Fantasy Aviva Premiership Round Twelve

by Driver Tue 31 Dec 2013, 2:24 pm

Predictions by 15:00 hours on Sunday

Newcastle Falcons v Sale Sharks
Location - Kingston Park
Light Rain, 6 Degrees, 20mph Winds

Newcastle Falcons

Manager – Driver

01.Matt Mullen	09.Ben Youngs
02.Dane Coles	10.Dan Bigger (K)
03.Owen Franks
04.Yoann Maestri	11.Charlie Sharples
05.Paul O'Connell	12.Jean De Villers
06.Ben Mowen	13.Ben Smith
07.Richie McCaw	14.Charles Pitatau
08.Kieron Read (C)	15.Alex Goode

16.Darren Dawiduik 17.Ryan Grant 18.Paul Doran Jones 19.Ed Slater 20.Andy Saull 21.Dave Lewis 22.Aaron Cruden 23.Brad Barritt

Newcastle will look to play the percentages game using a strong set piece and tactical kicking game to push Sale Sharks back and exploit any weakness in there side.

Youngs/Bigger will look to drop the ball in behind the Sharks wing and test out there kicking game and exploit any space in behind.
When in the opposition 22 we'll look to utilise a strike move to punish Sale Sharks out there with plenty of danger in our back line.

Up front we'll look to use a simple game plan in the pack , grinding out phases and taking Wasps on up front and generating clean and quick ball for Youngs at 9 who will look to marshall his pack around the field and keep the Sharks's back row honest at the ruck. We'll look to go in 2s to ensure we can't be turned over at the break down and secure our own ball. We've got a good scrumming front 5 a lot has been made of Franks lately and i'm sure you don't stay the All Blacks TH if you can't scrummage. Read will look to dictate the tempo of the game at the base controlling the ball and testing the Sale line off side line and how patient POM is at 7.

Dan Bigger will look to ping the ball in behind the Sale wings to see if we can exploit the space in behind them knowing that if we continue to put the ball behind there winger he'll eventually drop back expecting the kick and then we can move the ball to our fantastic broken field runners such as Smith , Pitatau and Sharples. Patience is the key word to our attack and in Dan Bigger we have plenty of that.

In Defence we'll look to be aggressive around the fringe and putting our man to deck early and getting over the ball to slow down or turnover Sale ball. The backs will look to absorb the Sale runners rather than jump out of our line too leave gaps for there wings to come through. When defending and expecting a kick the blidside wing will come round and stand behind our 10 pushing the 15 across so all area's of the field are covered leaving the Sale kicker with little choice but to kick it down our throat and let us run it back or kick too the space. In open play Youngs will sweep behind the line to cover.

Set Piece will be the key to this game and we've got a good lineout with 5 good lineout operators in the pack who will all be able to take ball on. POC will call the lineout as well as jumping at the front to pressure the Sale lineout.

Fantasy Aviva Premiership Round Twelve 12

Sale Sharks
Manager – SJE

01. Marcos Ayerza	09. Danny Care
02. Benjamin Kayser	10. Johnny Sexton
03. Davit Zirakishvilli
04. Brodie Retalick	11. Simon Zebo
05. Dave Attwood	12. Francois Steyn
06. Yannick Nyanga	13. George Pisi
07. Peter O'Mahony	14. Kyle Eastmond
08. Louis Picamoles	15. Nick Abendanon

16. Ross Harrison 17. David Paice 18. Phil Swainston 19. Christian Day 20. Iain Henderson 21. Matt Kvesic 22. Ben Spencer 23. James Hook

We will play the game in the opposition half with an intelligent kicking game. When there we will play a fast paced, high intensity offloading game looking to create space for our halfbacks and to get our back three onto the ball as much possible.

- Freshness! Key players including Zirka, Attwood, Pickles, Care & Sexton come into this off a rest last week and will be ready and raring throughout!

- Target the scrum. Good technical front row supported by plenty of grunt will look to get on top and win penalties.

- Attack from the lineout. Five genuine jumping options allows us to mix it up and really use the lineout as an attacking platform. Look to get the ball to Sexton and Eastmond with space outside.

- Target the opposition lineout with O’Mahony jumping at the front and Attwood & Retalick marshalling the middle to pick of oppositions throws. Sexton & Eastmond will relish attacking an unset defence.

- Look to mix up play. Sexton & Eastmond to interchange at first receiver and change the point of attack. Care provides a threat snipping around the base.

- Get the back three involved. Zebo, Eastmond and Bendy all to run lines looking for the inside ball or offload to get in behind the opposition defence.

- Attack the midfield. De Villiers on debut and Smith poor positionally at 13. Back three runners will look to get in behind with offloads and decoy runs from midfield.

- Hit the breakdown hard. Look to our dynamic front five to clear the ruck and allow the likes of Nyanga & POM to really attack the breakdown.

- Straight line blitz defence focusing on a quick line speed to isolate the ball carrier before the gain line. Care to sweep in behind to cover chips and grubbers.

Gloucester Rugby v Saracens
Location - Kingsholm
Light Rain Shower, 7 Degrees, 24mph Winds

Gloucester Rugby

01. Nick Wood 09. Connor Murray
02. Adriaan Strauss 10. Dan Carter (k)
03. Nicola Mas
04. Eben Etzbeth 11. Johnny May
05. George Robson 12. Matt Scott
06. Willem Alberts 13. Tevita Kuridrani
07. Julian Salvi 14. Matt Banahan
08. Jaimie Heaslip 15. Israel Dagg

16 Guthro Steenkamp 17 Jamie George 18 Rupert Harden19 Elliot Stooke 20 Tom Croft 21 Israel Folau 22 Dan Robson 23 Danny Cipriani

In greasy conditions with fairly strong winds basics will play a big part in today's game

Set Piece

We will look to Target their scrum to put pressure on them. Wood Strauss and Mas will look to to really disrupt their ball and drive them back.
On our ball we will look to utilise our advantage to turn the scrum to where we want it do help our 8 and 9 deliver quality options

Line out
we have 5 jumpers and will look to challenge Saracens ball as often as possible to build pressure.

On our ball we will vary it. We will be looking to drive in our half and go off the top mainly In their half.

Generally we will be looking to get our dynamic pack on the front foot and over the gainline to produce quick ball to give to carter. We have a pack full of carriers and pace so will look to target the breakdown by getting there first and hitting it hard. We have a lot of footballing forwards in our pack so will be looking to offload if on but are cautious of the potentially greasy ball.The weather is - bit wet and windy but not so bad that you cannot play. We are relying on our big name players to use all their experience to play the right options. When it's on it on and we are committed to playing.

Backs

We will look for our 9 and 10 to run the show.

Carter will kick a lot initially as we want to win the territory battle. We like to examine the oppositions defence going backward so they will be tested out.

We see the length of Carter's kicking being able to give us territory so we can play in the right places.

When in their half we will look to hit them at pace when it's on. We will utilise the wind when at our backs to play territory and pin them back. When against the wind we will play a lot more to negate its effect and keep ball.
Murray can really up the pace and will look to hit carter so he can play. We have a backline that has pace subtlety and gas and feel that we have the ability to unlock their defence for lots of tries.

Carter will look to create mismatches and we will look to isolate players.

We will also when it's on try the up and under and the cross kick.

Defensively we will look to blitz to put pressure on Steyn.This could lead to some intercepts. Murray to act as sweeper

All lockable penalties taken and bench used as necessary with folau coming on at 50

Key points

2.8,9,10,12 are key positions for dominating a game and we are wc in these positions
Front row. We have wc players in tremendous form
Bench has class to bring on
Home advantage
Saracens
Manager – Pooly

01. Alex Waller	09. Jano Vermaak
02. Keven Mealamu	10. Morne Steyn
03. Jannie du Plessis
04. Louis Deacon(c)	11. Luke Fitzgerald
05. Flip van der Merwe	12. Luther Burrell
06. Carl Fearns	13. Jonathan Davies
07. George Smith	14. Chris Ashton
08. Toby Faletau	15. Lee Byrne

16. Chris Whitehead 17. Fabien Barcella 18. Clement Ric 19. Tim Swinson 20. Tom Guest 21. Chris Cook 22. Gareth Steenson 23. George Lowe

Tactics:

General - We've selected a team packed with power and physicality and will look to dominate the contact and get over the gain line. We'll be playing a high tempo physical game from the off, look to smash the opposition back and get into the rucks/maul's and drive through. We'll look to tie the opposition in and then get at their backline, more so in the their half. Look to keep it tight in the forward pack and grind through work.

Scrum - Look to get a platform from the off with a strong scrummaging unit. Strong front 5 with big locks will look for the big push once the ball is in and drive the opposition back. Our LH and Hooker will look to target TH and try to get between him and Hooker to allow JdP to work on LH If no weakness seen will use as restart.

Line out - Look to play it safe and use the rolling maul to good effect. Our big pack should have a lot of joy here and will tie in the opposition defence. We'll look to contest on opp throw especially when sub get on the pitch as we feel we can really pressure him.

Defence - High intensity and big hits, looking to drive past the ball player. Huge physical pack that can look to dominate the collision and breakdown allowing Smith etc a chance to slow down/steal ball. Scrum half to sweep behind the defensive line.

Attack - Keep things simple in our own half then look to unleash backs in opp territory. Scrum half to inject pace from the breakdown and have JD on his shoulder. Burrell to run at 10 channel and target possible weakness. Burrell also to be used as decoy running at Kuhi looking to take him out of the defensive line to free up space for JD to get at the outside.

Points -

Target behind Banahan

Target Wood in scrum, he's had a poor year and can be got at

Rolling maul and physicality - Look to use our physicality and drive through the opp defence, if weakness seen look to exploit.

Line out - Mealamu one of the best throws in the game and FvdM is becoming one of the best line out leaders in world rugby. Look to target opposition and get quick ball from our own if on.

Steyn - In great kicking form and will look to keep us ahead on the score board

JD kicking - look for him to use the grubber to get behind Kuhi who lacks a bit of turning pace

Real life form - Some fantastic real life form through the team, especially in the pack and centres/wings.

Form - We're putting some serious form together, beating Falcons at home and Exeter away in recent weeks. Worcester will find it tough to break us down, and we have the perfect FH to keep us ahead on the scoreboard

Game plan - Intensity and points on the board, keep it simple and effective and grind Gloucester down and use the spark of our backline in the opposition half

Leicester Tigers v Bath Rugby
Location - Welford Road
Light Cloud, 6 Degrees, 21mph Winds

Leicester Tigers
Manager – LukeLovesLuka

01. Gethin Jenkins	09. Kahn Fotuali'i
02. Stephen Moore	10. Jonny Wilkinson (k)
03. Dan Cole
04. Nathan Hines	11. Henry Speight
05. James Horwill (c)	12. Billy Twelvetrees
06. Sean O'Brien	13. Brian O'Driscoll
07. Francois Louw	14. Drew Mitchell
08. Ryan Jones	15. Mike Brown

16. Tom Youngs 17. Andrew Sheridan 18. Cencus Johnston 19. Kearnan Myall 20. Ernst Joubert 21. Dwayne Peel 22. Pat Lambie 23. Ugo Monye

Tactics:
Tactics:

We will play to our strengths and play a game built around our intelligent HB's controlling the game and the power and strength of our side.

- Attack at all scrums with our huge pack - Cole and Jenkins to look to really get into the opposition. An area we will look to target if winning.

- Attack at all lineouts. Use Jones or Hines at the front and Horwill off the top as our three key options.
Shortened lineouts with Louw in midfield as crash or decoy option.

- Put serious pressure on Hibbard's throws with Hines at the front on all Bath's throws.

- Target the breakdown - huge emphasis on our work at the breakdown today and we will always look to turnover possession. With Louw and SOB, and the likes of Cole and BOD too, we feel our breakdown play could be crucial today.

- Gigantic pack made up of massive line-breakers, used in the tight to tire down the Bath defence. The likes of SOB, Louw, Hines, Moore and Horwill to be used to target the Bath 10/12 channel.

- In attacking play, we will look to get runners attacking the gain line looking for gaps. We do want to control the game, mixing up the point of our attack and looking for where the gaps are.

- In attacking play, we will play with the option of 2 first recievers in Wilko and Twelvetrees. We want to control the game, mixing up the point of our attack and looking for where the gaps are.

- Target the Bath back three if looking vulnerable with form issues there. Look to the in-form Mike Brown to win the 15 battle and give us counter-attacking options as much as possible.

