Anglo Welsh Semi Finals

 
 

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Northampton Saints vs Gloucester
Location - Franklin Gardens
Light Cloud, 12 degrees, 14mph Southerly winds

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Saints

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Glouc

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Harlequins vs Sale Sharks
Location - Twickenham Stoop
Light Cloud, 14 degrees, 12mph South Easterly winds

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Quins

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Sharks

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Be good to have a week off

Sale Sharks
Manager – SJE

01. Vasil Kakovin	09. Ben Spencer
02. Tommy Taylor	10. JJ Hanrahan
03. Luc Ducalcon
04. Will Skelton	11. Jesse Mogg
05. Christian Day	12. Jordan Turner Hall
06. Tom Savage	13. Robbie Freuen
07. Matt Kvesic	14. Jean Marcellin Buttin
08. Luke Whitelock	15. Jared Payne

;-
16. Ross Harrison 17. Benjamin Kayser 18. Phil Swainston 19. Mario Itoje 20. Victor Vito 21. Calum Braley 22. Beauden Barrett 23. Keith Earls

We will play a fast paced, high intensity offloading game using big carriers to get over the gainline and create space and quick ball for our halfbacks to use. Back three to get involved as much as possible.
 
- Target the scrum. Good technical front row supported by plenty of grunt will look to get on top and win penalties. 

- 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 Hanrahan and Payne with space outside. 

- Look to mix up play. Payne will look to join the line in midfield and provide a creative option as well as overlaps out wide.

- Get the wingers involved. Buttin and Mogg to track the ball off their wings 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 Kvesic to really attack the breakdown.

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

- Change the play late on. Hanrahan to move to 12 late on with Barrett at 10 and offer a double pivot allowing us to change the emphasis of attack.

Harlequins
Manager – Steven_Sharks

01. Tony Woodcock	09. Karl Dickson
02. Tatafu Polata-Nau	10. Quade Cooper (k)
03. Gjorgi Jgenti
04. George Kruis	11. Topsy Ojo
05. Pieter Steph Du Toit	12. Jan Serfontein
06. Lappies Labushagne	13. Aurelien Rougerie
07. Luke Braid (c)	14. Frank Halai
08. Nick Easter	15. Luke Morahan

16. Rob Buchanan 17. Tadgh Furlong 18. Kyle Sinckler 19. Charlie Matthews 20. Jamie Gibson 21. Stuart Townsend 22. Dan Bowden 23. Tom Brady

Tactics

Northampton Saints
Manager - Dammit Chris

1. Sona Taumalolo
2. Rob Webber (c)
3. Ben Afeaki
4. Samo Manoa
5. Jaques du Plessis
6. Julian Bonnaire
7. Sam Cane
8. Billy Vunipola
9. Niko Matawulu
10. Matt Toomua
11. Julian Savea
12. Matt Giteau
13. Ollie Deveto
14. Jordan Williams
15. Elliot Daly

16. Scott Spurling 17. Danny Hobbs-Awoyemi 18. Carl Hayman 19. Lood de Jager 20. Sam Jones 21. Joe Simpson 22. Tom Stephenson 23. Ben Foden.

Key selection points:
Whole game based around generating quick ball for Saints backline to score tries.
Strong pack with a lot of ball carriers to get us over the gainline to set
Bonnaire selected to generate quick ball for Saints backline
Cane selected to secure quick ball at the breakdown.
Good control in terms of tactical kicking with Giteau, Toomua Deveto, Williams and Daly.
Home advantage key, especially after beating Gloucester last week

Tactics: Very physical and aggressive approach to the game from the pack looking to put Gloucester under pressure and force errors. Game is based on getting good attacking ball for our backline in ideal conditions for a high scoring game. We have big ball carriers in the pack, the whole front five and Vunipola. We've selected Cane as an out and out no7 to target the breakdown, alongside du Plessis and Manoa and Bonnaire to generate great ball from the lineout.

Setpiece: Good conditions so not as much emphasis on the scrum, but strong front five and will give Vunipola an attacking platform. Lineout is an area we will target with Bonnaire to generate quick ball for our backs - Manoa defends front, Bonnaire at the back on defensive ball.

