Champions Cup - Round Four

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Stade Chaban-Delmas
Sunny, 12 degrees, 6mph Easterly Winds

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Bordeaux-Begles

01. Steven Kitshoff	09. Baptiste Serin
02. Ole Avei	10. Ian Madigan
03. Marc Clerc
04. Tom Palmer	11. Blair Connor
05. Berend Botha	12. Julien Rey
06. Loann Goujon	13. Romain Lonca
07. Joe Edwards	14. Nan Ducuing
08. Marc Tauleigne	15. Jean-Marcellin Buttin

:-
16. Clement Maynadier, 17. Sébastien Taofifenua, 18. Jean-Baptiste Poux, 1.9 Luke Jones, 20. Hugh Chalmers, 21. Yann Lesgourgues, 22. Lionel Beauxis, 23. Josaia Vakacegu

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Harlequins
Manager – Steven_Sharks

01. Richad Barrington	09. Ben Youngs
02. Agustin Creevy	10. Juan Martin Hernandez
03. Tadhg Furlong
04. Pieter Steph Du Toit	11. Jack Nowell
05. George Kruis	12. Robbie Henshaw
06. Jaco Kriel	13. Jonathan Joseph
07. Michael Hooper (c)	14. Keelan Giles
08. Jack Clifford	15. Damian McKenzie (k)

:-
16. Rob Webber 17. Cian Healy 18. Kieran Brookes 19. Ultan Dillane 20. Mamuka Gorgodze 21. Luke McGrath 22. Steven Myler 23. James O'Connor

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Saracens vs Munster
Allianz Park
Light Cloud, 8 degrees, 6mph North Westerly Winds

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Saracens
Manager – Pooly

01. Alex Waller	09. Morgan Parra
02. Guilhem Guirado	10. Nicolas Sanchez
03. Paul Hill
04. Patrick Tuipultou	11. Teddy Thomas
05. Geoff Parling	12. Ollie Devoto
06. Guy Thompson	13. Conrad Smith
07. John Hardie	14. Delon Armitage
08. Dave Denton	15. Stuart Hogg

:-
16. Scott Spurling 17. Simon McIntyre 18. Ben Franks 19. Marcos Kremer 20. Thierry Dusatoir  21. Brad Weber 22. Tom Taylor 23. Hosea Gear

Tactics:

Defensive:
Blitz Defence - Get in the face of the opposition and allow them very little time on the ball.
Breakdown - Turnover possession: Your side is recognised to pick off turnovers at the breakdown, by getting the ball and gaining the penalty

Attacking:
Territorial Kicking: Looking to pin back sides and kick for open spaces or touch
Offloading in the tackle: Moving the point of attack preventing a defence to set and keeping play fluid

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Munster Rugby 

01. David Kilcoyne	09. Conor Murray
02. Niall Scannell	10. Tyler Bleyendaal
03. John Ryan
04. Donnacha Ryan	11. Keith Earls
05. Billy Holland	12. Rory Scannell
06. Peter O'Mahony (c)	13. Jaco Taute
07. Tommy O'Donnell	14. Darren Sweetnam
08. CJ Stander	15. Simon Zebo

:-
16. Rhys Marshall, 17. Thomas Du Toit, 18. Stephen Archer, 19. Jean Kleyn, 20. Jack O’Donoghue, 21. Duncan Williams, 22. Ian Keatley, 23. Andrew Conway

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Connacht Rugby vs Northampton Saints
Galway Sportsground
Light Cloud, 9 degrees, 11mph Southerly Winds

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Connacht Rugby

01. Denis Buckley	09. Kieran Marmion
02. Tom McCartney	10. Jack Carty
03. Conor Carey
04. Ultan Dillane	11. Cian Kelleher
05. Quinn Roux	12. Bundee Aki
06. Nepia Fox-Matamua	13. Stacey Ili
07. Jake Heenan	14. Niyi Adeolokun
08. John Muldoon (c)	15. Tiernan O'Halloran

:-
16. Dave Heffernan, 17. JP Cooney, 18. Finlay Bealham, 19. Sean O’Brien, 20. Eoin McKeon, 21. Caolin Blade, 22. Rory Parata, 23. Matt Healy

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Northampton Saints
Manager: Dammit Chris

01. Wyatt Crockett	09. Joe Simpson
02. Schalk Brits	10. George Ford
03. Jake Cooper Wooley
04. Joe Launchbury (c)	11. Julian Savea
05. Jonny Gray	12. Wesley Fofana
06. Luke Wallace	13. Alex Dunbar
07. David Pocock	14. Rieko Ioane
08. Billy Vunipola	15. Leigh Halfpenny(k)