- We will look to employ a blitz defence, focusing on a quick line speed to hit the ball carrier before he gets to the gainline. We have aggressive forwards to carry out this instruction. Fotuali'i to sweep behind with an eye on short kicks.

- Target the last 30 mins. Unload our bench to see the game out for the win.

- Wilkinson to kick all penalties.

Bath Rugby
Manager – inthefastlane

01. Charlie Faumuania	09. Morgen Parra
02. Richard Hibbard	10. Charlie Hodgson
03. Ben Tameifuma
04. Graham Kitchener	11. Nopolini Nalaga
05. Andries Bekker	12. Scott Williams
06. Dan Lydiate	13. Joel Tomkins
07. Liam Gill/td]	14. Alex Cuthbert

08. Juan Martin Fernando Lovbe	15. Chris Pennell

|;
16. Mike Haywood 17. Carl Rimmer 18. James Slipper 19. James Gaskell 20. Jordan Crane 21. Richard Wigglesworth 22. Anthony Allen 23. Paddy Jackson

Overall: Look to play flowing rugby with Hodgson pulling the strings. We have a mobile, dynamic pack and will be hoping for a set-piece and open play advantage.

Scrum: Set the scrum quickly and try to exert pressure on the Tigers

Lineout: Belker to call with Lobbe jumping and Kitchener as a banker ball option. Look to get up into the air quickly and down for a quick maul

Breakdown: Not looking to be over committed at the breakdown but if a turnover is possible then be aggressive. Gill will be supported Lobbe and Ben T at the breakdown

Defence: Banana Blitz Defence looking to slow down the ball and put pressure on half backs. Lydiate will look to be aggressive and put pressure on Wilkinson. Parra to sweep in behind.

Our half backs will control our rugby. Parraand Hodgson can play what they see and put the rest of the back line in strong positions. We have strong runners who can get over the gainline throughout the side with a very dynamic pack and a big back line. The back line is highly physical and will look to create gaps and mismatches

Subs: look to keep a high tempo

London Irish v Worcester Warriors
Location - Madjeski Stadium
Light Cloud, 7 Degrees, 20mph Winds

London Irish
Manager - Prop

01. Tom Court	09. Rory Kockott
02. Tom Lindsay	10. Nick Evans (k)
03. Adam Jones
04. Stuart Hooper	11. JSD
05. Manuka Gorgodze	12. Luke McAlister
06. Scott Higginbotham (c)	13. Conrad Smith
07. Justin Tipuric	14. Nick Cummins
08. Ben Morgan	15. Brice Dulin

16. C.Tolofua 17. T.Smallbone 18. M.Stevens 19. M.Garvey 20. T.Dusatoir 21. J.Moates 22. S.Geraghty 23. H.Trinder

Key Points

Form
We have taken at least a point from every game, have one of the best defences and are near the top of the table for tries scored. The majority of this team will be rested after this game as we go into the cup competitions.

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.

Lineouts
Our lineouts have been picked on and targetting quite often however, we have selected a team with powerful lifters and consistent jumpers so Lindsay will be used to their jumping. We will be keeping them simple and use banker ball a lot. Any messy lineouts will go to the prop standing at the front and driven on. We will look to maul alot of ball if it is not on.

Attacking

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

Kockott and Evans to play what's in front of them and look to McAlister who will look to play in Smith or snipe as much as possible. If it isn't on then Evans will stick it in the corners and, with Hooper, Gorgodze, Higginbotham 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 JSD and Cummins.

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 Tolofua, Stevens and Dusatoir will have a field day against tired legs, excitement to continue to target the tired players through Moates' sniping, heavy impact at the scrum to come on and Geraghty can continue to control the game and bring further excitement and pace..

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 McAlister so he has no time to kick or give quick ball to the centres (we will have a backrower on Evans's shoulder to look for quick turnover ball, we will protect the channels to stop 9 sniping.

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

We will hit the breakdown quick to give Tipuric 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.

1 Tendai Mtawrira
2 Dave Ward
3 BJ Botha
4 Mouritz Botha
5 Johann Muller
6 Dave Denton
7 Ross Rennie
8 Johnnie Beattie
9 Dimitri Yachvili
10 Francois Trinh-Duc
11 David Strettle
12 Maxime Mermoz
13 Mathieu Bastereaud
14 Willie Le Roux
15 Delon Armitage

16 Nathan Catt
17 Richardt Strauss
18 Brett Sturgess
19 James Percival
20 Thomas Waldrom
21 Tawera Kerr-Barlow
22 Olly Barkley
23 Mark Cueto

Tactics

Win the battle upfront. Two big props to scrum with and try win us some scrum pens.

Muller to call lineout, supported by botha, denton and beattie. Muller to disrupt as much opposition as possible.

Scottish backrow to work as a unit and get us quick ball whilst slowing down as much irish ball as we can.

Half backs to dictate play, get us territory which they are both suited to.

Bast to be used as crash ball and decoy runner to keep irish guessing

Delon to use the garry owen when necessary to test irish back 3

Use rolling maul from lineouts to gain as much territory as poss and maybe score push over tries

Yachvili to kick all pens for goal in range

Northampton Saints v Harlequins
Location - Franklins Garden
Light Cloud, 6 Degrees, 22mph Winds

Northampton Saints
Manager Dammit Chris

01. Mako Vunipola	09. Nikola Matawalu
02. Tatafu Polota-Nau	10. Matt Toomua
03. Carl Hayman
04. Samo Manoa	11. Sitivini Siviatu
05. Courtney Lawes	12. Wesley Fofana
06. Calum Clark	13. Manu Tuilagi
07. David Pocock	14. Tommy Bowe
08. Sergio Parisse(c)	15. Leigh Halfpenny(k)

Substitutes: 16. Dylan Hartley 17. Thomas Domingo 18. Henry Thomas 19. Joe Launchbury 20. Billy Vunipola 21. Joe Simpson 22. Matt Giteau 23. Elliot Daly

Key selection points: * Team selected to play high intensity, fast-paced attacking game to make best of conditions and backline selected for powerful ball line carries to get us over the gain line. See the gainline battle and who wins the collisions as key.
* Impact bench to bring on in second half and finish final 30 minutes very strongly.
* Freshened the forward pack to ensure we can play high intensity from outset.
* Aware of the threat of Wood and Hopper, so have second row pairing of Lawes and Manoa to support Clark and Pocock who have both been picked for their breakdown prowess.
* Real life form of players and home advantage.
* Halfpenny's boot.

Tactics:Saints will play a high intensity/tempo'd game from the outset and take the game to Quins. We will look to place Quins under pressure with a really physical, aggressive approach and defence to force errors and mistakes to exploit. We will look to win the gainline battle and the collisions with our big ball carriers in both forwards and backs and generate quick ball to attack with. We want the game to be open and expansive and have picked a backline that can score tries from anywhere.

Win the forward battle: Great conditions for our forwards, picked a mobile pack, with a lot of ball carriers and physicality to take the game to the away side and get a good platform for our halfbacks. The forwards are fresh and rested, all good ball carriers and a great bench to bring on and keep momentum going forward.

Setpiece: Plenty of lineout options with Lawes, Manoa, Parisse and Clark. We will aim to generate plenty of quick ball to attack Quins. Will use Lawes athleticism to disrupt Brits throws and give them scrappy ball. A strong scrummaging unit where we will aim to attack off of - Matawulu a very good attacking no9 so will give Quins defence something to think about. Off both set pieces we will put attackers down Cooper's defensive channel.

Breakdown/Backrow: Aware that Wood and Hopper are strong in this area, so have bolstered our backrow with selection of Manoa and Lawes in the pack. Both very mobile and will help Clark and Pocock target turnovers, slow down opposition ball and clear out the breakdown area. Strong defence throughout the team and big backline so will look to knock Quins back in the tackle and give us go forward when we hit rucks.

Possession/Territory: Have Toomua and Halfpenny to dictate the territory game, but will look to keep hold of the ball, control possession and keep Quins tackling for the whole 80 minutes. Toomua has great restarts, so will look to really target Quins here.

Attack the Gainline/Win Collisions: Again look to win the collisions and get over the gainline to provide our backs with the platform to attack, big ball carriers in the pack who can all get us over the gainline. We will look to get runners off Toomua, utilising dummy runs to cause Quins defensive problems, have Bowe, Siviatu, Fofana and Tuilagi as gainline options.

Defence: Aggressive blitz defence, putting pressure onto the Quins halfbacks. Specifically picked Toomua as no10 due to his big tackling and will look at him to get in Cooper's face. Will look for big hits and to force mistakes. Matawulu to sweep behind and backthree to counter any loose kicks..

Harlequins
Manager – Steven_Sharks

01. Tony Woodcock	09. Lee Dickson
02. Schalk Brits	10. Quade Cooper
03. John Afoa
04. Bakkies Botha	11. Luke Morahan
05. Steve Borthwick (c)	12. Jamie Roberts
06. Tom Wood	13. Florian Fritz
07. Michael Hooper	14. Yoann Huget
08. Nick Easter	15. Rob Kearney

16. Rob Buchanan 17. Joe Marler 18. Kieran Brookes 19. George Kruis 20. Sam Warburton 21. Greig Laidlaw 22. Freddie Burns 23. Jonathan Joseph

Tactics

Look to control the game in the pack and at half back. We think we can gain an advantage at the set piece and game management of our half backs. When in our half we will look to kick into space behind Sivivatu and look to get the ball into touch so we can put huge pressure on the Saints lineout and TPN's throw.

When in the Saints half we will look to play our usual game of patient ball retention looking for the right time to up the tempo with Dickson and Cooper controlling this with runners running off 9 and 10. We will look to win the collisions and get across the gain line by carrying in numbers so the offload is available if on or so we can get quick ball to attack with against an organised defence. We will look to use Roberts and Fritz to cut lines for Cooper to pick out and keep the Saints midfield guessing as whilst they are physical we feel they can be found out positionally with players running hard lines and players behind offering the wedge option.

The set piece is where we feel we can really pressure Saints at both scrum and lineout. At the scrum we will look to really hit Saints hard on the engage and look for Afoa to get right underneath Mako. At the lineout we will look to put huge pressure on Saints will Borthwick, Wood, Botha and Easter looking to put huge pressure on the Saints jumpers therefore making it tough for TPN to throw. We really hope to make the set piece and area of dominance.

In defence we are going to look to employ a up and out defence with a quick line speed. We will look to be physical in the collision and look to double up in contact when we can and get our players over the ball to turnover or slow the play down legally. We will look to remain disciplined and not allow Halfpenny the chance to get his eye in with the tee. Also look to put huge pressure on Matavalu and Toomua as a half back combo.

Key Points

Real life form - In Hooper we have the best 7 in the world over the last 12 months (Planet Rugby, Espn and Will Greenwoods TOTY to name the first three I checked). We also have Cooper in great nick as well as numerous other players

Experience - We have a lot of experienced players especially in the pack. Look to use this when controlling the game and making decisions on the pitch

Put huge pressure on the Saints half backs. Wood and Hooper to lead this.

London Wasps v Exeter Chiefs
Location - Adams Park
Light Rain Shower, 7 Degrees, 14mph Winds

Fantasy Aviva Premiership Round Twelve 6

London Wasps
Manager Ozzy3213

01. Paul James	09. Aaron Smith
02. Bismarck du Plessis	10. Owen Farrell
03. David Wilson
04. Sebastien Vahaamahina	11. Bryan Habana
05. Jim Hamilton	12. Christian Lealiifano
06. Marcell Coetzee	13. Tim Nanai-Williams
07. Luke Wallace	14. Marland Yarde
08. Duane Vermeulen	15. Gareth Anscombe

16. Rob Hawkins 17. Alex Corbisiero 18. Tom Mercey 19. George Skivington 20. Tom Johnson 21. Siya Kolisi 22. Nick Phipps 23. Anthony Watson

Basic Game Plan
In wet conditions we will be looking to play a territorial game, utilising the boots of Farrell, Lealiifano and Anscombe to play in Chiefs territory or force them to play from deep. When in Chiefss territory we will look to carry close to the ruck and suck defenders in before going wide once the gaps appear. Our back row will look to support and hit rucks hard to free up quick ball. Our intention is to utilize our strengths, which are top kicking games in the backs, and then power and pace to strike within the Chiefs 22.

In defence, as always we will be running a blitz defence. Our focus will be on the gainline collisions and driving back in the tackle. Line speed and no dog-legs will be key components for us. Smith will sweep in behind the defensive line to counter any chips/grubbers.

