Aviva Premiership Round 21

---

Sale Sharks v Gloucester
AJ Bell Stadium
Light rain, 11 Degrees, 12mph Winds

---

Sale Sharks
Manager – SJE

01. Marcos Ayerza	09. Danny Care
02. Malcolm Marx	10. Johnny Sexton
03. Davit Zirakishvilli
04. Brodie Retalick	11. Simon Zebo
05. Dave Attwood	12. Charlie Ngatai
06. Sean McMahon	13. Seta Taminavula
07. Sam Cane	14. Semesa Rokoduguni
08. Louis Picamoles	15. Nick Abendanon

Subs:
16. Benjamin Kayser 17. Ross Harrison 18. Martin Moore 19. Christian Day 20. Matt Kvesic 21. Faf De Klerk 22. Bernard Foley 23. Kyle Eastmond

Attack: We will be playing an expansive, high intensity game looking to keep the ball moving. Look to use a rugby league shape with runners on the gain line and out the back door to force the opposition into making defensive decisions. Numerous playmakers across the back line allows us to constantly change the point of attack. Care to keep the fringe defence honest with his snipping runs.

Breakdown: Quick ball is the aim on attack. Mobile pack and physical back line to clear out rucks and ensure we get it. We will look to get over the gain line off all carries to give a target to hit. Defensively when the initial contact is won we will look to commit numbers and get over the ball turning it over or at least slowing opposition ball up. Otherwise we will strengthen the line.

Defence: Similar set up to the Welsh with Sexton and Bendy defending deep to cover the backfield. Both wingers will step into the defensive line, to be part of the straight line blitz, to shut down space in the wider channels. 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.

Scrum: Strong scrummaging unit in the front row with the support of a powerful 4-8 will look to get the better of the opposition and build a strong attacking platform. We will look to put a slight wheel on where possible to take the opposition backrow out of play and then attack the space available and look for one on ones in the backline.

Lineout: Five mobile, athletic jumpers allows us to genuinely mix it up on attacking ball. Primarily looking to get the backs on the ball in space. Defensively Retalick to get up in the air at the front and challenge on opposition ball looking to make it as messy as possible.

---

1 Beast
2 LCD
3 Mas
4 Etzbeth
5. Lavanini
6 Matera
7 Savea
8 Heaslip
9 Robson
10 Cipriani
11 May
12 Toomua
13 Kurindrani
14 Talebula
15 Dagg
16 Wood
17 Grey
18 Antonio
19 Croft
20 Stooke
21 Perenara
22 Walker
23 Crotty


Glos
Look to build on there superb form of late .

Basic game plan- Glos are going to keep it simple. We have picked a much bigger pack than the opposition chock full of ball carriers. The aim is to win the confrontations get front foot ball and then get the
Ball wide to our Backs.

Forwards

- we have picked a big pack to get us on the front foot. The aim is to carry and then carry some more. We want to try and get past the tackler and When on look to offload.
- will look to employ the maul off lineouts in our half and tire out the Sale pack
- look to go off top in their half and get Kurindrani and co running at Sexton
- Look to get a nudge on when their ball and anchor on our own
- Matera and Savea to target steals at breakdown
- look to contest their ball in lineout and pressure thrower
- target Sale front five in particular Marx and Atwood
Backs
- Cipriani in great form and banging the goals over at moment.
- look to create quick ball for Robson to hit Cipriani to play
On front foot ball
- look to kick for territory when needed but apart from that keep ball in hand
- look to move the ball off quick ball in their half.
- blitz defence with Robson sweeping
- utilise Kurindrani and runners in channel to target Hodgson

Key pointsl

- carry carry and carry some more
To tire sale
Target the sale players who are out of
Form
Look to flood breakdown
- utilise our extra speed in back row to flood breakdown
- look to use kicks in behind sale win  and get
Them playing out of position
- attack off any turnover
- utilise bench as require d

---

Exeter Chiefs v Wasps
Sandy Park
Light rain, 12 Degrees, 12mph Winds

---

Exeter Chiefs 
         
Manager – Fluxy

01. Jefferson Poirot	09. Sam Hidalgo-Clyne
02. Tom Youngs	10. Toby Flood
03. Martin Castrogiovanni
04. Jake Ball	11. Jamie Elliott
05. James Horwill (c)	12. Jan Serfontein
06. Marcell Coetzee	13. Ollie Devoto
07. Yannick Nyanga	14. Teddy Thomas
08. Fritz Lee	15. Cory Jane

_
16. Jack Yeandle 17. Thomas Domingo 18. Harry Williams 19. Lood De Jager 20. Steffon Armitage 21. Chris Cook 22. Alex Losowksi 23. James Lowe

---

London Wasps
Manager: CJ

01. James Slipper	09. Tomas Cubelli
02. Richardt Strauss	10. Christian Lealiifano
03. Sekope Kepu
04. Donnacha Ryan	11. Rene Ranger
05. Kearnan Myall	12. Duncan Taylor
06. Chris Robshaw (c)	13. Michele Campagnaro
07. John Barclay	14.  Craig Gilroy
08. Laurence Pearce	15. Chris Pennell

:-
16. David Kilcoyne 17. Corey Flynn, 18. Tom West 19. Sam Twomey, 20 Victor Vito, 21. Ben Spencer , 22. Finn Russell 23.  George Lowe

---

Leicester Tigers v Worcester Warriors
Welford Road
Heavy rain, 12 Degrees, 10mph Winds

---

Leicester Tigers
Manager – LukeLovesLuka

01. Mikheil Nariashvili	09. Nick Phipps
02. Stephen Moore (c)	10. Freddie Burns (k)
03. Owen Franks
04. Steve Mafi	11. Matt Banahan
05. Victor Matfield	12. Kurtley Beale
06. Juan Smith	13. Mathieu Bastareaud
07. JMF Lobbe	14. Drew Mitchell
08. Thomas Waldrom	15. Mike Brown

.
16. Schalk Brits 17. Max Lahiff 18. Brian Mujati 19. George Skivington 20. Wycliffe Palu 21. Micky Young 22. Francois Trinh-Duc 23. Billy Twelvetrees

Tactics

In wet conditions we will play sensibly, looking to play a structured game built around our big carriers getting us over the gainline consistently.

- Attack the scrum as a weapon - and call when we can, if we are getting an advantage. Franks to look to target Dickinson and to look to really get the shove on.

- Use the rolling maul - Moore to lead from the back guided by Phipps, and use a regular weapon off lineouts won by Matfield.

- No overly ambitious passing - In wet conditions we will either look to kick to gain territory or look to keep ball in hand and take it through the middle.

- Lobbe, Smith, Bastareaud and Moore are the men charged with reaching the breakdown first and look to turnover possession. We will always look to attack quickly off any turnover ball.

- At the lineout use Matfield as our banker ball and Mafu, Smith and Lobbe as alternative jumpers - we will rotate the target.
With the boots of Phipps, Burns and Beale, we will look to get the ball deep in Worcs territory and then contest all lineouts. We will relentlessly target the opposition's throws.

