Aviva Premiership Round Three (Rugby Championship)

First topic message reminder :

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

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Sale Sharks vs London Wasps
Location - Salford City Stadium
Weather - Light Cloud, 17 degrees, 7 mph Southerly

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Sale Sharks

Manager –  LondonIrishOllie

01. Andrew Sheridan	09. Connor Murray
02. Richard Hibbard	10. Johan Goosen
03. Davit Kubriashvili
04. Yohan Maestri	11. Raymond Rhule
05. Kyran Myall	12. Jonathon Davies
06. Matt Garvey	13. Jonathon Joesph
07. Thierry Dusatoir(c)	14. Hosea Gear
08. Jordan Crane	15. Rob Miller

16. Gary Botha 17. Henry Thomas 18. L Molopola 19. James Gaskell 20. Schalk Burger 21. Hayden Thomas 22. Nick Macleod 23. Charlie Aymsebury

Tactics:

- Attack the set piece
- look to use pace out wide and through centre
- Play in opp half
- look to use big pack to tie in defenders

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London Wasps


Manager – Fluxy

01. Paul James	09. Will Chudley
02. David Paice	10. Owen Farrell(K)
03. Davey Wilson
04. Pascal Pape	11. Charlie Sharples
05. Steve Borthwick	12. Francis Saili
06. Scott Higginbotham	13. George Lowe
07. Hienrich Brussow	14. Maxime Medard
08. Louis Picamoles	15. Mike Brown

16. Tom Lindsay 17. Franck Montella 18. Scotty Wilson 19. Louis Deacon 20. Sam Jones 21. Ben Spencer 22. Nick Evans 23. Topsy Ojo

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, using the nous of Pienaar and Farrell to play in the right areas of the pitch, off the back of our strong setpieces. We will look to go through simple phases to reproduce quick ball to cut the defence open. The side contains  brilliant leaders all over the pitch in Picamoles, Borthwick, Pienaar, Wilson and Medard, 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. A big target for us here is to get under the front-row and make them go backwards with constant pressure. Look to target Sheridan technically as he relied on the hit beforehand.
  
  
• With a strong lineout, Borthwick will lead the lineout and use himself as banker ball at the front of the line with Pape jumping in the middle. If winning own ball Borthwick will look to call short numbers lineouts to allow, Higgy/Pickles a run at the defence in midfield.
  
  
• 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 Sharks pack, this will keep the likes of Sheridan, Kubriashvili, Maestri and Crane on the move. 
  
  
• The backrow will target the halfbacks,  which will lead to them rushing and making handling errors and mistakes. Big emphasis on running forwards down the ten channel when there is slow ball. 
  
  
  
• We will look to keep the ball alive, preventing them from setting any defensive lines. As the Lions proved, Farrell can play flat and bring in great attacking play, and Saili will help the creative play. This will also prevent Dusatoir getting over the ball.
  
  
  
• We will use a blitz drift line in defence to cut down Goosen's options and push him inside towards our backrow.
  
  
  
• Look for Pickles to run down Josepshs channel off scrums, and big carries down this channel in open play - this will allow the offload as there won't be forwards defending this wide out.
  
  
• 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.
  
  
  
• Farrell will kick all points, he can kick from within their half, so this indicates that Sharks should be wary of giving away penalties.
  

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Worcester Warriors vs Harlequins
Location - Sixways Stadium
Weather - Light Cloud, 19 degrees, 8 mph Southerly

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Worcester Warriors


Manager – InTheFastLane

01. Joe Marler	09. Kahn Fotuali'i
02. Ollie Hayes	10. Paddy Jackson
03. Samson Lee
04. Graham Kitchener	11. Tom Homer
05. Juandre Kruger	12. Steven Shingler
06. James Haskell	13. Robbie Freaun
07.  Matt Kvesic	14. Alex Cuthbert
08. Ben Morgan	15. Kurtley Beale

16. George Porter 17. Will Radburn 18. James Currie 19. George Robson 20. Sam Betty 21. Jonny Arr 22. Andy Goode 23. Matt Hopper

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Harlequins

Manager – Driver

01. Jerome Schucester	09. Richard Wrigglesworth(c)
02. Ben Kayser	10. Rhys Priestland
03. James Johnstone
04. Mouritz Botha	11. George North
05. Alistair Hargreaves	12. Wesley Fofana
06. Steve Mafi	13. Chris Farrell
07. Steffon Armitage	14. Seb Stegman
08. Nick Easter	15. Jared Payne

