Aviva Premiership Round Nine

by Fluxy Sun 24 Nov 2013, 7:04 pm

Home teams to be named by midnight on Tuesday
Away teams to be named by midnight on Wednesday
Tactics to be provided by midnight on Thursday

Punishment for not doing so will be the addition of 3 points to your oppositions score when final results are calculated.

If a player is called up changes have to be made by 9am Friday so the thread can be updated.

Predictions by 15:00 hours on Sunday

Bath Rugby vs Exeter Chiefs
Location - The Rec
Sunny, 7 degrees, 13 mph North North Westerly winds

Bath Rugby

Manager – inthefastlane

01. Charlie Faumuania	09. Fourie Du Preez
02. Chris Brooker	10. Charlie Hodgson
03. Davit Kubrashvilli
04. Luke Romano	11. Cory Jane
05. Graham Kitchener	12. Anthony Allen
06. JMF Lobbe	13. Joel Tomkins
07. James Haskell	14. Nopolini Nalaga
08. Jordan Crane	15. Stuart Hogg

|;
16. - 17. Carl Rimmer 18. Cian Healy 19. Sam Whitelock 20. Rhys Ruddock 21. Richard Wigglesworth 22. Ben Smith 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. Kitchener offers a strong banker ball option at the front whilst Bekker and Lobbe offer solid jumping options.

We will be looking for big carries from the forwards with the likes of Hibbard, Crane, Kitchener, Lobbe and Haskell 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 Haskell and Lobbe 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. FDP and Hodgson will look to really get the backs going with a good tempo. FDP will attack fringes and try to keep the defence guessing. Look to get our big runners involved as early as possible with Allen, Tomkins, Hogg and Nalaga seeing lots of the ball.

Defence: Use an blitz defence in order to put pressure on Exeter

Substitutes: Our subs will look to keep a high tempo.

Exeter Chiefs Chief

Manager – Fluxy

01. Logovii Mulipola	09. Maxime Machenaud
02. Rob Webber	10. Toby Flood (k)
03. Will Collier
04. Brad Thorn	11. Tom Varndell
05. Geoff Parling	12. Francis Saili
06. Kelly Brown	13. Aurelien Rougerie
07. Chris Robshaw (c)	14. Maxime Medard
08. Nick Williams	15. Juan Martin Hernandez

16. Jack Yeandle 17. Yannick Forestier 18. Mike Ross 19. Patricio Albacete 20. Sam Jones 21. Haydn Thomas 22. Stephen Myler 23. Marcelo Bosch

Key Points

Mobile pack picked to dominate the set-pieces and breakdown.
Use the strong forward bench to maintain forward pressure late on and control of the game.
Strong spine in decision making positions of the team. Basic territorial game in conditions. Utilise good territory for attacking opportunities.
Flood will kick all points available, he can kick from within their half, so this indicates that Bath should be wary of giving away penalties.
Home territory - At home Sandy Park is a fortress, and at home we make a fight out of the game and rarely lose.
Keep ball alive in the conditions and get the backs involved where possible.

Game plan

Selected a physically strong side to combat the physicality of the Bath side. Chiefs won't look to get drawn into a physical fight however, as they will look to open up the game to allow their backs a chance to attack the Bath back line. The side has the potential to play an all code game, therefore if one aspect of the game isn't working we can shift and adapt to start exploiting an area which gives us the advantage.
We will look to play a simple territorial game and look to be playing with the ball within their 22. Every where else on the pitch we will look to peg Bath back, unless we can take the kick for goal. Simple set-piece game which we look to dominate our own ball, and contest every opposition put in. The pack that has been selected is mobile and strong around the park, especially in the tackle, on the floor and ball in hand.

Attack

Use quick ball off the top using Parling as primary caller. Parling and our jumpers should be much more quicker getting up in the air so look for quick mauls. With the big pack look to set the maul in the opponents 22.
Look to set the scrum quickly and strike the ball to the back. Not looking to get into a scrum fight which will end up with penalties going to either side. This is to allow Williams to attack off the base of the scrum.
Pack filled big carriers to provide a number of options in the tight exchanges. 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 and get over the gain line to create momentum.
Look to flood the breakdown and clear out bodies, to keep ball clean so that the halfbacks can dictate the game. (Eg AB's or Eng vs AB 2012 style)
Look to use a league style move to unlock the defence. Saili 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.

Defence

We will use a Blitz drift line in defence to cut down Taylor's options and push him inside towards our back-row.
Machenaud to sweep behind the defencive line, and to counter any loose kicks or turnover ball - either by quickly shipping it wide to the back three, or kicking in behind their back three.
The whole pack is mobile and capable of getting over the ball at the breakdown. Look to powerfully clear opponents out of the ruck, and use the strong tackling to keep chopping down the Bath runners.
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. Every kick to be chased, the kick is as only as good as the chase.

Gloucester Rugby vs Leicester Tigers
Location - Kingsholm Stadium
Sunny, 6 degrees, 13 mph North North Westerly winds

Gloucester Rugby

01. Nick Wood 09. TJ Perenara
02. Adriaan Strauss 10. Dan Carter
03. Juan Figallo
04. Eben Etzbeth 11. Johnny May
05. George Robson 12. Matt Scott
06. Tom Croft 13. Juan de Jongh
07. Akapusi Qera 14. Hosea Gear
08. Sam Dickinson 15. Israel Dagg
16. Guthro Steenkamp 17. Joe Grey 18. Tom Palmer 19. Rupert harden 20. Jamie Heaslip 21. Dan Robson 22. Berrick Barnes 23. Matt Banahan

Glos tactics.

Set piece

Target there scrum to put pressure on them. Strauss and figallo to really target the chilliboy/ Sheridan unit. Strauss and figallo are two of the form front rowers in international rugby and will look to disrupt their ball.

On our ball we will look to anchor and get the ball in and away as we want to play an extremely high tempo attacking game.

Line out

With croft Robson etzbeth and Dickinson we have four top jumpers and will look to pressure on there throw.
We will put chilliboys average darts under immense pressure.

On our ball we will vary it. We will be looking to drive in our half and go off the top mainly In their half.

Generally we will be looking to get our dynamic pack on the front foot and over the gainline to produce quick ball to give to carter. We have a pack full of carriers and pace so will look to target the breakdown by getting there first and hitting it hard. We have a lot of footballing forwards in our pack so will be looking to offload. The weather is perfect so we will look to play at pace.

Backs

We will look for our 9 and 10 to run the show.

Carter will kick a lot initially as we want to win the territory battle. Speight is suspect going backwards so will be tested out.

We see the length of Carter's kicking being able to give us territory so we can play in the right places.

When in their half we will look to hit them at pace. TJ Perenara can really up the pace and will look to hit carter so he can play. We have a backline that has pace subtlety and gas and feel that we have the ability to unlock their defence for lots of tries.

Carter will look to create mismatches and we will look to isolate players like speight. This will be a quick high scoring game In these conditions and think our backs have the right blend.

We will also when it's on try the up and under and the cross kick.

Defensively we will look to blitz to put pressure on wilkinson who struggles playing a high tempo game. This could lead to some intercepts. Pernara to act as sweeper

Carter to kick all kicks and bench to be used as necessary

Leicester Tigers
Manager – LukeLovesLuka

01. Andrew Sheridan	09. Kahn Fotuali'i
02. Chiliboy Ralepelle	10. Jonny Wilkinson (k)
03. Dan Cole
04. Nathan Hines	11. Henry Speight
05. Kearnan Myall	12. Billy Twelvetrees
06. Steve Mafi	13. Brian O'Driscoll (c)
07. Jacques Burger	14. Vincent Clerc
08. Ernst Joubert	15. Mike Brown

16. Tom Youngs 17. Harry Rudkin 18. Cencus Johnston 19. Pascal Pape 20. Sean O'Brien 21. Dwayne Peel 22. Pat Lambie 23. Ugo Monye

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 Sheridan to look to really get into the opposition. An area we will look to target if winning.

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

- Put serious pressure on Strauss' throws with Joubert at the front on all Gloucester's throws.

- Gigantic pack made up of massive line-breakers, used in the tight to tire down the Gloucester defence. The likes of Mafi, Burger, Hines, Ralepelle and Myall to be used to target the Gloucester 10/12 channel.

