Premiership Playoff Semi Finals

Team sheets and tactics due by COB Thur
Predictions open Fri. Results due Sat

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Newcastle Falcons v Leicester Tigers
White C;oud, 11 Degrees, 11mph Winds

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Newcastle Falcons
Manager – Sgt Pooly

01. Fabien Barcella	09. Ben Youngs
02. Rory Best	10. Toby Flood
03. Owen Franks
04. Brad Thorn	11. Miles Benjamin
05. Geoff Parling	12. James O’Connor
06. Chris Robshaw	13. Jaques Fourie
07. Richie McCaw(c)	14. Tommy Bowe
08. Kieran Read	15. Adam Ashley-Cooper

16.William Servat 17. Paul Doran-Jones 18. Alex Waller 19. Ed Slater 20.Heinrich Brussow 21. Jonny Arr 22.Nick Evans 23. Brad Barritt

Tactics

HOME ADVANTAGE – HIGH TEMPO, POSSESION, ATTACKING, RUNNING RUGBY

WE’VE WON EVERY GAME AT HOME FOR 2 SEASONS

IT'S THE BUSINESS END OF THE SEASON, WE COME INTO OUR OWN HERE. YOU CANNOT MISTAKE HOW IMPORTANT IT IS TO KNOW HOW TO WIN THESE GAMES. A HEINIKEN CUP AND PREMEIRSHIP TITLE IN LAST 2 SEASONS SPEAKS FOR ITSELF.


Game plan...Fast paced, high intensity, offloading, dynamic rugby. We’ll look to hit the ground running and hit the opposition fast from the off. We’ll be aiming to control possession and go through the phases. Flood who’s in the form of his life will play flat and look to get our backline into the game whenever possible and keep the high tempo going throughout.

Set piece:

Use the set piece and use it as a focal point of attacks (if weakness seen – McCaw to call shots). If we see a slight advantage in the scrum that will be targeted especially in opposition half. We’ll look to get the squeeze on and keep the Tigers back row tied into the scrum giving Youngs, Flood & JOC more space to work in. Parling will marshal the lineout and look to get fast ball off the top with 5 strong jumpers.

If a weakness is seen in the set piece McCaw will go for the jugular. We're not expecting a massive scrum fest in the conditions so will be mainly looking to get the ball out and attack. We will contest on oppostion put in though with Franks/Best looking to get at Jenkins if possible. Thorn will pack down behind Franks and look to really turn the screw here.

Pack & Breakdown:

Look for strong carries from our pack, tying in the Tigers forwards. We’ll be looking to keep the ball alive and look for the offload when on. Our backrow will target the breakdown and look to get in a second tackler to tie up the Tigers carriers. Youngs will wait for the call and look to sweep up any turnover ball getting us on the front foot. We’ll look to win the collision with big our physical pack and dominate the Tigers pack in the contact.

DEFENCE:

Look to neutralise Pocock early on and allow out backrow to dominate affairs. Thorn/Read in particular will look to hit the ruck hard and remove Pocock from the equation allowing us to ruck over the ball control the breakdown. Robshaw will look to target Wilkinson early on and pressure his kicking. Tigers perhaps lack a little pace in the halfbacks/midfield so we’ll look to marshall them along the line with AAC/Bowe/Benjamin expecting the kick. Look to use blitz defence and get in the face of Tigers throughout, Youngs sweeping up behind.

Backs:

Basically get the backs into play whenever possible with Flood & JOC the spark. Fourie will mashall the defensive line and act as go to ball to draw defenses. JOC will go looking for the ball in midfield and AAC will come into the line to give us a direct hard runner and alternative/decoy to Fourie. Youngs will eye the gaps and look for the taps to keep us moving.

Flood will look to play in the right areas and then Evans to come and give us added energy in the second. It's all about high tempo and keeping Tigers on their toes.

POINTS:

HOME ADVANTAGE - Essential in winning semi finals
SCRUM & LINEOUT – Target throughout, if weakness seen go for the jugular
PHYSICAL PACK – Win the collosion and target rucks to drive through Tigers
BREAKDOWN – McCAw then Brussow to work their magic and Youngs to monitor to attack on turnover ball. McCaw to play the ref early on
FORM – We’ve won every game at home for 2 seasons and have finished top of the pile
BACKS – World class running options and finishers
ROLLING MAUL – With our big front 5 look to get the rolling maul going off selected lineouts and eat up the ground
LEADERS – As Chris often says you can’t have enough leaders in your team and with McCaw, Read, Best we have some of the best
RECENT GAMES: Tigers haven't won here for a few years now (nobody has for that matter), we'll be looking to carry that on

HOME ADVANTAGE – This is massively important in semi finals, we are unbeaten at home in 2 years. KINGSTON PARK IS A FORTRESS

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Leicester Tigers
Manager – LukeLovesLuka

01. Gethin Jenkins	09. Dimitri Yachvili
02. Stephen Moore	10. Jonny Wilkinson (k)
03. Dan Cole
04. Nathan Hines	11. Alesana Tuilagi
05. James Horwill (c)	12. Billy Twelvetrees
06. Tom Croft	13. Brian O'Driscoll
07. David Pocock	14. Cory Jane
08. Thomas Waldrom	15. Rob Miller

16. Andrew Sheridan 17. Tom Youngs 18. Cencus Johnston 19. Pascal Pape 20. Samu Manoa 21. Micky Young 22. Brock James 23. Topsy Ojo


Tactics

We will play a structured game built around tactiacal HB's moving us into the right areas, the strength of our set piece and getting our backline into space.

- Attack the scrum as a weapon - and call when we can if on top as we expect to be. A front five all in great form, and to look to really get the shove on.

- Target the lineout all game with Croft, Hines and Horwill as our main jumpers rotating the target. With Yachvili and Wilkinson, we will look to get the ball deep in Newcastle territory and then contesting all lineouts. We will relentlessly target the opposition's throws.

