to keep our own ball and challenge the Tigers line out. Romano offers a strong banker ball option at the front whilst Bekker and Shields offer solid jumping options.

We will be looking for big carries from the forwards with the likes of Hibbard, Healy, Romano, Shields and Guest dangerous runners who can really create gaps for our backs. We will be looking for lots of energy from our forwards to open up holes to be exploited.

Breakdown: Look to clear hard and fast with Seymour and Shields looking to make a real nuisance of themselves and get their hands on the ball

Backs: We will be looking to use the backs in order to create or go through holes. Wigglesworth and Hodgson will look to really get the backs going with a good tempo. Wigglesworth will attack fringes and try to keep the defence guessing. Look to get our big runners involved as early as possible with Allen, Horne, Jane and Nalaga seeing lots of the ball.

Defence: Use an blitz defence in order to put pressure on Leciester. Wigglesworth sweep in behind

Substitutes: Our subs will look to keep a high tempo. Murray, Brooker and Rimmer will look to keep the scrum strong. Merrick will look to add grit late as well as another quality lineout operator. Ruddock can look to really get involved in all facets of the game against tired legs. FDP will prove a composed head to control tempo late. Burrell and Miller will look to come up and provide a threat with their running.

Leicester Tigers have named their side to play Bath this week.

Tigers make 4 changes to the side that beat Worcester 25-20 last week. Injuries have played their part - with Lions duo Sean O'Brien and Brian O'Driscoll joining scrum half Kahn Fotuali'i on the treatment table. They bring in Ernst Joubert, Tamati Eillison and Dwayne Peel in their place.

The other change sees captain James Horwill return from International duty, replacing Ian Evans, and he leads the side this week.

Leicester Tigers
Manager – LukeLovesLuka

01. Andrew Sheridan	09. Dwayne Peel
02. Tom Youngs	10. Jonny Wilkinson (k)
03. Dan Cole
04. Nathan Hines	11. Henry Speight
05. James Horwill (c)	12. Billy Twelvetrees
06. Ryan Jones	13. Tamati Ellison
07. Jacques Burger	14. Vincent Clerc
08. Ernst Joubert	15. Mike Brown

16. Charlie Clare 17. Benn Robinson 18. Craig Mitchell 19. Kearnan Myall 20. Steve Mafi 21. Micky Young 22. Brock James 23. Kurtley Beale

Tactics:

In wet conditions we will play to our strengths and play a game built around our intelligent HB's controlling the game and the power of our side.

- Attack at all scrums with our huge pack - Cole and Sheridan to look to really get into the opposition. Lots of scrums in wet weather and an area we will look to target if winning.

- Attack at all lineouts. Use Joubert or Hines at the front and Horwill off the top as our three key options.
Shortened lineouts with Burger in midfield as crash or decoy option.

- Put serious pressure on Hibbard's throws with Joubert at the front on all Bath throws.

- Gigantic pack made up of massive line-breakers, used in the tight to tire down the Bath defence. The likes of Youngs, Burger, Jones, Horwill and Hines to be used to target the Bath 10 channel.

- Target the breakdown - huge emphasis on our work at the breakdown today and we will always look to turnover possession. With Burger, and the likes of Cole and BOD, we feel our breakdown play could be crucial today.

- No overly ambitious passing - In wet conditions we will either look to kick to gain territory or look to keep ball in hand and take it through the middle.

- In attacking play, we will play with the option of 2 first recievers in Wilko and Twelvetrees. We want to control the game, mixing up the point of our attack and looking for where the gaps are.

- 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. We have aggressive forwards to carry out this instruction. Peel to sweep behind with an eye on short kicks.

- Wilkinson to kick all penalites.

GLos 15

01.Ryan Grant	09.Connor Murray
02. Joe Grey	10.Berrick Barnes
03.Nicola mas
04.Tom Palmer	11.Johnny May
05.Richie Gray	12.Matt Scott
06.Arno Botha	13.Matt Banahan
07.Qera	14.Rhaymond Rhule
08.Jamie Heaslip	15.Masi

16.Ofa tufungisi 17.Rupert Harden 18.Jamie George19.Elliot Stooke 20.Immanol Harinordoquoy 21.Dan Robson 22.Ryan Lamb 23.Iain Balshaw[/quote]

anonmattyt wrote:GLos 15

01.Nick Wood	09.Connor Murray
02. Joe Grey	10.Berrick Barnes
03.Nicola mas
04.Tom Palmer	11.Johnny May
05.Richie Gray	12.Matt Scott
06.Arno Botha	13.Juan de jongh
07.Qera	14.Rhaymond Rhule
08.Jamie Heaslip	15.Masi

