Aviva Round 22 - The final game

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Bath v Leicester Tigers
The Rec
Light rain, 21 Degrees, 8mph Winds

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Bath Rugby
Manager – CJB

01. Eddy Ben Arous	09. Tawera Kerr Barlow
02. Mikey Haywood	10. Beauden Barrett
03. Scott Wilson
04. Will Skelton	11. Juan Imhoff
05. Graham Kitchener	12. Damian De Allende
06. Siya Kolisi	13. Jonathan Davies
07. Josh Van Der Flier	14. Hallan Amos
08. Josh Beaumont	15. Liam Williams

16. Steven Kitchoff 17. Rory Best 18. Samson Lee 19. James Gaskell 20. Toby Falateu 21. Richard Wigglesworth 22. Sam Hill 23. Christian Wade

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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

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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

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Gloucester v Northampton Saints
Kingsholm
Heavy rain, 21 Degrees, 7mph Winds

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Evans
LCD
Mas
Etzbeth
Lavanini
Matera
Heaslip
Savea
Robson
Carter
May
Toomua
Kurindrani
Walker
Dagg
Wood
Grey
Antonio
Croft
Alberts
Perenara
Folau
Burns

Basic game plan- Glos are going to keep it simple. We have picked a large mobile
pack t chock full of ball carriers. The aim is to win the confrontations get front foot ball and then dictate the play in the conditions

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 Saints pack
- look to go off top in their half and get Kurindrani and co running at Giteau
- 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 saintsfront five in particular Hartley and Atwood
Mako in set piece
- carter  in great form and the master in these conditions.
- look to create quick ball for Robson to hit cartet  to dictate
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 Giteau

Key pointsl

- carry carry and carry some more
To tire saints
- play the conditions. Our 9,10,12 are all masters of the kicking game
Target the saints scrum
Look to flood breakdown
- utilise our extra weight at lock to hammer rucks  
- look to use kicks in behind sale win and get
Them playing out of position
- attack off any turnover in their half
- utilise bench as required

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Northampton Saints
Manager Dammit Chris

1. Mako Vunipola
2. Dylan Hartley
3. Ramiro Herrera
4. Joe Launchbury
5. Jonny Gray
6. Schalk Burger
7. David Pocock (c)
8. Billy Vunipola
9. Conor Murray
10. Matt Giteau
11. Julian Savea
12. Weslie Fofana
13. Manu Tuilagi
14. Adam Ashley Cooper
15. Ben Foden

Replacements
16. Ashley Johnson 17. Wyatt Crockett 18. Jake Cooper Wooley 19. Samu Manoa 20. Facunda Isa 21. Joe Simpson 22. George Ford 23. Paul Jedrasiak

Tactics
After the disappointment of Europe, we are now focused on securing a home semi-final spot in the playoffs and look to end the season with some silverware. We've freshened up our team from last week with two changes in the pack and bringing in Giteau, Fofana and Savea into the backline. We'll look for Murray and Giteau to put us deep into Gloucester territory with their boots and have Gloucester play from deep. We'll play our usual aggressive, physical style in the forwards and keep Gloucester tackling and tiring them down. We've got 6 forwards on the bench and ensured that we have power runners in the backline to keep us always challenging the gain line.

Wet Weather Key Players
In the wet weather we have picked big game players in the 2, 8, 9 and 10 shirts - Hartley to ensure the setpiece functions, Vunipola to carry and make hard yards, Murray to add his wet weather game and Giteau to match Carter's big game experience. We feel we could get a big advantage in the 2, 8 and 9 shirts with the weather conditions as they are. Weather conditions stifle a lot of Gloucester's key attacking players - Robson, May, Savea etc and we'll look to take advantage of that. We feel we have bigger ball carriers across the XV and will look to utilise that in the conditions.

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 Gloucester pack come scrum time, particularly targeting LCD and Evans - we'll be looking for penalties. BV a very strong option from the base of the scrum to pick up and make hard yards. In terms of lineout the heavy rain stops anything apart from banker ball, with Hartley's excellent throwing we'll look to secure our own ball to set up driving mauls and build some go forwards. We'll look to test LCD's throwing throughout the game and force handling errors and put Robson under pressure by getting him poor ball from the lineout and scrum.

Kicking and Territory
Murray and Giteau are tasked with putting us into Gloucester 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. We'll put the ball up against both Gloucester wings, who are better suited to dry conditions and hit hard with a strong kick chase from our back three.

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 Gloucester 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 and Burger has been brought back in to up the intensity and physicality and our backrow is an area we want to dominate.

Breakdown
We are aiming to make this a really physical battle here, with Pocock and Burger in the starting lineup - we are looking to force Gloucester into giving away penalties and make ball scrappy to then give Robson poor ball and test his passing under pressure in the conditions.

Attack
Zero risk rugby, based around strong ball carrying, giving Murray and Giteau a platform to clear their lines and put distance on the ball. To put us into positions where we can punish Gloucester and force them into mistakes.

Defence
We know Carter is the threat in this game, he plays the wet conditions excellently, so we will disrupt the service to him by pressurising the setpiece, smashing the breakdown area and putting Robson under immense pressure and force the mistakes before the ball reaches Carter. Otherwise similar style defence to that which Saracens play in real life, putting a lot of pressure on Gloucester and their 10-12 combination, with our wingers dropping back to support Foden in the poor conditions as expect Gloucester to kick the ball a lot.

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Harlequins v Exeter Chiefs
The Stoop
Partial clouds, 24 Degrees, 9mph Winds

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Harlequins
Manager – Steven_Sharks

01. Gurthro Steenkamp	09. Henry Pyrgos
02. Scott Baldwin	10. Steven Myler (k)
03. Kieran Brookes
04. Luke Romano	11. Jack Nowell
05. Pieter Steph Du Toit	12. Juan Martin Hernandez
06. Jack Clifford	13. Robbie Henshaw
07. Michael Hooper (c)	14. Santiago Cordero
08. Damien Chouly	15. Damian McKenzie

16. Agustin Creevy 17. Ethan Waller 18. Kyle Sinckler 19. Nick Easter 20. Mamuka Gorgodze 21. Luke McGrath 22. Elton Jantjies 23. Jonathan Joseph

Tactics

Attack 

Use forwards running off 9 and 10 to get us over the gain line carrying hard and at pace looking to attack gaps in the Chiefs defence. Look to use wide passes to spread the Chiefs defence and get our forwards running at the Chiefs backs. Look to use forwards as lead line runners with the backs offering the out the back option. 

