Amlin Cup Semi Finals

Team & Tactics - 0000hrs Sunday
Predictions - 2000 hrs Tuesday

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Saracens vs Harlequins
Location - Wembley
Weather - Sunny Intervals, 10 degrees, 15mph North North Easterly

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Saracens

Manager – ChequeredJersey

01. Mako Vunipola	09. Morgan Parra (k)
02. Schalk Brits	10. Charlie Hodgson
03. Ben Tameifuna
04. Donnacha Ryan	11. Drew Mitchell
05. Bakkies Botha	12. Anthony Allen
06. Will Fraser	13. Joel Tomkins
07. Richie McCaw (c.)	14. Leigh Halfpenny
08. Billy Vunipola	15. Alex Goode

16. Matt Mullen 17. Rob Buchanan 18. Sekope Kepu 19. Charlie Matthews 20. Kelly Brown 21. Jordan Burns 22. Beauden Barrett 23. Conrad Smith

Tactics- we have clear weather so it's perfect for running rugby. As usual we will focus on the breakdown and progress from that. I want the backrow to play at high tempo all match as Brown is a superb replacement in any of those positions, and ditto for the front row.

Breakdown- work as a unit with 2 specialist 7s playing L-R, whichever gets to the ball first to steal/slow/win it and the other to be ready to track the ball. Billy to clear out and the locks to help out. Commit numbers to turnover-able ball but otherwise avoid overcommitment.

Scrum- we have a strong front row who can go all out knowing their replacements are as good in the scrum as them and some second row grunt so will aim to win all our own put-ins and get some momentum on some. If we do, run Billy at the 10 or blindside to test their tackling, with the flankers in support to link or secure ruck-ball.

Lineout -Ryan to call the lineout, mix up the jumpers and have Botha disrupt Quins' lineout from the front. Maul off the lineout often to tire their pack.

Defence- blitz led by Allen, McCaw to lead fringe defence, Fraser to harry the HBs, Brits to sweep for chips and punish them, Parra to play his cover defence game and help out Hodgson. Give their centres no space to get momentum

Attack- spin quick ball to the backs, Hodgson flat and Allen running straight with a front row on his inside shoulder for the pop and Tomkins on the outside for the offload. Goode to come in as 2nd distributor to change the direction of attack. The wings to look for work off their wing and support any breaks. A flanker will always be chasing the ball so there will be constant support so look to offload then link or quickly recycle off the floor.

Moderate to slow ball should be taken on in carries by the likes of Ben, Mako, Billy, Ryan, Botha and Brits in groups of 2/3 to build momentum taht will lead to quick ball. Very slow ball can be kicked. Parra to play what is front of him, we trust him to chip, kick, run or pass where appropriate, and will look to use the cross-field and chip with out excellent halfbacks and wingers who are experienced in the air.

Kicking- take on easy points, with Halfpenny doing the long ones, but otherwise go for the corners and use the lineout and maul as a platform to suck in defenders and release our backrow and backs. Out of hand, kick for territory from the 22 (if under pressure pass to the next kicker, we have options at 9,10,11,14 and 15) and possession (high and not too long and chased) in the midfield.

Subs- with our plan players will tire so replace them when necessary. If the midfield needs stiffening, use Conrad, Burns adds even more pace at 9.

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Harlequins

Manager – Driver

01.Marcos Ayerza	09.Richard Wrigglesworth
02.Joe Grey	10.Morne Steyn (K)
03.James Johnstone
04.Eben Etzebeth	11.George North
05.Mourtiz Botha	12.Wesley Fofana
06.Tom Croft	13.Adam Ashley Cooper
07.Chris Robshaw(C)	14.Mark Cueto
08.Dave Denton	15.Nick Abendanon

Replacements; 16. Neil Briggs, 17. Mark Lambert, 18. Chris Budgen, 19. Ian Henderson, 20. Semisi Taulava, 21. Luke Burguss, 22. Gareth Steenson, 23. James Short

Tactics

• Big pack to get ontop the front 5 and put them under the cosh at the Scrum and rucks with plenty of impact from the bench.
  