Specifics

Lineout. On our ball in the main we will go safe throwing to the front or middle and looking to maul and suck in defenders to create space. We will mix things up though and throw in the occasional one long or off the top to keep the Saints line honest.
Scrum. Target the tighthead. Paul James will look to get underneath the taller Mike Ross and destabilize the Chiefs scrum.
Breakdown. When we carry in, if we cannot get the offload away then the support runners will flood the breakdown rucking well past the ball to free it up quickly and go again. In defence, if we have made a passive tackle and the carrier has momentum we will not overcommit, but will maintain a strong defensive line. If we win the collision and knock the carrier back we will look to get the second man in hard over the ball to turn it over. Key for us is being selective.
Attacking Play. We will play in the right areas, using the boots of Farrell, Lealiifano and Anscombe to ensure we dominate the territorial battle. When in the right areas we will look to tie in Chiefs defenders by carrying close to the ruck until the defensive gaps appear further out at which point we will look to hit them.

Key Points

Home advantage. We are unbeaten at home all season and in less than ideal conditions we know the ground a lot better than our opponents.
Key Positions. Our 2,8,9 and 10 are all first choice internationals for 3 of the top 4 ranked sides in the world. That gives us the experience and ability to control the game in these conditions away from home.
Freshness. We have freshened up in the pack this week, and will have energy and be fresh as a result. Chiefs have been in a number of battles with the same side recently, and there is every chance they will be a bit leggy going in to this one.

Exeter Chiefs Chief

Manager – Fluxy

01. Yannick Forestier	09. Maxime Machenaud
02. Rob Webber	10. Toby Flood (k)
03. Mike Ross
04. Bradley Davies	11. Tom Varndell
05. Geoff Parling	12. Ma'a Nonu
06. Chris Robshaw (c)	13. Marcelo Bosch
07. Pablo Matera	14. Maxime Medard
08. Nick Williams	15. Juan Martin Hernandez

16. Jack Yeandle 17. Logovoii Mulipola 18. Will Collier 19. Patricio Albacete 20. Sam Jones 21. Semisi Taulava 22. Freddie Michalak 23. Matt Tait

Key Points

The side is in good form, and can beat anyone on their day.
Target the halfbacks in the slippery conditions. Faz and Smith can be thrown off their games easily and get caught up in little scraps, this will hurt Wasps game.
Same side selected in the past three games. Carrying good form, some chopping and changing the wasps ranks.
Flood will kick all points available, he can kick from within their half, so this indicates that Wasps should be wary of giving away penalties.
Play a simple game in the slippery conditions.
6-2 split on the bench to combat the forward physicality late on and shift momentum.

Game plan

A few close games in the pasts weeks means that the Chiefs are carrying some real momentum into games and believing that we can beat anyway at the moment.
Selected a physically strong side to compete with the physicality of the Wasps side. With the conditions looking likely to prevent any quick rugby out wide and increase the chances of mistakes, Chiefs will implement a simple territorial game and look to be playing with the ball within the opposition 22.
Every time we are in the Wasps 22 we will look to at least leave with three points to keep the score board ticking over and to build a lead.
Simple set-piece game which we look to dominate our own ball, and contest every opposition put in. The pack that has been selected is mobile and strong around the park, especially in the tackle, on the floor and ball in hand.

Attack

Parling will lead the line out and look to set rolling mauls to keep hold of possession and make wasps give away penalties. Look to set the maul first then drive, and try to keep resetting the maul.
Williams will look to make runs into the open at Farrell, as these conditions Williams excels in.
Pack filled big carriers to provide a number of options in the tight exchanges. Look to keep moving the point of attack with clever offloads and forward interplay. Look for forward pods outside the third guard in the line to really stretch their defences and get over the gain line to create momentum.
Look to flood the breakdown and clear out bodies, to keep ball clean so that the halfbacks can dictate the game. (Eg AB's or Eng vs AB 2012 style)
The backs are all possess good kicking games and are decent under high ball in the wet. They will look to peg Wasps back in their 22, and throw in the odd high bomb to fall outside the 22 to create the opportunity to gain a scrum.

Defence

We will use a Blitz drift line in defence to cut down Farrell's options and push him inside towards our back-row.
Machenaud to sweep behind the defencive line, and to counter any loose kicks or turnover ball - either by quickly shipping it wide to the back three, or kicking in behind their back three.
The whole pack is mobile and capable of getting over the ball at the breakdown. Look to powerfully clear opponents out of the ruck, and use the strong tackling to keep chopping down the Wasps runners.
If we kick in behind their back-line or back three, we look to at least make them have to turn into an advancing black line which will not allow the receiver time to make decision or escape with clean ball. Every kick to be chased, the kick is as only as good as the chase.

by Driver Tue 31 Dec 2013, 2:30 pm

Falcons make 2 changes to the starting team which played London Wasps with Jean De Villers and Alex Goode coming into the back line. Brad Barritt drops to the bench and Adam Ashley Cooper drops out all togeather.

Newcastle Falcons

Manager – Driver

01.Matt Mullen	09.Ben Youngs
02.Dane Coles	10.Dan Bigger (K)
03.Owen Franks
04.Yoann Maestri	11.Charlie Sharples
05.Paul O'Connell	12.Jean De Villers
06.Ben Mowen	13.Ben Smith
07.Richie McCaw	14.Charles Pitatau
08.Kieron Read (C)	15.Alex Goode

16.Darren Dawiduik 17.Ryan Grant 18.Paul Doran Jones 19.Ed Slater 20.Andy Saull 21.Dave Lewis 22.Aaron Cruden 23.Brad Barritt

Newcastle will look to play the percentages game using a strong set piece and tactical kicking game to push Sale Sharks back and exploit any weakness in there side.

Youngs/Bigger will look to drop the ball in behind the Sharks wing and test out there kicking game and exploit any space in behind.
When in the opposition 22 we'll look to utilise a strike move to punish Sale Sharks out there with plenty of danger in our back line.
Up front we'll look to use a simple game plan in the pack , grinding out phases and taking Wasps on up front and generating clean and quick ball for Youngs at 9 who will look to marshall his pack around the field and keep the Sharks's back row honest at the ruck. We'll look to go in 2s to ensure we can't be turned over at the break down and secure our own ball. We've got a good scrumming front 5 a lot has been made of Franks lately and i'm sure you don't stay the All Blacks TH if you can't scrummage. Read will look to dictate the tempo of the game at the base controlling the ball and testing the Sale line off side line and how patient POM is at 7.

Dan Bigger will look to ping the ball in behind the Sale wings to see if we can exploit the space in behind them knowing that if we continue to put the ball behind there winger he'll eventually drop back expecting the kick and then we can move the ball to our fantastic broken field runners such as Smith , Pitatau and Sharples. Patience is the key word to our attack and in Dan Bigger we have plenty of that.

In Defence we'll look to be aggressive around the fringe and putting our man to deck early and getting over the ball to slow down or turnover Sale ball. The backs will look to absorb the Sale runners rather than jump out of our line too leave gaps for there wings to come through. When defending and expecting a kick the blidside wing will come round and stand behind our 10 pushing the 15 across so all area's of the field are covered leaving the Sale kicker with little choice but to kick it down our throat and let us run it back or kick too the space. In open play Youngs will sweep behind the line to cover.

Set Piece will be the key to this game and we've got a good lineout with 5 good lineout operators in the pack who will all be able to take ball on. POC will call the lineout as well as jumping at the front to pressure the Sale lineout.

by Fluxy Tue 31 Dec 2013, 2:58 pm

Literally just beat me to doing this!

by LukeLovesLuka Tue 31 Dec 2013, 3:14 pm

Leicester Tigers have named their side to play Bath this week.

Tigers have made 4 changes in the pack from their game against Sale last week. With an eye on fresh legs in this festive period, Tigers include Gethin Jenkins, Nathan Hines, Francois Louw and Ryan Jones into their side. They also bring in the in-form Drew Mitchell into their back three.

Tigers enjoy their second home game in a row, in contrast to Bath who are again on their travels, having faced Northampton Saints away last week.

Leicester Tigers
Manager – LukeLovesLuka

01. Gethin Jenkins	09. Kahn Fotuali'i
02. Stephen Moore	10. Jonny Wilkinson (k)
03. Dan Cole
04. Nathan Hines	11. Henry Speight
05. James Horwill (c)	12. Billy Twelvetrees
06. Sean O'Brien	13. Brian O'Driscoll
07. Francois Louw	14. Drew Mitchell
08. Ryan Jones	15. Mike Brown

16. Tom Youngs 17. Andrew Sheridan 18. Cencus Johnston 19. Kearnan Myall 20. Ernst Joubert 21. Dwayne Peel 22. Pat Lambie 23. Ugo Monye

Tactics:

TBC

by Driver Tue 31 Dec 2013, 3:16 pm

Do the thread if you want Fluxy?

Just copy and paste mine and Luke's teams across.

by dammit_chris Tue 31 Dec 2013, 3:16 pm

Will do first thing tomorrow morning, on my first beer while dressed as a unicorn - not really expecting to be able to write in the next hour or so...

Have a good evening all!

by Fluxy Tue 31 Dec 2013, 3:24 pm

If you've got the time don't worry mate thumbsup

by **Ozzy3213** Wed 01 Jan 2014, 10:05 am

London Wasps
Manager Ozzy3213

01. Paul James	09. Aaron Smith
02. Bismarck du Plessis	10. Owen Farrell
03. David Wilson
04. Sebastien Vahaamahina	11. Bryan Habana
05. Jim Hamilton	12. Christian Lealiifano
06. Marcell Coetzee	13. Tim Nanai-Williams
07. Luke Wallace	14. Marland Yarde
08. Duane Vermeulen	15. Gareth Anscombe

16. Rob Hawkins 17. Alex Corbisiero 18. Tom Mercey 19. George Skivington 20. Tom Johnson 21. Siya Kolisi 22. Nick Phipps 23. Anthony Watson

Basic Game Plan
In wet conditions we will be looking to play a territorial game, utilising the boots of Farrell, Lealiifano and Anscombe to play in Chiefs territory or force them to play from deep. When in Chiefss territory we will look to carry close to the ruck and suck defenders in before going wide once the gaps appear. Our back row will look to support and hit rucks hard to free up quick ball. Our intention is to utilize our strengths, which are top kicking games in the backs, and then power and pace to strike within the Chiefs 22.

In defence, as always we will be running a blitz defence. Our focus will be on the gainline collisions and driving back in the tackle. Line speed and no dog-legs will be key components for us. Smith will sweep in behind the defensive line to counter any chips/grubbers.

Specifics

Lineout. On our ball in the main we will go safe throwing to the front or middle and looking to maul and suck in defenders to create space. We will mix things up though and throw in the occasional one long or off the top to keep the Saints line honest.
Scrum. Target the tighthead. Paul James will look to get underneath the taller Mike Ross and destabilize the Chiefs scrum.
Breakdown. When we carry in, if we cannot get the offload away then the support runners will flood the breakdown rucking well past the ball to free it up quickly and go again. In defence, if we have made a passive tackle and the carrier has momentum we will not overcommit, but will maintain a strong defensive line. If we win the collision and knock the carrier back we will look to get the second man in hard over the ball to turn it over. Key for us is being selective.
Attacking Play. We will play in the right areas, using the boots of Farrell, Lealiifano and Anscombe to ensure we dominate the territorial battle. When in the right areas we will look to tie in Chiefs defenders by carrying close to the ruck until the defensive gaps appear further out at which point we will look to hit them.

Key Points

Home advantage. We are unbeaten at home all season and in less than ideal conditions we know the ground a lot better than our opponents.
Key Positions. Our 2,8,9 and 10 are all first choice internationals for 3 of the top 4 ranked sides in the world. That gives us the experience and ability to control the game in these conditions away from home.
Freshness. We have freshened up in the pack this week, and will have energy and be fresh as a result. Chiefs have been in a number of battles with the same side recently, and there is every chance they will be a bit leggy going in to this one.

by dammit_chris Wed 01 Jan 2014, 11:56 am

Northampton Saints
Manager Dammit Chris

01. Mako Vunipola	09. Nikola Matawalu
02. Tatafu Polota-Nau	10. Matt Toomua
03. Carl Hayman
04. Samo Manoa	11. Sitivini Siviatu
05. Courtney Lawes	12. Wesley Fofana
06. Calum Clark	13. Manu Tuilagi
07. David Pocock	14. Tommy Bowe
08. Sergio Parisse(c)	15. Leigh Halfpenny(k)

Substitutes: 16. Dylan Hartley 17. Thomas Domingo 18. Henry Thomas 19. Joe Launchbury 20. Billy Vunipola 21. Joe Simpson 22. Matt Giteau 23. Elliot Daly

Key selection points: * Team selected to play high intensity, fast-paced attacking game to make best of conditions and backline selected for powerful ball line carries to get us over the gain line. See the gainline battle and who wins the collisions as key.
* Impact bench to bring on in second half and finish final 30 minutes very strongly.
* Freshened the forward pack to ensure we can play high intensity from outset.
* Aware of the threat of Wood and Hopper, so have second row pairing of Lawes and Manoa to support Clark and Pocock who have both been picked for their breakdown prowess.
* Real life form of players and home advantage.
* Halfpenny's boot.