- Massive line-breakers right throughout the side that will look to tire down Falcons' defence.
The likes of Waldrom and Tuilagi used off the shoulder crashing through the Newcastle 10/12 channel.

- Pocock is the man charged with reaching the breakdown first and look to turnover possession. We will always look to attack quickly off turnover ball. With Pocock, Jenkins and Moore, we feel our breakdown play will be crucial today. McCaw has hardly played for the last 8 months, and we see this an area we can attack.

- In general attacking play, we will play off 9 with Yachvili our general pulling the strings. Our game is built around HB's ability to move us into the right areas of the pitch. We want them in control of the tempo of the game and see this as an area we have an good advantage in.
Box kicks from Yachili and up and unders from Wilkinson to give the opposition problems in the air. We will really test Benjamin with these kicks, and look to Jane to be on him as quickly as possible.

- If the gaps are are there we want to get BOD into space and on the ball as much as we can. And he is to look for opportunities to get our back three on the ball when we can. Croft to look to get into space and join our backs to cause trouble out wide.

- Our back three are encouraged to do what they do best - counter attacking and running the ball back. If isolated all have good kicking games, but the counter is what we ask them to look for.

- Yachvili to kick all penalites.

- Unload our very powerful bench in the last 20/30 minutes.

Key points:

Experience of the big games:
Our starting 15 has an average of 48 caps per player. The likes of Jenkins, Moore, Hines, Horwill, Pocock, Yach, Wilko, BOD and Jane all know what it takes to play in the biggest games. The spine of our side is built around experience and leadership; perfect for a game like this.

Very powerful side:
Our average pack weight is 18st, and we have huge runners in the back line as well as in our pack. With the likes of Waldrom, Moore, Hines, Horwill, Tuialgi and Twelvetrees, we really believe we have the power and carrying options to tire down Falcons' defence which we hope to capitalise on as the game goes on.

Huge defence:
We know if we are to win this game our defence has to be at it's best. Pocock and co in the pack have been drilled to defend for their lives. We believe that are back line is stronger defensively than Falcons'. Wilko and BOD are famous for their tackling strength, and we believe we can stop runners of Falcons in the midfield.

Bench:
With the likes of Sheridan, Youngs, Cencus, Pape and Manoa to bring on in the pack we want to really turn the screw as the game goes on, and feel as the minutes tick by we will only get stronger and stronger.

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Saracens v Gloucester Rugby
Sunny Intervals, 13 Degrees, 10mph Winds

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Saracens
Manager – Ozzy3213

01. Alex Corbisiero	09. Francois Hougaard
02. Bismarck du Plessis	10. Patric Lambie
03. Adam Jones
04. Rynhardt Elstadt	11. Digby Ioane
05. Steve Borthwick	12. Ma’a Nonu
06. Thierry Dusautoir	13. Jonathon Davies
07. Tom Wood	14. Mark Cueto
08. Joe van Niekerk (c)	15. Alex Goode

16. George Chuter 17. Tendai Mtwarira 18. Jannie du Plessis 19. Dave Attwood 20. Tom Johnson 21. Morgan Parra 22. Owen Farrell 23. Tom Homer

Tactics

Our generic gameplan revolves around a high intensity attacking and defensive game.

In attack our primary gameplan is always to control possession and run the ball, utilising big carriers attacking gaps in the line, and looking to offload to support runners to continue getting over the gainline and keep the ball alive. If running the ball is not on we will uitilise the kicking game of one of our backs to take us into the right area of the pitch.

In defence we will look to blitz, with our scrum half sweeping behind the defensive line. Key for us is line speed, getting up to make the tackle before the ball carrier hits the gainline, and confidence and trust in the man next to you in the defensive line, meaning we will not jump out or get pulled to far away from the next defender leaving gaps that can be exploited.

At the breakdown, we will not overcommit players. If the ball is not there to be won, then we will commit 1 or 2 players to legally slow it down whilst maintaining a strong defensive line across the pitch. If the ball looks like it is there to be won, we will look to get more numbers there quickly, with the first 1 or 2 players immediately rucking past the ball to clear the opposition players who are trying to get hands on it, and the next man in will then look to get it out quickly for us to counter attack on turnover ball.

At the scrum we will look to keep it up and scrummage. Jones will look to take the hit and drop anchor allowing Corbisiero to attack the opposition tighthead. On our ball we will keep our flankers bound in tight and shoving hard behind the props and we will look to get the scrum turning legally to take the Gloucester back row out of the defensive equation before launching attacks. Our flankers will play slightly looser with heads up on Gloucester ball in order to be of quickly to stop any set play attacks.


Game Specific Tactics

• Carry in tight areas of early phases – We have selected a lot of strong carriers in the pack and the backs and will get them carrying close to rucks to tie defenders in create gaps to exploit outside.
  
  
• Scrum half sniping – Hougaard will look to make breaks from the base of rucks any time he sees a gap. Knowing he can and will break will keep the Gloucester defensive line honest and give Lambie more time and space to work in.
  
  
• Control Possession – Obviously we will kick when we absolutely have to, but in the main we are keeping possession and going through the phases. Carrying in close to rucks will allow us to not get isolated and mean that we do not turn the ball over to Gloucester.
  
  
• Breakdown – When Gloucester carry in, unless the player is isolated and a turnover is on, we will only commit enough players to legally slow the ball, instead maintaining a strong defensive line.
  

Key Points

• Experience – We know this territory and how to win these games, having won all three play off semi finals that we have been in so far.
  
  
• Home Advantage - In 4 seasons of AP and HC rugby our home record is P 58 W 53 D 3 L 2. Mat will no doubt point out that one of those two defeats was by Gloucester, however, we have never lost a knockout match at home in any competition, and Gloucester have never beaten us in a knockout game, and that includes an AP semi final and final.
  
