Amlin Challenge Cup Round Three

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Pool One

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Bucharest Wolves vs Worcester Warriors
Cloudy, 4 degrees, 7mph winds.
Bucharest Wolves
Manager – xxx

01. Madalin Baraulea	09. Gregorus Diaconescu
02. Andrei Radoi	10. Ionut Florea
03. Nicolae Nere
04. Cosmin Ratiu	11. Adrian Apostol
05. Marius Danila	12. Cristian Dinis
06. Mihai Macovei	13. Adrian Barbuliceanu
07. Viorel Lucaci	14. Ionut Niacsu
08. Daniel Ianus	15. Florin Vlaicu

16.Eugen Capatana 17. Andrei Ursache 18. Vlad Badalicescu 19. Cristian Munteanu 20. Bogdan Petreanu 21. Florin Surugiu 22. Florin Fantanaru 23. Costi Gheara

Tactics

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Worcester Warriors
Manager – Prop

01. George Porter	09. Eion Reddan
02. Chris Fortey	10. Tom Heathcote (k)
03. John Andress
04. Danie Russouw	11. Phil Chesters
05. Dom Barrow	12. Pat McCabe
06. Richard Thorpe	13. Gavin Henson
07. Martyn Williams (c)	14. Julien Malzieu
08. Ben McCalman	15. Greig Tonks

16 Koree Britton 17 Yann Thomas 18 David Flatman 19 Leo Cullen 20 Sebastian Chabal 21 Dwayne Peel 22 Chris Paterson 23 Bryan Habana

Tactics
*We come looking for a big win,
*Henson will run the back line to take some pressure off Heathcote,
*We want quick ball and have picked quick backs to run with it,
*Our pack will look to be all over the place and they all have the stamina to do this (bar Fortey!!),
*To attack the breakdown with venom,
*Have Russouw and McCalman to run off 12 and 13,
*Make holes, quick ball and score!!
*We want our confidence to continue and using the whole squad for this,
*If nothing's on Heathcote will kick for corners for us to challenge their lineouts,
*We want a big win and will be unhappy if we don't bring 5 points away,
*We are nto taking them lightly and will look for a forwards battle for first 20 before releasing our backs,
*If we win we can feel safer travelling to Stade for the last week.

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Banca Monte Crociati vs. Stade Francais

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Pool Two

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Exeter Chiefs vs Toulon
Sunny, 8 degrees, 10mph winds.
Exeter Chiefs
Manager – Driver

01. Brett Sturgess	09. Byron Kelleher
02. Damian Varley	10. Colin Slade
03. Dave Wilson
04. James Hudson	11. Horace Aguella
05. Simon Shaw	12. Mike Tindall
06. Ben Skirving	13. George Pisi
07. Lewis Moody (c)	14. Isaia Toeava
08. Nick Easter	15. Ben Blair (k)

16.Neil Clark 17.Wyatt Crockett 18.Tom Mercy 19.Flip Van Der Merwe 20.Johnnie Beattie 21.Haydn Thomas 22.Josh Matavista 23.Chris Bell

Tactics

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Toulon
Manager – xxx

01. Eifion Lewis-Roberts	09. Laurent Magnaval
02. Jean-Charles Orioli	10. Julien Dumora
03. Carl Hayman
04. Konstantine Mikautadze	11. Benjamin Lapeyre
05. Dean Schofield	12. Geoffroy Messina
06. Pierrick Gunther	13. Mathieu Bastareaud
07. Joe El Abd	14. Jeremy Sinzelle
08. SEVA Rokobaro	15. Luke Rooney

16 Mickael Ivaldi, 17 Xavier Chiocci, 18 Levan Chilachava, 19 Alafoti Faosiliva, 20 Baptiste Bonnet, 21 Jonny Wilkinson, 22 Alexis Palisson, 23 Christophe Samson

Tactics

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Lyon Rugby vs. Petrarca Padova

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Pool Three

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Bayonne vs Northampton Saints
Sunny, 12 degrees, 2 mph winds.
Bayonne
Manager – xxx

