AP Round 4

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Northampton Saints v Sale Sharks
Sunny Intervals, 19 Degrees, 9mph Winds

Northampton Saints 
Manager: Dammit Chris

01. Thomas Domingo	09. Mike Phillips
02. Dylan Hartley(c)	10. Rhys Priestland
03. Henry Thomas
04. Joe Launchbury	11. Leigh Halfpenny(k)
05. Courtney Lawes	12. Matt Giteau
06. CJ Stander	13. Weslie Fofana
07. Calum Clark	14. Tommy Bowe
08. Billy Vunipola	15. Ben Foden

Subs: 16. Tatafu Polota-Nau 17. Mako Vunipola 18. Carl Hayman 19. Samo Manoa 20. Julian Bonnaire 21. Joe Simpson 22. Mark Bennett 23. Christian Wade.

Tactics: Two away wins in a row has given the squad a huge confidence boost. We have rotated a number of forwards as are looking to make the most of the conditions and play the game at a really high intensity and speed and place Sale's defence under pressure from the outset. We've picked a very mobile pack and will look at moving Sale across the park to tire them out and then bring on our powerful bench to make the most of the high tempo we start the game with.

Setpiece: Strong set piece and lineout, will use the scrum to launch Billy Vunipola into the Sale midfield, and with Launchbury, Lawes and Clark we have three strong jumpers to generate quick ball and place the Sale lineout under pressure. We see an advantage in the front five, especially when we unload our bench in the second half.

Breakdown/Backrow: Sale's backrow is a strong unit, but we are looking at hitting this area v similar to Sarries in real life, lots of speed and power to clear the rucks and get quick ball. We are aware that Sale do have a more powerful unit, but with the rest of the pack being good at the breakdown too we will compete v well. Speed of Lawes, Lauch and Stander to get to the ball first.

Intensity/Impact Bench: Looking at two different approaches during the game - first is a pack that can play at a high intensity and tempo and move Sale all over the park to wear them down in defence. Have rested players in the pack so we can play this way and take the game to Sale from the off. Will then bring on the impact bench and look to really put Sale under pressure.  

Gainline: We have a lot of strike runners in our team in both pack and defence to get us over the gainline, and will be sending forwards at Eastmond's channel to see if we can make some ground there. Picked CJ Stander as his pace will give us some great attacking options and running lines. Will look at Foden to make breaks from deep.

Defence: Look to stop and double up on Picamoles, if we stop him getting over the gainline initially then we can stop a lot of the Sale go forward. Strong defensively 12-13 to limit the space for Eastmond. Priestland/Giteau/Halfpenny's boot to clear any danger and put us into good positions territorially.

Key selection points:
Form - Lot of players in good form in real life.
Freshness - Forwards selected to play high intensity game, Hartley only player to have started all 3 games to date.
Bench - Strong bench, great for conditions.

 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. Iain Henderson	12. Kyle Eastmond
06. Yannick Nyanga	13. George Pisi
07. Fulgence Quedragao	14. Craig Gilroy
08. Louis Picamoles	15. Nick Abendanon

16. Dave Kilcoyne 17. Tommy Taylor 18. Phil Swainston 19. Tom Savage 20. Alex Tulou 21. Ben Spencer 22. James Hook 23. Will Addison

Tactics:

We will play a fast paced, high intensity offloading game looking to create space for our halfbacks and to get our back three onto the ball as much possible.
 
- Target the scrum. Good technical front row supported by plenty of grunt will look to get on top and win penalties. 

- Target Henry Thomas at scrum time who has struggled in recent times. Look to isolate him and draw penalties as Hartley hooks for the ball.

- Attack from the lineout. Five genuine jumping options allows us to mix it up and really use the lineout as an attacking platform. Look to get the ball to Sexton and Eastmond with space outside. 

- Target Saints lineout with no real leader. Quedragao to jump at the front and put pressure on Hartley. 

- Mix up play. Sexton & Eastmond to interchange at first receiver and change the point of attack. Care provides a threat around the base.

- Hit the breakdown. Look to our dynamic front five to clear the ruck and allow the likes of Nyanga & Quedragao really attack the breakdown.

- Outwork Saints at the breakdown. Lawes, Strander, Clark & Vuinipola not known for their work rate here so we can slow ball down.  

- Blitz defence focusing on a quick line speed to isolate the ball carrier before the gain line. Quedragao to defend beside Eastmond to double up and also be first on the scene at the breakdown. Care to sweep in behind to cover chips and grubbers.