When we get quick ball on the front foot we will look to use the pace in our outside backs to good effect. We will look to get the ball in the hands of JMH and McKenzie who are our chief playmakers. They will look to feed the ball to Henshaw and our wings in space so they can use their foot work and pace to pierce the Chiefs line. 

When we have the ball in our own half we will look to use the boot of Myler, Hernandez and McKenzie to get the ball into Chiefs territory. We have a very strong line out on show and will look to use that to pressure the Chiefs line out. 

Defence


We will look to use a drift defence and use the chop tackle to bring Chiefs players down before the gain line. This also allows the ball to go to ground quickly so that we can use the pace of Hooper and Clifford to get to the breakdown first. 

Key Points


Form - We are in excellent form and very much in the winning habit. This isn't the case for Chiefs.

Important Game - We know that if we get a BP win we stand an excellent chance of a home semi final. We have the players to score 4 tries and win at home. For Exeter however they are only playing for pride. We have far more motivation to win the game.

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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

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Newcastle Falcons v Sale Sharks
Kingston Park
Cloudy, 7 Degrees, 12mph Winds

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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. Scott Williams
07. Francois Louw	14. Charles Piutau
08. Kieran Read (c)	15. Ben Smith

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16.Dane Coles 17.Alec Hepburn 18. Charlie Faumuina 19. Ed Slater 20. Callum Clark 21. Greig Laidlaw 22. Gareth Anscombe  23. Rob Miller

Can't find confirmation on whether Louw got banned, if he did then swap in Henry

Key points - Sale have gone second string, these guys are just looking after themselves in case they get a shot for either the playoffs or the Euro final - we're going all out for the win to finish as high up the table as possible and end our domestic season on a high

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 Foley particularly in for a lot of tackling. Target the positional sense of their back 3, with Earls in particularly the target for our high ball game

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 Todd 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 Li's positioning, and put the high ball up on Earls 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 Foley/Eastmond defensively with Mccloskey running hard lines at their channels with Piutau/Smith coming into the line. Big carrying forwards to set a platform, run at Eastmond/Foley all day long to put them on the back foot off first phase, see how they 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

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Sale Sharks
Manager – SJE

01. Ross Harrison	09. Faf De Klerk
02. Malcolm Marx	10. Bernard Foley
03. Martin Moore
04. Dave Attwood	11. Tevita Li
05. Matt Garvey	12. Kyle Eastmond
06. Peter O'Mahony	13. Seta Taiminavula
07. Matt Todd	14. Marcus Webber
08. Steven Luatua	15. Keith Earls

16. Nicky Smith 17. David Paice 18. Atu Moli 19. Christian Day 20. Lewis Ludlam 21. Callum Braley 22. JJ Hanrahan 23. Nick Abendanon

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. De Klerk 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 Foley and Earls 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. De Klerk 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 POM to get up in the air at the front and challenge on opposition ball looking to make it as messy as possible.

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Wasps v London Irish
Richo Arena
Light rain, 21 Degrees, 10mph Winds

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London Wasps
Manager: CJ

01. James Slipper	09. Tomas Cubelli
02. Richardt Strauss	10. Finn Russell
03. Sekope Kepu
04. Luke Charteris	11. Rene Ranger
05. Kearnan Myall	12. Christian Lealiifano
06. Chris Robshaw	13. George Lowe
07. John Barclay	14.  Craig Gilroy
08. Victor Vito (C)	15. Chris Pennell

:-
16. David Kilcoyne 17. Scott Spurling, 18. Tom West 19. Donnacha Ryan, 20 Carl Fearns, 21. Ben Spencer , 22. Duncan Taylor 23.  Jordan Williams

Tactics:

Last game of a disappointing season for us, so let's go out and play without any pressure at all, for pride, and shock one of the big teams. In the light rain, there's plenty of scope for attacking with the backs and handling but not forcing things and so our approach will be about manipulating the defence to create a true attacking opportunity and THEN going for broke and keeping the ball alive. I thoroughly believe we can get the breakdown advantage needed to keep up quick ball and possession to manage that.

Breakdown:

With two international 7s on our flanks, we will look to have one of them at as many breakdowns as possible, to take advantage of  London Irish's reliance on only O'Brien in this area, supported by the rest of the pack who are no slouches here.

To do this, we will have one flanker chasing the ball to be first to the ruck in defence or attack, really pushing for fast ball and the turnover, with the rest of the pack committing if the ball could go either way, hitting the ruck with intensity and as a unit, but staying out on ball that is already won by either side. Robshaw more likely to do this closer to the ruck, Barclay wider out, communication paramount (though obviously any player close enough to be there first will go for it).

This will also allow them to offer an option for pop passes and offloads and to cover missed tackles and offloads.

Scrum:

Kepu and Slipper looking to work together to pop out Thacker on Irish's ball, as his size can be used against him. Kepu also knows Sio well and will look to use this to exploit weaknesses in his technique.

On our own put it, we will look to keep a nice stable platform, some forward shift and then get it out and run off Vito quickly.

Lineout:

We have a good mix of options with Robshaw and Vito starting and Charteris and Myall both key here for their real life sides. We will mix up our options with a safe thrower to keep the defence guessing, and look to tap down and kick off front ball and mix playing off the top and mauling off other ball, with Barclay the carrier at the back of the maul when we push for a try.

Defensively, Charteris at the front where disrupting mauls and pressuring throws is his specialty, with Myall competing in the air in the middle. If their throws are going well, I'd rather let them have the ball in the air and focus on destroying their maul.

Defence:

Blitz defence led by Lealiifano, Cubelli sweeping, the backrow who are not chasing the ball to put loads of pressure on 9 and 10, especially if we have slowed their ball, and trust our other forwards to guard the fringes.

Gilroy is marking Watson and has experience at FB to counter Watson's offensive strength in the air, but Pennell to be very alert to his threat too. When Watson gets ball in hand, he rarely ever passes, so happy to doubleteam him and force a turnover by holding him up or getting over him at the breakdown. Ranger to look to press on Speight and take him on early, imposing his physicality on him.

