Champions Cup Semi-Finals - 23/24 April

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Saracens  v   Wasps
23/04/2016 15:00 Madejski Stadium Sky Sports / beIN Sports

Officials
Referee - Roman Poite
Touch Judge 1 - Jerome Garces (France)
Touch Judge 2 - Pascal Gauzere (France)
TMO - Eric Gauzins (France)
Citing Commissioner - Stefano Marrama (Italy)


Form

9/4/16 Saracens 29 - 20 Saints 8,050
23/1/16 Toulouse 17 - 28 Saracens 12,498
16/1/16 Saracens 33 - 17 Ulster 9,642


9/4/16 Wasps 25 - 24 Chiefs 23,866
23/1/16 Wasps 51 - 10 Leinster 16,519
17/1/16 Toulon 15 - 11 Wasps 13,344


Teams

Saracens
15. Alex Goode; 14. Chris Ashton, 13. Duncan Taylor, 12. Brad Barritt, 11. Chris Wyles; 10. Owen Farrell, 9. Richard Wigglesworth; 1. Mako Vunipola, 2. Schalk Brits, 3. Petrus du Plessis, 4. Maro Itoje, 5. George Kruis, 6. Michael Rhodes, 7. Will Fraser, 8. Billy Vunipola
16. Jared Saunders , 17. Richard Barrington, 18. Titi Lamositele, 19. Jim Hamilton, 20. Jackson Wray, 21. Neil de Kock, 22. Charlie Hodgson, 23. Marcelo Bosch

Wasps
15. Charles Piutau; 14. Christian Wade, 13. Elliot Daly, 12. Siale Piutau, 11. Frank Halai; 10. Jimmy Gopperth, 9. Dan Robson; 1. Matt Mullan, 2. Carlo Festuccia, 3. Lorenzo Cittadini, 4. Joe Launchbury, 5. Bradley Davies, 6. James Haskell, 7. George Smith, 8. Nathan Hughes
16. Ashley Johnson, 17. Simon McIntyre, 18. Phil Swainston, 19. Sam Jones, 20. Thomas Young, 21. Joe Simpson, 22. Ruaridh Jackson, 23. Rob Miller


Preview
The top two in the AP table meet at the Madj for the first all English semi-final since 2007, when Wasps beat Northampton. Since those heady days Wasps have made little impact on the top tier competition, while their opponents have been on the rise. This will be Sarries 4th semi-final in a row, and 5th in total (first in 2008). Sarries will be all too aware that they have lost all but one of those semi-finals so far and will be desperate to make their second final. To do so they know they have to play much better than they did in the 1/4 final, though it is fair to say that Wasps were not at their best in the 1/4s despite the thrilling come-back.
The last time these two teams met was during the 6Ns when Wasps visited Barnet and thrashed the reigning AP champs. While both teams were missing players, Sarries were worse affected and everything Wasps touched turned to gold that day. We should expect a much tighter game this weekend. Sarries will look to squeeze Wasps up front, then put massive pressure on their opponents back line. Wasps will need to execute their game plan with precision, fail to do so and Saracens will swamp them.





Leicester Tigers  v   Racing 92
24/04/2016 15:15  City Ground BT Sport / FR 2 / beIN Sports

Officials
Referee - Nigel Owens (Wales)
Touch - Judge 1 George Clancy (Ireland)
Touch - Judge 2 Leighton Hodges (Wales)
TMO - Simon McDowell (Ireland)
Citing Commissioner - Jeff Mark (Wales)


Form

10/4/16 Tigers 41 - 13 SF Paris 20,866
24/1/16 SF Paris 36 - 21 Tigers 12,073
16/1/16 Tigers 47 - 7 Treviso 19,076


10/4/16 Racing 92 19 - 16 Toulon 15,340
23/1/16 Glasgow 22 - 5 Racing 92 9,063
17/1/16 Racing 92 64 - 14 Scarlets 6,931


Teams

Leicester Tigers
15. Matthew Tait; 14. Telusa Veainu, 13. Peter Betham, 12. Manu Tuilagi, 11. Vereniki Goneva; 10. Freddie Burns, 9. Ben Youngs; 1. Marcos Ayerza, 2. Harry Thacker, 3. Dan Cole, 4. Dom Barrow, 5. Graham Kitchener, 6. Michael Fitzgerald, 7. Lachlan McCaffrey, 8. Opéti Fonua
16. Greg Bateman, 17. Logovii Mulipola, 18. Fraser Balmain, 19. Ed Slater, 20. Tom Croft, 21. Sam Harrison, 22. Owen Williams, 23. Adam Thompstone