- Disrupt Priestlands game and ruin Saints rhythem. Henderson & Attwood to look for the big hit on defence while Pickles, Henderson, Pisi & co to run down his channel on attack.

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Bath Rugby v London Irish
Sunny Intervals, 20 Degrees, 10mph 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.  Jonathan Davies
07. Will Welch	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.  Morgen Parra 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 Irish 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 Irish 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. Parra will come on at half time and will look to take over as main playmaker. Burrell and Miller will look to come up and provide a threat with their running.

London Irish
Manager - Prop

01. Jerome Schuster	09. Rory Kockott
02. Hika Elliott	10. Lionel Beauxis
03. Matt Stevens
04. Nick Kennedy	11. Sergeal Petersen
05. Craig Clarke	12. Sereli Naqalevuki
06. Mamuka Gorgodze	13.  Henry Trinder
07. Will Fraser	14. Taku Nqwenya
08. Ben Morgan	15. Robbie Henshaw

16. T.Lindsay 17. T.Court 18. A.Guillamon 19. T.Dusatoir 20. E.Jackson 21. J.Moates 22. S.Geraghty 23. G.Armitage

Key Points

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

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


Attacking

• We want to force errors from and will target the 12 channel by sending big runners down his channel.
  

• Kockott and Beauxis to play what's in front of them and look to release Naqa (who smash the holes) or snipe as much as possible. If it isn't on then Evans will stick it in the corners and, with Kenneday, Godzilla and Clarke we have the number jumpers to gain the ball back, we know they will be dangerous here so will look to avoid his area and mix up our lineouts.
  

• Look for runners off of 10 and 12 channel to make the initial break before sending the ball out wide to Petersen and Ngwenya.
  

• We will look to use our big pack to carry alot of ball and, if it isn't on then run off of 9 and take a couple of 'up the jumper' phases to drag defenders in.
  

• Our back three will look to come off their wings and hit the right angles.
  

• Power to close out the win in Lindsay and Guillamon, Dus will have a field day against tired legs, excitement to continue to target the tired players through Moates' sniping, heavy impact at the scrum to come on and Armitage and Geraghty can continue to control the game and bring further excitement and pace..
  

Set Piece

• Strong scrum which will get the edge up on the Stevens and a good bench to come on as well to continue the pressure, 8-9-10 is a move we will use alot.
  

• We will use the maul to get ourselves up the pitch quickly and power over from short distance.
  

• Lineout has been mentioned previously where we have many strong jumpers here who will look to control attacking and defensive ones.
  

Defending

• Banana blitz defence targetting slowing down the ball led by Naqa so he has no time to kick or give quick ball to the centres (we will have a backrower on Beauxis' shoulder to look for quick turnover ball, we will protect the channels to stop 9 sniping.
  

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

• We will hit the breakdown quick to give Fraser time to get over the ball and obliterate any protection they have in place.
  

• If the turnover isn't on we won't commit and will fan out defending inside-out.
  

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London Wasps v Worcester Warriors
Sunny Intervals, 19 Degrees, 9mph Winds

London Wasps
Manager  Ozzy3213

01. Paul James	09. Nick Phipps
02. Christopher Tolofua	10. Owen Farrell
03. Dave Wilson
04. Romain Millo-Chluski	11. Tim Nanai-Williams
05. Jim Hamilton	12. Pat McCabe
06. Marcel Coetzee	13. Jaco Taute
07. Steffon Armitage	14. Marland Yarde
08. Tom Johnson	15. Gareth Anscombe

16. Rob Hawkins 17. Fraser Balmain 18. Martin Castrogiovanni 19. George Skivington 20. Rynhardt Elstadt 21. Paul Hodgson 22. Camille Lopez 23. Anthony Watson

Key Points

• Big front 5 with 2 technical props who can dominate in the scrum.
  
• Mobile back row who will carry and hit gaps creating space for the backline..
  
• Lots of pressure on Yachvili to put them in the right areas as that is not FTD’s game.  We will target Yachvili around the base to add to that pressure.  With him not really being a sniping 9, we can also line FTD up for the big hits.
  
• Basic game plan designed to frustrate Worcester by starving them off the ball. They will tire quicker defending for long periods and we have the pace and mobility to exploit any gaps that appear as a result. 
  

Basic Game Plan
Basic tactical premise will be to dominate possession.  We will go through the phases were possible and look to starve Worcester of the ball for long periods.  We will look for gaps and as the tackles come in make the offload to support runners.  Huge focus for us will be winning the collisions and dominating the breakdown.