Tactics:Saints will play a high intensity/tempo'd game from the outset and take the game to Quins. We will look to place Quins under pressure with a really physical, aggressive approach and defence to force errors and mistakes to exploit. We will look to win the gainline battle and the collisions with our big ball carriers in both forwards and backs and generate quick ball to attack with. We want the game to be open and expansive and have picked a backline that can score tries from anywhere.

Win the forward battle: Great conditions for our forwards, picked a mobile pack, with a lot of ball carriers and physicality to take the game to the away side and get a good platform for our halfbacks. The forwards are fresh and rested, all good ball carriers and a great bench to bring on and keep momentum going forward.

Setpiece: Plenty of lineout options with Lawes, Manoa, Parisse and Clark. We will aim to generate plenty of quick ball to attack Quins. Will use Lawes athleticism to disrupt Brits throws and give them scrappy ball. A strong scrummaging unit where we will aim to attack off of - Matawulu a very good attacking no9 so will give Quins defence something to think about. Off both set pieces we will put attackers down Cooper's defensive channel.

Breakdown/Backrow: Aware that Wood and Hopper are strong in this area, so have bolstered our backrow with selection of Manoa and Lawes in the pack. Both very mobile and will help Clark and Pocock target turnovers, slow down opposition ball and clear out the breakdown area. Strong defence throughout the team and big backline so will look to knock Quins back in the tackle and give us go forward when we hit rucks.

Possession/Territory: Have Toomua and Halfpenny to dictate the territory game, but will look to keep hold of the ball, control possession and keep Quins tackling for the whole 80 minutes. Toomua has great restarts, so will look to really target Quins here.

Attack the Gainline/Win Collisions: Again look to win the collisions and get over the gainline to provide our backs with the platform to attack, big ball carriers in the pack who can all get us over the gainline. We will look to get runners off Toomua, utilising dummy runs to cause Quins defensive problems, have Bowe, Siviatu, Fofana and Tuilagi as gainline options.

Defence: Aggressive blitz defence, putting pressure onto the Quins halfbacks. Specifically picked Toomua as no10 due to his big tackling and will look at him to get in Cooper's face. Will look for big hits and to force mistakes. Matawulu to sweep behind and backthree to counter any loose kicks..

by Steven_Sharks Wed 01 Jan 2014, 2:24 pm

Harlequins
Manager – Steven_Sharks

01. Tony Woodcock	09. Lee Dickson
02. Schalk Brits	10. Quade Cooper
03. John Afoa
04. Bakkies Botha	11. Luke Morahan
05. Steve Borthwick (c)	12. Jamie Roberts
06. Tom Wood	13. Florian Fritz
07. Michael Hooper	14. Yoann Huget
08. Nick Easter	15. Rob Kearney

16. Rob Buchanan 17. Joe Marler 18. Kieran Brookes 19. George Kruis 20. Sam Warburton 21. Greig Laidlaw 22. Freddie Burns 23. Jonathan Joseph

Tactics

Look to control the game in the pack and at half back. We think we can gain an advantage at the set piece and game management of our half backs. When in our half we will look to kick into space behind Sivivatu and look to get the ball into touch so we can put huge pressure on the Saints lineout and TPN's throw.

When in the Saints half we will look to play our usual game of patient ball retention looking for the right time to up the tempo with Dickson and Cooper controlling this with runners running off 9 and 10. We will look to win the collisions and get across the gain line by carrying in numbers so the offload is available if on or so we can get quick ball to attack with against an organised defence. We will look to use Roberts and Fritz to cut lines for Cooper to pick out and keep the Saints midfield guessing as whilst they are physical we feel they can be found out positionally with players running hard lines and players behind offering the wedge option.

The set piece is where we feel we can really pressure Saints at both scrum and lineout. At the scrum we will look to really hit Saints hard on the engage and look for Afoa to get right underneath Mako. At the lineout we will look to put huge pressure on Saints will Borthwick, Wood, Botha and Easter looking to put huge pressure on the Saints jumpers therefore making it tough for TPN to throw. We really hope to make the set piece and area of dominance.

In defence we are going to look to employ a up and out defence with a quick line speed. We will look to be physical in the collision and look to double up in contact when we can and get our players over the ball to turnover or slow the play down legally. We will look to remain disciplined and not allow Halfpenny the chance to get his eye in with the tee. Also look to put huge pressure on Matavalu and Toomua as a half back combo.

Key Points

Real life form - In Hooper we have the best 7 in the world over the last 12 months (Planet Rugby, Espn and Will Greenwoods TOTY to name the first three I checked). We also have Cooper in great nick as well as numerous other players

Experience - We have a lot of experienced players especially in the pack. Look to use this when controlling the game and making decisions on the pitch

Put huge pressure on the Saints half backs. Wood and Hooper to lead this.

by stnick88 Wed 01 Jan 2014, 8:12 pm

1 Tendai Mtawrira
2 Dave Ward
3 BJ Botha
4 Mouritz Botha
5 Johann Muller
6 Dave Denton
7 Ross Rennie
8 Johnnie Beattie
9 Dimitri Yachvili
10 Francois Trinh-Duc
11 David Strettle
12 Maxime Mermoz
13 Mathieu Bastereaud
14 Willie Le Roux
15 Delon Armitage

16 Nathan Catt
17 Richardt Strauss
18 Brett Sturgess
19 James Percival
20 Thomas Waldrom
21 Tawera Kerr-Barlow
22 Olly Barkley
23 Mark Cueto

Tactics

Win the battle upfront. Two big props to scrum with and try win us some scrum pens.

Muller to call lineout, supported by botha, denton and beattie. Muller to disrupt as much opposition as possible.

Scottish backrow to work as a unit and get us quick ball whilst slowing down as much irish ball as we can.

Half backs to dictate play, get us territory which they are both suited to.

Bast to be used as crash ball and decoy runner to keep irish guessing

Delon to use the garry owen when necessary to test irish back 3

Use rolling maul from lineouts to gain as much territory as poss and maybe score push over tries

Yachvili to kick all pens for goal in range

by prop_lyd Thu 02 Jan 2014, 12:31 pm

Manager - Prop

01. Tom Court	09. Rory Kockott
02. Tom Lindsay	10. Nick Evans (k)
03. Adam Jones
04. Stuart Hooper	11. JSD
05. Manuka Gorgodze	12. Luke McAlister
06. Scott Higginbotham (c)	13. Conrad Smith
07. Justin Tipuric	14. Nick Cummins
08. Ben Morgan	15. Brice Dulin

16. C.Tolofua 17. T.Smallbone 18. M.Stevens 19. M.Garvey 20. T.Dusatoir 21. J.Moates 22. S.Geraghty 23. H.Trinder

Key Points

Form
We have taken at least a point from every game, have one of the best defences and are near the top of the table for tries scored. The majority of this team will be rested after this game as we go into the cup competitions.

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.

Lineouts
Our lineouts have been picked on and targetting quite often however, we have selected a team with powerful lifters and consistent jumpers so Lindsay will be used to their jumping. We will be keeping them simple and use banker ball a lot. Any messy lineouts will go to the prop standing at the front and driven on. We will look to maul alot of ball if it is not on.

Attacking

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

Kockott and Evans to play what's in front of them and look to McAlister who will look to play in Smith or snipe as much as possible. If it isn't on then Evans will stick it in the corners and, with Hooper, Gorgodze, Higginbotham 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 JSD and Cummins.

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 Tolofua, Stevens and Dusatoir will have a field day against tired legs, excitement to continue to target the tired players through Moates' sniping, heavy impact at the scrum to come on and Geraghty can continue to control the game and bring further excitement and pace..

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 McAlister so he has no time to kick or give quick ball to the centres (we will have a backrower on Evans's shoulder to look for quick turnover ball, we will protect the channels to stop 9 sniping.

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

We will hit the breakdown quick to give Tipuric 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.

by CJB Thu 02 Jan 2014, 2:38 pm

Bath Rugby
Manager – inthefastlane

01. Charlie Faumuania	09. Morgen Parra
02. Richard Hibbard	10. Charlie Hodgson
03. Ben Tameifuma
04. Graham Kitchener	11. Nopolini Nalaga
05. Andries Bekker	12. Scott Williams
06. Dan Lydiate	13. Joel Tomkins
07. Liam Gill/td]	14. Alex Cuthbert

08. Juan Martin Fernando Lovbe	15. Chris Pennell

|;
16. Mike Haywood 17. Carl Rimmer 18. James Slipper 19. James Gaskell 20. Jordan Crane 21. Richard Wigglesworth 22. Anthony Allen 23. Paddy Jackson

Overall: Look to play flowing rugby with Hodgson pulling the strings. We have a mobile, dynamic pack and will be hoping for a set-piece and open play advantage.

Scrum: Set the scrum quickly and try to exert pressure on the Tigers

Lineout: Belker to call with Lobbe jumping and Kitchener as a banker ball option. Look to get up into the air quickly and down for a quick maul

Breakdown: Not looking to be over committed at the breakdown but if a turnover is possible then be aggressive. Gill will be supported Lobbe and Ben T at the breakdown

Defence: Banana Blitz Defence looking to slow down the ball and put pressure on half backs. Lydiate will look to be aggressive and put pressure on Wilkinson. Parra to sweep in behind.

Our half backs will control our rugby. Parraand Hodgson can play what they see and put the rest of the back line in strong positions. We have strong runners who can get over the gainline throughout the side with a very dynamic pack and a big back line. The back line is highly physical and will look to create gaps and mismatches

Subs: look to keep a high tempo

by SirJohnnyEnglish Thu 02 Jan 2014, 5:01 pm

Conditions:

Kingston Park: Light Rain, 6 Degrees, 20mph Winds
Kingsholm: Light Rain Shower, 7 Degrees, 24mph Winds
Welford Road: Light Cloud, 6 Degrees, 21mph Winds
Madjeski Stadium: Light Cloud, 7 Degrees, 20mph Winds
Franklins Garden: Light Cloud, 6 Degrees, 22mph Winds
Adams Park: Light Rain Shower, 7 Degrees, 14mph Winds

by Fluxy Thu 02 Jan 2014, 5:53 pm

Exeter Chiefs Chief

Manager – Fluxy

01. Yannick Forestier	09. Maxime Machenaud
02. Rob Webber	10. Toby Flood (k)
03. Mike Ross
04. Bradley Davies	11. Tom Varndell
05. Geoff Parling	12. Ma'a Nonu
06. Chris Robshaw (c)	13. Marcelo Bosch
07. Pablo Matera	14. Maxime Medard
08. Nick Williams	15. Juan Martin Hernandez

16. Jack Yeandle 17. Logovoii Mulipola 18. Will Collier 19. Patricio Albacete 20. Sam Jones 21. Semisi Taulava 22. Freddie Michalak 23. Matt Tait

Key Points

The side is in good form, and can beat anyone on their day.
Target the halfbacks in the slippery conditions. Faz and Smith can be thrown off their games easily and get caught up in little scraps, this will hurt Wasps game.
Same side selected in the past three games. Carrying good form, some chopping and changing the wasps ranks.
Flood will kick all points available, he can kick from within their half, so this indicates that Wasps should be wary of giving away penalties.
Play a simple game in the slippery conditions.
6-2 split on the bench to combat the forward physicality late on and shift momentum.

