Aviva Premiership Round One

---

Northampton Saints v Gloucester Rugby
Location - Franklins Garden
Light Cloud, 20 Degrees, 7mph NE Winds

---

Northampton Saints
Manager – Dammit_Chris

01. Mako Vunipola	09. Mike Phillips
02. Dylan Hartley (c)	10. Nick Evans (k)
03. Logi Mulipola
04. Joe Launchbury	11. Jordan Williams
05. Courtney Lawes	12. Weslie Fofana
06. Manu Samoa	13. Manu Tuilagi
07. Chris Robshaw	14. Vereniki Goneva
08. Sergio Parisse	15. Ben Foden

:-
16. Rob Webber 17. Thomas Domingo 18. Adam Jones 19. Schalk Burger 20. Billy Vunipola 21. Joe Simpson 22. Matt Giteau 23. Tommy Bowe *

* Removed JSD from the team due to his retirement.

Tactics
With great conditions Saints will adopt a high tempo game from the outset, playing with a high intensity and aggressive defence and will look to get the ball in the hands of the big ball carriers in both the pack and defence to tire Gloucester and create space outwide. We have selected a mobile pack with some great ball carriers to get us over the gainline and put Gloucester on the backfoot. Up intensity in the final 20-30 minutes with impact bench.

Set Piece
We will look to use the scrum as a platform to launch Parisse and our backline and in the final 20-30 minutes look to dominate this area technically by bringing on Jones and Domingo to squeeze the life out of the Gloucester pack. We have selected four lineout options in the starting pack - Lawes, Launchbury, Manoa and Parisse - to provide a lot of variety and options to generate our backline quick ball. We will also compete against Gloucester with the athleticism of Lawes.

Attack
Based very much on getting over the gainline with the likes of Mulipola, Vunipola, Manoa and Lawes and providing an attacking platform for Evans to get Fofana, Tuilagi and Goneva attacking space and beating tacklers and sucking in defenders to create space for Foden and Williams to exploit. Evans to control the territory game and mix up the attacking options.

Breakdown
Mobile pack and the addition of Robshaw will see Saints hit the breakdown in numbers and seek quick ball to attack with, will aim for Lawes and Manoa to clear out Qera and Alberts and control this area. With mobile pack we will look to get to Gloucester breakdowns quickly and go for turnovers where possible.

Defence
Aggressive defence with Lawes, Manoa and Launchbury leading the defensive effort in the pack, with emphasis on quick line speed from the defensive line. Fofana and Tuilagi to create a wall in the midfield, meaning Gloucester will have to go wide fast to get any chance of breaking the defensive line. Phillips to sweep behind.

Key Points
* Mike Phillips to target Dan Robson physically and put pressure on the young scrum half and disrupt Gloucester attacks.
* Play at a high tempo and intensity to target Gloucester players who have appeared or been in Rugby Championship squads - Crotty, Dagg and Alberts.
* Selected impact bench to finish strongly in final quarter of the game.

---

Gloucester
Manager – anonmattyt

01. Nick Wood	09. Dan Robson
02. Joe Grey	10. Dan Carter
03. Nicholas Mas
04. Richie Gray	11. Johnny May
05. Romain Taofufina	12. Ryan Crotty
06. Willem Alberts	13. Juan De Jong
07. Akapusi Qera	14. Hosea Gear
08. Jamie Heaslip	15. Andreas Masi

:-
16. Coenie 17. LCD 18. Figallo 19. Robson 20. Croft 21. Genia 22. Cipriani 23. Walker

Brief tactics of big runners taking it up and then moving quick front foot ball.
Will kick a lot and look to kick in behind saints back 3. Will target them with high ball also.

---

---

Sale Sharks v Bath Rugby
Location - AJ Bell Stadium
Light Cloud, 19 Degrees, 6mph NE Winds

---

 Sale Sharks
Manager – SJE

01. Jack McGrath	09. Danny Care
02. Benjamin Kayser	10. Johnny Sexton
03. Davit Zirakishvilli
04. Dave Attwood	11. Simon Zebo
05. Matt Garvey	12. Francois Steyn
06. Peter O' Mahony	13. George Pisi
07. Matt Todd	14. Semesa Rokoduguni
08. Louis Picamoles	15. Jared Payne

:-
16. Ross Harrison 17. David Paice 18. Rabah Slimani 19. Iain Henderson 20. Matt Kvesic 21. Kieran Marmion 22. JJ Hanrahan 23. Kyle Eastmond

We will play an expansive, high intensity offloading game looking to create space and break the defensive line. Mobility, physicality and handling is key to our approach.

- Fast ball is crucial. Mobile pack and physical midfield to clear out rucks and ensure quick ball. We will look to get over the gain line off all carries to make it easier to do so.

- Commit the defence. Sexton will play flat on the gain line to pull in defenders before releasing runners while Care will look for opportunities to snipe around the base always committing defenders.

- Change the point of attack. Numerous playmakers across the backline comfortable at coming in at first receiver allow us to change the point of attack and leave the opposition guessing.

- Back three always involved. Wingers to track the ball off their wings looking for the inside ball or offload. Payne to join the line from fullback looking for mismatches and to create overlaps.

- Attack the drift defence. Playing our usual up tempo, fast pace, offloading game with plenty of playmakers and line runners in the backs to change the point of attack. This should cause the Bath drift defence all sorts of problems. Sexton to thrive with all the open space!

- Attack from the scrum. Strong technical front row backed up by a powerful second row will look to build a platform for Pickles, Care & Sexton. An area we will look to target if winning.

- Mix it up at the lineout. Five genuine jumpers gives us a strong attacking platform. Look to use both the rolling maul and ball off the top to keep the defence guessing.

- Straight line blitz defence. Focused on winning the gain line collisions and driving the ball carrier back. Line speed is crucial. Care will sweep behind the line to cover chips and grubbers.

- Target the breakdown. Committed to the breakdown with POM & Todd fetching for the ball, supported by the rest of the pack when needed. We will always look to turn the ball over.

---

Bath Rugby
Manager – inthefastlane

- Ben Tameifuma currently suspended replaced by Cooper Wollsey bench one prop short

01. Cian Healy	09. Fourie Du Preez
02. Richard Hibbard	10. Charlie Hodgson
03. Jake Cooper Wollsey
04. Luke Romano	11. Sitiveni Sivivatu
05. Graham Kitchener	12. Christian Lealifano
06. Siya Kolisi	13. George North
07. Sean O'Brien	14. Christian Wade
08. James Haskell	15. Stuart Hogg

16. Mikey Haywood 17. Benn Robinson 18.  19. Luke Charteris 20. Liam Gill 21. Richard Wigglesworth 22. Darren Cave 23. Alex Goode

Overall: We are gonna be looking to play front foot rugby. The team is going to be very uptempo with lots of hard running looking to drown the energy of the Sharks.

Scrum: Look to get after the scrum. Our unit is a group with vast amount of playing time together. They will look to especially put pressure on Jack McGrath. We will try to set a base, controlled by Haskell which he can attack off.

Lineout: We will look to switch up the lineup with SOB, Haskell, Kolisi, Romano and Kitchener options in the lineout. Look to get up into the air quickly and down for a quick maul. Look to put early pressure on the throws of Kayser who can be erratic.

Breakdown: Attempt to be aggressive at the breakdown. Look to get men to the breakdown quickly and clear out so Sean O'Brien and James Haskell can attack the ball

Defence: Drift Defence looking to slow down the ball. Really look at putting pressure on Sexton as we do not want him having time to create. FDP to sweep in behind.

Attack: Our half backs will control our rugby. FDP and Hodgson can play what they see and put the rest of the back line in strong positions. Lealifano can act as an extra playmaker from the 12. We have strong runners who can get over the gainline throughout the side with a very dynamic pack and a big back line. The likes of Faumuania, Romano, Hibbard, Healy and Kolisi will try and wear down defences by looking for gaps. The likes of Sivivatu, North and Hogg will be looking for gaps created that they can exploit. Look to play with a high tempo and get the ball moving across the back line. Look for chances to offload.

Kicking: Lealifano will be our chosen place kicker. Any kicks will not be aimed towards their back three. We will chuck in the occasional grabber to chase. If we are enjoying a significant lineout advantage then we will look for touch. Hogg, LLF, FDP and Hodgson all have the boots necessary

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

---

---

Saracens v London Wasps
Location - Twickenham
Sunny Intervals, 22 Degrees, 8mph NE Winds

---

Saracens
Manager – Pooly

- Tom Taylor named twice. Bench is a flyhalf down. 