  
• Defensive Strength – Defensively we are solid through the team. In the pack and backs we have tackle machines who rarely if ever get beaten one on one. Unless Gloucester have 70%+ possession then I cannot see how they score enough points against this defence to win.
  
  
• Physicality – One of Gloucesters biggest strengths is usually their physicality and they can bully teams up front. We have a pack with enough physicality not to be bullied.
  
  
• Pack Balance – We have a perfectly balanced pack. A tighthead who is a rock in the scrum and a loosehead who attacks well when the scrum is locked, but is also a tackle machine in the loose. A hooker who is like an openside at the breakdown enabling us not to have to select a specialist 7, and two flankers who tackle like tanks, along with an 8 who carries brilliantly. We also have the archetypal enforcer/lineout specialist pairing at lock. Our pack complements each other fantastically and can give us a platform in all aspects of the game.
  
  
• Form/Momentum – We have a number of players who are in excellent real life form. In game we have huge momentum coming into the play offs whereas Gloucester are off the back of a potentially damaging defeat to London Irish last week.
  
  
• Bench – We have impact players to come of the bench, such as Beast, Jannie and Johnson, as well as key decision makers such as Parra and Farrell who can come on to see out a game.
  

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Gloucester

Manager – Matt

01. Coenie Oosthuizen	09. Will Genia
02. Joe Gray	10. Dan Carter
03. Julian White
04. Bakkies Botha	11. Johnny May
05. George Robson	12. Berrick Barnes
06. Stephen Ferris	13. Richard Kahui
07. Andy Saull	14. Hosea Gear
08. Imaniol Harinordoquy	15. Israel Dagg

16. Nick Wood 17. Darren Dawidulk 18. Nicolas Mas 19. Tom Palmer 20. Willam Alberts 21. James Simpson-Daniel 22. Connor Murray 23. Charlie Sharples

Tactics

Glos travel to vicarage road safe in the knowledge they have beaten sarries home and away
In the league this year in similar conditions.

There certainly is no mystique attached to winning here to our players.

Very few of our players played last week against Irish as we were preparing for this game.

Weather is perfect and we have come to play a tempo game and get it wide. Think Leinster

Pack

Scrum

We have picked a front row of balance white is their to anchor the scrum for 30 minutes max and get after corbs where as coonie and grey are there for scrummaging and ball carrying. Mas to come on before halftime

We see our engine room as being much more abrasive and powerful and think this will give us the nudge scrum time.

We want the ball In to the scrum and away. We want to make sarries play our game.

Lineout

We have 5 jumpers and will look to target sarries. Hari is lineout leader.
On our ball we will mix up driving and off top in our own half but in our half the majority of time we will go off the top.

General

Forwards will look to get us on front foot And carry it up into sarries. We will be employing an offloading game to get In behind sarries.

We see ourselves as having more dynamic ball carriers and being able to win this area.

Saull is in the team to be a pure link man between backs and forwards we are aiming to play high tempo and he is our link. Being up against a 6.5 who has not been playing helps.

Alberts, wood, palmer all to come on to continue the high tempo.

Backs.

Our 8,9,10 are the best in the game and this core will dictate te game. We are looking to play tempo and these are the key.

The forwards aim
Is to make quick back 9 and 10 aim to use it.

We will be kicking infrequently and looking to move sarries around and
Look
For
Holes.

We see ourselves as having more craft, guile and gas in the backs.

Carter will look to use Barnes as a distributing option and also use gear coming off his Wing to occupy sarries centres.

The aim is to keep increasing the tempo and utilising quick throws and making most of conditions.

We are going to blitz in defence and put pressure on sarries fairly new 9 and 10 combo. We also think this will force nonu to distribute which is his weak point.
We will also look where possible to flood ruck and affect turnover think our back 5s physicality can shake them here

Key points

Play high tempo
Impact bench
8,9,10 experience
Form we lost last week due to resting apart from
That best in league form wise
Won here in league this year already
More ball players and creativity

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Any news on weather?

Lunch time Luke

2 crackers

conditions up

Running rugby....thank god for that!

Leicester Tigers have named their side to play Newcastle Falcons in the Aviva Premiership playoff semi-final this weekend.

Tigers have made one change to the side that beat Bath last week, with Nathan Hines coming in for Pascal Pape.

Tigers manager LukeLovesLuka has backed form over big-names, with exciting youngsters Miller and Twelvetrees keeping their place in the side despite the likes of Jauzion, Fritz, Nacewa and Poitrenaud being available, whilst Tuilagi keeps Clerc out, and Hines coming in at lock for Pape after impressing in recent weeks.

LukeLovesLuka said "Nathan (Hines) has been fantastic of late, and I felt I had to include him. His experience will be vital in a huge game like this. Rob (Miller) and Billy (Twelvetrees) have both been in top form and I am delighted for them, and Alesana (Tuilagi) has had another great season and brings real power to our backline.

All the boys are aware of the magnitude of this game, and confidence is high right throughout the squad. To get a playoff place, finally, after having been in that position all season, was a great thrill for all the boys. They are determined to keep the season going and win the game.

We feel we CAN go to Newcastle and win. With Dimitri (Yachvili) and Jonny (Wilkinson) controlling our game, we always feel that we can out-think any side, and that's what we'll be hoping to do. It should be one hell of a game"


Leicester Tigers
Manager – LukeLovesLuka

01. Gethin Jenkins	09. Dimitri Yachvili
02. Stephen Moore	10. Jonny Wilkinson (k)
03. Dan Cole
04. Nathan Hines	11. Alesana Tuilagi
05. James Horwill (c)	12. Billy Twelvetrees
06. Tom Croft	13. Brian O'Driscoll
07. David Pocock	14. Cory Jane
08. Thomas Waldrom	15. Rob Miller

16. Andrew Sheridan 17. Tom Youngs 18. Cencus Johnston 19. Pascal Pape 20. Samu Manoa 21. Micky Young 22. Brock James 23. Topsy Ojo


Tactics

We will play a structured game built around tactiacal HB's moving us into the right areas, the strength of our set piece and getting our backline into space.

