Summer Tournament Round Five

First topic message reminder :

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Pool One


London Irish v Newcastle Falcons


London Irish
Manager – stnick88

01. Matt Stevens	09. Ruan Pienaar
02. Andrew Hore	10. Nick Evans
03. Martin Castrogiovanni
04. Matt Garvey	11. Paul Sackey
05. Nick Kennedy	12. Shane Geraghty
06. Marcell Coetzee	13. Mathieu Bastereaud
07. Steffon Armitage	14. JP Pieterson
08. Pierre Spies	15. Delon Armitage

16. Jean Baptiste Poux 17. Tom Lindsay 18. WP Nel 19. Johann Muller 20. Keegan Daniel 21. Julien Dupuy 22. Luke McAllister 23. Sireli Naqalevuki


Newcastle Falcons
Manager – Sgt Pooly

01. Soane Tonga'uiha	09. Jimmy Cowan
02. Rory Best	10. Toby Flood
03. Paul Doran-Jones
04. Ed Slater	11. Miles Benjamin
05. Paul O’Connell(c)	12. Scott Williams
06. Chris Robshaw	13. George Lowe
07. John Barclay	14. Alex Cuthbert
08. Toby Faletau	15. Alex Goode

17. Lee Mears 17. Owen Franks 18. Fabien Barcella 19. Brad Thorn 20. Richie McCaw 21. Ben Youngs 22. Aaron Cruden 23. Adam Ashley-Cooper


Harlequins v Saracens


Harlequins
Manager – Steven_Sharks

01. Joe Marler	09. Karl Dickson
02. Matthew Rees (c)	10. Greg Laidlaw (k)
03. John Afoa
04. Bakkies Botha	11. Tom Biggs
05. Hugh Pyle	12. Jamie Roberts
06. Dave Denton	13. Florian Fritz
07. Carl Fearns	14. Yoann Huget
08. Nick Easter	15. Andre Taylor

16. Schalk Brits 17. Ben Franks 18. Kieran Brookes 19. James Gaskell 20. Tom Wood 21. Jano Vermaak 22. Freddie Burns 23. Jonathan Joseph

Tactics

Use pack and midfield to get us across the gainline. Picked a deliberately very physical pack to get amongst Saracens. Hopefully use big carriers to create space outwide for our electric finishers in the back 3 to run in some tries. Karl Dickson to place at a real tempo and snipe around the fringes with Laidlaw pulling the strings behind him and controlling the shape of our game. Look to retain possession for long periods to wear Saracens out.


Saracens
Manager – Ozzy3213

01. Alex Corbisiero	09. Francois Hougaard
02. Bismack du Plessis	10. Owen Farrell
03. David Wilson
04. Rob Simmons	11. Bryan Habana
05. George Skivington	12. Ma’a Nonu
06. Tom Johnson	13. Henry Trinder
07. Thierry Dusautoir	14. Digby Ioane
08. Duane Vermeulen	15. Tom Homer

16. John Smit 17. Matt Mullan 18. Adam Jones 19. Steve Borthwick 20. Ross Rennie 21. Morgan Parra 22. Patric Lambie 23. Mark Cueto

Tactics

• Big ball carriers looking to punch holes and draw defenders in.
  
• Structured tactical kick chase game targeting Harlequins wingers under the high ball with our wingers chasing looking to turn them over.
  
• Attack the breakdown with numbers if turnover looks on.
  
• Play quickly off turnover ball..
  
• Homer to take all points on offer.
  

Can I ask please for feedback on the following areas (as well as anything that you would like to pick up on yourselves)

- Can David Wilson anchor my pack in the Heino where I need 7 EQ starters?
- If I look to play a structured kicking game, does that negate some of the negativity about playing Farrell at 10, as I am not asking him to play an attacking game that some feel is alien to him?
- Are Simmons and Skivington my best lock pairing?


Leicester Tigers v Gloucester


Leicester Tigers
Manager – LukeLovesLuka

01. Andrew Sheridan	09. Dimitri Yachvili
02. Stephen Moore	10. Jonny Wilkinson (k)
03. Dan Cole
04. Pascal Pape	11. Ugo Monye
05. James Horwill (c)	12. Billy Twelvetrees
06. Tom Croft	13. Brian O'Driscoll
07. Sean O'Brien	14. Isa Nacewa
08. Thomas Waldrom	15. Kurtley Beale

16. Gethin Jenkins 17. Tom Youngs 18. Brian Mujati 19. Nathan Hines 20. Francois Louw 21. Micky Young 22. Vincent Clerc 23. Rob Miller


Gloucester
Manager – Mat

01. Nick wood	09. Will Genia
02. Joe Gray	10. Dan Carter
03. Nicholas Mas
04. Tom Palmer	11. James Simpson-Daniel
05. Richie Gray	12. Berrick Barnes
06. Steven Ferris	13. Richard Kahui
07. Andy Saull	14. Johnny May
08. Jamie Heaslip	15. Iain Balshaw

16. Coonie Ousthieuzen 17. Adriann Strauss 18. Rupert Harden 19. George Robson 20. Immanol Harinordoquoy 21. Connor Murray 22. Juan De Jongh 23. Charlie Sharples

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Pool Two


London Welsh v Bath Rugby


London Welsh

01. Ben Alexader (C)	09. Charlie Davies
02. Hika Elliot	10. Gavin Henson (K)
03. Ben Tameifuna
04. Tim Swinson	11. Lachie Turner
05. Ali Williams	12. James Downey
06. Rhys Ruddock	13. Matt Smith
07. Will Welch	14. Harry Robinson
08. Rapheal Lakafia	15. Tom Catterick