Game plan

A few close games in the pasts weeks means that the Chiefs are carrying some real momentum into games and believing that we can beat anyway at the moment.
Selected a physically strong side to compete with the physicality of the Wasps side. With the conditions looking likely to prevent any quick rugby out wide and increase the chances of mistakes, Chiefs will implement a simple territorial game and look to be playing with the ball within the opposition 22.
Every time we are in the Wasps 22 we will look to at least leave with three points to keep the score board ticking over and to build a lead.
Simple set-piece game which we look to dominate our own ball, and contest every opposition put in. The pack that has been selected is mobile and strong around the park, especially in the tackle, on the floor and ball in hand.

Attack

Parling will lead the line out and look to set rolling mauls to keep hold of possession and make wasps give away penalties. Look to set the maul first then drive, and try to keep resetting the maul.
Williams will look to make runs into the open at Farrell, as these conditions Williams excels in.
Pack filled big carriers to provide a number of options in the tight exchanges. Look to keep moving the point of attack with clever offloads and forward interplay. Look for forward pods outside the third guard in the line to really stretch their defences and get over the gain line to create momentum.
Look to flood the breakdown and clear out bodies, to keep ball clean so that the halfbacks can dictate the game. (Eg AB's or Eng vs AB 2012 style)
The backs are all possess good kicking games and are decent under high ball in the wet. They will look to peg Wasps back in their 22, and throw in the odd high bomb to fall outside the 22 to create the opportunity to gain a scrum.

Defence

We will use a Blitz drift line in defence to cut down Farrell's options and push him inside towards our back-row.
Machenaud to sweep behind the defencive line, and to counter any loose kicks or turnover ball - either by quickly shipping it wide to the back three, or kicking in behind their back three.
The whole pack is mobile and capable of getting over the ball at the breakdown. Look to powerfully clear opponents out of the ruck, and use the strong tackling to keep chopping down the Wasps runners.
If we kick in behind their back-line or back three, we look to at least make them have to turn into an advancing black line which will not allow the receiver time to make decision or escape with clean ball. Every kick to be chased, the kick is as only as good as the chase.

by SirJohnnyEnglish Thu 02 Jan 2014, 11:58 pm

Sale Sharks
Manager – SJE

01. Marcos Ayerza	09. Danny Care
02. Benjamin Kayser	10. Johnny Sexton
03. Davit Zirakishvilli
04. Brodie Retalick	11. Simon Zebo
05. Dave Attwood	12. Francois Steyn
06. Yannick Nyanga	13. George Pisi
07. Peter O'Mahony	14. Kyle Eastmond
08. Louis Picamoles	15. Nick Abendanon

16. Ross Harrison 17. David Paice 18. Phil Swainston 19. Christian Day 20. Iain Henderson 21. Matt Kvesic 22. Ben Spencer 23. James Hook

We will play the game in the opposition half with an intelligent kicking game. When there we will play a fast paced, high intensity offloading game looking to create space for our halfbacks and to get our back three onto the ball as much possible.

- Freshness! Key players including Zirka, Attwood, Pickles, Care & Sexton come into this off a rest last week and will be ready and raring throughout!

- Target the scrum. Good technical front row supported by plenty of grunt will look to get on top and win penalties.

- Attack from the lineout. Five genuine jumping options allows us to mix it up and really use the lineout as an attacking platform. Look to get the ball to Sexton and Eastmond with space outside.

- Target the opposition lineout with O’Mahony jumping at the front and Attwood & Retalick marshalling the middle to pick of oppositions throws. Sexton & Eastmond will relish attacking an unset defence.

- Look to mix up play. Sexton & Eastmond to interchange at first receiver and change the point of attack. Care provides a threat snipping around the base.

- Get the back three involved. Zebo, Eastmond and Bendy all to run lines looking for the inside ball or offload to get in behind the opposition defence.

- Attack the midfield. De Villiers on debut and Smith poor positionally at 13. Back three runners will look to get in behind with offloads and decoy runs from midfield.

- Hit the breakdown hard. Look to our dynamic front five to clear the ruck and allow the likes of Nyanga & POM to really attack the breakdown.

- Straight line blitz defence focusing on a quick line speed to isolate the ball carrier before the gain line. Care to sweep in behind to cover chips and grubbers.

by SirJohnnyEnglish Fri 03 Jan 2014, 9:52 am

Predictions by 15:00 hours on Sunday

Newcastle Falcons v Sale Sharks
Location - Kingston Park
Light Rain, 6 Degrees, 20mph Winds

Newcastle Falcons

Manager – Driver

01.Matt Mullen	09.Ben Youngs
02.Dane Coles	10.Dan Bigger (K)
03.Owen Franks
04.Yoann Maestri	11.Charlie Sharples
05.Paul O'Connell	12.Jean De Villers
06.Ben Mowen	13.Ben Smith
07.Richie McCaw	14.Charles Pitatau
08.Kieron Read (C)	15.Alex Goode

16.Darren Dawiduik 17.Ryan Grant 18.Paul Doran Jones 19.Ed Slater 20.Andy Saull 21.Dave Lewis 22.Aaron Cruden 23.Brad Barritt

Newcastle will look to play the percentages game using a strong set piece and tactical kicking game to push Sale Sharks back and exploit any weakness in there side.

Youngs/Bigger will look to drop the ball in behind the Sharks wing and test out there kicking game and exploit any space in behind.
When in the opposition 22 we'll look to utilise a strike move to punish Sale Sharks out there with plenty of danger in our back line.

Up front we'll look to use a simple game plan in the pack , grinding out phases and taking Wasps on up front and generating clean and quick ball for Youngs at 9 who will look to marshall his pack around the field and keep the Sharks's back row honest at the ruck. We'll look to go in 2s to ensure we can't be turned over at the break down and secure our own ball. We've got a good scrumming front 5 a lot has been made of Franks lately and i'm sure you don't stay the All Blacks TH if you can't scrummage. Read will look to dictate the tempo of the game at the base controlling the ball and testing the Sale line off side line and how patient POM is at 7.

Dan Bigger will look to ping the ball in behind the Sale wings to see if we can exploit the space in behind them knowing that if we continue to put the ball behind there winger he'll eventually drop back expecting the kick and then we can move the ball to our fantastic broken field runners such as Smith , Pitatau and Sharples. Patience is the key word to our attack and in Dan Bigger we have plenty of that.

In Defence we'll look to be aggressive around the fringe and putting our man to deck early and getting over the ball to slow down or turnover Sale ball. The backs will look to absorb the Sale runners rather than jump out of our line too leave gaps for there wings to come through. When defending and expecting a kick the blidside wing will come round and stand behind our 10 pushing the 15 across so all area's of the field are covered leaving the Sale kicker with little choice but to kick it down our throat and let us run it back or kick too the space. In open play Youngs will sweep behind the line to cover.

Set Piece will be the key to this game and we've got a good lineout with 5 good lineout operators in the pack who will all be able to take ball on. POC will call the lineout as well as jumping at the front to pressure the Sale lineout.

Sale Sharks
Manager – SJE

01. Marcos Ayerza	09. Danny Care
02. Benjamin Kayser	10. Johnny Sexton
03. Davit Zirakishvilli
04. Brodie Retalick	11. Simon Zebo
05. Dave Attwood	12. Francois Steyn
06. Yannick Nyanga	13. George Pisi
07. Peter O'Mahony	14. Kyle Eastmond
08. Louis Picamoles	15. Nick Abendanon

16. Ross Harrison 17. David Paice 18. Phil Swainston 19. Christian Day 20. Iain Henderson 21. Matt Kvesic 22. Ben Spencer 23. James Hook

We will play the game in the opposition half with an intelligent kicking game. When there we will play a fast paced, high intensity offloading game looking to create space for our halfbacks and to get our back three onto the ball as much possible.

- Freshness! Key players including Zirka, Attwood, Pickles, Care & Sexton come into this off a rest last week and will be ready and raring throughout!

- Target the scrum. Good technical front row supported by plenty of grunt will look to get on top and win penalties.

- Attack from the lineout. Five genuine jumping options allows us to mix it up and really use the lineout as an attacking platform. Look to get the ball to Sexton and Eastmond with space outside.

- Target the opposition lineout with O’Mahony jumping at the front and Attwood & Retalick marshalling the middle to pick of oppositions throws. Sexton & Eastmond will relish attacking an unset defence.

- Look to mix up play. Sexton & Eastmond to interchange at first receiver and change the point of attack. Care provides a threat snipping around the base.

- Get the back three involved. Zebo, Eastmond and Bendy all to run lines looking for the inside ball or offload to get in behind the opposition defence.

- Attack the midfield. De Villiers on debut and Smith poor positionally at 13. Back three runners will look to get in behind with offloads and decoy runs from midfield.

- Hit the breakdown hard. Look to our dynamic front five to clear the ruck and allow the likes of Nyanga & POM to really attack the breakdown.

- Straight line blitz defence focusing on a quick line speed to isolate the ball carrier before the gain line. Care to sweep in behind to cover chips and grubbers.

Gloucester Rugby v Saracens
Location - Kingsholm
Light Rain Shower, 7 Degrees, 24mph Winds

Gloucester Rugby

01. Nick Wood 09. Connor Murray
02. Adriaan Strauss 10. Dan Carter (k)
03. Nicola Mas
04. Eben Etzbeth 11. Johnny May
05. George Robson 12. Matt Scott
06. Willem Alberts 13. Tevita Kuridrani
07. Julian Salvi 14. Matt Banahan
08. Jaimie Heaslip 15. Israel Dagg

16 Guthro Steenkamp 17 Jamie George 18 Rupert Harden19 Elliot Stooke 20 Tom Croft 21 Israel Folau 22 Dan Robson 23 Danny Cipriani

In greasy conditions with fairly strong winds basics will play a big part in today's game

Set Piece

We will look to Target their scrum to put pressure on them. Wood Strauss and Mas will look to to really disrupt their ball and drive them back.
On our ball we will look to utilise our advantage to turn the scrum to where we want it do help our 8 and 9 deliver quality options

Line out
we have 5 jumpers and will look to challenge Saracens ball as often as possible to build pressure.

On our ball we will vary it. We will be looking to drive in our half and go off the top mainly In their half.

Generally we will be looking to get our dynamic pack on the front foot and over the gainline to produce quick ball to give to carter. We have a pack full of carriers and pace so will look to target the breakdown by getting there first and hitting it hard. We have a lot of footballing forwards in our pack so will be looking to offload if on but are cautious of the potentially greasy ball.The weather is - bit wet and windy but not so bad that you cannot play. We are relying on our big name players to use all their experience to play the right options. When it's on it on and we are committed to playing.

Backs

We will look for our 9 and 10 to run the show.

Carter will kick a lot initially as we want to win the territory battle. We like to examine the oppositions defence going backward so they will be tested out.

We see the length of Carter's kicking being able to give us territory so we can play in the right places.

When in their half we will look to hit them at pace when it's on. We will utilise the wind when at our backs to play territory and pin them back. When against the wind we will play a lot more to negate its effect and keep ball.
Murray can really up the pace and will look to hit carter so he can play. We have a backline that has pace subtlety and gas and feel that we have the ability to unlock their defence for lots of tries.

Carter will look to create mismatches and we will look to isolate players.

We will also when it's on try the up and under and the cross kick.

Defensively we will look to blitz to put pressure on Steyn.This could lead to some intercepts. Murray to act as sweeper

All lockable penalties taken and bench used as necessary with folau coming on at 50

Key points

2.8,9,10,12 are key positions for dominating a game and we are wc in these positions
Front row. We have wc players in tremendous form
Bench has class to bring on
Home advantage

Leicester Tigers v Bath Rugby
Location - Welford Road
Light Cloud, 6 Degrees, 21mph Winds

Leicester Tigers
Manager – LukeLovesLuka

01. Gethin Jenkins	09. Kahn Fotuali'i
02. Stephen Moore	10. Jonny Wilkinson (k)
03. Dan Cole
04. Nathan Hines	11. Henry Speight
05. James Horwill (c)	12. Billy Twelvetrees
06. Sean O'Brien	13. Brian O'Driscoll
07. Francois Louw	14. Drew Mitchell
08. Ryan Jones	15. Mike Brown

16. Tom Youngs 17. Andrew Sheridan 18. Cencus Johnston 19. Kearnan Myall 20. Ernst Joubert 21. Dwayne Peel 22. Pat Lambie 23. Ugo Monye

Tactics:

Bath Rugby
Manager – inthefastlane

01. Charlie Faumuania	09. Morgen Parra
02. Richard Hibbard	10. Charlie Hodgson
03. Ben Tameifuma
04. Graham Kitchener	11. Nopolini Nalaga
05. Andries Bekker	12. Scott Williams
06. Dan Lydiate	13. Joel Tomkins
07. Liam Gill/td]	14. Alex Cuthbert

08. Juan Martin Fernando Lovbe	15. Chris Pennell

|;
16. Mike Haywood 17. Carl Rimmer 18. James Slipper 19. James Gaskell 20. Jordan Crane 21. Richard Wigglesworth 22. Anthony Allen 23. Paddy Jackson

Overall: Look to play flowing rugby with Hodgson pulling the strings. We have a mobile, dynamic pack and will be hoping for a set-piece and open play advantage.