01. Alex Waller	09. Morgan Parra
02. Jamie George	10. Tom Taylor
03. Dan Cole
04. Brad Davies	11. Zak Guildford
05. Flip van der Merwe	12. Scott Williams
06. Ben Mowen(c)	13. Maxime Mermoz
07. Thierry Dusatoir	14. Chris Ashton
08. Dave Denton	15. Matt Tait

:-
16. Guilhem Guirado 17. Fabien Barcella 18. Clement Ric 19. Louis Deacon 20. Nathan Hughes 21. Henry Taylor 22. Tom Taylor 23. Miles Benjamin

Tactics:

TARGET LINE OUT – NO LEADER/GO TO MAN FOR WASPS – Wasps lack a line out leader with both AWJ and Chulski poor in this area. Look to target throughout the game and starve Wasps of good attacking ball. If they can’t get a platform from the line out they’ll struggle to put any meaningful play in against the backs. You need a solid line out to win away, Wasps can be got at in this area.


HOME ADVANTAGE IS KEY – Our home form was outstanding the back of last season, we’ve built up a fortress and it’ll take an outstanding team who are better in all departments to beat us.
TARGET WASPS 10/12 CHANNEL IN DEFENCE With Cruden and Jordaan both not great defensively will look to get big runners down that channel and some momentum.

LOOK TO DISRUPT UNBALANCED BACKROW – With 2 opensides on the flanks and a 6 playing at 8 we’ll look to cause Wasps problems around the park with players likely to be looking to each others jobs. Possible issues with the unbalanced nature of the backrow?

TARGET WASPS WINGS IN DEFENCE – Look to get the ball in behind the Wasps wings and test them defensively. Speight is very suspect in the air so we’ll look to test him out early and put the pressure on. 

CHOKE TACKLE – With the physicality in our backrow and centres we’ll look to hold up the Wasps runners and force the maul, allowing us turnover ball.

GROUND WORK/TURNOVER BALL – Numerous options to slow/turn over Wasps ball. Cole/Dusatoir/Mowen are all outstanding on the deck and will look to target this area throughout the game.


HUGE CARRYING OPTIONS - Loads of big carrying options to get us over the gain line and allow the backs to get into the game. Look to get options up at 1st and 2nd reciever at pace to draw in defence. Denton/FvdM/Davies/Mowen/ give us great options and varied carriers.


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 their half. Look to keep it tight in the forward pack and grind through work.

Scrum - Look to get a platform from the off with a strong scrummaging unit. Strong front 5 with big locks will look for the big push once the ball is in and drive the opposition back. Our LH and Hooker will look to target TH and try to get between him and Hooker to allow TH to work on LH If no weakness seen will use as restart.

Line out – Look for quick ball off the top with the world class line out options and experience. Will allow White good clean ball and have Denton/Burrell running off the 9 at angles.

Defence - High intensity and big hits, looking to drive past the ball player if the ball hits the deck. Huge physical pack that can look to dominate the collision and breakdown allowing Cole/Dus/Mowen etc a chance to slow down/steal ball. Lack of straight running option in the opp backline will allow us to hold up the runner and attempt the maul turnover. 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 Williams/Mermoz on his shoulder. Huge carrying backrow to get us over the gain line after front 5 set a platform. Williams to run angles off the 9/10 and interchange 2nd receiver with Mermoz. Look to keep opposition guessing with clever lines through midfield. Ashton will look to track the midfield combo and get the end of Mermoz’s little offloads in contact. Guildford to keep things honest and come looking for work.[/b]

---

 Wasps
Manager: Ozzy3213

01. Joe Marler	09. Ben Youngs
02. Tom Youngs	10. Aaron Cruden
03. Dave Wilson
04. Romain Millo-Chluski	11. Henry Speight
05. Alun-Wyn Jones (c)	12. Paul Jordaan
06. Fulgence Ouedraogo	13. JJ Englebrecht
07. Steffon Armitage	14. Marland Yarde
08. Jerome Kaino	15. Delon Armitage

16. Deon Fourie 17. Paul James 18. Frans Malherbe 19. Sebastien Vahaamahina 20. Luke Narraway 21. Sebastien Tillous-Borde 22. Gareth Anscombe 23. Tim Nanai-Williams


Basic Game Plan
In dry conditions we will be looking to play a possession based game, going through the phases and continually shifting the point of attack.  We will play sensibly in our own half though, and will use the boots of Cruden and Armitage if it is not on to run the ball.  When using the boot we will kicking for touch and looking to contest the lineout.  We WILL NOT kick to their back three.

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

Specifics

• Lineout.  Nothing flash. Hit our front and middle jumpers and ensure that we secure their ball.  On Sarries ball put pressure on through AWJ and Ouedraogo, who are both athletic lineout jumpers.
  
• Scrum.  Millo-Chluski to lock down behind Wilson and look to really hold that side steady.  Marler to take a long bind on Cole and pull him in creating pressure on his outside shoulder which is the injury he is coming back from.
  
• Breakdown.  When we carry in, we 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.  We will be looking to play a Super Rugby type offloading game, with the ball shifted on to the support runner just prior to the point of the tackle with the defender already committed.  We will constantly look to shift the direction of play and pull their defenders out of position to create gaps.  Youngs to look to snipe around the fringes and keep us going forwards all the time.  
  

Key Points

• Home Advantage There is none, the game is at Twickenham.
  
• Bagging players I see Pooly has gone for his traditional bagging of the opposition, no lineout leader, weak defenders at 10-12, Speight is suspect defensively etc.  I'm not going down that road, you can decide on the quality of players yourselves, suffice to say that AWJ is a Lions winning lock, he may not be Victor Matfield, but I'm pretty sure he knows how to call a lineout.
  
• Champions. We are the champions and have huge focus on getting the campaign off to a winnng start.
  

---

---

Leicester Tigers v Newcastle Falcons
Location - Welford Road
Light Cloud, 20 Degrees, 7mph NE Winds

---

Leicester Tigers
Manager – LukeLovesLuka

01. Gethin Jenkins	09. Kahn Fotuali'i
02. Stephen Moore (c)	10. Freddie Burns (K)
03. Cencus Johnston
04. Nathan Hines	11. Alex Cuthbert
05. Pascal Pape	12. Billy Twelvetrees
06. Tom Johnson	13. Mathieu Bastareaud
07. Jacques Burger	14. Napolioni Nalaga
08. Ernst Joubert	15. Mike Brown

16. Christopher Tolofua 17. Alex Corbisiero 18. Paul Doran-Jones 19. Kearnan Myall 20. Steve Mafi 21. Micky Young 22. Tusi Pisi 23. Rene Ranger

Tactics:

We will look to play high tempo, high intensity rugby. We have, particularly in the backs, big line breakers to make the hard yards and tie up defenders creating space in wider channels for Burns to exploit.

General Tactics:

- Attack all scrums with our huge pack - All international front row in Moore, Johnston and Jenkins - look to really get the shove on.

- Attack all lineouts. Use safe option of Joubert at the front, and also use Pape, Hines and Johnson in the middle or at the back.
Shortened lineouts with Burger in midfield as crash/decoy option.

- Physical, abrasive XV made up of massive line-breakers. The likes of Pape, Hines, Burger, Basteraud, Cuthbert and Nalaga to be used to win the collisions in attack.

- Play an offloading game. We see the offload as our big weapon and our carriers will all be looking to offload in contact, continuing our forward momentum.

- Fotauli'i to look to snipe around the fringes and keep us going forwards all the time.

- Look to win battle at the breakdown - Burger and Jenkins in particular to really look to get into the breakdown and give  Newcastle problems.

In attacking play, we will play with the option of 2 first receivers in Burns and Twelvetrees.
We want to control the game, mixing up the point of our attack consistently.

- 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, and look to win the collisions in defence. Fotauli'i to sweep behind with an eye on short kicks.

Burns to kick all penalites.

---

Newcastle Falcons
Manager – Driver

01. Soana Tonga'uhia	09. Greig Laidlaw
02. Rory Best (c)	10. Owen Farrell (K)
03. Carl Hayman
04. Brad Thorn	11. Max Evans
05. Geoff Parling	12. Brad Barritt
06. Dan Lydiate	13. John Davies
07. Will Fraser	14. Charlie Sharples
08. Immanol Hari	15. Rob Miller

:-
16. George McGuigan 17. Matt Mullen 18. Luc Doloucon 19. Ed Slater 20. Dave Ewers 21. Dave Lewis 22. Andy Goode 23. Luke Marshall

OVERALL PLAN

Falcons have gone for a real brusing pack who will look to tie tigers into a armwrestle and really slow the game down and take any momentum from the tigers attack. In our half backs we have two great territorial kickers who will look to test out the positioning of Nalaga and Cuthbert with kicks in behind backed with a strong chase from Evans and Sharples who are no slouches. We've picked Brad Thorn at 4 because he will add a more powerful ball carrying option and behind Tonga it will allow us too get a serious nudge on at the scrum and drive into the Tigers props and pop them up.

ATTACK

Keep the ball in the tigers half is key to our attack , using the boots of Laidlaw , Farrell and Miller to put is in positions to operate a strike move through our back line with dangerous runners in Davies , Sharples and Evans. We'll look to put the ball behind dummy runners and use Farrell on the wrap round to create space and weak shoulders for attackers to run at.