Breakdown/Backrow: Will look to cause as many problems for Gloucester at the breakdown as possible, with Cane selected to slow down Gloucester ball and Webber, Manoa and du Plessis to hit rucks and seek turnovers.

Possession/Territory: Have a backline full of kickers - Toomua, Giteau, Deveto, Williams and Daly, so will be able to pin Gloucester back and give plenty of exit routes in defence.

Attack: Plenty of options in backline, will have Savea and Giteau running off the 9 and 10 - as soon as we get front foot ball we will aim to put our speedsters into space - Matawulu, Savea, Daly and Williams can score from anywhere.

Defence: Aggressive blitz defence, big hitters and aim to force errors. Matawulu to sweep behind defensive line. Picked Toomua for his hard hitting approach in defence and will look to stop Cipriani playing his natural game, Giteau to target Mills.

Conditions updated.

1 Steenkamp
2George
3Ousthuiizen
4Stooke
5Bird
6Alberts
8 Galan
7Savea
9Tj Pernara
10Cipriani
11Gear
12Mills
13 Juan de Jongh
14 Walker
15 Dagg
Wood
Grey
Harden
Etzbeth
Evans
Genia
Carter
Banahan

Tactics


In good weather glos have come to
Move the ball about and attack attack attack.

To do this we need front foot ball and have picked a pack full of carriers to do this.


Set piece

Scrums
Aim here is to get quick ball in and out via a pick up or scrum half moving it. Picking galan and Alberts allows us to get hard yards off the back and tie in there back row
To give quality ball to opposition

Lineout

Bird is our line out leader and Is some lineout forward. Stooke will take front ball. We will be looking to drive early on and pop off the back to our big runners hitting it up when it becomes static.

We will look to go off the top when in the eighth
Part of field to allow our strike runners to play off first phase.

On their ball we will be double banking and looking to pressure

Forwards

generally we will be playing high tempo and trying to offload and keep the ball alive. We have a super
Mobile pack with huge carriers and these will be used to gain us the win.
Defensively we will be commiting numbers to rucks
As we believe we can get to the ball quickly with our
Mobile pack

Backs

They have a licence to play heads up rugby and play what they see.

When needed Cips will kick and he is
Supported by mills.

Otherwise they are looking to attack a use out
Range of runners.

Cross kicks will be used and we will look to run it from anywhere it's on. We see our bench as stronger so will be trying to wear
Saints out.

Blitz defence with Tj sneaking and all goals to be kicked if in range

Shows how well Cips is actually playing when he gets the nod for a cup semi over Dan Carter....

Tactics

Use our pack to get us across the gain line and get us quick ball to release our backs. We will look for our pack to carry off 9 and 10 and to carry in numbers in order to allow the offload if its on or to get quick ball to attack with. We will look to win the collisions and keep the legs pumping after contact to get us across the gain line.

When we get quick ball we will look for Cooper to stand flat and give him lots of options to put into space. We have two huge carriers in the midfield which still offer us creativity so Cooper will look to put them into gaps. We will also look to put it out the back behind our crash runners to spread the ball wider when we have tied in defenders.

Look to control the breakdown. We have a back 5 who are all capable of playing the backrow so we are looking to really get on top in this area. Get the first man their and look to legally win the ball or a penalty.

At the set piece look to shorten the line out between the 22m lines so as to give us many of carrying options in the midfield. At the scrum look for Woodcock to really get on top of Ducalon and Brookes to get at Kakovin. Take advantage of any dominance and milk it for penalties.

Play the game in front of us. Aggression in defence and look to put pressure on Sale.

Semi-Final at home. Big occassion. Been in big games before. Win is all important

Isn't Brookes suspended Steve?

He is, I think Murray is in Scotland squad too.

Isn't Masi playing for Italy?

Just checked.

Murray in Scotland squad.....Masi in Italy squad.

Cheers chaps missed Masi playing for Italy

Props predo:

Quins 24-23 Sale

Quins bring the power up front and feel they bring more experience to the half backs, slight advantage in outside backs and overall, without taking tactics into it as Quins haven't ha time to do theirs (05/03) i'm giving a win to Quins.