Attack:

Build up slow ball with pick and drives in units of 3 forwards and mauling as well as simple pop passes and direct running off 9-10-12 with our powerful carriers (Ranger, Lealiifano, Slipper, Kepu, Vito). With our kicking axis at 9-10-12-15 particularly strong, we will also be happy to kick for territory and particularly behind Speight or high cross field kicks to him that will be harder to catch in the rain with Ranger bearing down. Very happy to look for chips and grubbers too, Finn to play what is in front of him.

Cubelli encouraged to snipe when he sees a gap.

With quicker ball, we will play flat and mix between using Finn, Leallifano and sometimes Pennell as the playmaker, using simple switches, passes and pivots to put our runners in at a variety of angles, to make yards and suck in defenders and create space. As above, simple pops to our carriers and support from our flankers keeps a variety of options alive, and we will still keep our eyes open for the attacking kick. Having numerous playmakers and our dual 7 approach, we should be able to string together waves of separate phases.

When a gap or overlap appears, we will then call it and spin quickly to that, now running at space rather than the shoulder, and look to offload and change direction to keep the phase alive until we score, the ball dies or the defence manages to recover, then we will repeat. If the defence is pressing too hard to get this space, we can play more pivots and loops behind the attacking line using Lealiifano as the point and using his physicality and handling mix to protect Finn.

Kicking:

Finn to take kicks at goal but Lealiifano there as back up. With our back 3 and kickers, I'm happy to kick back kicks and pressurise with a mix of kicks high and behind the opposition with a hard chase. I'm happy to kick for touch and risk the lineout, confident in our ability to steal the ball back there or the breakdown.

Other:

Press hard for penalties in their 22, but hold back and stay very disciplined in our own half, like the Brumbies runner up side of 2013.
Subs - Lealiifano covers 10, form and attacking ability to break the game up across the backs on the bench, with workrate in the forwards bench.

Overall:


Build up with direct but incessant phases to manufacture space which we will exploit with a focussed attack thereafter keeping the ball alive

Focus on winning the breakdown with a heads up approach also keeping a 7 close to the ball at all times

Specific marking of their wings to neuter their strengths and play to their weaknesses

Break up their lineouts on the ground

Look to finish this season with pride!

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1.Scott Sio
2.Harry Thacker
3.Frans Malherbe
4.Alun Wyn Jones
5.Matt Symons
6.Jerome Kaino
7.Sean O'Brien
8.Duane Vermaulen (c)

9.Aaron Smith
10.Aaron Cruden
11.Anthony Watson
12.Henry Slade
13.Tom Fowlie
14.Henry Sprieght
15.Jesse Kriel

16.Ben Moon 17.Bismark Du Plessie 18.Dave Wilson 19.Sebastian Vaahamina 20.Tom Wood 21.Ben Youngs 22.Brad Barritt 23.Tim Nani Williams

TACTICS:

IRISH too play a high tempo and focus on winning the collision areas. Light Rain does not mean balls will be dropped so our backs will look too cut loose on turnover ball and get our back three running at open spaces and gaps in the backs.

Cruden will look too play the field and kick too the spaces when its on other than that he'll look to put the ball a bit deeper too give our dangerous back line time on the ball too cause chaos.

Our fowards will look to work in tandem and hit the ball up in twos too ensure ball retention and in defence we'll look for SOB too get over the ball and slow Wasps ball down and allow our team to reset. We've picked Harry Thacker at two as he can be a big part of this as he will suit out high tempo game.

Symons will look too pressure the Wasps lineout jumping at two and getting into the Channel.

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Worcester Warriors v Saracens
Sixways Stadium
Light rain, 19 Degrees, 7mph Winds

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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 solid 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.

Hughes 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. Sarries are focusing on Smith so we will let him take the focus off other forwards allow gaps to appear at the breakdowns.

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 Sarries throw, we will look to double stack initially and, on our ball we will bring it down to suck in the Sarries 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 Sarriesblitz  to look to have 2 waves coming at them, Biggar, Tait 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 Sarries breakdown and exploit the gaps with his experience.

Whilst we are looking to  stop Sarries 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 Sarries depending on their defence system.

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Saracens
Manager – Pooly

01. Alex Waller	09. Lee Dickson
02. Guilhem Guirado	10. Nicolas Sanchez
03. Dan Cole
04. Patrick Tuipultou	11. George North
05. Sam Whitelock	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. Geoff Parling 20. Temani Harrison 21. Brad Weber 22. Pat Lambie 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 Smith in this area by clearing him out early and minimizing the effect from Worcester.

TARGET LINE OUT - Whitelock to run the show and put pressure on the Wuss set piece. If there's a weakness to be got at in the Wuss pack, it's the lack of a genuine lineout option.


TOP 4 TO PLAY FOR, WUSS NOTHING BUT PRIDE - Huge game for us and we'll be really up for it, this will make or break our season and confirm our position in the top. You can't play down the fact that one side is full of confidence, fighting for everything, against a team already on their summer break.

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 Jones out of position as he's unaccustomed to wing and get our exciting runners down that channel.


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.

Evans
LCD
Mas
Etzbeth
Lavanini
Matera
Heaslip
Savea
Robson
Carter
May
Toomua
Kurindrani
Walker
Dagg
Wood
Grey
Antonio
Croft
Alberts
Perenara
Folau
Burns

Conditions up

Need a TBP win to gauge any hope of an AP semi final now.

1.Scott Sio
2.Harry Thacker
3.Frans Malherbe
4.Alun Wyn Jones
5.Matt Symons
6.Jerome Kaino
7.Sean O'Brian
8.Duane Vermaulen (c)

9.Aaron Smith
10.Aaron Cruden
11.Anthony Watson
12.Henry Slade
13.Tom Fowlie
14.Henry Sprieght
15.Jesse Kriel

16.Ben Moon 17.Bismark Du Plessie 18.Dave Wilson 19.Sebastian Vaahamina 20.Tom Wood 21.Ben Youngs 22.Brad Barritt 23.Tim Nani Williams

TACTICS:

IRISH too play a high tempo and focus on winning the collision areas. Light Rain does not mean balls will be dropped so our backs will look too cut loose on turnover ball and get our back three running at open spaces and gaps in the backs.

