Amlin Challenge Cup Semi Finals

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Gloucester v London Irish
Location - Kingsholm
Light Cloud, 14 Degrees, 9 mph S Winds

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Gloucester
Manager – anonmattyt

01. Nick Wood	09. Dan Robson
02. Luke Cowan Dickie	10. Danny Cipriani
03. Connie Ousthuizen
04. Elliot Stooke	11. Hosea Gear
05. Richie Grey	12. Matt Scott
06. Stephen Ferris	13. Juan de Jongh
07. Julian Salvi	14. Johnny May
08. Sam Dickinson	15. Israel Folau

16 Steenkamp 17 Gray 18 Figallo 19 Robson 20 Croft 21 Genia 22 Carter 23 Dagg

In great conditions and both teams throwing it around it should be a high scoring affair

Tactics

Set piece

Scrum: we have a big front 5 with heaps of technical ability and will be using the scrum on our ball to launch attacks. There will not be that many scrums but on our ball we will be looking to get on the front foot between our 22 and their 10 metre we will look to pick up and
Get on the front foot to launch our big ball carriers to get that front foot ball needed to play open rugby. On their ball we will try and disrupt

Lineout

We have 5 jumpers and see the lineout as a great source of attacking ball. We will be mixing drive and off the top and will challenge their ball unless in our 22 where only 2 jumper will be put up. When we are driving the lineout we will be looking to move the ball away whilst the maul is moving. This can be either to one of our big forward runners or straight to Cips

General forwards

We have picked a pack of ball carriers and see ourselves as having more options to carry than bath. We want to carry relentlessly and get over the gainline and either offload or create quick ball for Robson to move. We have backs to score lots of tries and we want to give them ball to attack,

Breakdown wise we will send numbers in if we can turn it over and look to counter ruck.

Attack wise we will be looking for aggressive clear outs to generate that quick ball that is necessary.

Around the fringes we will really target 9 to affect rhythm.

Backs

We are aiming to really play at tempo and stretch bath outwide.
We want to create one on ones and mismatches for gear  Folau May and co to exploit.

Robson is in fine form and will keep there backrow and 9 honest but his prime job is to hit cipriani so cipriani can take the options. We will play a mixed game and kick where necessary.
But when in the right area or when we spot a gap we will go for it.

We will use the cross kick for folau and will look to up the pace as the game goes on.

With a back 3 like ours we will look to counter attack any loose kicks from Irish.
We will also utilise quick throw ins and quick taps as the game progresses

Playing at this pace takes it's toll so benches are very important. We will utilise all of our bench to keep the pace up.

We will look to selectively blitz in defence. In conditions like this if you blitz all the time the grubber and chip are easy to utilise so it will be used sparingly. However we will be looking for very quick line speed. As ever Robson will sweep.

All kicks at goal to be taken

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London Irish
Manager – Prop

01. Ben Franks	09. Lee  Dickson
02. Ken Owens	10. Nick Evans
03. Adam Jones
04. Stuart Hooper (c)	11. Nick Cummins
05. Nick Kennedy	12. Chris Bell
06. Matt Garvey	13. Conrad Smith
07. Justin Tipuric	14. JP Pieterson
08. Ben Morgan	15. Rob Cook

;-
16. Tom Lindsay 17. Will Collier 18. Wyatt Crockett 19. Sam Warburton 20. Scott Higginbotham 21. Rory Kockett 22. Owen Wiliams 23. Henry Trinder

Tactics:
We come in having practically earnt our safety. Gloucester are competing on 2 competitions and we will target their mindset today as they are likely to see  this as less important whereas we are throwing everything at it.

SET PIECE
We have picked a mobile pack in good conditions and Hooper and Morgan will provide grunt. We have four lineout jumpers and will keep it simple today, we will jack 2 up in their half on opposition ball.

BREAKDOWN
looking to control our BREAKDOWN and give Kockott time on the ball. Tipuric and Garvey will only compete if available but we will aim to fan out. In attack we will look for quick ball and play a pod system with the forwards taking on tight ball for a couple of phases then out wide.

