Aviva Premiership Round Seventeen

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Bath v Sale Sharks
Location - Recreation Grounds
Light Cloud, 8 Degrees, 12mph SSW Winds

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Bath Rugby
Manager – CJB

01. James Slipper	09. Fourie Du Preez
02. Mikey Haywood	10. Nicholas Sanchez
03. Scott Wilson
04. Graham Kitchener	11. Christian Wade
05. Sam Whitelock	12. Christian Lealifano
06. Siya Kolisi	13. Michele Campagnaro
07. Liam Gill	14. Damian De Allende
08. Liam Messam	15. Kurtley Beale

16. Richard Hibbard 17. Richard Barrington 18. Ben Tameifuma 19. Luke Romano 20. Justin Tipuric 21. Richard Wigglesworth 22. Charlie Hodgson 23. Alex Goode


Overall: We are gonna be looking to play front foot rugby. Look to overwhelm Sale in the loose with big carries. High tempo offloading game looking to create space and break the defense. Attack the set piece. Try to neutralise the opposition early on and get the crowd behind us.

Scrum: Look to dominate the set piece and use it to restart our game plan. Our props have been well rotated so will be fresh. We will try to set a base, controlled by Messam which he can attack off.

Lineout: We will look to switch up the lineup with Kitch, Messam, Kolisi and Whitelock options in the lineout. Whitelock will run the lineout with Kitch offering an easy banker ball. Look to get up into the air quickly and down for a quick maul. Look to compete on the opposition throw as we have a great number of options. Try and starve them of quality ball from the lineout.

Breakdown: Look to generate quick ball for our backs to take advantage of. Send numbers in to try and disrupt the ball, potentially getting the turnover.

Defence: Blitz Defence looking to really put pressure on the Sale decision makers. Try to stop the ball from getting to the centres. Win the collision and drive through rucks. FDP to sweep in behind.

Attack: Our half backs will control our rugby. FDP knows how to control a tempo and will play what he sees. Hodgson will look to play flat and involve the back line whenever possible. Look to get the ball in the hands of our dangerous backs. We have natural finishers all over. Beale/LLF/Sanchez can all play first receiver and will rotate in order to keep tempo up and look to play expansively. Look for strong carries from the pack - which has big line breakers - tying in defenders to create overlaps for the backs. Get Big Ben, Slipper , Kolisi, Kitchener and Messam all with their hands on the ball. North, De Allende and Campagnaro look to exploit gaps left. Throughout them team look to Keep the ball alive and look for offloads. Look to play with a high tempo and get the ball moving across the back line.

Kicking: Beale will be our chosen place kicker. We will chuck in the occasional grabber to chase. LLF, Beale and Hodgson all have the boots necessary to try and put us in a good position territorially if need be.

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

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 Sale Sharks
Manager – SJE

01. Marcos Ayerza	09. Danny Care
02. David Paice	10. Beauden Barrett
03. Davit Zirakishvilli
04. Brodie Retalick	11. Willie Le Roux
05. Christian Day	12. Kyle Eastmond
06. Steven Luatua	13. George Pisi
07. Sam Cane	14. Keith Earls
08. Louis Picamoles	15. Nick Abendanon

Subs:
16. Ross Harrison 17. Benjamin Kayser 18. Martin Moore 19. Will Skelton 20. Matt Kvesic 21. Kieran Marmion 22. Francois Steyn 23. Semesa Rokoduguni

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. Barrett 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. Bendy to join the line from fullback looking for mismatches and to create overlaps.
 
- Target Scott Wilson at the scrum. Ayerza will look to isolate Wilson and work him over. If penalties are forthcoming will look to use the scrum in a big way.
 
- 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 Cane fetching for the ball, supported by the rest of the pack when needed. We will always look to turn the ball over.

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Exeter Chiefs v London Welsh
Location - Sandy Park
Light Cloud, 10 Degrees, 14mph SSW Winds

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Exeter Chiefs 
Manager – Fluxy

01. Wyatt Crockett	09. Nic White
02. Dimitri Szarzewski	10. Toby Flood
03. Jake Cooper-Wooley
04. Jake Ball	11. Tom Varndell
05. Michael Paterson	12. Brad Barritt
06. Yannick Nyanga	13. Adam Ashley-Cooper
07. Luke Wallace	14. Cory Jane
08. Fritz Lee	15. Maxime Medard

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16. Jack Yeandle 17. Cian Healy 18. Davit Kubriashvili 19. Patrick Tuipulotu 20. Joe Edwards 21. Gus Jones 22. Chris Cook 23. James O'Connor

Tactics
 
Basic points are to dominate possession but also play in the right places on the field. We will go through the phases were possible and look to starve Welsh of the ball for long periods. Then look for gaps and as the tackles come in make the offload to support runners, with the aim being to continually shift the point of attack and keep the Welsh poachers and heavy tacklers on the move. This will generate some opportunities to tie in defenders and then allow us to spread the ball wide to make use of the overlaps. 
With good form and momentum recently, and even more significantly at home, we will look to pile the pressure on Welsh and go for the TBP.

Territory - play in the right areas of the pitch.
We have a number of strong kickers in our back line, in our half backs and our back three. Look to use their ability to play in the Welsh and pen them in their 22. Exploit the turning agility of Cueto, Horne and Pennell, and force them to have to run backwards and force them to play from their own 22. We’ll look to play heads up rugby and get the ball into the hands of our backs in space, but we want to be doing so in the Welsh half.

Build a Score 
Flood to take on kicking at goal responsibilities. 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 and apply pressure.

Pack & Breakdown 
Look for strong carries from our pack, tying in the opposition defence to create overlaps for our backs. We’ll be looking to keep the ball alive and look for the offload when on. Our back-row will target the breakdown, looking to blow through the ruck and past the ball, to create clean ball. Allowing time for the halfbacks to dictate.

Set piece
Control the set piece and use it to restart our game plan and create point of attacks. Paterson to marshal the line-out and get quick ball from our dynamic jumpers. Big emphasis on controlling set piece possession, pressuring Haywood at both line-out and scrum time. Paterson will get up at the front to steal any loose throws and make Gilchrist have to loop or beat him at the front creating slow and messy ball. 

Defence 
Look to negate the opposition early on and allow our back-row to influence the pace of the game at the breakdown. Using the defensive banana drift defence to push the attackers towards our inside defence, with White sweeping in behind to guide defenders to plug holes and covers any kicks in behind.

Attack
In the opposition half take our time and not rush with ball in hand. Have confidence in our carriers to tie in defenders and get across the gain line and in our backs to exploit the gaps when we create them.

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 London Welsh
Manager – CJ

01. Nathan Catt	09. Thierry Lacrampe
02. Dave Ward	10. Francois Trinh-Duc(K)
03. Sekope Kepu
04. Grant Gilchrist	11. Mark Cueto
05. Sitaleki Timani	12. Kyle Godwin
06. Ashley Johnson	13. Yann David
07. John Barclay	14. Rob Horne
08. Victor Vito (c)	15. Chris Pennell

:-
16.  Matt Rees 17. Yannick Forestier 18. Oliver Tomaszczyk 19.  Donnacha Ryan 19. Carl Fearns 20. Ben Spencer 21. George Lowe 22. Jesse Mogg

Tactics- 

Breakdown: use Ward and Barclay in tandem chasing the ball, using our powerful other forwards to clear out aggressively to ensure quick ball. On defensive ball, Ward and Barclay to look to disrupt but unless turnover is on, keep numbers out for defence.

Attack: move the ball around with our hard carrying pack, driving in units and looking to tire their pack. Use pop passes from 9 and 10 to our back row to crash ball, supported closely to create fast ball.

When ball is quick, FTH to attack the line with runners coming in at different angles from deep, looking to make space and pop into it for our tracking back 3 and our powerful back row when they have a more broken field to devastate.

We have good kick chasers in the back 3 so look to kick through the defence if it charges up, with grubbers, cross fields and chips, as we can contest there.