- In attacking play, we will look to get runners attacking the gain line looking for gaps. We do want to control the game, mixing up the point of our attack and looking for where the gaps are.

- Target the Gloucester back three if looking vulnerable with form issues there. Look to the in-form Mike Brown to win the 15 battle and give us counter-attacking options as much as possible.

- 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. Fotuali'i to sweep behind with an eye on short kicks.

- Target the last 30 mins. Unload our bench to see the game out for the win.

- Wilkinson to kick all penalties.

London Irish vs London Wasps
Location - Madjeski Stadium
Sunny, 6 degrees, 14 mph North North Westerly winds

London Irish

Manager - Prop

01. Wyatt Crockett	09. Rory Kockott
02. Hika Elliott	10. Nick Evans
03. Adam Jones
04. Nick Kennedy	11. Bjorn Basson
05. Matt Garvey	12. Luke McAlister
06. Scott Higginbotham (c)	13. Conrad Smith
07. Will Fraser	14. Henry Trinder
08. Ben Morgan	15. Brice Dulin

16. T.Lindsay 17. T.Smallbone 18. M.Stevens 19. S.Hooper 20. T.Dusatoir 21. J.Moates 22. S.Geraghty 23. -

Key Points

Form
We have taken at least a point from every game we have played so far in the league this season and will look to continue that with a convincing win as the players look to put it all on the line ready for a well deserved rest in the cup competition.

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.

Lineouts
Our lineouts have been picked on and targetting quite often however, we have selected a team with powerful lifters and consistent jumpers so Lindsay will be used to their jumping. Any messy lineouts will go to the prop standing at the front and driven on. We will look to maul alot of ball if it is not on.

Attacking

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

Kockott and Evans to play what's in front of them and look to McAlister who will look to play in Smith or snipe as much as possible. If it isn't on then Evans will stick it in the corners and, with Kennedy, Garvey, Higginbotham 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 Basson and Cummins.

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, Stevens and Dusatoir 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 Trinder and Geraghty can continue to control the game and bring further excitement and pace..

Set Piece

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

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

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

Defending

Banana blitz defence targetting slowing down the ball led by McAlister so he has no time to kick or give quick ball to the centres (we will have a backrower on Evans's 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.

London Wasps
Manager Ozzy3213

01. Alex Corbisiero	09. Aaron Smith
02. Deon Fourie	10. Owen Farrell
03. David Wilson
04. Romain Millo-Chluski	11. Bryan Habana
05. Jim Hamilton	12. Pat McCabe
06. Marcel Coetzee	13. JJ Englebrecht
07. Steffon Armitage	14. Marland Yarde
08. Duane Vermeulen	15. Anthony Watson

16. Bismarck du Plessis 17. Paul James 18. Martin Castrogiovanni 19. George Skivington 20. Tom Johnson 21. Paul Hodgson 22. Gareth Anscombe 23. Jack Nowell

Key Points

Scrum. We will target this relentlessly. For all his bulk, Adam Jones has not gone brilliantly since coming back from the Lions. We will look to drive the advantage home bringing our bench on around the 50 minute mark.
Form. We have lost once this season in all competitions, so come into this with momentum and confidence.

Basic Game Plan
In good conditions we will be looking to play a fast paced offloading game, utilising big carriers with pacy backs on their sholders to take the offloads and hit the gaps. We will look to shift the point of attack and keep the ball moving. Our back row will look to support and hit rucks hard to free up quick ball. Our intention is to utilize our strength, which is pace and mobility, and move the Irish pack around to tire them and create space for our runners.

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. Smith will sweep in behind the defensive line to counter any chips/grubbers.

Specifics

Lineout. On our ball early on we will go safe throwing to the front or middle. Once Bismarck is on we will open it up, and look to go to the back and play off the top.
Scrum. Target the loosehead. Wilson and then Castro off the bench will look to target the link between Crockett and Elliott. Crockett is a tall prop and we will look to get underneath and really destabilise from there.
Breakdown. When we carry in, if we cannot get the offload away then the support runners will flood the breakdown rucking well past the ball to free it up quickly and go again. In defence, if we have made a passive tackle and the carrier has momentum we will not overcommit, but will maintain a strong defensive line. If we win the collision and knock the carrier back we will look to get the second man in hard over the ball to turn it over. Key for us is being selective.
Attacking Play. As stated we will play a fast paced running game. Farrell will play flat and use McCabe and forwards to truck it up on first phase ball. The Irish team will have decent midfield defence, but we feel they may be vulnerable in wider areas and will look to shift the play there quickly.

Saracens vs Sale Sharks
Location - Allianz Park
Sunny, 6 degrees, 15 mph North North Westerly winds

Saracens
Manager – Pooly

01. Matt Mullen	09. Jano Vermaak
02. Keven Mealamu	10. Morne Steyn
03. Jannie du Plessis
04. Julian Pierre	11. Julien Malzieu
05. Louis Deacon(c)	12. Jean de Villiers
06. Carl Fearns	13. Jonathan Davies
07. George Smith	14. Chris Ashton
08. Joe van Niekerk	15. Lee Byrne

16. Chris Whitehead 17. Max Lahiff 18. Clement Ric 19. Tim Swinson 20. Tom Guest 21. Chris Cook 22. Gareth Steenson 23. George Lowe

Tactics:

General - We've selected a team packed with power and physicality and will look to dominate the contact and get over the gain line. We'll be playing a high tempo physical game from the off, look to smash the opposition back and get into the rucks/maul's and drive through. We'll look to tie the opposition in and then get at their backline, more so in the their half. Look to keep it tight in the forward pack and grind through work.

Scrum - Look to get a platform and keep the ball in on attacking ball if a weakness is seen in the opposition set piece. With our big locks look for the big push once the ball is in and drive the opposition back. Our TH and Hooker will look to target Kakovin and try to get between him and Kayser to allow JdP to work on Kakovin.

Line out - Look to play it safe and use the rolling maul to good effect. Our big pack should have a lot of joy here and will tie in the opposition defence. We won't be going for the rear of the line out much and will be content with securing our own ball and getting a push on. We'll look to contest on opp throw and target Sale as they have no recognised line out leader (Bath have one of worst line outs in AP)

Defence - High intensity and big hits, looking to drive past the ball player. Huge physical pack that can look to dominate the collision and breakdown allowing Smith etc a chance to slow down/steal ball. Scrum half to sweep behind the defensive line.

Attack - Keep things simple in our own half then look to unleash backs in opp territory. Scrum half to inject pace from the breakdown and have JD on his shoulder. JDV to run at 9/10 channel and target possible weakness. JDV to be used as decoy running at Steyn looking to take him out of the defensive line to free up space for JD to get at Fickou on the outside. Look to alternate Fearns/JVN depending on the scrum, look to use Fearns off the base running at Sexton.

Points -

Front row form and the new laws - The Sale props have struggled with the new laws and neither are first choice for their respective clubs, we've got a strong unit (JdP thriving under new laws) backed up by a serious scrummaging lock combo, we could get a big advantage here.

Rolling maul and physicality - Look to use our physicality and drive through the opp defence, if weakness seen look to exploit.

Steyn - In great kicking form and will look to keep us ahead on the score board

JD kicking - look for him to use the grubber to get behind Steyn who lacks a bit of turning pace these days

Centre form - Possibly the form centres in world rugby. Look to get them involved in the game as much as possible and be the spark in the backline. JDV as decoy and strong focal point with JD running off his shoulder. Ashton to track as something is always going to happen with JD ball in hand

Look to get JD one on one with Steyn and look to beat him outside

Form - We're putting some serious form together, beating Falcons at home and Exeter away in recent weeks. Sale will find it tough to break us down at home and we have the perfect FH to keep us ahead on the scoreboard

Opposition back 3 - Look to test out Abendanon early on with some up and unders and strong kick chase from Ashton/Malzieu. Look to get at Eastmond postionally with him not playing wing much these days.