Cruden will look too play the field and kick too the spaces when its on other than that he'll look to put the ball a bit deeper too give our dangerous back line time on the ball too cause chaos.

Our fowards will look to work in tandem and hit the ball up in twos too ensure ball retention and in defence we'll look for SOB too get over the ball and slow Wasps ball down and allow our team to reset. We've picked Harry Thacker at two as he can be a big part of this as he will suit out high tempo game.

Symons will look too pressure the Wasps lineout jumping at two and getting into the Channel.

Northampton Saints
Manager Dammit Chris

1. Mako Vunipola
2. Dylan Hartley
3. Ramiro Herrera
4. Joe Launchbury
5. Jonny Gray
6. Schalk Burger
7. David Pocock (c)
8. Billy Vunipola
9. Conor Murray
10. Matt Giteau
11. Julian Savea
12. Weslie Fofana
13. Manu Tuilagi
14. Adam Ashley Cooper
15. Ben Foden

Replacements
16. Ashley Johnson 17. Wyatt Crockett 18. Jake Cooper Wooley 19. Samu Manoa 20. Facunda Isa 21. Joe Simpson 22. George Ford 23. Paul Jedrasiak

Tactics
After the disappointment of Europe, we are now focused on securing a home semi-final spot in the playoffs and look to end the season with some silverware. We've freshened up our team from last week with two changes in the pack and bringing in Giteau, Fofana and Savea into the backline. We'll look for Murray and Giteau to put us deep into Gloucester territory with their boots and have Gloucester play from deep. We'll play our usual aggressive, physical style in the forwards and keep Gloucester tackling and tiring them down. We've got 6 forwards on the bench and ensured that we have power runners in the backline to keep us always challenging the gain line.

Wet Weather Key Players
In the wet weather we have picked big game players in the 2, 8, 9 and 10 shirts - Hartley to ensure the setpiece functions, Vunipola to carry and make hard yards, Murray to add his wet weather game and Giteau to match Carter's big game experience. We feel we could get a big advantage in the 2, 8 and 9 shirts with the weather conditions as they are. Weather conditions stifle a lot of Gloucester's key attacking players - Robson, May, Savea etc and we'll look to take advantage of that. We feel we have bigger ball carriers across the XV and will look to utilise that in the conditions.

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 Gloucester pack come scrum time, particularly targeting LCD and Evans - we'll be looking for penalties. BV a very strong option from the base of the scrum to pick up and make hard yards. In terms of lineout the heavy rain stops anything apart from banker ball, with Hartley's excellent throwing we'll look to secure our own ball to set up driving mauls and build some go forwards. We'll look to test LCD's throwing throughout the game and force handling errors and put Robson under pressure by getting him poor ball from the lineout and scrum.

Kicking and Territory
Murray and Giteau are tasked with putting us into Gloucester 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. We'll put the ball up against both Gloucester wings, who are better suited to dry conditions and hit hard with a strong kick chase from our back three.

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 Gloucester 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 and Burger has been brought back in to up the intensity and physicality and our backrow is an area we want to dominate.

Breakdown
We are aiming to make this a really physical battle here, with Pocock and Burger in the starting lineup - we are looking to force Gloucester into giving away penalties and make ball scrappy to then give Robson poor ball and test his passing under pressure in the conditions.

Attack
Zero risk rugby, based around strong ball carrying, giving Murray and Giteau a platform to clear their lines and put distance on the ball. To put us into positions where we can punish Gloucester and force them into mistakes.

Defence
We know Carter is the threat in this game, he plays the wet conditions excellently, so we will disrupt the service to him by pressurising the setpiece, smashing the breakdown area and putting Robson under immense pressure and force the mistakes before the ball reaches Carter. Otherwise similar style defence to that which Saracens play in real life, putting a lot of pressure on Gloucester and their 10-12 combination, with our wingers dropping back to support Foden in the poor conditions as expect Gloucester to kick the ball a lot.

Harlequins
Manager – Steven_Sharks

01. Gurthro Steenkamp	09. Henry Pyrgos
02. Scott Baldwin	10. Steven Myler (k)
03. Kieran Brookes
04. Luke Romano	11. Jack Nowell
05. Pieter Steph Du Toit	12. Juan Martin Hernandez
06. Jack Clifford	13. Robbie Henshaw
07. Michael Hooper (c)	14. Santiago Cordero
08. Damien Chouly	15. Damian McKenzie

16. Agustin Creevy 17. Ethan Waller 18. Kyle Sinckler 19. Nick Easter 20. Mamuka Gorgodze 21. Luke McGrath 22. Elton Jantjies 23. Jonathan Joseph

Tactics

Attack 

Use forwards running off 9 and 10 to get us over the gain line carrying hard and at pace looking to attack gaps in the Chiefs defence. Look to use wide passes to spread the Chiefs defence and get our forwards running at the Chiefs backs. Look to use forwards as lead line runners with the backs offering the out the back option. 

When we get quick ball on the front foot we will look to use the pace in our outside backs to good effect. We will look to get the ball in the hands of JMH and McKenzie who are our chief playmakers. They will look to feed the ball to Henshaw and our wings in space so they can use their foot work and pace to pierce the Chiefs line. 

When we have the ball in our own half we will look to use the boot of Myler, Hernandez and McKenzie to get the ball into Chiefs territory. We have a very strong line out on show and will look to use that to pressure the Chiefs line out. 

Defence


We will look to use a drift defence and use the chop tackle to bring Chiefs players down before the gain line. This also allows the ball to go to ground quickly so that we can use the pace of Hooper and Clifford to get to the breakdown first. 

Key Points


Form - We are in excellent form and very much in the winning habit. This isn't the case for Chiefs.

Important Game - We know that if we get a BP win we stand an excellent chance of a home semi final. We have the players to score 4 tries and win at home. For Exeter however they are only playing for pride. We have far more motivation to win the game.