- Attack the scrum as a weapon - and call when we can if on top as we expect to be. A front five all in great form, and to look to really get the shove on.

- Target the lineout all game with Croft, Hines and Horwill as our main jumpers rotating the target. With Yachvili and Wilkinson, we will look to get the ball deep in Newcastle territory and then contesting all lineouts. We will relentlessly target the opposition's throws.

- Massive line-breakers right throughout the side that will look to tire down Falcons' defence.
The likes of Waldrom and Tuilagi used off the shoulder crashing through the Newcastle 10/12 channel.

- Pocock is the man charged with reaching the breakdown first and look to turnover possession. We will always look to attack quickly off turnover ball. With Pocock, Jenkins and Moore, we feel our breakdown play will be crucial today. McCaw has hardly played for the last 8 months, and we see this an area we can attack.

- In general attacking play, we will play off 9 with Yachvili our general pulling the strings. Our game is built around HB's ability to move us into the right areas of the pitch. We want them in control of the tempo of the game and see this as an area we have an good advantage in.
Box kicks from Yachili and up and unders from Wilkinson to give the opposition problems in the air. We will really test Benjamin with these kicks, and look to Jane to be on him as quickly as possible.

- If the gaps are are there we want to get BOD into space and on the ball as much as we can. And he is to look for opportunities to get our back three on the ball when we can. Croft to look to get into space and join our backs to cause trouble out wide.

- Our back three are encouraged to do what they do best - counter attacking and running the ball back. If isolated all have good kicking games, but the counter is what we ask them to look for.

- Yachvili to kick all penalites.

- Unload our very powerful bench in the last 20/30 minutes.

Key points:

Experience of the big games:
Our starting 15 has an average of 48 caps per player. The likes of Jenkins, Moore, Hines, Horwill, Pocock, Yach, Wilko, BOD and Jane all know what it takes to play in the biggest games. The spine of our side is built around experience and leadership; perfect for a game like this.

Very powerful side:
Our average pack weight is 18st, and we have huge runners in the back line as well as in our pack. With the likes of Waldrom, Moore, Hines, Horwill, Tuialgi and Twelvetrees, we really believe we have the power and carrying options to tire down Falcons' defence which we hope to capitalise on as the game goes on.

Huge defence:
We know if we are to win this game our defence has to be at it's best. Pocock and co in the pack have been drilled to defend for their lives. We believe that are back line is stronger defensively than Falcons'. Wilko and BOD are famous for their tackling strength, and we believe we can stop runners of Falcons in the midfield.

Bench:
With the likes of Sheridan, Youngs, Cencus, Pape and Manoa to bring on in the pack we want to really turn the screw as the game goes on, and feel as the minutes tick by we will only get stronger and stronger.

Saracens make 4 changes to the starting XV for this weeks play off semi final encounter with Gloucester. In the pack Rynhardt Elstadt replaces Lionel Nallet, whilst in the backs Ma’a Nonu, Mark Cueto and Alex Goode come in for Henry Trinder, Andrew Trimble and Tom Homer. Head coach Ozzy3213 had this to say.

“This is the real business end of the season now and we know what we have to do to be successful. Gloucester will come to be physical as they always do, and we have selected a side that is able to counter that threat. We will be looking to play our game though and assert ourselves on them, and we believe that we have the players to make a fourth consecutive Premiership final.”

Saracens
Manager – Ozzy3213

01. Alex Corbisiero	09. Francois Hougaard
02. Bismarck du Plessis	10. Patric Lambie
03. Adam Jones
04. Rynhardt Elstadt	11. Digby Ioane
05. Steve Borthwick	12. Ma’a Nonu
06. Thierry Dusautoir	13. Jonathon Davies
07. Tom Wood	14. Mark Cueto
08. Joe van Niekerk (c)	15. Alex Goode

16. George Chuter 17. Tendai Mtwarira 18. Jannie du Plessis 19. Dave Attwood 20. Tom Johnson 21. Morgan Parra 22. Owen Farrell 23. Tom Homer

Tactics

Our generic gameplan revolves around a high intensity attacking and defensive game.

In attack our primary gameplan is always to control possession and run the ball, utilising big carriers attacking gaps in the line, and looking to offload to support runners to continue getting over the gainline and keep the ball alive. If running the ball is not on we will uitilise the kicking game of one of our backs to take us into the right area of the pitch.

In defence we will look to blitz, with our scrum half sweeping behind the defensive line. Key for us is line speed, getting up to make the tackle before the ball carrier hits the gainline, and confidence and trust in the man next to you in the defensive line, meaning we will not jump out or get pulled to far away from the next defender leaving gaps that can be exploited.

At the breakdown, we will not overcommit players. If the ball is not there to be won, then we will commit 1 or 2 players to legally slow it down whilst maintaining a strong defensive line across the pitch. If the ball looks like it is there to be won, we will look to get more numbers there quickly, with the first 1 or 2 players immediately rucking past the ball to clear the opposition players who are trying to get hands on it, and the next man in will then look to get it out quickly for us to counter attack on turnover ball.

At the scrum we will look to keep it up and scrummage. Jones will look to take the hit and drop anchor allowing Corbisiero to attack the opposition tighthead. On our ball we will keep our flankers bound in tight and shoving hard behind the props and we will look to get the scrum turning legally to take the Gloucester back row out of the defensive equation before launching attacks. Our flankers will play slightly looser with heads up on Gloucester ball in order to be of quickly to stop any set play attacks.


Game Specific Tactics

• Carry in tight areas of early phases – We have selected a lot of strong carriers in the pack and the backs and will get them carrying close to rucks to tie defenders in create gaps to exploit outside.
  