16.Ofa tufungisi  17.Rupert Harden 18.Jamie George19.Elliot Stooke 20.Immanol Harinordoquoy 21.Dan Dan Robson 22.Ryan Lamb 23.Matt Banahan

[/quote]Glos tactics

-Look to target scrum with Mas going after Mullan in a big way
- target line out from off. Glos have gray heasli botha p Palmer and Qera who are all good line out operators
- Murray to hassle opposite number and slow and disrupt ball
- look to drive line outs to start to suck in Saracens and then pop off to dynamic backrow carriers getting beyond the gain line
- as game progresses use off the top more to isolate our centres and outside backs against Saracens. Jdj footwork to target hopper
-play at a tempo and give a platform to launch our backs. We have better carriers in the pack and will use this to get on top and create the base to expand
- Barnes to kick early doors to win territory and target varndell and thompstone
- as game progresses tempo raises with Rhule may Masi Jdj all thriving on broken play
-  utilise our class at 8,9,10,12 to dictate game and tempo throughout
- kick all penalties
- better backs 9-15
- look to run them ragged with stronger more mobile pack, carriers and superior backbone

01. Jerome Schuster	09. Rory Kockott
02. Tom Lindsay	10. Nick Evans
03. Matt Stevens
04. Nick Kennedy	11. Sergeal Petersen
05. Craig Clarke	12. Sereli Naqalevuki
06. Will Fraser	13.  Max Evans
07. Thierry Dusatoir (c)	14. Taku Nqwenya
08. Ben Morgan	15. Niall Morris

|;
16. G.Ellis 17. T.Court 18. T.Smallbone 19. M.Gorgodze 20. E.Jackson 21. J.Moates 22. L.Beauxis 23. R.Henshaw

Quick rugby with a mobile back 5 in the pack,
Strong carriers in the front row who are all technical scrummagers and will use technical skills to get the upper hand on larger units,
Strong lineout with Clarke and Kennedy great lineout leaders,
Quick ball to Kockott and Evans who can put centres into space,
Naqa to make the breaks for M.Evans to pull the strings in playing in the back three hitting the lines and the backrow carrying off the centres,
Defence led by Dusatoir and the other one will look to be first to the breakdown to look for the turnover,
Exciting back three who are all capable of skinning their opponents and stopping them dead in defence.

Again struggling for time, I will be more into the game come october after my holiday and when I've fully unpacked everything!

I'm going to have to tweak my bench if ok, thought it was 8 EQ for some reason.

I'm also one EQ short if its alright to swap someone quickly.

London Wasps make 5 enforced changes to the side that beat Harlequins last weekend for this weeks visit to Sandy Park.  Paul James, Romain Millo-Chluski and Luke Wallace replace Alex Corbisiero, Sitaleki Timani and Fotu Auelua in the pack, with England U20 stars Anthony Watson and Jack Nowell coming in for Digby Ioane and Marland Yarde on the wings.  Head coach Ozzy3213 had this to say;-

“It was a tough game last week that really could have gone either way, and I’m chuffed that the boys managed to grind out the win.  We’ve had to make some enforced changes, but such is our squad depth we’ve been able to bring in 2 full internationals, an England Saxon and two England U20 stars.  We know it will be a tough game with the Cheifs this week, but we go in full of confidence and ready for a battle.”

London Wasps
Manager  Ozzy3213

01. Paul James	09. Nick Phipps
02. Christopher Tolofua	10. Owen Farrell
03. Dave Wilson
04. Romain Millo-Chluski	11. Anthony Watson
05. Jim Hamilton ©	12. Pat McCabe
06. Marcel Coetzee	13. Tim Nanai-Williams
07. Luke Wallace	14. Jack Nowell
08. Steffon Armitage	15. Jaco Taute

16. Rob Hawkins 17. Steven Kitschoff 18. Frans Malherbe 19. George Skivington 20. Tom Johnson 21. Paul Hodgson 22. Elton Jantjies 23. Michele Campagnaro

Key Points

• Chiefs have selected Nonu at 12 who is playing for the AB’s this week. Heathcote or Dunbar will have to play there which is a big step down in quality.
  
• Robshaw and Shipperly only signed this week and no way would be up to speed with defensive patterns and set plays. We will target them in defence.
  
• Mulipola is all about the hit in the scrum and has little technique. We will target him with two technically minded props in our starting front row.
  
• Both wingers can play fullback and are great under the high ball so are ideal for the damp conditions.
  
• Our back row can all play 7. This is a deliberate selection to enable us to target the breakdown. If we can secure turnovers we will look to launch quick attacks off of them.
  

