Aviva Premiership Round Four (RC)

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

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Northampton Saints vs Sale Sharks
Location - Franklin Gardens
Weather - Light Cloud, 18 degrees, 7 mph Easterly

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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

(Nb. Same side for two weeks)

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Sale Sharks

Manager –  LondonIrishOllie

01. Andrew Sheridan	09. Connor Murray
02. Richard Hibbard	10. Johan Goosen
03. Davit Kubriashvili
04. Matt Garvey	11. Raymond Rhule
05. Yohan Maestri	12. Jonathon Davies
06. Schalk Burger	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. Kyran Myall 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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Bath Rugby vs London Irish
Location - The Rec
Weather - Light Rain Showers, 18 degrees, 12 mph Easterly

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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


(Nb. Last weeks side, no tactics)

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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. Tom Palmer	11. Anthony Watson
05. Nick Kennedy	12. Guy Armitage
06. Peter O'Mahony	13. Aurelien Rougerie (C)
07. Andy Saull	14. David Strettle
08. Alistair Hogg	15. Matt Tait

16. Rob Herring 17. Max Lahiff 18. Paulică Ion 19. Kieran Low 20. Jamie Heaslip 21. Mike Blair 22. Dan Bowden  23. Delon Armitage

- Use the strong set piece to ground down Bath
- Kick for Territory and utilise set piece
- Laidlaw to take all points on offer
- Look to dominate collisions

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Harlequins vs Saracens
Location - Twickenham Stoop
Weather - Light Cloud, 19 degrees, 11 mph Easterly

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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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Saracens

Manager – ChequeredJersey

01. Matt Mullan	09. Danny Care
02. Schalk Brits	10.    Charlie Hodgson
03. Davit Zirakashvili
04.  Bakkies Botha	11. Tom Williams
05.  Donnacha Ryan	12. Anthony Allen
06. Kelly Brown	13.   Joel Tomkins
07. Richie McCaw (c)	14.  Simon Zebo
08. Billy Vunipola	15. Leigh Halfpenny (k)

16. Mako Vunipola 17. Rob Buchanan 18. Ben Tameifuna  19. Mamuka Gorgodze  20. Will Fraser 21. George Skivington  22.  Morgan Parra  23. Chris Wyles

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

Breakdown -  Billy clearing out with Richie securing/stealing ball, Brown helping with both 

-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- Try and overcome Quins with technique. Work hard all match as we have great subs in front row, who also offer impact. 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 their 9/10 to really pressurise their attack. Tight ruck defence led by Brown. Williams to focus on using the touchline as an extra defender vs North

Attack- spin fast ball to Hodgson, playing flat and then to either a pop inside, dummy run by Allen and spread out wide or a straight run by Allen with Tomkins in support, looking to keep the ball alive after the break and vary the focus of attack. Halfpenny, Brits and both Vunipolas coming for the pop inside him and Hodgson. . Support runners for every run. Look to chip behind the wings if they leave any space as chasing these is a strength of Williams/Zebo but defending them isn't North etc strength

Slow ball- drive it in packs of 3 forwards, maul it or kick at the corners. I think our pack is much heftier than theirs and we can make ground on the mauling and tight game so don't be afraid to use several in succession. Care 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 and chip. 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. Parra can tighten the game up, our forwards are great impact players with huge carrying games, and we have a 6-2 split so we can really attack them in the pack

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London Wasps vs Worcester Warriors
Location - Adams Park
Weather - Light Cloud, 19 degrees, 8 mph Easterly

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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. Dominic Barrow 20. Sam Jones 21. Ben Spencer 22. Nick Evans 23. Luke Marshall

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 Chudley 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, Higginbotham, 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 Warriors 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 Marler 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 Warriors pack, this will keep the likes of Marler, Kruger, Morgan and Haskell 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 Kvesic getting over the ball.
  
  
• We will use a blitz drift line in defence to cut down Jackson's options and push him inside towards our backrow.
  
  
• Look for Pickles to run down Shingler's 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 Warriors should be wary of giving away penalties.
  

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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

(Nb. Same side from past two weeks)

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Exeter Chiefs vs Leicester Tigers
Location - Sandy Park
Weather - Heavy Rain Showers, 18 degrees, 15 mph Easterly

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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 into the corners, with Wilko and 36 looking to use their good kicking games. 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, especially marking Parliing in the line out who we feel Youngs will look to go to more often than not. We hope to unsettle Youngs and hope his throwing becomes erratic as it often can.