16. Mark Lambert, 17. Joe Grey, 18. Will Collier, 19 Iain Henderson, 20. Jamie Gibson, 21. Bryn Hall, 22. Gareth Steenson, 23 Nick Abendonan

High tempo game plan
Move ball wide and exploit broken field
Priestland to kick all goals in range

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Gloucester vs Northampton Saints
Location - Kingsholm 
Weather - Light Cloud, 19 degrees, 7 mph Southerly

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01. Rhys Gill	09. Dimitri Yachvilli
02. Rory Best	10. Freddie Burns (k)
03. Adam Jones
04. Tom Savage (c)	11. Shane Monahan
05. Jim Hamilton	12. Jamie Roberts
06. Alisdair Strokosch	13. JDJ
07. Akapusi Qeratd]	14. Adam Thompstone
08. JVN	15. Johnny May

16. Korree Britton 17. Antoine Guillamon 18. Dan Murphy 19. Will James 20. Luke Narraway 21. Dan Robson 22. Jimmy Gopperth 23. JSD

Tactics:
Key Points

Balanced Backrow
We have picked a big backrow who are well balanced. Strockosch will look to be abrasive and run at 10 looking to put him off his game. Qera will look to dismantle the breakdown. JVN will look to carry the ball all day and be the link man.

8-9-10-12-13
We want quick ball for our half-backs to tactically put us into territory (off the pitch). Our 8-9-10-12-13 will look to be influential and all have played together in this game alot so know each other well. These can all be standout playmakers who will look to control the game at our tempo in the light rain we will not expect attractive rugby.


Attacking

• We want to force errors from and will target the 12 channel by sending big runners down his channel.
  
  

• Yachvilli and Burns to play what's in front of them and look to release Roberts (who smash the holes) or snipe as much as possible. If it isn't on then Burns will stick it in the corners and, with Savage, JVN and Hamilton we have the number jumpers to gain the ball back, we know they will be dangerous here so will look to avoid his area and mix up our lineouts.
  
  

• Look for runners off of 10 and 12 channel to make the initial break before sending the ball out wide to Thompstone and Monahan.
  
  

• We will look to use our big pack to carry alot of ball and, if it isn't on then run off of 9 and take a couple of 'up the jumper' phases to drag defenders in.
  
  

• Our back three will look to come off their wings and hit the right angles.
  
  

• Power to close out the win in Britton and Guillamon, Narraway will have a field day against tired legs, excitement to continue to target the tired players through Robson's sniping, heavy impact at the scrum to come on and Gopperth and JSD can seal the win with experience.
  
  

Set Piece

• Strong scrum which will get the edge up on the Jones and a good bench to come on as well to continue the pressure, 8-9-10 is a move we will use alot.
  
  

• We will use the maul to get ourselves up the pitch quickly and power over from short distance.
  
  

• Lineout has been mentioned previously where we have many strong jumpers here who will look to control attacking and defensive ones.
  
  

Defending

• Banana blitz defence targetting slowing down the ball led by Roberts so he has no time to kick or give quick ball to the centres (we will have a backrower on Burns' shoulder to look for quick turnover ball, we will protect the channels to stop 9 sniping.
  
  

• Yachvilli will look to sweep and counter attack off any kick through's.
  
  

• We will hit the breakdown quick to give Qera time to get over the ball and obliterate any protection they have in place.
  
  

• If the turnover isn't on we won't commit and will fan out defending inside-out.
  

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Northampton Saints
Manager – SirJohnnyEnglish

01. Soane Tonga'uiha	09. Lee Dickson
02. Dylan Hartley	10. Johnny Sexton
03. Brian Mujati
04. Courtney Lawes	11. JP Pieterson
05. Andries Bekker	12. Gael Fickou
06. Stephen Ferris	13. George Pisi
07. Tom Wood	14. Chris Ashton
08. Roger Wilson	15. Ben Foden

16. S. Kitshoff 17. R. Strauss 18. J. Hagan 19. S. Manoa 20. C. Clark 21. M. Roberts  22. S. Myler 23.  J. Elliot

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Leicester Tigers vs Newcastle Falcons
Location - Welford Road
Weather - Light Cloud, 17 degrees, 7 mph South Westerly

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Leicester Tigers
Manager – Sgt_Pooly

01. Alex Corbisiero	09. Ben Youngs
02. Tom Youngs	10. Toby Flood
03. Dan Cole
04. Richie Gray	11. Marlon Yarde
05. Geoff Parling	12. Matt Scott
06. Dan Lydiate	13. Manu Tuilagi
07. Sam Warburton	14. Christian Wade
08. Sergio Parisse(c)	15. Rob Kearney