DEFENCE

Aggresive approach at the break down and look to slow tigers down with Faz/Barritt/Davies operating a blitz to shut down the tigers backline with Laidlaw sweeping behind to cover any kicks or half breaks. Barritt is fighting for a England spot and will look to impress Lancaster by one uping 12T with his defence work.

LINE OUT

Parling to jump at the front on Tigers throw and really get across as we feel that this along with the scrum is an area in which we hold an advantage over Tigers. We'll mix it up on our own throw with Hari , Parling and Thorn all targets. Lydiate and Fraser will hound the Tigers half backs from the lineouts and look to ruffle a few feathers.

Hari to pick and go from 8 with the intent of running at Burns in the tigers 10 channel to test out his defence.

---

---

London Irish v Harlequins
Location - Twickenham
Sunny Intervals, 22 Degrees, 8mph NE Winds

---

London Irish
Manager – Prop

01. JB Poux	09. Lee Dickson
02. Ken Owens	10. Dan Biggar (k)
03. Henry Thomas
04. Dean Mumm	11. Nick Cummins
05. Jacques Poitgeiter	12. Alapati Leuia
06. Kelly Brown	13. Henry Trinder
07. Sam Warburton	14. JP Pietersen
08. Ben Morgan	15. Brice Dulin

:-
16. Tom Lindsay 17.  Tom Smallbone 18. Will Collier 19. Devin Toner 20. George Smith 21. Rory Kockott 22. Owen Williams 23. Rob Cook

Tactics

Set piece: solid front 5 who are all good carriers and we will look to go up on th eight head in te scum using poux's now in the dark arts. We will look to shorten attacking lineouts to have runners off 10 and 12. We will carry in pods so as not to get isolated.

Back row: we hVe the balance of carrying,tackling an jackling here and we will use them all to their best ability with warburton picking which rucks t come in in.

Halfbacks: Dickson to play at a quick pace and biggar I put us into territory, he is a good carrier and offloaded and we will use this.

Outside backs: we will have dangerous runners everywhere looking for strike moves an I exploit any overlaps, if a back makes it owe the gain line then if it's on we will look to offload or have quick ball on a platform for or wards comin round th corner.

Defence: a blitz defene with Dickson sweeping. We will look to put 10 off his game with some big hits and suck him into conact. Position is key and we will be aware of being in the right place to return any kicks.

Bench: impact and experience in forwards and backs with toner, kockott and Williams able to cause a lot of trouble.

Overall: play steady and grind out a win if needed, use a heavy pack to gain kick able penalties and we will be hot on staying inside and not giving away silly penalties.

---

Harlequins
Manager – Steven_Sharks

01. Tony Woodcock	09. Karl Dickson
02. Schalk Brits	10. Quade Cooper
03. John Afoa
04. Bakkies Botha	11. Jack Nowell
05. Jim Hamilton	12. Jamie Roberts
06. Mamuka Gorgodze	13. Jonathan Joseph
07. Tom Wood (c)	14. Yoann Huget
08. Damien Chouly	15. Rob Kearney

16. Rob Buchanan 17. Steven Kitchoff 18. Kieran Brookes 19. George Kruis 20. Luke Braid 21. Eric Escande 22. Steven Myler 23. Aurelien Rougerie

Tactics

Attack

We will look to use our usual patient approach where we build up pressure using our strong carriers in the pack and at 12 to get us across the gain line. Once we have quick ball we will look for Dickson to increase the tempo of the game with Cooper standing flat and putting others into spaces.

When we have slow ball we will look for our forwards to carry off 9 and 10. They will carry in pods. This allows us to vary between offloading before contact, offloading out of contact and getting quick ruck ball. In attack we are desperate to get quick ball and to do this our forwards need to carry with dynamism taking the ball at pace with the look to win the collision and keep the legs pumping after contact. In Dickson and Cooper we have half packs that can put others into space and keep the defence honest and snipe at gaps.

When we get quick ball we will look to get the ball wider and allow our back row to move into wider channels and look to get Joseph and the back three into one on one situation with their opposite number. The whole team know that on Dickson and Cooper's call our tempo increases and everything needs to be executed with increased accuracy.

Defence

We will look to be aggressive in our defence with a quick line speed and we will defend from out to in looking to force the London Irish attacks back in field where we have numbers to defend and can look to legally slow down or turnover the ball at the breakdown. Joseph's pace is key to this as our line speed needs to be very quick out wide as well as infield.

Key Points

Experience up front.
Neutral venue
Strong set piece
Pace outwide

---

---

London Welsh v Exeter Chiefs
Location - Kassam Stadium
Light Cloud, 21 Degrees, 6mph NE Winds

---

London Welsh

01. Nathan Catt	09. Tawera Kerr-Barlowe
02. Matthew Rees	10. Francois Trinh-Duc
03. BJ Botha
04. George Skivington (c)	11. Nemani Nadolo
05. Jamie Cudmore	12. Jordan Turner-Hall
06. Julien Lapandry	13. Michelle Campagnaro
07. John Barclay	14. Sean Maitland
08. Victor Vito	15. Chris Pennell

:-
16. Dave Ward 17. David Kilcoyne 18. Oliver Tomaszczyk 19. Mouritz Botha 20. Ashley Johnson 21. Ben Spencer 22. Kyle Godwin 23. Jesse Mogg

Tactics

In this good weather we will look to play a mobile and attacking style, recycling the ball quickly and moving the focus of attack.

Key to this will be the breakdown. We shall approach the breakdown as a unit why players chipping in wherever they can but with Barclay as the primary fetcher chasing the ball across the pitch, supported by Vito and Lapandry with the rest of the pack focusing on clearing out to speed up the usability of the ball when possible. We will look to attack and turnover opposition ball with isolation and piling in the numbers when it's on and ensuring our own ball is quick but when possession for either side is assured we will commit small numbers.

In attack we will look to build slow ball into quick with mauls and sets of drives with units of 3 forwards. When we have quick ball we will spin it wide with FTH playing flat and JTH taking the ball into the line flat off him (with Vito or another forward as an inside pop option), looking to either offload or recycle quickly to a second wave of runners in other forwards, Campagnaro and the back 3. We will repeat this use of waves with focus on support lines and running for any breaks. Any gaps in the fringes will see TKB and FTH have licence to snipe and run. With our quality wingers we will also look to chip behind the wings wide if the defence narrows or rushes. Throughout this Barclay or Lapandry will double as linkmen as they chase the ball

Pennell to help the halfbacks with an attacking and defensive tactical kicking game when attack is not sensible. In general kicks will be low and chased looking to exploit the bounce. We are happy to run pivots and switch plays off set piece ball


Defence- rush defence with Pennell staying back and TKB sweeping. Vito to lead fringe defence and Lapandry to harry Murray. Target Flood with hits from Rees and Cudmore with Barclay chasing the ball looking to cover the inside pop.

Set piece- look to get the ball out as quickly as possible and play off Vito at 8

Lineout- mix up our options, look to play off the top and use as a platform for set moves. In defence, give them the front but oppose anything longer to force them into using front ball which cannot be used wide.

Kicking- FTH to kick, Pennell as back up. Try and run back kicks where possible with lethal back 3.

Targets- target Flood with rough treatment. Challenge JOC under the high ball and test his positioning against the bounce at the back which is dodgy. Try and engineer one on ones with Varndell's tackling.

Subs- Godwin at 12 if we need a more traditional game getting the ball wide. Ward will help the breakdown and Johnson and Mogg add impact in their areas.

Overall- rush defence to cut their space, especially harrying Murray and roughing Flood
- multi-wave attack looking to get ball quickly out of the tackle
- chip into space behind wings and utilise the bounce alla France
- don't overcommit to rucks
- build slow ball into quick

---

Exeter Chiefs 

Manager – Fluxy

01. Ryan Grant	09. Connor Murray
02. Dimitri Szarzewski	10. Toby Flood (k)
03. Jamie Johnston
04. Patrick Tuipulotu	11. Tom Varndell
05. Paul O'Connell (c)	12. Luther Burrell
06. Carl Fearns	13. Alex Dunbar
07. Justin Tipuric	14. Andrew Trimble
08. Toby Faletau	15. James O'Connor

16. Jack Yeandle 17. Richard Barrington 18. Davit Kubriashvili 19. Michael Paterson 20. Yannick Nyanga 21. Chris Cook 22. Ian Madigan 23. Maxime Medard

General Game plan

Fast paced game based around high intensity in defence, offloading, and dynamic carrying and rucking. 
We want to hit the ground running and hit the opposition hard and fast from the off. 
Our aim is to control possession and go through the phases. Flood will look to play flat and look to get our back line into the game whenever possible and keep the high tempo going throughout.

Set piece - Control the set piece and use it to restart our game plan and create point of attacks. POC to marshal the line-out and get quick ball from our dynamic jumpers. At the scrum we’ll look to get the squeeze on and keep the opposition back row tied into the scrum giving Murray, Flood & JOC more time and space to work in. 