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 Warburton 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 anchor the scrum against Corbisiero. 

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. 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.

We will try to target Wade if possible using high balls and letting Jane and Nowell challenge him in the air.

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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 vs Gloucester
Location - Kingston Park
Weather - Sunny Intervals, 16 degrees, 9 mph South Easterly

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Manager – CF

01. Grant Shiells	09. Micky Young
02. Scott Lawson	10. Nicky Robinson
03. Hoani Tui
04. Marco Wentzel	11. Ugo Monye
05. Scott Macleod	12. Joe Simpson
06. Dave Denton	13. Mathieu Basteraud
07. Richard Mayhew	14. Matt Banahan
08. Imanol Harinodoquy	15. Stuart Hogg (k)

16. Dimitri Swarzreski 17. Jeff Hallam 18. Tom Mercy 19. Sean Tomes 20. Scott Waldrom 21. Dan Biggar 22. Brad Barritt 23. Shane Geraghty

(Nb. Mckensie dropped from original team to keep three front row on the bench.)

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Gloucester

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


(Nb. Last weeks side. No tactics)

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Saracens
Manager – ChequeredJersey

01. Matt Mullan	09. Danny Care
02. Schalk Brits	10.    Charlie Hodgson
03. Davit Zirakashvili
04.  Bakkies Botha	11. Tom Williams
05.  Donnacha Ryan	12. Anthony Allen
06. Kelly Brown	13.   Joel Tomkins
07. Richie McCaw (c)	14.  Simon Zebo
08. Billy Vunipola	15. Leigh Halfpenny (k)

16. Mako Vunipola 17. Rob Buchanan 18. Ben Tameifuna  19. Mamuka Gorgodze  20. Will Fraser 21. George Skivington  22.  Morgan Parra  23. Chris Wyles

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

Breakdown - Billy clearing out with Richie securing/stealing ball, Brown helping with both

-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- Try and overcome Quins with technique. Work hard all match as we have great subs in front row, who also offer impact. 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 their 9/10 to really pressurise their attack. Tight ruck defence led by Brown. Williams to focus on using the touchline as an extra defender vs North

Attack- spin fast ball to Hodgson, playing flat and then to either a pop inside, dummy run by Allen and spread out wide or a straight run by Allen with Tomkins in support, looking to keep the ball alive after the break and vary the focus of attack. Halfpenny, Brits and both Vunipolas coming for the pop inside him and Hodgson. . Support runners for every run. Look to chip behind the wings if they leave any space as chasing these is a strength of Williams/Zebo but defending them isn't North etc strength

Slow ball- drive it in packs of 3 forwards, maul it or kick at the corners. I think our pack is much heftier than theirs and we can make ground on the mauling and tight game so don't be afraid to use several in succession. Care 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 and chip. 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. Parra can tighten the game up, our forwards are great impact players with huge carrying games, and we have a 6-2 split so we can really attack them in the pack

"We have had the chance to name a virtually unchanged side this week at home against Warriors. The only changes that have been made or on the bench where we have called up promising youngster Dom Barrow and new signing Luke Marshall. We will look to continue our strong start to the season and get some big points on the board to carry some momentum into the Autumn Internationals."


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. Dominic Barrow 20. Sam Jones 21. Ben Spencer 22. Nick Evans 23. Luke Marshall

"Its a chance for us to rotate this week and allow some other lads a chance to stake a claim for a shirt in the starting XV. There are some young lads that have been given an opportunity this week and some will be given a go next week. We have also got new signing Heaslip on the bench as we look to bringing him up to speed for the Irish following".