Saints 26 vs 21 Gloucester

Scrum- edge Saints
Lineout- edge to saints but not enough to be a weapon
Breakdown- edge to Saints
Carrying- good options for both but maybe Gloucester edge with Galan and Alberts in tandem
HBs- Gloucester edge it on form
Attack- equally sexy and rather similar backlines, tactics a bit more for Saints but similar quality
Defence- evens
Subs- Gloucester
Saints edge the setpiece and at home will win

Quins 28 - 24 Sale

scrum- advantage Quins
lineout- slight edge Quins
breakdown- evens
carrying- edge Quins
HBs- Quins again
Attack- more pace and danger for Sale and they have an advantage here
Defence- 3 natural FBs for Sale could be exploited by Quins
Subs- edge Sale

Overall- Quins at home and edge in pack, much like the otehr game in that regard

Saints 23-26 Glos
Close game from the start here but with the bench Glos have to come on then they will pull away at the end.

Thats commitment to the cause Prop! How goes the holiday?

Northampton 19-22 Gloucester

Both sets of props aren't big scrummagers so little in the scrum battle, similar in the 2nd row. Another close battle in the backrow with Saints shading. Gloucester edge half backs and see plenty of joy in the centres with Devoto out of position. Gloucester stronger back 3 and bench enough to see game through.

Harequins 24-22 Sale

Quins set out a bit stronger in the front 5 and will get an edge. Not much in the backrows, Quins step up at halfback but good contest in the centres. 3 FB's for Sale is interesting, not much in it past back 3. Close contest but Quins set out a bit stronger.

Quins 31 - 28 Sale
Great conditions for a high scoring game, both have some cracking players on display and will be plenty of tries. See a slight edge to Quins in the front five, which will give them that bit more of an attacking platform and combined with home advantage in a semi-final they will win this one.

(Pooly, Deveto has played quite a few games for Bath at 13 this season and had his better games there, they shift him between 12/13 during games as well depending on who he is playing with)

No commenting after predo's Chris!

Saints 22-23 Gloucester
Quins 25-21 Sake

If that's an autocorrect, how often do you drink Sake?!

Oh, yeah, Sake is a word in English too...

My brain is ruined

Quins 37-32 Sale

Free flowing game with both teams focused on scoring tries. Worry a bit about sale front row.

SJE has gone for youth and has some good names in the side but Quins have the X factor and experience that
Matters in semi finals.

Anglo welsh is a good tournament for using squad players and younger players and all 4 teams have done this in the semi.
Some interesting line ups

Northampton 20 Gloucester 23
Harlequins 27 Sale 26

Northampton 23 - 25 Gloucester

Gloucester should have a good scrum advantage but it is a strong Saints back 5 which will be physical and match Gloucester's physicality which isn't an easy task. The backs are also well matched but feel their is a bit more their for Gloucester. Good game but think Gloucester have enough to take the win.

Saints 25 - 29 Gloucester

Quins 24 - 22 Sale

Sorry Pooly, I wont mention things like Deveto is playing very well for Bath at 13 today   

Congrats Mat, thought you would give me a bit of a beating in this one - put out quite a few youngsters this round - ;ooking forward to the end of the 6Nations so I can get my front five back!

There's just been a lot of comments on predo's lately, I don't think people should be questioning on here.

Surprised I won that. Thought I would have won easily last week less
So this week.

Cheers Chris

Does winning Anglo get you heino ??

Will knock up results at lunch but congratulations to Matt & Steve   
Yeah Matt AW winner gets Heino qualification. If you qualify through the league it goes to 6th place.

dammit_chris wrote:Sorry Pooly, I wont mention things like Deveto is playing very well for Bath at 13 today   

I didn't think he did play well. He looks out of position, his defence isn't good enough for the centres imo.

Is there any kind of penalty we could put in place to stop people commenting during predo's?

It puts you off doing descriptive predictions when people pop straight away questioning things.

Should leave it till after and post on people team pages.

RESULTS:

Northampton Saints 23 (T:2 C:2 P:3)
Gloucester 28 (T:3 C:2 P:3)

Harlequins 31 (T:4 C:1 P:3)
Sale Sharks 25 (T:3 C:2 P:2)

BONUS:
Full: Matt, Steve, Prop, Chris, SJE, Pooly & CJ
Score: CJB, Luke & Driver
Fined: Fluxy & Pete