Scrum: Set the scrum quickly and try to exert pressure on the Tigers

Lineout: Belker to call with Lobbe jumping and Kitchener as a banker ball option. Look to get up into the air quickly and down for a quick maul

Breakdown: Not looking to be over committed at the breakdown but if a turnover is possible then be aggressive. Gill will be supported Lobbe and Ben T at the breakdown

Defence: Banana Blitz Defence looking to slow down the ball and put pressure on half backs. Lydiate will look to be aggressive and put pressure on Wilkinson. Parra to sweep in behind.

Our half backs will control our rugby. Parraand Hodgson can play what they see and put the rest of the back line in strong positions. We have strong runners who can get over the gainline throughout the side with a very dynamic pack and a big back line. The back line is highly physical and will look to create gaps and mismatches

Subs: look to keep a high tempo

London Irish v Worcester Warriors
Location - Madjeski Stadium
Light Cloud, 7 Degrees, 20mph Winds

London Irish
Manager - Prop

01. Tom Court	09. Rory Kockott
02. Tom Lindsay	10. Nick Evans (k)
03. Adam Jones
04. Stuart Hooper	11. JSD
05. Manuka Gorgodze	12. Luke McAlister
06. Scott Higginbotham (c)	13. Conrad Smith
07. Justin Tipuric	14. Nick Cummins
08. Ben Morgan	15. Brice Dulin

16. C.Tolofua 17. T.Smallbone 18. M.Stevens 19. M.Garvey 20. T.Dusatoir 21. J.Moates 22. S.Geraghty 23. H.Trinder

Key Points

Form
We have taken at least a point from every game, have one of the best defences and are near the top of the table for tries scored. The majority of this team will be rested after this game as we go into the cup competitions.

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.

Lineouts
Our lineouts have been picked on and targetting quite often however, we have selected a team with powerful lifters and consistent jumpers so Lindsay will be used to their jumping. We will be keeping them simple and use banker ball a lot. Any messy lineouts will go to the prop standing at the front and driven on. We will look to maul alot of ball if it is not on.

Attacking

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

Kockott and Evans to play what's in front of them and look to McAlister who will look to play in Smith or snipe as much as possible. If it isn't on then Evans will stick it in the corners and, with Hooper, Gorgodze, Higginbotham 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 JSD and Cummins.

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 Tolofua, Stevens and Dusatoir will have a field day against tired legs, excitement to continue to target the tired players through Moates' sniping, heavy impact at the scrum to come on and Geraghty can continue to control the game and bring further excitement and pace..

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 McAlister so he has no time to kick or give quick ball to the centres (we will have a backrower on Evans's shoulder to look for quick turnover ball, we will protect the channels to stop 9 sniping.

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

We will hit the breakdown quick to give Tipuric 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.

1 Tendai Mtawrira
2 Dave Ward
3 BJ Botha
4 Mouritz Botha
5 Johann Muller
6 Dave Denton
7 Ross Rennie
8 Johnnie Beattie
9 Dimitri Yachvili
10 Francois Trinh-Duc
11 David Strettle
12 Maxime Mermoz
13 Mathieu Bastereaud
14 Willie Le Roux
15 Delon Armitage

16 Nathan Catt
17 Richardt Strauss
18 Brett Sturgess
19 James Percival
20 Thomas Waldrom
21 Tawera Kerr-Barlow
22 Olly Barkley
23 Mark Cueto

Tactics

Win the battle upfront. Two big props to scrum with and try win us some scrum pens.

Muller to call lineout, supported by botha, denton and beattie. Muller to disrupt as much opposition as possible.

Scottish backrow to work as a unit and get us quick ball whilst slowing down as much irish ball as we can.

Half backs to dictate play, get us territory which they are both suited to.

Bast to be used as crash ball and decoy runner to keep irish guessing

Delon to use the garry owen when necessary to test irish back 3

Use rolling maul from lineouts to gain as much territory as poss and maybe score push over tries

Yachvili to kick all pens for goal in range

Northampton Saints v Harlequins
Location - Franklins Garden
Light Cloud, 6 Degrees, 22mph Winds

Northampton Saints
Manager Dammit Chris

01. Mako Vunipola	09. Nikola Matawalu
02. Tatafu Polota-Nau	10. Matt Toomua
03. Carl Hayman
04. Samo Manoa	11. Sitivini Siviatu
05. Courtney Lawes	12. Wesley Fofana
06. Calum Clark	13. Manu Tuilagi
07. David Pocock	14. Tommy Bowe
08. Sergio Parisse(c)	15. Leigh Halfpenny(k)

Substitutes: 16. Dylan Hartley 17. Thomas Domingo 18. Henry Thomas 19. Joe Launchbury 20. Billy Vunipola 21. Joe Simpson 22. Matt Giteau 23. Elliot Daly

Key selection points: * Team selected to play high intensity, fast-paced attacking game to make best of conditions and backline selected for powerful ball line carries to get us over the gain line. See the gainline battle and who wins the collisions as key.
* Impact bench to bring on in second half and finish final 30 minutes very strongly.
* Freshened the forward pack to ensure we can play high intensity from outset.
* Aware of the threat of Wood and Hopper, so have second row pairing of Lawes and Manoa to support Clark and Pocock who have both been picked for their breakdown prowess.
* Real life form of players and home advantage.
* Halfpenny's boot.

Tactics:Saints will play a high intensity/tempo'd game from the outset and take the game to Quins. We will look to place Quins under pressure with a really physical, aggressive approach and defence to force errors and mistakes to exploit. We will look to win the gainline battle and the collisions with our big ball carriers in both forwards and backs and generate quick ball to attack with. We want the game to be open and expansive and have picked a backline that can score tries from anywhere.

Win the forward battle: Great conditions for our forwards, picked a mobile pack, with a lot of ball carriers and physicality to take the game to the away side and get a good platform for our halfbacks. The forwards are fresh and rested, all good ball carriers and a great bench to bring on and keep momentum going forward.

Setpiece: Plenty of lineout options with Lawes, Manoa, Parisse and Clark. We will aim to generate plenty of quick ball to attack Quins. Will use Lawes athleticism to disrupt Brits throws and give them scrappy ball. A strong scrummaging unit where we will aim to attack off of - Matawulu a very good attacking no9 so will give Quins defence something to think about. Off both set pieces we will put attackers down Cooper's defensive channel.

Breakdown/Backrow: Aware that Wood and Hopper are strong in this area, so have bolstered our backrow with selection of Manoa and Lawes in the pack. Both very mobile and will help Clark and Pocock target turnovers, slow down opposition ball and clear out the breakdown area. Strong defence throughout the team and big backline so will look to knock Quins back in the tackle and give us go forward when we hit rucks.

Possession/Territory: Have Toomua and Halfpenny to dictate the territory game, but will look to keep hold of the ball, control possession and keep Quins tackling for the whole 80 minutes. Toomua has great restarts, so will look to really target Quins here.

Attack the Gainline/Win Collisions: Again look to win the collisions and get over the gainline to provide our backs with the platform to attack, big ball carriers in the pack who can all get us over the gainline. We will look to get runners off Toomua, utilising dummy runs to cause Quins defensive problems, have Bowe, Siviatu, Fofana and Tuilagi as gainline options.

Defence: Aggressive blitz defence, putting pressure onto the Quins halfbacks. Specifically picked Toomua as no10 due to his big tackling and will look at him to get in Cooper's face. Will look for big hits and to force mistakes. Matawulu to sweep behind and backthree to counter any loose kicks..

Harlequins
Manager – Steven_Sharks

01. Tony Woodcock	09. Lee Dickson
02. Schalk Brits	10. Quade Cooper
03. John Afoa
04. Bakkies Botha	11. Luke Morahan
05. Steve Borthwick (c)	12. Jamie Roberts
06. Tom Wood	13. Florian Fritz
07. Michael Hooper	14. Yoann Huget
08. Nick Easter	15. Rob Kearney

16. Rob Buchanan 17. Joe Marler 18. Kieran Brookes 19. George Kruis 20. Sam Warburton 21. Greig Laidlaw 22. Freddie Burns 23. Jonathan Joseph

Tactics

Look to control the game in the pack and at half back. We think we can gain an advantage at the set piece and game management of our half backs. When in our half we will look to kick into space behind Sivivatu and look to get the ball into touch so we can put huge pressure on the Saints lineout and TPN's throw.

When in the Saints half we will look to play our usual game of patient ball retention looking for the right time to up the tempo with Dickson and Cooper controlling this with runners running off 9 and 10. We will look to win the collisions and get across the gain line by carrying in numbers so the offload is available if on or so we can get quick ball to attack with against an organised defence. We will look to use Roberts and Fritz to cut lines for Cooper to pick out and keep the Saints midfield guessing as whilst they are physical we feel they can be found out positionally with players running hard lines and players behind offering the wedge option.

The set piece is where we feel we can really pressure Saints at both scrum and lineout. At the scrum we will look to really hit Saints hard on the engage and look for Afoa to get right underneath Mako. At the lineout we will look to put huge pressure on Saints will Borthwick, Wood, Botha and Easter looking to put huge pressure on the Saints jumpers therefore making it tough for TPN to throw. We really hope to make the set piece and area of dominance.

In defence we are going to look to employ a up and out defence with a quick line speed. We will look to be physical in the collision and look to double up in contact when we can and get our players over the ball to turnover or slow the play down legally. We will look to remain disciplined and not allow Halfpenny the chance to get his eye in with the tee. Also look to put huge pressure on Matavalu and Toomua as a half back combo.

Key Points

Real life form - In Hooper we have the best 7 in the world over the last 12 months (Planet Rugby, Espn and Will Greenwoods TOTY to name the first three I checked). We also have Cooper in great nick as well as numerous other players

Experience - We have a lot of experienced players especially in the pack. Look to use this when controlling the game and making decisions on the pitch

Put huge pressure on the Saints half backs. Wood and Hooper to lead this.

London Wasps v Exeter Chiefs
Location - Adams Park
Light Rain Shower, 7 Degrees, 14mph Winds

London Wasps
Manager Ozzy3213

01. Paul James	09. Aaron Smith
02. Bismarck du Plessis	10. Owen Farrell
03. David Wilson
04. Sebastien Vahaamahina	11. Bryan Habana
05. Jim Hamilton	12. Christian Lealiifano
06. Marcell Coetzee	13. Tim Nanai-Williams
07. Luke Wallace	14. Marland Yarde
08. Duane Vermeulen	15. Gareth Anscombe

16. Rob Hawkins 17. Alex Corbisiero 18. Tom Mercey 19. George Skivington 20. Tom Johnson 21. Siya Kolisi 22. Nick Phipps 23. Anthony Watson

Basic Game Plan
In wet conditions we will be looking to play a territorial game, utilising the boots of Farrell, Lealiifano and Anscombe to play in Chiefs territory or force them to play from deep. When in Chiefss territory we will look to carry close to the ruck and suck defenders in before going wide once the gaps appear. Our back row will look to support and hit rucks hard to free up quick ball. Our intention is to utilize our strengths, which are top kicking games in the backs, and then power and pace to strike within the Chiefs 22.

In defence, as always we will be running a blitz defence. Our focus will be on the gainline collisions and driving back in the tackle. Line speed and no dog-legs will be key components for us. Smith will sweep in behind the defensive line to counter any chips/grubbers.

Specifics

Lineout. On our ball in the main we will go safe throwing to the front or middle and looking to maul and suck in defenders to create space. We will mix things up though and throw in the occasional one long or off the top to keep the Saints line honest.
Scrum. Target the tighthead. Paul James will look to get underneath the taller Mike Ross and destabilize the Chiefs scrum.
Breakdown. When we carry in, if we cannot get the offload away then the support runners will flood the breakdown rucking well past the ball to free it up quickly and go again. In defence, if we have made a passive tackle and the carrier has momentum we will not overcommit, but will maintain a strong defensive line. If we win the collision and knock the carrier back we will look to get the second man in hard over the ball to turn it over. Key for us is being selective.
Attacking Play. We will play in the right areas, using the boots of Farrell, Lealiifano and Anscombe to ensure we dominate the territorial battle. When in the right areas we will look to tie in Chiefs defenders by carrying close to the ruck until the defensive gaps appear further out at which point we will look to hit them.

