Aviva Premiership Round Five (RC)

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

---

Sale Sharks vs Bath
Location - Salford City Staidum
Weather - Light Cloud, 15 degrees, 9 mph Westerly

---

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

---

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. Elliott Daly


(Nb. Side for last two week, no tactics)

---

---

Leicester Tigers vs Northampton Saints
Location - Welford Road
Weather - Light Cloud, 17 degrees, 8 mph Westerly

---

Leicester Tigers

Manager – Sgt_Pooly

01. Alex Corbisiero	09. Ben Youngs
02. Tom Youngs	10. Toby Flood
03. Dan Cole
04. Joe Launchbury	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. Ed Slater 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

---

Northampton Saints
Manager – SirJohnnyEnglish

01. Steven Kitshoff	09. Lee Dickson
02. Richardt Strauss	10. Stephen Myler
03. Paul Doran-Jones
04. Samu Manoa	11. Jamie Elliot
05. Andries Bekker	12. Sonny Bill Williams
06. Calum Clark	13. George Pisi
07. Tom Wood	14. JP Pieterson
08. Roger Wilson	15. Ben Foden

16. Tonga'uiha 17. Haywood 18. Hagan 19. Lawes 20. Ferris 21. Roberts 22. Lamb 23. Fickou

---

---

London Irish vs Harlequins
Location - Madjeski Stadium
Weather - Light Cloud, 18 degrees, 8 mph North Westerly

---

London Irish 

01. Gethin Jenkins	09. Mike Blair
02. Rhys Marshall	10. Greg Laidlaw (k)
03. Euan Murray
04. Ian Evans	11. Delon Armitage
05. Nick Kennedy	12. Daniel Bowden
06. Peter O'Mahony (c)	13. Aurelien Rougerie
07. David Pocock	14. David Strettle
08. Jamie Heaslip	15. Matthew Tait

16. Rob Herring 17. Jeremy Bécasseau 18. Leo Halavatau 19. Simon Shaw 20. Tom Guest 21. Jack Moates 22. Brock James 23. Sailosi Tagicakibau

---

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

---

---

Saracens vs London Wasps
Location - Allianz Park
Weather - Light Cloud, 17 degrees, 7 mph North Westerly

---

Saracens

Manager – ChequeredJersey

01. Mako Vunipola	09. Morgan Parra
02. Rob Buchanan	10.    Charlie Hodgson
03. Davit Zirakashvili
04.  Bakkies Botha	11. Tom Varndell
05.  Donnacha Ryan	12. Anthony Allen
06. Kelly Brown (c)	13.   Niki Goneva
07. Will Fraser	14.  Tom Williams
08. Billy Vunipola	15. Leigh Halfpenny (k)

16. Matt Mullan 17. Schalk Brits 18. Ben Tameifuna 19. Mamuka Gorgodze  20. Blair Cowan 21. Danny Care  22.  Harry Leonard 23. Chris Wyles

Tactics-

Breakdown- Work as a unit at the breakdown, Fraser securing ball, Billy (and Botha) clearing, Brown doing both. Don't overcommit

Lineout- Use the maul off multiple jumpers early on to tire their pack. Mix up options later. Botha to pressurise the front, and try and force them to maul it too

Scrum - Try and target Paice here. Should be at least steady, really go for it as we can bring on front row subs of quality. Billy to run blind off our ball to target wingers

Defence- Blitz led by Allen, Brown leading fringe defence. Fraser in Farrell's face to pressurise him and try to wind him up.