London Irish


Manager – Fluxy

01. Gethin Jenkins	09. Greg Laidlaw (K)
02. Rhys Marshall	10. Brock James
03. Euan Murray
04. Tom Palmer	11. Anthony Watson
05. Nick Kennedy	12. Guy Armitage
06. Peter O'Mahony	13. Aurelien Rougerie (C)
07. Andy Saull	14. David Strettle
08. Alistair Hogg	15. Matt Tait

16. Rob Herring 17. Max Lahiff 18. Paulică Ion 19. Kieran Low 20. Jamie Heaslip 21. Mike Blair 22. Dan Bowden  23. Delon Armitage

FALCONS

01.Grant Shiels
02.Scott Lawson
03.Hoani Tui
04.Marcon Wentzel
05.Scott Macleod
06.David Denton
07.Richard Mayhew
08.Imanol Hariquonoy
09.Micky Young
10.Nicky Robinson
11.Ugo Monye
12.James Simpson
13.Mathieu Basteraud
14.Matt Banahan
15.Stuart Hogg (K)

replacements: 16.Swarzeski 17.Mercer 18.McKenzie 19.Tomes 20.Waldrom 21.Biggar 22.Barritt 23.Geraghty

I'll keep this open until tomorrow evening.

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

Sale Sharks

Manager –  LondonIrishOllie

01. Andrew Sheridan	09. Connor Murray
02. Richard Hibbard	10. Johan Goosen
03. Davit Kubriashvili
04. Matt Garvey	11. Raymond Rhule
05. Yohan Maestri	12. Jonathon Davies
06. Schalk Burger	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. Kyran Myall 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

Same as last weels inc tactics

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 into the corners, with Wilko and 36 looking to use their good kicking games. 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, especially marking Parliing in the line out who we feel Youngs will look to go to more often than not. We hope to unsettle Youngs and hope his throwing becomes erratic as it often can.

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 Warburton 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 anchor the scrum against Corbisiero.

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. 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.

We will try to target Wade if possible using high balls and letting Jane and Nowell challenge him in the air.

I will update this at nine. So get your teams in by then if you could.

And predict on Round 3!

Updated.

This will stay open til thursday morning (roughly 11:00am) til the latest. 

Need to get a bit more control on this.

Open as in predos?

They're already open. As in will close Thursday.

Cool

Saints 26 - Sale 24
Bath 28 - Irish 20

Wasps 27- Worcester 24
Chiefs 25 - Tigers 25
Falcons 20 - Gloucester 24

Fluxy, I did message Pooly saying to use the same tactics as last week as I wasn't sure if I'd be able to enter this week.

Also, just seen Britton has been banned today for 4 weeks so will that affect it as technically it was after these teams were in?

No I wasn't aware mate on both so no worries.

Ok cheers fella

saints 22-20 sale
bath 24-21 irish
quins 20-20 sarries
wasps 20-19 warriors
chiefs 25-28 tigers

Northampton Saints 24 - 22 Sale Sharks

Up front this is a good battle. I would just edge it to Sharks, but it is hard as I haven't really seen any of the front rows under the new laws and how they would react to it. I imagine Saints would get through some good carrying but they lack the grunt of the Sale pack for me. The breakdown is also in a close one, as Dus would reign but I'm pretty sure he hasn't played yet this season, so both back rows are negated in terms of form. A real step up in quality for the Saints, but Murray has been good since the Lions. I'd love to see Sexton the wrap around from any of his centres and there is just a bit more form at the moment from that backline. Sale have quality but apart from Murray and Gear the rest haven't really hit top gear yet.
Both benches are good, but I'm afraid at home that Saints will just squeak home thanks to the boot of Sexton.

Bath Rugby 25 - 22 London Irish

At the set piece both front fives are in a great contest. Could possibly see Irish stealing more against the head with perhaps a bit more technique in the scrum. However around the park the Bath pack are much more of a threat. Irish have handy players but they are a little undercooked against this quality. Irish halfbacks will control better than the Bath pair, but they lack the slight attacking edge. Irish back line can score a couple of tries of their strong set pieces, but because their forwards are being dominated in the loose Bath have the backs to convert the advantage and secure a good home win.

Harlequins 19 - 24 Saracens

Quins are a decent unit, but lack the energy physicality of Sarries as a total package. There is just a constant wave of strong carriers from the Saracens pack. This solid platform provides their backs with good chances to get over the try line. North and Fofana in the same side will end up scoring some tries ultimately.
Overall Saracens look a much stronger unit, and I can understand why they flying high on the back of this result.