Pack & Breakdown - Look for strong carries from our pack, tying in the opposition forwards. We’ll be looking to keep the ball alive and look for the offload when on. Our back-row will target the breakdown and look to blow through the ruck and past the ball. Clean ball will be generated either by blowing through the ruck and past the ball and a long presentation of the ball to keep it away from opposition defenders. Murray look to sweep up any turnover ball getting us on the front foot. We’ll look to win the collision with big our physical pack and dominate the opposition pack in the contact.

Defence - Look to neutralise the opposition early on and allow our back-row to dominate affairs. Tuipolotu/POC in particular will look to hit the ruck hard and remove attempted turnovers from the equation allowing us to ruck over the ball and past the ball - to control the breakdown. Tipuric will look to target the opposition fly half early on and pressure his kicking. Murray to sweep in behind the defensive line.

Backs - Look to get the ball in hands of JOC/Dunbar and Burrell. Utilise the pace and size of Dunbar/Burrell to crash through the line, using our 'league/slider move' developed from last season to break the line. Dunbar/Burrell are both big quick guys and will be able to mix and match the opposition defence, either catching Turner-Hall's weaker inside shoulder on a a run against the grain, or exploiting the size and flimsy defence of Campagnaro. Or even generate a two on one with JOC joining the back line as the slider moves under the crash/dummy line.


Key Points

Scrum & Line-out – Target throughout, if weakness seen heap pressure and generate penalties. 
Line-out & Mauls - with a big front five we will look to set rolling mauls, to keep their back-row tied in and also gain strong momentum.
Physicality & Dynamism – Win the collision and target rucks to drive through opposition. We have a big physical, but also mobile pack. Supported by some high energy forwards off the bench. 
Breakdown – Tipuric & Faletau to be a nuisance in in the breakdown and either get over the ball or get past the ball and make the opposition cleaners a nightmare by having to make them drive our forwards even further off their ball, or steal if the are limited numbers competing. 
Backs – Classy running options and two of the most prolific finishers in both the AP and the Celtic Leagues in Varndell & Trimble to take any opportunity.
Build a Score - Flood and JOC to share kicking at goal responsibilities with JOC taking the longer ones. Any penalty within their ten metre to be kicked at goal to keep scoreboard ticking. Unless ten metres from the line then we kick for the line-out

---

Just a reminder on deadline rules:

Home teams must be named by midnight on Tuesday. Away teams must be named by midnight on Wednesday. Failure to meet these deadlines is punishable by the addition of three match points to the oppositions final score, unless both sides fail to do so.

It is your own responsibility to ensure you have no international players selected. Usual punishments will apply re replacement called up from bench and you go one man short as well as the points deduction.

Northampton Saints
Manager – Dammit_Chris

01. Mako Vunipola	09. Mike Phillips
02. Dylan Hartley (c)	10. Nick Evans (k)
03. Logi Mulipola
04. Joe Launchbury	11. Jordan Williams
05. Courtney Lawes	12. Weslie Fofana
06. Manu Samoa	13. Manu Tuilagi
07. Chris Robshaw	14. Vereniki Goneva
08. Sergio Parisse	15. Ben Foden

:-
16. Rob Webber 17. Thomas Domingo 18. Adam Jones 19. Schalk Burger 20. Billy Vunipola 21. Joe Simpson 22. Matt Giteau 23. Tommy Bowe *

* Removed JSD from the team due to his retirement.

Tactics
With great conditions Saints will adopt a high tempo game from the outset, playing with a high intensity and aggressive defence and will look to get the ball in the hands of the big ball carriers in both the pack and defence to tire Gloucester and create space outwide. We have selected a mobile pack with some great ball carriers to get us over the gainline and put Gloucester on the backfoot. Up intensity in the final 20-30 minutes with impact bench.

Set Piece
We will look to use the scrum as a platform to launch Parisse and our backline and in the final 20-30 minutes look to dominate this area technically by bringing on Jones and Domingo to squeeze the life out of the Gloucester pack. We have selected four lineout options in the starting pack - Lawes, Launchbury, Manoa and Parisse - to provide a lot of variety and options to generate our backline quick ball. We will also compete against Gloucester with the athleticism of Lawes.

Attack
Based very much on getting over the gainline with the likes of Mulipola, Vunipola, Manoa and Lawes and providing an attacking platform for Evans to get Fofana, Tuilagi and Goneva attacking space and beating tacklers and sucking in defenders to create space for Foden and Williams to exploit. Evans to control the territory game and mix up the attacking options.

Breakdown
Mobile pack and the addition of Robshaw will see Saints hit the breakdown in numbers and seek quick ball to attack with, will aim for Lawes and Manoa to clear out Qera and Alberts and control this area. With mobile pack we will look to get to Gloucester breakdowns quickly and go for turnovers where possible.

Defence
Aggressive defence with Lawes, Manoa and Launchbury leading the defensive effort in the pack, with emphasis on quick line speed from the defensive line. Fofana and Tuilagi to create a wall in the midfield, meaning Gloucester will have to go wide fast to get any chance of breaking the defensive line. Phillips to sweep behind.

Key Points
* Mike Phillips to target Dan Robson physically and put pressure on the young scrum half and disrupt Gloucester attacks.
* Play at a high tempo and intensity to target Gloucester players who have appeared or been in Rugby Championship squads - Crotty, Dagg and Alberts.
* Selected impact bench to finish strongly in final quarter of the game.

Newcastle Falcons
Manager – Driver

01. Soana Tonga'uhia	09. Greig Laidlaw
02. Rory Best (c)	10. Owen Farrell (K)
03. Carl Hayman
04. Brad Thorn	11. Max Evans
05. Geoff Parling	12. Brad Barritt
06. Dan Lydiate	13. John Davies
07. Will Fraser	14. Charlie Sharples
08. Immanol Hari	15. Rob Miller

:-
16. George McGuigan 17. Matt Mullen 18. Luc Doloucon 19. Ed Slater 20. Dave Ewers 21. Dave Lewis 22. Andy Goode 23. Luke Marshall

OVERALL PLAN

Falcons have gone for a real brusing pack who will look to tie tigers into a armwrestle and really slow the game down and take any momentum from the tigers attack. In our half backs we have two great territorial kickers who will look to test out the positioning of Nalaga and Cuthbert with kicks in behind backed with a strong chase from Evans and Sharples who are no slouches. We've picked Brad Thorn at 4 because he will add a more powerful ball carrying option and behind Tonga it will allow us too get a serious nudge on at the scrum and drive into the Tigers props and pop them up.

ATTACK

Keep the ball in the tigers half is key to our attack , using the boots of Laidlaw , Farrell and Miller to put is in positions to operate a strike move through our back line with dangerous runners in Davies , Sharples and Evans. We'll look to put the ball behind dummy runners and use Farrell on the wrap round to create space and weak shoulders for attackers to run at.

DEFENCE

Aggresive approach at the break down and look to slow tigers down with Faz/Barritt/Davies operating a blitz to shut down the tigers backline with Laidlaw sweeping behind to cover any kicks or half breaks. Barritt is fighting for a England spot and will look to impress Lancaster by one uping 12T with his defence work.

LINE OUT

Parling to jump at the front on Tigers throw and really get across as we feel that this along with the scrum is an area in which we hold an advantage over Tigers. We'll mix it up on our own throw with Hari , Parling and Thorn all targets. Lydiate and Fraser will hound the Tigers half backs from the lineouts and look to ruffle a few feathers.

Hari to pick and go from 8 with the intent of running at Burns in the tigers 10 channel to test out his defence.

Didn't know this was up already

London Welsh

01. Nathan Catt	09. Tawera Kerr-Barlowe
02. Matthew Rees	10. Francois Trinh-Duc
03. BJ Botha
04. George Skivington (c)	11. Nemani Nadolo
05. Jamie Cudmore	12. Jordan Turner-Hall
06. Julien Lapandry	13. Michelle Campagnaro
07. John Barclay	14. Sean Maitland
08. Victor Vito	15. Chris Pennell

:-
16. Dave Ward 17. David Kilcoyne 18. Oliver Tomaszczyk 19. Mouritz Botha 20. Ashley Johnson 21. Ben Spencer 22. Kyle Godwin 23. Jesse Mogg

Tactics

In this good weather we will look to play a mobile and attacking style, recycling the ball quickly and moving the focus of attack.

Key to this will be the breakdown. We shall approach the breakdown as a unit why players chipping in wherever they can but with Barclay as the primary fetcher chasing the ball across the pitch, supported by Vito and Lapandry with the rest of the pack focusing on clearing out to speed up the usability of the ball when possible. We will look to attack and turnover opposition ball with isolation and piling in the numbers when it's on and ensuring our own ball is quick but when possession for either side is assured we will commit small numbers.