Game plan - Intensity and points on the board, keep it simple and effective and grind Sale down and use the spark of our backline in the opposition half

Sale Sharks
Manager – SJE

01. Vasil Kakovin	09. Danny Care
02. Benjamin Kayser	10. Johnny Sexton
03. Davit Zirakishvilli
04. Dave Attwood	11. Kyle Eastmond
05. Iain Henderson	12. Francois Steyn
06. Yannick Nyanga	13. Gael Fickou
07. Fulgence Quedragao	14. Simon Zebo
08. Louis Picamoles	15. Nick Abendanon

16. Marcos Ayerza 17. David Paice 18. Phil Swainston 19. Christian Day 20. Matt Kvesic 21. Ben Spencer 22. Beauden Barrett 23. Will Addison

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 in wider channels.

- Quick ball for Pickles off the scrum. Look to set the scrum quickly and strike the ball to the back. Not looking to get into a scrum fight which will end up with penalties going to either side. This is to allow Picamoles to attack off the base of the scrum.

- 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.

- Attack Sarries lineout. Sarries have gone front ball all season as they lack the the jumpers to play off the top. Quedragao will look to jump at the front and really disrupt Sarries ball as it has become predictable and easy to read.

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

- Get the back three involved. Zebo, Eastmond and Bendy all to run lines looking for the inside ball or offload to get in behind the opposition defence.

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

- Target turnovers late on. Smith struggled through the Super season in the last quarter. We will look to introduce Kvesic and keep up the work rate at the breakdown.

- Straight line blitz defence focusing on a quick line speed to isolate the ball carrier before the gain line. Care to sweep in behind to cover chips and grubbers.

- Disrupt Sarries attacking play. We have the physicality to match Sarries in the contact area and will look to really get in their faces with the blitz defence. There is no one in the Sarries backline capable of changing the game and they will not be able to build momentum on the crash with Vermaaks slow service.

- Counter the Sarries kicking game with our wingers sitting deep on defence to prevent kicks in behind. They will look to run the ball back with interest which forces the opposition into playing the ball and making mistakes.

Worcester Warriors vs Northampton Saints
Location - Sixways Stadium
Sunny, 6 degrees, 12 mph North North Westerly winds

Worcester Warriors
Manager - stnick88

01. Nathan Catt	09. Dimitri Yachvili
02. Matthew Rees	10. Francois Trinh-Duc
03. Brian Mujati
04. Danie Russouw	11. David Strettle
05. Johann Muller	12. Maxime Mermoz
06. Ashley Johnson	13. Mathieu Basteraud
07. Ross Rennie	14. Sean Maitland
08. Thomas Waldrom	15. Delon Armitage

16. Brett Sturgess 17. Dave Ward 18. BJ Botha 19. Mouritz Botha 20. Phil Dowson 21. Tawera Kerr-Barlow 22. Olly Barkley 23. Mark Cueto

Tactics

- Play a territorial game. Look for our half backs to get us in to the right areas of the pitch. Use big ball carriers like AJ, Russouw, Waldrom, Mujati and Big Bast to drive forward and use a power game to attack. Once defenders are committed we will use the ball and get FTD pulling the strings and bring Armitage, Tagi, Mermoz etc in to play.
- Yachvili to kick all pens for goal to keep scoreboard kicking over.
- Muller to call the lineout and be our main go to man.
- Look to use the rolling maul to good effect and win pens or at least gain territorial advantage.
- pressurise ford. He has shown his kicking can go to bits so we will look to knock his confidence early on.

Northampton Saints

1. Mako Vunipola
2, Dylan Hartley (c)
3, Ben Teimafano
4. Joe Launchbury
5. Courtney Lawes
6. Samo Manoa
7. Sam Cane
8. Sergio Parisse
9. Joe Simpson
10. George Ford
11. Siti Siviatu
12. Matt Giteau
13. Manu Tuilagi
14. Christian Wade
15. Ben Foden

Subs 16. - 17. Thomas Domingo 18. Carl Hayman 19. Steve Luatua 20. Billy Vunipola 21. Niko Matawulu 22. Weslie Fofana 23. Elliot Daly

Tactics:Saints will play a high intensity/tempo'd game from the outset and take the game to Worcester. We will look to place them under pressure with a really physical, aggressive approach and defence to force errors and mistakes to exploit. We will look to win the gainline battle and the collisions with our big ball carriers and generate quick ball for our backline that will make the most of the perfect conditions to attack and score tries. Really strong pack selected to provide Simpson and Ford an attacking platform.

Win the forward battle: Great conditions for our forwards, Picked a mobile pack, with a lot of ball carriers and physicality to take the game to the home side and get a good platform for our halfback, while putting the French duo for Warriors under pressure throughout.

Setpiece: Will continue with the England lineout options, supported by Parisse and Manoa. We will aim to generate plenty of quick ball to attack Worcester. Use Lawes and Launch to target Worcester's throw and give them scrappy ball. Target Catt in the Worcester scrum, but will look to really turn the screw in the scrum in second half when we empty our bench and put more pressure on Warriors.

Breakdown/Backrow: Mobile and strong pack to really attack Worcester at the breakdown, Cane selected to really target turnovers and to slow down opposition ball, will look to clear him out in numbers and attack the fringes at the breakdown. Will also aim to knock Worcester back in the tackle with likes of Lawes and Manoa tostop their forward momentum and give us the advantage of hitting the rucks going forward.

Possession/Territory: Perfect conditions for Saints, will want to get the ball in the hands of our pack who are all big ball carriers and get us over the gainline and suck tacklers in to create space outwide. Have Ford/Giteau to put us in key areas of the pitch and will be used to bring our backline into play.

Attack the Gainline/Win Collisions: Again look to win the collisions and get over the gainline to provide our backs with the platform to attack, big ball carriers in the pack - Vunipola, Hartley, Teimafano, Lawes, Launchbury, Parisse and Manoa can all get us over the gainline. We will really target the gainline, suck in Worcester defenders and then go out wide to our backline.

Defence: Aggressive blitz defence, putting pressure onto the Worcester halfbacks. Very good defensive pack with Lawes and Launchbury's workrates being massive for us. Will look for big hits and to force mistakes. Simpson to sweep behind and backthree to counter any loose kicks.

Key selection points: Stong pack that is vital for away games
Win the collisions and gainline battle - whole pack big ball carriers.
Perfect conditions for us to attack.
In good form - boosted by return of Hartley, Lawes, Launchbury and Parisse to the pack.
Strong bench to bring on in the second half.

Newcastle Falcons vs Harlequins
Location - Kingston Park
Sunny Intervals, 6 degrees, 14 mph North Westerly

Newcastle Falcons

01. Alex Waller	09. Ben Youngs
02. Rory Best	10. Aaron Cruden
03. Owen Franks
04. Yoann Maestri	11. Tim Visser
05. Ali Williams	12. Brad Barritt
06. Liam Messam	13. Rene Ranger
07. Richie McCaw	14. Charles Piutua
08. Kieran Read	15. Alex Goode

16. Darren Dawidiuk 17. Soane Tonga'uiha 18. Paul Doran-Jones 19. Ed Slater 20. Juan Smith 21. Sam Harrison 22. Henry Slade 23. Charlie Sharples

Tactics

Falcons will look to play a high tempo game based around smashing it up in the tight and moving the ball into our danger runners outwide. We've got too ensure first and formost that we defend well and have worked hard on a system too shut down Quins big threats who are Pierre Spies and Jamie Roberts.
We will look to break the gainline and use support runners off the shoulder and offloads to break through Quins and score tries. We'll look to be aggressive at the contact and force errors from the opposition. Youngs and Cruden will look to play what's in front of them and attack the space not the face (Cheers for that one Ozzy Hug

)
Youngs to sweep behind the line and cover any kicks through.

Key Points

DEFENCE SYSTEM - We'll look to use McCaw as the man to cut Spies down with Read coming in and getting over the ball to deny Quins quick first phase ball. Barritt will look to cut Roberts run down by hitting him low and hard and putting him on the deck and going over the ball.
Breakdown - We need to be aggresive at the breakdown , rucking past the man and working hard for the turnover. Burns isn't in a good place with his rugby at the minute and we need to make a mess of the breakdown so we can pressure Burns.
Player fatigue - McCaw and Read have been conditioned as proffesional athletes to play games off the bounce and will have a few days off after this game to recover so they'll have 80 minutes in the tank
Dangerous wingers - Huget and Haili arn't the greatest in defence and Timbo and Ranger are both top finishing wingers and give a 1 on 1 will back them selves to score.