HALF BACKS
Controlled ball with good tactical players looking to use the conditions to their advantage, they will start with a tight game for THREE phases then spread. If it's not on we will look to pin them back with kicks to touch.

ATTACK
Evans will stand flat giving Bell good ball to run onto and look for the offloads. Controlled with strong runners and will look for simple passes and our back three cutting back on inside shoulder at times, our pack will give options off of 10 and 12 to get over the gainline. We will look to use our strong carriers to get us over the gainline and recycle quick ball. Our wingers will look for one on one's.

DEFENCE
Controlled and hard hitting. Look to snag 9 to stop quick ball and for Tips and Garvey to get into 10's face to stop quick ball, any high balls will be secured and kicked back into space or off the park, if it's on we run. Blitz defence looking to get into Ford's face, Kockott will sweep. We know how dangerous the Glos back three are so will not kick down their throats and will look to slow down their ball in the centre.

BENCH
Strong impact with a strong front row replacements to come on Warburton and Higginbotham looking to run ball against tired legs and targeting the turnover. The bench can up the tempo with Dickson, Williams and Trinder playing heads up rugby in the last quarter to drag open a tired defence, Dickson will bring late control and game management.

OVERALL
Open game initially keeping the weather in mind and look for quick ball and strong direct runners, take the points when available but back ourselves if it's on. We are getting into the run in of the end of  the season and want to get good form going with good international experience all over the park.

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Exeter Chiefs v Worcester Warriors
Location - Sandy Park
Light Rain Shower, 12 Degrees, 13 mph S Winds

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Exeter Chiefs

Manager – Fluxy

01. Tendai "Beast" Mtawarira	09. Hadyn Thomas
02. Jack Yeandle	10. Toby Flood (k)
03. Mike Ross
04. Brad Thorn	11. Tom Varndell
05. Bradley Davies	12. Eamonn Sheridan
06. Nick Williams	13. Adam Ashley-Cooper
07. Kelly Brown (c)	14. David Strettle
08. Johnnie Beattie	15. Matt Tait

16. Sean Cronin 17. Richard Barrington 18. Logovii Mulipola 19. Bradley Davies 20. Gus Jones 21. Freddie Michalak 22. Freddie Burns 23. James O'Connor

Use the slippery conditions to our advantage and earn the right to simply put the ball through the hands when the space and opportunity arrives from our forward work. Gloucester are mixed up a lot from recent games and some unusual names and faces in their lineup will create a slight doubt of confusion. Also they will be in for a shock, when they turn up and notice the rain....

Key Points

• Target the Scrum - Us the power in the props to get a platform from the off with a strong scrummaging unit. Get both the LH and Hooker to target Ousthuizen who has not played much recently and try to get between him and Cowan Dickie to allow Ross to work on wood, who has been in poor form at the scrum for sometime.
  
• Quick Line outs – lineout leader in Brown along with top operators like Beattie and Thorn to mix the movement up. Look to turn the screw in the line out and put pressure on the Cowan Dickie throw, especially with no out and out line out man to help with his pressured throws.
  
• Target the defensive frailty in the 9 and 10 channels -Look to target the shoulders of cipriani with angled runs down his weaker shoulder and look to test pods of forwards down that channel as they won't cope with the sheer numbers coming around the corner.
  
• Look to use blitz defence to cut down the options of cipriani and Scott, forcing them back inside to our forwards. Thomas to sweep and marshal the line.
  
• Flood the Breakdown – With the physicality in our backrow, front five and centres we will look to just blow out any ruck to create quick ball. Even in defence in we will target one or two rucks where there are no men and clean through past the ball they won't cope. Similar with the first man in the ruck to drive through and clear any on coming opposition players to create clean quick ball.
  