Defence- blitz led by Horne, sweeping by 9, the back row looking to rough up their playmakers with big hits. Really aggressive and physical defence. Look to run back kicks with our running back 3

Kicking- kick high for possession not territory. Look to use the crossfield in their 22. Take all points on offer

Scrum- look to press their front row especially late in the match where our tactics will aim to tire them

Lineout, keep it simple and maul it up, looking to commit their pack tacklers for moves ie off the inside of 10 

Subs- use as needed

In brief- aggressive rucking, aggressive tackling blitz, kick for possession, move about their pack and sap them, move the ball to our danger men in gaps

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Gloucester v Northampton Saints
Location - Kingsholm
Light Cloud, 9 Degrees, 15mph SSW Winds

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Gloucester
Manager – anonmattyt

01. Beast	09. Robson
02. Strauss	10. Cipriani
03. Mas
04. Etzbeth	11. May
05. Robson	12. Toomua
06. Alberts	13. Kurindrani
07. Savea	14. Folau
08. Heaslip	15. Dagg

Subs:
16 Wood 17 Gray 18 Ousthuizen 19 Gray 20 Croft 21 Genia 22 Carter 23 Walker



TARGET BREAKDOWN– We have a big mobile physically strong bunch and will hit rucks with impact.
We will Send numbers in and try and effect turnovers or Disrupt ball.we believe the likes of beast heaslip Etzbeth Alberts Savea Have the physicality and the power to swamp their backrow. We will target their lack of fetcher

TARGET 9 10 channel- Get our big runners in to the channel and look to get in behind. We also want pressure here in defence with simpson able to be got at. We see saints as having a few form
Issues with several players Evans included so will test this

Scrum- we see an advantage here.On their ball Mas and beast Will be targetting Them.Strauss is equal choice with BDP And outplayed him last week in scrum and loose. We see the scrum Edge Continuing when benches empty. In the conditions there will not be that many scrums

Lineout - with 5 jumpers we will look to threaten their ball on every throw.
With our own we will vary where we throw it to and look to mix the drive and off the top.

General - our forwards will be looking to get on front foot throughout with our abrasive ball carriers.
When on we will look to offload to try and get in behind.

Backs- overall with the expected platform we have our backs
Are there to exploit it. We have pace and power all over and in Toomua and Kurindrani the 2 form centres in world rugby. We will look to vary our play probe for Gaps. When needed we have hard runners to bosh it.
We have numerous players able to step in to first Receiver with toomua, folau, Dagg, May.This means we can be lethal from turnover ball and is something we will be looking for throughout

First of all backs need to put us in right positions so kicking is important as.It is in any int as evidenced in England vs Ireland game.
Kicking - we have robson , cips, Toomua and Dagg starting and will look to kick in behind them. As Savea Goneva and Foden struggle with it kicked in behind. With a good kick chase we can dominate territory where needed

As the game breaks up we will be running back more ball And looking to up the tempo and use quick throw ins etc.
In defenxe we will blitz hard with 9 sweeping.

Bench- in close games benches are the difference and due to 6 nations Saintss have a bench lacking formWe will look to throw on our game changers as needed.

Form- saints have a lot of big name players who have played very little and have form issues.

Difference in league position- glos are always slow starters and saints often fade in 6n.

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Northampton Saints
Manager: Dammit Chris

01. Thomas Domingo	09. Joe Simpson
02. Rob Webber	10. Nick Evans(k)
03. Ramiro Herrera
04. Lood de Jager	11. Julian Savea
05. Courtney Lawes	12. Matt Giteau
06. Schalk Burger	13. Manu Tuilagi
07. Julian Bonnaire	14. Vereniki Goneva
08. Samu Manoa	15. Ben Foden

16. Elliott Dees 17. Mako Vunipola 18. Logi Mulipola 19. Joe Launchbury 20. David Pocock 21. Cobus Reinarch 22. Napaloni Nalaga 23. Elliot Daly

Tactics: Good conditions allow us to play a high tempo game, upping the intensity whenever possible and playing very physically with our big ball carriers in the pack and backline. Built the team on getting a strong platform from the setpiece and will unload the bench in the second half to really speed up the game and attack Gloucester.

Key Points:
* Strong lineout to generate quick ball for our backs and attack Gloucester linnet with Lawes.
* Kicking game from Simpson, Evans and Giteau to put Saints into good attacking positions to use our lineout as attacking platform.
* Strong scrummaging unit with Domingo, Webber and Herrera starting.
* Concentrate on winning the gain line battle, getting big ball carriers on the ball and placing Gloucester under pressure in defence.
* Mobile bench replacement for forwards to really up the tempo in the second half.
* Showing good form in the league and real life and 29 points ahead of Gloucester in the league.

Pack/Setpiece:We've picked a really strong scrummaging unit that will look to create a platform for Manoa to attack Gloucester no10 channel. We want to generate quick ball from the lineout with Bonnaire, Lawes, Manoa and de Jager as options. Feel that we have a big advantage at the lineout until Croft comes on. We've picked a mobile set of forwards on the bench to up the tempo in the final 20-25 minutes.

Attack:We will look at Evans and Giteau to pull the strings of our attacking game, we want to focus on bringing in our big ball carriers to get us over the gainline and suck in Gloucester defenders before exploiting any space. We want Tuilagi to be used as a battering ram to wear down defenders before bringing on Daly early in the second half to add some spark from 50 minutes. We have a lot of strong ball carriers that will give our midfield plenty of attacking options.

Breakdown: Mobile pack and will look to flood the breakdown and look to take advantage of the home side not having an out and out specialist at the breakdown, with Savea not being as good on the deck.Will make this area a real confrontation with Lawes, Manoa, Burger all aiming to smash Gloucester players out of the contact area on our own ball. We want to provide Robson with poor ball and stem attacks.

Defence: As always a really aggressive defence with fast line speed and providing Cipriani with very little time to make decisions. We want to force them into mistakes and handling errors and exploit with attacks. We will have Simpson sweep in behind the defensive line but will have Manoa and Lawes lining up a big hits on Cipriani

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Harlequins v London Irish
Location - Twickenham Stoop
Light Cloud, 10 Degrees, 13mph SSW Winds

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Harlequins
Manager – Steven_Sharks

01. Tony Woodcock	09. Ruan Pienaar
02. Rob Buchanan	10. Steven Myler (k)
03. Kieran Brookes
04. Bakkies Botha	11. Teddy Thomas
05. Pieter Steph Du Toit	12. Juan Martin Hernandez
06. Tom Wood	13. Jan Serfontein
07. Michael Hooper (c)	14. Frank Halai
08. Mamuka Gorgodze	15. Colin Slade

Subs:
16. Schalk Brits 17. Steven Kitchoff 18. John Afoa 19. Charlie Matthews 20. Nick Easter 21. Karl Dickson 22. Quade Cooper 23. Ollie Lindsey-Hague

Tactics

• Patient build up play using our pack to get go forward and quick ball before we begin to spread the ball out wide. Look for our forwards to win the collisions and get across the gain line and get quick ball recycled so we can attack against an unorganised defence
  

• Half backs to control our play. They will look to use our strong kicking game from 9, 10, 12 and 15 as well as a solid kick chase to get us into the right areas of the pitch. Look to use the play makers in our back line to put our strike runners in Thomas, Halai, Serfontein and Hooper into space. 
  

• In defence look for Serfontein to lead an out to in defence. Pressure on the Irish play makers
  

• Look to compete at the breakdown and look to get the first man there and legally slow the ball down. Disrupt Irish rhythm.
  

• Use the set piece as a weapon. Look to exploit scrum and line out advantage
  

• Use a range of attacking kicks to test London Irish
  

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 London Irish
Manager – Prop

01. Ben Franks	09. Lee Dickson
02. Ross Batty	10. Jules Plisson
03. Henry Thomas
04. Dean Mumm (c)	11. JP Pietersen
05. Jacques Potgeiter	12. Alapati Leuia
06. Kelly Brown	13. Conrad Smith
07. Will Welch	14. Horatio Agulla
08. Jackson Wray	15. Brice Dulin

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16. Ken Owens 17. Tom Court 18. Will Collier 19. Stuart Hooper 20. David  Sisi 21. Devin Toner 22. Rory Kockott 23. Luke McAlister

Set piece: We have picked a strong scrummaging front 5 who all bring carrying bulk to the game. From kick offs we will look to go 2 passes in before hitting our direct runners. Scrummage low and straight. We will look to target their props but if no parity then use for quick restart.

Breakdown: We will look to slow down their ball by committing players, if they have quick ball we will leave it but will look for turnovers and we  have balance in Brown (tackles), Welch (jackles) and Wray (carries). We know they are good on the floor so will look to prevent Hooper from getting to the breakdown quickly.