  
• Scrummage for 80 minutes with strong scrummagers on the bench to come on if need
  
  
• Steyn to test Sale backs 3s position game with Kicks in behind with North and Cueto chasing with neither being on the small side.
  
  
• Fofana/AAC to take the ball to the gain line and ask questions of the back line with Nortg/Cueto/Bendy coming into the line to cause problems
  
  
• Croft to run our lineout whilst Coatzee and Croft will look to smash rucks to slow down ball.
  
  
• Jumpers from 4-8 in our pack giving Joe Grey plenty of targets with Etzebeth and Croft targeting the Lineout.
  
  
• Wrigglesworth to control the tempo , feeding Steyn the ball at the right times and using his own vision to snipe and put the ball in behind
  
  
• Blitz Defence to stop backs playing with Wrigglesworth sweeping behind

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London Welsh vs Sale Sharks
Location - Wellford Road
Weather - Light Rain Showers, 9 degrees, 15mph North North Easterly

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London Welsh

Manager – Fluxy

01. Paul James	09. Ruan Pienaar (K)
02. David Paice	10. Nick Evans
03. David Wilson
04. Paul O'Connell	11. Maxime Medard
05. Steve Borthwick (C)	12. Brad Barritt
06. George Kruis	13. George Lowe
07. Hienrich Brussow	14. Adam Thompstone
08. Louis Picamoles	15. Hugo Southwell

16. Rhys Gill 17. Frans Malherbe 18. Tom Lindsay 19. Tom Johnson 20. Jackson Wray 21. Danny Care 22. Dominic Waldlouck 23. Horacio Agulla

Tactics

With a strong record at home the team will look to build on recent form and set up a strong finish to the campaign. We look to impose ourselves from the off and let the opposition know how we are going to play the game and how we want to dictate the pace of the game. Our brand of rugby is physical and fast, however we won't just run the ball at every opportunity. We will only play in the right areas of the paddock, and Evans knows when to attack and when we need to clear the lines. We will look to go through simple phases to reproduce quick ball to cut the defence open. We have brilliant leaders all other the pitch in Borthwick O'Connell, Pienaar and Evans, and they know what will be required to get we want from the game - a win. With the decent conditions, we will look to play a simple expansive game in attack and in defence will look to force Sharks to play from in their 22 and use our strong lineout and kicking game to pressure them.

• James and Wilson are solid technicians and will secure our own feed, to provide first phase possession for our backs. A big target for us here is to get under the front-row and make them go backwards with constant pressure.
  
  
• With a strong lineout, Borthwick will lead the lineout and use himself as banker ball at the front of the line with O'Connell jumping in the middle. If winning own ball Borthwick will look to call full number lineouts to tie in the Saints fowards.
  
  
• Our whole pack is mobile and capable of snaffling ball at the breakdown. We will look to offload in the tackle to keep moving the point of attack and tire out the big Sharks pack, this will keep JMF, Garvey, Maestri and Sheridan on the move.
  
  
• The backrow will target the halfbacks, which will lead to them rushing and making handling errors and mistakes. Big empahsis on running forwards down the ten channel when there is slow ball. - With the fact that Thomas and Cruden can withdraw into their shells when under pressure.
  
  
• We will look to keep the ball alive, preventing them from setting any defensive lines. Evans will direct traffic with the use of quick pods systems outside the guards of the rucks, and target any of our forwards against their backs.
  
  
• We will use a banana drift line in defence to cut down Cruden's options and push him inside towards our backrow.
  
  
• Look for Pickles to run down Cruden's and Josephs channes soff scrums, and big carries down these channels in open play.
  
  
• Evans has some dangerous backs out side him, and will look to use them at every valid opportunity after we have tied in forwards or created mismatches in the defensive line.
  
  
• Look to use our strong bench for impact later in the game. To get an advantage in the scrum, and collisions with big impact players.
  
  
• Pienaar will kick all points, he can kick from within their half, so this indicates that Sharks should be wary of giving away penalties.
  
  
• With the wet and tricky conditions, a simple territory based game with our strong lineout will and minimal amount of errors will win the game.