- Gigantic XV made up of massive line-breakers right throughout the side, that will look to tire down Gloucs defence.
The likes of Waldrom, Bastareaud, Mafi, Smith, Banahan and Moore used consistently to get us over the gainline.

- We want to control of the tempo of the game as much as we can through our 9/10/12/15.

- 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. Phipps to sweep behind with an eye on short kicks.

- Burns to kick all penalties.

---

Worcester Warriors
Manager – prop_lyd

01. Alisdair Dickinson	09. Gareth Davies
02. Codie Taylor	10. Dan Biggar (k)
03. WP Nel
04. Yohann Maestri	11. Waisake Naholo
05. Leone Nakawara	12. Jamie Roberts
06. Jordan Taufua	13. Huw Jones
07. George Smith (c)	14. James Short
08. Ben Morgan	15. Mathew Tait

:-
16. Ken Owens 17. Joe Moody 18. Henry Thomas 19. Tom Savage 20. Sam Warburton 21. Sam Harrison 22. Jules Plisson 23. Adam Thompstone

We come into this game looking to secure our highest league position so far. We want to be clinical and put pressure on Tigers' dangerous back row. In wet conditions we will not be looking for the miracle pass and have picked a strong carrying pack to cause the initial damage.

Up front we have a pack full of carriers and will be looking to mix up our game by running off 9, 10 and 12 as well as using the pick and go. We will use the leech man to throw the carrier through the contact meaning Wasps are on the back foot and we have that extra moment to secure our clean ball.

Waldrom is lethal at the sides of rucks so  we are coming at them with power to clear our rucks and use Taufua and Smith to put pressure on their ball and isolate their ball carrier. The choke tackle will be used to halt them in their tracks.

Give Roberts the ball initially, meaning that 2 defenders are drawn in before getting quick ball and using our man advantage  out wide to spread it and use the form of Short and Tait hitting angles. Jones  is comfortable at 12 and we will swap him and Roberts at times to keep Tigers guessing and to allow us to exploit any blitz defence.

At the set piece we have brought in Taufua and Maestri to shore things up and to put pressure on the Tigers throw, we will look to double stack initially and, on our ball we will bring it down to suck in the Tigers pack and nullify their breakdown pace. We have brought in Taylor to shore up our driving maul after scoring from there for the Crusaders on the weekend. In defending the maul we will either look to stand off and look for accidental offside or will put one man in to sack in before looking to counter the drive.

Our half backs will play heads  up rugby,  Biggar will the up and under to great effect and we will use this when Tigers blitz  to look to have 2 waves coming at them, Biggar, Dulin and Roberts will look to reclaim the ball and Davies and Naholo will hold back to cover any return kicks. We will put pressure on Banahan under the hig ball.

In defence we will look to use  our usual blitz with Jones flying up to prevent the ball being spun out wide. If  possible we will have a forward on Biggar's shoulder to support the tackle and  look for the angled running. We will look to slow down their ball legally when possible but that is mainly for Smith's turnovers.

We have a solid bench and the impact of Warburton will be huge looking to target a tired Tigers breakdown and exploit the gaps with his experience.

Whilst we are looking to  stop Tigers playing we are also focusing on ending the season on a high with positive forwards carrying and heads up rugby using both our carrying and kicking to exploit Tigers depending on their defence system.

---

Northampton Saints v Bath
Franklins Gardens
Heavy rain, 12 Degrees, 10mph Winds

---

Northampton Saints
Manager: Dammit Chris

1. Mako Vunipola
2. Dylan Hartley
3. Ramiro Herrera
4. Paul Jedrasiak
5. Jonny Gray
6. Facunda Isa
7. David Pocock (c)  
8. Billy Vunipola
9. Conor Murray
10. Lima Sopoaga
11. Frank Halai
12. Alex Dunbar
13. Manu Tuilagi
14. Adam Ashley Cooper
15. Ben Foden  

Replacements
16. Dave Ward 17. Wyatt Crockett 18. Jake Cooper Wooley 19. Joe Launchbury 20. Luke Wallace 21. Joe Simpson 22. George Ford 23. Schalk Burger

Tactics
Weather conditions are awful, so we are looking to keep the ball in the hands of our forwards and for Dunbar and Tuilagi to carry the ball through the middle to make the hard yards. We'll look for Murray and Sopoaga to control the territory game, by putting the ball long and keeping Bath pinned in their own half. We'll play our usual aggressive, physical style in the forwards and keep Bath tackling and tiring them down. We've got 6 forwards on the bench and ensured that we have power runners in the backline (Dunbar, Tuilagi and Halai) to really add some strength in our ball carrying.

Bath are looking to play a high tempo, offloading game in the heavy rain, we'll look to exploit any errors and mistakes ruthlessly, we are playing zero risk rugby, based around strong ball carriers, tiring the Bath defence and winning the territory game.

Set Piece
We've been rotating our pack to ensure that is fresh for the end of the season, we want to put pressure on the Bath pack come scrum time, particularly Wilson in the scrum. Lineout wise it will all be simple banker ball, where we look to play zero risk rugby in the heavy rain and set up mauls to start building forward momentum.

Kicking and Territory
Murray and Sopoaga are tasked with putting us into Bath territory and making the game play out in the opposition half. Penalties will be driven towards the corners, when they aren't kickable so we can set up mauls from the set piece, or get into danger areas for our strong ball carriers.

Gainline/Physical Battle
We want to put real emphasis on the gainline battle, so have picked powerful ball carriers throughout our pack and backline. We want to tire down the Bath defence, work through the phases and then look to take advantage of any penalties that we can secure. Billy Vunipola will be our main go to man who will help us get over the gainline and is fresh.

Breakdown
We are aiming to make this a really physical battle here, with the return of Pocock into the starting lineup - we aren't looking to generate quick ball but instead will be aiming to secure penalties with our experience. Either kicking for the posts or into the corners.

Defence
Similar style defence to that which Saracens play in real life, putting a lot of pressure on Bath as they look to play a high tempo, offloading game and we'll look to exploit mistakes and get our hands on the ball as often as possible.

---

Bath Rugby
Manager – CJB

01. Eddy Ben Arous	09. Richard Wigglesworth
02. Rory Best	10. Beauden Barrett
03. Scott Wilson
04. Will Skelton	11. Juan Imhoff
05. Graham Kitchener	12. Damian De Allende
06. Dan Lydiate	13. Jonathan Davies
07. Justin Tipuric	14. Liam Williams
08. Toby Falateu	15. Alex Goode

16. Steven Kitchoff 17. Mikey Haywood 18. Nepo Laulala 19. James Gaskell 20. Josh Van Der Flier 21. Josh Beaumot 22. Tawera Kerr Barlow 23. Christian Wade

Overall: We are gonna be looking to play front foot rugby and put Saints under immense pressure with our energy. Look for big carries and offloading at a high pace looking to create space and break the defense. Attack the set piece where we expect to be dominant and finish strongly off the bench

Scrum: Use the set piece to get quick ball to restart our play. Skelton will add a lot of power to the scrum and we will look to get more power from our back five. Falateu will look to attack off the quick ball he gets.