Half Backs: Plisson will stand flat initially to give Leuia and our runners the chance to get over the gainline. Dickson will control the tempo and slow the ball down if needed.

Attack: Go direct and look to draw two players to commit the tackle before getting quick ball, we have a mobile pack who will look to run off   the backs and round the corner keeping them guessing. Use the centre pairing to pull the strings with players who know each other well and international quality out wide.

Bench: 6:2 set up. Impact in all areas with Owens, Court and Collier bringing scrum impact Savage to carry and Hooper and Toner to target the tired Quins lineout.  Quality in the backs with Kockott, McAlister looking to switch the play and up the tempo towards the end.

Defence: Strong defenders across the park will look at making the intiial big impact hit. We will target the centres are so will look to prevent tem offloading the ball by double tackling them. We will look to blitz with Brown in their 10’s face letting Plisson drop back and cover with Dulin. Inside-out defence.

Overall: Controlled performance. We will look to hit the ball up twice and suck in defenders by going the same way till we run out of space, we will then flash across and target their pack out wide. We will look to negate their carrying options and put pressure on their half back combination not letting them get the upper hand. The wind is strong and we will use this to our advantage to gain distance with our kicks for touch.

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London Wasps v Saracens
Location - Ricoh Arena
Light Cloud, 9 Degrees, 16mph SSW Winds

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Wasps
Manager: Ozzy3213    

01. Paul James	09. Aaron Smith
02. Bismarck du Plessis	10. Aaron Cruden
03. David Wilson
04. Matt Symons	11. Bryan Habana
05. Sebastien Vahaamahina	12. Ma'a Nonu
06. Jerome Kaino	13. Henry Slade
07. Marcell Coetzee	14. Marland Yarde
08. Duane Vermeulen	15. Delon Armitage

16. Tom Youngs 17. Ben Moon 18. Ben Alexander 19. Ruan Botha 20. Steffon Armitage 21. Sebastien Tillouse-borde 22. Paul Jordaan 23. Tim Nanai-Williams


Basic Game Plan
In good conditions we will be looking to play a possession based game, going through the phases and continually shifting the point of attack.  When deep in our half we won't take chances with offloading, but will make ground carrying close to the ruck and recycling quickly, or using the boots of Cruden, Slade and Armitage to take us up the field.

In defence, as always we will be running a blitz defence.  Our focus will be on the gainline collisions and driving back in the tackle.  Line speed and no dog-legs will be key components for us.  Smith will sweep in behind the defensive line to counter any chips/grubbers.

Specifics 

• Lineout.  Nothing flash. Hit our front and middle jumpers and ensure that we secure our ball.  We will also mix it up, shortening the lineout and using our back row as crash ball options off the top.  On Saracens ball put pressure on through Vahaamahina and Vermeulen, who are athletic lineout jumpers.
  
• Scrum.  Get low and underneath their props and drive straight.  Really test their props technical abilities rather than get in to a battle of strength.
  
• 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 also utilise the pick and go, keeping their defensive line on the back foot.  We will then look to shift the direction of play and pull their defenders out of position to create gaps.  Smith to also look to snipe around the fringes and keep us going forwards all the time.  
  
• Tactical Kicking.  If we kick, we will look to kick for touch deep in Saracens territory and then contest the lineout.
  

Key Points 

• Form/Momentum  In game we have hit great form form post AI's and have loads of momentum coming into the game.  We also have players in form in real life right across the team.
  
• Ability to switch gameplan.  Whilst we want to play a possession game, away from home we realise we may at times have to play for territory, so have selected Slade at 13 for his kicking game and ability to step in at 1st receiver and mix things up.
  

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Saracens
Manager – Pooly

01. Alex Waller	09. Francois Hougaard
02. Jamie George	10. Bernard Foley
03. Tom Francis
04. Brad Davies	11. Juan Imhoff
05. Sam Carter	12. Tom Taylor
06. Callum Clark	13. Marcelo Bosch
07. Heinrich Brussow	14. Zak Guildford
08. Nathan Hughes	15. Matt Tait

:-
16. Keven Mealamu 17. Xavier Chiocci 18. Paul Hill 19. Pierre 20. Brad Shields 21. Henry Taylor 22. Fekitoa 23. Miles Benjamin

Tactics:

TARGET SCRUM Look to target throughout with strong options on bench. If weakness seen look to take scrum from free kick options and put pressure on opposition props.

BIG RUNNERS DOWN HALFBACK CHANNEL Target from the off. Get Hughes, etc running down this channel.

General - We'll be playing a structured 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. Looking to move the opposition pack around and then use big carrying options to punch holes through the opposition defence.

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 TH and Hooker will look to target LH and try to get between him and Hooker to allow LH to work on TH 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 SH good clean ball and have big carriers running off the 9 at angles.

Defence - Blitz defence with high intensity and big hits, looking to drive past the ball player if the ball hits the deck. physical pack that can look to get at the collision and breakdown allowing a chance to slow down/steal ball. Put pressure on SH's basics and force him into errors, Shields the expert here. 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 dictate play from the breakdown and runners on his shoulder. Huge carrying backrow to get us over the gain line after front 5 set a platform. Midfield to run angles off the 9/10, allowing us gain line breakers. Look to keep opposition guessing with clever lines through midfield. Wingers will look to track the midfield combo and get the end of SBW's offloads in contact. Back 3 to keep things honest and come looking for work.

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Newcastle Falcons v Leicester Tigers
Location - Kingston Park
Light Cloud, 8 Degrees, 18mph SSW Winds

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Newcastle Falcons
Manager – Bambam

Luke Marshall removed from bench. Suspended IRL.

01. Matt Mullan	09. Nick Phipps
02. Dane Coles	10. Owen Farrell (k)
03. Carl Hayman
04. Ed Slater	11. Charles Piutau
05. Geoff Parling	12. Jean De Villiers
06. Rhys Ruddock	13. Matt Hopper
07. Richie McCaw	14. Ben Smith
08. Kieran Read (c)	15. Gareth Anscombe

:-
16.George McGuigan 17.Soana Tongahuia 18.Charlie Faumuina 19. Brad Thorn 20. David Ewers 21.Dave Lewis 22. 23. David Strettle

Looking to use the good conditions to put the ball through the hands when we're in the right areas, and play some running rugby.

Set piece - Look to use our strong front row to try and put the pressure on, if no weakness is found then use as a restart. In the lineout, use Read and Ruddock as options along with the second row to prevent Matfield getting to grips with our lineout calls. On their ball, primarily look to defend the maul when in our territory,  challenge on their ball deep in theirs.

Breakdown - All three back rowers have been picked for their strength around the breakdown, we want to use the ability of the likes of Coles and Read to put pressure on their flankers. Look to blow the first man off the ball, then second in to secure it on our ball. On their's Read is licenced to play wider and go for turnovers when the support hasn't got there in time.

Kicking - We'll be targeting our aerial game at Ranger, with strong chase as always from our back three who all play full back. Look to use kicks in behind the wingers to turn them and keep them pinned back in their own half. We want Ranger to have to kick, so look to cut off the easy pass to Brown/Burns when he catches the ball

Attack - Up front, use the big carriers to make dents around the ruck, tying in the back row. Phipps is also free to snipe whenever he chooses to keep them honest. Once we get in their half, use Anscombe as a second distributor, with the likes of Smith and Piutau stepping in at first receiver as a running threat. Target Burns with the big runners, JDV to go down that channel all day long especially with ball off the top of the lineout. Use the two sided attack to keep the defence guessing, and target Ranger's defensive positioning

Defence - Keep an eye on Fotuali'i as we think he will be looking to snipe. Get Ruddock and Coles chasing down Burns and looking to push him onto the back foot. Read patrolling the wider channels looking for turnovers

Bench - ball carrying forwards to take advantage of a tiring pack, and impact in the backs if we're chasing the game to get us some tries

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Leicester Tigers
Manager – LukeLovesLuka

01. Alex Corbisiero	09. Kahn Fotuali'i
02. Agustin Creevy	10. Freddie Burns (k)
03. Cencus Johnston
04. Nathan Hines (c)	11. Rene Ranger
05. Victor Matfield	12. Dan Bowden
06. JMF Lobbe	13. Tamati Ellison
07. Francois Louw	14. Drew Mitchell
08. Thomas Waldrom	15. Mike Brown

.
16. Stephen Moore 17. Max Lahiff 18.  Paul Doran-Jones  19. Kearnan Myall 20. Jacques Burger 21. Micky Young 22. Brock James 23. Sean Maitland

Tactics:

Tactics:

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

- Big focus to attack at all lineouts. Use Hines or Lobbe at the front and Matfield off the top as our three key options. Shortened lineouts with Waldrom in midfield as crash or decoy option.
Matfield and Hines to look to steal and really give Coles problems.