Harlequins
Manager – Steven_Sharks

01. Tony Woodcock	09. Lee Dickson
02. Schalk Brits	10. Freddie Burns (k)
03. John Afoa
04. Bakkies Botha	11. Yoann Huget
05. Steve Borthwick (c)	12. Jamie Roberts
06. Tom Wood	13. Florian Fritz
07. Luke Braid	14. Frank Halai
08. Pierre Spies	15. Rob Kearney

16. Rob Buchanan 17. Joe Marler 18. Kieran Brookes 19. Pieter Steph Du Toit 20. Nick Easter 21. Greig Laidlaw 22. Dan Bowden 23. Jonathan Joseph

Tactics
Quins tactics

- Retain possession in the Newcastle half using big carriers particularly targeting Aaron Cruden's channel. If defenders are used to reinforce this channel then we will exploit the gaps this will create elsewhere.

- Commit as many to the ruck as is required to get quick ball so that Dickson and Burns can control our game and put players into space against a disorganised defence. We will look to have runners of 9 and 10 and Burns will stand flat to keep the Newcastle defence honest.

- Target the set piece. Really look to get at the Newcastle scrum and look to put really pressure on at the line out.

- In our own half look to kick to the open spaces we feel will be left on the field with two wingers we feel we can kick behind and gain territory. Use the boots of Burns and Kearney to exploit the gaps.

- Look to control the breakdown. Wood and Braid will look to get on top in this area and against Read and McCaw who will be fatigued following a mammoth test match on Sunday.

by SirJohnnyEnglish Sun 24 Nov 2013, 7:16 pm

TEAM SHEET DEADLINES:

Home teams to be named by midnight on Tuesday. Away teams to be named by midnight on Wednesday. Tactics to be handed in by midnight Thursday.

Punishment for not doing so will be the addition of 3 points to your oppositions score when final results are calculated.

If a player is called up changes have to be made by 9am Friday so the thread can be updated. Past that usual punishment of reduced squad and fines will apply.

by dammit_chris Sun 24 Nov 2013, 9:37 pm

Guys got a stupidly busy week at work and doing a skydive on Thursday so probably wont be around much this week so wanted to get my team in nice and early. I am pretty sure that only Wales v Australia is on at the weekend, so shouldn't be any issues with my team at all.

1. Mako Vunipola
2, Dylan Hartley (c)
3, Ben Teimafano
4. Joe Launchbury
5. Courtney Lawes
6. Samo Manoa
7. Sam Cane
8. Sergio Parisse
9. Joe Simpson
10. George Ford
11. Siti Siviatu
12. Matt Giteau
13. Manu Tuilagi
14. Christian Wade
15. Ben Foden

Subs 16. TPN 17. Thomas Domingo 18. Carl Hayman 19. Steve Luatua 20. Billy Vunipola 21. Niko Matawulu 22. Weslie Fofana 23. Elliot Daly

Tactics:Saints will play a high intensity/tempo'd game from the outset and take the game to Worcester. We will look to place them under pressure with a really physical, aggressive approach and defence to force errors and mistakes to exploit. We will look to win the gainline battle and the collisions with our big ball carriers and generate quick ball for our backline that will make the most of the perfect conditions to attack and score tries. Really strong pack selected to provide Simpson and Ford an attacking platform.

Setpiece: Will continue with the England lineout options, supported by Parisse and Manoa. We will aim to generate plenty of quick ball to attack Worcester. Use Lawes and Launch to target Worcester's throw and give them scrappy ball. Target Catt in the Worcester scrum, but will look to really turn the screw in the scrum in second half when we empty our bench and put more pressure on Warriors.

Breakdown/Backrow: Mobile and strong pack to really attack Worcester at the breakdown, Cane selected to really target turnovers and to slow down opposition ball, will look to clear him out in numbers and attack the fringes at the breakdown. Will also aim to knock Worcester back in the tackle with likes of Lawes and Manoa tostop their forward momentum and give us the advantage of hitting the rucks going forward.

Possession/Territory: Perfect conditions for Saints, will want to get the ball in the hands of our pack who are all big ball carriers and get us over the gainline and suck tacklers in to create space outwide. Have Ford/Giteau to put us in key areas of the pitch and will be used to bring our backline into play.

Attack the Gainline/Win Collisions: Again look to win the collisions and get over the gainline to provide our backs with the platform to attack, big ball carriers in the pack - Vunipola, Hartley, Teimafano, Lawes, Launchbury, Parisse and Manoa can all get us over the gainline. We will really target the gainline, suck in Worcester defenders and then go out wide to our backline.

Defence: Aggressive blitz defence, putting pressure onto the Worcester halfbacks. Very good defensive pack with Lawes and Launchbury's workrates being massive for us. Will look for big hits and to force mistakes. Simpson to sweep behind and backthree to counter any loose kicks.

Key selection points: Stong pack that is vital for away games
Win the collisions and gainline battle - whole pack big ball carriers.
Perfect conditions for us to attack.
In good form - boosted by return of Hartley, Lawes, Launchbury and Parisse to the pack.
Strong bench to bring on in the second half.

by Sgt_Pooly Mon 25 Nov 2013, 5:26 am

Saracens
Manager – Pooly

01. Matt Mullen	09. Jano Vermaak
02. Keven Mealamu	10. Morne Steyn
03. Jannie du Plessis
04. Julian Pierre	11. Julien Malzieu
05. Louis Deacon(c)	12. Jean de Villiers
06. Carl Fearns	13. Jonathan Davies
07. George Smith	14. Chris Ashton
08. Joe van Niekerk	15. Lee Byrne

16. Chris Whitehead 17. Max Lahiff 18. Clement Ric 19. Tim Swinson 20. Tom Guest 21. Chris Cook 22. Gareth Steenson 23. George Lowe

Tactics:

General - We've selected a team packed with power and physicality and will look to dominate the contact and get over the gain line. We'll be playing a high tempo physical game from the off, look to smash the opposition back and get into the rucks/maul's and drive through. We'll look to tie the opposition in and then get at their backline, more so in the their half. Look to keep it tight in the forward pack and grind through work.

Scrum - Look to get a platform and keep the ball in on attacking ball if a weakness is seen in the opposition set piece. With our big locks look for the big push once the ball is in and drive the opposition back. Our TH and Hooker will look to target Kakovin and try to get between him and Kayser to allow JdP to work on Kakovin.

Line out - Look to play it safe and use the rolling maul to good effect. Our big pack should have a lot of joy here and will tie in the opposition defence. We won't be going for the rear of the line out much and will be content with securing our own ball and getting a push on. We'll look to contest on opp throw and target Sale as they have no recognised line out leader (Bath have one of worst line outs in AP)

Defence - High intensity and big hits, looking to drive past the ball player. Huge physical pack that can look to dominate the collision and breakdown allowing Smith etc a chance to slow down/steal ball. Scrum half to sweep behind the defensive line.

Attack - Keep things simple in our own half then look to unleash backs in opp territory. Scrum half to inject pace from the breakdown and have JD on his shoulder. JDV to run at 9/10 channel and target possible weakness. JDV to be used as decoy running at Steyn looking to take him out of the defensive line to free up space for JD to get at Fickou on the outside. Look to alternate Fearns/JVN depending on the scrum, look to use Fearns off the base running at Sexton.

Points -

Front row form and the new laws - The Sale props have struggled with the new laws and neither are first choice for their respective clubs, we've got a strong unit (JdP thriving under new laws) backed up by a serious scrummaging lock combo, we could get a big advantage here.

Rolling maul and physicality - Look to use our physicality and drive through the opp defence, if weakness seen look to exploit.

Steyn - In great kicking form and will look to keep us ahead on the score board

JD kicking - look for him to use the grubber to get behind Steyn who lacks a bit of turning pace these days

Centre form - Possibly the form centres in world rugby. Look to get them involved in the game as much as possible and be the spark in the backline. JDV as decoy and strong focal point with JD running off his shoulder. Ashton to track as something is always going to happen with JD ball in hand

Look to get JD one on one with Steyn and look to beat him outside

Form - We're putting some serious form together, beating Falcons at home and Exeter away in recent weeks. Sale will find it tough to break us down at home and we have the perfect FH to keep us ahead on the scoreboard

Opposition back 3 - Look to test out Abendanon early on with some up and unders and strong kick chase from Ashton/Malzieu. Look to get at Eastmond postionally with him not playing wing much these days.