In attack we will look to build slow ball into quick with mauls and sets of drives with units of 3 forwards. When we have quick ball we will spin it wide with FTH playing flat and JTH taking the ball into the line flat off him (with Vito or another forward as an inside pop option), looking to either offload or recycle quickly to a second wave of runners in other forwards, Campagnaro and the back 3. We will repeat this use of waves with focus on support lines and running for any breaks. Any gaps in the fringes will see TKB and FTH have licence to snipe and run. With our quality wingers we will also look to chip behind the wings wide if the defence narrows or rushes. Throughout this Barclay or Lapandry will double as linkmen as they chase the ball

Pennell to help the halfbacks with an attacking and defensive tactical kicking game when attack is not sensible. In general kicks will be low and chased looking to exploit the bounce. We are happy to run pivots and switch plays off set piece ball


Defence- rush defence with Pennell staying back and TKB sweeping. Vito to lead fringe defence and Lapandry to harry Murray. Target Flood with hits from Rees and Cudmore with Barclay chasing the ball looking to cover the inside pop.

Set piece- look to get the ball out as quickly as possible and play off Vito at 8

Lineout- mix up our options, look to play off the top and use as a platform for set moves. In defence, give them the front but oppose anything longer to force them into using front ball which cannot be used wide.

Kicking- FTH to kick, Pennell as back up. Try and run back kicks where possible with lethal back 3.

Targets- target Flood with rough treatment. Challenge JOC under the high ball and test his positioning against the bounce at the back which is dodgy. Try and engineer one on ones with Varndell's tackling.

Subs- Godwin at 12 if we need a more traditional game getting the ball wide. Ward will help the breakdown and Johnson and Mogg add impact in their areas.

Overall- rush defence to cut their space, especially harrying Murray and roughing Flood
- multi-wave attack looking to get ball quickly out of the tackle
- chip into space behind wings and utilise the bounce alla France
- don't overcommit to rucks
- build slow ball into quick

Sale Sharks
Manager – SJE

01. Jack McGrath	09. Danny Care
02. Benjamin Kayser	10. Johnny Sexton
03. Davit Zirakishvilli
04. Dave Attwood	11. Simon Zebo
05. Matt Garvey	12. Francois Steyn
06. Peter O' Mahony	13. George Pisi
07. Matt Todd	14. Semesa Rokoduguni
08. Louis Picamoles	15. Jared Payne

:-
16. Ross Harrison 17. David Paice 18. Rabah Slimani 19. Iain Henderson 20. Matt Kvesic 21. Kieran Marmion 22. JJ Hanrahan 23. Kyle Eastmond

We will play an expansive, high intensity offloading game looking to create space and break the defensive line. Mobility, physicality and handling is key to our approach.

- Fast ball is crucial. Mobile pack and physical midfield to clear out rucks and ensure quick ball. We will look to get over the gain line off all carries to make it easier to do so.

- Commit the defence. Sexton will play flat on the gain line to pull in defenders before releasing runners while Care will look for opportunities to snipe around the base always committing defenders.

- Change the point of attack. Numerous playmakers across the backline comfortable at coming in at first receiver allow us to change the point of attack and leave the opposition guessing.

- Back three always involved. Wingers to track the ball off their wings looking for the inside ball or offload. Payne to join the line from fullback looking for mismatches and to create overlaps.

- Attack the drift defence. Playing our usual up tempo, fast pace, offloading game with plenty of playmakers and line runners in the backs to change the point of attack. This should cause the Bath drift defence all sorts of problems. Sexton to thrive with all the open space!

- Attack from the scrum. Strong technical front row backed up by a powerful second row will look to build a platform for Pickles, Care & Sexton. An area we will look to target if winning.

- Mix it up at the lineout. Five genuine jumpers gives us a strong attacking platform. Look to use both the rolling maul and ball off the top to keep the defence guessing.

- Straight line blitz defence. Focused on winning the gain line collisions and driving the ball carrier back. Line speed is crucial. Care will sweep behind the line to cover chips and grubbers.

- Target the breakdown. Committed to the breakdown with POM & Todd fetching for the ball, supported by the rest of the pack when needed. We will always look to turn the ball over.

Exeter Chiefs name the provisional side for their first fixture of the season against London Welsh away. Director of Rugby Fluxy stated in a short interview that his side are keen to kick off another busy season and hit the ground running after a solid season last year. 


Exeter Chiefs 

Manager – Fluxy

01. Ryan Grant	09. Connor Murray
02. Dimitri Szarzewski	10. Toby Flood (k)
03. Jamie Johnston
04. Patrick Tuipulotu	11. Tom Varndell
05. Paul O'Connell (c)	12. Luther Burrell
06. Carl Fearns	13. Alex Dunbar
07. Justin Tipuric	14. Andrew Trimble
08. Toby Faletau	15. James O'Connor

16. Jack Yeandle 17. Richard Barrington 18. Davit Kubriashvili 19. Michael Paterson 20. Yannick Nyanga 21. Chris Cook 22. Ian Madigan 23. Maxime Medard

General Game plan

Fast paced game based around high intensity in defence, offloading, and dynamic carrying and rucking. 
We want to hit the ground running and hit the opposition hard and fast from the off. 
Our aim is to control possession and go through the phases. Flood will look to play flat and look to get our back line into the game whenever possible and keep the high tempo going throughout.

Set piece - Control the set piece and use it to restart our game plan and create point of attacks. POC to marshal the line-out and get quick ball from our dynamic jumpers. At the scrum we’ll look to get the squeeze on and keep the opposition back row tied into the scrum giving Murray, Flood & JOC more time and space to work in. 

Pack & Breakdown - Look for strong carries from our pack, tying in the opposition forwards. We’ll be looking to keep the ball alive and look for the offload when on. Our back-row will target the breakdown and look to blow through the ruck and past the ball. Clean ball will be generated either by blowing through the ruck and past the ball and a long presentation of the ball to keep it away from opposition defenders. Murray look to sweep up any turnover ball getting us on the front foot. We’ll look to win the collision with big our physical pack and dominate the opposition pack in the contact.

Defence - Look to neutralise the opposition early on and allow our back-row to dominate affairs. Tuipolotu/POC in particular will look to hit the ruck hard and remove attempted turnovers from the equation allowing us to ruck over the ball and past the ball - to control the breakdown. Tipuric will look to target the opposition fly half early on and pressure his kicking. Murray to sweep in behind the defensive line.

Backs - Look to get the ball in hands of JOC/Dunbar and Burrell. Utilise the pace and size of Dunbar/Burrell to crash through the line, using our 'league/slider move' developed from last season to break the line. Dunbar/Burrell are both big quick guys and will be able to mix and match the opposition defence, either catching Turner-Hall's weaker inside shoulder on a a run against the grain, or exploiting the size and flimsy defence of Campagnaro. Or even generate a two on one with JOC joining the back line as the slider moves under the crash/dummy line.


Key Points

Scrum & Line-out – Target throughout, if weakness seen heap pressure and generate penalties. 
Line-out & Mauls - with a big front five we will look to set rolling mauls, to keep their back-row tied in and also gain strong momentum.
Physicality & Dynamism – Win the collision and target rucks to drive through opposition. We have a big physical, but also mobile pack. Supported by some high energy forwards off the bench. 
Breakdown – Tipuric & Faletau to be a nuisance in in the breakdown and either get over the ball or get past the ball and make the opposition cleaners a nightmare by having to make them drive our forwards even further off their ball, or steal if the are limited numbers competing. 
Backs – Classy running options and two of the most prolific finishers in both the AP and the Celtic Leagues in Varndell & Trimble to take any opportunity.
Build a Score - Flood and JOC to share kicking at goal responsibilities with JOC taking the longer ones. Any penalty within their ten metre to be kicked at goal to keep scoreboard ticking. Unless ten metres from the line then we kick for the line-out

Saracens
Manager – Pooly

01. Alex Waller	09. Morgan Parra
02. Jamie George	10. Tom Taylor
03. Dan Cole
04. Brad Davies	11. Zak Guildford
05. Flip van der Merwe	12. Scott Williams
06. Ben Mowen(c)	13. Maxime Mermoz
07. Thierry Dusatoir	14. Chris Ashton
08. Dave Denton	15. Matt Tait

:-
16. Guilhem Guirado 17. Fabien Barcella 18. Clement Ric 19. Louis Deacon 20. Nathan Hughes 21. Henry Taylor 22. Tom Taylor 23. Miles Benjamin

Tactics:

TARGET LINE OUT – NO LEADER/GO TO MAN FOR WASPS – Wasps lack a line out leader with both AWJ and Chulski poor in this area. Look to target throughout the game and starve Wasps of good attacking ball. If they can’t get a platform from the line out they’ll struggle to put any meaningful play in against the backs. You need a solid line out to win away, Wasps can be got at in this area.


HOME ADVANTAGE IS KEY – Our home form was outstanding the back of last season, we’ve built up a fortress and it’ll take an outstanding team who are better in all departments to beat us.
TARGET WASPS 10/12 CHANNEL IN DEFENCE With Cruden and Jordaan both not great defensively will look to get big runners down that channel and some momentum.

LOOK TO DISRUPT UNBALANCED BACKROW – With 2 opensides on the flanks and a 6 playing at 8 we’ll look to cause Wasps problems around the park with players likely to be looking to each others jobs. Possible issues with the unbalanced nature of the backrow?