- Attack all scrums if an advantage - Front row of Johnston, Creevy and Corbs to look to really get the shove on, particularly targeting the Falcons Coles/Hayman channel.

- 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.

- Gigantic XV made up of massive line-breakers, used in the tight to tire down the Falcons defence. The likes of Waldrom, Louw, Hines, Creevy, Lobbe and Ranger to be used to get us over the gainline. Add to that the likes of Moore, Lahiff and Burger off the bench.

- Look to win battle at the breakdown - Lobbe and Louw, supported by the likes of Creevy, to really look to get into the breakdown and give Falcons problems.

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

- In attacking play, we will play with the option of 2 first receivers in Burns and Bowden.
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. Fotuali'i to sweep behind with an eye on short kicks.

Burns to kick all penalties.

---

Mark

 London Welsh
Manager – CJ

01. Nathan Catt	09. Thierry Lacrampe
02. Dave Ward	10. Francois Trinh-Duc(K)
03. Sekope Kepu
04. Grant Gilchrist	11. Mark Cueto
05. Sitaleki Timani	12. Kyle Godwin
06. Ashley Johnson	13. Yann David
07. John Barclay	14. Rob Horne
08. Victor Vito (c)	15. Chris Pennell

:-
16.  Matt Rees 17. Yannick Forestier 18. Oliver Tomaszczyk 19.  Donnacha Ryan 19. Carl Fearns 20. Ben Spencer 21. George Lowe 22. Jesse Mogg


Tactics- 


Breakdown: use Ward and Barclay in tandem chasing the ball, using our powerful other forwards to clear out aggressively to ensure quick ball. On defensive ball, Ward and Barclay to look to disrupt but unless turnover is on, keep numbers out for defence.


Attack: move the ball around with our hard carrying pack, driving in units and looking to tire their pack. Use pop passes from 9 and 10 to our back row to crash ball, supported closely to create fast ball.


When ball is quick, FTH to attack the line with runners coming in at different angles from deep, looking to make space and pop into it for our tracking back 3 and our powerful back row when they have a more broken field to devastate.


We have good kick chasers in the back 3 so look to kick through the defence if it charges up, with grubbers, cross fields and chips, as we can contest there.


Defence- blitz led by Horne, sweeping by 9, the back row looking to rough up their playmakers with big hits. Really aggressive and physical defence.  Look to run back kicks with our running back 3


Kicking- kick high for possession not territory. Look to use the crossfield in their 22. Take all points on offer


Scrum- look to press their front row especially late in the match where our tactics will aim to tire them


Lineout, keep it simple and maul it up, looking to commit their pack tacklers for moves ie off the inside of 10 


Subs- use as needed


In brief- aggressive rucking, aggressive tackling blitz, kick for possession, move about their pack and sap them, move the ball to our danger men in gaps

Exeter Chiefs name a slighty altered side to the side that beat Bath last time out. Up front Patrick Tuipulotu drops to bench to allow Michael Paterson to partner Jake Ball in the second-row. Luke Wallace returns to the number 7 shirt with Yannick Nyanga swapping sides on the flanks. Out wide Tom Varndell comes in to the wing, with Maxime Medard moving into the 15 shirt, and James O'Connor dropping to the bench. On the bench Cian Healy returns from international duty to gain game time, and young duo Joe Edwards and Gus Jones complete the substitutes, as Chiefs opt for a 6-2 forward/back split. Director of Rugby Fluxy had this to say;-


“We’ve had a good run of results recently and now host London Welsh at Sandy Park with some good momentum. We know that Welsh will come hard at us up front, and for that reason we’ve gone with an extra forward on the bench to fight fire with fire. Young Joe (Edwards) and Gus (Jones) come onto the bench as well, largely because we will want to up the intensity of the game later on and with Joe's size and carrying and Gus's ability at the breakdown and ball in hand will help this. As well as wanting to play a fluid attacking game we felt James (O'Connor) and Chris (Cook) will have a lot to add later in the game against some tired Welsh defenders. We know it will be a dogfight upfront, but we will look to impose ourselves and dictate the game at home”.

Exeter Chiefs 

Manager – Fluxy

01. Wyatt Crockett	09. Nic White
02. Dimitri Szarzewski	10. Toby Flood
03. Jake Cooper-Wooley
04. Jake Ball	11. Tom Varndell
05. Michael Paterson	12. Brad Barritt
06. Yannick Nyanga	13. Adam Ashley-Cooper
07. Luke Wallace	14. Cory Jane
08. Fritz Lee	15. Maxime Medard

_
16. Jack Yeandle 17. Cian Healy 18. Davit Kubriashvili 19. Patrick Tuipulotu 20. Joe Edwards 21. Gus Jones 22. Chris Cook 23. James O'Connor

Tactics
 
Basic points are to dominate possession but also play in the right places on the field. We will go through the phases were possible and look to starve Welsh of the ball for long periods. Then look for gaps and as the tackles come in make the offload to support runners, with the aim being to continually shift the point of attack and keep the Welsh poachers and heavy tacklers on the move. This will generate some opportunities to tie in defenders and then allow us to spread the ball wide to make use of the overlaps. 
With good form and momentum recently, and even more significantly at home, we will look to pile the pressure on Welsh and go for the TBP.

Territory - play in the right areas of the pitch.
We have a number of strong kickers in our back line, in our half backs and our back three. Look to use their ability to play in the Welsh and pen them in their 22. Exploit the turning agility of Cueto, Horne and Pennell, and force them to have to run backwards and force them to play from their own 22. We’ll look to play heads up rugby and get the ball into the hands of our backs in space, but we want to be doing so in the Welsh half.

Build a Score 
Flood to take on kicking at goal responsibilities. 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 and apply pressure.

Pack & Breakdown 
Look for strong carries from our pack, tying in the opposition defence to create overlaps for our backs. We’ll be looking to keep the ball alive and look for the offload when on. Our back-row will target the breakdown, looking to blow through the ruck and past the ball, to create clean ball. Allowing time for the halfbacks to dictate.

Set piece
Control the set piece and use it to restart our game plan and create point of attacks. Paterson to marshal the line-out and get quick ball from our dynamic jumpers. Big emphasis on controlling set piece possession, pressuring Haywood at both line-out and scrum time. Paterson will get up at the front to steal any loose throws and make Gilchrist have to loop or beat him at the front creating slow and messy ball. 

Defence 
Look to negate the opposition early on and allow our back-row to influence the pace of the game at the breakdown. Using the defensive banana drift defence to push the attackers towards our inside defence, with White sweeping in behind to guide defenders to plug holes and covers any kicks in behind.

Attack
In the opposition half take our time and not rush with ball in hand. Have confidence in our carriers to tie in defenders and get across the gain line and in our backs to exploit the gaps when we create them.

Gloucester
Manager – anonmattyt

01. Beast	09. Robson
02. Strauss	10. Cipriani
03. Mas
04. Etzbeth	11. May
05. Robson	12. Toomua
06. Alberts	13. Kurindrani
07. Savea	14. Folau
08. Heaslip	15. Dagg

Subs:
16 Wood 17 Gray 18 Ousthuizen 19 Gray 20 Croft 21 Genia 22 Carter 23 Walker



TARGET BREAKDOWN– We have a big mobile physically strong bunch and will hit rucks with impact.
We will Send numbers in and try and effect turnovers or Disrupt ball.we believe the likes of beast heaslip Etzbeth Alberts Savea Have the physicality and the power to swamp their backrow. We will target their lack of fetcher

TARGET 9 10 channel- Get our big runners in to the channel and look to get in behind. We also want pressure here in defence with simpson able to be got at. We see saints as having a few form
Issues with several players Evans included so will test this

Scrum- we see an advantage here.On their ball Mas and beast Will be targetting Them.Strauss is equal choice with BDP And outplayed him last week in scrum and loose. We see the scrum Edge Continuing when benches empty. In the conditions there will not be that many scrums

Lineout - with 5 jumpers we will look to threaten their ball on every throw.
With our own we will vary where we throw it to and look to mix the drive and off the top.