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Sale Sharks

Manager – N/A

01. Andrew Sheridan	09. Haydn Thomas
02. Gary Botha	10. Aaron Cruden
03. Henry Thomas
04. Yoann Maestri	11. Cameron Shepard
05. James Gaskell	12. Jonathon Davies
06. Matt Garvey	13. Jonathon Joseph
07. David Seymour	14. Tom Brady
08. JMF Lobbe	15. Rob Miller

16. Nathan Charles, 17. Davit Kubriashvili , 18. Logoviii Mulipola, 19. Kearnan Myall, 20. Schalk Burger, 21. Scott Mathie, 22. Johan Goosen, 23. Charlie Amesbury

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Saracens
Manager – ChequeredJersey

01. Mako Vunipola	09. Morgan Parra (k)
02. Schalk Brits	10. Charlie Hodgson
03. Ben Tameifuna
04. Donnacha Ryan	11. Drew Mitchell
05. Bakkies Botha	12. Anthony Allen
06. Will Fraser	13. Joel Tomkins
07. Richie McCaw (c.)	14. Leigh Halfpenny
08. Billy Vunipola	15. Alex Goode

16. Matt Mullen 17. Rob Buchanan 18. Sekope Kepu 19. Charlie Matthews 20. Kelly Brown 21. Jordan Burns 22. Beauden Barrett 23. Conrad Smith

Tactics- we have clear weather so it's perfect for running rugby. As usual we will focus on the breakdown and progress from that. I want the backrow to play at high tempo all match as Brown is a superb replacement in any of those positions, and ditto for the front row.

Breakdown- work as a unit with 2 specialist 7s playing L-R, whichever gets to the ball first to steal/slow/win it and the other to be ready to track the ball. Billy to clear out and the locks to help out. Commit numbers to turnover-able ball but otherwise avoid overcommitment.

Scrum- we have a strong front row who can go all out knowing their replacements are as good in the scrum as them and some second row grunt so will aim to win all our own put-ins and get some momentum on some. If we do, run Billy at the 10 or blindside to test their tackling, with the flankers in support to link or secure ruck-ball.

Lineout -Ryan to call the lineout, mix up the jumpers and have Botha disrupt Quins' lineout from the front. Maul off the lineout often to tire their pack.

Defence- blitz led by Allen, McCaw to lead fringe defence, Fraser to harry the HBs, Brits to sweep for chips and punish them, Parra to play his cover defence game and help out Hodgson. Give their centres no space to get momentum

Attack- spin quick ball to the backs, Hodgson flat and Allen running straight with a front row on his inside shoulder for the pop and Tomkins on the outside for the offload. Goode to come in as 2nd distributor to change the direction of attack. The wings to look for work off their wing and support any breaks. A flanker will always be chasing the ball so there will be constant support so look to offload then link or quickly recycle off the floor.

Moderate to slow ball should be taken on in carries by the likes of Ben, Mako, Billy, Ryan, Botha and Brits in groups of 2/3 to build momentum taht will lead to quick ball. Very slow ball can be kicked. Parra to play what is front of him, we trust him to chip, kick, run or pass where appropriate, and will look to use the cross-field and chip with out excellent halfbacks and wingers who are experienced in the air.

Kicking- take on easy points, with Halfpenny doing the long ones, but otherwise go for the corners and use the lineout and maul as a platform to suck in defenders and release our backrow and backs. Out of hand, kick for territory from the 22 (if under pressure pass to the next kicker, we have options at 9,10,11,14 and 15) and possession (high and not too long and chased) in the midfield.

Subs- with our plan players will tire so replace them when necessary. If the midfield needs stiffening, use Conrad, Burns adds even more pace at 9.

London Welsh

Manager – Fluxy

01. Paul James	09. Ruan Pienaar (K)
02. David Paice	10. Nick Evans
03. David Wilson
04. Paul O'Connell	11. Maxime Medard
05. Steve Borthwick (C)	12. Brad Barritt
06. George Kruis	13. George Lowe
07. Hienrich Brussow	14. Adam Thompstone
08. Louis Picamoles	15. Hugo Southwell

16. Rhys Gill 17. Frans Malherbe 18. Tom Lindsay 19. Tom Johnson 20. Jackson Wray 21. Danny Care 22. Dominic Waldlouck 23. Horacio Agulla