Lineout: We will look to switch up the lineup with Falateu, Skelton and Kitchener options in the lineout. Kitchener will run the line out. Look to get up into the air quickly and down for a quick maul. We think we can dominate here against a poor set of jumpers. Skelton will offer quick ball option at the front.

Breakdown: Look to generate quick ball for our backs to take advantage of. Tipuric is brilliant at the breakdown and we will also look to get the rest of the pack looking to help and clear out.

Defence: Run a blitz defence. Wigglesworth to drift behind expecting kicks.

Attack: Our half backs will control our rugby. Wiggles will set the tempoand play what he sees in front of him. Outside of him, Barrett will play flat and use his creativity to bring in the back line and make plays. He will be given a freedom to be creative. Look to bring in the rest of the back line, especially De Allende who we would like to get running at defenders.  Williams and Imhoff are very skilful and if the ball gets to them will look to draw in defenders. The pack will also be involved when we have the ball for a prolonged period. We have strong carriers who excel in the loose. Look to get the ball in the hands of EBA, Skelton and Falateu in order to break the line and make yards. 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. Exploit the holes we create and look to tire out Saints which can help nullify their offensive threats.

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

Substitutes: Keep a high tempo with all our internationals off the bench.

---

Saracens v Newcastle Falcons
Allianz Park
Light rain, 12 Degrees, 10mph Winds

---

Saracens
Manager – Pooly

01. Alex Waller	09. Morgan Parra
02. Guilhem Guirado	10. Nicolas Sanchez
03. Dan Cole
04. Sam Whitelock	11. George North
05. Geoff Parling	12. Maxime Mermoz
06. James Haskell	13. Conrad Smith
07. John Hardie	14. Telusa Veainu
08. Nathan Hughes	15. Stuart Hogg

:-
16. Richard Hibbard 17. Ben Franks 18. Paul Hill 19. Brad Davies 20. Temani Harrison 21. Brad Weber 22. Henry Trinder 23. Chris Ashton

Tactics:

TARGET BREAKDOWN - Look for turnover or slowing down ball with numerous options in Cole, Guirado, HArdie, Haskell and Hughes. Look to target Louw in this area by clearing him out early and minimizing the effect from Falcons.

TARGET BIG RUNNERS THROUGH JACKSON - Put a lot of pressure on Jackson and get big runners down his channel.

HOME ADVANTAGE _ TOP 4 TO PLAY FOR - Huge game for us and we'll be really up for it, this will make or break our season.

ELECTRIC BACK 3, LOOK TO GET IN GAME IN OPPOSITION HALF - World class options in the back 3 and COnrad SMith the ideal 13 to bring them into the game. Look to drag Miller out of position as he's unaccustomed to wing and get our exciting runners down that channel.

TARGET PIUTAU'S POSITIONAL GAME IN UNFAMILIAR POSITION - Smith to use all his experience and look to target Piutau and draw him out of the line. Look to get runners off Smith's shoulder with gaps to exploit between the 13/wing position.

General - We'll be playing a structured physical game from the off, look to get at the opposition and target the breakdown. 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 bring in the opposition pack and then use big carrying options to punch holes through their defence. Look to control the tempo and areas we play with kicking options at halfback.

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 safe ball with world class line out options and experience. Will allow SH good clean ball and have big carriers running off the 9 at angles. Look to target opposition throw and put pressure on the hooker.

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. Scrum half to sweep behind the defensive line.

Attack - Keep things simple in our own half then look to unleash backs in opp 22 territory. Scrum half to dictate play from the breakdown and runners on his shoulder. Huge carrying pack 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. Hogg to cover 10 if injury to Sanchez.

---

Y
Newcastle Falcons
Manager – Bambam

01. Matt Mullan	09. Rhys Webb
02. Jamie George	10. Paddy Jackson
03. Davit Kubriashvili
04. Guido Petti	11. David Strettle
05. Flip Van Der Merwe	12. Stuart McCloskey
06. David Ewers	13. Charles Piutau
07. Francois Louw	14. Rob Miller
08. Kieran Read (c)	15. Ben Smith

:-
16.Dane Coles 17.Alec Hepburn 18. Charlie Faumuina 19. Ed Slater 20. Callum Clark 21. Greig Laidlaw 22. Gareth Anscombe  23. Luke Marshall

Game plan - Use the big pack to really put their front 5 under pressure,. Compete hard for the ball at the ruck to get on top, and challenge their half back combo we think they can be targeted with Sanchez particularly in for a lot of tackling. Hughes just back from injury, put the pressure on him at set piece particularly

Set piece - Look to really put their props under maximum pressure with Mullan and Kubs, we've got a great scrummaging lock pairing to help. If no weakness, use as restart. Flip to call lineout, mark their second rows and force long throws where Read is waiting. On our ball, use the back row options to mix it up

Breakdown - Louw, Read, Ewers and George to lead the way on turnovers. Others focus on strong clear outs and maintaining a strong defensive line. Read able to split staying close to the ruck, or turning the ball over in wider areas like for NZ. On our ball, smash them off the ball, use pod system to ensure support if they are having success. Louw is charged with keeping Hardie off our ball, and target turnovers if one of their carriers gets isolated

Kicking - Smith and Piutau to offer options outside Jackson with their accurate boots. Kick in behind the wings for territory, aim for space not the man. Challenge North's positioning, and put the high ball up on Veianu at all opportunities. Piutau free to drop back for the counter off their kicks with Smith stepping in

Attack - Webb to run our attack and set the tempo, constantly change the point of attack and get Jackson quick ball.. Challenge Sanchez defensively with Mccloskey running hard lines at their channels with Miller/Smith coming into the line. Big carrying forwards to set a platform, run at Sanchez all day long to put them on the back foot off first phase, see how he handles it. Miller/Piutau /Smith all options to switch around and keep them guessing. Target both wings defensively with the back 3 and Piutau interchangeable

Defence - no weak links in the backline, use the drift defence to maintain the line and challenge them to beat us one on one out wide. Jackson/McCloskey's familiarity to lead our defence

Bench - Big carrying forwards throughout and talented, pacy backs to see us home

---

London Irish v Harlequins
Madjeski Stadium
Light rain, 13 Degrees, 10mph Winds

---

1.Ben Moon
2.Bismark Du Plessise
3.Frans Malherbe
4.Seb Vaahaminia
5.Alun Wyn Jones
6.Jerome Kaino
7.Tom Wood
8.Duane Vermaulen

9.Aaron Smith
10.Aaron Cruden
11.Anthony Watson
12.Henry Slade
13.Jesse Kriel
14.Henry Sprieght
15.Tim Nani Williams


Scott Sio, Harry Thacker , Dave Wilson , Matt Symons , Sean O'Brian , Ben Youngs , Brad Barritt , Tom Fowlie

---

Harlequins
Manager – Steven_Sharks

01. Cian Healy	09. Ruan Pienaar
02. Agustin Creevy	10. Elton Jantjies (k)
03. Kieran Brookes
04. Pieter Steph Du Toit	11. Jack Nowell
05. George Kruis	12. Robbie Henshaw
06. Damien Chouly	13. Jonathan Joseph
07. Michael Hooper (c)	14. Yoann Huget
08. Mamuka Gorgodze	15. Rob Kearney

16. Scott Baldwin 17.Ethan Waller 18. Kyle Sinckler 19. Luke Romano 20. Nick Easter 21. Henry Pyrgos 22. Steven Myler 23. Damian McKenzie

Tactics

Game Plan

Play in the right areas of the pitchs - conditions will be slippy and first and foremost we are going to look to play in Irish territory. Using the boots of Pienaar, Jantjies and Kearney especially we're going to look to kick into the space in the Irish half. We will look to kick to touch to use our excellent line out operators to pressure Irish line outs or use up and unders and cross kicks using Henshaw, Kearney and Huget ability under the high ball to retain possession or force errors.

