Fantasy Amlin Challenge Cup Quarter Finals

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Bath Rugby vs. London Wasps
White Cloud, 7 degrees, 17 mph winds

Bath Rugby
Manager – inthefastlane

01. Cian Healy	09. Aaron Smith
02. Chris Brooker	10. Charlie Hodgson
03. Carl Rimmer
04. James Gaskell	11. George North
05. Graham Kitchener	12. Anthony Allen
06. Tom Guest	13. Rob Horne
07. David Pocock	14. Cory Jane
08. JMF Lobbe	15. Stuart Hogg

16. Jon Golding 17. Will Tanner 18. Davit Kubrashvilli 19. Luke Romano 20. Brad Shields 21. Fourie Du Preez 22. Jonathon Davies 23. Richard Lane


London Wasps
Manager – Fluxy

01. Ryan Grant	09. Maxime Machenaud (K)
02. Rob Webber	10. Rhys Priestland
03. Shaun Knight
04. Mouritz Botha	11. Tom Varndell
05. Donnacha Ryan (C)	12. Brad Barritt
06. Iain Henderson	13. Keith Earls
07. John Barclay	14. Topsy Ojo
08. Netani Talei	15. Mike Brown

16. Sean Cronin 17. Ben Robinson 18. Logovii Mulipola 19. Bradley Davies 20. Jonathon Poff 21. Jonah Holmes 22. Jamie Elliott 23. Matt Tait

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London Welsh vs. Newcastle Falcons
White Cloud, 6 degrees, 17 mph winds.

London Welsh
Manager – Ozzy3213

01. Ben Alexander	09. Morgan Parra
02. Rob Hawkins	10. Owen Farrell
03. Martin Castrogiovanni
04. Jim Hamilton	11. James Simpson-Daniel
05. James Hanks	12. Pat McCabe
06. Tom Johnson	13. Joel Tomkins
07. Thierry Dusautoir ©	14. Jack Nowell
08. Duane Vermeulen	15. Gareth Anscombe

16. Bismarck du Plessis 17. Steven Kitschoff 18. David Wilson 19. Rynhardt Elstadt 20. Luke Wallace 21. Paul Hodgson 22. Tim Nanai-Williams 23. Bryan Habana

Key Points

• Tommy Bowe. Never plays on the left wing in real life. We will test his positioning there with Farrell’s kicking game in behind him.
  
• Alex Cuthbert. We will look to kick into the space he will leave trying to target Jack Nowell, who will be playing on the other side of the pitch to him.
  
• Halfbacks. Parra and Farrell is an international quality pair who can and will control the game. Harrison is not in the same league, and Flood’s game management can go amiss under pressure.
  
• Welsh Defence. Solid defenders throughout the team mean that it will take something special to score points against us.
  
• Impact Bench. Our bench is packed with players who can make a difference for us in the final quarter.
  

Basic Game Plan
Basic tactical premise for us to control possession and be solid defensively. We have picked a very poweful mobile pack to try to put pace on the game up front. We will be looking for gaps rather than contact and looking to offload to support runners. We will look to apply pressure to Newcastle by keeping the ball for long periods and wearing them down defensively, and also by maintaining a solid defence and denying them opportunities to get on the score board. Pressure forces mistakes, and we will look to capitalise on any that Newcastle make.

Specifics

• Support runners to ruck past the ball quickly if the carrier goes to ground in order to secure quick ball to go again.
  
• If we are not getting anywhere going through the phases, Parra, Farrell and Anscombe will use their boots to take us downfield and put pressure on Falcons.
  
• Keep the scoreboard ticking over by taking all penalties on offer.
  
• We will look to play a blitz defence with quick line speed to hit the ball carrier before he gets to the gainline and knock him back even further. Parra will sweep in behind.
  
• We will not overcommit to the breakdown. If a turnover is on, we will go for it, counter rucking and hitting on the break. If it is not on to win the ball, we will send in a couple of players to legally slow it, and get our defensive line set quickly and strongly a la France in the World Cup. We want to control the gainline in defence and attack.
  