Basic Game Plan
Basic tactical premise will be to play the game in the opposition half. In our own half Farrell will use his boot to hit the corners and force Exeter to play from deep. When in the Chiefs half we will use our big carriers to truck it up. We will look for gaps to make ground and draw defenders in as we cross the gainline, were we will look to recycle quickly by getting men into the ruck and clearing beyond the ball carrier.

In defence, as always we will be running a blitz defence. Our focus will be on the gainline collisions and driving back in the tackle. Line speed and no dog-legs will be key components for us. Phipps will sweep in behind the defensive line to counter any chips/grubbers.

Specifics

• Take all points on offer off the tee.
  
• On our lineout ball we will mix it up to keep Chiefs guessing. If not going well we will go to banker ball at the front and look suck defenders into the maul to create space in midfield.
  
• Target Mulipola, Webber and Taulava when they have the ball. They are the only powerful carriers in the pack and we will look to hit them hard and early and bring them to ground, before getting over the ball and trying to turn it over.
  
• Try to create mismatches by getting our quick back 3 players and TNW on the outside shoulder of less pacy opponents.
  

Guys chances are I wont be able to predict this weekend as just had Channel swim confirmed for Friday and I will be stuck in Dover on the Saturday, will try and do it, but if there is a chance of extending to Sunday morning then that would be great.

Work away with changes for EQ guys. Can extend predictions to Sunday lunch time if that helps Chris?

Could definitely get it done by Sunday lunch - cheers!

Good luck with the swim Chris

cheers mate, should be interesting as the tides have changed this week so could be up to 75km swim! If you don't hear from me again it didnt go that well...

Good luck Chris I will read the news to see if there has been someone swimming in the ferry traffic!

Good luck mate!

I'll shotgun Saints in your absence  

Prop have to get through 2 ferry lanes tomorrow morning, apparently they are meant to give way to the swimmers - I'm not going to test that theory out.

And Fluxy if I don't make it, consider Saints yours!

I'd like to see you try to stand up to a ferry!! Hope it all goes ok fella.....if Fluxy gets saints I'll have fofana and 1/2p off you first!!

Would be difficult to stand on water...  

Quick ruling needed here. When I named my side Nonu was doubtful for playing this weekend for ABs and I named as the AB side hadn't been named.

Do we have to second guess what side they'd put out or can do I have to change it?

Obviously it's up to SJE now, but in the past if you took a chance on someone who was in an international squad and they ended up making their country's matchday 23 when you thought they wouldn't, then that was hard luck and they were removed from your team and a bench player put in and you were 1 short on the bench.

As I say though, it's SJE's call now.

You can change Fluxy. Driver did the same with Cruden who was 50/50 for this week and changed him to George Ford earlier in the week.

Pete's bad cop side is coming out lol.

i don't have to play fair now I'm not in charge Driver!  lol

I know you did the same thing to me when i ran it for half a season!  

Flux, can you let me know what changes you are making to your team please mate, so I can reconsider my tactics for the game.  

Pooly, I think Jano Vermaak is on the Boks bench this week so unavailable in this game.

Pete my side is updated. Will chuck my tactics in now. Good luck mate

Ozzy3213 wrote:Obviously it's up to SJE now, but in the past if you took a chance on someone who was in an international squad and they ended up making their country's matchday 23 when you thought they wouldn't, then that was hard luck and they were removed from your team and a bench player put in and you were 1 short on the bench.

As I say though, it's SJE's call now.

Agree Pete I asked last week if I could pick dan carter as did not think he would
Play.
I was told if he did I would be one short.

Just back from
Work.
My tactics will be in by 9 am. My style will not be much different from last week

Harlequins 26-20 Northampton

FR: I'm unsure on Jgenti Steve but Mako has been really struggling in the scrum so I'll have to call it even. Not too much between Botha and Hartley who lacks form. Can't see much change between Hayman and Marler so see scrum and loose work pretty even.

SR: Set piece wise I can see Quins dominating with Borthwick/Wood/Easter offering strong option against no real leader for Saints. Plenty around the park for both.

BR: See Quins dominating with Bonnaire on the decline and Clarke nowhere near Warburton. Good 8 battle though with Billy improving all the time.

HB: I don't think Dickson has been in great of late but not a fan of Phillips as a SH, can see him being tied up by a strong Quins flank combo rendering him pretty ineffective. Priestland was awful before injury so see Laidlaw who's a steady op winning the battle.

CE: Not much between the combo's, a little bit more balance for Quins perhaps with Fofana not a 13.