01. Pierre-Philippe Lafond	09. Laigain
02. David Roumieu	10. Benjamin Boyet
03. Renaud Boyoud
04. Rob Linde	11. Joe Rokocoko
05. Abdellatif Boutaty	12. Lionel Mazars
06. Dwayne Haare	13. Thibault Lacroix
07. Julien Puricelli	14. Sam Gerber
08. Marc Baget-Rabarou	15. Sylvain Bouillon

16 Victor Manukula 17 Neemia Tialata 18 Aretz Iguiniz 19 Sione Lauaki 20 Cedric Garcia 21 Cedric Heymans 22 Clement Lagain 23 Troy Flavell

Tactics

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Northampton Saints
Manager – Chris

01. Matt Mullan	09. Mike Phillips
02. Rob Webber	10. Matt Giteau
03. Matt Stevens
04. Ali Williams	11. Christian Wade
05.Courtney Lawes	12. Jean de Villiers
06. Joe Launchberry	13. Max Evans
07. Liam Gill	14. Siti Siviatu
08. Simon Taylor	15. Leigh Halfpenny

16 Chris Whitehead 17 Zak Taulafo 18 James Johnson 19 Ben Nutley 20 Liam Messam 21 Joe Simpson 22 Danny Cipriani 23 Manu Tuilagi

Tactics:

* Weather early storm - keep ball and go through phases
* Take early points and silence crowd
* After initial first 10-15mins open up the game and attack the French
* Aim for a BP win and build confidence after two disappointing performances in the AP.
* Use all the sub bench, as soon as hit 20+ points bring on Simpson and Cips.

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Rugby Rovigo vs. Bordeaux-Begles

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Pool Four

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Bath vs. Newport Gwent Dragons
Cloudy, 7 degrees, 14 mph winds.

Bath Rugby
Manager – inthefastlane

01. Jon Golding	09. Richard Wigglesworth
02. Joe Ward	10. David Skrela
03. Davit Kubrashvilli
04. Rob Simmons	11. Richard Haughton
05.Sam Whitelock	12. Eliota Fuimaono-Sapolu
06. Juan Martin Fernandez Lobbe	13. David Marty
07. Beau Robinson	14. Luke Fielden
08. Tom Guest	15. Francois Steyn

16 Cian Healy 17 Kevin Mealamu 18 Petrus Du Plessis 19 Will Spencer 20 Dan Lydiate 21 Chris Cook 22 Charlie Hodgson 23 Maxime Medard

Tactics

Momentum
We enter this game on a streak of four wins on the bounce and will be looking to keep this going with two wins in the Amlin cup which would ensure qualification.

Set Piece
We feel an area we will dominate is the scrum. Early on we will really look to get Dragons on the back foot giving our 9/10 axis fast b all. If the scrum is working we will keep calling it. Look to really punish Dragons with our scrumagging options off the bench aswell. We have also looked to pick good lineout options. Simmons, Whitelock and Lobbe are all solid options in the air and will look to target Sidoli for the opposition lineouts. We will not be looking to play a kicking game though so it is only for the opposition throws which this will happen.

Breakdown
We will also be looking to get control of the breakdown area. We will get bodies into the breakdown in order to secure quick ball when on the attack and slow Dragons ball when defending. We will look to get Simmons, Whitelock, Golding, Ward, Kubrashvilli and Lobbe into the rucks hitting with big impact. Beau Robinson will be picky about what rucks he enters; only going in when he feels he can force a turnover.

Kicking
Francois Steyn is our designated place kicker. He will take on any penalties from a nice angle in front of halfway and depending on the wind maybe behind. Also in times where there seems to be no action he will go for a drop goal. Having Steyn in the back three should have the effect of deterring the opposition kicking as it will give Steyn time with his drop kicks.

Attack
Our backs will be led by Skrela. The mercurial Frenchman will look to receive quick ball off the consistent Wigglesworth. Skrela is good enough to make magic happen and we will try to encourage him to pick the appropriate time, looking for team mates if in a better position. EFS and Marty will be looking to make their probing, direct runs causing the opposition to put numbers on them. They will be looking to get the ball out to wings where the pace of Fielden + Haughton will cause trouble. We will look to get the ball out to these when they are in space but look for gains before that.