London Wasps
Manager: CJ

01. James Slipper	09. Tomas Cubelli
02. Richardt Strauss	10. Finn Russell
03. Sekope Kepu
04. Luke Charteris	11. Rene Ranger
05. Kearnan Myall	12. Christian Lealiifano
06. Chris Robshaw	13. George Lowe
07. John Barclay	14.  Craig Gilroy
08. Victor Vito (C)	15. Chris Pennell

:-
16. David Kilcoyne 17. Scott Spurling, 18. Tom West 19. Donnacha Ryan, 20 Carl Fearns, 21. Ben Spencer , 22. Duncan Taylor 23.  Jordan Williams

Tactics:

Last game of a disappointing season for us, so let's go out and play without any pressure at all, for pride, and shock one of the big teams. In the light rain, there's plenty of scope for attacking with the backs and handling but not forcing things and so our approach will be about manipulating the defence to create a true attacking opportunity and THEN going for broke and keeping the ball alive. I thoroughly believe we can get the breakdown advantage needed to keep up quick ball and possession to manage that.

Breakdown:

With two international 7s on our flanks, we will look to have one of them at as many breakdowns as possible, to take advantage of London Irish's reliance on only O'Brien in this area, supported by the rest of the pack who are no slouches here.

To do this, we will have one flanker chasing the ball to be first to the ruck in defence or attack, really pushing for fast ball and the turnover, with the rest of the pack committing if the ball could go either way, hitting the ruck with intensity and as a unit, but staying out on ball that is already won by either side. Robshaw more likely to do this closer to the ruck, Barclay wider out, communication paramount (though obviously any player close enough to be there first will go for it).

This will also allow them to offer an option for pop passes and offloads and to cover missed tackles and offloads.

Scrum:

Kepu and Slipper looking to work together to pop out Thacker on Irish's ball, as his size can be used against him. Kepu also knows Sio well and will look to use this to exploit weaknesses in his technique.

On our own put it, we will look to keep a nice stable platform, some forward shift and then get it out and run off Vito quickly.

Lineout:

We have a good mix of options with Robshaw and Vito starting and Charteris and Myall both key here for their real life sides. We will mix up our options with a safe thrower to keep the defence guessing, and look to tap down and kick off front ball and mix playing off the top and mauling off other ball, with Barclay the carrier at the back of the maul when we push for a try.

Defensively, Charteris at the front where disrupting mauls and pressuring throws is his specialty, with Myall competing in the air in the middle. If their throws are going well, I'd rather let them have the ball in the air and focus on destroying their maul.

Defence:

Blitz defence led by Lealiifano, Cubelli sweeping, the backrow who are not chasing the ball to put loads of pressure on 9 and 10, especially if we have slowed their ball, and trust our other forwards to guard the fringes.

Gilroy is marking Watson and has experience at FB to counter Watson's offensive strength in the air, but Pennell to be very alert to his threat too. When Watson gets ball in hand, he rarely ever passes, so happy to doubleteam him and force a turnover by holding him up or getting over him at the breakdown. Ranger to look to press on Speight and take him on early, imposing his physicality on him.

Attack:

Build up slow ball with pick and drives in units of 3 forwards and mauling as well as simple pop passes and direct running off 9-10-12 with our powerful carriers (Ranger, Lealiifano, Slipper, Kepu, Vito). With our kicking axis at 9-10-12-15 particularly strong, we will also be happy to kick for territory and particularly behind Speight or high cross field kicks to him that will be harder to catch in the rain with Ranger bearing down. Very happy to look for chips and grubbers too, Finn to play what is in front of him.

Cubelli encouraged to snipe when he sees a gap.

With quicker ball, we will play flat and mix between using Finn, Leallifano and sometimes Pennell as the playmaker, using simple switches, passes and pivots to put our runners in at a variety of angles, to make yards and suck in defenders and create space. As above, simple pops to our carriers and support from our flankers keeps a variety of options alive, and we will still keep our eyes open for the attacking kick. Having numerous playmakers and our dual 7 approach, we should be able to string together waves of separate phases.

When a gap or overlap appears, we will then call it and spin quickly to that, now running at space rather than the shoulder, and look to offload and change direction to keep the phase alive until we score, the ball dies or the defence manages to recover, then we will repeat. If the defence is pressing too hard to get this space, we can play more pivots and loops behind the attacking line using Lealiifano as the point and using his physicality and handling mix to protect Finn.

Kicking:

Finn to take kicks at goal but Lealiifano there as back up. With our back 3 and kickers, I'm happy to kick back kicks and pressurise with a mix of kicks high and behind the opposition with a hard chase. I'm happy to kick for touch and risk the lineout, confident in our ability to steal the ball back there or the breakdown.

Other:

Press hard for penalties in their 22, but hold back and stay very disciplined in our own half, like the Brumbies runner up side of 2013.
Subs - Lealiifano covers 10, form and attacking ability to break the game up across the backs on the bench, with workrate in the forwards bench.

Overall:


Build up with direct but incessant phases to manufacture space which we will exploit with a focussed attack thereafter keeping the ball alive

Focus on winning the breakdown with a heads up approach also keeping a 7 close to the ball at all times

Specific marking of their wings to neuter their strengths and play to their weaknesses

Break up their lineouts on the ground

Look to finish this season with pride!

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 solid 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.

Hughes 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. Sarries are focusing on Smith so we will let him take the focus off other forwards allow gaps to appear at the breakdowns.

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 Sarries throw, we will look to double stack initially and, on our ball we will bring it down to suck in the Sarries 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 Sarriesblitz to look to have 2 waves coming at them, Biggar, Tait 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 Sarries breakdown and exploit the gaps with his experience.

Whilst we are looking to stop Sarries 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 Sarries depending on their defence system.

Driver, pretty certain Marler is banned this week mate - sure he got a 2 game ban.

Saracens
Manager – Pooly

01. Alex Waller	09. Lee Dickson
02. Guilhem Guirado	10. Nicolas Sanchez
03. Dan Cole
04. Patrick Tuipultou	11. George North
05. Sam Whitelock	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. Geoff Parling 20. Temani Harrison 21. Brad Weber 22. Pat Lambie 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 Smith in this area by clearing him out early and minimizing the effect from Worcester.

TARGET LINE OUT - Whitelock to run the show and put pressure on the Wuss set piece. If there's a weakness to be got at in the Wuss pack, it's the lack of a genuine lineout option.