TARGET WASPS WINGS IN DEFENCE – Look to get the ball in behind the Wasps wings and test them defensively. Speight is very suspect in the air so we’ll look to test him out early and put the pressure on.

CHOKE TACKLE – With the physicality in our backrow and centres we’ll look to hold up the Wasps runners and force the maul, allowing us turnover ball.

GROUND WORK/TURNOVER BALL – Numerous options to slow/turn over Wasps ball. Cole/Dusatoir/Mowen are all outstanding on the deck and will look to target this area throughout the game.


HUGE CARRYING OPTIONS - Loads of big carrying options to get us over the gain line and allow the backs to get into the game. Look to get options up at 1st and 2nd reciever at pace to draw in defence. Denton/FvdM/Davies/Mowen/ give us great options and varied carriers.


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 their half. Look to keep it tight in the forward pack and grind through work.

Scrum - Look to get a platform from the off with a strong scrummaging unit. Strong front 5 with big locks will look for the big push once the ball is in and drive the opposition back. Our LH and Hooker will look to target TH and try to get between him and Hooker to allow TH to work on LH If no weakness seen will use as restart.

Line out – Look for quick ball off the top with the world class line out options and experience. Will allow White good clean ball and have Denton/Burrell running off the 9 at angles.

Defence - High intensity and big hits, looking to drive past the ball player if the ball hits the deck. Huge physical pack that can look to dominate the collision and breakdown allowing Cole/Dus/Mowen etc a chance to slow down/steal ball. Lack of straight running option in the opp backline will allow us to hold up the runner and attempt the maul turnover. 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 Williams/Mermoz on his shoulder. Huge carrying backrow to get us over the gain line after front 5 set a platform. Williams to run angles off the 9/10 and interchange 2nd receiver with Mermoz. Look to keep opposition guessing with clever lines through midfield. Ashton will look to track the midfield combo and get the end of Mermoz’s little offloads in contact. Guildford to keep things honest and come looking for work.[/b]

Think that's ok, off nights and on phone

Leicester Tigers
Manager – LukeLovesLuka

01. Gethin Jenkins	09. Kahn Fotuali'i
02. Stephen Moore (c)	10. Freddie Burns (K)
03. Cencus Johnston
04. Nathan Hines	11. Alex Cuthbert
05. Pascal Pape	12. Billy Twelvetrees
06. Tom Johnson	13. Mathieu Bastareaud
07. Jacques Burger	14. Napolioni Nalaga
08. Ernst Joubert	15. Mike Brown

16. Christopher Tolofua 17. Alex Corbisiero 18. Paul Doran-Jones 19. Kearnan Myall 20. Steve Mafi 21. Micky Young 22. Tusi Pisi 23. Rene Ranger

Tactics:

We will look to play high tempo, high intensity rugby. We have, particularly in the backs, big line breakers to make the hard yards and tie up defenders creating space in wider channels for Burns to exploit.

General Tactics:

- Attack all scrums with our huge pack - All international front row in Moore, Johnston and Jenkins - look to really get the shove on.

- Attack all lineouts. Use safe option of Joubert at the front, and also use Pape, Hines and Johnson in the middle or at the back.
Shortened lineouts with Burger in midfield as crash/decoy option.

- Physical, abrasive XV made up of massive line-breakers. The likes of Pape, Hines, Burger, Basteraud, Cuthbert and Nalaga to be used to win the collisions in attack.

- Play an offloading game. We see the offload as our big weapon and our carriers will all be looking to offload in contact, continuing our forward momentum.

- Fotauli'i to look to snipe around the fringes and keep us going forwards all the time.

- Look to win battle at the breakdown - Burger and Jenkins in particular to really look to get into the breakdown and give  Newcastle problems.

In attacking play, we will play with the option of 2 first receivers in Burns and Twelvetrees.
We want to control the game, mixing up the point of our attack consistently.

- 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, and look to win the collisions in defence. Fotauli'i to sweep behind with an eye on short kicks.

Burns to kick all penalites.

Driver think Phipps is playing for Oz.

London Irish
Manager – Prop

01. JB Poux	09. Lee Dickson
02. Ken Owens	10. Dan Biggar (k)
03. Henry Thomas
04. Dean Mumm	11. Nick Cummins
05. Jacques Poitgeiter	12. Alapati Leuia
06. Kelly Brown	13. Henry Trinder
07. Sam Warburton	14. JP Pietersen
08. Ben Morgan	15. Brice Dulin

:-
16. Tom Lindsay 17.  Tom Smallbone 18. Will Collier 19. Devin Toner 20. George Smith 21. Rory Kockott 22. Owen Williams 23. Rob Cook

Tactics

Set piece: solid front 5 who are all good carriers and we will look to go up on th eight head in te scum using poux's now in the dark arts. We will look to shorten attacking lineouts to have runners off 10 and 12. We will carry in pods so as not to get isolated.

Back row: we hVe the balance of carrying,tackling an jackling here and we will use them all to their best ability with warburton picking which rucks t come in in.

Halfbacks: Dickson to play at a quick pace and biggar I put us into territory, he is a good carrier and offloaded and we will use this.

Outside backs: we will have dangerous runners everywhere looking for strike moves an I exploit any overlaps, if a back makes it owe the gain line then if it's on we will look to offload or have quick ball on a platform for or wards comin round th corner.

Defence: a blitz defene with Dickson sweeping. We will look to put 10 off his game with some big hits and suck him into conact. Position is key and we will be aware of being in the right place to return any kicks.

Bench: impact and experience in forwards and backs with toner, kockott and Williams able to cause a lot of trouble.

Overall: play steady and grind out a win if needed, use a heavy pack to gain kick able penalties and we will be hot on staying inside and not giving away silly penalties.

At airport so  on a phone

Not sure if will get tactics in Chris

Gloucester
Manager – anonmattyt

01. Nick Wood	09. Dan Robson
02. Joe Grey	10. Dan Carter
03. Nicholas Mas
04. Richie Gray	11. Johnny May
05. Romain Taofufina	12. Ryan Crotty
06. Willem Alberts	13. Juan De Jong
07. Akapusi Qera	14. Hosea Gear
08. Jamie Heaslip	15. Andreas Masi

:-
16. Coenie 17. LCD 18. Figallo 19. Robson 20. Croft 21. Genia 22. Cipriani 23. Walker


Brief tactics of big runners taking it up and then moving quick front foot ball.
Will kick a lot and look to kick in behind saints back 3. Will target them with high ball also.

Struggling to get on here due to Holiday

prop_lyd wrote:

01. JB Poux	09. Lee Dickson
02. Ken Owens	10. Dan Biggar (k)
03. Henry Thomas
04. Dean Mumm	11. Nick Cummins
05. Jacques Poitgeiter	12. Alapati Leuia
06. Kelly Brown	13. Henry Trinder
07. Sam Warburton	14. JP Pietersen
08. Ben Morgan	15. Brice Dulin

16. Tom Lindsay 17.  Tom Court 18. Will Collier 19. Devin Toner 20. George Smith 21. Rory Kockott 22. Owen Williams 23. Rob Cook

Prop think you have 7 English. Despite being English Warburton does count as welsh !!!!

Harlequins
Manager – Steven_Sharks

01. Tony Woodcock	09. Karl Dickson
02. Schalk Brits	10. Quade Cooper
03. John Afoa
04. Bakkies Botha	11. Jack Nowell
05. Jim Hamilton	12. Jamie Roberts
06. Mamuka Gorgodze	13. Jonathan Joseph
07. Tom Wood (c)	14. Yoann Huget
08. Damien Chouly	15. Rob Kearney

16. Rob Buchanan 17. Steven Kitchoff 18. Kieran Brookes 19. George Kruis 20. Luke Braid 21. Eric Escande 22. Steven Myler 23. Aurelien Rougerie

Tactics

Attack

We will look to use our usual patient approach where we build up pressure using our strong carriers in the pack and at 12 to get us across the gain line. Once we have quick ball we will look for Dickson to increase the tempo of the game with Cooper standing flat and putting others into spaces.

When we have slow ball we will look for our forwards to carry off 9 and 10. They will carry in pods. This allows us to vary between offloading before contact, offloading out of contact and getting quick ruck ball. In attack we are desperate to get quick ball and to do this our forwards need to carry with dynamism taking the ball at pace with the look to win the collision and keep the legs pumping after contact. In Dickson and Cooper we have half packs that can put others into space and keep the defence honest and snipe at gaps.

When we get quick ball we will look to get the ball wider and allow our back row to move into wider channels and look to get Joseph and the back three into one on one situation with their opposite number. The whole team know that on Dickson and Cooper's call our tempo increases and everything needs to be executed with increased accuracy.

Defence

We will look to be aggressive in our defence with a quick line speed and we will defend from out to in looking to force the London Irish attacks back in field where we have numbers to defend and can look to legally slow down or turnover the ball at the breakdown. Joseph's pace is key to this as our line speed needs to be very quick out wide as well as infield.