With ball in hand we want to build the phases using our strong carriers up front to get us across the gain line so we can get quicker ball to give to our outside backs. Jantjies will look to stand flat and direct our play looking to use out the back options with Joseph, Kearney and the blind side wing to test the Irish defence. Our pack is industrious and mobile and will look for work in attack as a carrying option or as the first to the ruck.

Set Piece 


At scrum time look for Brookes to give Moon a torrid time and use our extra experience of Healy over Malherbe. We feel our line out is a big strength of ours and will use Kruis, PDST and Chouly as our primary jumpers in attack and defence. Look to switch between full and 5 man line outs to allow Hooper and Gorgodze to carry off 9 and get us over the gain line on the first phase. 

Defence


Employ a drift defence using the pace in our side to force London Irish wide in slippy conditions. Look to show them the outside channel and then use a chop tackle to bring them straight down. Look for Hooper, Creevy and others to attack the breakdown as the first man otherwise we will spread out and set our defensive line.

Mark

Just a heads up, am in Uni this weekend so very unlikely I will be predicting.

Saracens
Manager – Pooly

01. Alex Waller	09. Morgan Parra
02. Guilhem Guirado	10. Nicolas Sanchez
03. Dan Cole
04. Sam Whitelock	11. George North
05. Geoff Parling	12. Maxime Mermoz
06. James Haskell	13. Conrad Smith
07. John Hardie	14. Telusa Veainu
08. Nathan Hughes	15. Stuart Hogg

:-
16. Richard Hibbard 17. Ben Franks 18. Paul Hill 19. Brad Davies 20. Temani Harrison 21. Brad Weber 22. Henry Trinder 23. Chris Ashton

Tactics:

Tactics:

TARGET BREAKDOWN - Look for turnover or slowing down ball with numerous options in Cole, Guirado, HArdie, Haskell and Hughes. Look to target Louw in this area by clearing him out early and minimizing the effect from Falcons.

TARGET BIG RUNNERS THROUGH JACKSON - Put a lot of pressure on Jackson and get big runners down his channel.

HOME ADVANTAGE _ TOP 4 TO PLAY FOR - Huge game for us and we'll be really up for it, this will make or break our season.

ELECTRIC BACK 3, LOOK TO GET IN GAME IN OPPOSITION HALF - World class options in the back 3 and COnrad SMith the ideal 13 to bring them into the game. Look to drag Miller out of position as he's unaccustomed to wing and get our exciting runners down that channel.

TARGET PIUTAU'S POSITIONAL GAME IN UNFAMILIAR POSITION - Smith to use all his experience and look to target Piutau and draw him out of the line. Look to get runners off Smith's shoulder with gaps to exploit between the 13/wing position.

General - We'll be playing a structured physical game from the off, look to get at the opposition and target the breakdown. 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 bring in the opposition pack and then use big carrying options to punch holes through their defence. Look to control the tempo and areas we play with kicking options at halfback.

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 safe ball with world class line out options and experience. Will allow SH good clean ball and have big carriers running off the 9 at angles. Look to target opposition throw and put pressure on the hooker.

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. Scrum half to sweep behind the defensive line.

Attack - Keep things simple in our own half then look to unleash backs in opp 22 territory. Scrum half to dictate play from the breakdown and runners on his shoulder. Huge carrying pack 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. Hogg to cover 10 if injury to Sanchez.

Worcester Warriors
Manager – prop_lyd

01. Alisdair Dickinson	09. Gareth Davies
02. Codie Taylor	10. Dan Biggar (k)
03. WP Nel
04. Yohann Maestri	11. Waisake Naholo
05. Leone Nakawara	12. Jamie Roberts
06. Jordan Taufua	13. Huw Jones
07. George Smith (c)	14. James Short
08. Ben Morgan	15. Mathew Tait

:-
16. Ken Owens 17. Joe Moody 18. Henry Thomas 19. Tom Savage 20. Sam Warburton 21. Sam Harrison 22. Jules Plisson 23. Adam Thompstone

We come into this game looking to secure our highest league position so far. We want to be clinical and put pressure on Tigers' dangerous back row. In wet conditions we will not be looking for the miracle pass and have picked a strong carrying pack to cause the initial damage.

Up front we have a pack full of carriers and will be looking to mix up our game by running off 9, 10 and 12 as well as using the pick and go. We will use the leech man to throw the carrier through the contact meaning Wasps are on the back foot and we have that extra moment to secure our clean ball.

Waldrom is lethal at the sides of rucks so we are coming at them with power to clear our rucks and use Taufua and Smith to put pressure on their ball and isolate their ball carrier. The choke tackle will be used to halt them in their tracks.

Give Roberts the ball initially, meaning that 2 defenders are drawn in before getting quick ball and using our man advantage out wide to spread it and use the form of Short and Tait hitting angles. Jones is comfortable at 12 and we will swap him and Roberts at times to keep Tigers guessing and to allow us to exploit any blitz defence.

At the set piece we have brought in Taufua and Maestri to shore things up and to put pressure on the Tigers throw, we will look to double stack initially and, on our ball we will bring it down to suck in the Tigers pack and nullify their breakdown pace. We have brought in Taylor to shore up our driving maul after scoring from there for the Crusaders on the weekend. In defending the maul we will either look to stand off and look for accidental offside or will put one man in to sack in before looking to counter the drive.

Our half backs will play heads up rugby, Biggar will the up and under to great effect and we will use this when Tigers blitz to look to have 2 waves coming at them, Biggar, Dulin and Roberts will look to reclaim the ball and Davies and Naholo will hold back to cover any return kicks. We will put pressure on Banahan under the hig ball.

In defence we will look to use our usual blitz with Jones flying up to prevent the ball being spun out wide. If possible we will have a forward on Biggar's shoulder to support the tackle and look for the angled running. We will look to slow down their ball legally when possible but that is mainly for Smith's turnovers.

We have a solid bench and the impact of Warburton will be huge looking to target a tired Tigers breakdown and exploit the gaps with his experience.

Whilst we are looking to stop Tigers playing we are also focusing on ending the season on a high with positive forwards carrying and heads up rugby using both our carrying and kicking to exploit Tigers depending on their defence system.