.
Replacements:
16. Mako Vunipola 17. Ashley Johnson 18. Zander Fagerson 19. Paul Jedrasiak 20. Facunda Isa 21. Conor Murray 22. Harry Mallinder 23. Manu Tuilagi

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Wasps vs Sale Sharks
Ricoh Arena
Light Cloud, 8 degrees, 4mph Westerly Winds

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Wasps
Manager - Pullthestrings

01. Joe Marler	09. Maxime Machenaud
02. Bismark Du Plessis	10. Aaron Cruden (k)
03. Dave Wilson
04. Sebastien Vahamahina	11. Bryan Habana
05. Alun Wyn-Jones (c)	12. Brad Barritt
06. Tom Wood	13. Henry Slade
07. Sean O'Brien	14. Anthony Watson
08. Louis Picamoles	15. Rob Kearney

_
16. Harry Thacker, 17. Marcos Ayerza, 18. Frans Malherbe, 19. Jim Hamilton, 20. Jerome Kaino, 21. Sebastien Tillous-Borde, 22. Nick Evans, 23. Marland Yarde

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Tactics
Attack:
- Good athleticism in the pack. Looking for them to be mobile and get around the park, ensuring good numbers at every breakdown to give clean ball
- Mix up forward runners off 9 and 10 to give go forward and tie in defence. When space opens up, go wide and utilise pace of back three.
Defence:
- Ensure guards and body guards at every breakdown, no gaps in midfield.
- Good line speed to put pressure on their handling and ability to go round our blitz defence

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 Sale Sharks
Manager – SJE

01. Scott Sio	09. Danny Care
02. Tommy Taylor	10. Johnny Sexton
03. Rabah Slimani
04. Dave Attwood	11. Simon Zebo
05. Maro Itoje	12. Reece Hodge
06. CJ Stander	13. Malakai Fekitoa
07. Sam Cane	14. Semesa Rokoduguni
08. Duane Vermulean	15. Nick Abendanon

Subs:
16. Malcolm Marx 17. Ross Harrison 18. Davit Zirakishvilli 19. Matt Garvey 20. Sean McMahon 21. Faf De Klerk 22. Bernard Foley 23. Ruan Combrinck

Attributes:
Phase Attack: Attacks build momentum until an opportunity arises.
Breakdown - Clearing: Ensuring the possession is clean and quick with quick support to the breakdown.

Blitz Defence: Your side is known for Blitz and excels at it.
Breakdown - Slowing up ball: The defenders can get over the ball to slow it up and prevent the attack from building momentum and allowing your defence to set.  

Attack: We will be playing a high intensity phased attacking game. Look to use a rugby league shape with runners on the gain line and out the back door to force the opposition into making defensive decisions. Numerous playmakers across the back line allows us to constantly change the point of attack and restructure our attacking phases. Care to keep the fringe defence honest with his snipping runs.

Breakdown: Quick ball is the aim on attack. Mobile pack and physical back line to clear out rucks and ensure we get it. We will look to get over the gain line off all carries to give a target to hit. Defensively when the initial contact is won we will look to commit numbers and get over the ball turning it over or at least slowing opposition ball up. Otherwise we will strengthen the line. 

Defence: Straight line blitz defence focused on winning the gain line collisions and driving the ball carrier back. Line speed is crucial. Care will sweep behind the line to cover chips and grubbers. Zebo & Bendy to cover the background dropping deep to cut off the green grass available to kick into.

Scrum: Strong scrummaging unit in the front row with the support of a powerful 4-8 will look to get the better of the opposition and build a strong attacking platform. We will look to put a slight wheel on where possible to take the opposition backrow out of play and then attack the space available and look for one on ones in the backline.

Lineout: Five mobile, athletic jumpers allows us to genuinely mix it up on attacking ball. Primarily looking to get the backs on the ball in space. Defensively Itoje to get up in the air at the front and challenge on opposition ball.