Attack- Keep it tight early on in phases, mauling, carrying with units of 3 forwards, pop crash balls inside and outside of the halfbacks (big carriers like the Vunipolas plus all the bench forwards). Wear down their smaller pack and mobile but rangy backrow by making them tackle close to the ruck then clear them out brutally. If gaps appear, Parra attacks them, if numbers out wide and quick ball, spread it to our dangerous 13 and wings. Later in the game be more expansive, spinning quick ball off Hodgson standing flat to Allen or an inside runner like Billy to make round then recycle to Goneva in broken field and space to expose tired legs, looking to offload to the wingers in support. Target sharples with the chip kick for Williams to chase. Bring on impact players as appropriate, with Care, Big Ben, Brits, Gorgodze all lethal off the bench

Kicking - Take points on offer, run back kicks if there is space. If kicking to their back 3, put enough height to chase, then chase with 2-3 players, not aiming to compete in the air vs Brown/Medard but to pressurise their inevitable run and win a turnover/penalty or smash them back in a gang-tackle

---

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. Luke Marshall
06. Scott Higginbotham	13. Francis Sailli
07. Hienrich Brussow	14. Maxime Medard
08. Louis Picamoles	15. Mike Brown

16. Tom Lindsay 17. Franck Montella 18. Scott Wilson 19. George Kruis 20. Ashley Johnson 21. Ben Spencer 22. Nick Evans 23. Topsy Ojo

Conditions are set up towards our gameplan this week as the side will look to play a high intensity and high paced game to attempt to tire out the Sarries pack. We'll look to soak up the pressure from some of their big runners and then look to counter with turn over ball or quick ball in return by putting the ball into space and out wide (Ala current real-life Sarries). Therefore we will look to use the hands or the boot to try and make the defensive line have to turn and run backwards.  We will look to go through simple phases to reproduce quick ball to cut the defence open. Hence with the decent conditions, we will look to play a simple expansive game in attack and in defence will look to force Saracens 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. Wilson will look to exploit the technical ability of Mako in the set piece.
  
  
• 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 full numbers lineouts to set up driving mauls to allow our backs time to get their hand on the ball.
  
  
• 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 Saracens pack, this will keep the likes of Mako, Botha, Gorgodze, Brown and BillyV 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 use a blitz drift line in defence to cut down Hodsgons options and push him inside towards our backrow.
  Chudley to sweep behind.
  
  
• Look for Pickles to run down Hodgsons 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 Sarries should be wary of giving away penalties.
  

---

---

Worcester Warriors vs Newcastle Falcons
Location - Sixways Stadium
Weather - Sunny Intervals, 17 degrees, 7 mph Westerly

---

Worcester Warriors

Manager – InTheFastLane

01. Joe Marler	09. Kahn Fotuali'i
02. Ollie Hayes	10. Dan Carter
03. Samson Lee
04. Graham Kitchener	11. Tom Homer
05. Juandre Kruger	12. Paddy Jackson
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

---

Newcastle Falcons 

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

---

---

Gloucester vs Exeter Chiefs
Location - Kingsholm Stadium
Weather - Sunny Intervals, 18 degrees, 7 mph Westerly

---

Gloucester 

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

16. Darren Dawiduk 17. Antoine Guillamon 18. Dan Murphy 19. Will James 20. Luke Narraway 21. Dan Robson 22. Jimmy Gopperth 23. Henry Trinder

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.
  
  

.

---

Exeter Chiefs


Manager – BamBam

01. Brett Sturgess	09. TJ Perenara
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. Dwayne Peel 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. If possible, we will run from deep and hope to catch them off guard

Line out will have AWJ and Swinson as our main jumpers, with Robshaw being used as the 3rd option. We feel we have an advantage at the line out, and as the game opens up we will bring Croft on to hammer that home

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. We want Tips to get into Burns face and try to unsettle the young fly half, especially with the lack of a kicking option outside him.  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 in his final appearance to anchor our scrum as we expect Jones to put Sturgess under pressure so want Mas to do likewise.

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 May if possible using high balls and letting Jane and Nowell challenge him in the air.