Changes
On our bench we have brilliant young talents Spencer and Cook who we will look to bring on when in control of the game. Cook has a good rugby brain with a fast hands and will look to get his pass going. We will also look to get Will Spencer on the ball. We will be looking for some carries from the young lad and he is an extra lineout option to use. We have also picked options for the front row who we really feel can put pressure on the Dragons. Lydiate, Medard and Hodgson also offer some quality and we would like to bring these on in a close match.

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Newport Gwent Dragons
Manager – xxx

01. Nathan Williams	09. Wayne Evans
02. Lloyd Burns	10. Jason Tovey
03. Dan Way
04. Adam Jones	11. Aled Brew
05. Robert Sidoli	12. Ashley Smith
06. Lewis Evans	13. Adam Hughes
07. Gavin Thomas	14. Tonderai Chavhanga
08. Toby Faletau	15. Martyn Thomas

16 Rhys Buckley 17 Phil Price 18 Nathan Buck 19 Scott Morgan 20 Andrew Coombs 21 Joe Bedford 22 Lewis Robling 23 Steffan Jones

Tactics

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Perpignan vs. I Cavalieri Prato

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Pool Five

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Agen vs London Wasps
Cloudy, 8 degrees, 6 mph winds.
Agen
Manager – xxx

01. Laurent Cabarry	09. Alexi Bales
02. Julien Janaudy	10. Valentin Courrent
03. Beka Sheklashvili
04. Pat O'Connor	11. Saimoni Vaka
05. Damien Lagrange	12. Jamie Robinson
06. Pierre Julien	13. Miguel Avramovic
07. Jerome Mondoulet	14. Kevin Swiryn
08. Antoine Erbani	15. Belisario Agulla

16 Jalil Narjissi, 17 John Schwalger, 18 Martin Scelzo, 19 Dewald Senekal, 20 Adri Badenhorst, 21 Sylvain Dupuy, 22 Mathieu Lamoulie

Tactics

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London Wasps
Manager – Arry

01. Benn Robinson	09. Martin Roberts
02. Tatafu Polota-Nau	10. Steven Myler
03. James Slipper
04. Steve Mafi	11. Noah Cato
05. Richard Birkett (c)	12. James Downey
06. Tom Johnson	13. Stirling Mortlock
07. Deon Stegmann	14. Matt Banahan
08. Billy Vunipola	15. Chris Wyles

16. Andy Titterell 17. Charlie Beech 18. CJ Van Der Linde 19. Peter Elder 20. John Hart 21. Nick Phipps 22. Stephen Jones 23. Tom Williams

Tactics

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Rugby Club La Vila vs. Brive

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luke, cheers for doing this, top man

Predo soon

Wolves 3 - 77 Warriors
Thrashing. Mauling. Smashing.

Exeter 28 - 6 Toulon
Win from Exeter, the French clubs just don't give a hoot about the Amlin.

Bath 45 - 15 Dragons
Exciting game and Dragons will get at least one try, but too much quality all over the park for Bath and another mauling.

Agen 12 - 43 Wasps
Again French clubs don't care - Arry when did you sign Biggar?!?

Buch 6-45 Worcester

Easy for Worcester

Exeter 28-12 Toulon

Game of round, Exeter good combo's throughout and control game.

Bayonne 16-24 Saints

Enough quality on show for Saints to cruise through this one

Bath 30-15 Newport

Good set up from Bath

Agen - Wasps

?!?!?! Wasps look very similar to Ospreys in this one lol

"Again French clubs don't care - Arry when did you sign Biggar?!?"

And the rest of the O's team! Lol

Wasps updated....

Lol - I saw Arry's team at the bottom of his post then flicked through to the top and saw Biggar! What happened to his development, wasnt he meant to be the next big thing for Wales?!?

Agen 15-21 Wasps

Wolves 15 - 32 Worcester

perhaps not the place where I would blood young Barrow as the Romanians will have some fiesty forwards. Otherwise their's plenty in the Worcester side to win in what is a tricky trip.

Exeter 27 - 20 Toulon

Exeter get a good win here with the better side in general. Experience in the right places with what looks a very well balanced Chiefs side. Easter really settles the pack down for me.