Newcastle Falcons
Manager – Driver

01.Sona Tonga'uhia	09.Sam Harrison
02.Jamie George	10.Toby Flood(K)
03.Owen Franks
04.Ed Slater	11.Tommy Bowe
05.Paul O'Connell	12.Scott Williams
06.Tom Croft	13.George Lowe
07.Chris Robshaw(C)	14.Alex Cuthbert
08.	15.Alex Goode

16.Rory Best 17.Fab Barcella 18.Scott Wilson 19.Brad Thorn 20.Hienrich Brussouw 21.Ben Youngs 22.Aaron Cruden 23.Ben Williams

- Keep the scrum strong for 80 minutes!

- Retain possetion against the Welsh line. Blitz the tackler away in contact to keep the chances of turnover low.

-Flood to test Welsh backs 3s position game with Kicks in behind with Bowe and Cuthbert chasing with neither being on the small side.

- Williams and Lowe to take the ball to the gain line and ask questions of the Welsh back line with Bowe/Cuthbert/Goode coming into the line to cause problems

- GET CUTHBERT RUNNING AT NOWELL

-Croftto challange the Welsh throw from 2 with POC calling the lineout from the middle mixing it up.

-Jumpers from 4-8 in our pack giving Jamie George plenty of targets with POC and Croft targeting the Welsh Lineout.

-Harrison to control the tempo , feeding Flood the ball at the right times and using his own vision to snipe and put the ball in behind Welsh.

-Blitz Defence to stop Welsh backs playing with Harrison sweeping behind

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Sale Sharks vs. Toulon
White Cloud, 7 degrees, 1 mph winds.

Sale Sharks
Manager – SJE

01. Vasil Kakovin	09. Danny Care
02. David Paice	10. Johnny Sexton
03. Luc Ducalcon
04. Brodie Retalick	11. David Strettle
05. Dave Attwood	12. Francois Steyn
06. Peter O'Mahony	13. Gael Fickou
07. Matt Kvesic	14. Sam Smith
08. Louis Picamoles	15. Nick Abendanon

16. Jerome Schuster 17. Tommy Taylor 18. Davit Zirakishvilli 19. Christian Day 20. Matt Todd 21. Kahn Fotuaili'i 22. James Hook 23. Tom Brady

Attacking

• Look to play high tempo, high intensity rugby. Ball in hand, look to use our big line breakers to make the hard yards and tie up defenders creating space in wider channels for Sexton to exploit.

• We see the offload as a crucial weapon and our carriers will all be looking to offload in contact, continuing our forward momentum and breaking the defensive line.

• Care will look to tie the opposition backrow to the breakdown with his sniping game allowing Sexton to play flat on the gain line. Sexton will look to bring our dangerous runners in to the game or find mismatches for himself to hit on the wrap around.

• Our back three will look to get involved as much as possible running support lines of the halfbacks and midfield looking for the inside ball or offload.

Set Piece

• With a powerful front 5 on show we will look to keep the scrum up and use it as a weapon. On our own feed we will look to get the wheel on and give our 8-9-10 axis as much room as possible to attack from.

• In opposition territory, with 5 jumping options to use, we will look to play off the top and move the ball out to Sexton and the backs. In our own territory, we will look to take the ball down into the maul and drive ourselves into the right areas.

• On Toulon lineouts Bekker will stand at the front and challenge. At 6ft 10" Toulon will need to have their darts spot on.

Defending

• We will play an aggressive blitz on defence, playing on the edge of the offside line and coming up at pace, looking to isolate the ball carrier and stop any opposition momentum before it
  can get going.

• Care will act as a sweeper and cover any chips or grubbers behind the defensive line.

• We will leave two players sitting deep to cover any kicks and they will look to counter attack of any loose ball.

• With the blitz in operation, we will look to be at the breakdown first hitting it hard and fast. If the ball looks available we will flood the breakdown with Kvesic & POM looking to get their hands on the ball.

• If the ball is not immediately available we will only commit 1 or 2 players to legally slow the ball down and instead look to strengthen the defensive line.