Northampton Saints
Manager: Dammit Chris

1. Mako Vunipola
2. Dylan Hartley
3. Ramiro Herrera
4. Paul Jedrasiak
5. Jonny Gray
6. Facunda Isa
7. David Pocock (c)  
8. Billy Vunipola
9. Conor Murray
10. Lima Sopoaga
11. Frank Halai
12. Alex Dunbar
13. Manu Tuilagi
14. Adam Ashley Cooper
15. Ben Foden  

Replacements
16. Dave Ward 17. Wyatt Crockett 18. Jake Cooper Wooley 19. Joe Launchbury 20. Luke Wallace 21. Joe Simpson 22. George Ford 23. Schalk Burger

Tactics
Weather conditions are awful, so we are looking to keep the ball in the hands of our forwards and for Dunbar and Tuilagi to carry the ball through the middle to make the hard yards. We'll look for Murray and Sopoaga to control the territory game, by putting the ball long and keeping Bath pinned in their own half. We'll play our usual aggressive, physical style in the forwards and keep Bath tackling and tiring them down. We've got 6 forwards on the bench and ensured that we have power runners in the backline (Dunbar, Tuilagi and Halai) to really add some strength in our ball carrying.

Bath are looking to play a high tempo, offloading game in the heavy rain, we'll look to exploit any errors and mistakes ruthlessly, we are playing zero risk rugby, based around strong ball carriers, tiring the Bath defence and winning the territory game.

Set Piece
We've been rotating our pack to ensure that is fresh for the end of the season, we want to put pressure on the Bath pack come scrum time, particularly Wilson in the scrum. Lineout wise it will all be simple banker ball, where we look to play zero risk rugby in the heavy rain and set up mauls to start building forward momentum.

Kicking and Territory
Murray and Sopoaga are tasked with putting us into Bath territory and making the game play out in the opposition half. Penalties will be driven towards the corners, when they aren't kickable so we can set up mauls from the set piece, or get into danger areas for our strong ball carriers.

Gainline/Physical Battle
We want to put real emphasis on the gainline battle, so have picked powerful ball carriers throughout our pack and backline. We want to tire down the Bath defence, work through the phases and then look to take advantage of any penalties that we can secure. Billy Vunipola will be our main go to man who will help us get over the gainline and is fresh.

Breakdown
We are aiming to make this a really physical battle here, with the return of Pocock into the starting lineup - we aren't looking to generate quick ball but instead will be aiming to secure penalties with our experience. Either kicking for the posts or into the corners.

Defence
Similar style defence to that which Saracens play in real life, putting a lot of pressure on Bath as they look to play a high tempo, offloading game and we'll look to exploit mistakes and get our hands on the ball as often as possible.

Quins again haha

Will get my team up by 9

1.Ben Moon
2.Bismark Du Plessise
3.Frans Malherbe
4.Seb Vaahaminia
5.Alun Wyn Jones
6.Jerome Kaino
7.Tom Wood
8.Duane Vermaulen

9.Aaron Smith
10.Aaron Cruden
11.Anthony Watson
12.Henry Slade
13.Jesse Kriel
14.Henry Sprieght
15.Tim Nani Williams


Scott Sio, Harry Thacker , Dave Wilson , Matt Symons , Sean O'Brian , Ben Youngs , Brad Barritt , Tom Fowlie

Leicester Tigers
Manager – LukeLovesLuka

01. Mikheil Nariashvili	09. Nick Phipps
02. Stephen Moore (c)	10. Freddie Burns (k)
03. Owen Franks
04. Steve Mafi	11. Matt Banahan
05. Victor Matfield	12. Kurtley Beale
06. Juan Smith	13. Mathieu Bastareaud
07. JMF Lobbe	14. Drew Mitchell
08. Thomas Waldrom	15. Mike Brown

.
16. Schalk Brits 17. Max Lahiff 18. Brian Mujati 19. George Skivington 20. Wycliffe Palu 21. Micky Young 22. Francois Trinh-Duc 23. Billy Twelvetrees

Tactics

In wet conditions we will play sensibly, looking to play a structured game built around our big carriers getting us over the gainline consistently.

- Attack the scrum as a weapon - and call when we can, if we are getting an advantage. Franks to look to target Dickinson and to look to really get the shove on.

- Use the rolling maul - Moore to lead from the back guided by Phipps, and use a regular weapon off lineouts won by Matfield.

- No overly ambitious passing - In wet conditions we will either look to kick to gain territory or look to keep ball in hand and take it through the middle.

- Lobbe, Smith, Bastareaud and Moore are the men charged with reaching the breakdown first and look to turnover possession. We will always look to attack quickly off any turnover ball.

- At the lineout use Matfield as our banker ball and Mafu, Smith and Lobbe as alternative jumpers - we will rotate the target.
With the boots of Phipps, Burns and Beale, we will look to get the ball deep in Worcs territory and then contest all lineouts. We will relentlessly target the opposition's throws.

- Gigantic XV made up of massive line-breakers right throughout the side, that will look to tire down Gloucs defence.
The likes of Waldrom, Bastareaud, Mafi, Smith, Banahan and Moore used consistently to get us over the gainline.

- We want to control of the tempo of the game as much as we can through our 9/10/12/15.

- 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. Phipps to sweep behind with an eye on short kicks.

- Burns to kick all penalties.

Sale Sharks
Manager – SJE

01. Marcos Ayerza	09. Danny Care
02. Malcolm Marx	10. Johnny Sexton
03. Davit Zirakishvilli
04. Brodie Retalick	11. Simon Zebo
05. Dave Attwood	12. Charlie Ngatai
06. Sean McMahon	13. Seta Taminavula
07. Sam Cane	14. Semesa Rokoduguni
08. Louis Picamoles	15. Nick Abendanon

Subs:
16. Benjamin Kayser 17. Ross Harrison 18. Martin Moore 19. Christian Day 20. Matt Kvesic 21. Faf De Klerk 22. Bernard Foley 23. Kyle Eastmond

Attack: We will be playing an expansive, high intensity game looking to keep the ball moving. Look to use a rugby league shape with runners on the gain line and out the back door to force the opposition into making defensive decisions. Numerous playmakers across the back line allows us to constantly change the point of attack. Care to keep the fringe defence honest with his snipping runs.

Breakdown: Quick ball is the aim on attack. Mobile pack and physical back line to clear out rucks and ensure we get it. We will look to get over the gain line off all carries to give a target to hit. Defensively when the initial contact is won we will look to commit numbers and get over the ball turning it over or at least slowing opposition ball up. Otherwise we will strengthen the line.

Defence: Similar set up to the Welsh with Sexton and Bendy defending deep to cover the backfield. Both wingers will step into the defensive line, to be part of the straight line blitz, to shut down space in the wider channels. 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.

Scrum: Strong scrummaging unit in the front row with the support of a powerful 4-8 will look to get the better of the opposition and build a strong attacking platform. We will look to put a slight wheel on where possible to take the opposition backrow out of play and then attack the space available and look for one on ones in the backline.

Lineout: Five mobile, athletic jumpers allows us to genuinely mix it up on attacking ball. Primarily looking to get the backs on the ball in space. Defensively Retalick to get up in the air at the front and challenge on opposition ball looking to make it as messy as possible.

