Anglo Welsh Cup - Final

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Wasps vs Saracens
Twickeham Stoop
Light Cloud - 13 degrees, 17mph South Westerly Winds

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Wasps
Manager - Pullthestrings

01. Marcos Ayerza	09. Sebastien Tillous Borde
02. Harry Thacker	10. Aaron Cruden (k)
03. Frans Malherbe
04. Jim Hamilton	11. Bryan Habana
05. Scott Barrett	12. Brad Barritt
06. Jerome Kaino	13. Henry Slade
07. Fulgence Quedraogo	14. Marland Yarde
08. Nazeem Carr	15. Tim Nani-Williams

_
16. Bismarck du Plessis, 17. Dave Wilson, 18. Wilco Louw, 19. Dom Barrow, 20. Will Owen, 21. Mitchell Drummound, 22. Nick Evans, 23. Luther Burrell

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Tactics
Attack:
- Mix up our lines of attack, sometimes with two lines with forwards as options
- Likes of Kaino, Du Plessis to offer extra pair of hands in the backline when required
- Mix up forward runners off 9 and 10 to give go forward and tie in defence. When space opens up, go wide and utilise pace of back three.
Defence:
- Quick line speed, getting up to the 10 and putting pressure on. 
- Only step out of the line for big hit opportunities. 
Breakdown:
- Be disciplined at the breakdown and do not give away penalties in our half
- Compete for the turnover if it's on, even if it's only to slow down the ball
- If ruck is lost, don't compete and fan out in defence
Territory:
- Use box kicks from 9 and nudges from 10 out of hand to pin them back. 
- Play rugby in their half and make them attack from deep
- Full back to marshall the back 3 and make sure our positioning is spot on for kick returns

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Saracens
Manager – Pooly

01. Dylan Smith	09. Morgan Parra
02. Richard Hibbard	10. Pat Lambie
03. Paul Hill
04. Ed Slater	11. Teddy Thomas
05. Sam Whitelock	12. Rohan Janse van Rensburg
06. Guy Thompson	13. Conrad Smith
07. John Hardie	14. Telusa Veainu
08. Dave Denton	15. Delon Armitage

:-
16. Scott Spurling 17. Alex Waller 18. Ben Franks 19. Patrick Tuipulotu  20. Sam Underhill 21. Lee Dickson 22. Ollie Devoto 23. Tom Taylor

Tactics:

Defensive:

Blitz Defence - Get in the face of the opposition and allow them very little time on the ball. 

Breakdown - Turnover possession: Your side is recognised to pick off turnovers at the breakdown, by getting the ball and gaining the penalty

Attacking:

Territorial Kicking: Looking to pin back sides and kick for open spaces or touch

Offloading in the tackle: Moving the point of attack preventing a defence to set and keeping play fluid

TARGET LINEOUT - Look to disrupt opposition ball early on and put pressure on the thrower. Barrett's first game so won't understand calls. Look to dounle up on Hamilton and force steals, should have a lot of joy here. 

TARGET BARRETT IN DEFENCE - Few days to train with Wasps so look to catch him out of position in the Wasps guard. Look to use this as a mismatch with pace in backs. 

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 with our physical pack/carrying options and then get at their outisde backs, 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.

Saracens
Manager – Pooly

01. Dylan Smith	09. Morgan Parra
02. Richard Hibbard	10. Pat Lambie
03. Paul Hill
04. Ed Slater	11. Teddy Thomas
05. Sam Whitelock	12. Rohan Janse van Rensburg
06. Guy Thompson	13. Conrad Smith
07. John Hardie	14. Telusa Veainu
08. Dave Denton	15. Delon Armitage

:-
16. Scott Spurling 17. Alex Waller 18. Ben Franks 19. Patrick Tuipulotu  20. Sam Underhill 21. Lee Dickson 22. Ollie Devoto 23. Tom Taylor

Tactics:

Defensive:

Blitz Defence - Get in the face of the opposition and allow them very little time on the ball.

Breakdown - Turnover possession: Your side is recognised to pick off turnovers at the breakdown, by getting the ball and gaining the penalty

Attacking:

Territorial Kicking: Looking to pin back sides and kick for open spaces or touch

Offloading in the tackle: Moving the point of attack preventing a defence to set and keeping play fluid

TARGET LINEOUT - Look to disrupt opposition ball early on and put pressure on the thrower. Barrett's first game so won't understand calls. Look to dounle up on Hamilton and force steals, should have a lot of joy here.

TARGET BARRETT IN DEFENCE - Few days to train with Wasps so look to catch him out of position in the Wasps guard. Look to use this as a mismatch with pace in backs.

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 with our physical pack/carrying options and then get at their outisde backs, 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.

Just waiting on Sanchez citing and Hogg injury

Sanchez banned for one week.

Jesus Sanchez!!! Do you not understand we have a final this week!!!

C'mon Wasps!