General - our forwards will be looking to get on front foot throughout with our abrasive ball carriers.
When on we will look to offload to try and get in behind.

Backs- overall with the expected platform we have our backs
Are there to exploit it. We have pace and power all over and in Toomua and Kurindrani the 2 form centres in world rugby. We will look to vary our play probe for Gaps. When needed we have hard runners to bosh it.
We have numerous players able to step in to first Receiver with toomua, folau, Dagg, May.This means we can be lethal from turnover ball and is something we will be looking for throughout

First of all backs need to put us in right positions so kicking is important as.It is in any int as evidenced in England vs Ireland game.
Kicking - we have robson , cips, Toomua and Dagg starting and will look to kick in behind them. As Savea Goneva and Foden struggle with it kicked in behind. With a good kick chase we can dominate territory where needed

As the game breaks up we will be running back more ball And looking to up the tempo and use quick throw ins etc.
In defenxe we will blitz hard with 9 sweeping.

Bench- in close games benches are the difference and due to 6 nations Saintss have a bench lacking formWe will look to throw on our game changers as needed.

Form- saints have a lot of big name players who have played very little and have form issues.

Difference in league position- glos are always slow starters and saints often fade in 6n.

Leicester Tigers
Manager – LukeLovesLuka

01. Alex Corbisiero	09. Kahn Fotuali'i
02. Agustin Creevy	10. Freddie Burns (k)
03. Cencus Johnston
04. Nathan Hines (c)	11. Rene Ranger
05. Victor Matfield	12. Dan Bowden
06. JMF Lobbe	13. Tamati Ellison
07. Francois Louw	14. Drew Mitchell
08. Thomas Waldrom	15. Mike Brown

.
16. Stephen Moore 17. Max Lahiff 18.  Paul Doran-Jones  19. Kearnan Myall 20. Jacques Burger 21. Micky Young 22. Brock James 23. Sean Maitland

Tactics:

Tactics:

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

- Big focus to attack at all lineouts. Use Hines or Lobbe at the front and Matfield off the top as our three key options. Shortened lineouts with Waldrom in midfield as crash or decoy option.
Matfield and Hines to look to steal and really give Coles problems.

- Attack all scrums if an advantage - Front row of Johnston, Creevy and Corbs to look to really get the shove on, particularly targeting the Falcons Coles/Hayman channel.

- 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.

- Gigantic XV made up of massive line-breakers, used in the tight to tire down the Falcons defence. The likes of Waldrom, Louw, Hines, Creevy, Lobbe and Ranger to be used to get us over the gainline. Add to that the likes of Moore, Lahiff and Burger off the bench.

- Look to win battle at the breakdown - Lobbe and Louw, supported by the likes of Creevy, to really look to get into the breakdown and give Falcons problems.

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

- In attacking play, we will play with the option of 2 first receivers in Burns and Bowden.
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. Fotuali'i to sweep behind with an eye on short kicks.

Burns to kick all penalties.

Newcastle Falcons
Manager – Bambam

01. Matt Mullan	09. Nick Phipps
02. Dane Coles	10. Owen Farrell (k)
03. Carl Hayman
04. Ed Slater	11. Charles Piutau
05. Geoff Parling	12. Jean De Villiers
06. Rhys Ruddock	13. Matt Hopper
07. Richie McCaw	14. Ben Smith
08. Kieran Read (c)	15. Gareth Anscombe

:-
16.George McGuigan 17.Soana Tongahuia 18.Charlie Faumuina 19. Brad Thorn 20. David Ewers 21.Dave Lewis 22. Luke Marshall 23. David Strettle

Looking to use the good conditions to put the ball through the hands when we're in the right areas, and play some running rugby.

Set piece - Look to use our strong front row to try and put the pressure on, if no weakness is found then use as a restart. In the lineout, use Read and Ruddock as options along with the second row to prevent Matfield getting to grips with our lineout calls. On their ball, primarily look to defend the maul when in our territory, challenge on their ball deep in theirs.

Breakdown - All three back rowers have been picked for their strength around the breakdown, we want to use the ability of the likes of Coles and Read to put pressure on their flankers. Look to blow the first man off the ball, then second in to secure it on our ball. On their's Read is licenced to play wider and go for turnovers when the support hasn't got there in time.

Kicking - We'll be targeting our aerial game at Ranger, with strong chase as always from our back three who all play full back. Look to use kicks in behind the wingers to turn them and keep them pinned back in their own half. We want Ranger to have to kick, so look to cut off the easy pass to Brown/Burns when he catches the ball

Attack - Up front, use the big carriers to make dents around the ruck, tying in the back row. Phipps is also free to snipe whenever he chooses to keep them honest. Once we get in their half, use Anscombe as a second distributor, with the likes of Smith and Piutau stepping in at first receiver as a running threat. Target Burns with the big runners, JDV to go down that channel all day long especially with ball off the top of the lineout. Use the two sided attack to keep the defence guessing, and target Ranger's defensive positioning

Defence - Keep an eye on Fotuali'i as we think he will be looking to snipe. Get Ruddock and Coles chasing down Burns and looking to push him onto the back foot. Read patrolling the wider channels looking for turnovers

Bench - ball carrying forwards to take advantage of a tiring pack, and impact in the backs if we're chasing the game to get us some tries

Northampton Saints
Manager: Dammit Chris

01. Thomas Domingo	09. Joe Simpson
02. Rob Webber	10. Nick Evans(k)
03. Ramiro Herrera
04. Lood de Jager	11. Julian Savea
05. Courtney Lawes	12. Matt Giteau
06. Schalk Burger	13. Manu Tuilagi
07. Julian Bonnaire	14. Vereniki Goneva
08. Samu Manoa	15. Ben Foden

16. Elliott Dees 17. Mako Vunipola 18. Logi Mulipola 19. Joe Launchbury 20. David Pocock 21. Cobus Reinarch 22. Napaloni Nalaga 23. Elliot Daly

Tactics: Good conditions allow us to play a high tempo game, upping the intensity whenever possible and playing very physically with our big ball carriers in the pack and backline. Built the team on getting a strong platform from the setpiece and will unload the bench in the second half to really speed up the game and attack Gloucester.

Key Points:
* Strong lineout to generate quick ball for our backs and attack Gloucester linnet with Lawes.
* Kicking game from Simpson, Evans and Giteau to put Saints into good attacking positions to use our lineout as attacking platform.
* Strong scrummaging unit with Domingo, Webber and Herrera starting.
* Concentrate on winning the gain line battle, getting big ball carriers on the ball and placing Gloucester under pressure in defence.
* Mobile bench replacement for forwards to really up the tempo in the second half.
* Showing good form in the league and real life and 29 points ahead of Gloucester in the league.

Pack/Setpiece:We've picked a really strong scrummaging unit that will look to create a platform for Manoa to attack Gloucester no10 channel. We want to generate quick ball from the lineout with Bonnaire, Lawes, Manoa and de Jager as options. Feel that we have a big advantage at the lineout until Croft comes on. We've picked a mobile set of forwards on the bench to up the tempo in the final 20-25 minutes.

Attack:We will look at Evans and Giteau to pull the strings of our attacking game, we want to focus on bringing in our big ball carriers to get us over the gainline and suck in Gloucester defenders before exploiting any space. We want Tuilagi to be used as a battering ram to wear down defenders before bringing on Daly early in the second half to add some spark from 50 minutes. We have a lot of strong ball carriers that will give our midfield plenty of attacking options.

Breakdown: Mobile pack and will look to flood the breakdown and look to take advantage of the home side not having an out and out specialist at the breakdown, with Savea not being as good on the deck.Will make this area a real confrontation with Lawes, Manoa, Burger all aiming to smash Gloucester players out of the contact area on our own ball. We want to provide Robson with poor ball and stem attacks.