• Defence at the Rucks - if we can't win the ruck or flood it, we will 'ice'the ruck and fan numbers into our defence. This will force Sharks to put less and less numbers into rucks and once they look frail or have put in low numbers we will blow the ruck out; clean, low, and hard - creating turnover ball which will instantly go wide.
  
• Carrying options - Loads of big carrying options to get us over the gain line and allow the backs to get into the game. Look to get options outside the ten mostly or outside 12 to target the defensive line outside their guards where the line is weakest.
  
• Playmakers - look to test the Glos back three in their defence as they aren't the best tactically aware players in the world and in the wet, won't want to be stood on the wing all day as forwards run at them
  
• Bench - Use the bench to bring on more big ball carriers and alos to up the pace of the game with the back replacements. Also to pick up the pace if need be or control the game later on.
  
• Flood to kick all penalties to help build up points and keep the score rolling over.
  

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Worcester Warriors
Manager-CJ

01.  Nathan Catt	09. Dimitri Yachvilli (k)
02.  Dave Ward	10. Francois Trinh-Duc
03. BJ Botha
04. George Skivington	11. Willie Le Roux
05. Alun Wynn-Jones (c)	12. Anthony Allen
06. Danie Russouw	13. Michelle Campagnaro
07. John Barclay	14. Mark Cueto
08. Tom Guest	15. Chris Pennell

;-
16.  Brian Mujati 17. Matthew Rees  18.  Oliver Tomaszczyk 19. Mouritz Botha 20. Thomas Waldrom  21.Tawera Kerr-Barlow  22. Kyle Godwin 23. Clement Poitrenaud

Tactics:

Focus on disrupting at the breakdown and securing quick ball with Ward and Barclay working in tandem as fetchers chasing the ball, backed up by the rest of the pack esp regarding clearing out, but only commit high numbers to the rucks if a turnover is on.

Attack:

Keep slow ball moving in our mobile pack, shifting the opposition around with carries in groups of 3 and mini-mauls, looking to recycle it into quick ball. However, if Varndell or Strettle leave space behind them which tehy often do, Yachvilli look to chip into that space with our back 3 and back row chasing hard. Happy to kick high, chased kicks to these wings too in the rain.

Quicker ball to be spread wide, FTH playing flat and Allen and Camps attacking the line, look to recycle ball from these 2 in contact (or via offloads if it's not forcing it) and change the focus of attack bringing in a second wave of our forwards and back 3. Probe for space then flood through and if this forces the blitz, chip over the top. Ward and Barclay will be chasing the ball so also available as support runners.

Defence:

Aggressive blitz led by Allen, sweeping by Yachvilli. Look to charge at Flood, force him to stand deep where he struggles to play the game. Fringes led by Russouw

Scrum:

Look to get our own ball out quickly and run Guest as a weapon leading into set moves. 

Lineout:

AWJ as banker ball but mix up our options. Give them the front and maul defend knowing they have to play tight but contest anything longer with Russouw and AWJ

Subs:

Rees and Mujati can solidify the set piece if struggling, and TKB, Godwin and Poitrenaud change our attacking style

Targets:

Pressurise Flood to put him off his game and make him a liability. Target the wings with our kickers. Their pack is ok at the breakdown but they have no real standouts there, so look to pounce as soon as a player is isolated without the majority of their pack there

---

mark

1 Wood
2 Luke Cowan Dickie
3 Ousthuizen
4 Stooke
5 Richie Grey
6 Ferris
7 Salvi
8 Dickinson
9 Robson
10 Cipriani
11 Gear
12 Scott
13 Juan de Jongh
14 May
15 Folau
16 Steenkamp
17 Gray
18 Figallo
19 Robson
20 Croft
21 Genia
22 Carter
23 Dagg

Will reformat towards end of week. Glos rotating players to keep fresh and compete on 2 fronts

In great conditions and both teams throwing it around it should be a high scoring affair

Tactics

Set piece

Scrum: we have a big front 5 with heaps of technical ability and will be using the scrum on our ball to launch attacks. There will not be that many scrums but on our ball we will be looking to get on the front foot between our 22 and their 10 metre we will look to pick up and
Get on the front foot to launch our big ball carriers to get that front foot ball needed to play open rugby. On their ball we will try and disrupt

