Aviva Premiership Round Seventeen

First topic message reminder :

 
 

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Sale Sharks vs Northampton Saints
Location - AJ Bell Stadium
Heavy Rain Showers, 8 degrees, 18mph South Westerly winds

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Sharks

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Saints

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London Irish vs Bath Rugby
Location - Madejski Stadium
Light Rain Showers, 9 degrees, 17mph South Westerly winds

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Warriors

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Wasps

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Worcester Warriors vs London Wasps
Location - Sixways Stadium
Light Rain Showers, 9 degrees, 18mph South Westerly winds

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Warriors

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Wasps

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Gloucester Rugby vs Newcastle Falcons
Location - Kingholm Stadium
Heavy Rain Showers, 9 degrees, 19mph South Westerly winds

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Glaws

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Falcons

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Leicester Tigers vs Exeter Chiefs
Location - Welford Road
Light Cloud, 9 degrees, 19mph South Westerly winds

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Tigers

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Chiefs

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Saracens vs Harlequins
Location - Wembley Arena
Light Rain Showers, 9 degrees, 17mph South Westerly winds

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Sarries

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Quins

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Irish 17 - 19 Bath

Scrum- with Collier injured (sadly), have to give Bath the edge
Lineout- bath and irish both easily win own ball with good jumpers at lock and other options.
Breakdown- excellent units in both backrows, Bath locks and Slipper give an edge
Carrying- Bath helped by front row but both sides handy especially in the loose (Higginbotham standout). Edge in backrow to Irish
HBs- despite intercept, advantage Irish
Attack- tactics fine, one each on centres and back 3 to Irish.
Defence- edge Irish, just
Subs- advantage Bath
Overall- Bath snatch away win

Just noticed though nobody else seems to that I've started Elliot despite trading him to bath, sorry guys. I promise I am usually more on it. Hypothetically it should be Pennell or Cueto playing instead.

Gloucester 17 - 14 Falcons

Scrum- Franks beats Wood, Figallo beats Mullen.
Lineout- edge to Gloucester
Breakdown- close but Falcons edge it with operators in all 3 backrow Positions
Carrying- Etzebeth, Alberts and Dickinson win it for Gloucester
HBs- Genia - Carter ahead despite Biggar's good form
Attack- despite JDV at 13, centres to Neecastle who also have good back 3 but Glaws back 3 very good and Folau form immense
Defence- actively v good backrow from Falcons
Subs- 2 good sets but edge Glaws
Home win but close in horrible weather

Tigers 20- 15 Chiefs

Scrum- pretty much evens out with both THs on top, maybe Chiefs end up just ahead but little in it
Lineout- just edge to Tigers
Breakdown- advantage tigers though lessened by Exeter clearing out approach with whole pack
Carrying- advantage Tigers
HBs- with Burns' form has to go to Tigers
Attack- slightly more coherent backline from Chiefs given Ranger at 13 and Monye's lack of thread ATM. Also great tactics from Exeter
Defence- Tigers a bit more solid on wings, otherwise close
Subs- good players on each bench evens
Overall- despite Exeter giving it their best go, Tigers too much in the pack, with Wilko and at home

Sarries 22- 21 Quins

Scrum- evens in my opinion
Lineout- Quins extra jumpers in backrow edge it
Breakdown- Sarries haven't mentioned this though I think they have the players to win here, so hard to separate
Carrying- Sarries well balanced and will get through work and metres in backrow, but Quins counter this with more throughout the pack and given Easter and Gorgodze too probably take it
HBs- good solid options for yne weather, Steyn a better Myler though. both helped by 12s
Attack- edge Sarries
Defence- evens
Subs- edge Quins

At home Quins would win it but Sarries have enough at home, just

Sale Sharks 22 Northampton Saints 22
London Irish 17 Bath Rugby 18
Gloucester 25 Newcastle Falcons 24
Leicester Tigers 19 Exeter Chiefs 18
Saracens 20 Harlequins 20

Sale 23 - 22 Saints
Irish 25 - 24 Bath
Gloucester 26 - 25 Newcastle
Leicester 22 - 21 Chiefs
Worcester 24 - 23 Wasps

sorry for no explanations. Fighting for time at the moment.