Defence: As always a really aggressive defence with fast line speed and providing Cipriani with very little time to make decisions. We want to force them into mistakes and handling errors and exploit with attacks. We will have Simpson sweep in behind the defensive line but will have Manoa and Lawes lining up a big hits on Cipriani

Bath Rugby
Manager – CJB

01. James Slipper	09. Fourie Du Preez
02. Mikey Haywood	10. Nicholas Sanchez
03. Scott Wilson
04. Graham Kitchener	11. Christian Wade
05. Sam Whitelock	12. Christian Lealifano
06. Siya Kolisi	13. Michele Campagnaro
07. Liam Gill	14. Damian De Allende
08. Liam Messam	15. Kurtley Beale

16. Richard Hibbard 17. Richard Barrington 18. Ben Tameifuma 19. Luke Romano 20. Justin Tipuric 21. Richard Wigglesworth 22. Charlie Hodgson 23. Alex Goode


Overall: We are gonna be looking to play front foot rugby. Look to overwhelm Sale in the loose with big carries. High tempo offloading game looking to create space and break the defense. Attack the set piece. Try to neutralise the opposition early on and get the crowd behind us.

Scrum: Look to dominate the set piece and use it to restart our game plan. Our props have been well rotated so will be fresh. We will try to set a base, controlled by Messam which he can attack off.

Lineout: We will look to switch up the lineup with Kitch, Messam, Kolisi and Whitelock options in the lineout. Whitelock will run the lineout with Kitch offering an easy banker ball. Look to get up into the air quickly and down for a quick maul. Look to compete on the opposition throw as we have a great number of options. Try and starve them of quality ball from the lineout.

Breakdown: Look to generate quick ball for our backs to take advantage of. Send numbers in to try and disrupt the ball, potentially getting the turnover.

Defence: Blitz Defence looking to really put pressure on the Sale decision makers. Try to stop the ball from getting to the centres. Win the collision and drive through rucks. FDP to sweep in behind.

Attack: Our half backs will control our rugby. FDP knows how to control a tempo and will play what he sees. Hodgson will look to play flat and involve the back line whenever possible. Look to get the ball in the hands of our dangerous backs. We have natural finishers all over. Beale/LLF/Sanchez can all play first receiver and will rotate in order to keep tempo up and look to play expansively. Look for strong carries from the pack - which has big line breakers - tying in defenders to create overlaps for the backs. Get Big Ben, Slipper , Kolisi, Kitchener and Messam all with their hands on the ball. North, De Allende and Campagnaro look to exploit gaps left. Throughout them team look to Keep the ball alive and look for offloads. Look to play with a high tempo and get the ball moving across the back line.

Kicking: Beale will be our chosen place kicker. We will chuck in the occasional grabber to chase. LLF, Beale and Hodgson all have the boots necessary to try and put us in a good position territorially if need be.

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

Harlequins
Manager – Steven_Sharks

01. Tony Woodcock	09. Ruan Pienaar
02. Rob Buchanan	10. Steven Myler (k)
03. Kieran Brookes
04. Bakkies Botha	11. Teddy Thomas
05. Pieter Steph Du Toit	12. Juan Martin Hernandez
06. Tom Wood	13. Jan Serfontein
07. Michael Hooper (c)	14. Frank Halai
08. Mamuka Gorgodze	15. Colin Slade

Subs:
16. Schalk Brits 17. Steven Kitchoff 18. John Afoa 19. Charlie Matthews 20. Nick Easter 21. Karl Dickson 22. Quade Cooper 23. Ollie Lindsey-Hague

Tactics

• Patient build up play using our pack to get go forward and quick ball before we begin to spread the ball out wide. Look for our forwards to win the collisions and get across the gain line and get quick ball recycled so we can attack against an unorganised defence
  

.

• Half backs to control our play. They will look to use our strong kicking game from 9, 10, 12 and 15 as well as a solid kick chase to get us into the right areas of the pitch. Look to use the play makers in our back line to put our strike runners in Thomas, Halai, Serfontein and Hooper into space.
  

• In defence look for Serfontein to lead an out to in defence. Pressure on the Irish play makers
  

• Look to compete at the breakdown and look to get the first man there and legally slow the ball down. Disrupt Irish rhythm.
  

• Use the set piece as a weapon. Look to exploit scrum and line out advantage
  

• Use a range of attacking kicks to test London Irish.
  

Wasps
Manager: Ozzy3213    

01. Paul James	09. Aaron Smith
02. Bismarck du Plessis	10. Aaron Cruden
03. David Wilson
04. Matt Symons	11. Bryan Habana
05. Sebastien Vahaamahina	12. Ma'a Nonu
06. Jerome Kaino	13. Henry Slade
07. Marcell Coetzee	14. Marland Yarde
08. Duane Vermeulen	15. Delon Armitage

16. Tom Youngs 17. Ben Moon 18. Ben Alexander 19. Ruan Botha 20. Steffon Armitage 21. Sebastien Tillouse-borde 22. Paul Jordaan 23. Tim Nanai-Williams


Basic Game Plan
In good conditions we will be looking to play a possession based game, going through the phases and continually shifting the point of attack.  When deep in our half we won't take chances with offloading, but will make ground carrying close to the ruck and recycling quickly, or using the boots of Cruden, Slade and Armitage to take us up the field.

In defence, as always we will be running a blitz defence.  Our focus will be on the gainline collisions and driving back in the tackle.  Line speed and no dog-legs will be key components for us.  Smith will sweep in behind the defensive line to counter any chips/grubbers.

Specifics 

• Lineout.  Nothing flash. Hit our front and middle jumpers and ensure that we secure our ball.  We will also mix it up, shortening the lineout and using our back row as crash ball options off the top.  On Saracens ball put pressure on through Vahaamahina and Vermeulen, who are athletic lineout jumpers.
  
• Scrum.  Get low and underneath their props and drive straight.  Really test their props technical abilities rather than get in to a battle of strength.
  
• 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 also utilise the pick and go, keeping their defensive line on the back foot.  We will then look to shift the direction of play and pull their defenders out of position to create gaps.  Smith to also look to snipe around the fringes and keep us going forwards all the time.  
  
• Tactical Kicking.  If we kick, we will look to kick for touch deep in Saracens territory and then contest the lineout.
  

Key Points 

• Form/Momentum  In game we have hit great form form post AI's and have loads of momentum coming into the game.  We also have players in form in real life right across the team.
  
• Ability to switch gameplan.  Whilst we want to play a possession game, away from home we realise we may at times have to play for territory, so have selected Slade at 13 for his kicking game and ability to step in at 1st receiver and mix things up.
  

Sale Sharks
Manager – SJE

01. Marcos Ayerza	09. Danny Care
02. David Paice	10. Beauden Barrett
03. Davit Zirakishvilli
04. Brodie Retalick	11. Willie Le Roux
05. Christian Day	12. Kyle Eastmond
06. Steven Luatua	13. George Pisi
07. Sam Cane	14. Keith Earls
08. Louis Picamoles	15. Nick Abendanon

Subs:
16. Ross Harrison 17. Benjamin Kayser 18. Martin Moore 19. Will Skelton 20. Matt Kvesic 21. Kieran Marmion 22. Francois Steyn 23. Semesa Rokoduguni

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. Barrett 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. Bendy to join the line from fullback looking for mismatches and to create overlaps.
 
- Attack from the scrum. Strong technical front row backed up by a powerful second row will look to build a platform for Pickles, Care & Barrett. 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 Cane fetching for the ball, supported by the rest of the pack when needed. We will always look to turn the ball over.

London Irish
Manager – Prop

01. Ben Franks	09. Lee Dickson
02. Ross Batty	10. Jules Plisson
03. Henry Thomas
04. Dean Mumm (c)	11. JP Pietersen
05. Jacques Potgeiter	12. Alapati Leuia
06. Kelly Brown	13. Conrad Smith
07. Will Welch	14. Horatio Agulla
08. Jackson Wray	15. Brice Dulin

.
16. Ken Owens 17. Tom Court 18. Will Collier 19. Stuart Hooper 20. David Sisi 21. Devin Toner 22. Rory Kockott 23. Luke McAlister

Set piece: We have picked a strong scrummaging front 5 who all bring carrying bulk to the game. From kick offs we will look to go 2 passes in before hitting our direct runners. Scrummage low and straight. We will look to target their props but if no parity then use for quick restart.

Breakdown: We will look to slow down their ball by committing players, if they have quick ball we will leave it but will look for turnovers and we have balance in Brown (tackles), Welch (jackles) and Wray (carries). We know they are good on the floor so will look to prevent Hooper from getting to the breakdown quickly.

Half Backs: Plisson will stand flat initially to give Leuia and our runners the chance to get over the gainline. Dickson will control the tempo and slow the ball down if needed.