Key Points

Experience up front.
Neutral venue
Strong set piece
Pace outwide

We need 10 English, right?

8 in the squad, 4 starting mate

With Fluxy's permission can I make a small alteration to my squad please?

Of course mate

Thank chap

Wasps
Manager: Ozzy3213

01. Joe Marler	09. Ben Youngs
02. Tom Youngs	10. Aaron Cruden
03. Dave Wilson
04. Romain Millo-Chluski	11. Henry Speight
05. Alun-Wyn Jones (c)	12. Paul Jordaan
06. Fulgence Ouedraogo	13. JJ Englebrecht
07. Steffon Armitage	14. Marland Yarde
08. Jerome Kaino	15. Delon Armitage

16. Deon Fourie 17. Paul James 18. Frans Malherbe 19. Sebastien Vahaamahina 20. Luke Narraway 21. Sebastien Tillous-Borde 22. Gareth Anscombe 23. Tim Nanai-Williams


Basic Game Plan
In dry conditions we will be looking to play a possession based game, going through the phases and continually shifting the point of attack.  We will play sensibly in our own half though, and will use the boots of Cruden and Armitage if it is not on to run the ball.  When using the boot we will kicking for touch and looking to contest the lineout.  We WILL NOT kick to their back three.

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

Specifics

• Lineout.  Nothing flash. Hit our front and middle jumpers and ensure that we secure their ball. On Sarries ball put pressure on through AWJ and Ouedraogo, who are both athletic lineout jumpers.
  
• Scrum.  Millo-Chluski to lock down behind Wilson and look to really hold that side steady. Marler to take a long bind on Cole and pull him in creating pressure on his outside shoulder which is the injury he is coming back from.
  
• Breakdown.  When we carry in, we 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.  We will be looking to play a Super Rugby type offloading game, with the ball shifted on to the support runner just prior to the point of the tackle with the defender already committed.  We will constantly look to shift the direction of play and pull their defenders out of position to create gaps.  Youngs to look to snipe around the fringes and keep us going forwards all the time.  
  

Key Points

• Home Advantage There is none, the game is at Twickenham.
  
• Bagging players I see Pooly has gone for his traditional bagging of the opposition, no lineout leader, weak defenders at 10-12, Speight is suspect defensively etc. I'm not going down that road, you can decide on the quality of players yourselves, suffice to say that AWJ is a Lions winning lock, he may not be Victor Matfield, but I'm pretty sure he knows how to call a lineout.
  
• Champions. We are the champions and have huge focus on getting the campaign off to a winnng start.
  

Got lucky with Crunden Pete

Yeah was pretty pleased to see him and Kaino not named in the All Blacks 23.

Bath Rugby
Manager – inthefastlane

01. Cian Healy	09. Fourie Du Preez
02. Richard Hibbard	10. Charlie Hodgson
03. Ben Tameifuma
04. Luke Romano	11. Sitiveni Sivivatu
05. Graham Kitchener	12. Christian Lealifano
06. Siya Kolisi	13. George North
07. Sean O'Brien	14. Christian Wade
08. James Haskell	15. Stuart Hogg

16. Mikey Haywood 17. Benn Robinson 18. Jake Cooper Wollsey 19. Luke Charteris 20. Liam Gill 21. Richard Wigglesworth 22. Darren Cave 23. Alex Goode

Overall: We are gonna be looking to play front foot rugby. The team is going to be very uptempo with lots of hard running looking to drown the energy of the Sharks.

Scrum: Look to get after the scrum. Our unit is a group with vast amount of playing time together. They will look to especially put pressure on Jack McGrath. We will try to set a base, controlled by Haskell which he can attack off.

Lineout: We will look to switch up the lineup with SOB, Haskell, Kolisi, Romano and Kitchener options in the lineout. Look to get up into the air quickly and down for a quick maul. Look to put early pressure on the throws of Kayser who can be erratic.

Breakdown: Attempt to be aggressive at the breakdown. Look to get men to the breakdown quickly and clear out so Sean O'Brien and James Haskell can attack the ball

Defence: Drift Defence looking to slow down the ball. Really look at putting pressure on Sexton as we do not want him having time to create. FDP to sweep in behind.

Attack: Our half backs will control our rugby. FDP and Hodgson can play what they see and put the rest of the back line in strong positions. Lealifano can act as an extra playmaker from the 12. We have strong runners who can get over the gainline throughout the side with a very dynamic pack and a big back line. The likes of Faumuania, Romano, Hibbard, Healy and Kolisi will try and wear down defences by looking for gaps. The likes of Sivivatu, North and Hogg will be looking for gaps created that they can exploit. Look to play with a high tempo and get the ball moving across the back line. Look for chances to offload.

Kicking: Lealifano will be our chosen place kicker. Any kicks will not be aimed towards their back three. We will chuck in the occasional grabber to chase. If we are enjoying a significant lineout advantage then we will look for touch. Hogg, LLF, FDP and Hodgson all have the boots necessary

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

I wrote tom court instead of tom Smallbone, are people happy for me to make that alteration or not?

Standby for Ben T getting banned CJB

I could of picked Jane and Pitatau!

I've no problem with the alteration prop. A mistake rather than a tactical change.

Thanks Steve, will make the alteration now.

Banged team sheets into the right format if people are wondering why there sheets have changed! 

Can I submit tactics i the morning as am knackered and can barely see straight ket alone type n

Work away Pete

My tactics will be up shortly sorry

Just Pete to go with tactics as Matt is unlikely to get them in while on holiday

Just in front of the computer now, give me 10 minutes.

Tactics added, cheers.

Ben T is currently banned so has been replaced in the Bath side. Their bench is a prop short.

Tom Taylor named twice for Saracens. Bench is a man short.

Sale 23-23 Bath

FR-Cooper Wolley and McGrath no the best cancel each other out, scrum pretty close more to Bath in loose
SR-Bath a step up, esp with Garvey playing more at 6 of late, Bath better in line out too
BR-Not much in the flanks but Pickles the better 8, Bath need a 8 option
HB-1 a piece, Sale the better combo
CE-Bath a little stronger
B3-Bath much stronger here
Overall-Good match ups. Bath perhaps the better side bar 8 and 10 but not quite enough to get the away win.

Leicester 20-20 Newcastle

FR-Not much in it, two good units and scrum will be tight
SR-V strong here for both sides, see Falcons getting nudge on in the line out
BR-Falcons again stronger, Tigers need a better 8 option I think...palu?
HB-Not much in it, both v good units playing well
CE-Falcons a bit better, JD makes Falcons tick in the backline
B3-Tigers much stronger
Overall-Another good game with the away side perhaps the better but not quite having enough for the away win

Irish 21-20 Harlequins

FR-Quins a bit stronger with Thomas a bit of a weakness
SR-Quins a bit tougher but seriously lacking legs around the park, could do with some youth!
BR-Lovely flank combo's for both, Irish stronger at 8
HB-Cooper lacking form for Steve, Irish stronger here
CE-Not much in 13's, Roberts stronger at 12 don't know the irish guy
B3-Slight advantage to Quins, good units
Overall-Good game, Quins really compete but just think Irish have enough. Cooper lack of form hinders Quins a bit

Welsh 19-22  Exeter

FR-Exeter a little edge, both decent units.
SR-I like the Cudmore signing, adds real grunt. Not a huge Skivington fan but decent combo, Exeter a little stronger though
BR-Decent units, Exeter just a little bit more though again
HB-Exeter just a little stronger in each position
CE-Exeter have a bit more, decent combo's for both
B3-Not much in it, good contest
Overall-Exeter just seem to shade each combo which is tough for CJ. I think CJ needs some top draw quality in to really step up.

Northampton Saints 30-24 Gloucester Rugby
 
Scrum: Fairly even here. Better recent form in the props for Glaws and they would have edged.
Lineout: Both sides with good options here. Rolling maul a good weapon for both. 
Breakdown: Decent battle edging to Saints with a very mobile pack. Alberts slightly marked down after being away with the Bok RC squad.
HB's: 1 all individually but Glaws works better as a combo. Phillips will slow it up for Nev.
Attack: Slight edge in the back three for Glaws but midfield to Saints. Crotty another who's been away.
Defence: Goneva can be turned but no real weaknesses else where. Physicality of Saints side a plus here.
Bench: Little bit more in the forward options for Saints and see them taking the pack battle late on.
Tactics: Always crucial for me so Glaws marked down. Fast paced game suits Saints very well but again Phillips will slow it up at times. At home with pack advantage against a disorganised Glaws they win out.