Toulon

01. Andrew Sheridan	09. Frederic Michalak
02. Sebastien Bruno	10. Jonny Wilkinson
03. Carl Hayman
04. Jocelino Suta	11. Alexis Palisson
05. Nick Kennedy	12. Maxime Mermoz
06. Pierrick Gunther	13. Matthieu Bastareaud
07. Steffon Armitage	14. Rudi Wulf
08. Chris Masoe	15. Delon Armitage

16. Jean Charles Orioli 17. Gethin Jenkins 18. Davit Kubriashvili 19. Simon Shaw 20. Joe van Niekerk 21. Nicholas Durand 22. Matt Giteau 23. David Smith

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Worcester Warriors vs. Toulouse
White Cloud, 7 degrees, 15 mph winds.

Worcester Warriors
Manager - stnick88

01. Tendai Mtawrira	09. Tawera Kerr-Barlow
02. Matthew Rees	10. Pat Lambie
03. Brian Mujati
04. Dean Schofield	11. Sean Maitland
05. Alun Wyn-Jones(c)	12. Tom Casson
06. Tom Savage	13. Mathieu Bastereaud
07. Phil Dowson	14. James Short
08. Thomas Waldrom	15. Delon Armitage

16. Matthew Parr 17. Richardt Strauss 18. Werner Kruger 19. Johan Muller 20. Dave Denton 21. Dwayne Peel 22. Olly Barkley 23. Ben Ransom


Toulouse

01. Vassil Kakovin	09. Luke Burgess
02. Gary Botha	10. Luke McAlister
03. Census Johnston
04. Romain Millo-Chluski	11. Yoannn Huget
05. Patricio Albacete	12. Yannick Jauzion
06. Gregory Lamboley	13. Florian Fritz
07. Yannick Nyanga	14. Vincent Clerc
08. Louise Picamoles	15. Clement Poitrenaud

16. Christopher Tolofua 17. Gurthro Steenkamp 18. Yohan Montes 19. Yoann Maestri 20. Sylvain Nicolas 21. Jean-Marc Doussain 22. Maxime Medard 23. Gael Fickou

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London Welsh welcome internationals Martin Castrogiovanni and Tom Johnson to the starting line up, as well as giving starts to Jack Nowell and Joel Tomkins, for this weeks Amlin Cup Quarter Final against Newcastle Falcons at the Kassam Stadium. Head coach Ozzy3213 had this to say;-

“This is a competition that we want to win. It is our only chance of a trophy, and our best route into next seasons Heineken Cup. The boys are seriously fired up for this already, and are keen to put on a performance for the sell out crowd. Jack (Nowell) and Joel (Tomkins) have been nothing short of sensational in A league games recently and have trained as if their lives depended on it. We have deliberately held them back until this week, as they are really straining at the leash and we hope they will be a real handful for Newcastle to try to deal with. They are fighting for the play offs still and this week could be a distraction for them, but we will prepare as we always do, and I’m confident that if we play to our best, we can get a result this weekend.”

London Welsh
Manager – Ozzy3213

01. Ben Alexander	09. Morgan Parra
02. Rob Hawkins	10. Owen Farrell
03. Martin Castrogiovanni
04. Jim Hamilton	11. James Simpson-Daniel
05. James Hanks	12. Pat McCabe
06. Tom Johnson	13. Joel Tomkins
07. Thierry Dusautoir ©	14. Jack Nowell
08. Duane Vermeulen	15. Gareth Anscombe

16. Bismarck du Plessis 17. Steven Kitschoff 18. David Wilson 19. Rynhardt Elstadt 20. Luke Wallace 21. Paul Hodgson 22. Tim Nanai-Williams 23. Bryan Habana

Key Points

• Tommy Bowe. Never plays on the left wing in real life. We will test his positioning there with Farrell’s kicking game in behind him.
  
• Alex Cuthbert. We will look to kick into the space he will leave trying to target Jack Nowell, who will be playing on the other side of the pitch to him.
  
• Halfbacks. Parra and Farrell is an international quality pair who can and will control the game. Harrison is not in the same league, and Flood’s game management can go amiss under pressure.
  
• Welsh Defence. Solid defenders throughout the team mean that it will take something special to score points against us.
  
• Impact Bench. Our bench is packed with players who can make a difference for us in the final quarter.
  