  
• Scrum half sniping – Hougaard will look to make breaks from the base of rucks any time he sees a gap. Knowing he can and will break will keep the Gloucester defensive line honest and give Lambie more time and space to work in.
  
  
• Control Possession – Obviously we will kick when we absolutely have to, but in the main we are keeping possession and going through the phases. Carrying in close to rucks will allow us to not get isolated and mean that we do not turn the ball over to Gloucester.
  
  
• Breakdown – When Gloucester carry in, unless the player is isolated and a turnover is on, we will only commit enough players to legally slow the ball, instead maintaining a strong defensive line.
  

Key Points

• Experience – We know this territory and how to win these games, having won all three play off semi finals that we have been in so far.
  
  
• Home Advantage - In 4 seasons of AP and HC rugby our home record is P 58 W 53 D 3 L 2. Mat will no doubt point out that one of those two defeats was by Gloucester, however, we have never lost a knockout match at home in any competition, and Gloucester have never beaten us in a knockout game, and that includes an AP semi final and final.
  
  
• Defensive Strength – Defensively we are solid through the team. In the pack and backs we have tackle machines who rarely if ever get beaten one on one. Unless Gloucester have 70%+ possession then I cannot see how they score enough points against this defence to win.
  
  
• Physicality – One of Gloucesters biggest strengths is usually their physicality and they can bully teams up front. We have a pack with enough physicality not to be bullied.
  
  
• Pack Balance – We have a perfectly balanced pack. A tighthead who is a rock in the scrum and a loosehead who attacks well when the scrum is locked, but is also a tackle machine in the loose. A hooker who is like an openside at the breakdown enabling us not to have to select a specialist 7, and two flankers who tackle like tanks, along with an 8 who carries brilliantly. We also have the archetypal enforcer/lineout specialist pairing at lock. Our pack complements each other fantastically and can give us a platform in all aspects of the game.
  
  
• Form/Momentum – We have a number of players who are in excellent real life form. In game we have huge momentum coming into the play offs whereas Gloucester are off the back of a potentially damaging defeat to London Irish last week.
  
  
• Bench – We have impact players to come of the bench, such as Beast, Jannie and Johnson, as well as key decision makers such as Parra and Farrell who can come on to see out a game.
  

Best of luck Mat, should be a cracker as always. One way or another one of us should get some pointers for where we need to improve for next week.

Team up this afternoon when get laptop back Luke

Newcastle Falcons
Manager – Sgt Pooly

01. Fabien Barcella	09. Ben Youngs
02. Rory Best	10. Toby Flood
03. Owen Franks
04. Brad Thorn	11. Miles Benjamin
05. Geoff Parling	12. James O’Connor
06. Chris Robshaw	13. Jaques Fourie
07. Richie McCaw(c)	14. Tommy Bowe
08. Kieran Read	15. Adam Ashley-Cooper

16.William Servat 17. Paul Doran-Jones 18. Alex Waller 19. Ed Slater 20.Heinrich Brussow 21. Jonny Arr 22.Nick Evans 23. Brad Barritt

Tactics

HOME ADVANTAGE – HIGH TEMPO, POSSESION, ATTACKING, RUNNING RUGBY

WE’VE WON EVERY GAME AT HOME FOR 2 SEASONS

IT'S THE BUSINESS END OF THE SEASON, WE COME INTO OUR OWN HERE. YOU CANNOT MISTAKE HOW IMPORTANT IT IS TO KNOW HOW TO WIN THESE GAMES. A HEINIKEN CUP AND PREMEIRSHIP TITLE IN LAST 2 SEASONS SPEAKS FOR ITSELF.


Game plan...Fast paced, high intensity, offloading, dynamic rugby. We’ll look to hit the ground running and hit the opposition fast from the off. We’ll be aiming to control possession and go through the phases. Flood who’s in the form of his life will play flat and look to get our backline into the game whenever possible and keep the high tempo going throughout.

Set piece:

Use the set piece and use it as a focal point of attacks (if weakness seen – McCaw to call shots). If we see a slight advantage in the scrum that will be targeted especially in opposition half. We’ll look to get the squeeze on and keep the Tigers back row tied into the scrum giving Youngs, Flood & JOC more space to work in. Parling will marshal the lineout and look to get fast ball off the top with 5 strong jumpers.

If a weakness is seen in the set piece McCaw will go for the jugular. We're not expecting a massive scrum fest in the conditions so will be mainly looking to get the ball out and attack. We will contest on oppostion put in though with Franks/Best looking to get at Jenkins if possible. Thorn will pack down behind Franks and look to really turn the screw here.

Pack & Breakdown:

Look for strong carries from our pack, tying in the Tigers forwards. We’ll be looking to keep the ball alive and look for the offload when on. Our backrow will target the breakdown and look to get in a second tackler to tie up the Tigers carriers. Youngs will wait for the call and look to sweep up any turnover ball getting us on the front foot. We’ll look to win the collision with big our physical pack and dominate the Tigers pack in the contact.

DEFENCE:

Look to neutralise Pocock early on and allow out backrow to dominate affairs. Thorn/Read in particular will look to hit the ruck hard and remove Pocock from the equation allowing us to ruck over the ball control the breakdown. Robshaw will look to target Wilkinson early on and pressure his kicking. Tigers perhaps lack a little pace in the halfbacks/midfield so we’ll look to marshall them along the line with AAC/Bowe/Benjamin expecting the kick. Look to use blitz defence and get in the face of Tigers throughout, Youngs sweeping up behind.

Backs:

Basically get the backs into play whenever possible with Flood & JOC the spark. Fourie will mashall the defensive line and act as go to ball to draw defenses. JOC will go looking for the ball in midfield and AAC will come into the line to give us a direct hard runner and alternative/decoy to Fourie. Youngs will eye the gaps and look for the taps to keep us moving.

Flood will look to play in the right areas and then Evans to come and give us added energy in the second. It's all about high tempo and keeping Tigers on their toes.