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Leinster Rugby vs Newcastle Falcons
RDS Arena
Light Cloud, 6 degrees, 7mph South Westerly Winds

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Leinster Rugby

01. Jack Mcgrath	09. Luke McGrath
02. Sean Cronin	10. Johnny Sexton
03. Tadgh Furlong
04. Devin Toner	11. Isa Nacewa (c)
05. Hayden Triggs	12. Robbie Henshaw
06. Sean O'Brien	13. Garry Ringrose
07. Josh Van Der Flier	14. Adam Byrne
08. Jamie Heaslip	15. Rob Kearney

:-
16. James Tracy, 17. Cian Healy, 18. Michael Bent, 19. Rhys Ruddock, 20. Jack Conan, 21. Jamison Gibson-Park, 22. Ross Byrne, 23. Rory O’Loughlin

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 Newcastle Falcons
Manager – Bambam

01. Matt Mullan	09. Rhys Webb
02. Jamie George	10. Owen Farrell (k)
03. Vincent Koch
04. Guido Petti	11. Charles Piutau
05. Matt Symons	12. Luke Marshall
06. Pablo Matera	13. Sam James
07. Francois Louw	14. David Strettle
08. Kieran Read (c)	15. Ben Smith

:-
16.Camille Chat 17.Alec Hepburn 18. Charlie Faumuina 19. Lood De Jager 20. Elliott Dixon 21. Will Chudley 22. Paddy Jackson 23. Rob Miller

Attributes
Counter Attacking: Receiving the ball down field, your players will look to attack with ball in hand, thriving in the broken field and open spaces.
Phase Attack: Attacks build momentum until an opportunity arises.
Breakdown: Slowing up ball: The defenders can get over the ball to slow it up and prevent the attack from building momentum and allowing your defence to set.
Blitz Defence: Your side is known for Blitz and excels at it

Target wings - think their wings are both better full backs, get the ball wide to Piutau and let him threaten, James to look to make outside breaks to test their positioning

Pressure Mcgrath - Sexton needs good ball, McGrath can be pressured with our back row all being very quick off the mark to scrag him

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Haha......I've just done this at the exact same time!!!

Aha, but I can nick the sides out of it quickly, so don't delete!

I've just used yours from last week mate, I've not updated them

Don't worry, just realised that!

All opposition Euro sides updated.

Northampton Saints
Manager: Dammit Chris

01. Wyatt Crockett	09. Joe Simpson
02. Schalk Brits	10. George Ford
03. Jake Cooper Wooley
04. Joe Launchbury (c)	11. Julian Savea
05. Jonny Gray	12. Wesley Fofana
06. Luke Wallace	13. Alex Dunbar
07. David Pocock	14. Rieko Ioane
08. Billy Vunipola	15. Leigh Halfpenny(k)

.
Replacements:
16. Mako Vunipola 17. Ashley Johnson 18. Zander Fagerson 19. Paul Jedrasiak 20. Facunda Isa 21. Conor Murray 22. Harry Mallinder 23. Manu Tuilagi

Saracens
Manager – Pooly

01. Alex Waller	09. Morgan Parra
02. Guilhem Guirado	10. Nicolas Sanchez
03. Paul Hill
04. Patrick Tuipultou	11. Teddy Thomas
05. Geoff Parling	12. Ollie Devoto
06. Guy Thompson	13. Conrad Smith
07. John Hardie	14. Delon Armitage
08. Dave Denton	15. Stuart Hogg

:-
16. Scott Spurling 17. Simon McIntyre 18. Ben Franks 19. Marcos Kremer 20. Thierry Dusatoir  21. Brad Weber 22. Tom Taylor 23. Hosea Gear

Tactics:

Defensive:

Blitz Defence - Get in the face of the opposition and allow them very little time on the ball.

Breakdown - Turnover possession: Your side is recognised to pick off turnovers at the breakdown, by getting the ball and gaining the penalty

Attacking:

Territorial Kicking: Looking to pin back sides and kick for open spaces or touch

Offloading in the tackle: Moving the point of attack preventing a defence to set and keeping play fluid

Harlequins
Manager – Steven_Sharks

01. Richad Barrington	09. Ben Youngs
02. Agustin Creevy	10. Juan Martin Hernandez
03. Tadhg Furlong
04. Pieter Steph Du Toit	11. Jack Nowell
05. George Kruis	12. Robbie Henshaw
06. Jaco Kriel	13. Jonathan Joseph
07. Michael Hooper (c)	14. Keelan Giles
08. Jack Clifford	15. Damian McKenzie (k)

:-
16. Rob Webber 17. Cian Healy 18. Kieran Brookes 19. Ultan Dillane 20. Mamuka Gorgodze 21. Luke McGrath 22. Steven Myler 23. James O'Connor

Newcastle Falcons
Manager – Bambam

01. Matt Mullan	09. Rhys Webb
02. Jamie George	10. Owen Farrell (k)
03. Vincent Koch
04. Guido Petti	11. Charles Piutau
05. Matt Symons	12. Luke Marshall
06. Pablo Matera	13. Sam James
07. Francois Louw	14. David Strettle
08. Kieran Read (c)	15. Ben Smith