TOP 4 TO PLAY FOR, WUSS NOTHING BUT PRIDE - Huge game for us and we'll be really up for it, this will make or break our season and confirm our position in the top. You can't play down the fact that one side is full of confidence, fighting for everything, against a team already on their summer break.

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 Jones out of position as he's unaccustomed to wing and get our exciting runners down that channel.


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. Scott Williams
07. Francois Louw	14. Charles Piutau
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. Rob Miller

Can't find confirmation on whether Louw got banned, if he did then swap in Henry

Key points - Sale have gone second string, these guys are just looking after themselves in case they get a shot for either the playoffs or the Euro final - we're going all out for the win to finish as high up the table as possible and end our domestic season on a high

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 Foley particularly in for a lot of tackling. Target the positional sense of their back 3, with Earls in particularly the target for our high ball game

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 Todd 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 Li's positioning, and put the high ball up on Earls 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 Foley/Eastmond defensively with Mccloskey running hard lines at their channels with Piutau/Smith coming into the line. Big carrying forwards to set a platform, run at Eastmond/Foley all day long to put them on the back foot off first phase, see how they 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

Apologies for the late team sheet, have started a new job and struggling for time a bit!

Sale Sharks
Manager – SJE

01. Ross Harrison	09. Faf De Klerk
02. Malcolm Marx	10. Bernard Foley
03. Martin Moore
04. Dave Attwood	11. Tevita Li
05. Matt Garvey	12. Kyle Eastmond
06. Peter O'Mahony	13. Seta Taiminavula
07. Matt Todd	14. Marcus Webber
08. Steven Luatua	15. Keith Earls

16. Nicky Smith 17. David Paice 18. Atu Moli 19. Christian Day 20. Lewis Ludlam 21. Callum Braley 22. JJ Hanrahan 23. Nick Abendanon

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. De Klerk 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 Foley and Earls 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. De Klerk 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 POM to get up in the air at the front and challenge on opposition ball looking to make it as messy as possible.

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

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

Swapped Sio in for Marler

Louw has been cited Bam

Bath Rugby
Manager – CJB

01. Eddy Ben Arous	09. Tawera Kerr Barlow
02. Mikey Haywood	10. Beauden Barrett
03. Scott Wilson
04. Will Skelton	11. Juan Imhoff
05. Graham Kitchener	12. Damian De Allende
06. Siya Kolisi	13. Jonathan Davies
07. Josh Van Der Flier	14. Hallan Amos
08. Josh Beaumont	15. Liam Williams

16. Steven Kitchoff 17. Rory Best 18. Samson Lee 19. James Gaskell 20. Toby Falateu 21. Richard Wigglesworth 22. Sam Hill 23. Christian Wade

I'll be on about 9am to update.

Did Louw get banned? Swap for Chris Henry if so, I'll update if I can

I'm at a wedding this weekend so may struggle to predict

I've updated page, might not be able to get on this morning as at a brunch in an hour. There's a few tactics to come in yet so Johnny might update.

PREDICTIONS OPEN

If you put tactics in leave a comment please and I will throw them up.

Predictions to SJE please

Tactics added

Added to the thread

Off on a marathon obstacle course this weekend, so will try to get predos in by Sunday evening.

late .

Basic game plan- Glos are going to keep it simple. We have picked a large mobile
pack t chock full of ball carriers. The aim is to win the confrontations get front foot ball and then dictate the play in the conditions

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 Saints pack
- look to go off top in their half and get Kurindrani and co running at Giteau
- 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 saintsfront five in particular Hartley and Atwood
Mako in set piece
- carter  in great form and the master in these conditions.
- look to create quick ball for Robson to hit cartet  to dictate
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 Giteau

Key pointsl

- carry carry and carry some more
To tire saints
- play the conditions. Our 9,10,12 are all masters of the kicking game
Target the saints scrum
Look to flood breakdown
- utilise our extra weight at lock to hammer rucks  
- look to use kicks in behind sale win and get
Them playing out of position
- attack off any turnover in their half
- utilise bench as required

Tactics added. Sorry for lateness been mental all week

Added to the thread Matt 

RESULTS:

Bath 25 (T:2 P:5)
Leicester 23 (T:2 C:2 P:3)

Gloucester 19 (T:1 C:1 P:4)
Northampton Saints 24 (T:2 C:1 P:4)

Harlequins 30 (T:4 C:2 P:2)
Exeter Chiefs 20 (T:1 P:5)

Newcastle Falcons 28 (T:3 C:2 P:3)
Sale Sharks 21 (T:2 C:1 P:3)

Wasps 27 (T:2 C:1 P:5)
London Irish 23 (T:2 C:2 P:3)

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

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

Bath 24-20 Leicester
Wilson looks out of place a little at this level but gets a lot of help from his 2nd row. Mobility v power in the backrow. I'd expect Bath to slow Tigers down at the breakdown although can't see them winning to many turnovers. Halfbacks one a piece but Barrett on a different level to Burns and offers Bath more. Would expect the Bath midfield to cause a few problems for their opposite numbers on defence. Bath back three offers more ball in hand overall but Tigers stronger defensively. More of a kicking game through the Tigers backs. More impact from the Bath bench overall and can see them causing scrum problems

Bath 22 - 23 Leicester

At the time of writing, no tactics for either side. Wilson a big weakness in the scrum, will put the Bath pack straight on the back foot. Second row to Bath, back row edge to Leicester with Beaumont lacking form. One apiece at half back, Bath stronger at centre on paper, but Beale is a big help to his 10, back 3 possibly slight edge to Tigers. Benches close, Leicester have enough to get a win here with the extra game management in the backs and power advantage up front

Bath 27 - 26 Tigers

Bath 22-19 Leicester

Wilson a weakness in the Bath front row and they'll need to improve here for next season, Tigers would get on top with a solid unit. Really like the Bath engine room and they regain some metal in the front 5. Good backrow contest, very little in it, perhaps a slight shade to Tigers on the flanks. Barrett gives Bath the halfbacks and they take 2 strong centre pairings/back 3 also. A bit more impact from the Bath bench gives them a good win.