POINTS:

HOME ADVANTAGE - Essential in winning semi finals
SCRUM & LINEOUT – Target throughout, if weakness seen go for the jugular
PHYSICAL PACK – Win the collosion and target rucks to drive through Tigers
BREAKDOWN – McCAw then Brussow to work their magic and Youngs to monitor to attack on turnover ball. McCaw to play the ref early on
FORM – We’ve won every game at home for 2 seasons and have finished top of the pile
BACKS – World class running options and finishers
ROLLING MAUL – With our big front 5 look to get the rolling maul going off selected lineouts and eat up the ground
LEADERS – As Chris often says you can’t have enough leaders in your team and with McCaw, Read, Best we have some of the best
RECENT GAMES: Tigers haven't won here for a few years now (nobody has for that matter), we'll be looking to carry that on

HOME ADVANTAGE – This is massively important in semi finals, we are unbeaten at home in 2 years. KINGSTON PARK IS A FORTRESS

Best of luck Luke

I want to go to our game mate...!

Winner has a huge chance with the HC final next week and both the other sides competing.

1.coonie
2 gray
3 white
4 bakkies
5 Robson
6 ferris
7 saull
8 hari
9 genia
10 Carter
11 May
12 barnes
13 kahui
14 gear
15 dagg
16 wood
17 dawiduik
18 Mas
19 palmer
20 Alberts
21 jsd
22 Murray
23 Sharples

1.coonie
2 gray
3 white
4 bakkies
5 Robson
6 ferris
7 saull
8 hari
9 genia
10 Carter
11 May
12 barnes
13 kahui
14 gear
15 dagg
16 wood
17 dawiduik
18 Mas
19 palmer
20 Alberts
21 jsd
22 Murray
23 Sharples

Glos travel to vicarage road safe in the knowledge they have beaten sarries home and away
In the league this year in similar conditions.

There certainly is no mystique attached to winning here to our players.

Very few of our players played last week against Irish as we were preparing for this game.

Weather is perfect and we have come to play a tempo game and get it wide. Think Leinster

Pack

Scrum

We have picked a front row of balance white is their to anchor the scrum for 30 minutes max and get after corbs where as coonie and grey are there for scrummaging and ball carrying. Mas to come on before halftime

We see our engine room as being much more abrasive and powerful and think this will give us the nudge scrum time.

We want the ball In to the scrum and away. We want to make sarries play our game.

Lineout

We have 5 jumpers and will look to target sarries. Hari is lineout leader.
On our ball we will mix up driving and off top in our own half but in our half the majority of time we will go off the top.

General

Forwards will look to get us on front foot And carry it up into sarries. We will be employing an offloading game to get In behind sarries.

We see ourselves as having more dynamic ball carriers and being able to win this area.

Saull is in the team to be a pure link man between backs and forwards we are aiming to play high tempo and he is our link. Being up against a 6.5 who has not been playing helps.

Alberts, wood, palmer all to come on to continue the high tempo.

Backs.

Our 8,9,10 are the best in the game and this core will dictate te game. We are looking to play tempo and these are the key.

The forwards aim
Is to make quick back 9 and 10 aim to use it.

We will be kicking infrequently and looking to move sarries around and
Look
For
Holes.

We see ourselves as having more craft, guile and gas in the backs.

Carter will look to use Barnes as a distributing option and also use gear coming off his Wing to occupy sarries centres.

The aim is to keep increasing the tempo and utilising quick throws and making most of conditions.

We are going to blitz in defence and put pressure on sarries fairly new 9 and 10 combo. We also think this will force nonu to distribute which is his weak point.
We will also look where possible to flood ruck and affect turnover think our back 5s physicality can shake them here

Key points

Play high tempo
Impact bench
8,9,10 experience
Form we lost last week due to resting apart from
That best in league form wise
Won here in league this year already
More ball players and creativity


Good luck pete

Matt....you can't have your team looking like that for the semis. Do you want me to put in format?

Sorry mate on train to London been snowed. Appreciate it

Gloucester

Manager – Matt

01. Coenie Oosthuizen	09. Will Genia
02. Joe Gray	10. Dan Carter
03. Julian White
04. Bakkies Botha	11. Johnny May
05. George Robson	12. Berrick Barnes
06. Stephen Ferris	13. Richard Kahui
07. Andy Saull	14. Hosea Gear
08. Imaniol Harinordoquy	15. Israel Dagg

16. Nick Wood 17. Darren Dawidulk 18. Nicolas Mas 19. Tom Palmer 20. Willam Alberts 21. James Simpson-Daniel 22. Connor Murray 23. Charlie Sharples

Tactics

Glos travel to vicarage road safe in the knowledge they have beaten sarries home and away
In the league this year in similar conditions.

There certainly is no mystique attached to winning here to our players.

Very few of our players played last week against Irish as we were preparing for this game.

Weather is perfect and we have come to play a tempo game and get it wide. Think Leinster

Pack

Scrum

We have picked a front row of balance white is their to anchor the scrum for 30 minutes max and get after corbs where as coonie and grey are there for scrummaging and ball carrying. Mas to come on before halftime

We see our engine room as being much more abrasive and powerful and think this will give us the nudge scrum time.

We want the ball In to the scrum and away. We want to make sarries play our game.

Lineout

We have 5 jumpers and will look to target sarries. Hari is lineout leader.
On our ball we will mix up driving and off top in our own half but in our half the majority of time we will go off the top.

General

Forwards will look to get us on front foot And carry it up into sarries. We will be employing an offloading game to get In behind sarries.

We see ourselves as having more dynamic ball carriers and being able to win this area.

Saull is in the team to be a pure link man between backs and forwards we are aiming to play high tempo and he is our link. Being up against a 6.5 who has not been playing helps.

Alberts, wood, palmer all to come on to continue the high tempo.

Backs.