Bath Rugby
Manager – CJB

01. Eddy Ben Arous	09. Richard Wigglesworth
02. Rory Best	10. Beauden Barrett
03. Scott Wilson
04. Will Skelton	11. Juan Imhoff
05. Graham Kitchener	12. Damian De Allende
06. Dan Lydiate	13. Jonathan Davies
07. Justin Tipuric	14. Liam Williams
08. Toby Falateu	15. Alex Goode

16. Steven Kitchoff 17. Mikey Haywood 18. Nepo Laulala 19. James Gaskell 20. Josh Van Der Flier 21. Josh Beaumot 22. Tawera Kerr Barlow 23. Christian Wade

Overall: We are gonna be looking to play front foot rugby and put Saints under immense pressure with our energy. Look for big carries and offloading at a high pace looking to create space and break the defense. Attack the set piece where we expect to be dominant and finish strongly off the bench

Scrum: Use the set piece to get quick ball to restart our play. Skelton will add a lot of power to the scrum and we will look to get more power from our back five. Falateu will look to attack off the quick ball he gets.

Lineout: We will look to switch up the lineup with Falateu, Skelton and Kitchener options in the lineout. Kitchener will run the line out. Look to get up into the air quickly and down for a quick maul. We think we can dominate here against a poor set of jumpers. Skelton will offer quick ball option at the front.

Breakdown: Look to generate quick ball for our backs to take advantage of. Tipuric is brilliant at the breakdown and we will also look to get the rest of the pack looking to help and clear out.

Defence: Run a blitz defence. Wigglesworth to drift behind expecting kicks.

Attack: Our half backs will control our rugby. Wiggles will set the tempoand play what he sees in front of him. Outside of him, Barrett will play flat and use his creativity to bring in the back line and make plays. He will be given a freedom to be creative. Look to bring in the rest of the back line, especially De Allende who we would like to get running at defenders. Williams and Imhoff are very skilful and if the ball gets to them will look to draw in defenders. The pack will also be involved when we have the ball for a prolonged period. We have strong carriers who excel in the loose. Look to get the ball in the hands of EBA, Skelton and Falateu in order to break the line and make yards. 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. Exploit the holes we create and look to tire out Saints which can help nullify their offensive threats.

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

Substitutes: Keep a high tempo with all our internationals off the bench.

I think Marler has been cited Driver so keep an eye out for a likely ban.

Apologies Ihad picked a team and everything last night, and swear I had posted it. Came on to check this morning results, and nothing here!    So please find it below!

Exeter Chiefs 
         
Manager – Fluxy

01. Thomas Domingo	09. Sam Hidalgo-Clyne
02. Tom Youngs	10. Nick Evans (k)
03. Harry Williams
04. Courtney Lawes	11. Jamie Elliott
05. James Horwill (c)	12. Jan Serfontein
06. Marcell Coetzee	13. Ollie Devoto
07. Steffon Armitage	14. James Lowe
08. Sergio Parisse	15. Maxime Medard

_
16. Rob Webber 17. Nick Auterac 18. Vincent Koch 19. Lood De Jager 20. Brad Shields 21. Chris Cook 22. Alex Losowksi 23. Teddy Thomas

Harlequins
Manager – Steven_Sharks

01. Cian Healy	09. Ruan Pienaar
02. Agustin Creevy	10. Elton Jantjies (k)
03. Kieran Brookes
04. Pieter Steph Du Toit	11. Jack Nowell
05. George Kruis	12. Robbie Henshaw
06. Damien Chouly	13. Jonathan Joseph
07. Michael Hooper (c)	14. Yoann Huget
08. Mamuka Gorgodze	15. Rob Kearney

16. Scott Baldwin 17.Ethan Waller 18. Kyle Sinckler 19. Luke Romano 20. Nick Easter 21. Henry Pyrgos 22. Steven Myler 23. Damian McKenzie

Tactics

Game Plan

Play in the right areas of the pitchs - conditions will be slippy and first and foremost we are going to look to play in Irish territory. Using the boots of Pienaar, Jantjies and Kearney especially we're going to look to kick into the space in the Irish half. We will look to kick to touch to use our excellent line out operators to pressure Irish line outs or use up and unders and cross kicks using Henshaw, Kearney and Huget ability under the high ball to retain possession or force errors.

With ball in hand we want to build the phases using our strong carriers up front to get us across the gain line so we can get quicker ball to give to our outside backs. Jantjies will look to stand flat and direct our play looking to use out the back options with Joseph, Kearney and the blind side wing to test the Irish defence. Our pack is industrious and mobile and will look for work in attack as a carrying option or as the first to the ruck.

Set Piece 


At scrum time look for Brookes to give Moon a torrid time and use our extra experience of Healy over Malherbe. We feel our line out is a big strength of ours and will use Kruis, PDST and Chouly as our primary jumpers in attack and defence. Look to switch between full and 5 man line outs to allow Hooper and Gorgodze to carry off 9 and get us over the gain line on the first phase. 

Defence


Employ a drift defence using the pace in our side to force London Irish wide in slippy conditions. Look to show them the outside channel and then use a chop tackle to bring them straight down. Look for Hooper, Creevy and others to attack the breakdown as the first man otherwise we will spread out and set our defensive line.

1 Beast
2 LCD
3 Mas
4 Etzbeth
5. Lavanini
6 Matera
7 Savea
8 Heaslip
9 Robson
10 Cipriani
11 May
12 Toomua
13 Kurindrani
14 Talebula
15 Dagg
16 Wood
17 Grey
18 Antonio
19 Croft
20 Stooke
21 Perenara
22 Walker
23 Crotty


Glos
Look to build on there superb form of late .

Basic game plan- Glos are going to keep it simple. We have picked a much bigger pack than the opposition chock full of ball carriers. The aim is to win the confrontations get front foot ball and then get the
Ball wide to our Backs.

Forwards

- we have picked a big pack to get us on the front foot. The aim is to carry and then carry some more. We want to try and get past the tackler and When on look to offload.
- will look to employ the maul off lineouts in our half and tire out the Sale pack
- look to go off top in their half and get Kurindrani and co running at Sexton
- Look to get a nudge on when their ball and anchor on our own
- Matera and Savea to target steals at breakdown
- look to contest their ball in lineout and pressure thrower
- target Sale front five in particular Marx and Atwood
Backs
- Cipriani in great form and banging the goals over at moment.
- look to create quick ball for Robson to hit Cipriani to play
On front foot ball
- look to kick for territory when needed but apart from that keep ball in hand
- look to move the ball off quick ball in their half.
- blitz defence with Robson sweeping
- utilise Kurindrani and runners in channel to target Hodgson

Key pointsl

- carry carry and carry some more
To tire sale
Target the sale players who are out of
Form
Look to flood breakdown
- utilise our extra speed in back row to flood breakdown
- look to use kicks in behind sale win and get
Them playing out of position
- attack off any turnover
- utilise bench as require d

When are the citing outcomes usually announced? Waiting on Farrell too

Does the Racing ban on Castro apply to me?