Key Points

Home advantage. We are unbeaten at home all season and in less than ideal conditions we know the ground a lot better than our opponents.
Key Positions. Our 2,8,9 and 10 are all first choice internationals for 3 of the top 4 ranked sides in the world. That gives us the experience and ability to control the game in these conditions away from home.
Freshness. We have freshened up in the pack this week, and will have energy and be fresh as a result. Chiefs have been in a number of battles with the same side recently, and there is every chance they will be a bit leggy going in to this one.

Exeter Chiefs Chief

Manager – Fluxy

01. Yannick Forestier	09. Maxime Machenaud
02. Rob Webber	10. Toby Flood (k)
03. Mike Ross
04. Bradley Davies	11. Tom Varndell
05. Geoff Parling	12. Ma'a Nonu
06. Chris Robshaw (c)	13. Marcelo Bosch
07. Pablo Matera	14. Maxime Medard
08. Nick Williams	15. Juan Martin Hernandez

16. Jack Yeandle 17. Logovoii Mulipola 18. Will Collier 19. Patricio Albacete 20. Sam Jones 21. Semisi Taulava 22. Freddie Michalak 23. Matt Tait

Key Points

The side is in good form, and can beat anyone on their day.
Target the halfbacks in the slippery conditions. Faz and Smith can be thrown off their games easily and get caught up in little scraps, this will hurt Wasps game.
Same side selected in the past three games. Carrying good form, some chopping and changing the wasps ranks.
Flood will kick all points available, he can kick from within their half, so this indicates that Wasps should be wary of giving away penalties.
Play a simple game in the slippery conditions.
6-2 split on the bench to combat the forward physicality late on and shift momentum.

Game plan

A few close games in the pasts weeks means that the Chiefs are carrying some real momentum into games and believing that we can beat anyway at the moment.
Selected a physically strong side to compete with the physicality of the Wasps side. With the conditions looking likely to prevent any quick rugby out wide and increase the chances of mistakes, Chiefs will implement a simple territorial game and look to be playing with the ball within the opposition 22.
Every time we are in the Wasps 22 we will look to at least leave with three points to keep the score board ticking over and to build a lead.
Simple set-piece game which we look to dominate our own ball, and contest every opposition put in. The pack that has been selected is mobile and strong around the park, especially in the tackle, on the floor and ball in hand.

Attack

Parling will lead the line out and look to set rolling mauls to keep hold of possession and make wasps give away penalties. Look to set the maul first then drive, and try to keep resetting the maul.
Williams will look to make runs into the open at Farrell, as these conditions Williams excels in.
Pack filled big carriers to provide a number of options in the tight exchanges. Look to keep moving the point of attack with clever offloads and forward interplay. Look for forward pods outside the third guard in the line to really stretch their defences and get over the gain line to create momentum.
Look to flood the breakdown and clear out bodies, to keep ball clean so that the halfbacks can dictate the game. (Eg AB's or Eng vs AB 2012 style)
The backs are all possess good kicking games and are decent under high ball in the wet. They will look to peg Wasps back in their 22, and throw in the odd high bomb to fall outside the 22 to create the opportunity to gain a scrum.

Defence

We will use a Blitz drift line in defence to cut down Farrell's options and push him inside towards our back-row.
Machenaud to sweep behind the defencive line, and to counter any loose kicks or turnover ball - either by quickly shipping it wide to the back three, or kicking in behind their back three.
The whole pack is mobile and capable of getting over the ball at the breakdown. Look to powerfully clear opponents out of the ruck, and use the strong tackling to keep chopping down the Wasps runners.
If we kick in behind their back-line or back three, we look to at least make them have to turn into an advancing black line which will not allow the receiver time to make decision or escape with clean ball. Every kick to be chased, the kick is as only as good as the chase.

by SirJohnnyEnglish Fri 03 Jan 2014, 9:54 am

Can you update the op with the above comment please Driver or Pete if your around please mate thumbsup

Missing teamsheets from Matt/Pooly. Can you get them in please guys. Know Pooly was travelling home over the last few days though

by Guest Fri 03 Jan 2014, 11:20 am

Will get them in later. Deadline is today isn't it ? Back from work about 6. Is there weather for the matches

by SirJohnnyEnglish Fri 03 Jan 2014, 11:30 am

Deadline was last night mate but we are all busy at the moment so get it in when able. COnditions are in my comment above with all the team sheets in. thumbsup

by Guest Fri 03 Jan 2014, 11:32 am

01. Nick Wood 09. Connor Murray
02. Adriaan Strauss 10. Dan Carter (k)
03. Nicola Mas
04. Eben Etzbeth 11. Johnny May
05. George Robson 12. Matt Scott
06. Willem Alberts 13. Tevita Kuridrani
07. Julian Salvi 14. Matt Banahan
08. Jaimie Heaslip 15. Israel Dagg

16 Guthro Steenkamp 17 Jamie George 18 Rupert Harden19 Elliot Stooke 20 Tom Croft 21 Israel Folau 22 Dan Robson 23 Danny Cipriani

In greasy conditions with fairly strong winds basics will play a big part in today's game

Set Piece

We will look to Target their scrum to put pressure on them. Wood Strauss and Mas will look to to really disrupt their ball and drive them back.
On our ball we will look to utilise our advantage to turn the scrum to where we want it do help our 8 and 9 deliver quality options

Line out
we have 5 jumpers and will look to challenge Saracens ball as often as possible to build pressure.

On our ball we will vary it. We will be looking to drive in our half and go off the top mainly In their half.

Generally we will be looking to get our dynamic pack on the front foot and over the gainline to produce quick ball to give to carter. We have a pack full of carriers and pace so will look to target the breakdown by getting there first and hitting it hard. We have a lot of footballing forwards in our pack so will be looking to offload if on but are cautious of the potentially greasy ball.The weather is - bit wet and windy but not so bad that you cannot play. We are relying on our big name players to use all their experience to play the right options. When it's on it on and we are committed to playing.

Backs

We will look for our 9 and 10 to run the show.

Carter will kick a lot initially as we want to win the territory battle. We like to examine the oppositions defence going backward so they will be tested out.

We see the length of Carter's kicking being able to give us territory so we can play in the right places.

When in their half we will look to hit them at pace when it's on. We will utilise the wind when at our backs to play territory and pin them back. When against the wind we will play a lot more to negate its effect and keep ball.
Murray can really up the pace and will look to hit carter so he can play. We have a backline that has pace subtlety and gas and feel that we have the ability to unlock their defence for lots of tries.

Carter will look to create mismatches and we will look to isolate players.

We will also when it's on try the up and under and the cross kick.

Defensively we will look to blitz to put pressure on Steyn.This could lead to some intercepts. Murray to act as sweeper

All lockable penalties taken and bench used as necessary with folau coming on at 50

Key points

2.8,9,10,12 are key positions for dominating a game and we are wc in these positions
Front row. We have wc players in tremendous form
Bench has class to bring on
Home advantage

by SirJohnnyEnglish Fri 03 Jan 2014, 11:51 am

Tigers 18-15 Bath

Scrum: Edge to Tigers with the 2^nd row helping out.
Lineout: Bath more capable off attacking ball and may poach 1 or 2.
Breakdown: Edge to Tigers with both flankers extremely capable and help coming from the front 5 and midfield.
HB's: Slight edge to Tigers on quality but not a game changer with Bath solid here.
Attack: More of a carrying game to Tigers.
Defence: Both sides solid overall. Can’t see any gaps.
Bench: Little bit more impact from Tigers but can’t see them running away from it.
Tactics: None from Tigers is always a mark down. Bath solid but need more about attacking patterns. Seems to be left to the hbs to decide. Tigers back play is rudderless today but see their pack getting on top and Wilko will always kick his points.

Irish 20-16 Worc

Scrum: Slight edge to Worc on current form.
Lineout: Worc capable of getting at Irish ball.
Breakdown: Bit more from Irish and they can slow Worc down a bit.
HB's: Irish shade quality wise but not a game changer.
Attack: Smith provides a great pivot for the Irish attack.
Defence: Bast can be drawn out of the line.
Bench: No TH hurts Worc and Irish can get on top in the pack battle late on.
Tactics: Much more detail from Irish is a plus. See Irish getting on top of the breakdown as the game goes on and at home should see this one out.

Saints 22-25 Quins

Scrum: See Quins getting at Mako here.
Lineout: Both sides capable of holding their own ball.
Breakdown: Edge to Quins. Hooper is not the star at the breakdown some make out but Saints are effectively a man down with Pocock not able to be rated at the moment.
HB's: Step up to Quins as a combo and individually.
Attack: Slight edge to Saints in midfield but Tuilagi’s rating is falling. Saints backline won’t have problems getting over the gain line.
Defence: Both sides very strong here!
Bench: See Saints struggles at the breakdown getting worse.
Tactics: Both game plans well suited to their sides. See Quins pack really making a mess of Saints ball today and think they can come away with a great away win.

Wasps 15-12 Exeter

Scrum: Slight edge to Wasps quality wise here. James can get under Ross.
Lineout: Both sides should hold their own.
Breakdown: Chiefs edge the backrow battle but Wasps front5 get through more work. Evens.
HB's: Wasps edge with a little more quality but not a game changer.
Attack: Wasps edge back three but Chiefs midfield. Bit more of a tight carrying game from Wasps.
Defence: Both sides solid overall.
Bench: Don’t see either side getting on top in any area.
Tactics: Both sides adopting a similar approach but Wasps with the better kickers should win out a kicking dual at home.

by Driver Fri 03 Jan 2014, 11:53 am

Just doing page now SJE

by SirJohnnyEnglish Fri 03 Jan 2014, 11:54 am

Everything is in my comment above mate bar a Sarries side so you can copy and paste from there thumbsup

by Driver Fri 03 Jan 2014, 11:56 am

Cheers dude. thumbsup

by Sgt_Pooly Fri 03 Jan 2014, 12:26 pm

Saracens
Manager – Pooly

01. Alex Waller	09. Jano Vermaak
02. Keven Mealamu	10. Morne Steyn
03. Jannie du Plessis
04. Louis Deacon(c)	11. Luke Fitzgerald
05. Flip van der Merwe	12. Luther Burrell
06. Carl Fearns	13. Jonathan Davies
07. George Smith	14. Chris Ashton
08. Toby Faletau	15. Lee Byrne

16. Chris Whitehead 17. Fabien Barcella 18. Clement Ric 19. Tim Swinson 20. Tom Guest 21. Chris Cook 22. Gareth Steenson 23. George Lowe

Tactics:

General - We've selected a team packed with power and physicality and will look to dominate the contact and get over the gain line. We'll be playing a high tempo physical game from the off, look to smash the opposition back and get into the rucks/maul's and drive through. We'll look to tie the opposition in and then get at their backline, more so in the their half. Look to keep it tight in the forward pack and grind through work.

Scrum - Look to get a platform from the off with a strong scrummaging unit. Strong front 5 with big locks will look for the big push once the ball is in and drive the opposition back. Our LH and Hooker will look to target TH and try to get between him and Hooker to allow JdP to work on LH If no weakness seen will use as restart.

Line out - Look to play it safe and use the rolling maul to good effect. Our big pack should have a lot of joy here and will tie in the opposition defence. We'll look to contest on opp throw especially when sub get on the pitch as we feel we can really pressure him.

Defence - High intensity and big hits, looking to drive past the ball player. Huge physical pack that can look to dominate the collision and breakdown allowing Smith etc a chance to slow down/steal ball. Scrum half to sweep behind the defensive line.

Attack - Keep things simple in our own half then look to unleash backs in opp territory. Scrum half to inject pace from the breakdown and have JD on his shoulder. Burrell to run at 10 channel and target possible weakness. Burrell also to be used as decoy running at Kuhi looking to take him out of the defensive line to free up space for JD to get at the outside.

Points -

Target behind Banahan

Target Wood in scrum, he's had a poor year and can be got at

Rolling maul and physicality - Look to use our physicality and drive through the opp defence, if weakness seen look to exploit.

Line out - Mealamu one of the best throws in the game and FvdM is becoming one of the best line out leaders in world rugby. Look to target opposition and get quick ball from our own if on.