Basic Game Plan
Basic tactical premise for us to control possession and be solid defensively. We have picked a very poweful mobile pack to try to put pace on the game up front. We will be looking for gaps rather than contact and looking to offload to support runners. We will look to apply pressure to Newcastle by keeping the ball for long periods and wearing them down defensively, and also by maintaining a solid defence and denying them opportunities to get on the score board. Pressure forces mistakes, and we will look to capitalise on any that Newcastle make.

Specifics

• Support runners to ruck past the ball quickly if the carrier goes to ground in order to secure quick ball to go again.
  
• If we are not getting anywhere going through the phases, Parra, Farrell and Anscombe will use their boots to take us downfield and put pressure on Falcons.
  
• Keep the scoreboard ticking over by taking all penalties on offer.
  
• We will look to play a blitz defence with quick line speed to hit the ball carrier before he gets to the gainline and knock him back even further. Parra will sweep in behind.
  
• We will not overcommit to the breakdown. If a turnover is on, we will go for it, counter rucking and hitting on the break. If it is not on to win the ball, we will send in a couple of players to legally slow it, and get our defensive line set quickly and strongly a la France in the World Cup. We want to control the gainline in defence and attack.
  

Some tough games in the challenge cup this round. Ouch !

The changes we made for Europe have certainly made both competitions more competitive.

Mark

London Wasps

Manager – Fluxy

01. Ryan Grant	09. Maxime Machenaud (K)
02. Rob Webber	10. Rhys Priestland
03. Shaun Knight
04. Mouritz Botha	11. Tom Varndell
05. Donnacha Ryan (C)	12. Brad Barritt
06. Iain Henderson	13. Keith Earls
07. John Barclay	14. Topsy Ojo
08. Netani Talei	15. Mike Brown

16. Sean Cronin 17. Ben Robinson 18. Logovii Mulipola 19. Bradley Davies 20. Jonathon Poff 21. Jonah Holmes 22. Jamie Elliott 23. Matt Tait

Jauzion plays for me

Worcester Warriors
Manager - stnick88

01. Tendai Mtawrira	09. Tawera Kerr-Barlow
02. Matthew Rees	10. Pat Lambie
03. Brian Mujati
04. Dean Schofield	11. Sean Maitland
05. Alun Wyn-Jones(c)	12. Tom Casson
06. Tom Savage	13. Mathieu Bastereaud
07. Phil Dowson	14. James Short
08. Thomas Waldrom	15. Delon Armitage

16. Matthew Parr 17. Richardt Strauss 18. Werner Kruger 19. Johan Muller 20. Dave Denton 21. Dwayne Peel 22. Olly Barkley 23. Ben Ransom

stnick88 wrote:Jauzion plays for me

Not in Europe if you are playing Toulouse he doesn't.

fair enough.

not playing him anyway as he got a bit slated when I did so should work in my favour!

Bath Rugby
Manager – inthefastlane

01. Cian Healy	09. Aaron Smith
02. Chris Brooker	10. Charlie Hodgson
03. Carl Rimmer
04. James Gaskell	11. George North
05. Graham Kitchener	12. Anthony Allen
06. Tom Guest	13. Rob Horne
07. David Pocock	14. Cory Jane
08. JMF Lobbe	15. Stuart Hogg

16. Jon Golding 17. Will Tanner 18. Davit Kubrashvilli 19. Luke Romano 20. Brad Shields 21. Fourie Du Preez 22. Jonathon Davies 23. Richard Lane

Newcastle Falcons

Manager – Driver

01.Sona Tonga'uhia	09.Sam Harrison
02.Jamie George	10.Toby Flood(K)
03.Owen Franks
04.Ed Slater	11.Tommy Bowe
05.Paul O'Connell	12.Scott Williams
06.Tom Croft	13.George Lowe
07.Chris Robshaw(C)	14.Alex Cuthbert
08.	15.Alex Goode

16.Rory Best 17.Fab Barcella 18.Scott Wilson 19.Brad Thorn 20.Hienrich Brussouw 21.Ben Youngs 22.Aaron Cruden 23.Ben Williams

- Keep the scrum strong for 80 minutes!

- Retain possetion against the Welsh line. Blitz the tackler away in contact to keep the chances of turnover low.