:-
16.Camille Chat 17.Alec Hepburn 18. Charlie Faumuina 19. Lood De Jager 20. Elliott Dixon 21. Will Chudley 22. Paddy Jackson 23. Rob Miller

Attributes
Counter Attacking: Receiving the ball down field, your players will look to attack with ball in hand, thriving in the broken field and open spaces.
Phase Attack: Attacks build momentum until an opportunity arises.
Breakdown: Slowing up ball: The defenders can get over the ball to slow it up and prevent the attack from building momentum and allowing your defence to set.
Blitz Defence: Your side is known for Blitz and excels at it

Target wings - think their wings are both better full backs, get the ball wide to Piutau and let him threaten, James to look to make outside breaks to test their positioning

Pressure Mcgrath - Sexton needs good ball, McGrath can be pressured with our back row all being very quick off the mark to scrag him

Weather Conditions updated

Sale Sharks
Manager – SJE

01. Scott Sio	09. Danny Care
02. Tommy Taylor	10. Johnny Sexton
03. Rabah Slimani
04. Dave Attwood	11. Simon Zebo
05. Maro Itoje	12. Reece Hodge
06. CJ Stander	13. Malakai Fekitoa
07. Sam Cane	14. Semesa Rokoduguni
08. Duane Vermulean	15. Nick Abendanon

Subs:
16. Malcolm Marx 17. Ross Harrison 18. Davit Zirakishvilli 19. Matt Garvey 20. Sean McMahon 21. Faf De Klerk 22. Bernard Foley 23. Ruan Combrinck

Attributes:
Phase Attack: Attacks build momentum until an opportunity arises.
Breakdown - Clearing: Ensuring the possession is clean and quick with quick support to the breakdown.

Blitz Defence: Your side is known for Blitz and excels at it.
Breakdown - Slowing up ball: The defenders can get over the ball to slow it up and prevent the attack from building momentum and allowing your defence to set.  

Attack: We will be playing a high intensity phased attacking game. Look to use a rugby league shape with runners on the gain line and out the back door to force the opposition into making defensive decisions. Numerous playmakers across the back line allows us to constantly change the point of attack and restructure our attacking phases. Care to keep the fringe defence honest with his snipping runs.

Breakdown: Quick ball is the aim on attack. Mobile pack and physical back line to clear out rucks and ensure we get it. We will look to get over the gain line off all carries to give a target to hit. Defensively when the initial contact is won we will look to commit numbers and get over the ball turning it over or at least slowing opposition ball up. Otherwise we will strengthen the line. 

Defence: Straight line blitz defence focused on winning the gain line collisions and driving the ball carrier back. Line speed is crucial. Care will sweep behind the line to cover chips and grubbers. Zebo & Bendy to cover the background dropping deep to cut off the green grass available to kick into.

Scrum: Strong scrummaging unit in the front row with the support of a powerful 4-8 will look to get the better of the opposition and build a strong attacking platform. We will look to put a slight wheel on where possible to take the opposition backrow out of play and then attack the space available and look for one on ones in the backline.

Lineout: Five mobile, athletic jumpers allows us to genuinely mix it up on attacking ball. Primarily looking to get the backs on the ball in space. Defensively Itoje to get up in the air at the front and challenge on opposition ball.

Wasps
Manager - Pullthestrings

01. Joe Marler	09. Maxime Machenaud
02. Bismark Du Plessis	10. Aaron Cruden (k)
03. Frans Malherbe
04. Sebastien Vahamahina	11. Bryan Habana
05. Alun Wyn-Jones (c)	12. Henry Slade
06. Tom Wood	13. Jonathan Davies
07. Sean O'Brien	14. Anthony Watson
08. Louis Picamoles	15. Rob Kearney

_
16. Harry Thacker, 17. Marcos Ayerza, 18. Dave Wilson, 19. Andrew Kitchener, 20. Jerome Kaino, 21. Sebastien Tillous-Borde, 22. Brad Barritt, 23. Marland Yarde

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Tactics
Attack:
- Good athleticism in the pack. Looking for them to be mobile and get around the park, ensuring good numbers at every breakdown to give clean ball
- Mix up forward runners off 9 and 10 to give go forward and tie in defence. When space opens up, go wide and utilise pace of back three.
Defence:
- Ensure guards and body guards at every breakdown, no gaps in midfield.
- Good line speed to put pressure on their handling and ability to go round our blitz defence

Bordeaux-Begles 25 - 37 Harlequins
The Begles side are always a good game at home, and with their big pack they were going to proivde a good platform for their backs to play with. However, the dynamism of the Quins back five and in combination with their elusive back line, the game was just going to be too much for Bordeaux to overcome this dangerous Quins side.