Exeter Chiefs 28 - 29 Leicester Tigers

Tie of the round. Up front just a little more quality in the scrum from Tigers and they will get an edge of Sturgess. Line-out wise its a more even battle. The breakdown is an intriguing encounter, and I have it the way of Chiefs, as their back five are more than capable. To me both sides missed a trick in not playing to the conditions, and so I think that Tigers tactics are slightly risky. Wilko and 36 can outnumber Flood in pinging the corners and this will help the Chiefs strong line out game. Unfortunately Chiefs just lack the quality of the Tigers backs with ball in hand, who will score tries even in these conditions. A strong back line and bench, will see Tigers just and I mean only just pinch the result later on by switching the momentum with that bench.

Newcastle Falcons 13 - 31 Gloucester

This is slightly painful, as after a decent result last week away to Tigers, Falcons have gone backwards a little in some of their selections. The quality of their front five is good, but are clearly outmatched and outgunned by their opponents. The back row is a bit better, but the form of Denton is worrying and Mayhew isn't really great at this level. It might sound like I'm ripping on falcons, but it is hard when they can't put their best side out. Simpson is not a centre, and if he was at 9 could've given this backline some real spark and impetus. The backline does look quite tasty but the forward dominance of Glos allows their backs almost free reign to run in soe scores.

Bath 20-20 Irish (lack of Bath tactics stops win)
Quins 21-24 Sarries
Wasps 26-21 Worcester
Newcastle 16-24 Gloucester

Bath 24-20 Irish
Quins 24-25 Sarries
Wasps 35-28 Worcester 
Exeter 22-25 Tigers
Newcastle 12-30 Gloucester

Saints 23-20 Sale

Sarries 27-19 Quins

Wasps 24-24 Worcester

Newcastle 19 - 26 Gloucester

Low on time this week, writing this while half cut on the train home!

Bath 23 - 22 Irish

No worries buddy. Every little helps!

I can do results before bed or first thing tomorrow if you like, Flux

First thing okay? Just in case Driver, CJB or CF can sneak them in.

Will do it about 8am, or can hold on, it's your Round you can shut the gates whenever you like!

First thing is fine. Otherwise we'd be hanging on for ages.

Need to start being more definitive!

RESULTS

Bath 27 - Irish 21
Quins 21 - Sarries 26
Saints 26 - sale 22
Wasps 28- worcester 23
Exeter 25 - tigers 28
Falcons 16 - Gloucester 30

Bath 27 - Irish 21
Tries- Attwood, Bowe, Cook / Laidlaw, Strettle x2
C- Hook x3 / Laidlaw x3
P- Hook x2

Quins 21 - Sarries 26
T- North, Stegmann, Mafi / Mullan, Allen, Halfpenny
C- Priestland x2, Steenson / Halfpenny
P- / Halfpenny x3

Saints 26 - sale 22
T- Hartley, Pisi, Strauss / Gear, Joseph, Crane
C - Sexton / Miller x2
P- Sexton x2, Myler / Miller

Wasps 28- Worcester 23
T- Sharples, Chudley, Marshall / Marler, Cuthbert x2
C- Farrell x2 / Jackson
P- Farrell x3 / Homer, Goode

Exeter 25 - Tigers 28
T- Wynn-Jones, Webber, Cueto / Yarde, B Youngs, Wade
C- Wilkinson x2 / Flood, Madigan
P- Wilkinson x2 / Flood, Madigan x2

Falcons 16 - Gloucester 30
T- Banahan, Geraghty / May, Burns, Best, Robson
C- / Burns x2
P- Hogg x2 / Burns x2

Points breakdown:
16- Halfpenny (same as for Burns)
15- Burns (don't know why I'm letting him get this many points, his form isn't that great, I won't give him a try next week )
13- O Farrell
12- Hook
11- Laidlaw
10- Wilkinson, A Cuthbert, Strettle
8- Madigan, Sexton
7- Miller
6- Hogg ,
5- Banahan, Geraghty, May, R Best, Robson, Flood, Yarde, Wade, B Youngs, Cueto, AWJ, Webber, Sharples, Chudley, Marshall, Marler, Hartley, G Pisi, Strauss, H Gear, Joseph, Crane, North, Stegmann, Mafi, Mullan, Allen, Attwood, Bowe, Cook
4- Priestland
3- Andy Goode, Homer, Myler
2- P Jackson, Steenson

Nice work mate, I'll update everything later on hopefully

Get your week five teams in though boys!