Lineout

We have 5 jumpers and see the lineout as a great source of attacking ball. We will be mixing drive and off the top and will challenge their ball unless in our 22 where only 2 jumper will be put up. When we are driving the lineout we will be looking to move the ball away whilst the maul is moving. This can be either to one of our big forward runners or straight to Cips

General forwards

We have picked a pack of ball carriers and see ourselves as having more options to carry than bath. We want to carry relentlessly and get over the gainline and either offload or create quick ball for Robson to move. We have backs to score lots of tries and we want to give them ball to attack,

Breakdown wise we will send numbers in if we
Can turn it
Over and look to counter ruck.

Attack wise we will be looking for aggressive clear outs to generate that quick ball that is necessary.

Around the fringes we will really target 9 to affect rhythm.


Backs

We are aiming to really play at tempo and stretch bath outwide.
We want to create one on ones and mismatches for gear  Folau May and co to exploit.



Robson is in fine form and will keep there backrow and 9 honest but his prime job is to hit cipriani so cipriani can take the options. We will play a
Mixed game and kick where necessary.
But when in the right area or when we spot a gap we will go for it.

We will use the cross kick for folau and will look to up the pace as the game goes on.


With a back 3
Like ours we will look to counter attack any loose kicks from Irish.
We will also utilise quick throw ins and quick taps as the game progresses


Playing at this pace takes it's toll so benches are very important. We will utilise all of our bench to keep the pace up.

We will look to selectively blitz in defence. In conditions like this if you blitz all the time the grubber and chip are easy to utilise so it will be used sparingly. However we will be looking for very quick line speed. As ever Robson will sweep.

All kicks at goal to be taken

will get my team up tomorrow.

Worcester Warriors
Manager-CJ

01.  Nathan Catt	09. Dimitri Yachvilli (k)
02.  Dave Ward	10. Francois Trinh-Duc
03. BJ Botha
04. George Skivington	11. Willie Le Roux
05. Alun Wynn-Jones (c)	12. Anthony Allen
06. Danie Russouw	13. Michelle Campagnaro
07. John Barclay	14. Mark Cueto
08. Tom Guest	15. Chris Pennell

;-
16.  Brian Mujati 17. Matthew Rees  18.  Oliver Tomaszczyk 19. Mouritz Botha 20. Thomas Waldrom  21.Tawera Kerr-Barlow  22. Kyle Godwin 23. Clement Poitrenaud

Tactics:

Focus on disrupting at the breakdown and securing quick ball with Ward and Barclay working in tandem as fetchers chasing the ball, backed up by the rest of the pack esp regarding clearing out, but only commit high numbers to the rucks if a turnover is on.

Attack:

Keep slow ball moving in our mobile pack, shifting the opposition around with carries in groups of 3 and mini-mauls, looking to recycle it into quick ball. However, if Varndell or Strettle leave space behind them which tehy often do, Yachvilli look to chip into that space with our back 3 and back row chasing hard. Happy to kick high, chased kicks to these wings too in the rain.

Quicker ball to be spread wide, FTH playing flat and Allen and Camps attacking the line, look to recycle ball from these 2 in contact (or via offloads if it's not forcing it) and change the focus of attack bringing in a second wave of our forwards and back 3. Probe for space then flood through and if this forces the blitz, chip over the top. Ward and Barclay will be chasing the ball so also available as support runners.

Defence:

Aggressive blitz led by Allen, sweeping by Yachvilli. Look to charge at Flood, force him to stand deep where he struggles to play the game. Fringes led by Russouw

Scrum:

Look to get our own ball out quickly and run Guest as a weapon leading into set moves.

