Euro League Round Two

Round 2
Montpellier  v  Exeter Chiefs (at Stade Mayol)
Stade Francais  v  Gloucester (at Parc de Sport Marcel Michelin)
London Irish  v  Connacht (at Stade Ernest-Wallon)
Scarlets  v  Newcastle Falcons (at Stade Lesdiguieres)

MONTPELLIER - dependant on foreign signing
Bathite

01. Nahuel Lobo	09. Jonathon Pelissie
02. Adriaan Strauss	10. Francois Trinh-Duc (k)
03. Nicolas Mas
04. Brodie Retallick	11. Timoci Nagusa
05. Tom Donnelly	12. Wesley Fofana
06. Fulgence Ouedraogo (c)	13. Rene Ranger
07. Michael Hooper	14. Benjamin Fall
08. Ben Mowen	15. Ben Smith

16. Charles Geli 17. David Attoub 18. Mako Vunipola 19. Sitaleki Timani 20. Akapusi Qera 21. Greg Laidlaw 22. Enzo Selponi 23. Pierre Berard

TACTICS
- In the heavy wind and rain, focus on a traditional french league set piece based game. Look to the rolling maul as an option from the lineout and use the 8 to pick and go from the base of the scrum, committing defenders to the breakdown
- In our own half play the territory game, looking to clear the lines where possible, making touch. Use the up and under when out of the 22, with Smith, Hooper and Ranger looking to challenge in the air, where they are really strong
- In attacking possession, look to tie in defenders with Ouedraogo, Hooper and Mowen all great at picking and going around the corner
- FTD plays flat on the gainline with three options;
       - with back row, Strauss and Retallick offering the powerful crash runners on the inside and pop
       - FTD to look to take it on physically with back row clearing out
       - look to runners in behind back rows to release Fofana on the fade or Ranger on the cut back
- In defence, we look to slow the ball by committing to the break down. We don't mind encouraging the opposition to look for the outside channels, as handling conditions will be tough. FTD leads the rush defence, with 9 sweeping and the blindside wing and full back covering for the kick return
- IMPACT - Mako, Timani, Qera all big carrying options from the 50th minute against a tired defence

Weather, taken from BBC Weather

Montpellier v Exeter Chiefs (at Stade Mayol)
18 degrees, mixed showers and storm, strong 11mph winds

Stade Francais v Gloucester (at Parc de Sport Marcel Michelin)
12 degrees, mixed showers, light 3mph winds

London Irish v Connacht (at Stade Ernest-Wallon)
15 degrees, mixed showers, strong 10mph winds

Scarlets v Newcastle Falcons (at Stade Lesdiguieres)
11 degrees, mixed showers, light 4mph winds

CJ

01. Marcos Ayerza	09. Danny Care
02. Richard Hibbard	10. Matt Giteau (k)
03. John Afoa
04. Tom Savage	11. Charlie Sharples
05. Elliot Stooke	12. James Hook
06. Chris Robshaw (c)	13. Henry Trinder
07. Matt Kvesic	14. Johnny May
08. Ben Morgan	15. Mike Brown

16. Sila Puafisi 17.  Dan Murphy 18. Darren Dawiduk 19. Tom Palmer  20. Sione Kalamafoni 21. Dan Robson 22. Billy Burns 23. Shane Monahan

Tactics:

Breakdown- backed up by the likes of Hibbard etc, Robshaw and Kvesic to work in tandem to ensure we always have a flanker to secure quick ball. Otherwise do not overcommit to ball already going to one side for definite.

Attack- carries from the pack or pops off 10 when slow ball, using Robshaw as first receiver when helpful, then look to be very freestyle with quick ball, looking to play off Care attacking the fringes, with the flankers linking, Morgan in support as a rampaging 2nd phase carrying option off the inside backs and Giteau and Hook both secondary play makers. The back 3 and Trinder to come in for clever lines out of position and leave the defence having to guess what angle the attack is coming from. When the ball goes straight to Giteau, he will play flat and attack the line, but we will mix attacking off 9 and using Robshaw, Morgan, Giteau, Hook and Brown at first receiver. 

Defence- huge workrate from the flanks who both regularly notch over 20 tackles and will look to be aggressive off the fringes. Drift defence as it suits our backs but with our pack and Care helping the scramble and Brown marshalling at the back

Scrum- look to dominate and drive forward as much as possible, with Morgan running off the base to set up backrow moves with our linking flankers, give Care space to attack off the offload or feed straight to Giteau playing flat. Really attack their scrum, we are world class here

Lineout- the backrow give us lots of options, look to mix it up and play attacking moves off the top. Target Youngs' throwing. 