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

• Breakdown. In attack we will flood it rucking past the ball at pace to free it up quickly and go again.  In defence if the turnover is on we will flood it in the same manner to get quick ball, but if not on we will only commit a small number of players to slow the ball, instead maintaining a solid defensive line.
  
• Lineout. We will look to use this as a weapon in attack and play quick of the top mixing up where in the line we throw to.  On Worcester ball we will defend the maul by not contesting and hitting the receiver hard as he lands and driving them back.
  
• Scrums. On all scrums we will target BJ Botha who is a tighthead playing on the loosehead side.  On defensive scrums, with a bulky 2nd row and back row we will look to get an 8 man shove on rather than our hooker actually hooking for the ball and try to shove them off it.  On our ball we will primarily go for channel 1 ball and look to get it out quickly and start running at the gaps in the defensive line.
  
• Open Play. Big runners off 9 and 10.  Phipps to snipe to tie in the Worcester back row and give time and space to Farrell.  Big carriers to carry hard and straight and tie in defenders before recycling quickly.  TNW and Yarde to track off the wings, seeking out the gaps to get us well across the gainline.
  

Worcester Warriors
Manager - stnick88

01. BJ Botha	09. Dimitri Yachvili
02. Matthew Rees	10. Francois Trinh-Duc
03. Brian Mujati
04. Mouritz Botha	11. David Strettle
05. Johann Muller	12. Maxime Mermoz
06. Ashley Johnson	13. Mathieu Bastereaud
07. Ross Rennie	14. Eli Walker
08. Thomas Waldrom	15. Delon Armitage

16. Nathan Catt 17. Richardt Strauss 18. Oliver Tomaszczyk 19. James Percival 20. Phil Dowson 21. Michael Classens 22. Olly Barkley  23. Mark Cueto

Worcester Warriors make 5 changes from the home draw with Harlequins last weekend. In the pack, BJ Botha, Mouritz Botha, Ashley Johnson and Thomas Waldrom come in for Nathan Catt, Alun Wyn-Jones, Johnnie Beattie and Dave Denton. In the backline, Eli Walker gets a first start of the season, replacing Mark Cueto who drops to the bench.

'We know what Wasps are all about. They have a big pack and with Farrell kicking, you have to front up and not let them dominate the territory. Farrell doesn't miss many kicks so discipline is key. We have brought in powerful guys like Ashley Johnson and Thomas Waldrom to bring the fight to Wasps.'

Tactics

- Take on Wasps upfront. Use big ball carries like Waldrom, AJ, Mujati, Bastereaud to try and wear down Wasps defence.
- Yach and FTD to control the game, get us in right areas of the pitch.
- Use Muller at lineout to secure ball. Develop mauls to try and score push over tries. Muller to disrupt opposition ball as much as poss
- Yach to kick all pens in range. if not go for touch and use lineout as a weapon.
- When we have space, use the pace of Walker, Delon, Strettle to cause Wasps problems. Loose kicks will be run back with interest.

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Harlequins v Saracens
Sunny Intervals, 20 Degrees, 9mph Winds

Harlequins
Manager – Steven_Sharks

01. Joe Marler	09. Lee Dickson
02. Schalk Brits	10. Greig Laidlaw (k)
03. Gjorji Jgenti
04. Bakkies Botha	11. Luke Morahan
05. Steve Borthwick	12. Jamie Roberts
06. Tom Wood	13. Ben Tapuai
07. Sam Warburton (C)	14. Yoann Huget
08. Nick Easter	15. Rob Kearney

16. Rob Buchanan 17. Kyle Sinckler 18. Kieran Brookes 19. George Kruis 20. Lappies Labushagne 21. Karl Dickson 22. Dan Bowden 23. Frank Halai

Tactics

- Use strong carriers off 9 and 10 to punch holes in Saracens defence and get over the gainline. Look to win the collisions when we can.

- Look to offload just before or after contact to keep momentum going and ask questions of the Saracens defence.

- Look to get our backs into the game when we have quick ball. Try to get our outside backs running hard at gaps.

- Look to control the set piece especially at scrum time. Use short lineouts between the two 22m lines.

- Get Wood and Warburton to the rucks early to try and get turnover ball.

- In defence look to employ a quick linespeed putting big pressure on the Saracens decision makers.

- We need this first win and whilst we are always looking to score tries we will be kicking the points on offer.