Lineout:

AWJ as banker ball but mix up our options. Give them the front and maul defend knowing they have to play tight but contest anything longer with Russouw and AWJ

Subs:

Rees and Mujati can solidify the set piece if struggling, and TKB, Godwin and Poitrenaud change our attacking style

Targets:

Pressurise Flood to put him off his game and make him a liability. Target the wings with our kickers. Their pack is ok at the breakdown but they have no real standouts there, so look to pounce as soon as a player is isolated without the majority of their pack there

Exeter Chiefs 

Manager – Fluxy

01. Tendai "Beast" Mtawarira	09. Hadyn Thomas
02. Jack Yeandle	10. Toby Flood (k)
03. Mike Ross
04. Brad Thorn	11. Tom Varndell
05. Bradley Davies	12. Eamonn Sheridan
06. Nick Williams	13. Adam Ashley-Cooper
07. Kelly Brown (c)	14. David Strettle
08. Johnnie Beattie	15. Matt Tait

16. Sean Cronin 17. Richard Barrington 18. Logovii Mulipola 19. Bradley Davies 20. Gus Jones 21. Freddie Michalak 22. Freddie Burns 23. James O'Connor

Use the slippery conditions to our advantage and earn the right to simply put the ball through the hands when the space and opportunity arrives from our forward work. Gloucester are mixed up a lot from recent games and some unusual names and faces in their lineup will create a slight doubt of confusion. Also they will be in for a shock, when they turn up and notice the rain....

Key Points

• Target the Scrum - Us the power in the props to get a platform from the off with a strong scrummaging unit. Get both the LH and Hooker to target Ousthuizen who has not played much recently and try to get between him and Cowan Dickie to allow Ross to work on wood, who has been in poor form at the scrum for sometime.
  
• Quick Line outs – lineout leader in Brown along with top operators like Beattie and Thorn to mix the movement up. Look to turn the screw in the line out and put pressure on the Cowan Dickie throw, especially with no out and out line out man to help with his pressured throws.
  
• Target the defensive frailty in the 9 and 10 channels -Look to target the shoulders of cipriani with angled runs down his weaker shoulder and look to test pods of forwards down that channel as they won't cope with the sheer numbers coming around the corner.
  
• Look to use blitz defence to cut down the options of cipriani and Scott, forcing them back inside to our forwards. Thomas to sweep and marshal the line.
  
• Flood the Breakdown – With the physicality in our backrow, front five and centres we will look to just blow out any ruck to create quick ball. Even in defence in we will target one or two rucks where there are no men and clean through past the ball they won't cope. Similar with the first man in the ruck to drive through and clear any on coming opposition players to create clean quick ball.
  
• Defence at the Rucks - if we can't win the ruck or flood it, we will 'ice'the ruck and fan numbers into our defence. This will force Sharks to put less and less numbers into rucks and once they look frail or have put in low numbers we will blow the ruck out; clean, low, and hard - creating turnover ball which will instantly go wide.
  
• Carrying options - Loads of big carrying options to get us over the gain line and allow the backs to get into the game. Look to get options outside the ten mostly or outside 12 to target the defensive line outside their guards where the line is weakest.
  
• Playmakers - look to test the Glos back three in their defence as they aren't the best tactically aware players in the world and in the wet, won't want to be stood on the wing all day as forwards run at them
  
• Bench - Use the bench to bring on more big ball carriers and alos to up the pace of the game with the back replacements. Also to pick up the pace if need be or control the game later on.
  
• Flood to kick all penalties to help build up points and keep the score rolling over.
  

01. Ben Franks	09. Rory Kockott (k)
02. Ken Owens	10. Nick Evans
03. Adam Jones
04. Stuart Hooper (c)	11. Nick Cummins
05. Nick Kennedy	12. Chris Bell
06. Matt Garvey	13. Conrad Smith
07. Justin Tipuric	14. JP Pieterson
08. Ben Morgan	15. Rob Cook

;-
16. Tom Lindsay 17. Will Collier 18. Wyatt Crockett 19. Sam Warburton 20. Scott Higginbotham 21. Lee Dickson 22. Owen Wiliams 23. Henry Trinder

Tactics:
We come in having practically earnt our safety. Gloucester are competing on 2 competitions and we will target their mindset today as they are likely to see this as less important whereas we are throwing everything at it.