Tactics

With a strong record at home the team will look to build on recent form and set up a strong finish to the campaign. We look to impose ourselves from the off and let the opposition know how we are going to play the game and how we want to dictate the pace of the game. Our brand of rugby is physical and fast, however we won't just run the ball at every opportunity. We will only play in the right areas of the paddock, and Evans knows when to attack and when we need to clear the lines. We will look to go through simple phases to reproduce quick ball to cut the defence open. We have brilliant leaders all other the pitch in Borthwick O'Connell, Pienaar and Evans, and they know what will be required to get we want from the game - a win. With the decent conditions, we will look to play a simple expansive game in attack and in defence will look to force Sharks to play from in their 22 and use our strong lineout and kicking game to pressure them.

• James and Wilson are solid technicians and will secure our own feed, to provide first phase possession for our backs. A big target for us here is to get under the front-row and make them go backwards with constant pressure.
  
  
• With a strong lineout, Borthwick will lead the lineout and use himself as banker ball at the front of the line with O'Connell jumping in the middle. If winning own ball Borthwick will look to call full number lineouts to tie in the Saints fowards.
  
  
• Our whole pack is mobile and capable of snaffling ball at the breakdown. We will look to offload in the tackle to keep moving the point of attack and tire out the big Sharks pack, this will keep JMF, Garvey, Maestri and Sheridan on the move.
  
  
• The backrow will target the halfbacks, which will lead to them rushing and making handling errors and mistakes. Big empahsis on running forwards down the ten channel when there is slow ball. - With the fact that Thomas and Cruden can withdraw into their shells when under pressure.
  
  
• We will look to keep the ball alive, preventing them from setting any defensive lines. Evans will direct traffic with the use of quick pods systems outside the guards of the rucks, and target any of our forwards against their backs.
  
  
• We will use a banana drift line in defence to cut down Cruden's options and push him inside towards our backrow.
  
  
• Look for Pickles to run down Cruden's and Josephs channes soff scrums, and big carries down these channels in open play.
  
  
• Evans has some dangerous backs out side him, and will look to use them at every valid opportunity after we have tied in forwards or created mismatches in the defensive line.
  
  
• Look to use our strong bench for impact later in the game. To get an advantage in the scrum, and collisions with big impact players.
  
  
• Pienaar will kick all points, he can kick from within their half, so this indicates that Sharks should be wary of giving away penalties.
  
  
• With the wet and tricky conditions, a simple territory based game with our strong lineout will and minimal amount of errors will win the game.

Sale Sharks

Manager – N/A

01. Andrew Sheridan	09. Haydn Thomas
02. Gary Botha	10. Aaron Cruden
03. Henry Thomas
04. Yoann Maestri	11. Cameron Shepard
05. James Gaskell	12. Jonathon Davies
06. Matt Garvey	13. Jonathon Joseph
07. David Seymour	14. Tom Brady
08. JMF Lobbe	15. Rob Miller

16. Nathan Charles, 17. Davit Kubriashvili , 18. Logoviii Mulipola, 19. Kearnan Myall, 20. Schalk Burger, 21. Scott Mathie, 22. Johan Goosen, 23. Charlie Amesbury

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Can someone do mt team for me? Woke up half hour ago amd going to work now

Can get it in about 2/3am if ok?

If Driver gets it in at 3am ish, can I edit my tactics to suit his team tomorrow morning? (I'm guessing no)

I'm okay with it, I do the page should be fine

No dramas boys

Just want to know who the opposition players are!

Ayerza
Grey
Johnstone
Botha
Etzbeth
Croft
Coatzee
Denton

Wrigglesworth
Steyn
Cueto
Fofana
AAC
North
Bendy

Briggs, Lambert, Budgen, HEnderson, Taulava, Burguss, Steenson , Short

Big pack to get ontop the front 5 and put them under the cosh at the Scrum and rucks with plenty of impact from the bench.

Scrummage for 80 minutes with strong scrummagers on the bench to come on if need

Steyn to test Sale backs 3s position game with Kicks in behind with North and Cueto chasing with neither being on the small side.

Fofana/AAC to take the ball to the gain line and ask questions of the back line with Nortg/Cueto/Bendy coming into the line to cause problems

Croft to run our lineout whilst Coatzee and Croft will look to smash rucks to slow down ball.