Game plan - Intensity and points on the board, keep it simple and effective and grind Sale down and use the spark of our backline in the opposition half

by prop_lyd Mon 25 Nov 2013, 8:23 pm

Manager - Prop

01. Wyatt Crockett	09. Rory Kockott
02. Hika Elliott	10. Nick Evans
03. Adam Jones
04. Nick Kennedy	11. Bjorn Basson
05. Matt Garvey	12. Luke McAlister
06. Scott Higginbotham (c)	13. Conrad Smith
07. Will Fraser	14. Nick Cummins
08. Ben Morgan	15. Brice Dulin

16. T.Lindsay 17. T.Smallbone 18. M.Stevens 19. S.Hooper 20. T.Dusatoir 21. J.Moates 22. S.Geraghty 23. H.Trinder

Key Points

Form
We have taken at least a point from every game we have played so far in the league this season and will look to continue that with a convincing win as the players look to put it all on the line ready for a well deserved rest in the cup competition.

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.

Lineouts
Our lineouts have been picked on and targetting quite often however, we have selected a team with powerful lifters and consistent jumpers so Lindsay will be used to their jumping. Any messy lineouts will go to the prop standing at the front and driven on. We will look to maul alot of ball if it is not on.

Attacking

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

Kockott and Evans to play what's in front of them and look to McAlister who will look to play in Smith or snipe as much as possible. If it isn't on then Evans will stick it in the corners and, with Kennedy, Garvey, Higginbotham 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 Basson and Cummins.

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, Stevens and Dusatoir 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 Trinder and Geraghty can continue to control the game and bring further excitement and pace..

Set Piece

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

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

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

Defending

Banana blitz defence targetting slowing down the ball led by McAlister so he has no time to kick or give quick ball to the centres (we will have a backrower on Evans's 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.

by stnick88 Tue 26 Nov 2013, 10:37 am

Worcester Warriors
Manager - stnick88

01. Nathan Catt	09. Dimitri Yachvili
02. Matthew Rees	10. Francois Trinh-Duc
03. Brian Mujati
04. Danie Russouw	11. David Strettle
05. Johann Muller	12. Maxime Mermoz
06. Ashley Johnson	13. Mathieu Basteraud
07. Ross Rennie	14. Sean Maitland
08. Thomas Waldrom	15. Delon Armitage

16. Brett Sturgess 17. Dave Ward 18. BJ Botha 19. Mouritz Botha 20. Phil Dowson 21. Tawera Kerr-Barlow 22. Olly Barkley 23. Mark Cueto

Tactics

- Play a territorial game. Look for our half backs to get us in to the right areas of the pitch. Use big ball carriers like AJ, Russouw, Waldrom, Mujati and Big Bast to drive forward and use a power game to attack. Once defenders are committed we will use the ball and get FTD pulling the strings and bring Armitage, Tagi, Mermoz etc in to play.
- Yachvili to kick all pens for goal to keep scoreboard kicking over.
- Muller to call the lineout and be our main go to man.
- Look to use the rolling maul to good effect and win pens or at least gain territorial advantage.
- pressurise ford. He has shown his kicking can go to bits so we will look to knock his confidence early on.

by **Ozzy3213** Tue 26 Nov 2013, 12:02 pm

Newcastle Falcons

01. Alex Waller	09. Ben Youngs
02. Rory Best	10. Aaron Cruden
03. Owen Franks
04. Yoann Maestri	11. Tim Visser
05. Ali Williams	12. Brad Barritt
06. Liam Messam	13. Francis Saili
07. Richie McCaw	14. Rene Ranger
08. Kieran Read	15. Alex Goode

16. Darren Dawidiuk 17. Soane Tonga'uiha 18. Paul Doran-Jones 19. Ed Slater 20. Juan Smith 21. Sam Harrison 22. Henry Slade 23. Charlie Sharples

by **Ozzy3213** Tue 26 Nov 2013, 12:18 pm

London Wasps welcome back a host of players from international duty as they look to continue their good form against London Irish at the Madejski Stadium. Head coach Ozzy3213 had this to say;-

“We’ve had a look at the boys who came back this week and assessed how much they’d played over the international window. We’ve left one or two out who look as if they might need a rest, and a couple will get a run from the bench. Those who look fresh enough have come back into the starting line up. We know that it will be a tough test against London Irish, but we are in great form right now and will be looking to continue the momentum that we’ve built up this season.”

Aviva Premiership Round Nine 6

London Wasps
Manager Ozzy3213

01. Alex Corbisiero	09. Aaron Smith
02. Deon Fourie	10. Owen Farrell
03. David Wilson
04. Romain Millo-Chluski	11. Bryan Habana
05. Jim Hamilton ©	12. Pat McCabe
06. Marcel Coetzee	13. JJ Englebrecht
07. Steffon Armitage	14. Marland Yarde
08. Duane Vermeulen	15. Anthony Watson

16. Bismarck du Plessis 17. Paul James 18. Martin Castrogiovanni 19. George Skivington 20. Tom Johnson 21. Paul Hodgson 22. Gareth Anscombe 23. Jack Nowell

Key Points

Scrum. We will target this relentlessly. For all his bulk, Adam Jones has not gone brilliantly since coming back from the Lions. We will look to drive the advantage home bringing our bench on around the 50 minute mark.
Form. We have lost once this season in all competitions, so come into this with momentum and confidence.

Basic Game Plan
In good conditions we will be looking to play a fast paced offloading game, utilising big carriers with pacy backs on their sholders to take the offloads and hit the gaps. We will look to shift the point of attack and keep the ball moving. Our back row will look to support and hit rucks hard to free up quick ball. Our intention is to utilize our strength, which is pace and mobility, and move the Irish pack around to tire them and create space for our runners.

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. Smith will sweep in behind the defensive line to counter any chips/grubbers.

Specifics

Lineout. On our ball early on we will go safe throwing to the front or middle. Once Bismarck is on we will open it up, and look to go to the back and play off the top.
Scrum. Target the loosehead. Wilson and then Castro off the bench will look to target the link between Crockett and Elliott. Crockett is a tall prop and we will look to get underneath and really destabilise from there.
Breakdown. When we carry in, if we cannot get the offload away then the support runners will flood the breakdown rucking well past the ball to free it up quickly and go again. In defence, if we have made a passive tackle and the carrier has momentum we will not overcommit, but will maintain a strong defensive line. If we win the collision and knock the carrier back we will look to get the second man in hard over the ball to turn it over. Key for us is being selective.
Attacking Play. As stated we will play a fast paced running game. Farrell will play flat and use McCabe and forwards to truck it up on first phase ball. The Irish team will have decent midfield defence, but we feel they may be vulnerable in wider areas and will look to shift the play there quickly.

by LukeLovesLuka Tue 26 Nov 2013, 12:18 pm

Not sure driver would have selected forwards who played at the weekend??

by **Ozzy3213** Tue 26 Nov 2013, 12:20 pm

I did wonder, and was going to go with a back row of Smith, Brussow and Masoe for him. I'm happy to change it.

by Sgt_Pooly Tue 26 Nov 2013, 12:25 pm

Messem will be fine imo, he only played about 20mins??

by LukeLovesLuka Tue 26 Nov 2013, 12:41 pm

I'd likely mark down for Best, McCaw and Read.

by Driver Tue 26 Nov 2013, 1:40 pm

Best played 20 mins at weekend?