London Irish 22-23 Bath
Really even contest, but a lot of Bath's players are starting to hit some good form and do like the halfback combination for the conditions. Just feel Bath have a little bit more attack for the conditions and can mix their game up a tad more.

Gloucester 15-12 Falcons
Weather spoils the game, both teams very strong defensively - great front five for Gloucester, while Falcons backrow is v impressive. Packs even themselves out, can see Carter edging Biggar in battle of the no10s in the weather and getting narrow home win.

Tigers 18-15 Chiefs
Be a close game, but Tigers have such a good pack and can give a good platform that will allow Wilkinson to run the game. Still close run game.

Sarries 18-19 Quins
Being played at Wembley makes the difference, very evenly matched throughout but see an advantage for Quins in backrow, where Sarries are a little bit slower and less dynamic there. (If I am mistaken and game is at Sarries home ground and not Wembley this would be 19-19).

Warriors 15 -19 Wasps
Seen Samson Lee named twice and Elliott was transferred to Bath, so this gets the bench down to 6 players. Will be very competitive until Wasps get their bench on and final 20 mins will really shift to the away team.

Sale Sharks 22 - 22 Northampton Saints 
London Irish 23 - 22 Bath Rugby
Worcester Warriors 16 - 22 London Wasps 
Gloucester 32 - 30 Newcastle Falcons
Saracens 18 - 21 Harlequins

Sale 23-21 Saints
Can see the front five of Sale getting an advantage here. Back rows are close and difficult to call. Prefer the Sale half back combination. Scary set of outside backs from Saints and they have a strong looking bench.

Warriors 24-27 Wasps
I think overall the forwards edge goes to Wasps with some very good players on show. Backs goes to Wasps who have enough to take the away win

Gloucester 27-25 Newcastle
Leicester 28-22 Exeter
Sarries 18-18 Quins

Sale Sharks 22 - 22 Northampton Saints
Leicester 17- 15 chiefs
London Irish 27- 26 Bath Rugby
Worcester Warriors 16 - 19London Wasps
Saracens 18 - 21 Quins

Sorry for no explanations. In Basque Country for a while and wifi is hard to find. Will get team in Tuesday but will not be on much this week if at all.

Think it's only one point difference with no explanation boys

Sorry lads of course it's 1 point for no explanation

Wuss 18-19wasps
Sarries 20-21quins

Leicester 16/15 chiefs

Forgot the one point rule on predos!

Can predos remain open till the morning given the page was updated late?

As far as I'm aware Prop & I are the only ones who predict usually on a Friday and we both got them in  

I've an online lecture to do now. Predictions can stay open till when I'm done around 8ish as I'll be on tonight to knock out results.

Worcester 20 - 27 Wasps

Wasps take the advantage up front, and just about take the second rows too. They look stronger in the back row too and take the pack overall. As a duo prefer worcs at HB, but wasps take the centres and back three. Wasps strong enough for a comfortable away win which is a rarity.


Gloucester 22 - 21 Newcastle

Slight edge to home side in the scrum, whilst it's one a piece in the second row. Strong advantage to the away side in the back row which leaves the packs close. Gloucs take the HBs but Newcastle the centres. Gloucs the back three. So tough to call here, at home Gloucs edge.


Saracens 25 - 23 Harlequins

Decent scrum contest with neither dominating. Sarries just edge second rows, but Quins take the back row. Not a lot in it in the packs. One apiece in the HBs, and same again at centre whilst Sarries look a bit more dangerous out wide. Home advantage about all that swings it.

RESULTS:

Sale Sharks 24 (T:2 C:1 P:4)
Northampton Saints 22 (T:1 C:1 P:5)

London Irish 23 (T:1 P:6)
Bath Rugby 25 (T:1 C:1 P:6)

Worcester Warriors 18 (P:6)
London Wasps 25 (T:1 C:1 P:6)

Gloucester 26 (T:2 C:2 P:4)
Newcastle Falcons 21 (T:2 C:1 P:3)

Leicester Tigers 26 (T:2 C:2 P:4)
Exeter Chiefs 18 (P:6)

Saracens 21 (T:2 C:1 P:3)
Harlequins 22 (T:1 C:1 P:5)

BONUS:

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

Well done Steve, that's my first defeat at home in a while.

Close. Before predo's I thought I'd get a draw so chuffed with that.