---

01. Gethin Jenkins	09. Mike Blair
02. Rhys Marshall	10. Greg Laidlaw (k)
03. Euan Murray
04. Ian Evans	11. Delon Armitage
05. Nick Kennedy	12. Daniel Bowden
06. Peter O'Mahony (c)	13. Aurelien Rougerie
07. David Pocock	14. David Strettle
08. Jamie Heaslip	15. Matthew Tait

16. Rob Herring 17. Jeremy Bécasseau 18. Leo Halavatau 19. Simon Shaw 20. Tom Guest 21. Jack Moates 22. Brock James 23. Sailosi Tagicakibau

Saracens
Manager – ChequeredJersey

01. Mako Vunipola	09. Morgan Parra
02. Rob Buchanan	10.    Charlie Hodgson
03. Davit Zirakashvili
04.  Bakkies Botha	11. Tom Varndell
05.  Donnacha Ryan	12. Anthony Allen
06. Kelly Brown (c)	13.   Niki Goneva
07. Will Fraser	14.  Tom Williams
08. Billy Vunipola	15. Leigh Halfpenny (k)

16. Matt Mullan 17. Schalk Brits 18. Ben Tameifuna 19. Mamuka Gorgodze  20. Blair Cowan 21. Danny Care  22.  Harry Leonard 23. Chris Wyles

Tactics-

Breakdown- Work as a unit at the breakdown, Fraser securing ball, Billy (and Botha) clearing, Brown doing both. Don't overcommit

Lineout- Use the maul off multiple jumpers early on to tire their pack. Mix up options later. Botha to pressurise the front, and try and force them to maul it too

Scrum - Try and target Paice here. Should be at least steady, really go for it as we can bring on front row subs of quality. Billy to run blind off our ball to target wingers

Defence- Blitz led by Allen, Brown leading fringe defence. Fraser in Farrell's face to pressurise him and try to wind him up.

Attack- Keep it tight early on in phases, mauling, carrying with units of 3 forwards, pop crash balls inside and outside of the halfbacks (big carriers like the Vunipolas plus all the bench forwards). Wear down their smaller pack and mobile but rangy backrow by making them tackle close to the ruck then clear them out brutally. If gaps appear, Parra attacks them, if numbers out wide and quick ball, spread it to our dangerous 13 and wings. Later in the game be more expansive, spinning quick ball off Hodgson standing flat to Allen or an inside runner like Billy to make round then recycle to Goneva in broken field and space to expose tired legs, looking to offload to the wingers in support. Target sharples with the chip kick for Williams to chase. Bring on impact players as appropriate, with Care, Big Ben, Brits, Gorgodze all lethal off the bench

Kicking - Take points on offer, run back kicks if there is space. If kicking to their back 3, put enough height to chase, then chase with 2-3 players, not aiming to compete in the air vs Brown/Medard but to pressurise their inevitable run and win a turnover/penalty or smash them back in a gang-tackle

Northampton Saints
Manager – SirJohnnyEnglish

01. Steven Kitshoff	09. Lee Dickson
02. Richardt Strauss	10. Stephen Myler
03. Paul Doran-Jones
04. Samu Manoa	11. Jamie Elliot
05. Andries Bekker	12. Sonny Bill Williams
06. Calum Clark	13. George Pisi
07. Tom Wood	14. JP Pieterson
08. Roger Wilson	15. Ben Foden

16. Tonga'uiha 17. Haywood 18. Hagan 19. Lawes 20. Ferris 21. Roberts 22. Lamb 23. Fickou

Manager – InTheFastLane

01. Joe Marler	09. Kahn Fotuali'i
02. Ollie Hayes	10. Dan Carter
03. Samson Lee
04. Graham Kitchener	11. Tom Homer
05. Juandre Kruger	12. Paddy Jackson
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

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

16. Darren Dawiduk 17. Antoine Guillamon 18. Dan Murphy 19. Will James 20. Luke Narraway 21. Dan Robson 22. Jimmy Gopperth 23. Henry Trinder

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.
  
  

.