Racing 92
15. Brice Dulin; 14. Joe Rokocoko, 13. Johannes Goosen, 12. Alexandre Dumoulin, 11. Juan Imhoff; 10. Dan Carter, 9. Maxime Machenaud; 1. Eddy Ben Arous, 2. Virgile Lacombe, 3. Ben Tameifuna, 4. Luke Charteris, 5. Francois van der Merwe, 6. Wenceslas Lauret, 7. Bernard Le Roux, 8. Chris Masoe
16. Camille Chat, 17. Khatchik Vartanov, 18. Luc Ducalcon, 19. Manuel Carizza, 20. Antonie Claassen, 21. Mike Phillips, 22. Remi Tales, 23. Louis Dupichot

Preview
It is over 90 years since Leicester last met Racing. Fair to say things have changed just a little since the 1920's, and it is extremely doubtful that either side will warm up with a visit to a strip club as Tigers did on their first visit to France. Jacky Lorenzetti has spent big money assembling the star-studded Racing team, with Dan Carter surely the jewel in the crown. Even on one leg his class was enough to guide the Parisians to a narrow win over three-time champs Toulon. However they are far from a one man team with stardust sprinkled throughout the side. Racing's T14 form has stuttered in recent weeks and a largely second string team went down to Toulouse last week. With the big names coming in though, they are - on paper at least - far stronger than their English rivals. It is hard to see weaknesses in the Racing pack with an excellent second row pairing sandwiched by very powerful back and front rows. Tigers will be hoping that they can exploit a possible lack of speed in the back row, but cannot assume that their opponents will tire - or be as poor as their city rivals Stade were. It is to be hoped that Castro can keep his cool in any post match interviews this time.
Leicester have been like the little girl, when they are good they are very, very good but when they are not they are awful. This will be a huge test physically. The front five cannot give an inch while the back row have to win the battle of the breakdown. Secure a decent amount of possession and they have the backs to score tries from anywhere. However they need to be clinical both in attack and defence. Racing will exploit any dropped passes or defensive dog-legs.
This is Leicester's first semi-final since the unforgetable game in Cardiff in 2009, and Racing's first ever semi.

theslosty wrote:To be fair, I don't think the provinces' decline is much to do with the new format, not yet anyway. They would have struggled regardless of the reforms. Success is cyclical.
However it does frustrate me that some like to belittle the likes of Munster and Leinster's achievements by claiming their success was all down to Pro12 qualification. They both had world class players, world class coaches and world class support.

Agreed. Tigers in the early 2000s another example of a team hitting a golden generation. It happens sometimes when the core group of players hit their peak at the same time. Money can't really buy that. Also worth noting that Tigers team floundered in the season following the 2003 RWC.

Ofcourse I want Wade to score the winning try, but realistically you have to favour Sarries with their greater cup and team experience. They've been chiseling away at this goal for a number of seasons and from a club perspective I just can't see them letting this opportunity pass.

For me its the Sarries forwards that will win the day. Yes, Wasps have it in the backs but without the ball and against an entirely different defensive proposition from the massacre game, I'm doubting they'll have the impact.

Really really hope I'm wrong.

Come on you Wasps!!!

p.s please mind the wobbly cyclist....I drove my friends daughter to her schools air ambulance charity do last night, and ironically the M4 was closed yesterday due to an incident, and so Reading was entirely gridlocked. So I will be cycling to the game today and maybe re hydrating a little more than usual.

Best of luck to both Sarries and Wasps fans today. I really hope its a good game but I have to say that I kind of hope Wasp's win

Was thinking of creating a dedicated match thread but all the line-ups and times are here (thanks LT), so I'll just stick any knee-jerk thoughts here as the game goes on.

Has Andy Goode had a hair transplant? I was sure he was fairly bald...

What a try for Wasps

eirebilly wrote:Has Andy Goode had a hair transplant? I was sure he was fairly bald...

Yeh being very well documented as well.

Well played by Wade and Robson

Farrell making a few mistakes out there...

What's the attendance? I expected it to be at full capacity.

looks like about 20K

Harsh that, I thought it was a fair competition...

mikey_dragon wrote:What's the attendance? I expected it to be at full capacity.