Taylor in for Hogg if called up (just in case I can't get on later)

Wasps
Manager - Pullthestrings

01. Marcos Ayerza	09. Sebastien Tillous Borde
02. Harry Thacker	10. Aaron Cruden (k)
03. Frans Malherbe
04. Jim Hamilton	11. Bryan Habana
05. Scott Barrett	12. Brad Barritt
06. Jerome Kaino	13. Henry Slade
07. Fulgence Quedraogo	14. Marland Yarde
08. Nazeem Carr	15. Tim Nani-Williams

_
16. Bismark Du Plessis, 17. Dave Wilson, 18. Wilco Louw, 19. Dom Barrow, 20. Will Owen, 21. Mitchell Drummound, 22. Nick Evans, 23. Luther Burrell

---

Tactics
Attack:
- Mix up our lines of attack, sometimes with two lines with forwards as options
- Likes of Kaino, Du Plessis to offer extra pair of hands in the backline when required
- Mix up forward runners off 9 and 10 to give go forward and tie in defence. When space opens up, go wide and utilise pace of back three.
Defence:
- Quick line speed, getting up to the 10 and putting pressure on.
- Only step out of the line for big hit opportunities.
Breakdown:
- Be disciplined at the breakdown and do not give away penalties in our half
- Compete for the turnover if it's on, even if it's only to slow down the ball
- If ruck is lost, don't compete and fan out in defence
Territory:
- Use box kicks from 9 and nudges from 10 out of hand to pin them back.
- Play rugby in their half and make them attack from deep
- Full back to marshall the back 3 and make sure our positioning is spot on for kick returns

Hogg starts for Scotland Pooly.

Predictions open - to me please. 

Good luck both!

Do Wasps have 3 EQ starters or am I missing somebody???

Pull can you amend please?

I missed it myself

Updated - Thacker in for BdP. Apologies.

Updated

Keeping these open until midday guys

Well played both, commiserations CJ and well done Pooly for picking up the first piece of silverware for the season.

Wasps 23 - 26 Saracens
Good matchup in the first final of the season. I think Wasps grizzled front row can put some pressure on Hibbard and Hill in the front row, and will have the advantage. Whitelock is huge in this one, and I think he dominates the lineout against a Wasps side with no real quality jumper, with Barrett being so new to the squad he is correctly targeted. The Wasps back row has internationals throughtout, but the balance just looks all wrong to me, and with no real explanation of how they'll be used, the slightly more limited, but better balanced Sarries back row can match and possibly better them. Cruden is the class act at halfback, but as a pair I'd rather have the Sarries guys. Outside backs are close, difficult to split them but Van Rensburg is in excellent form and he has a clear advantage over Barritt. Overall, Saracens have enough of a tactical game plan and quality on the field to take this one in a close game

Wasps 21 - 20 Saracens
A difficult game to call. Packs are evenly matched in my view with set piece battle pretty even. A bit more quality on the Wasps flanks. Not convinced the Wasps back three has the kicking game to match the Saracens territorial kicking tactics which will make it difficult for them to get territory at times. They do however have the better control players in the half backs and midfield which will allow them to pin Saracens back when they have the ball. Finals are usually edgy games and I can't see either side scoring many tries and both goal kickers are pretty consistent so hard to separate them there. Feel that Wasps half backs are probably just that bit more capable to guide their team to a victory and they snatch the narrowest of wins.

Wasps 27 - 22 Saracens
Like the lay out of the wasps team and it's filled with quality throughout. Can see that front 5 getting a real nudge on against the opposition. Saracens back row should keep this a contest in the forwards. Hardie for me could be the Lions 7. Half backs are pretty even but Cruden can open teams up and really get Wasps motoring. Outside backs are pretty one sided for me. Would take all 5 of the Wasps players over the Saracens. Burrell will cause damage later on in the game too.

Wasps 16 - 17 Saracens

Wasps 24 - 28 Saracens
Sarries can get themselves ahead with the front 5 managing to get a better platform than the Wasps pack. Back row brings it a bit closer with good balance from both. Tough at half backs, Cruden edging Lambie but close at scrum half. Think Sarries have slightly more at centre with Van Rensburg getting harder to stop! Danger for both out wide. More impact from the Sarries bench. Sarries looking at lineout to target and Whitelock will do this. Simple carrying and using numbers will work well drawing in Wasps. Wasps looking to put pressure and Barritt will do this at 12, not sure whether box kicking to that Sarries back three will prove very fruitful.

Wasps 26 - 25 Saracens

Wasps 21 - 22 Saracens
Thacker at hooker prevents Wasps getting a scrum edge. Jumping options fairly even but again Thacker not the most reliable thrower and Barrett not up to speed yet. Better balance to the Sarries backrow. Wasps with a little more in both shirts at halfback. Prefer the Wasps back three and the Sarries midfield. No LH cover an issue late on for Wasps. Wasps looking to force Sarries to play from deep. They will see some joy targetting in behind the Sarries wingers. Unsure on Kaino as a wider runner though more effective tighter in for me. Sarries looking to play a power game and punch holes in tight before going wide.  Can see them getting some joy with RJVR in great form. Really tight affair and comes down to a more solid bench for Sarries late on.

Unlucky Pull

At last I've won the Anglo and got the clean sweep!

Played Pooly

And thanks for the feedback from the predictors