Sorry for the delay in my team CJ, just wanted to make something clear with Bam

No worries, I'll hold on tactics till you post it

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. Luke Marshall
06. Scott Higginbotham	13. Francis Sailli
07. Hienrich Brussow	14. Maxime Medard
08. Louis Picamoles	15. Mike Brown

16. Tom Lindsay 17. Franck Montella 18. Scott Wilson 19. George Kruis 20. Ashley Johnson 21. Ben Spencer 22. Nick Evans 23. Topsy Ojo

Conditions are set up towards our gameplan this week as the side will look to play a high intensity and high paced game to attempt to tire out the Sarries pack. We'll look to soak up the pressure from some of their big runners and then look to counter with turn over ball or quick ball in return by putting the ball into space and out wide (Ala current real-life Sarries). Therefore we will look to use the hands or the boot to try and make the defensive line have to turn and run backwards.  We will look to go through simple phases to reproduce quick ball to cut the defence open. Hence with the decent conditions, we will look to play a simple expansive game in attack and in defence will look to force Saracens 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. Wilson will look to exploit the technical ability of Mako in the set piece.
  
  
• 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 full numbers lineouts to set up driving mauls to allow our backs time to get their hand on the ball.
  
  
• 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 Saracens pack, this will keep the likes of Mako, Botha, Gorgodze, Brown and BillyV 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 use a blitz drift line in defence to cut down Hodsgons options and push him inside towards our backrow.
  Chudley to sweep behind.
  
  
• Look for Pickles to run down Hodgsons 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 Sarries should be wary of giving away penalties.
  

Exeter Chiefs


Manager – BamBam

01. Brett Sturgess	09. TJ Perenara
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. Dwayne Peel 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. If possible, we will run from deep and hope to catch them off guard

Line out will have AWJ and Swinson as our main jumpers, with Robshaw being used as the 3rd option. We feel we have an advantage at the line out, and as the game opens up we will bring Croft on to hammer that home

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. We want Tips to get into Burns face and try to unsettle the young fly half, especially with the lack of a kicking option outside him.  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 in his final appearance to anchor our scrum as we expect Jones to put Sturgess under pressure so want Mas to do likewise.

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 May if possible using high balls and letting Jane and Nowell challenge him in the air.

Those who haven't put a team in (Pooly x2, Driver, Bathite, CF) have until midday today to get them in.

Leicester Tigers
Manager – Sgt_Pooly

01. Alex Corbisiero	09. Ben Youngs
02. Tom Youngs	10. Toby Flood
03. Dan Cole
04. Joe Launchbury	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. Ed Slater 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

am i too late?

Nobody's predicted, just post a team up

Predictions open until Wednesday evening.

Sale 26 - Bath 20/27 (Franks not available, not sure how much to penalise as Bathite didn't select this team, so either one or the other)
Tigers 25 - Saints 24
Irish 28 - Quins 28
Worcester 32 - Falcons 16
Gloucester 22 - Exeter 26

How is Franks unavailable? He wasn't in the match day squad?

Ah, my mistake, forgot he was away. 27 it is then

Bath 25 - 20 Sale Sharks

Decent contest up front. Bath have a little more power and guile about them and this will help out their set of backs. Sharks have a good back line too and will get some decent front foot ball, but there is just a better combination of power and pace in the Bath line up. 

Leicester Tigers 31 - 33 Northampton Saints

Always a cracker this fixture, and this one didn't disappoint. Both packs are good, but Tigers lack the powerful carrying of some of the Saints pack. Not to say they don't have good carriers, but I wouldn't say apart from Corbs there was another consistent carrier over the gain line. Saints half-backs are in good form and can reap the benefits from decent momentum off their pack and dangerous backs out side. Tigers just shade the backs and the bench but Saints have the momentum and Mylers consistency off the boot to win this. 

London Irish 23 - 21 Harlequins

A real physical edge in the Irish pack around the park and can really benefit off a good upper hand in the set pieces. Quins are decent technicians but lack some power and efficiency in some of the departments of the Irish. Efficient halfbacks can manouver their back line and release them into decent attacking positions. Quins have decent backs and can score off the cuff. However Irish have enough to see of Quins at home.

Worcester Warriors 31 - 19 Newcastle Falcons

Just an overall quality in the pack and the backs see Warriors safe at home here. Some shining lights in the Falcons team, but they need some real organisation.

Gloucester 28 - 29 Exeter Chiefs


There is parity in the front fives and the set-pieces, but this parity allows Glaws to give the Chiefs back row a free reign in terms of running rough shod in the loose. Glaws backs are creative and score tries, as do their counterparts. Both back lines are about even, but the strong Chiefs forwards bench can give them enough go forward to steal this away from home.