SET PIECE
We have picked a mobile pack in good conditions and Hooper and Morgan will provide grunt. We have four lineout jumpers and will keep it simple today, we will jack 2 up in their half on opposition ball.

BREAKDOWN
looking to control our BREAKDOWN and give Kockott time on the ball. Tipuric and Garvey will only compete if available but we will aim to fan out. In attack we will look for quick ball and play a pod system with the forwards taking on tight ball for a couple of phases then out wide.

HALF BACKS
Controlled ball with good tactical players looking to use the conditions to their advantage, they will start with a tight game for THREE phases then spread. If it's not on we will look to pin them back with kicks to touch.

ATTACK
Evans will stand flat giving Bell good ball to run onto and look for the offloads. Controlled with strong runners and will look for simple passes and our back three cutting back on inside shoulder at times, our pack will give options off of 10 and 12 to get over the gainline. We will look to use our strong carriers to get us over the gainline and recycle quick ball. Our wingers will look for one on one's.

DEFENCE
Controlled and hard hitting. Look to snag 9 to stop quick ball and for Tips and Garvey to get into 10's face to stop quick ball, any high balls will be secured and kicked back into space or off the park, if it's on we run. Blitz defence looking to get into Ford's face, Kockott will sweep. We know how dangerous the Glos back three are so will not kick down their throats and will look to slow down their ball in the centre.

BENCH
Strong impact with a strong front row replacements to come on Warburton and Higginbotham looking to run ball against tired legs and targeting the turnover. The bench can up the tempo with Dickson, Williams and Trinder playing heads up rugby in the last quarter to drag open a tired defence, Dickson will bring late control and game management.

OVERALL
Open game initially keeping the weather in mind and look for quick ball and strong direct runners, take the points when available but back ourselves if it's on. We are getting into the run in of the end of the season and want to get good form going with good international experience all over the park.

Predictions open.

I will add Worc tactics when they come in.

Sorry guys, done

Prop think you only have 6 English? Think it has to be 7

As theres no predictions in yet I'll just swap Dickson/Kockett around in the side if there aren't any objections?

Sorry my mistake I was chopping and changing the centre partnership so forgot to check! Cheers for the heads up and I'm happy with the change.

Please can everyone note that where it says Kockott on my tactics It means Dickson now! And Cook will kick

Gloucester 27 London Irish 23

I think Gloucester are pretty welll set out in the pack but my main worry is that Kennedy could get at some of LCD's throws in the game and that could stop any sort of Gloucester rythem devolping from set pieces as things could get scrappy and Glaws would have to adapt there calls. I can see the maul getting some joy with players like Grey and Dickinson in there but Hooper and Garvey will wrestle all day and won't give a inch. Half backs are a tough one with Glaws getting a bit of front football Cips would cause plenty of damage in current nick , Dickson and Evans would boss the Irish side of things and get them into the right areas of the game. The problem for me is Chris Bell as with him at 12 it shuts down a lot of Irish attack whilst Matt Scott is a good player of the ball. They're is a lot of danger in both back 3s and i can see Irish running a try in from a kick return play with Cummins in great nick. Both benchs pretty impressive and Kockett for me works better from the bench as he'll kick the big ones late on. Irish tactics are good but don't suit some of there players with Bell not great at offloading.

Good game though!

Exeter Chiefs 29 Worcester Warriors 25.