Saracens
Manager – Pooly
 

01. Matt Mullen	09. Luke Burgess
02. Tiaan Liebenberg	10. Tom Taylor
03. Sekope Kepu
04. Louis Deacon(c)	11. Tom Vardell
05. Luke Charteris	12. Ryan Crotty
06. Alessandro Zanni	13. Joel Tomkins
07. George Smith	14. Julien Malzieu
08. Sione Kalamafoni	15. Lee Byrne

 
 
6. Darren Dawidiuk  17. Max Lahiff  18. Hoani Tui  19. Julien Pierre  20. Jordan Crane  21. Chris Cook  22. Gareth Steenson  23. Adam Thompstone
 
Tactics:
 
- Tight game in the pack, look to play in the right areas of the park and play a controlled game, limiting Quins good ball with Smith/Zanni world class spoilers
 
- Target scrum throughout Lock Deacon down behind Kepu and work at Marler/Brits axis. With no LH cover on the bench for Quins we'll look to get Tui on early in the 2nd half and continue the punishment in the scrum. Taylor to convert all kickable pens, look to take scrum resets if weakness seen.
 
- Make a mess of the breakdown with Zanni & Smith looking get to the breakdown first. With 2 6.5's for Quins we think we can really get at them here. Deacon and big front row unit to assist in the clearing to give us ample chance to turnover/slow
 
- Strong front row unit and Pierre(big scrummager) to continue pressure from bench
 
- Taylor to dictate play with Burgess looking for snipe inbetween Quins 8/9
 
- Keep line out simple throughout with front/middle ball, not looking for risky back moves as keeping things tight and want to win own ball
 
- Off strong scrum ball will look to use Tomkins to draw in Tapuai and have Malzieu/Vardell running off his shoulder looking for the offload
 
- Burgess to sweep in behind rush defence, look to target Laidlaw who isn't as effective at 10, look to put him off his game early on and hinder Quins attacking game

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Exeter Chiefs v Leicester Tigers
Light Cloud, 18 Degrees, 12mph Winds


Exeter Chiefs 

Manager – Fluxy

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

16. Sean Cronin 17. Yannick Forestier 18. Will Collier 19. Kieran Low 20. Carl Fearns 21. Haydn Thomas 22. Tom Heathcote 23. Andrew Trimble

Tactics

Tactics

On the back of some strong performances, the Chiefs will look to make a stand against the league champions at home. At home we play our game when we have ball in hand. 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.
This week we will adapt our game to suffocate the Tigers in a number of methods. Firstly we will look to rule the set-pieces and pressure every line-out and scrum of theirs. Secondly the side is packed full of hard workers and grafters, that can chop down their strong runners all day long.

We look to use the constant pressure from at the breakdown and set-pieces to punish any mistakes or turnovers with either breakaway tries or pressure kicks into their territory. This will force Tigers to play from within 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. 

Key Points

• Mulipola and Ross are solid technicians and will allow Webber freedom to secure our own feed, to provide clean first phase possession for our backs. 
  
  
• With a strong line-out, Parling will lead and use himself as banker ball at the in line with Thorn 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 line-outs to tie in the Tigers forwards. 
  
  
• Our whole pack is mobile and capable of snaffling ball at the breakdown. We have picked Robshaw and Barclay to cut down the runners  and flood the breakdown. Others like Parling, Taulava, Webber and Thorn can back up the flanks on the floor or at chopping runners down.
  
  
• Whole pack capable of carrying, along with some effort from the backs. Look to keep moving the point of attack with clever offloads and forward interplay. Look for forward pods outside the third guard in the line to really stretch their defences.
  

• 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 Wilkinson's options and push him inside towards our back-row.
  
  
• If we kick in behind their back-line or back three, we look to at least make them have to turn into an advancing black line which will not allow the receiver time to make decision or escape with clean ball.
  
  
• 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 Tigers should be wary of giving away penalties.
  
  
• We are at home, our fortress. If we build up momentum and kick our goals and score tries, to keep the score out of reach of Tigers. It would be difficult to breach the Chiefs line big black line engulfing their forwards. We have set a trap and the Tigers are the prey.
  

Leicester Tigers
Manager – LukeLovesLuka

01. Gethin Jenkins	09. Dwayne Peel
02. Tom Youngs	10. Jonny Wilkinson (k)
03. Dan Cole
04. Pascal Pape (c)	11. Henry Speight
05. Kearnan Myall	12. Billy Twelvetrees
06. Sean O'Brien	13. Tamati Ellison
07. Jacques Burger	14. Vincent Clerc
08. Ryan Jones	15. Mike Brown

16. Chiliboy Ralepelle 17. Andrew Sheridan 18. Craig Mitchell 19. Nathan Hines 20. Ernst Joubert 21. Micky Young 22. Kurtley Beale 23. Dominic Waldouck

Tactics:

We will play to our strengths and play a game built around our intelligent HB's controlling the game and the power and strength of our side.