Sale are at home Flux

Sale 24 - 26

Very solid contest up front, both evenly matched with good scrummagers, powerful second rows and balanced back rows. Both will win their fair share of ball, but I think the Bath backline has that little bit of an X factor which is enough to steal one away from home

Leicester 28 - 27 Saints

I expect Saints to win the carrying battle with their big forwards, but Leicester to be stronger at the breakdown and in the backline. Very tight matchup but have to go with Tigers to sneak it

London Irish 24 - 17 Harlequins

I like the Irish pack, especially at the set piece. Lineout particularly is a big win for LI, with Kennedy dominant. Quins just don't seem to have the same capability up front, with a relatively weak pack. Despite the superstars in the backline, I have to go back to the old adage of forwards winning matches, and Irish will comfortably

Saracens 27 - 24

Good conditions and strong teams mean the game of the week for me, both capable of mixing it up front as well as exciting, attacking backlines. Love the back row matchup here, both constructed in the same way. Plenty of tries scored, Saracens home advantage gives them the win

Worcester 20 - 14 Newcastle

Newcastle seem not to know their best line up yet, and it will cost them up against a good Warriors outfit with threats all over the field. Stuart Hogg as the main goal kicker doesn't fill me with confidence that they will be able to take the points if available, and Banahan doesn't look to have much impact on the wing nowadays.

Kruger is ineligible for Worcester, so I have penalised them for that, but still good enough to win at home

Guys, please can we put up just scores? I know it looks like the League might die/hibernate but if we are going to post teams may as well do scoeres...

Sale 27-25 Bath
Tigers 28-27 Saints
Irish 23-20 Quins
Sarries 26-22 Wasps
Glouccester 31-30 Exeter

Tigers 27-24 Saints
Irish 19-20 Quins
Sarries 26-20 Wasps
Gloucester 31-29 Exeter
Worcs 22-16 Newcastle

Apologies, my saints tigers scores were the wrong way round. You should know me by now, I rarely predict an away win, especially not if it's that close

Irish 21-23 Quins
Saracens 27-24 Wasps
Worcester 28-20 Newcastle
Gloucester 22-21 Exeter

Sale 22-23 Bath
Tigers 24-21 Saints
Irish 20-22 Quins
Sarries 25-22 Wasps
Warriors 28-20 Newcastle

When we closing here?

Right, I'm assuming we are done here:


RESULTS:

Sale 24 - Bath 27
Tigers 30 - Saints 27
Irish 24 - Quins 23
Saracens 29 - Wasps 22
Worcester 30 - Wasps 18
Gloucester 28 - Exeter 28

Sale 24 - 27 Bath
Tries- Murray, Gear x2 / Ranger, Beattie, Goode
C- Miller x3 / Hook x 3
P- / Hook

Tigers 30 - 27 Saints
T- Corbisiero, Yarde, Wade, Launchbury / Stauss, Pieterson, Lamb
C- Flood x 2 / Myler x 3
P- Flood x 2 / Myler x 2

Irish 24 - 23 Quins
T- Rougerie, Strettle, Blair / Priestland, North, Wrigglesworth
C- Laidlaw x 3 / Priestland
P- Laidlaw / Priestland x 2

Saracens 29 - 22 Wasps
T- Goneva, Wyles, Care / Sharples, Saili, Ojo
C- Halfpenny / Farrell x 2
P- Halfpenny x 4 / Farrell

Worcester 30 - 18 Falcons
T- Kitchener, Carter, Cuthbert, Fruean / Young, Geraghty
C- Carter x 2 / Hogg
P- Carter x 2 / Hogg, Biggar

Gloucester 28 - 28 Exeter
T- Strokosch, May, Best / Wyn-Jones, Jane, Perenara
c- Burns x 2 / Wilkinson x 2
P- Burns x 2, Gopperth / Wilkinson, Twelvetrees, Heathcote

Worcester played Falcons CJ

Thanks, corrected now