-Flood to test Welsh backs 3s position game with Kicks in behind with Bowe and Cuthbert chasing with neither being on the small side.

- Williams and Lowe to take the ball to the gain line and ask questions of the Welsh back line with Bowe/Cuthbert/Goode coming into the line to cause problems

- GET CUTHBERT RUNNING AT NOWELL

-Croftto challange the Welsh throw from 2 with POC calling the lineout from the middle mixing it up.

-Jumpers from 4-8 in our pack giving Jamie George plenty of targets with POC and Croft targeting the Welsh Lineout.

-Harrison to control the tempo , feeding Flood the ball at the right times and using his own vision to snipe and put the ball in behind Welsh.

-Blitz Defence to stop Welsh backs playing with Harrison sweeping behind

Sale Sharks
Manager – SJE

01. Vasil Kakovin	09. Danny Care
02. David Paice	10. Johnny Sexton
03. Luc Ducalcon
04. Brodie Retalick	11. David Strettle
05. Dave Attwood	12. Francois Steyn
06. Peter O'Mahony	13. Gael Fickou
07. Matt Kvesic	14. Sam Smith
08. Louis Picamoles	15. Nick Abendanon

16. Jerome Schuster 17. Tommy Taylor 18. Davit Zirakishvilli 19. Christian Day 20. Matt Todd 21. Kahn Fotuaili'i 22. James Hook 23. Tom Brady

Attacking

• Look to play high tempo, high intensity rugby. Ball in hand, look to use our big line breakers to make the hard yards and tie up defenders creating space in wider channels for Sexton to exploit.

• We see the offload as a crucial weapon and our carriers will all be looking to offload in contact, continuing our forward momentum and breaking the defensive line.

• Care will look to tie the opposition backrow to the breakdown with his sniping game allowing Sexton to play flat on the gain line. Sexton will look to bring our dangerous runners in to the game or find mismatches for himself to hit on the wrap around.

• Our back three will look to get involved as much as possible running support lines of the halfbacks and midfield looking for the inside ball or offload.

Set Piece

• With a powerful front 5 on show we will look to keep the scrum up and use it as a weapon. On our own feed we will look to get the wheel on and give our 8-9-10 axis as much room as possible to attack from.

• In opposition territory, with 5 jumping options to use, we will look to play off the top and move the ball out to Sexton and the backs. In our own territory, we will look to take the ball down into the maul and drive ourselves into the right areas.

• On Toulon lineouts Bekker will stand at the front and challenge. At 6ft 10" Toulon will need to have their darts spot on.

Defending

• We will play an aggressive blitz on defence, playing on the edge of the offside line and coming up at pace, looking to isolate the ball carrier and stop any opposition momentum before it
  can get going.

• Care will act as a sweeper and cover any chips or grubbers behind the defensive line.

• We will leave two players sitting deep to cover any kicks and they will look to counter attack of any loose ball.

• With the blitz in operation, we will look to be at the breakdown first hitting it hard and fast. If the ball looks available we will flood the breakdown with Kvesic & POM looking to get their hands on the ball.

• If the ball is not immediately available we will only commit 1 or 2 players to legally slow the ball down and instead look to strengthen the defensive line.

Predictions are OPEN

Bath 22-21 Wasps
SP: Both looseheads will get the edge, Webber the stronger hooker. Bath better come lineout time.
BK: Bath a step up here.
HB: Smith not on good form, Priestland not played for a while. Evens here.
AT: Wasps strengthened here, Bath bringing more international quality to the table
BE: Wasps stronger on front row, Bath have good international experience.
TA: N/A Wasps have improved dramatically, tactics from either could have swung it.

Welsh 22-17 Falcons
SP: 2 strong set pieces here, nothing to split.
BK: 2 good sets of flankers.....Falcons don't have an 8 so I will put Brussouw there, think due to him being out of position Welsh will get the advantage.
HB: Welsh a bit step up.
AT: Falcons look more dangerous here but not sure whether they'll get enough ball.
BE: With Brussouw starting it makes Falcons one short. Both have fantastic impact benches.
TA: Solid from Welsh and play well with Falcons tactics. Falcons will cause problems hitting the line but don't think they'll get enough clean ball.