B3: Massive Bowe fan, bit more all round for Saints but not sure with Priestland's form they'll get going.

Overall: Quins stronger pack and halfbacks will control at home, Saints impressive bench will make fight but too little too late.

Harlequins 19-18 Northampton Saints


Scrum: Wouldn't say there is much give either way here. Saints can definitely get on top as the bench comes in though.
Lineout: Good battle here with Bonnaire in to sure up the calls this week for Saints. Neither side edges. 
Breakdown: Quins can get on top with a much better balanced backrow and the midfield capable as well.
HB's: Not a big fan of Laidlaw at 10 does his best work from 9 but Priestland has had a horrendous 18 months and holds no rating. 
Attack: Saints more capable of creating something from nothing but won't see a lot of clean ball.
Defence: Halai running at Wade is a little mismatched but both sides strong overall here. 
Bench: Saints with a lot of impact winning the scrum battle and Lawes & Simpson adding something
Tactics: Saints with more detail is a plus but both sides set up fairly similar overall. Going to be a slow paced game with a lot of kicking. Quins will hold possession better though with the breakdown being a real struggle for Saints this week. 
 
 
Exeter Chiefs 19-24 London Wasps

Scrum:  Edge to Wasps here as I see James capable of working Ross over a little under the new rules and Mulipola will suffer.
Lineout: Both sides should hold their own ball. Parling a strong caller of the lineout but doesn't read the opposition lineout as well.
Breakdown: Edge to Wasps. Interesting battle between the Quins 7s but Wallace will get more support from his backrow colleagues. 
HB's: 1 a piece and nothing between the combos overall. 
Attack: Aki put in at the last moment upsets Chiefs attacking patterns this week. Chiefs with more out wide but they won't get the clean ball needed. 
Defence: Some debutants this week for Chiefs upsets the defensive lines somewhat.
Bench: Wouldn't say either side could get on top in any one area. Jantjes possibly the best impact player but hes just as likely to pull a stinker. 
Tactics:Both tactical premises are sound but conditions predicate knock ons from Chiefs offloading game and they struggle there and at the breakdown. Wasps take a good away win early in the season.
 
 
Worcester Warriors 18-14 London Irish 

Scrum: Scrum will be a mess with both sides struggling at times.
Lineout: Good battle here. Both sides should hold their own ball. 
Breakdown: Can't see either side really taking advantage here. Both should see clean ball at times. 
HB's: Great little match up here both combos capable of pulling the strings.
Attack: Two good backlines capable of scoring. Both sides with some strong carriers to truck it up in the pack. 
Defence: Question marks over the Irish wings aerially. 
Bench: Gorgodze a great influence for Irish but Worc halfbacks more capable of controlling the tempo at the end. 
Tactics: Worc set up will work well with the Irish wingers struggling aerially in these conditions.
 
 
Bath Rugby 26-27 Leicester Tigers 

Scrum: Slight edge to Tigers with Cole well suited to the new laws and more in the 2nd row scrummage wise. 
Lineout: Bath can pick a ball or two with more in the backrow and Bekker the best on show. 
Breakdown: Good little battle with a similar set up to both packs. Little more quality in Tigers back row but they don't dominate.
HB's: Not much between the combos. Wilko the best 10 but the real life link up for Bath works well.
Attack: Form an issue for both 13s but besides that both backlines look good. 
Defence: Both sides solid. Hodgson misses the odd head on but much better then usually given credit for. 
Bench: Brock James offers a better game controller for Tigers to see the game out.
Tactics: Baths approach sees some knocks on but can still work well in these conditions. Tigers set up per usual with the big power game. Tough to call but feel James at 10 v Miller late on sees Tigers managing the game better.
 
 
Saracens 20-25 Gloucester Rugby
 
Scrum: Edge to Glaws with better technicians in the front row. 
Lineout: Both sides can cause problems on opposition ball. Glaws through quality of jumpers and Sarries through lack of top leader for Glaws.
Breakdown: Good battle here. Glaws with more quality in the back row but Sarries 2nd row helps out a lot more.
HB's: Barnes not a top 10 but much better then Steenson. Murray in great form. 
Attack: Glaws more outwide but midfield battle fairly close. 
Defence: Hopper struggles defensively at times. 
Bench: Bit more about Sarries forwards off the bench. 
Tactics: Both sides set up well but overall the better quality of Glaws is telling.

Gloucester and Fslcons both have Ryan Grant starting.

I remember selling him to Falcons lol

SJE you have put the wrong side for me at the top I amended it to nick wood. I used drivers formatting and so had grant at 1

Fixed now sorry for the confusion