16. Jamie George 17. Martin Castrogiovani 18. Thomas Domingo 19. Joe Launchbury 20. Luke Wallace 21. Karl Dickson 22. Ian Madigan 23. Berrick Barnes

TACTICS:

- fast paced, attacking rugby with athletic pack moving opposition around park.
- target set piece, look to attack if weakness seen
- use Lydiate to target opposition runners and prevent any momentum with Warburton working in tandom looking for the turnover (with Cole, Launch backing up)
- attack the line and look to get ball through the backline using Manu as crash or decoy targeting opposition 13.
- Youngs to sweep up behind defensive line, Flood to play flat to line looking to fiz flat passes out to allow more time for backs
- Strong bench to add impact. Madigan on for Flood to up the tempo.
- Youngs to sweep in behind aggressive rush defence and give opp 10 no time on ball

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Newcastle Falcons

Manager – CF

01. Grant Shiells	09. Piri Weepu
02. Dimitri Swarzreski	10. Dan Biggar (k)
03. Matt Stevens
04. Paul O'Connell (c)	11. Matt Banahan
05. Scott Macleod	12. Luke Marshall
06. Dave Denton	13. Mathieu Basteraud
07. Will Welch	14. Ugo Monye
08. Jamie Heaslip	15. Stuart Hogg

16. Scott Lawson 17. Jeff Hallam 18. Tom Mercy 19. Thomas Waldrom 20. Jacques Burger 21. Mike Blair 22. Brad Barritt 23. Drew Mitchell

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London Irish vs Exeter Chiefs
Location - Madjeski Stadium
Weather - Light Cloud, 18 degrees, 7 mph South Westerly

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London Irish


Manager – Fluxy

01. Gethin Jenkins	09. Greg Laidlaw (K)
02. Rhys Marshall	10. Brock James
03. Euan Murray
04. Ian Evans	11. Anthony Watson
05. Nick Kennedy	12. Dan Bowden
06. Peter O'Mahony	13. Aurelien Rougerie
07. David Pocock	14. Delon Armitage
08. Imanol Harinodoquy	15. Matt Tait

16. Rob Herring 17. Max Lahiff 18. Paulică Ion 19. Kieran Low 20. Ally Hogg 21. Joe Simpson 22. Guy Armitage  23. David Strettle

- Use the strong set piece to ground down Warriors
- Kick for Territory in conditions
- Laidlaw to take all points on offer
- Look to dominate collisions

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Exeter Chiefs 


Manager – BamBam

01. Brett Sturgess	09. Dwayne Peel
02. Rob Webber	10. Jonny Wilkinson (k)
03. Nicholas Mas
04. Alan Wyn-Jones	11. Fetu Vainikolo
05. Tim Swinson	12. Billy Twelvetrees
06. Chris Robshaw	13. Josh Tatupu
07. Justin Tipuric	14. Cory Jane
08. Toby Faletau	15. Jack Nowell

16. Ben Moon 17. Chris Brooker 18. John Afoa 19. Charlie Matthews 20. Tom Croft 21. Kevin Barrett 22. Tom Heathcote 23. Mark Cueto


We want to put the ball through the hands a bit more this week, with Wilko and 36 looking to put the ball into the hands of the likes of Vainikolo and Jane. Tipuric is effectively our 3rd centre, as well as making a nuisance of himself at the breakdown

Line out will have AWJ and Swinson as our main jumpers, with Robshaw being used as the 3rd option

Robshaw and Tipuric give us a true 7 and a 6.5, we want to exploit this round the park by winning turnovers in opposing territory. This will help us deal with Pocock on the floor.  AWJ and Swinson are both good around the field, they and Webber will be charged with hitting rucks and punching holes in the defensive line.

Mas is starting to try and sap some of Jenkins energy through the scrum to negate his impact around the field. 

Of course, with Wilko we will take advantage of any penalties inside the opposition half and kick for goal. In attack, Twelvetrees will act as first receiver at times, giving us a double pivot. Vainikolo is free to come off his wing and run hard, likewise we are expecting Tatupu to make some dents in the defence. Afoa, Webber, Swinson and Faletau are our heavy carriers, with Tipuric offering a speedier option to go along with the backline. Nowell is free to attack at will and join the line.