- Attack at all scrums with our huge pack - Cole and Jenkins to look to really get into the opposition.

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

- Put serious pressure on Webber's throws with Jones at the front on all Chiefs' throws.

- Gigantic pack made up of massive line-breakers, used in the tight to tire down the Chiefs defence. The likes of SOB, Youngs, Burger, Pape and Jones to be used to target the Chiefs 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 SOB, and the likes of Cole too, we feel our breakdown play could be crucial today.

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

- Target Myler all game with Burger and SOB breathing down his neck at every opportunity. Big runners through his channel - looking to win the Wilko vs Myler contest.

- 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 penalties.

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Newcastle Falcons v Gloucester Rugby
Sunny Intervals, 16 Degrees, 9mph Winds

Newcastle Falcons
Manager - Driver

15.Alex Goode
14.Chris Ashton
13.Rene Ranger
12.Brad Barritt
11.Alex Cuthbert
10.Jimmy Goppereth
9.Ben Youngs

1.Soane Tonga'Uhia
2.Rory Best (c)
3.Paul Doran Jones
4.Yoaan Maestri
5.Ed Slater
6.Kelly Brown
7.Richie McCaw
8.Toby Falatau

16.George Mcguigan 17.Ryan Grant 18.Scott Wilson 19.Will Carrick Smith 20.Chris Masoe 21.Sam Harrison 22.George Ford 23.George Lowe

Tactics:

Newcastle welcome Gloucester to Kingston Park with a desire to take 4 points and progress up the table. Confidence is high at KP following a win against Bath and LBPs away at two of the hardest places to come away with anything in this league giving us plenty of faith in our ability.

Falcons will play a power based game plan which is set around plenty of powerful ball carriers taking the ball at pace and making as much yardage as we can whilst retaining possesion.

Tonga'uhia , Best ,Slater , Maestri , Brown , McCaw and Falatau are all impressive carriers in the pack and will look to take Gloucester on in the tight knowing Gloucester will be a bit light in the forwards department with wannabe winger Tom Croft hanging out.
In the backs we will look to get our power runners such as Gopperth , Ranger , Cuthbert and Ashton running at some of Gloucester's more suspect defenders such as Jonny May and Berrick Barnes.*
Goppereth will look to target the inexperince in the Glaws back 3 with high ball and kicks behind the wing with a strong kick chasers in Cuthbert and Ashton.
Lineout we will look to play it smart sticking to basics as we know Gloucesters main strength is Robson and Croft here. A lot has been made of Best's throw but so far this season Ulster havn't lost a lineout? Slater , Maestri and Falatau give us 3 very good jumpers with McCaw also able to jump at the deep if needed.
The scrum is all about the 2nd surge now and Slater and Maestri are absolute powerhouses in the scrum whilst Robson at 5 for Glaws can be found wanting here.

DEFENSE
Plenty of big hitters in the team who will look to stop any Gloucester momentum in the tackle and drive them back.
McCaw to target the breakdown and work in tandem with Kelly Brown to secure turnover ball for us,
Youngs to sweep and corner flag behind a aggressive line which will focus on cutting down any time Gloucester have on the ball.

Gopperth will kick any points in range aswell as going for the drop goals to tick us over.


Gloucester Rugby
Manager - Matt

1 Tufungisi
2 George
3 Mas
4 gray
5 Robson
6 croft
7 Qera
8 heaslip
9 Murray
10 Carter
11 May
12 Barnes
13 Banahan
14 Rhule
15 Masi
16 Tom heard
17 Joe Gray
18 Rupert Harden
19 Tom Palmer
20 Immanol harinordoquoy
21 Tj Pernara
22 Matt Scott
23 Iain Balshaw

Glos tactics

- play at pace in great conditions we have a much more mobile team packed with carriers and will look to use this.
- lack of scrums in these conditions but we will look to get ball in and out to keep pace of game up.
- will look to play the off loading game and keep ball alive whenever possible. We will look to get on top first
- early doors look to kick in behind them and create pressure as we have a dominant line out against Newcastle who lack jumpers and a have best who cannot
Hit his man at the best of times.
- look to utilise our class at 8,9,10,12 to dictate pace of game
- as game breaks up we will
Really open up and try and play at a
Pace Newcastle can't handle
- put pressure on 10/12 axis which is not known for its creativity. Use this to stop their play at source
- perenara to come on to up pace further.
- carter to dominate the tactical kicking and kick any goals

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im satisfied with a LBP.