Why?

Sarries have hardly any fans and tickets have to be charge like £35, £45 and £65.

Hmm a bit harsh, but you have to think Halai would have grounded that if Ashton didn't hit him before he had the ball....so correct imo.

It seems harsh, but if you push perpendicular to the direction of the ball it's a foul. Your momentum has to remain towards the ball, not sideways.

eirebilly wrote:Harsh that, I thought it was a fair competition...

Me too. If the ball had bounced the other way, for Ashton to get a hand to it, then I don't think Ashton would have been judged the same way.

Welly wrote:

mikey_dragon wrote:What's the attendance? I expected it to be at full capacity.

Why?

Sarries have hardly any fans and tickets have to be charge like £35, £45 and £65.

Basically, it's an English derby, except in a bigger competition. I'm aware that Sarries still don't have than many fans, which is surprising to me, but they don't usually have a problem helping fill up Twickenham. Were tickets that high under the old format?

Thought Saracens had two forward passes before being called for that one.

mikey_dragon wrote:

Welly wrote:

mikey_dragon wrote:What's the attendance? I expected it to be at full capacity.

Why?

Sarries have hardly any fans and tickets have to be charge like £35, £45 and £65.

Basically, it's an English derby, except in a bigger competition. I'm aware that Sarries still don't have than many fans, which is surprising to me, but they don't usually have a problem helping fill up Twickenham. Were tickets that high under the old format?

But it isn't an English Derby.

Sarries would struggle to sell out twitchers if they weren't playing a big team and could give away tickets

Poite got that wrong I feel but Sarries had a few missed passes in the leadup. Evens out I guess.

It's all one way except on the scoreboard.

mikey_dragon wrote:

Welly wrote:

mikey_dragon wrote:What's the attendance? I expected it to be at full capacity.

Why?

Sarries have hardly any fans and tickets have to be charge like £35, £45 and £65.

Basically, it's an English derby, except in a bigger competition. I'm aware that Sarries still don't have than many fans, which is surprising to me, but they don't usually have a problem helping fill up Twickenham. Were tickets that high under the old format?

Could have something to do with the lack of promotion surrounding this competition which may have something to do with the split broadcasting. I only found out today this game was going on.

Welly wrote:

mikey_dragon wrote:

Welly wrote:

mikey_dragon wrote:What's the attendance? I expected it to be at full capacity.

Why?

Sarries have hardly any fans and tickets have to be charge like £35, £45 and £65.

Basically, it's an English derby, except in a bigger competition. I'm aware that Sarries still don't have than many fans, which is surprising to me, but they don't usually have a problem helping fill up Twickenham. Were tickets that high under the old format?

But it isn't an English Derby.

Sarries would struggle to sell out twitchers if they weren't playing a big team and could give away tickets

Both teams are part of the London double header, each club can trace their roots to London. You don't consider that a derby game?

That's odd. Now that Saracens are one of the top teams in Europe they should have a larger fan base.

Anyone care to pick up on my ticket price query? Not a dig, just generally curious - it wouldn't be for me to decide if it's a good/bad thing either.

LeinsterFan4life wrote:

mikey_dragon wrote:

Welly wrote:

mikey_dragon wrote:What's the attendance? I expected it to be at full capacity.

Why?

Sarries have hardly any fans and tickets have to be charge like £35, £45 and £65.

Basically, it's an English derby, except in a bigger competition. I'm aware that Sarries still don't have than many fans, which is surprising to me, but they don't usually have a problem helping fill up Twickenham. Were tickets that high under the old format?

Could have something to do with the lack of promotion surrounding this competition which may have something to do with the split broadcasting. I only found out today this game was going on.

That's interesting. Tbh I only knew about this game due to it being talked about on here.

Robson & Ashton looking great, they both have to tour in the summer.

Farrell is not having a good game at all, he could be the difference if he doesn't tighten up.

Expected a close game but just how much will all this defending cost Wasp's later in the game...

Some nice attacking rugby on display from Sarries, the days of them being the 'boring' side are well and truly over!

Feels like I just watched 39 minutes of Wasps defending.

Would have to say that its a deserved 1/2 time lead for Sarries but they left a lot of points out there. They should finish the stronger given their domination in the first half.

Other than the try, Wasp's have really offered nothing to worry Sarries.

mid_gen wrote:Some nice attacking rugby on display from Sarries, the days of them being the 'boring' side are well and truly over!