Happy with that Pete.

by LukeLovesLuka Tue 26 Nov 2013, 5:19 pm

Forgot best came off early.

by Guest Tue 26 Nov 2013, 5:56 pm

Glos team will amend format when on computer. We have not played any of our forwards who played full games last week to keep things fresh

1.Wood
2.Strauss
3 Figallo
4 Etzbeth
5 Robson
6 croft
7 Qera
8 Dickinson
9 Genia
10 Carter
11 May
12 Scott
13 Juan de Jongh
14 folau
15 Dagg
16 Steenkamp
17 Grey
18 Rupert Harden
19 Palmer
20 Heaslip
21 Robson
22 Barnes
23 Banahan

by Fluxy Tue 26 Nov 2013, 8:05 pm

Weather updated.

by Steven_Sharks Tue 26 Nov 2013, 9:42 pm

Harlequins
Manager – Steven_Sharks

01. Tony Woodcock	09. Lee Dickson
02. Schalk Brits	10. Freddie Burns (k)
03. John Afoa
04. Bakkies Botha	11. Yoann Huget
05. Steve Borthwick (c)	12. Jamie Roberts
06. Tom Wood	13. Florian Fritz
07. Luke Braid	14. Frank Halai
08. Pierre Spies	15. Rob Kearney

16. Rob Buchanan 17. Joe Marler 18. Kieran Brookes 19. Pieter Steph Du Toit 20. Nick Easter 21. Greig Laidlaw 22. Dan Bowden 23. Jonathan Joseph

Tactics

by Fluxy Wed 27 Nov 2013, 12:02 am

No bath side

by stnick88 Wed 27 Nov 2013, 8:37 am

blimey, quick off the mark their fluxy!

by **Ozzy3213** Wed 27 Nov 2013, 9:23 am

I think CJB may be on the verge of jacking it in.

by LukeLovesLuka Wed 27 Nov 2013, 9:24 am

CJB seems to be struggling. Sure there was something on Facebook about being unwell.

by Sgt_Pooly Wed 27 Nov 2013, 9:53 am

I know he's just started Uni, these deadlines seem to come round really fast, especially when at home.

by Guest Wed 27 Nov 2013, 10:55 am

Guys let's see if he needs a break. Shame to see someone go. He has a good side also. Someone could caretaker it if he needs a few weeks off

by Fluxy Wed 27 Nov 2013, 11:23 am

I know it might seem shallow from me being his opponent this week, but I was only doing it to mark the page.

If he needs a break I could ask one of the lads on the Super League to cover?

by Sgt_Pooly Wed 27 Nov 2013, 11:36 am

Yea Flux you b"^&*tard Wink

by Fluxy Wed 27 Nov 2013, 3:52 pm

Exeter Chiefs Chief

Manager – Fluxy

01. Logovii Mulipola	09. Maxime Machenaud
02. Rob Webber	10. Toby Flood (k)
03. Will Collier
04. Brad Thorn	11. Tom Varndell
05. Geoff Parling	12. Francis Saili
06. Kelly Brown	13. Aurelien Rougerie
07. Chris Robshaw (c)	14. Maxime Medard
08. Nick Williams	15. Juan Martin Hernandez

16. Jack Yeandle 17. Yannick Forestier 18. Mike Ross 19. Patricio Albacete 20. Sam Jones 21. Haydn Thomas 22. Stephen Myler 23. Marcelo Bosch

Key Points

Mobile pack picked to dominate the set-pieces and breakdown.
Use the strong forward bench to maintain forward pressure late on and control of the game.
Strong spine in decision making positions of the team. Basic territorial game in conditions. Utilise good territory for attacking opportunities.
Flood will kick all points available, he can kick from within their half, so this indicates that Bath should be wary of giving away penalties.
Home territory - At home Sandy Park is a fortress, and at home we make a fight out of the game and rarely lose.
Keep ball alive in the conditions and get the backs involved where possible.

Game plan

Selected a physically strong side to combat the physicality of the Bath side. Chiefs won't look to get drawn into a physical fight however, as they will look to open up the game to allow their backs a chance to attack the Bath back line. The side has the potential to play an all code game, therefore if one aspect of the game isn't working we can shift and adapt to start exploiting an area which gives us the advantage.
We will look to play a simple territorial game and look to be playing with the ball within their 22. Every where else on the pitch we will look to peg Bath back, unless we can take the kick for goal. Simple set-piece game which we look to dominate our own ball, and contest every opposition put in. The pack that has been selected is mobile and strong around the park, especially in the tackle, on the floor and ball in hand.

Attack

Use quick ball off the top using Parling as primary caller. Parling and our jumpers should be much more quicker getting up in the air so look for quick mauls. With the big pack look to set the maul in the opponents 22.
Look to set the scrum quickly and strike the ball to the back. Not looking to get into a scrum fight which will end up with penalties going to either side. This is to allow Williams to attack off the base of the scrum.
Pack filled big carriers to provide a number of options in the tight exchanges. 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 and get over the gain line to create momentum.
Look to flood the breakdown and clear out bodies, to keep ball clean so that the halfbacks can dictate the game. (Eg AB's or Eng vs AB 2012 style)
Look to use a league style move to unlock the defence. Saili 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.

Defence

We will use a Blitz drift line in defence to cut down Taylor's options and push him inside towards our back-row.
Machenaud to sweep behind the defencive line, and to counter any loose kicks or turnover ball - either by quickly shipping it wide to the back three, or kicking in behind their back three.
The whole pack is mobile and capable of getting over the ball at the breakdown. Look to powerfully clear opponents out of the ruck, and use the strong tackling to keep chopping down the Bath runners.
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. Every kick to be chased, the kick is as only as good as the chase.

by CJB Wed 27 Nov 2013, 7:09 pm

b]Bath Rugby[/b]
Manager – inthefastlane

01. Charlie Faumuania	09. Fourie Du Preez
02. Richard Hibbard	10. Charlie Hodgson
03. Davit Kubrashvilli
04. Like Romano	11. Cory Jane
05. Graham Kitchener	12. Anthony Allen
06. JMF Lobbe	13. Joel Tomkins
07. James Haskell	14. Nopolini Nalaga
08. Jordan Crane	15. Stuart Hogg

|;
16. Chris Brooker 17. Carl Rimmer 18. Cian Healy 19. Sam Whitelock 20. Rhys Ruddoxk 21. Richard Wigglesworth 22. Ben Smith 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. Kitchener offers a strong banker ball option at the front whilst Bekker and Lobbe offer solid jumping options.

We will be looking for big carries from the forwards with the likes of Hibbard, Crane, Kitchener, Lobbe and Haskell 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 Haskell and Lobbe 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. FDP and Hodgson will look to really get the backs going with a good tempo. FDP will attack fringes and try to keep the defence guessing. Look to get our big runners involved as early as possible with Allen, Tomkins, Hogg and Nalaga seeing lots of the ball.

Defence: Use an blitz defence in order to put pressure on Exeter

Substitutes: Our subs will look to keep a high tempo.

by dammit_chris Wed 27 Nov 2013, 7:18 pm

dammit_chris wrote:Guys got a stupidly busy week at work and doing a skydive on Thursday so probably wont be around much this week so wanted to get my team in nice and early. I am pretty sure that only Wales v Australia is on at the weekend, so shouldn't be any issues with my team at all.

1. Mako Vunipola
2, Dylan Hartley (c)
3, Ben Teimafano
4. Joe Launchbury
5. Courtney Lawes
6. Samo Manoa
7. Sam Cane
8. Sergio Parisse
9. Joe Simpson
10. George Ford
11. Siti Siviatu
12. Matt Giteau
13. Manu Tuilagi
14. Christian Wade
15. Ben Foden

Subs 16. TPN 17. Thomas Domingo 18. Carl Hayman 19. Steve Luatua 20. Billy Vunipola 21. Niko Matawulu 22. Weslie Fofana 23. Elliot Daly

Tactics:Saints will play a high intensity/tempo'd game from the outset and take the game to Worcester. We will look to place them under pressure with a really physical, aggressive approach and defence to force errors and mistakes to exploit. We will look to win the gainline battle and the collisions with our big ball carriers and generate quick ball for our backline that will make the most of the perfect conditions to attack and score tries. Really strong pack selected to provide Simpson and Ford an attacking platform.

Win the forward battle: Great conditions for our forwards, Picked a mobile pack, with a lot of ball carriers and physicality to take the game to the home side and get a good platform for our halfback, while putting the French duo for Warriors under pressure throughout.

Setpiece: Will continue with the England lineout options, supported by Parisse and Manoa. We will aim to generate plenty of quick ball to attack Worcester. Use Lawes and Launch to target Worcester's throw and give them scrappy ball. Target Catt in the Worcester scrum, but will look to really turn the screw in the scrum in second half when we empty our bench and put more pressure on Warriors.