Steyn - In great kicking form and will look to keep us ahead on the score board

JD kicking - look for him to use the grubber to get behind Kuhi who lacks a bit of turning pace

Real life form - Some fantastic real life form through the team, especially in the pack and centres/wings.

Form - We're putting some serious form together, beating Falcons at home and Exeter away in recent weeks. Worcester will find it tough to break us down, and we have the perfect FH to keep us ahead on the scoreboard

Game plan - Intensity and points on the board, keep it simple and effective and grind Gloucester down and use the spark of our backline in the opposition half

by Sgt_Pooly Fri 03 Jan 2014, 12:27 pm

Sorry late guys, back from detachment and little time

by SirJohnnyEnglish Fri 03 Jan 2014, 12:50 pm

Glaws 19-18 Sarries

Scrum: Decent battle both sides struggle down the LH side at time.
Lineout: Both sides capable of holding their own.
Breakdown: Neither side will really get at the oppositions ball.
HB's: Fairly even on current form but Glaws a little more expansive.
Attack: Not much between the sides good carriers and finishers for both.
Defence: Both Burrell & Kuiridrani can be got at positionally occasionally.
Bench: Can see Folau counteracting any kicking game late on.
Tactics: Glaws going more territorial initially while Sarries look to play it simple but hold on to the ball. Sarries haven’t the pack advantage to make this work at Kingsholm with the sides very evenly matched everywhere and so home advantage wins out.

by LukeLovesLuka Fri 03 Jan 2014, 5:18 pm

If it's not too late could these be added? I was under the impression predo's opened tomorrow, sorry. Bit all over the place still as not back to work till monday.

Tactics:

We will play to our strengths and play a game built around our intelligent HB's controlling the game and the power and strength of our side.

- Attack at all scrums with our huge pack - Cole and Jenkins to look to really get into the opposition. An area we will look to target if winning.

- Attack at all lineouts. Use Jones or Hines at the front and Horwill off the top as our three key options.
Shortened lineouts with Louw in midfield as crash or decoy option.

- Put serious pressure on Hibbard's throws with Hines at the front on all Bath's throws.

- Target the breakdown - huge emphasis on our work at the breakdown today and we will always look to turnover possession. With Louw and SOB, and the likes of Cole and BOD too, we feel our breakdown play could be crucial today.

- Gigantic pack made up of massive line-breakers, used in the tight to tire down the Bath defence. The likes of SOB, Louw, Hines, Moore and Horwill to be used to target the Bath 10/12 channel.

- In attacking play, we will look to get runners attacking the gain line looking for gaps. We do want to control the game, mixing up the point of our attack and looking for where the gaps are.

- In attacking play, we will play with the option of 2 first recievers in Wilko and Twelvetrees. We want to control the game, mixing up the point of our attack and looking for where the gaps are.

- Target the Bath back three if looking vulnerable with form issues there. Look to the in-form Mike Brown to win the 15 battle and give us counter-attacking options as much as possible.

- We will look to employ a blitz defence, focusing on a quick line speed to hit the ball carrier before he gets to the gainline. We have aggressive forwards to carry out this instruction. Fotuali'i to sweep behind with an eye on short kicks.

- Target the last 30 mins. Unload our bench to see the game out for the win.

- Wilkinson to kick all penalties.

by Driver Fri 03 Jan 2014, 5:36 pm

Luke i'v added them mate , It's up to SJE if he re-predicts.

by LukeLovesLuka Fri 03 Jan 2014, 5:44 pm

He might predict me to lose!

Cheers bud.

by Sgt_Pooly Fri 03 Jan 2014, 5:48 pm

Can you add mine on Driver pls

by Steven_Sharks Fri 03 Jan 2014, 9:02 pm

Just typed out predos and lost them and can't face it again. Apologies

Newcastle 22 - 21 Sale
Gloucester 25 - 24 Saracens
Leicester 22 - 21 Bath
Irish 25 - 24 Worcester
Wasps 20 - 19 Chiefs

by Driver Fri 03 Jan 2014, 9:54 pm

Gloucester 24 Saracens 24
Leicester 23 Bath 22
Northampton 29 Harlequins 30
London Irish 27 Worcester 27
London Wasps 17 Chiefs 16

by Sgt_Pooly Sat 04 Jan 2014, 8:19 am

Newcastle 25-24 Sale
Leicester 20-19 Bath
Irish 22-21 Worcester
Northampton 26-25 Harlequins
Wasps 19-18 Exeter

by prop_lyd Sat 04 Jan 2014, 11:28 am

Falcons 24-23 Sharks
SP: Sharks can get advantage in front row but Falcons 2nd row could hold out.
BK: Advantage Falcons but Sharks are no shirkers.
HB: 2 good pairings, honours even.
OB: Hard to split here.
BE: See a bit more from Falcons on bench.
TA: Patience is all Falcons need if they get good ball to Biggar. Sale are fresh and will get some joy at scrum time, think Falcons bench will nick it.

Glos 20-19 Sarries
SP: Evens with both teams looking good here.
BK: Prefer Glos here in back row.
HB: Close here with Steyn able to pull strings well, even.
OB: Not much to split between both teams with good form coming into this.
BE: Folau is a massive impact player to bring on.
TA: Not sure whether up and unders will work for Glos in high wind, use pack well here. Falcons keeping it simple but not sure how much they'll get from an initial arm wrestle. Edged to Glos but very close.

Tigers 23-21 Bath
SP: Edge to Tigers at scrum but Bath at lineout. Bath challenging well here.
BK: Small advantage to Tigers but not much.
HB: Bit more from Tigers.
OB: Even here until we reach full back where Brown will outshine Pennell.
BE: More from Tigers.
TA: Tigers using bench well in tactics, using pack well. Bath have mobile pack and use Hodgson's tactical awareness well.

Saints 23-23 Quins
SP: Evens here.
BK: Edge to Quins.
HB: 9 to Saints, 10 to Quins, prefer Quins' partnership.
OB: Advantage Saints here, look more dangerous.
BE: 2 good benches on show.
TA: Saints tactics good for breakdown and heads up rugby. Quins bring form, tough game to split here sorry guys.

Wasps 16-15 Chiefs
SP: Small edge to Wasps, even at lineout.
BK: 2 good set ups here.
HB: Advantage Wasps.
OB: 2 strong partnerships, like the Nonu-Bosch link here.
BE: No main standouts , 2 steady benches.
TA: Wasps set out for set piece and territory game with good kickers. Chiefs bring momentum and a good tight game set of players. Think Wasps just have a bit more at half-back to take it but Cheifs very very close to an upset.[/b][/b]

by dammit_chris Sun 05 Jan 2014, 9:57 am

Newcastle 27 - 24 Sale
Falcons have some great combinations all over the park, the backrow unit is very good and so much spark in the backline. Sexton needs to find a bit more form in France, but expect him to have a good 6Nations and main creative spark for Sale (Eastmond) has also suffered a dip in form.

Gloucester 23 - 22 Saracens
Fair play to Pooly, he's put together a team that can challenge all the teams in the league in a short amount of time, if same teams played at Sarries then they'd have been given a win. Gloucester still just have the WC players in right positions to win their home games, and some v good strike runners.

Leicester 19 - 16 Bath
Leicester pack is immense there, can only see teams beating them at Welford Rd if they match the forwards but I don't see Bath quite managing that today. One thing that limits Tigers for me though is that they don't have what I'd see as an out and out try machine in their backline, all v good players but someone like a Habana, Nalaga or North would help them blow away opponents.

Irish 27 - 25 Worcester
Good game here. Lindsay and Ward I rate as very similar type of players, so no advantage for either team in a key position. Irish again have some good combinations, backrow is great, think Gorgodze is a little wasted in second row, but allows Prop to play the combo he has put out. Home advantage a swaying factor.

Wasps 23 - 20 Chiefs
Really like Pete's team, definite title challenges - pack would gel very well and nice controlling 10/12 axis. Has got some great try scorers out wide too and good bench to bring on. Exeter will challenge all game and really like the midfield combination, but Wasps will be a little too strong at home.

by Guest Sun 05 Jan 2014, 11:10 am

Newcastle 25-24 Sale
Leicester 26-25Bath
Irish 17-16Worcester
Northampton 22-21 Harlequins
Wasps 19-18 Exeter

by Fluxy Sun 05 Jan 2014, 2:14 pm

Newcastle Falcons 25 - 24 Sale Sharks

Great contest up front with both packs chocked full of talent. I think the real differing factor is not the quality of the backs but the form. Sharks have a couple of lads struggling at the moment whereas my only worry for Falcons is the defence of Smith and the back three. Both benches are decent but Falcons at home and with Biggar at the helm they secure the win.

Gloucester 22 - 20 Saracens

This is a tough battle in the conditions. Sarries are a bit better suited to the slippery ground. Steyn has been struggling but these sort of conditions he thrives. Murray and carter a class act together. There is a slight defensive issue for Banners and Kudrani as they can be caught out of position quite easily. Sarries have the lead going into the last twenty minutes, but the Glaws bench turns it around and pinches the win.

Leicester Tigers 27 - 21 Bath

The Tigers pack is intense and can out muscle bath around the park. Slightly worried for bath with Faumuania at loose head. I like the spine of the bath side who can control the pace of the game, but they need more possession to dominate. Tigers back line is strong and can exploit the defence of some of the Bath guys. At home Tigers have this in the bag, but can't deny Bath the LBP.

London Irish 29 - 19 Worcester Warriors

Great game here. Irish have some real heavy hitters and can get amongst the Warriors forwards. Warriors have the strength to manipulate the set piece but that is about it in comparison to Irish. warriors have the attacking flair in the backs to do damage, but lack a little control apart from yach.
At the end of the day Irish have enough to control the game and get a strong home win.

Northampton Saints 25 - 25 Harlequins

Quins have the forwards to get in amongst the Saints pack. Saints have a real physicality about them though and that makes this game tiring on the legs for both. There is real flair in the Saints halfbacks, but the Quins pair can do that and control the game too with dickson in decent form as of late. Both back lines are impressively good and can get go forward. The Saints bench is again impressive, but Quins are no slouches either. In the end both can't be seperated. If Quins had started with a reliable kicker in their backs then they could have possibly stolen it.

by stnick88 Sun 05 Jan 2014, 2:45 pm

Newcastle 27-23 sale - like falcons side and they have a good pack and dangerous backline. Sale have a very setttled and solid side but not enough in the pack or spark in backs to win here.

Saints 26-23 quins - close game here think saints have a little bit more power upfront. Quins have some form players like easter but saints have a little more throughout.

Glos 20-19 saracens - sarries pack will competr and cause problems for glos but ultimately glos have enough class to sneak a late win some good impact and danger in backs

Tigers 24-20 bath - more power in tigers pack and get an edge at set piece. Always strong at home and bath not enough to win here most sides would struggle.

Wasps 28-21 exeter - wasps better throughout. Routine home win for an impressive side.

by LukeLovesLuka Sun 05 Jan 2014, 8:55 pm

Sorry for no predos.

by SirJohnnyEnglish Mon 06 Jan 2014, 9:55 am

RESULTS

Newcastle Falcons 29 (T:2 C:2 P:5)
Sale Sharks 23 (T:2 C:2 P:3)

Gloucester 25 (T:3 C:2 P:2)
Saracens 21 (T:2 C:1 P:3)

Leicester Tigers 27 (T:3 C:3 P:2)
Bath Rugby 20 (T:1 P:5)

London Irish 27 (T:3 C:3 P:2)
Worcester Warriors 21 (T:2 C:1 P:3)

Northampton Saints 26 (T:2 C:2 P:4)
Harlequins 26 (T:2 C:2 P:4)

London Wasps 24 (T:2 C:1 P:4)
Exeter Chiefs 17 (T:1 P:4)

BONUSES:
Full: Fluxy, Prop, Chris, SJE, Nick
Score: Matt, Steve, Driver, Pooly
Fined: CJB, Luke, Pete

by Sgt_Pooly Mon 06 Jan 2014, 11:47 am

Tighter than I thought Matt, happy with a LBP

by **Ozzy3213** Mon 06 Jan 2014, 1:07 pm

Happy with that. Always need to get straight back to winning after losing a game.

by prop_lyd Mon 06 Jan 2014, 1:16 pm

2 good wins on the trot at home and away at Glos...good form for the next games!

by Steven_Sharks Mon 06 Jan 2014, 8:18 pm

Very pleasing Xmas period.

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