Exeter have plenty of go forth in the key positions , Williams , Brown , Beattie , Thorn , Davies , Sheridan and AAC will get the Chiefs going and into the game without doubt. Worcester have plenty of muscle though and will tackle all day with AWJ , Russouw , Guest in there pack. Can see Worcester pinching the odd ball through Ward in the tackle and Barclay over the ball. Plenty of power again in Cheifs will see them clear rucks out though and get quick ball. Half backs i can't rate from Chiefs with Thomas and Flood both bench players in real world , Yachvilli has been horrible for OB but Trinh-Duc is going ok. Burns will bring something as will TKB. Outside backs as a whole go to Exeter by a tiny bit. For me Willie Le Roux is the best full back in the world and needs to play there to be at his best. Pennall will give 100% there but is not in Le Rouxs league. No Tight head on Wuss bench is a mark down with Mujati just about to hold his own there. Both sides have a good set of tactics and i can see Wuss getting to Flood through the blitz.

Isn't Tomaszcyk, limited as he is, a TH?

I meant LH ,

Chiefs 22-24 Warriors
SP: Feel Chiefs have more but Warriors can control their own lineout.
BK: Like  how Worcester are set out but Chiefs no slouches.
HB: More for Warriors here.
AT: Personally see Warriors quite dangerous here.
BE: Strong benches for both.
TA: Warriors targeting well and using their back row well here. Don't feel the Chiefs' playmakers are as strong and a shame they targeted Glos really well, I should have stolen the tactics!!

Exeter 24-23 Worcester

Pretty tight across the board, both struggle a bit in the line out, Worcester can get on top a bit no with no real option for Exeter. Exeter just have a bit more and will sneak through.

Gloucester 23-22 Irish
Think the front five edge goes to Irish. The back row also goes to Irish with a strong unit. Half back combos are close but the back five go to Gloucester. Scary set of subs from Gloucester

Exeter 25-26 Worcester
The forwards are really tough to separate and can see both doing jobs for respective teams. Do prefer the Worcester backs led by their solid half back combo. Exeter have a tad more off the bench but not enough to pinch it.

Gloucester 31 - 28 London Irish

The packs are about even, but Irish probably have a better edge due to their back row and their ability to affect to play around the park. Glos perhaps edge the backs and Irish will build a lead, but at home and with the monstrous bench Glaws will just edge out the valiant efforts of Irish.

Gloucester 30 - 29 Irish

Just prefer Irish across the pack, nice backrow balance. HBs even , but with 2 good sets of backs and tactics Gloucester just get ahead here and with home advantage just have enough

Gloucester 35 - 33 Irish
Can see this being a high scoring game with both sides looking to throw the ball away. Early on Irish can get an advantage in the pack, or at least LCD who is very inexperienced in real life. Cipriani is the form no10 in the AP and the conditions will suit him very well. The Gloucester bench is going to have the biggest say and will swing the game to Gloucester in the second half.

Exeter 22 - 23 Worcester
Close, close game. Exeter not helped by naming Bradley Davies twice, so one man down on the bench. A very strong backrow from Exeter and can see them playing a very physical game that Warriors will find hard to break down. But there is something about the Worcester backline that makes me think they can score more tries than the home team - Pennell has been one of the form backs in the AP for me this year and just see them edging it by the narrowest of margins.

Gloucester 32 - 33 London Irish
Exeter 23 - 22 Worcester

Exeter 25-25 warriors can't seperate sorry

Gloucester 24 - 26 Irish

Irish take the front row comfortably, whilst the second rows fairly even. Irish take the back row too with a great unit and look to have a better pack on show. Prefer Irish at HB with Evans running it, whilst it's one a piece in the centres. Gloucs look better out wide. Think Irish have enough to get an upset here.


Exeter 25 - 26 Worcester

Not a great deal in it up front with beast the standout. Tight in the second rows with two good combos. Can't really split the back rows either and it's a great pack battle. Worcs big game experience at HB, and as a pair prefer them in the centre too. Even back threes. Very right just think worcs nick it.

RESULTS:

Gloucester 32 (T:4 C:3 P:2)
London Irish 28 (T:3 C:2 P:3)

Exeter Chiefs 26 (T:2 C:2 P:4)
Worcester Warriros 28 (T:3 C:2 P:3)

Congrats matt

Ah poo

Bad luck, Fluxy, could see it was a close one as the scores were adding up