Attack: Go direct and look to draw two players to commit the tackle before getting quick ball, we have a mobile pack who will look to run off the backs and round the corner keeping them guessing. Use the centre pairing to pull the strings with players who know each other well and international quality out wide.

Bench: 6:2 set up. Impact in all areas with Owens, Court and Collier bringing scrum impact Savage to carry and Hooper and Toner to target the tired Quins lineout. Quality in the backs with Kockott, McAlister looking to switch the play and up the tempo towards the end.

Defence: Strong defenders across the park will look at making the intiial big impact hit. We will target the centres are so will look to prevent tem offloading the ball by double tackling them. We will look to blitz with Brown in their 10’s face letting Plisson drop back and cover with Dulin. Inside-out defence.

Overall: Controlled performance. We will look to hit the ball up twice and suck in defenders by going the same way till we run out of space, we will then flash across and target their pack out wide. We will look to negate their carrying options and put pressure on their half back combination not letting them get the upper hand. The wind is strong and we will use this to our advantage to gain distance with our kicks for touch.

Saracens
Manager – Pooly

01. Alex Waller	09. Francois Hougaard
02. Jamie George	10. Bernard Foley
03. Tom Francis
04. Brad Davies	11. Juan Imhoff
05. Sam Carter	12. Tom Taylor
06. Callum Clark	13. Marcelo Bosch
07. Heinrich Brussow	14. Zak Guildford
08. Nathan Hughes	15. Matt Tait

:-
16. Keven Mealamu 17. Xavier Chiocci 18. Paul Hill 19. Pierre 20. Brad Shields 21. Henry Taylor 22. Fekitoa 23. Miles Benjamin

Tactics:

TARGET SCRUM Look to target throughout with strong options on bench. If weakness seen look to take scrum from free kick options and put pressure on opposition props.

BIG RUNNERS DOWN HALFBACK CHANNEL Target from the off. Get Hughes, etc running down this channel.

General - We'll be playing a structured 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. Looking to move the opposition pack around and then use big carrying options to punch holes through the opposition defence.

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 TH and Hooker will look to target LH and try to get between him and Hooker to allow LH to work on TH 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 SH good clean ball and have big carriers running off the 9 at angles.

Defence - Blitz defence with high intensity and big hits, looking to drive past the ball player if the ball hits the deck. physical pack that can look to get at the collision and breakdown allowing a chance to slow down/steal ball. Put pressure on SH's basics and force him into errors, Shields the expert here. 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 dictate play from the breakdown and runners on his shoulder. Huge carrying backrow to get us over the gain line after front 5 set a platform. Midfield to run angles off the 9/10, allowing us gain line breakers. Look to keep opposition guessing with clever lines through midfield. Wingers will look to track the midfield combo and get the end of SBW's offloads in contact. Back 3 to keep things honest and come looking for work.[/b]

Waiting on Falcons/Tigers

On it now SJE

Done, sorry

Luke Matshall is banned for 5 weeks I think Bam

Exeter Chiefs 16-17 London Welsh
Chiefs may get at the odd Ward throw but not much give in the set piece in this one. Breakdown battle tight overall. Welsh more capable of the odd turnover but won't overly slow Chiefs down. Halfbacks one a piece and both capable of getting the backs going. Medard & AAC give the Chiefs backs a bit more spark ball in hand but Welsh with the stronger kicking game. Chiefs back three can be got at by the Welsh kicking game. Good impact from the Chiefs bench and they can up the tempo late on.

Both sides looking for a kicking game which favors Welsh with the better kickers in the back line and Varndell/Medard to target. See them edging territory here which is key to both sides. Chiefs come back strong late on but the Welsh defence should hold firm for a crucial away win.


Gloucester 28-23 Northampton Saints
See Saints getting at the scrum for penalties here with more in the props. Saints back row unbalanced and see Glaws getting at the breakdown and really slowing it up with a decent pack and physical midfield on show. Halfbacks are one a piece but edge to Saints as a combo slightly. Both back three's dangerous but great form in midfield for Glaws. Saints wings could be caught in behind.

Both sides wanting to play the game in the right areas but there's more space for Glaws to kick into at times. Strong emphasis on the breakdown from Glaws and this week it pays off. Better ball for their halfbacks to play off and get Kuindrani and co going.


Harlequins 22-16 London Irish
Quins can cause some issues at the lineout and Irish won't see great ball from it but scrum fairly even. Breakdown is a big advantage for Quins. Can see them slowing it down and winning penalties/turnovers here.  More in the halfbacks for Quins although Plisson won't allow them completely dictate territory. Back lines fairly tight but more impact from the Quins bench. Unsure how much Toner can give to the cause around the park as the extra forward on the bench.

Quins set up similar to last week and playing for territory before getting their play makers on the ball while Irish preferring to hold on to the ball. Irish will need to work phases from deep but struggling at the breakdown prevents them getting momentum going and sees Quins accumulate points from the boot.


London Wasps 30-24 Saracens
Bit more about the Wasps scrum and they can work some decent attacking platforms off it. More quality to the Wasps back row and with BDP they can slow Sarries down at times. Wasps edge the halfbacks particularly at 9. Not an awful lot between the back lines though. Yarde can be caught defending too narrow.

Both sides with the usual approaches. Off faster ball see Wasps getting the offloading game working well while Sarries struggle to impose themselves physically as much as usual without their first choice midfield.


Newcastle Falcons 25-24 Leicester Tigers
Slight scrum edge to Tigers who will draw the odd penalty. Great battle at the breakdown with good operators on both sides. Not an awful lot between the sides in the back lines here either. Falcons wingers offer more but both attacks fairly even. See Falcons getting at the scrum late on but lacking midfield cover with Marshall suspended IRL.

Both sides with similar set ups. Using dual first receivers with big carriers running off their shoulders. Don't see either side really getting an edge in this one and home advantage is the deciding factor for me.

Ah bollox

Bath 24-27 Sale
I can see Sale getting a slight edge when it comes to the set piece but not a lot in the backrow battle. Half backs edge to Bath but outside that I can see Sale doing well. Benches pretty even. Both teams looking to play up tempo and I think the Sale pack will provide the better platform for this.

Chiefs 22-21 Welsh
Pack battle is edged by Chiefs but can see Welsh getting some joy at the scrum. Half backs a bit more to Chiefs and similar in the centres and outside this. Welsh can get a bit from breakdown and target this in tactics. Chiefs will rely on their bench and think this edges a win.

Glos 25-23 Saints
Nothing really to split in the pack and at half backs it’ll be one a piece. It’s outwide where I think Glos will come into their own especially with Tuilagi hard to rate. Two outstanding benches. Saints looking to carry but Glos going for territory and I think the Glos backs will nick a good win here.

Wasps 26-23 Sarries
See a big advantage in the pack to Wasps with a strong front row and cover. Not a lot to split the half backs at the moment however, out wide can see Wasps causing problems in the centre. Sarries hoping for good set piece ball and relying on Hughes. Wasps want to keep it simple up front and let their backs do the talking, I feel Wasps will have the advantage in gaining good ball from the setpiece/breakdown.

Falcons 22-23 Tigers
Great pack battle on show here today which I can see Falcons slightly gaining an advantage overall in the front row. Form-wise Tigers take the half backs. JDV getting difficult to rate now with injury and think Tigers have a slight edge in the backline. Benches would be even but the loss of Marshall affects Falcons late on. Falcons focusing on breakdown and will snap Fotuali’i well. Tigers bring tempo and strong carriers, slight win for Tigers.

Bath 21-22 Sale

Tough day in the scrum for Bath with Wilson not really at this level. Back 5 contest a bit closer but Sale's heavyweight pack will grind down Bath I feel. Sale on top in the halfbacks but Bath a little more in the backs. 1-10 Sale mostly on top and get a very good win away.

Bath Rugby 22 - 23 Sale Sharks
Only difference for me in this one is the strength of the Sale front row, think they can get at Bath there, but can't see them exerting complete dominance due to Paice and the subs Bath have. Few form issues prevent Sale getting a bigger win, and like the impact from the home teams bench.

Exeter Chiefs 24 - 23 London Welsh
Incredibly difficult to split these two teams, if Chiefs use their bench then in Edwards and Jones I can see momentum shifting towards Welsh, but I don't quite see the Welsh front row having enough to put the Chief pack under pressure to get enough ball for an away win. Home advantage the key.