Bath 22- 19 Tigers

Bath on top at scrum, love the dynamism of their backrow. Tigers take lineout and have more experience in the pack to help in the red zone. Tigers edge outside backs, Bath win halfbacks. Very evenly balanced, at home Bath win

Bath 24 - 21 Leicester Tigers
Tigers will initially start off with good advantage over Haywood at hooker with Moore at no2, but changes with Best on the bench. Tigers need to strengthen their second row and they'll be a serious threat. Bath have a quicker backrow and can see that being key in the conditions.

Bath 20-23 Tigers
Tigers front row will give Bath some issues and the power coming through from 2nd row will be enough to keep the dominance here. Nice back row from Bath but Tigers bring that edge of experience and tactical nous. Half backs go to Bath and centres can see Bath getting a bit of joy but not alot will get through Bastareaud at 13. 2 pretty solid back 3's. Bath more dangerous from the bench but it all comes down to getting good ball and, without tactics from either side, Tigers will get that ball.

Bath v Leicester Tigers 18-19

Gloucester 18-18 Northampton
Saints would usually get on top at the scrum but Hartley/Herrera have some form issues. Glaws 2nd row with a little edge but Lavanini can be a loose wire from time to time. Saints stronger on a man v man basis in the backrow and have a good balance. Halfbacks an edge to Glaws. Carter best 10 in the world and Robson edges the 9s currently with Murray off form. Gloucester midfield with a slight edge. Saints stronger out wide but Daggs boot at 15 is useful in the conditions for Glaws. Both sides seem set to play for territory and play a tight power game (Glaws game plan slightly contradictory though in that its carry carry carry but then one line on they want to play the conditions and kick). Feel Glaws have the better kicking game on show here but the work of the Saints backrow makes this hard to seperate.

Gloucester 24 - 31 Saints

Glos instantly on the back foot with no tactics, big enough ask against a Saints side even with them. Other than second row, the Glos pack looks to be outmuscled in every area. In the backs, Toomua offers extra game management outside Carter, but lack of tactics and Murray's presence at 9 negates this. Saints will score a bonus point win on the road

Gloucester 16 - 17 Saints

Gloucester 15 -18 Saints

Saints win the scrum, really good battle between the second rows in the loose etc but Saints win the lineout too vs LCD. Great breakdown battle that Saints edge with the experience of their choices, and Vunipola outpowers Heaslip. Gloucester backrow add a lot of link work. 2 top classes HB pairings but on form and cohesion together I'd pick Gloucester's. 2 great benches and lethal sets of back 3 players. Think a bit more magic from Saints centres right now and Saints steal win with the better pack in this weather

Glos 22-24 Saints
Great front 5 battle with both teams really evening each other out. Lineout battle will be a cracker! 2 great backrows on show, not alot between them, currently may edge Vunipola over Heaslip but not alot in that. Half backs to Glos with good form. Can't massively split the centres either, maybe a bit more control for Saints with Gits. Saints much more dangerous in the back 3 here with Savea in destructive form and May out for quite a while. That Saints bench is scary! Glos looking for good ball from big carriers but targeting Atwood who isn't playing? Saints looking to territory and set up well against Carter.

Harlequins 28-20 Exeter
Tight front 5 battle. PSDT will pick off any wayward throws from youngs but otherwise its hard to see either side get an advantage. Good battle at the breakdown and hard to seperate the backrows. Halfbacks pretty even although Evans the more capable of getting the backs going. 11-15 though is nearly all Saints. Good form for the Chiefs super rugby boys but theres a bit more quality in each shirt for Quins. Jantjes & JJ could do very well late on. Chiefs are a bit rudderless without a gameplan and against a motivated Quins side come unstuck.

Harlequins 32 - 25 Exeter

Quins going on the attack today in search of the bonus point win, and Exeter have no tactics, and don't seem to be playing their strongest side. In excellent conditions, can see the Quins pack getting go forward with their big carriers, and great ball players in the back row to link with the backs. The back 3 and Henshaw are absolutely top drawer, and I'd expect Hernandez to put them into gaps. BP win at home for Quins

Harlequins 25-22 Exeter

Exeter just about take the pack in this one with a good balanced outfit. I like the Exeter engine room make up and the poor form from the Quins flankers isn't helping. Not much in the halfbacks and both centres pairings a bit unbalanced with 12's playing 13, Quins the stronger outifit though. Quins back 3 very exciting and the lack of tactics from Exeter stops them getting anything from the game.

Quins 25 - 18 Chiefs

No tactics for Exeter. Close. pretty much even in the set piece. Quins' pack more mobile and Exeter more powerful, evens out. Love both backrows for balance, very close at the breakdown too. One halfback a piece. Think Devoto will struggle vs Henshaw, allowing some forward ball for the dancing Quins back 3.

Harlequins 23 - 14 Exeter
No tactics from Chiefs and Quins are in great form, which makes it a big win. Exeter still have players capable of scoring tries though.

Quins 28-21 Chiefs
Slight edge for Quins in front row but a good Chiefs 2nd row brings this battle closer. Armitage having a quiet season by his accounts and Quins back row all doing well at present. Not a lot in the half backs really. One a piece in the centres. Back 3 Quins will dominate with McKenzie in great form. 2 heavy impact benches. No tactics kills Chiefs with Quins looking to use playmakers well and pushing for the bonus point which I think they will just fall short of. Would have been a lot closer with tactics.

Harlequins v Exeter Chiefs22-21

Newcastle 25 - 24 Sale

Newcastle 23-18 Sale

Sale obviously making a big point of rotation and it'll help in the coming weeks. They suffer in the this one with Falcons coming in stronger, especially in the pack. Sale perhaps shade the halfbacks and centre pairings but Falcons back 3 strong. Falcons banch also stronger gives them a good home win.

Falcons 26 - 20 Sale

Sale resting some players, and Falcons win the scrum battle aided by this. Very powerful Sale second row helps them in the tight but Newcastle win the lineouts. Close breakdown but prefer the balance of Falcons' backrow. Sale have more spark at HB, and even with some second string players they are dangerous outwide with a good centre combo, clear plan to use them and the likes of Li always dangerous. Falcons have more international class and McCloskey will batter Eastmond. Today Falcons beat the league leaders

Newcastle Falcons 32 - 25 Sale
Sale resting key players and throwing in a lot of new combinations and Falcons have a great team out and will take full advantage of that. The Falcons backthree will run riot against Sale there.