16.Chris Whitehead 17.Brett Sturgess 18.Craig Mitchell 19.Dean Schofield 20.Luke Narraway 21.Rory Lawson 22.Butch James 23.Adam Thompstone



Northampton Saints v Sale Sharks


Northampton Saints

01. Sona Taumalolo	09. Joe Simpson
02. Dylan Hartley	10. Juan Martin Hernandez (k)
03. Sekope Kepu
04. Courtney Lawes	11. Christian Wade
05. Alun Wyn Jones	12. Weslie Fofana
06. Liam Messam	13. Manu Tuilagi
07. Sam Cane	14. Chris Ashton
08. Sergio Parisse (c)	15. Ben Foden

16. Rob Webber 17. Thomas Domingo 18. Carl Hayman 19. Bradley Davies 20. Joe Launchbury 21. Mike Phillips 22. George Ford 23. Leigh Halfpenny

Tactics:

- To play at a high tempo, with a view to play an expansive game and get our danger runners in the backline on the ball in space. Quick lineouts when possible to use backthree to attack Sale.
- Go through the phases with the pack, get big ball carriers on the ball and over the gainline.
- Aggressive defence that looks to force Sale into mistakes and stop them getting over the gainline.
- Use set piece as platform to launch attacks and make full use of the bench to keep momentum in final 20-30mins


Sale Sharks
Manager – SJE

01. Marcos Ayerza	09. Danny Care
02. Darren Dawdiuk	10. Johnny Sexton
03. Davit Zirakishvilli
04. Dave Attwood	11. David Strettle
05. Andries Bekker	12. Francois Steyn
06. Adam Thomson	13. Jordan Turner Hall
07. Fulgence Quedragao	14. Tom Brady
08. Louis Picamoles	15. Nick Abendanon

16. Jerome Schuster 17. David Paice 18. Luc Ducalcon 19. Christian Day 20. Peter O'Mahony 21. Ben Spencer 22. James Hook 23. Keith Earls

Tactics:

- Dominate territory peppering Wades wing with kicks and looking to Bekker to run amock at the lineout
- Ball in hand in Saints territory: Play our usual fast paced offloading game looking to get over the gain line and keep the ball moving


London Wasps v Worcester Warriors


London Wasps
Manager – ‘Arry

01. Benn Robinson (c)	09. Nick Phipps
02. Tatafu Polota-Nau	10. Rhys Preistland (k)
03. Carlos Nieto
04. Mouritz Botha	11. Matt Banahan
05. Marco Wentzel	12. Brad Barritt
06. Steve Mafi	13. George Pisi
07. Dewald Potgieter	14. Topsy Ojo
08. Roger Wilson	15. Mike Brown

16. Nathan Morris 17. Charlie Beech 18. Rhodri Jones 19. Dan Tuohy 20. Dave Dennis 21. Haydn Thomas 22. Steven Myler 23. Noah Cato

Tactics

Use our big ball carriers to get us over the gain line and set out a platform to attack from. Look to dominate contact area and get offload game going.

Put several phases of quick ball together, attack gaps and half gaps in Worcester defensive line, keep moving the ball when it's on.

Questions
Is this my best back row?
Is Banahan good enough to start?
Is Phipps my best scrum half to start?


Worcester

01. Paul James	09. Tawera Kerr-Barlow
02. Richardt Strauss	10. Tom Heathcote (k)
03. Oliver Tomaszczyk
04. Tom Savage	11. Sean Maitland
05. Ollie Kohn	12. Pat McCabe
06. Ryan Jones (c)	13. Seilala Mapusua
07. Justin Tipuric	14. James Short
08. Mamuka Gorgodze	15. Cameron Shepherd

16. Gary Botha 17. Tendai Mtwarria 18. BJ Botha 19. Luke Charteris 20. Ben Morgan 21. Dwyane Peel 22. Sam Vesty 23. Matt Hopper

Harlequins 25 - 26 Saracens

See Quins getting a good shove on, and two good units in the loose. Slight edge to Quins in the second row - Sarries well balanced but lacking in quality. Two strong back rows, slight edge to Sarries for me. Give Sarries the edge at HB, but think Farrell needs to improve before playing against top opposition on here. Two of the best 12's around make this a top contest, more quality beoyond there for Sarries, by a distance too. Tough to call this one. Sneaking with Sarries for top draw players on display.

Welsh 0 - 30 Bath



Saints 28 - 25 Sale

Slight edge to Saints in the scrum, one apiece in the HB's with Sale edging lineout. Two great back rows that are tough to split, maybe edge to Saints but not a lot in it. Sale's HB's are not beat by many, and agin take the advantage here. Not sure on balance of Sale HB's, and see them losing out to Saints' duo. Saints dominate the back three. Think Saints have that bit extra in attack.

Wasps 22 - 20 Worcester

Wasps strong front row to get the nudge on, and see them taking the second row too. Savage good talent but outclassed at this stage. Two good back rows, maybe edge to Worcester with form. One apiece in the HB's with TBK on good form. Quite a tight battle in the centres that will be a good battle, and two well balanced back three's, but both lacking in class. Really tough to predict, think Wasps have a bit more, but tight.

New scoring system seems to be working very well. Represents much better IMO.

Yeah, i think so as well Luke, gives a better reflection of the general consensus of results.

How have I got draw ?? Thought I had lost. Happy days