Saracens 19-20 London Wasps
 
Scrum: Both 2nd rows offer great support but slight edge to Wasps with Coles form a question mark.
Lineout: Slight edge to Sarries with Flip leading well but Wasps can hold their own ball. AWJ capable and Quedragao has lead for club and country and is decent here.
Breakdown: Slight edge to Wasps with a strong front 5 and Armitage. Kaino not up to speed though due to international commitments.
HB's: On talent alone Wasps massively ahead but Cruden has been away with the All Blacks and won't be up to pace here.
Attack: Back three to Wasps with a quality unit but midfield edges to Sarries. Neither side lacking in carrying options.
Defence: Ground can be made down the 10-12 axis of Wasps. Questions over the Sarries wingers defensively one on one.
Bench: Tom Taylor named twice leaves Sarries a man down with no 10 cover!
Tactics: High tempo rugby doesn't overly suit the Sarries halfbacks and they struggle somewhat. They don't get the contact dominance expected either with Wasps able to match them. Wasps super rugby style not up to its usual standards with Crudens mind elsewhere. Home advantage not a factor at HQ. Slight pack advantage to Wasps sees them take this.

Leicester Tigers 25-23 Newcastle Falcons
 
Scrum: Both LHs not as strong as they were here and see Hayman with Thorn locking getting a bigger advantage.
Lineout: Both sides with the options to hold their own ball. Falcons that bit more dangerous off their own ball though.
Breakdown: Good battle here. Tigers backrow and locks slightly more effective and Bast very strong sees Tigers slow Falcons up.
HB's: Feel both sets are very well suited. Falcons more capable of controlling territory but haven't a real spark. 
Attack: Feel Tigers edge from 11-15 and the extra play maker helps out. 
Defence: All of the wingers can be caught positionally from time to time.
Bench: Not a lot of cover for the back three from Falcons in case of injury. Feel they edge the forwards but haven't an option to change the game plan up if needed.
Tactics: Both game plans well suited. Falcons territory approach will see a very tight game especially with their set piece prowess but off slow ball don't think they have the half backs to get the tries needed to win at Welford Road.  

London Irish 25-27 Harlequins
 
Scrum: Quins front 5 is virtually untouched by internationals and see them causing issues here.
Lineout: Both have enough to hold their own here but against the better line outs in the league will struggle a little.
Breakdown: Decent back row battle but the extra quality of the Quins front 5 gives them an edge.
HB's: One a piece here and don't see an awful lot between the combos on recent form.
Attack: Back lines are fairly tight overall. Some great carriers in both packs and similar kicking options as well. 
Defence: Both 13s could be caught occasionally with smart decoy running/offloading. Like the Quins out to in ploy but need to be careful with it against midfield/fullback play makers. 
Bench: Quins scrum should go well for the final quarter but similar options elsewhere.
Tactics: Bit more detail to the structure of the Quins attack is a plus not sure on the actual Irish approach. Patient style suits the big pack of Quins. Front 5 gives Quins the platform to win at HQ.

London Welsh 27-27 Exeter Chiefs
 
Scrum: Just a little more for Chiefs but not a game changing difference. 
Lineout: Both sides have enough to hold their own but Chiefs the more dangerous looking off attacking ball. 
Breakdown: Another tight area. Chiefs front 5 gives them an edge but feel the Welsh flanks and commitment to the area levels it up. 
HB's: 1 a piece for me but slight edge Welsh as I feel they are slightly better suited together. 
Attack: Both sides with great carrying in the backs but lots of pressure on JOC to come in and distribute in midfield for Chiefs.
Defence: Campagnaro still a question mark at the highest level. Don't see much getting through the Chiefs midfield today. 
Bench: Some decent impact players for both but feel Chiefs have more with Nyanga & Madigan being game changers. 
Tactics: Both sides set up well with similar game styles. Better impact for Chiefs in the final quarter negates home advantage somewhat and sees them earn a draw with the pack battle fairly even. 

Saints 30 - 22 Gloucester

Scrum- based on today's real life game for Wood (who fared better than Afoa though) and Hartley, and the other players involved this has to go to Saints. Can use scrum as platform as per tactics
Lineout- saints look a little better with great lock pairing and a settled unit and real life caller-thrower combo. Also great jumpers in the back row. Gloucester will be solid on their ball though and Gray is an excellent thrower. Just so you know, chris, Robshaw is a pretty good option too, Quins use him for banker ball and I think he's almost gotten every throw for England his way cleanly, so you have 5 lineout options which usually works in real life too
Breakdown- Robshaw excellent here and helped by Launch too, but 2 good flankers for Glaws vs Manoa whose strengths are elsewhere means it is close. Across the packs quite close. Edge to Saints on tactics which are coherent and clear.
Pack carrying- good balance throughout pack for Saints, more raw power to Gloucester through their backrow
Halfbacks and control - If we assume Evans' form from the last time he played, he is close to Carter. But Phillips- Evans is a new combo and not the style Nev has been used to. Carter is class and Robson a good enough 9 to give him space and they look a better combo until some time has passed for the Saints duo to gel. Advantage Glaws, though this is lessened by Robson being bullied by Phillips.
Attack- Gloucester's line very well balanced across, looks efficient whilst Saints are flashier. Will be hard to cope with once halfbacks settle, edge this one with tactics.
Defence- saints exceptional in the pack here but weak in the backs and Glaws can break through this defensive line. No space around the fringes for Glaws though, Glaws line is hardly watertight either but ahead of Saints.
Subs- world class benches, can't separate

At home and with tactics, Saints win comfortably, helped mostly by their pack

Sale 32 - 32 Bath


Scrum- key battle between Zirakashvili and Healy. Can see both sides disrupting the others ball as the momentum shifts and both 9s using this as well to mean the scrums won't be the key platform each side wants it to be.
Lineout- slight edge to Bath here, think their locks look better with Romano in top top form. Can pressurise Kayser today.
Breakdown- great battle between SOB/Haskell/Kolisi and POM/Todd with Garvey immense at hitting rucks. Quick ball I think for both sides with some turnovers, Healy gives Bath the edge.
Carrying- evens with lots of power carrying from both packs- more raw power from Bath but the hard yards from Garvey and Pickles' unstoppable runs equal it out.
Halfbacks and control - great control offered by Bath HBs at this level but with the ball generally quick Care and Sexton are as good a pairing in attack as any possible and pretty good at control and will edge this. Both 12s help.
Attack- both HBs set up for attack, as are the tactics. Would prefer Bath backs actually but North at 13 still not right for me though he scored a great try (plus 2 decent ones today)... Will just give to Bath in terms of attacking outside 9-10
Defence- Bath line is vulnerable with North at 13 and Wade small and just goes to Sale
Subs- bath a key player down.

Bath would win this at home, as it's away and Sale still very well set up and Bath are down a sub, it's a draw

Wood did not play tonight he is injured. Hartley is going to have a big season  competition for England hooker spot will drive him on

My apologies, it was Murphy.

Sarries 23 - 25 Wasps

Scrum- very good units here, and Waller should be able to match Wilson though both are very good players. However, with Cole out injured so long Marler has a clear advantage here. And so do Wasps
Lineout- neither side has the steadiest thrower but the locks are good combos. Slight advantage to Sarries with Mowen the difference.
Breakdown- Cole a big help for Sarries, but Marler and Youngs help counter this. Looking at the backrows, I can see a small edge to Wasps alongside tactics I would use
Carrying- good spread across the pack for both sides. I agree the balance in the back row for Wasps isn't perfect but Armitage can carry to cover the 6 and 8 and the front row is very dynamic. Just going to Wasps
HBs- Cruden as noted above has been away. Which 9 is ahead is rather form dependent and it's hard to call either's form with both players excellent on their day but struggling for consistency.
Attack- like the tactics especially Ozzy's, centres are close but Wasps back 3 better
Defence- holes in both backlines, packs that will make plenty of tackles. Not much to say
Bench- Sarries a touch better but a player down

Overall- the Champs have enough to steal an away win

iPhone just deleted Tigers -Falcons predo. Furious

Tigers 21 - 20 Falcons

Shortened version, will try and expand if I can on Sunday but am workmen all weekend.

Scrum- tigers. Johnson beats Tonga more than Hayman beats Jenkins
Lineout- Falcons- falcons better jumpers, tigers better thrower, falcons better tactics and disrupt attacking ball
Breakdown- evens, would be falcons if Fraser more settled recently I suspect
Carrying- evens, maybe just towards Tigers
HBs- falcons- Burns needs to prove himself at Tigers again, unconvinced by control of Tigers combo. Laidlaw also unconvincing, Farrell tips it
Attack- even- good cohesion for falcons vs individual threats for Tigers
Defence- even- decent lines and one super tackler each
Subs - tigers edge

Tigers just enough at home but too close for comfort with closeness everywhere. Falcons would edge it at home.

Irish 23- 22 Quins

Scrum- evens- would be Quins but Afoa struggled today
Lineout- Irish- Quins over reliant on Wood
Breakdown- evens- very different but backrows I really rate, Irisj like England approach but can't separate
Carrying- Quins some more power here in second row plus Gorgodze.
HBs- steady for Irish, flair for Quins. Hard to say with Cooper, like flipping a coin. Probably better control for Irish.
Attack- not much in it, very close
Defence- maybe an edge to Quins
Subs- 2 good sets

Irish have just enough at home.


Sorry this was an awful bit of info to back up my predo, will try for more depth later if I can.