Club bans don't count mate

London Wasps
Manager: CJ

01. James Slipper	09. Tomas Cubelli
02. Richardt Strauss	10. Christian Lealiifano
03. Sekope Kepu
04. Donnacha Ryan	11. Rene Ranger
05. Kearnan Myall	12. Duncan Taylor
06. Chris Robshaw (c)	13. Michele Campagnaro
07. John Barclay	14.  Craig Gilroy
08. Laurence Pearce	15. Chris Pennell

:-
16. David Kilcoyne 17. Corey Flynn, 18. Tom West 19. Sam Twomey, 20 Victor Vito, 21. Ben Spencer , 22. Finn Russell 23.  George Lowe

Driver, You only have 3 EQ starting I think mate after swapping Marler out for his ban.

Y
Newcastle Falcons
Manager – Bambam

01. Matt Mullan	09. Rhys Webb
02. Jamie George	10. Paddy Jackson
03. Davit Kubriashvili
04. Guido Petti	11. David Strettle
05. Flip Van Der Merwe	12. Stuart McCloskey
06. David Ewers	13. Charles Piutau
07. Francois Louw	14. Rob Miller
08. Kieran Read (c)	15. Ben Smith

:-
16.Dane Coles 17.Alec Hepburn 18. Charlie Faumuina 19. Ed Slater 20. Callum Clark 21. Greig Laidlaw 22. Gareth Anscombe  23. Luke Marshall

Game plan - Use the big pack to really put their front 5 under pressure,. Compete hard for the ball at the ruck to get on top, and challenge their half back combo we think they can be targeted with Sanchez particularly in for a lot of tackling. Hughes just back from injury, put the pressure on him at set piece particularly

Set piece - Look to really put their props under maximum pressure with Mullan and Kubs, we've got a great scrummaging lock pairing to help. If no weakness, use as restart. Flip to call lineout, mark their second rows and force long throws where Read is waiting. On our ball, use the back row options to mix it up

Breakdown - Louw, Read, Ewers and George to lead the way on turnovers. Others focus on strong clear outs and maintaining a strong defensive line. Read able to split staying close to the ruck, or turning the ball over in wider areas like for NZ. On our ball, smash them off the ball, use pod system to ensure support if they are having success. Louw is charged with keeping Hardie off our ball, and target turnovers if one of their carriers gets isolated

Kicking - Smith and Piutau to offer options outside Jackson with their accurate boots. Kick in behind the wings for territory, aim for space not the man. Challenge North's positioning, and put the high ball up on Veianu at all opportunities. Piutau free to drop back for the counter off their kicks with Smith stepping in

Attack - Webb to run our attack and set the tempo, constantly change the point of attack and get Jackson quick ball.. Challenge Sanchez defensively with Mccloskey running hard lines at their channels with Miller/Smith coming into the line. Big carrying forwards to set a platform, run at Sanchez all day long to put them on the back foot off first phase, see how he handles it. Miller/Piutau /Smith all options to switch around and keep them guessing. Target both wings defensively with the back 3 and Piutau interchangeable

Defence - no weak links in the backline, use the drift defence to maintain the line and challenge them to beat us one on one out wide. Jackson/McCloskey's familiarity to lead our defence

Bench - Big carrying forwards throughout and talented, pacy backs to see us home

Yeah I do mate

I'll start Ben Moon at 1 and put Sio back on the bench.

Could you edit your team mate, makes it easier when I load them up or I'll forget

McIntyre banned, Franks and Trinder brought in.

Just doing tactics now, struggling to get on at the moment Tues-Thurs as have had to start doing quite a bit of training for the next challenge, so not really online that much outside work.

Sorry I failed to get tactics in, been on call on nights. Need to sleep now so will just have to take the hit. I accept I have lost this one!

Are predos still due for end of today given its Bank holiday?

Some of us are in work tomorrow  
Planning to do results lunch time. Any predictions received before that will be counted 

RESULTS:

Sale Sharks 27 (T:3 C:3 P:2)
Gloucester 25 (T:2 P:5)

Exeter Chiefs 24 (T:2 C:1 P:4)
Wasps 22 (T:1 C:1 P:5)

Leicester Tigers 24 (T:2 C:1 P:4)
Worcester Warriors 24 (T:2 C:1 P:4)

Northampton Saints 24 (T:2 C:1 P:4)
Bath 21 (T:2 C:1 P:3)

Saracens 25 (T:2 P:5)
Newcastle Falcons 22 (T:1 C:1 P:5)

London Irish 23 (T:1 P:6)
Harlequins 30 (T:4 C:2 P:2)

BONUS:

Score: CJB & Steve
Full: Matt, Bam, Chris, SJE, Pooly & CJ

Sale 27 - 24 Gloucester

Sale can get at Gloucester's scrum, also, Matt, your pack isn't much bigger than literally every team, it's harder to rate your tactics if they say something as a fact that I don't believe is true! Close at the lineout, Gloucester second row add more in the loose, LCD's darts can be targeted and with Retallick pressuring the front this probably gives Sale the edge despite good locks from Gloucester. With Matera back in the side, Gloucester match Sale at the breakdown, Sale clever to try to neutralise the backrow at the scrum but on second phase etc the quick Gloucester flankers are a handful. Care and Sexton aren't in their best ever form, and so I think in general play Cips and Robson might edge them. Close in the backs, Kurudriani will make Sexton work hard in Defence but equally the Gloucester wingers will have a hard time against the power Sale have there. At home and with the more solid pack, Sale win.

Sale 27-26 Gloucester

Sale 20 - 19 Gloucester 

Sale 25 - 27 Gloucester
Sale a mixture of great form and off form in the team, and no kicking game outside of Sexton - whilst a lot of Glouceter players coming into good form and have a very good kicking access of Cipriani and Toomua in the midifled and they will be able to take advantage of a new midfield combination from the home side. Good pack battle, but prefer Gloucester's front five that has more power. Great impact off the bench from Sale, but Gloucester in some good form and can see a narrow away win.

Sale 26-25 Gloucester 

Exeter 21-20 Waspa

Exeter 18 - 17 Wasps

Exeter 22-23 Wasps

Wasps slightly stronger at the scrum here and think they edge the breakdown. Chiefs with the stronger carrying game through the pack though. Real life link up gives Wasps a little edge at halfback and Campagnaro offers more from 13. Tight game with no game plans from either side. Feel Wasps have just enough about them to sneak a win.

Exeter Chiefs 21-22 Wasps
A basement battle. Wasps better set up and their superior front 5 mean they win away

Exeter 20-19 Wasps

No tactics from either side cancels that issue out so it's game on with the line ups. Very little in the front rows, Exeter waek at TH but not sure Wasps have the unit to fully stake advantage. Slight advantage in the back 5 to Exeter and this will help them get on top in the forwards. Prefer the Wasps halfbacks and unsure what is going on in the centres with 2 12's for Exeter and 2 13's for Wasps??? Little in the back 3's and benches make this a very even game game.

Exeter Chiefs 22 - 21 Wasps
Would have been interesting with tactics - as not Chiefs have stronger forwards but Wasps have better backs. Forwards just about win it with home advantage.