Bayonne 20 - 23 Northampton Saints

Tough trip for Saints here and their is just enough to get the job done. Giteau sees them over the finishing line. Launchbury and Gill unexperienced and probably wouldn't play them together if I were you.

Bath 23 - 16 Dragons

Bath win this but I seem to be seeing a lot of players playing a lot for Bath atm. Might be wrong but some names might be in need of a rest sooner rather than later.

Agen 17 - 31 Wasps

Convincing for Wasps on another difficult trip to France. Plenty in the back and outwide to get the TBP win.

Buch 10 Worcester 28
Bayonne 20 Saints 18
Bath 40 Newport 23
Agen 3 Wasps 22

What players Steven?

I always seem to be find myself thinking that Whitelock and JMF won't be bettered when predicting on your games mate and they are the guys I was thinking of, it might just be a case of my mind playing tricks on me.

I would have a look at your previous teamsheets before taking it into account mate, wouldn't guess if I was penalising in predictions!

Will agree on them two; my plan was giving them a rest this week. Was going to give JMF Lobbe this week off but chucked him in last minute. Hoping to give majority of first teamers at least week off over the two weeks

Wolves 12 - 32 Worcester
With a smattering of quality throughout the side Worcester should see the BP here.


Exeter 23 - 15 Toulon
Chiefs with a stronger team out overall and should pick up a comfortable win.

Bayonne 12 - 17 Northampton Saints
Inexperienced back row from Saints but they have enough about them elsewhere to sneak this one away from home.

Bath 27 - 12 Dragons
Bath with a lot more on show in the pack should pick up a comfortable win.

Agen 14 - 27 Wasps
Comfortable win for Wasps. Just too much on show for all the English sides in this comp

Exeter 25 - 16 Toulon
Exeter to win this through fielding a very hardened pack.

Bayonne 10 - 20 Northampton Saints
Saints backs win the match.

Bath 28 - 15 Dragons
Bath's pack win constant ball and cause all sorts of problems for the Dragons.

Agen 12 - 28 Wasps
Easy win for Wasps with a back row I think could mould into a quality partnership.

Buch 6-60Worcester

Easy for Worcester and great confidence booster

Exeter 28-12 Toulon

Exeter too much agree with Chris that French sides lack interest in this competition
Bayonne 12-30 Saints too much all over

Bath 30-15 Newport

Easy but local derby adds spice

Agen 13- 45 - Wasps

Great wasps backrow

Bucuresti 3-49 Warriors
Exeter 27-19 Toulon
Bayonne 15-19 Saints
Agen 10-32 Wasps

Wolves 9 - 28 Worcester

Exeter 23 - 15 Toulon

Bayonne 17 - 24 Northampton Saints

Bath 25 - 17 Dragons
ITFL - with regards to your tactics, they are ok - your setpiece section is just telling us how good you think your players are though.

Agen 18 - 32 Wasps

RESULTS/SCORERS

Bucaresti Wolves 8 Worcester Warriors 52

Tries: Dinis
Penalties: Florea

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Tries: McCalman, Malzieu (2), McCabe, Chesters, Habana (2)
Cons: Heathcote (6), Paterson (1)
Penalties: Heathcote

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Exeter Chiefs 34 Toulon 14

Tries: Pisi (2), Toeava (2)
Conversions: Blair (4)
Penalties: Blair (2)

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Tries: El Abd, Messina
Conversions: Dumora (2)

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Bayonne 17 Northampton Saints 27

Tries: Rokocoko (2)
Conversions: Boyet (2)
Penalties: Boyet

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Tries: Wade (2), Stevens
Conversions: Giteau (3)
Penalties: Giteau (2)

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Bath Rugby 39 Newport Gwent Dragons 16

Tries: Haughton, Guest, Medard, Steyn, Marty
Conversions: Skrela (4)
Penalties: Skrela (2)

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Tries: Chavhanga
Conversions: Tovey
Penalties: Tovey (3)

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Agen 13 London Wasps 40

Tries: Erbani
Conversions: Courrent
Penalties: Courrent (2)

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Tries: Vunipola, Johnson, Banahan (2), Downey, Titterell
Conversions: Myler (4), Jones (1)

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