Our 8,9,10 are the best in the game and this core will dictate te game. We are looking to play tempo and these are the key.

The forwards aim
Is to make quick back 9 and 10 aim to use it.

We will be kicking infrequently and looking to move sarries around and
Look
For
Holes.

We see ourselves as having more craft, guile and gas in the backs.

Carter will look to use Barnes as a distributing option and also use gear coming off his Wing to occupy sarries centres.

The aim is to keep increasing the tempo and utilising quick throws and making most of conditions.

We are going to blitz in defence and put pressure on sarries fairly new 9 and 10 combo. We also think this will force nonu to distribute which is his weak point.
We will also look where possible to flood ruck and affect turnover think our back 5s physicality can shake them here

Key points

Play high tempo
Impact bench
8,9,10 experience
Form we lost last week due to resting apart from
That best in league form wise
Won here in league this year already
More ball players and creativity

Predictions open

Best of luck guys

My predictions differ for the semi final. Whilst there is still home advantage and form of players is still vitally important as is the balance of the side etc but I also massively take into account the individuals who make things happen and can win a game. HC semi's for example had Ruan Pienaar and Rob Kearney essentially win there sides the games. Players like that in your side will really help you.

Newcastle 26 - 25 Leicester

I'll start up front. The front row goes to Leicester, they have a strong unit which is a presence in the loose as strong at the set piece and I feel it has a bit more about it that Newcastle's trio. The second row's are pretty even with Thorn more than Hines and Horwill much more than Parling. Front 5's marginally to Leicester. Back row goes to Newcastle. Robshaw and Read are in excellent form and McCaw is McCaw. Leicester are by no means weak though with a nice combo. Both 8's are going to have to do a lot of carrying for there flankers. Scrum goes to Leicester with the Lineout even. Packs across the board are even.

Half backs are on a piece with Yachvili and Flood the standouts. The Leicester pair will manage the game better and this is important in a semi final, but the Newcastle pair will certainly get more out of those outside them and when you look at the Newcastle outside backs this is a massive aspect of this game. The centre partneships are a brilliant battle. Billy Twelvetrees has been playing excellently this season and this brings him up towards the level of the other centres, none of whom could be considered in form. No real give in the centres. Back 3's are also pretty even. Leicester's unit is very much inform whereas the Newcastle unit is perhaps stronger as individuals but lacking in form.

Benches probably just go to Newcastle, and with regards to game changers I see more in the Newcastle side. Newcastle have a slight edge, but the Leicester pack and the game management of the Leicester half backs makes it very very close.

Saracens 21 - 22 Gloucester

I prefer the Saracens front row, BDP's advantage over Joe Grey is a big factor as there isn't a huge deal between the props, with two dynamic LH's who will be involved a lot in the lose and two TH's who could give those LH's a real problem at the scrums. The engine room goes to Gloucester as I prefer both there men in the row. Back rows are really very close. I see JVN and Saull as weaknesses for there units but not massive weaknesses. Scrums just to Saracens with the lineouts to Gloucester. A little more in tersm of carrying in the Gloucester pack but Wood and Dusa is a frightening combo.

Half backs to Gloucester in a big way. I feel they will control the game and get there outside backs going better than the Saracens combo. Centres to Saracens but I like the control Barnes will give at 12, although the go forward in the Saracens midfield is frightening. back 3 goes to Gloucester with a very dangerous unit for the conditions.

Both benches are very very strong and I feel that Gloucester have a few more game changers in there side. That and the half backs give Gloucester a huge win.

Sorry in Liverpool this weekend so on phone

Saracens 22-25 gloucester
Newcastle 27-22 leicester

Sarries 23-22 Gloucester
Newcastle 26-20 Leicester

Newcastle 32-29 Leicester

Fantastic battle in the pack here and can't see an edge either way at the set piece. Tigers front row maybe with a bit more round the park but Falcons have a bit more in the backrow. Tigers halfbacks bring good control
to the game but Falcons will get the backs moving better. Bit more quality for Falcons across the outside backs and they will get more going through the midfield.

Cracking game but Falcons at home with that bit more in the backs seal the win.


Sarries 27-25 Gloucester

Slight edge to Sarries in the scrum here but they have alot more around the park in the front 5. Glaws with more on the carrying front in the backrow but Sarries with a real destructive combo. Glaws have more quality at halfback but current form levels it out for me. Midfield is a tight battle with neither 12 in great form but both 13s having great seasons but Gloucester have more in the outside backs.

Really tight game here. Can see the Sarries backrow disrupting everything and with Farrell and Parra to come on and dictate play in the final quarter Sarries sneak through at home







Im on an all day lecture today (bloody accounting exams!!) so wont be around at 12 to do results. If someone is able to knock them up it would be greatly appreciated if not I strive to get them down around 6 this evening when I get home

Falcons 28-24 Leicester
Two big game teams here with influence all over. I can see Falcons getting a few points extra with home advantage and feel that JOC and AAC will intimidate their opposite numbers with me being unsure how Miller'll do in the big=big games.

Sarries22-20 Glos
Sarries will be on top in the front row as White tires but Glos will regain advantage as the game goes on with their front row subs. Sarries have the better backs subs and I feel that their back row will just nick it for them.

Saracens 23 - 24 Gloucester

See Sarries as having the advantage in every front row position. BdP and Corbs really getting on top, and Jones as well. Really good second row contest, maybe slight edge to Gloucester but not by much. Saull brings Gloucester back row level down, but two top units that will be a huge battle. Gloucester take the HB's, but Sarries not massively outclassed here. Same story  in the centres, with Gloucester the better pairing for me, but Sarries very strong here. Gloucester slightly stronger in the back three. I think Sarries have a slightly stronger pack whilst Gloucester slightly stronger in the backs. So tough to decide which way to go. League game this is a draw, but I'm just going to to edge with Gloucester due to Carter and Barnes running the show. Great game guys. 