Falcons 24-20 Sharks
Can see Falcons getting one up come scrum time and their 2nd rows will get a better edge. Back row sees it brought closer with Todd in great form but the prescence of Read will always draw in defenders. One a piece at half back and centres pretty close with Williams just coming back. Falcons more dangerous in the back 3. 2 good benches but Sharks giving some players much needed rest. Falcons looking for good tempo and rightly look at their front 5 for a good platform, Sharks want quick ball and defence set up well to stop too much damage in the centres. Good win for Falcons but Sharks rightly resting some key players.

Newcastle Falcons v Sale Sharks 19-18

Wasps 30-28 London Irish
Scrum issues for Irish. Thacker has been massively covered by Ayerza for Tigers and Sio having a poor season to date there. Irish 2nd row offers more around the park though. O'Brien not in the best of form but Irish with more at 6 & 8. Good balance to the Wasps unit though and they have more about them at the breakdown. Irish with more of a carrying threat though. Great form for the Irish halfbacks. Wasps with a strong running game but more consistency from the Irish unit. Fowlie out of place still at this level. Back three battle quite interesting. Both dangerous off good ball. Wasps putting the usual effort into tactics! Defensive work on the wingers is a nice touch and the breakdown tactic works well. Good systems on attack and can see them getting the ball needed for Russell & co to open Irish up.

Wasps 26 - 25 London Irish

This is very intriguing. Tactically CJ has knocked it out of the park again, and can really see how they'd attack the weaknesses in the Irish side. Conversely, Driver has got a real sprinkling of top class players through his side, and 8-10 especially are up there with anyone in the world. The Wasps front row matches Irish, with Thacker a real scrum weakness for me. Pretty even at the lineout, with Charteris prominent. SOB has no form and the dual 7 approach for Wasps is huge. Irish stronger at halfback, but the Wasps pair are exactly the type to tear it up off turnover ball, which I'm convinced they'll get. Fowlie not quite up to it at this level, but not sure Wasps can take advantage to the maximum possible effect. The outside backs are generally pretty close and don't swing the result either way. Irish advantage off the bench. I went both ways here, really struggled to figure out if the class of some of the Irish players is enough to beat the tactical advantage that Wasps have. I'm going for a huge home win for Wasps, based off the dominance I think they'll have at the breakdown

Wasps 23 - 22 London Irish

Wasps 22-22 Irish

Very liittle in the front 5 contest, Thacker numbs down any advantage Irish might have got in the scrum and it's pretty even. Irish have the better names in the backrow but all 3 are struggling for form right now, they just take this one though. Halfbacks to Irish, centres to Wasps by a distance with Fowlie not up to this level. Kriel at FB is an odd choice

Wasps 24 - 20 London Irish
Wasps are improving week after week with the signings that they have been making and at home, with very detailed tactics this is going to be a good win for them. Like the Charteris and Myall lock combination, but the Wasps halfbacks can really make that team tick.

Wasps 25-22 Irish
More about Wasps' pack at scrum time but feel Irish have a bit more about them in quality. Wasps playing with grunt in the back row and Irish can look to match this with good carriers. Half backs one a piece. Think Wasps could just edge the centre battle too with the back 3 quite close. Strong Irish bench to pull them back into it. Wasps targetting breakdown rightly and looking for Cubelli to dictate well, Irish not giving enough really in their tactics to know how outside backs will play. Wasps going out with a bang

Wasps v London Irish. 22-22

Worcester 24-25 Saracens
Sarries probably a little safer on their own lineout but otherwise hard to seperate the front 5s. More about the Worc flanks but Hughes the stronger 8. Sanchez more capable of making an opening for his backs but Worc that bit stronger at halfback with Biggars kicking game amongst the best in the world. Midfield is one a piece. Naholo a threat but Sarries back three more dangerous overall. Benches very hard to separate. Targetting of Hughes works well for Worc as does the breakdown emphasis from Sarries. Home advantage usually the decider in such tight games but feel Sarries push on late on with an awful lot riding on this for them

Worcester 23 - 23 Saracens

Packs look very even to me, Worcester stronger at the scrum, Sarries at the lineout, back rows pretty even. Wuss stronger at halfback with the familiar combination. Centres pretty even, back 3 to Sarries. Benches even, both sides set up well tactically and focus on each others weak points. Very tough to call, home advantage helps Wuss but think Sarries have enough for a draw

Worcester 22 - 21 Saracens

Worcester 23 - 22 Saracens

Not much between the scrums, think Guirado to Whitelock as a safe combo gives a tiny lineout edge to Sarries. Really good tactics by Worcester to counter Hughes, and though Sarries have a lot of players strong at the breakdown, the experience of Smith will be tricky for any side. I like the way Worcester are using their backrow and look forward to the collisions between the big carriers on both sides. One halfback a piece, with Davies and Sanchez offering more threat than the others. Lots of power in both backlines, and not a huge amount between them. Using their careful tactics esp re both backrows and at home, Worcester have enough to win

Worcester 25 - 25 Saracens
Really like the home sides 9-12 combination and it gives them a great advantage over the away side, Naholo's return to form couldn't have come at a better time. Sarries have fantastic threat in the backline still and can cause a lot of problems for the oppositions defence.

Does this mean ive sneaked the home semi?

I picked Kriel at 15 thinking I had Willie Le Roux for some reason...

Steven_Sharks wrote:Does this mean ive sneaked the home semi?

You have indeed

Huge advantage getting home semi....I'm not sure a team has ever won an away semi on here.

Bodes well for me and you Chris

Didn't Kriel come through at FB anyway?

Kriel was a full back moved to centre. I'm sure he's played more 15 than 13

SirJohnnyEnglish wrote:

Steven_Sharks wrote:Does this mean ive sneaked the home semi?

You have indeed

I shouldn't have given you over 30 points there Steve, should have gone 6-0 win instead

Unfortunate your game was heavy rain and mine was dry.

Not sure where the heavy rain came from this week - you're teams on a great role though, make sure they tire themselves out in Europe though please! Got some excellent EQ options there for that competition!

It came from the predicted weather forecast on Monday when I did the team sheet.

Kriel can definitely play FB