Breakdown/Backrow: Mobile and strong pack to really attack Worcester at the breakdown, Cane selected to really target turnovers and to slow down opposition ball, will look to clear him out in numbers and attack the fringes at the breakdown. Will also aim to knock Worcester back in the tackle with likes of Lawes and Manoa tostop their forward momentum and give us the advantage of hitting the rucks going forward.

Possession/Territory: Perfect conditions for Saints, will want to get the ball in the hands of our pack who are all big ball carriers and get us over the gainline and suck tacklers in to create space outwide. Have Ford/Giteau to put us in key areas of the pitch and will be used to bring our backline into play.

Attack the Gainline/Win Collisions: Again look to win the collisions and get over the gainline to provide our backs with the platform to attack, big ball carriers in the pack - Vunipola, Hartley, Teimafano, Lawes, Launchbury, Parisse and Manoa can all get us over the gainline. We will really target the gainline, suck in Worcester defenders and then go out wide to our backline.

Defence: Aggressive blitz defence, putting pressure onto the Worcester halfbacks. Very good defensive pack with Lawes and Launchbury's workrates being massive for us. Will look for big hits and to force mistakes. Simpson to sweep behind and backthree to counter any loose kicks.

Key selection points: Stong pack that is vital for away games
Win the collisions and gainline battle - whole pack big ball carriers.
Perfect conditions for us to attack.
In good form - boosted by return of Hartley, Lawes, Launchbury and Parisse to the pack.
Strong bench to bring on in the second half.

by LukeLovesLuka Wed 27 Nov 2013, 10:26 pm

Leicester Tigers
Manager – LukeLovesLuka

01. Andrew Sheridan	09. Kahn Fotuali'i
02. Chiliboy Ralepelle	10. Jonny Wilkinson (k)
03. Dan Cole
04. Nathan Hines	11. Henry Speight
05. Kearnan Myall	12. Billy Twelvetrees
06. Steve Mafi	13. Brian O'Driscoll (c)
07. Jacques Burger	14. Vincent Clerc
08. Ernst Joubert	15. Mike Brown

16. Tom Youngs 17. Harry Rudkin 18. Cencus Johnston 19. Pascal Pape 20. Sean O'Brien 21. Dwayne Peel 22. Pat Lambie 23. Ugo Monye

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 Sheridan to look to really get into the opposition. An area we will look to target if winning.

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

- Put serious pressure on Strauss' throws with Joubert at the front on all Gloucester's throws.

- Gigantic pack made up of massive line-breakers, used in the tight to tire down the Gloucester defence. The likes of Mafi, Burger, Hines, Ralepelle and Myall to be used to target the Gloucester 10/12 channel.

- In attacking play, we will look to get runners attacking the gain line looking for gaps. We do want to control the game, mixing up the point of our attack and looking for where the gaps are.

- Target the Gloucester back three if looking vulnerable with form issues there. Look to the in-form Mike Brown to win the 15 battle and give us counter-attacking options as much as possible.

- 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. Fotuali'i to sweep behind with an eye on short kicks.

- Target the last 30 mins. Unload our bench to see the game out for the win.

- Wilkinson to kick all penalties.

by SirJohnnyEnglish Wed 27 Nov 2013, 10:54 pm

Sale Sharks
Manager – SJE

01. Vasil Kakovin	09. Danny Care
02. Benjamin Kayser	10. Johnny Sexton
03. Davit Zirakishvilli
04. Dave Attwood	11. Kyle Eastmond
05. Iain Henderson	12. Francois Steyn
06. Yannick Nyanga	13. Gael Fickou
07. Fulgence Quedragao	14. Simon Zebo
08. Louis Picamoles	15. Nick Abendanon

16. Marcos Ayerza 17. David Paice 18. Phil Swainston 19. Christian Day 20. Matt Kvesic 21. Ben Spencer 22. Beauden Barrett 23. Will Addison

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 in wider channels.

- Quick ball for Pickles off the scrum. Look to set the scrum quickly and strike the ball to the back. Not looking to get into a scrum fight which will end up with penalties going to either side. This is to allow Picamoles to attack off the base of the scrum.

- 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.

- Attack Sarries lineout. Sarries have gone front ball all season as they lack the the jumpers to play off the top. Quedragao will look to jump at the front and really disrupt Sarries ball as it has become predictable and easy to read.

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

- Get the back three involved. Zebo, Eastmond and Bendy all to run lines looking for the inside ball or offload to get in behind the opposition defence.

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

- Target turnovers late on. Smith struggled through the Super season in the last quarter. We will look to introduce Kvesic and keep up the work rate at the breakdown.

- Straight line blitz defence focusing on a quick line speed to isolate the ball carrier before the gain line. Care to sweep in behind to cover chips and grubbers.

- Disrupt Sarries attacking play. We have the physicality to match Sarries in the contact area and will look to really get in their faces with the blitz defence. There is no one in the Sarries backline capable of changing the game and they will not be able to build momentum on the crash with Vermaaks slow service.

- Counter the Sarries kicking game with our wingers sitting deep on defence to prevent kicks in behind. They will look to run the ball back with interest which forces the opposition into playing the ball and making mistakes.

by Guest Thu 28 Nov 2013, 10:01 am

Glos

01. Nick Wood	09. TJ Perenara
02. Adriaan Strauss	10. Dan Carter
03. Juan Figallo
04. Eben etzbeth	11. Johnny May
05. George Robson	12. Matt Scott
06. Tom Croft	13. Juan de Jongh
07. Qera	14. Hosea Gear
08. Sam Dickinson	15. Israel Dagg

16. Guthro Steenkamp 17. Joe Grey18. Tom Palmer 19. Rupert harden 20. Heaslip 21. Dan Robson 22. Berrick Barnes 23. Matt Banahan [/quote]Glos tactics.

Set piece

Target there scrum to put pressure on them. Strauss and figallo to really target the chilliboy/ Sheridan unit. Strauss and figallo are two of the form front rowers in international rugby and will look to disrupt their ball.

On our ball we will look to anchor and get the ball in and away as we want to play an extremely high tempo attacking game.

Line out

With croft Robson etzbeth and Dickinson we have four top jumpers and will look to pressure on there throw.
We will put chilliboys average darts under immense pressure.

On our ball we will vary it. We will be looking to drive in our half and go off the top mainly In their half.

Generally we will be looking to get our dynamic pack on the front foot and over the gainline to produce quick ball to give to carter. We have a pack full of carriers and pace so will look to target the breakdown by getting there first and hitting it hard. We have a lot of footballing forwards in our pack so will be looking to offload. The weather is perfect so we will look to play at pace.

Backs

We will look for our 9 and 10 to run the show.

Carter will kick a lot initially as we want to win the territory battle. Speight is suspect going backwards so will be tested out.

We see the length of Carter's kicking being able to give us territory so we can play in the right places.

When in their half we will look to hit them at pace. TJ Perenara can really up the pace and will look to hit carter so he can play. We have a backline that has pace subtlety and gas and feel that we have the ability to unlock their defence for lots of tries.

Carter will look to create mismatches and we will look to isolate players like speight. This will be a quick high scoring game In these conditions and think our backs have the right blend.

We will also when it's on try the up and under and the cross kick.

Defensively we will look to blitz to put pressure on wilkinson who struggles playing a high tempo game. This could lead to some intercepts. Pernara to act as sweeper

Carter to kick all kicks and bench to be used as necessary

by Driver Thu 28 Nov 2013, 10:21 am

Newcastle Falcons

01. Alex Waller	09. Ben Youngs
02. Rory Best	10. Aaron Cruden
03. Owen Franks
04. Yoann Maestri	11. Tim Visser
05. Ali Williams	12. Brad Barritt
06. Liam Messam	13. Francis Saili
07. Richie McCaw	14. Rene Ranger
08. Kieran Read	15. Alex Goode

16. Darren Dawidiuk 17. Soane Tonga'uiha 18. Paul Doran-Jones 19. Ed Slater 20. Juan Smith 21. Sam Harrison 22. Henry Slade 23. Charlie Sharples

Tactics

Falcons will look to play a high tempo game based around smashing it up in the tight and moving the ball into our danger runners outwide. We've got too ensure first and formost that we defend well and have worked hard on a system too shut down Quins big threats who are Pierre Spies and Jamie Roberts.
We will look to break the gainline and use support runners off the shoulder and offloads to break through Quins and score tries. We'll look to be aggressive at the contact and force errors from the opposition. Youngs and Cruden will look to play what's in front of them and attack the space not the face (Cheers for that one Ozzy Hug

)
Youngs to sweep behind the line and cover any kicks through.