Sharks 22-24 Toulon
SP: Toulon very strong here, Sharks may get some lineout joy.
BK: Sale are strong here but think Armitage a step up on Kvesic.
HB: Freddie is very hit and miss, Johnny will steady the ship, at present, Sale stronger here.
AT: Sam Smith the standout weakness here, other than that both teams strong.
BE: Good impact from both but Toulon's front row bench is scary!
TA: Sale set out well and lineout tactics spot on. I do feel that it'll come down to the bench and think Toulon will give Johnny the space to knock over 3 ponts.


Warriors 20-25 Toulouse
SP: Warriors will get the nudge on come scrum time but can see Toulouse disrupting lineout ball.
BK: Toulouse a step up here.
HB: 2 good halfback pairings with Warriors probably just edging this.
AT: This is where Toulouse will take over.
BE: Good from Warriors but again Toulouse will just have a bit too much for them.
TA: N/A

Bath Rugby 22-18 London Wasps

Nothing between the packs at the set piece but Bath can get at the breakdown a little bit more. Match is won at flyhalf though with Priestland struggling don’t see Wasps getting the attacking game firing.


London Welsh 24-18 Newcastle Falcons

Guess Falcons aren’t taking this one serious being a man down Assuming the backrower on the bench as 8 and bench a man short for my prediction. Falcons lacking carrying in the pack and see a lot of pressure being put on Harrison at 9 because of it. Falcons have the backs to score but bad service costs them dearly.


Worcester Warriors 16-17 Toulouse

Can’t see much give at the set piece but Toulouses pack will have more impact ball in hand. Not an awful lot between the halfbacks but theres a bit more about the french backline.

Bath v Wasps
- Not much between the packs, Lobbe at 8 maybe shading it for Bath. Both sides have an off form HB. More in the backline and on the bench wins it for Bath.
24-20

Welsh v Falcons
- No 8 for Falcons is odd! Home advantage and upper hand upfront means home win!
25-21

Sale v Toulon
- Strong away pack and bench is immense. Sale have good HB combo and some exciting runners but think Toulon have a little too much.
21-24

Shi ttttt

Toby should be 8!!!!

Bath 28 - 24 Wasps

Wasps stronger front 5 but Bath stronger 6 - 15. At home Bath take this one.

London Welsh 21 - 16 Newcastle

London Welsh stronger across the pitch. Falcons will be one short on the bench but Welsh are good upfront and have excellent control in the backs. Might not be pretty but it is a good win for Welsh.

Sale 25 - 22 Toulon

As an 8 I think Sale have a bit more as a unit and are stronger in the loose. Half backs to Sale with Michalak struggling for form. Outside backs edge to Toulon but not by much. Sale have enough to win this at home.

Worcester 20 - 21 Toulouse

Can't call it up front but in the backs Toulouse are stronger as individuals and as a unit. Think Toulouse will edge this in the last 20

London Welsh 24 - 20 Newcastle Falcons

Welsh just have a bit more quality in key positions which seems them control precedings. It will be very attritional until the benches come on and either side start chasing the game.

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Sale Sharks 29 - 25 Toulon

Sale have just a bit more strength and guile about them upfront and this will allow their backs to play. Toulon's back row, halfbacks and bench will keep the score respectable.

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Worcester Warriors 23 - 21 Stade Toulousain

I think that Warriors just about have Toulouse up front and that goes a long way to helping dcide this game. Elsewhere its an very close battle. Wuss just and only just nick it very late on.

Some of these games are going to be incredibly close!!

Welsh 26-21 Falcons
Sale 27-26 Toulon
Warriors 22-17 Toulouse

Bath Rugby 25 London Wasps 24
Sale Sharks 27 Toulon 30
Worcester Warriors 22 Toulouse 23

Bath 25 - 21 Wasps

Neither side dominates up front with both lh's getting on top. Slight edge to wasps in the 2nd row, but bath take the upper hand in the back row. Slight edge to bath in the HBs, pretty even in the centres, maybe slight edge to wasps, and bath take the back threes. Think bath have enough here at home.