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Saracens vs Bath Rugby
Location - Allianz Park
Weather - Light Cloud, 17 degrees, 7 mph South Westerly

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Saracens
Manager – ChequeredJersey

01. Mako Vunipola	09. Danny Care
02. Rob Buchanan	10.    Charlie Hodgson
03. Davit Zirakashvili
04.  Bakkies Botha	11. Tom Varndell
05.  Donnacha Ryan	12.  Tom Casson
06. Mamuka Gorgodze	13.   Vereniki Goneva
07. Richie McCaw (c)	14.  Simon Zebo
08. Billy Vunipola	15. Leigh Halfpenny (k)

16. Matt Mullan 17. Schalk Brits 18. Ben Tameifuna  19. Kelly Brown  20. George Skivington 21.  Morgan Parra 22. Allen Anthony 23. Luke Arscott


Tactics: Key Principles- Support running, breakdown, big runners down the 10-12 channel and workrate in attack and defence

Breakdown - one of Billy or Gorgodze clearing out with Richie securing/stealing ball, allowing the other to focus on carrying with the ball. 

-Don't overcommit to secured ball. McCaw aiming to be first to every ruck, but all support runners to get over ball quickly to avoid isolation

Scrum- target their LH/Hooker combo. Work hard all match as we have great subs in front row. If we have go forward, run off the base with Billy

Lineout- Ryan to call, Botha jumping at the front. Mix up the maul to tire the opposition and off the top with set moves for Care. 

Challenge at the middle but not front to give them easily manageable front ball and focus on defence, except in their 22 where we will challenge everything

Defence- Blitz led by Allen, Care sweeping, McCaw harrying Hook. If attackers break the line, go for the 2 man tackle in cover to force the turnover

Attack- spin fast ball out-wide, with players cutting inside for the scissors and aiming to produce gaps for the pace of Goneva, Varndell and Zebo. Casson acting as a 2nd playmaker with Halfpenny, Gorgodze and both Vunipolas coming for the pop inside him and Hodgson.Really target Hook and Eastmond with our big carriers. Support runners for every run.

Slow ball- drive it in packs of 3 forwards, maul it or kick at the corners. Parra to decide when to play and when to grind. All kicks to be chased and if they are in space, make them high  to do so.

In their 22- mix up tight and loose play and look to crossfield kick. Take all kickable points and chase all kicks

Subs- lots of impact on the bench, bring on as necessary and play 100% knowing this is possible. If we need incision in the backs, Allen, if we need a tighter game, Parra to come on. If breakdown is suffering, Brown

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Bath
Manager –  Bathite
 

01. Cian Healy	09. Michael Classens
02. Ross Batty	10. James Hook (k)
03. Owen Franks
04. Johann Muller (c)	11. Tom Biggs
05. Dave Attwood	12. Kyle Eastmond
06. Sean O'Brien	13. Rene Ranger
07. Julian Salvi	14. Tommy Bowe
08. Johnnie Beattie	15. Alex Goode

 
16. Nathan Catt 17. Chris Tolufua 18. Kane P-Newport 19. Rynhardt Eldstadt 20. Carl Fearns 21. Chris Cook 22. Frans Steyn 23. Eliot Daly


TACTICS
- In difficult, windy conditions, we have picked a heavy ball carrying pack. We want to play all the rugby in their half and challenge at the lineout so will use the boots of Hook and Goode (Steyn and Daly off the bench) to pin Tigers back. 

- Look to kick in behind the wingers, especially Varndell and then challenge the lineout, pressurising Buchanan and forcing the throw towards the back, where there isn't a good jumper.

- With Muller calling the lineout, we'll look to challenge every throw and Batty has been picked for his consistent throwing ability to ensure we win our throws. Buchanan can be got at and there aren't many

- Test out their untried and untested centres combo, with Casson in mixed form and Goneva out of position. Use Goode coming into the line and the pace and power of Ranger to smash holes

- Look to keep their defence narrow with SOB, Fearns, Attwood, Beattie, Healy smashing it up on the fringes. Classens to look to snipe

- Eastmond and Hook to mix up first receiver with slow ball to change point of attack. Eastmond and Goode available to offer at first/second receiver with quick ball

- Ranger to crash it up off slow ball to set up the ruck. A very mobile pack will get there first to smash and clear out, leaving quick ball for 9

- Salvi picked as out and out 7, looking to be first to every ruck and bridge the tackled player, slowing ball and/or winning penalties. We will pick our rucks and not over commit to secured ball, rather looking to target isolated runners

- In defence, look to pressurise fly half, as Hodgson is suffering from a lack of game time.

- Fearns to come on for SOB when he appears slightly tired, his freshness will help to slow oppo ball at the ruck and look to force turnovers against tired legs

Saracens 30 - 27 Bath

Tries - Care, Goneva, B Vunipola, Tameifuna / Salvi, Ranger, Hook
C- Halfpenny x2 / Hook x3
P- Halfpenny x2 / Hook, Daly

Great work mate