Kicking- Care NOT to box kick but to use 10, 12 and 15 as his outs. He can use his attacking kicking as much as needed and this is a weapon. All kicks to be chased hard. Our back 3 will run back, not kick back, kicks

Subs- We have a like for like replacement for Morgan if he tires and tyros in the backline with 10 and 12 very flexible

Overall- look to be very attacking and mix up our angles of attack

STADE FRANCAIS

01. Sakaria Taulfao 09. Julien Dupuy
02. Tom Youngs 10. Owen Farrell(k)
03. Blaise Dumas
04. Alexandre Franquart11. Digby Ioane
05. Pascal Pape (C) 12. Morne Steyn
06. Arthur Chollan 13. Krisnan Inu
07. Mathieu Ogena 14. Monty Ioane
08. Sergio Parisse 15. Yoann Huget

REPLACEMENTS: 16.Remi Bonfils 17. Benjamin Chabert 18.Heinke Van Der Merwe 19.Antoine Burban 20.David Lyons 21.Clement Daguin 22.Jules Plisson 23.Hugo Bonneval

With the conditions not being particuarly easy to play free flowing rugby in, we're looking to go for territory. Two kicking options at 10 and 12 mean we can get down into the oppo 22, and try to use attacking lineouts. Tom Youngs offers a good hooking option with Bonfils replacing him after 60 mins.. Flanquart and Pape carry the ball and look to make ground, with Parisse the real attacking force in the forward pack. Dupuy will look for quick ball to unlock the talented backs. Digby Ioane will use his pace to try and get over the gainline and make good ground. Huget will also look to run the ball and look for tries.

Plisson, Bonneval and lyons will all come on too boost the side as we look to take advantage of the tiring defence..

Exeter Chiefs


Manager – BamBam

01. Ben Moon	09. Aaron Smith
02. Jack Yeandle	10. Aaron Cruden (k)
03. Tomas Francis
04. Joe Launchbury	11. Matt Jess
05. Dean Mumm	12. Sam Hill
06. Dave Ewers	13. Henry Slade
07. Tom Johnson	14. Jack Nowell
08. Kieran Read	15. Israel Folau

16. Brett Sturgess 17. Luke Cowan-Dickie 18. Moray Low 19. Damian Welch 20. Ben White 21. Dave Lewis 22. Gareth Steenson 23. Sireli Naqalevuki

Set piece - use scrum as a restart, quick ball with a front row used to playing together. Mumm to call lineout, use Read and Johnson as second options. Target their lineout as they lack an established caller

Breakdown - work in pairs, one to smash Hooper who can be got at physically and second man in to secure ball. On their ball be selective, look to maintain a strong defensive line and only look for the turnover when its on, Launchbury and Read to support the flankers

Attack - Ewers as our primary tight carrier, go tight to the ruck and tie in their defenders then spin out with Cruden and Slade both able to playmake, with runners like Hill and Folau off their shoulder

Defence - no weak link in the backs, use the boots to get us into the right areas, we think they lack a second kicker in the backs so happy to play a territorial game

Come on guys

Will have tactics in as soon as I get to work

1. Rob Evans
2. Ken Owens
3. Rhodri Jones
4. Jake Ball
5. Eben Etzbeth
6. Mamuka Gorgodze
7. John Barclay
8. Duane Vermuelen
9. Will Genia
10. Rhys Priestland
11. Liam Williams
12. Scott Williams
13. Jonathon Davies
14. Jordan Williams
15. Willie Le Roux


16. Kirby Myhill
17. Phil John
18. Samson Lee
19. Johan Snyman
20. Aaron Shingler
21. Rhodri Williams
22. Steven Shingler
23. Harry Robinson

Connacht Rugby

Manager – Fluxy

01. Rodney Ah You	09. Kieran Marmion
02. Jason Harris-Wright	10. Johnny Sexton (k)
03. Owen Franks
04. Michael Swift	11. George North
05. Sam Whitelock	12. Bundee Aki
06. Willie Faloon	13. Robbie Henshaw
07. Richie McCaw (c)	14. Tiernan O'Halloran
08. Eoin Mckeon	15. Mils Muliaini

16. Dave Heffernan 17. JP Cooney 18. Denis Buckley 19. Quinn Roux 20. john Muldoon 21. Ian Porter 22. Jack Carty 23. Fionn Carr

Will do tactics in the morning!