Welsh 26 - 18 Newcastle

Fairly even contest up from with decent matchups. One apiece in the 2nd row but hanks weakest on show. Prefer Welsh in the back row with bruss out of position and Newcastle a little lightweight. Distinct advantage at HB for welsh, and prefer them at centre too. Newcastle stronger back three but Pete right to target Bowe on wrong wing. Straightforward win here.



Sale 22 - 24 Toulon

Stronger front row for Toulon see them get a nudge on, but prefer sale in the 2nd row. Great back row contest here, tough to split. Again, the HBs are tough to split here, Toulon but more control. Sale struggling with steyns form so centres edge Toulon. Back three to Toulon. Think the away side have enough to nick this.



Worcester 19 - 18 Toulouse

Slight edge to worcs up front, but prefer Toulouse in the 2nd row. Decent back row battle but just side with the French team. Prefer worcs at HB and can see them controlling. Jauzion past it so worcs take centre battle, but just prefer Toulouse at back three. Worcs have just enough here at home.

Bath 27 - 24 Wasps
Interesting battle in the forwards, I can't see any real advantage for either team here, do like the Wasps second row pairing and can see them getting a little more joy there. But for me it is the Bath backlines that can shine and there are a few more gainline breakers and match winners in their backs. Though Varndell's form is top rate at the minute, so Wasps can get some joy through his pace.

Welsh 28-20 Newcastle
Would have been a lot closer with a full team Driver! Big game and not having a proper no8 will really cost Falcons here, again Newcastle have more star names, but Welsh should control the ball and tempo of the game.

Sale 25 - 25 Toulon
Toulon are on great form and are playing some really impressive rugby at the moment. But I can't see them getting the win outright here, as Sale have put out a very good team and I really like what their halfbacks can bring here. Probably a bit more quality in other positions for Toulon, but can't separate with the home advantage.

Worcester 28 - 27 Toulouse
If Worcester can stop the Toulouse gainline breakers on a regular basis then they can win this game, big factor for me is that Toulouse have taken a couple of hammerings in top14 and are not in the same league as Clermont or Toulon this season. Also McAlister at no10 can really be got at, as doesn't offer the same control as others players. Can see Jauzion getting at Casson throughout but again Worcester playing them at a good time as not in great form, which combined with home advantage gets them the narrowest of wins.

Bath 28 - 24 Wasps

Wasps stronger front 5 but Bath stronger 6 - 15. At home Bath take this one.

London Welsh 21 - 16 Newcastle

Key positions welsh are stronger. Who is 8 for falcons ? Can't see any of them working there.

Sale 25 - 24 Toulon
Sale just about have enough up front and can get at michalak who is a poor player. Toulon backs better but home advantage wins it.

Worcester 21 - 21 Toulouse

Even all over the park. Toulouse better individuals just but in decline and not playing well as a team. At home Worcester get an impressive draw

Bath 28 - 24 Wasps

Wasps stronger front 5 but Bath stronger 6 - 15. At home Bath take this one.

London Welsh 21 - 16 Newcastle

Key positions welsh are stronger. Who is 8 for falcons ? Can't see any of them working there.

Sale 25 - 24 Toulon
Sale just about have enough up front and can get at michalak who is a poor player. Toulon backs better but home advantage wins it.

Worcester 21 - 21 Toulouse

Even all over the park. Toulouse better individuals just but in decline and not playing well as a team. At home Worcester get an impressive draw

Bath 27 London Wasps 25
Sale Sharks 19 Toulon 19
Worcester Warriors 23 Toulouse 20

Bath 23-20 Wasps
Welsh 22-17 Newcastle
Sale 27-27 Toulon
Worcester 20-24 Toulouse

Am basing my ET predo on who has the stronger bench and more composure to see the game out.

Worcester Warriors 31 Toulouse 33

Worcester 29 - 30 Toulouse

Worcester 27 - 30 Toulouse
Just see Toulouse having more know how in terms of winning big games, very good bench.

Worcester 27-30 Toulouse. That is some bench Toulouse have and they turn on the power to win

27-31 bench gets the win

Warriors 27-31 Toulouse

Worcester 30-33 Toulouse

Just that bit more experience for the french and more to come off the bench sees them sneak through

Worcester 29 - 36 Toulouse