They're quite erratic when throwing it around. Unstructured rugby doesn't suit Sarries - it looks as if they reverted to type in the second half of the opening 40, thus allowing them to dominate possession and eventually take the lead. It's such a tough defence to break through.

That penalty before half time was odd however - Wasps 5's feet were both on the other side of Itoje's body so I don't see how he kicked the ball out of the ruck.

30 mins into the Sarries game and utterly sick of Barnes constant Saracens love in.

Game on mute now

Mikey, ticket prices are set by ERCC and out of the clubs control. its about the same price as the old format.

I am surprised that there is such a low turnout though as both sides are well supported(despite what welly insinuates)

yappysnap wrote:30 mins into the Sarries game and utterly sick of Barnes constant Saracens love in.

Game on mute now

Funny how he hated us so much a couple of seasons ago? He picks who he thinks are going to win and just pours the superlatives out of his mouth like verbal slurry

yappysnap wrote:30 mins into the Sarries game and utterly sick of Barnes constant Saracens love in.

Game on mute now

It's about time Sky took note re Barnes - if you take a look message boards all over the place you'll see similar comments

Looks like its over for Wasp's now. 7 points down and having defended so much energy defending (and with Farrell now kicking well) Sarries will walk this now I feel.

Heaf wrote:

yappysnap wrote:30 mins into the Sarries game and utterly sick of Barnes constant Saracens love in.

Game on mute now

It's about time Sky took note re Barnes - if you take a look message boards all over the place you'll see similar comments

and for that exact reason they will keep him, the more people are talking about him the more #skysports gets flashed on twitter etc by people complaining the more advertising they get

That did not look good :/

Knackeredknees wrote:Mikey, ticket prices are set by ERCC and out of the clubs control. its about the same price as the old format.

I am surprised that there is such a low turnout though as both sides are well supported(despite what welly insinuates)

Sarries isn't though they couldn't sell out a sat 1/4 final at Allianz park.

Nasty from Farrell.

I thought i'd have a watch...

Is Barnes wearing a Sarries shirt? He is ridiculous!

Sky: We won't show the incident because it might be a serious injury.

Referee awards yellow card

Sky: Let's take a closer look at that

Huh?

Sorry, didnt see above comments

Rugby Fan wrote:Sky: We won't show the incident because it might be a serious injury.

Referee awards yellow card

Sky: Let's take a closer look at that

Huh?

Robson was sat up and seemed not too bad. I imagine if was stretchered off they wouldn't show it.

Welly wrote:

Knackeredknees wrote:Mikey, ticket prices are set by ERCC and out of the clubs control. its about the same price as the old format.

I am surprised that there is such a low turnout though as both sides are well supported(despite what welly insinuates)

Sarries isn't though they couldn't sell out a sat 1/4 final at Allianz park.

ever thought that sarries had sold all of their tickets but Northampton had not? and how much do you think a day out at an ERCC game will cost? Ticket+travel+food+beer+program+merch?

Knackeredknees wrote:

Welly wrote:

Knackeredknees wrote:Mikey, ticket prices are set by ERCC and out of the clubs control. its about the same price as the old format.

I am surprised that there is such a low turnout though as both sides are well supported(despite what welly insinuates)

Sarries isn't though they couldn't sell out a sat 1/4 final at Allianz park.

ever thought that sarries had sold all of their tickets but Northampton had not? and how much do you think a day out at an ERCC game will cost? Ticket+travel+food+beer+program+merch?

Sarries are not well supported just looked at their average gate.

following on BBC as at work, was it that bad? Lawson saying he only had half a second to commit, then commentary bloke saying wasn't that bad as robson was slipping prior to the hit??

Sgt_Pooly wrote:

Rugby Fan wrote:Sky: We won't show the incident because it might be a serious injury.

Referee awards yellow card

Sky: Let's take a closer look at that

Huh?

Robson was sat up and seemed not too bad. I imagine if was stretchered off they wouldn't show it.

He was stretchered off.

Knackeredknees wrote:following on BBC as at work, was it that bad? Lawson saying he only had half a second to commit, then commentary bloke saying wasn't that bad as robson was slipping prior to the hit??

Robson did slip but Farrell was very reckless. Seen way too many late niggly hits from Farrell to give him the benefit of the doubt.

Frak me, Sarries off side a lot and no release at the tackle but the ref doesn't seem to care. Making the game very dull.