Saracens 20 Gloucester 22
Newcastle 25 Leicester 23

Saracens 21 - 23 Gloucester
Newcastle 23 - 22 Leicester Tigers

Saracens 25-24 Gloucester

Can't see loads of scrums in conditions but Sarries have advantage here with a strong front row although Bakkies helps out the Gloucester unit. Both of the Gloucester locks bring more to the game though. Not much in the backrows as units with Saull probably getting at the breakdown for Gloucester and giving them a good balance but Sarries contesting well.

Not a massive amount between the halfbacks and centres in a real battle of styles, Gloucester halfbacks with a bit more star quality. Prefer the Gloucester back 3 and will bring more threat although a strong defensive/kicking unit from Sarries.

Really tough call this one. Overall I prefer the Gloucester side and with them previously beating Sarries here I think that has a HUGE effect on how this would play out. If on a neutral ground Gloucester would take this but a semi at home is such a strong position and I just feel Sarries have enough.

Sorry Matt, fantastic side you have out and the HC next week will be an absolute cracker!!

Newcastle 23-22 Leicester home advantage and Bench sees Newcastle nick it.

Leicester take pack for me with front row a better unit. At this time of year we all have players injure or our of form but i see barcella as a real issue. Guy has barely played in 2 years and when he has he has not gone well. Most unlucky player ever as is dynamite.

Second rows one a piece with thorn and Horwill standouts

Back row even with croft better than robshaw mccaw pocock even maybe a shade to pocock as mccaw been out for 6 months. Read millions better than Waldrom. Prefer Newcastle back row though although both teams lack carriers a bit.

So tight. Half backs Leicester just yachvilli different planet to youngs and flood shading wilko.

Newcastle have the better ten for the conditions and to get the ball wide. 36 in great form but Joc is Joc.

Bod better than Fourie who it's hard to rate as he is playing in Japan and has said he is staying there. I dont play mils for same reason.

Back 3s Leicester with more form but Newcastles are big game players and bowe thrive in these games.

Benches I feel Newcastle can change it more for the better with brussow and Evans and close the game out with barrit

At Leicester I would have reversed the result lll has built a top side that will challenge next year even harder.

Great game lads

2 more to go......

6 minutes until cut off is mine a draw ??

Falcons 19-18 Tigers
Both two sets of really strong forwards - its one of the strongest packs that have traveled up north and the subs bench of the Tigers is very impressive. Falcons at home and have players I'd want in a semi final e.g. McCaw to help them through. It's going to be a really brutal contest, both instances I see defences being very dominate - honestly can't separate the packs - so looked at the backlines and with the 9-10 control of Yach/Wilko you know that Tigers will get some scores from the boot - but Falcons have the slightly more attacking threat & altho JOC isnt in best of form, still think combo of him and Flood can create the one try that wins the game.

Sarries 27 - 26 Gloucester
I don't even know where to start with this one, two very contrasting teams - definitely more potent attack for Gloucester out wide, but Sarries match that with defence and strong centre combination. Gloucester more control at 10/12 axis and trying to stop Nonu upfront is a good way of blunting Sarries go forward. The one issue for me is whether Grey will secure GLoucester enough ball and can see Sarries punishing his inexperience a bit here and that for me is the decisive factor overall. Gloucester will score more tries easily, but Sarries can get some themselves and just see them edging the penalty count. Can see it being different in HC final though as Sarries home adcantage plays a big role too.

RESULTS:

Newcastle Falcons 34-23 Leicester Tigers

Saracens 28-28 Gloucester

EXTRA TIME TO BE PLAYED IN SARACENS - GLOUCESTER GAME

PLEASE PREDICT SCORE AFTER EXTRA TIME

anonmattyt wrote:6 minutes until cut off is mine a draw ??

Sarries snatch the draw with last predo, cracking game.

Extra time score - see Gloucester with arguably a bit more in their tanks to score, whilst Sarries would be relying more on Farrell's boot - but with Carter its not like GLoucester have got a bad kicker either...

Sarries 37 - 40 Gloucester
See Farrell getting a few kicks, but Gloucester able to take more advantage of tired legs with their try scorers.

Saracens 37 - 40 Gloucester AET.

This is where the benches really come into there own. On that saracens bench you can see every single infringement being punished by 2 of the best place kickers around, but in the Gloucester bench I see players able to isolate tired defenders in the Saracens team. I feel that Gloucester would really have the edge in the extra time set piece although having two decision makers who will be tired is a factor. so so close. I think Sarries will get 3 penalties but Gloucester will get two tries, one converted.

Saracens 37-31 Gloucester

Comes down to home advantage and relieable kickers in extra time in this one I think . Homer to guide Sarries home in a brutal contest. Don't think they'll have any players left for the HC next week!

For me Extra time is whole diffrent kettle of fish , as tactical kicking comes into it , players temperment and a bit of magic against tired legs.

Saracens 38 Gloucester 31

The introduction of Parra is key for me as he is playing some tidy stuff in the t14 and will make some massive decisions in how and where to play the game and Faz at 12 or 10 will launch the ball into the Gloucester 22 and Sarries will more than likely benifit from this.

Look to close extra time at 8pm (if ok with Pete/SJE)

Me and pete been to extra time before

Pooly, cheers for sorting bud, am on a crappy 3G signal. This is like AP final 2 years ago. 8 pm is fine.

Didn't that go to penalties?

Yes

Xt
Saris 30-35 glos
More spark on glos bench to change game

How do Sarries score 2 points lol?

Sarries 36-38 Gloucester
A few more big game winners for me in Gloucester team

Sarries 35-34 Glos
Parra orchestrates a late try after 2 Carter dg's

Saracens 28 - 30 Gloucester

Saracens 35 - 34 Gloucester

Parra and Farrell can influence the game more than Murray and 2 wingers for me. Both sides can bring on strong pack players, so this strength in the backs decides it for me.