Exeter 28-27 Wasps

Leicester 20 -22 Worcester

I think Worcester win the scrum, but Leicester the lineout. Mafi and Nakawara against each other will be interesting for contributions to loose play. Think Nakawara fits really well with that backrow, and Smith gives Worcester an edge at te breakdown there. However, Bastareud etc make the overall breakdown battle close. Good balance in Worcester backrow, good cohesion from Leicester's and the battle between the two is probably the crux of the contest. Worcester very clear on how they will defend Tigers, both sides using a simple plan and both have the powerful centres and carriers in backrow and back 3 to pull it off- likely to be an attritional contest. In view of this, Biggar's kicking is vital, and Worcester will steal this. 

Tigers 24-23 Warriors

Leicester 23 - 23 Worcester 

Tigers 22-24 Worcester

Worc with a scrum advantage and can see their 2nd row getting around the park better. Interesting backrow battle with the power Tigers have on show v a more mobile Worc unit. Form of the Worc flanks edges it. 9s even but Biggar a step up at 10. Little bit more about the Tigers back three but Naholo a real danger. Conditions suit the usual Tigers game plan but Worc set up fairly well for them as well. Feel Biggar offers more control and gets a little more from his pack to work with in these conditions.

Leicester Tigers 25-27 Worcester Warriors
Away win again. Leicester locks a huge issue and makes them underpowered, to win away you need to win battle upfront. Wuss do this and with their backrow close game out. Taufua and smith is a great combo/

Leicester 22-20 Worcester

Solid front outfits for both sides with no real change. Worcester engine room a step up with both Tigers locks not the player they used to be. Good backrow contest, shading to the home side. Halfbacks go to Worcester and the better centre combo to Tigers. Back 3 to Wuss with Tigers perhaps needing to improve on Banahan. Tigers just having enough to shade this one in a close contest.

Leicester Tigers 15 - 13 Worcester Warriors
In bad conditions you could see Tigers second row struggling a bit and Roberts could have a field day running at the 10-12 channel from the home side. Beyond that Tigers are very strong - their backrow is perfectly suited to the conditions and their backline has some very strong ball carriers. Could see Warriors winning this in dry conditions, but the home side still just slightly better suited to the conditions and back three & bench players especially.

Leicester 25-26 Worcester 

Saints 20 - 15 Bath

Like the choice of the 6-2 split on the bench. Assume Goode covers 10 for Bath? Saints will be hoping for no outside back injuries! Really like the tactics for both sides, maybe a few more spaces to break up the text (rich coming from me) needed. Bath really taking a risk with the offloading game, probably too much of a risk. The scrum battle is pretty much even, two great units right now. Good lineouts too, vital in this weather to have solid set piece, but I think Northampton have an advantage. We know the Bath backrow work well together but Saints look really excellent here in wet weather, cover all the bases and carry really well, think it would go Bath's way here in the dry but Saints have the advantage in the wet. On the benches, Bath can get a set piece advantage later on, but Saints get more power in the tight carrying and mauling game later and an edge at the breakdown (which is pretty close in the starting sides). In the backs, both sides set out well for their tactics but the safer approach of using power players by Saints looks more sensible. This is the key to a Saints home win. 

Saints 15 - 16 Bath 

Saints 21-17 Bath

Wilson sticks out a little at scrum time but not a lot between the front 5s else where. Great battle at the breakdown but Saints backrow offer more carrying in the tight areas. Murray struggling for form at the moment but the Saints pair more capable of playing the conditions. Bath slightly stronger 11-15 currently. Bench selections interesting. Saints won't want to see any of the back three go down and Goode a better auxiallary playmaker then a leading man. Saints much better set up for the conditions. Offloading game of Bath not going to stick in the conditions which will put pressure on Wilson. Can't see this lineout advantage Bath expect either.

Northampton Saints 21-19 Bath
A close game and think saints lineout struggles. Pocock the difference in pack. Murray and sop panga good players but not a duo to Make that backline work. Lack of kicking game in saints back 3 hurts them but good enough to Win

Northampton 25-26 Bath

Have to give the front row to Saints despite Mako's issues at scrum time, Wilson has very little form to speak of. The line out and engine room go to Bath but Saints stronger at 7/8, good unit from Bath though. One a piece in the halfbacks, Saints a good 10 away from having a very good unit. Bath stronger in most back positions and can really get some joy. Wilson aside, it's a very competitive Bath pack and I think Saints could get a shock with Chris openly stating Europe was their primary goal, cracking game.

Saints 29-28 Bath

Saracens 23 - 21 Falcons

Pretty even at the scrum, Saracens locks edge the lineout. Saracens excellent breakdown unit and their backrow looks great as ever, but Falcons have class in their backrow too, probably lose the breakdown just but their overall contribution is huge. Sanchez>Jackson gives Saracens a HB advantage. Big fan of both backlines with form and balance in both. Smith can target Piutau when attacking but think he will have trouble with him in defence. Think the HBs and breakdown just win this for Saracens 

Sarries 26-25 Newcastle

Saracens 19 - 18 Newcastle

Sarries 23-21 Falcons

Not an awful lot between the scrums but Sarries with a slight edge at the lineout. Falcons with a bit more quality in the backrow but the breakdown battle overall will be fairly tight. Halfbacks one a piece and both work well as combos. Sarries a step up on the wings. Like the power of the Falcons midfield but Sarries definetly have the guile to get at Piutua defensively. Both sides looking to compete at the breakdown and have a farily structured game looking to get the big carriers on the ball as often as possible. Feel Sarries will get more joy attacking wise though and take an important home win.

Saracens 24 - 22 Newcaslte
The Haskell, Hughes backrow combination is becoming unstuck at Wasps at the moment, teams have worked out how to stop Huges getting over the gainline, but Guirado will help the homeside out massively here. Falcons have a big edge in the carrying front with their pack and will knock the homeside back with Read and Ewers, a cracking combination. Both halfback combinations could do with better balance, but where the homeide get the win is a great backline outside Sanchez, which will cause all teams problems.

London Irish 18 - 27 Harlequins

Harlequins win the scrum, and they are pretty dominant in the lineout too. Good backrow battle all around but the breakdown goes to Quins. Irish have put together a really dangerous backline with a classic 9-10-12 playmaker and 11-13-14-15 runner mix, but Jantjes can get his backline going and despite indifferent form, the Henshaw-Joseph combo really works with each complimenting the other. With tactics from only the away side, they win

Irish 28-29 Quins

Irish 20-30 Quins

Driver doing his chances major harm with no game plan. Looking at the line ups I'd pick Irish to win this by the smallest of margins, all though Moon is looking a bit out of place. But without a game plan against a strong Quins side still in the hunt for 2nd place I can't see anything but a tbp for Steve. I'd go with Myler still for the game plan on show though Steve.

London Irish 24-21 Harlequins
Healy an issue for Quins As much as psdt a plus. See Irish backrow on top and better half backs winning this. Quins have form issues in a few positions. Mckenzie needs to play but maybe Steve resting players for play offs ? Jantjes a good signing but not sure pienaar his best partner

Irish 18-22 Quins

Lack of tactics really hurting Irish this season, they have been rudderless for too many games now. Close game overall with Irish perhaps the better side on paper, I just have to give Quins the win though with no direction for Irish. C'mon Driver!!!

London Irish 24 - 32 Harlequins
Irish have a great team, but with no tactics Quins walk this easily

London Irish 27-28 Quins

I've made the top 4!!