Key Points

DEFENCE SYSTEM - We'll look to use McCaw as the man to cut Spies down with Read coming in and getting over the ball to deny Quins quick first phase ball. Barritt will look to cut Roberts run down by hitting him low and hard and putting him on the deck and going over the ball.
Breakdown - We need to be aggresive at the breakdown , rucking past the man and working hard for the turnover. Burns isn't in a good place with his rugby at the minute and we need to make a mess of the breakdown so we can pressure Burns.
Player fatigue - McCaw and Read have been conditioned as proffesional athletes to play games off the bounce and will have a few days off after this game to recover so they'll have 80 minutes in the tank
Dangerous wingers - Huget and Haili arn't the greatest in defence and Timbo and Ranger are both top finishing wingers and give a 1 on 1 will back them selves to score.

by Steven_Sharks Thu 28 Nov 2013, 8:54 pm

Quins tactics

- Retain possession in the Newcastle half using big carriers particularly targeting Aaron Cruden's channel. If defenders are used to reinforce this channel then we will exploit the gaps this will create elsewhere.

- Commit as many to the ruck as is required to get quick ball so that Dickson and Burns can control our game and put players into space against a disorganised defence. We will look to have runners of 9 and 10 and Burns will stand flat to keep the Newcastle defence honest.

- Target the set piece. Really look to get at the Newcastle scrum and look to put really pressure on at the line out.

- In our own half look to kick to the open spaces we feel will be left on the field with two wingers we feel we can kick behind and gain territory. Use the boots of Burns and Kearney to exploit the gaps.

- Look to control the breakdown. Wood and Braid will look to get on top in this area and against Read and McCaw who will be fatigued following a mammoth test match on Sunday.

by SirJohnnyEnglish Thu 28 Nov 2013, 10:30 pm

Just want to answer some of Sarries tactics Wink

Sgt_Pooly wrote:Line out - We'll look to contest on opp throw and target Sale as they have no recognised line out leader

Attwood & Quedragao have called the line out for club and country. Nyanga has called it for Toulouse and Henderson has called a few games for Ulster this year...

Attack - Keep things simple in our own half then look to unleash backs in opp territory. Scrum half to inject pace from the breakdown and have JD on his shoulder.

Vermaak not doing too well at putting pace on it for Toulouse this year...

JDV to be used as decoy running at Steyn looking to take him out of the defensive line to free up space for JD to get at Fickou on the outside.

And later on Look to get JD one on one with Steyn and look to beat him outside

Bit of confusion in the Sarries back plays??...

Points -

Front row form and the new laws - The Sale props have struggled with the new laws and neither are first choice for their respective clubs

Zirka one of the premier props in Europe last year and out a few weeks with a knee injury no longer first choice?? I worry for Malzieu whos only just back from 6 months out in real life. Isn't Byrne behind my young lad Buttin recently as well

by Driver Fri 29 Nov 2013, 12:28 am

Read and McCaw who will be fatigued following a mammoth test match on Sunday.

Pretty sure McCaw has had a fair amount of time off prior to the RC/AI so fatigue is no issue for him. Read is one of the top athletes in the world so should have no worries about his fatigue

targeting Aaron Cruden's channel. If defenders are used to reinforce this channel then we will exploit the gaps this will create elsewhere.

Pretty sure changing plan at the last second is one of the worst things you can do in a rugby game?

Burns will stand flat to keep the Newcastle defence honest

Walking into the lions den with a drinker with no bottle left there.

by **Ozzy3213** Fri 29 Nov 2013, 8:55 am

Would just like to point out that I think Nick Cummins is playing for Australia this weekend so won't be able to take his place in the London Irish line up this week.

by prop_lyd Fri 29 Nov 2013, 9:09 am

Ah balls and I'm blydi 9mins late to make the change!

What's the punishment?!

by stnick88 Fri 29 Nov 2013, 9:20 am

I think TPN is on the Aussie bench also Chris.

by Fluxy Fri 29 Nov 2013, 11:37 am

I will have to update later this afternoon. Currently at work.

by stnick88 Fri 29 Nov 2013, 3:50 pm

Bath v Exeter
- Strong home pack. Can see them getting a good nudge on at scrum time. Parling could get some joy at line out for Chiefs though. Backrows pretty even, not fan of Hask at 7 though. Baths HB's will control the game well and they have more threat in the backline. Both benches have some good impact, but more so for the home side.
25-21

Glos v Tigers
- Good battle between the front fives not much in it. Robson v Myall a good lineout contest. Slight edge to Tigers backrow because of Burgers form. Qera has no real form to speak of nor Croft. Slight edge to Glos HB combo. Also prefer the Glos backline. Both have good bench options to change things up. Dont think Tigers have quite enough to win at the shed.
22-21

Irish v Wasps
- Jones v Corbs is a great match up. 2 strong scrum units. Bit more grunt in wasps second row but Garvey in fantastic form and kennedy strong at lineout as always. Good power for Wasps backrow and Armitage at 7 v Fraser would be tasty. Having Dusatoir coming on evens things up here for Irish. Evans is on better form in real life now but Farrell playing ok too so close between the HBs. Wasps have more threat outwide and Irish the better centres. Watson looking good this season but Dulin probably a better player currently. More upfront for the Wasps bench can see them put the squeeze on later.
26-28

Saracens v Sale
- powerful sarries unit. good sale unit too. packs are only separated by a bit more class in sales backrow. steyn playing well and suits sarries gameplan. care and sexton is one of my favourite combos in this game. pooly has transformed his backline. looks strong. prefer it to sales but they have some threats in there. think sale have better impact off the bench to sneak them a draw.
24-24

Newcastle v Harlequins
- Waller on good form helps out Falcons here. Franks v Woodcock cancel each other out. Prefer Quins 2nd row. Not sure i would have started both mccaw and read. Prefer falcons hbs a very creative pairing. backlines even. both have good bench options. tough one to call here. sorry gonna have to sit on the fence again.
22-22

by dammit_chris Fri 29 Nov 2013, 4:19 pm

Sorry. Been a bit manic with work and skydives (don't skydive, had an emergency landing in a plane yesterday morning - isnt fun!).

Fluxy can you please replace TPN with Mike Haywood on the bench please?

by Fluxy Fri 29 Nov 2013, 4:42 pm

Will have to ask SJE mate, technically its past the deadline. But I am updating now.

by stnick88 Fri 29 Nov 2013, 4:50 pm

dont think Cummins or TPN can be changed.

Just have to be a man short on the bench.

by Fluxy Fri 29 Nov 2013, 5:09 pm

Right teams that are short on the bench

Bath - Richard Hibbard
Northampton Saints - TPN
London Irish - Nick Cummins

The only other change I've had to make is I've removed Saili from the Falcons side, because he is currently on loan to the Chiefs. Hence they are a man down as well.

Nick you may have to adjust accordingly.

by Driver Fri 29 Nov 2013, 5:13 pm

Flux could you not start sharples and play ranger at 13

by **Ozzy3213** Fri 29 Nov 2013, 5:38 pm

I am going to put a case for Driver being allowed to change Sailli, as I picked the side for him as he was away and was unaware Sailli was out on loan.

by stnick88 Fri 29 Nov 2013, 5:53 pm

Yeh i think thats fair

by SirJohnnyEnglish Fri 29 Nov 2013, 5:55 pm

Yeah work away Driver that seems fair thumbsup

by Driver Fri 29 Nov 2013, 6:06 pm

Can I start with Barritt, Ranger as centres and Pitatau coming in at 14 with sharples still on bench.

by dammit_chris Fri 29 Nov 2013, 6:34 pm

Ok - I'm just struggling with time to make changes, keep an eye on the internationals and not really getting a chance to get on the main board. Just wanted to make sure I had a team in this week.

Teimafano covers hooker too, but will keep Hartley on the full 80mins.

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