Jumpers from 4-8 in our pack giving Joe Grey plenty of targets with Etzebeth and Croft targeting the Lineout.

Wrigglesworth to control the tempo , feeding Steyn the ball at the right times and using his own vision to snipe and put the ball in behind

Blitz Defence to stop backs playing with Wrigglesworth sweeping behind

Cheers Driver

I'm not going to make changes, no time, sorry

No worries mate. All the pages are - Open to Predictions

London Welsh 27 Sale Sharks 21

Welsh have a pretty good team out this week and a really well thought out game plan. See the scrum being a hit and miss afair with Sherry perhaps getting the most joy. Borthwick and POC is too light to help in the scrum and Maestri is a top scrummager and will add some real power. Lineout on the other hand Gaskell gets embarresed here. Seymore is behind Braid now at Sale IRL and Bruss is on top form from what i'v read. Lobbe shades Pickles.

Half backs and backs in general go to welsh. Sale are out before this game even starts due to lack of tactics.

London Welsh - Sale

Breakdown-Both solid, neither fantastic and both will get pretty similar ball with some slowing of opposition ball but not much in terms of turnovers. Means both teams will be playing with medium to slow speed ball a lot. Which probably favours Welsh's HBs slightly.
Scrum- Sale have the edge here with a powerful front row plus Maestri but Welsh will by no means get blown away and Thomas' youth could be acted upon.
Lineout- Both actually excellent units but Welsh's is better and POC is on great form in the air and will disrupt the occasional Sale throw.
Attack- Sale have bigger carriers in the pack and can make headway there, though POC will make the hard yards for Welsh too. Welsh have tactics and they look suitable and I think Sale's pack will tire. Good pivot combos, I think Nevenaar suit the game better, but Sale have more flair outside Cruden. I don't know how they intend to use them though.
Defence- Both solid defences with no obvious weak points. Targeting the Sale HBs probably won't put them off their game, but it will stop the backs outside them getting great ball, though if you commit 2 men to Cruden he has a great offloading game so this tactic could be dangerous.
Kicking-
Subs- Edge to Welsh in the forwards where Welsh might gain a late advantage in the scrum but Sale have Burger in the loose. Sale will need to bring on their subs though and I think this plays into Welsh's hands. In the backs, Goosen is class but Welsh add more impact in Care, a different 9 to Pienaar who is in try-scoring form.
Overall- With tactics and a better set up for the last 20, Welsh will draw away in the last quarter to win comfortably

Score- London Welsh 31 vs- Sale Sharks 20

Tries- Medard, Kruis, Care --- Lobbe, Miller
Penalties- Pienaar x3 --- Cruden, Goosen
Conversions- Pienaar x2 --- Cruden, Miller
DG - Evans

I'm using the term 'Nevenaar' from now on CJ

Sarries 22-21 Quins
Quins backs vs Sarries pack here. Think the Sarries backrow will see them over.

Welsh 24-19 Sale
Backs go to Welsh overall, fowards a bit closer but again edged by Welsh.

Sarries 17- Quins 21

Welsh 20- Sale 19

Saracens 28 - 25 Harlequins

Sarries have enough up front to just bare with the Quins forwards and allow the Sarries some good attacking ball. Quins have some dangerous backs but will be a little stunted with Steyn at the helm. Quins to keep it close, but Parra will lead the way for Sarries to the final.

Just doing these now

Sarries 24-24 Quins

Little bit more for Quins upfront in the scrum but lineouts will be tight. Sarries engine room offer a little more around the park but titanic. Sarries edge the flanks but Quins 8, great contest. I'd swap McCaw/Fraser but not an issue.

Halfbacks in good form from both but Quins great centre pairing will cause issues. Not much in back 3's, perhaps Halfpenny at FB might slightly improve Sarries.

Cracking game. Quins will take lead but Sarries bench will bring it tight. Sorry boys but a draw, I just can't pick a winner from 2 top sides.

Welsh 27-25 Sale

Sarries 22-21 Quins
Welsh 28-23 Sale

RESULTS

Welsh 28 - 21 Sale
Saracens 24 - 23 Quins