Harlequins 30 - 26 London Irish
For me, Quins are one of the best balanced teams and they just click with great combinations across the pitch. Cracking backrow and home advantage gets them the win here. Haven't really seen Slade at no15, and Buchanan does a decent job, but the Irish backline is capable of scoring a lot of tries - don't think their back row will win them enough ball.

Newcastle Falcons 23 - 22 Leicester Tigers
Newcastle lose a few points for not having a full match day 23, but as it is a back it isn't as bad. Tigers still have a monster pack that will keep the scores down, but in their backline I don't see someone who will score them a lot of tries, while Falcons have some top class finishers. Tigers pack is one of the strongest in the game, if they can get some backs with a bit more spark they are going to be v difficult to stop.

Wasps 32 - 28 Saracens
Mismatch in the front row for me and can't see Sarries building up the platform to build attacks from and targeted the scrum could be a mistake. Wasps in great form and at home are very difficult to beat - can see Sarries actually getting some joy at the breakdown until Pete gets his subs on. Surprised no SBW in the squad!

Bath Rugby 24 - 24 Sale Sharks 

It is a tough contest up front, but what the difference is in the forwards is the strength that Sharks have in the front row. It's really close throughout the game, and both sides are packed with quality. Sharks back line is full of quality and is not quite firing on all cylinders and this equals a hard fought draw. 

Gloucester 29 - 27 Northampton Saints 

Difficult one to split up front with Glaws just edging in physicality terms but Saints having a bit more energy around the park. Glos with a very strong back line and some good attacking threat throughout, and with a better kicking control from their side they can pin back Saints when needed to control the game and a strong home win. 

Harlequins 28 - 25 London Irish 


Two very strong packs, which will allow the respective back lines to play. The difference here being the kicking ability in the spine of the Quins back line, not just their halfbacks. Irish have good control from Plisson and Dickson, and have a great attacking back line ball in hand, but will be forced to attack from deep. Myler's boot will keep Quins in front for the victory. 

Newcastle Falcons 32 - 30 Leicester Tigers 


Another big contest up front. Tigers have a big pack which will get in among the Falcons forwards, but there is some really quality to fight back there. What is telling for me is that there are a few more game breakers in the Falcons back line than the Tigers side. This will allow Falcons and Farrell to keep their noses in front til the very end to deny Tigers the away victory. 


London Wasps 28 - 25 Saracens 

The physical specimens in the Wasps pack helps them dominate the collision against Saracens. Sarries are fully of energy and youth in the pack though and get around the park a little better than the Wasps in certain areas. Sarries are looking to control the game with Foley and Taylor in the back line and similar from Wasps with a regular back line. This will see the Sarries back line thrive on the ball they receive, but there is just a better attacking threat from the Wasps back three. With Cruden's metronomic kicking at goal, they will keep out the visiting Saracens.

Exeter 20-19 Welsh

Good pack battle, not too much in it perhaps just shading to the home side. White in great form, prob the form Aus 9 gives Exeter some good control and Welsh lacking a bit of form. Close in the backs but Exeter just enough.

Quins 24-21 Irish

Quins with a decent pack advantage esp in the backrow. Halfbacks close and Irish shade the centres with Serfontain a better 12 not matching Smith. Quins shading the back 3 makes it a tough day for Irish.

Bath 26 - 25 Sale

Gloucester 28 - 27 Saints

Quins 23 - 22 Irish

Falcons 27 - 27 Tigers

Wasps 25 - 24 Sarries

Newcastle 23-23 Leicester

Slater struggling for form gives Tigers front 5 advantage and backrows close to call. Halfbacks close but Falcons a step up in the backs. Tough game, has to be a draw.

Bath 24 - 24 Sale
Exeter 23 - 22 London Welsh
Gloucester 27 - 26 Saints
Wasps 28 - 27 Saracens
Newcastle 25 - 25 Leicester

Exeter 24-23 Welsh
Exeter have the advantage in the front row but Welsh have a better second row. I like the Exeter back row. It's one each in the half backs. Think the Exeter backs have a bit more about them but Welsh approach the game very well tactically. I think Exeter have just enough at home.

Gloucester 30-25 Saints
Think Gloucester have a slim advantage in the front five. Feel Bonnaire is the standout weakness in the back rows. Feel behind a better pack the Glaws half backs have the advantage. I feel like establishing pack dominance means Gloucester play their game better.

Quins 28-22 Irish
Quins have the stronger front five. Their back row can win them a ton of good ball as well and this helps them dominate territory. Quins have too much at home but Irish can score tries on any day

Wasps 31-26 Sarries
Like the Wasps front row but the second row goes to Sarries. Wasps have such a strong back row but Sarries are strong at the breakdown. Wasps have too much quality overall and at home take a strong win.

Newcastle 25-24 Tigers
In the front fives it's close but see an advantage to Tigers. Newcastle have the edge in the back row. Still not too sure about the Tigers half back combo. Newcastle have the better outside backs, can do more damage IMO. They just about have enough to see off having a sub less at home

Bath 26-26 Sale
Exeter 21-20London Welsh
Gloucester 25-25 Saints
Quins 25-24 Irish
Wasps 28-27Saracens

Bath Rugby 24 - 26 Sale Sharks
really even apart from in front row and this gives platform for sale to steal a win away.

Exeter Chiefs 24 - 23 London Welsh

Really even again but home advantage and the inability of Welsh to get at Chiefs front row sees them squeak it. A good bp for Welsh

Harlequins 31 - 28 London Irish

Great options and units for quins. See Irish backrow a bit outgunned. However see Irish scoring tries through backs and making this high scoring


Newcastle Falcons 25- 23 Leicester Tigers

Tigers have a cracking big pack and will make dents and If weather different could get on top. However they lack a real scoring threat and Newcastle will get more points

Bath 21-24 Sale

Great battle around the park up front, but the Bath props just aren't good enough and the platform just won't be there off the scrum. Bath edge the lineout, and will compete at the breakdown, so their excellent backs will keep this close, but just not enough to overcome a strong Sale side.

Exeter 20-20 London Welsh

Really tough one here. Both sides very even throughout the front 5, think Welsh have the back row edge. Halfbacks even. Rest of backs to Exeter by a touch, but too tight to call so on the fence

Gloucester 26-26 Saints

Saints have a slight edge at scrum time, and with Bonnaire backing up Lawes they are stronger in the lineout too. Think Glos have the advantage at breakdown, 1 a piece at halfback and form gives Glos the backs. Bench impact gives Saints the advantage late on and they cling on for a draw.

Harlequins 27-23 Irish

Think Quins have the advantage slightly in the front 5, but their back row will dominate. That gives their backs some quality ball, and they'll use it well but not quite enough for a BP. Irish backs look good and will keep this close.

Wasps 25-21 Saracens

Great battle up front with plenty of power from both sides, but Wasps have too much quality in the front and back rows. Breakdown battle will be fierce, and I think both sides will struggle for real quality ball in open play. Wasps have some real class in the backs and they'll win well at home.

Think cut off is 10pm Bam.

Bam always gets his predos in between 10.30-11.30 Sunday nights and I have always accepted them so have no problem taking them this week as well.

RESULTS:

Bath 24 (T:2 C:1 P:4)
Sale Sharks 28 (T:3 C:2 P:3)

Exeter Chiefs 25 (T:2 P:5)
London Welsh 22 (T:1 C:1 P:5)

Gloucester 31 (T:4 C:4 P:1)
Northampton Saints 25 (T:1 C:1 P:6)

Harlequins 32 (T:4 C:3 P:2)
London Irish 23 (T:1 P:6)

London Wasps 36* (T:4 C:2 P:4)
Saracens 25 (T:1 C:1 P:6)

Newcastle Falcons 28 (T:3 C:2 P:3)
Leicester Tigers 25 (T:1 C:1 P:5)


BONUS:
Score: Steve, Luke & CJ
Full: Everyone else

* Opposition team sheet late. 3 point margin applied.

Cheers SJE, I usually play football on a Sunday evening, so get them in after I'm home at around 10. I do intend to do them on a Friday afternoon at work but have been pretty bad at that!

Well played CJ, I thought I had shot myself in the foot this week!

Well won Flux, the first predo gave me a bit of false hope, lol!

It gave me a bloody heart attack!

Well at least unlike the real London Welsh, we can give sides a rough game