Bordeaux-Begles 15 - 30 Harlequins
Quins will get on top in the back 5 battle and with the centres making inroads they will release their dangerous back 3 with Giles in great form at present. A good away win.

Bordeaux-Begles 22 - 23 Harlequins

Bordeaux-Begles 44 - 45 Harlequins

Bordeaux-Begles 19 - 25 Harlequins
Can only see Bordeaux getting at the scrum and perhaps stronger at 10. Past that it's mostly Quins and they'll gain control of the match in the 2nd half.

Bordeaux-Begles 18 - 30 Harlequins
Comfortable win for Quins with only Kitshoff and Goujon the only opposition that might trouble their side. 

Bordeaux-Begles 17 - 33 Harlequins
Great team for Quins, scrum would go to the home side but everywhere else Quins are far superior.

Bordeaux-Begles 20 - 31 Harlequins
Bordeaux stronger at home than on the road, but Quins have far too much quality in the pack and midfield, and will win this one comfortably away from home

Saracens 22 - 20 Munster
Munster just start looking better and better, however the power of the Saracens back five will see them bludgeon their way to victory against a determined side from Cork. 

Saracens 25 - 20 Munster
Munster are no shirkers in the back row now and Sarries will have a good battle here. Out wide I think that Sarries have that bit more spark to cause Munster some issues. Fairly solid bench helps Sarries take this.

Saracens 18 - 17 Munster

Saracens 25 - 24 Munster

Saracens 26 - 25 Munster

Saracens 20 - 17 Munster
Tight game with Munster hitting good form. Can see their backrow edging the battle but Sarries front 5 and backs are enough to sneak a close one.

Saracens 20 - 15 Munster
Sarries pack needs some ball carriers as Denton hard to rate due to injury. They are still stronger at home than Munster and Hogg is best NH attacking no15 around.

Saracens 27 - 24 Munster
Munster look one of the best sides in Europe this year, but Saracens are very good at home, and have the advantage in the front 5 giving them a platform to build off. Sanchez will get enough ball to get the backs away, and think they will edge a strong Munster team

Connacht Rugby 18 - 20 Northampton Saints
This return fixture was always going to be a different challenge for the Saints. The men from galway are a completely different beast at home. This one goes down to the wire, with the boot of Carty costing Connacht late on.

Connacht Rugby 14 - 34  Northmapton Saints
Saints just too strong and Connacht won't be able to match them today. Conditions in Galway with the wind stops it being a complete rout.

Connacht Rugby 24 - 23 Northampton Saints

Connacht Rugby 27 - 28 Northampton Saints

Connacht Rugby 22 - 23 Northampton Saints
Different game this week against a tough Connacht outfit. Can see the home side dominating the set piece but it'll be a real contest after that, great game. 

Connacht Rugby 23 - 24 Northampton Saints

Connacht Rugby 22 - 36 Northampton Saints
Too much about Saints and see them getting the tbp comfortably. 

Connacht Rugby 24 - 26 Northampton Saints
Connacht a different proposition at home, and think they'll really push Saints even though on paper they lack a bit of the stardust that Saints possess. It'll be a close fought game, but think Saints advantage in the back 5 of the pack will be crucial, and Ford is that bit better than the Connacht 10 to lead them to the win

Wasps 25 - 24 Sale Sharks
Good contest between two these two sides. Apart from Wilson up front, Wasps are a worthy challenge for the visitors from Salford. The form of the home side has been shady as of late, but they will pick up the narrowest of home victories to dent the Sharks confidence.

Wasps 23 - 27 Sale Sharks
Overall it could be said that the packs are even although there are a few more players hitting good form for Sale with Stander being the stand out. One a piece at half back. Solid Wasps defence in the centres but Sale could cause a few issues with a better heads up attack. Evens out wide and on the bench. Steady tactics from Wasps but not sure if it's enough here for them. Sale clear with their high intensity game and how it links with their squad. Their lineout should get on top here too.

Wasps 24 - 24 Sale Sharks

Wasps 22 - 23 Sale Sharks

Wasps 25 - 23 Sale Sharks
Wasps possibly a bit stronger in the pack which is a bit of a surprise. Some form issues for both sides but this pretty much evens out. Very close in the backline also, little in the game.

Wasps 23 - 22 Sale Sharks

Wasps 22 - 21 Sale Sharks
Home advantage is the only thing that splits the teams. Itoje aside Wasps shade the front five, although Attwood is playing very well for Bath. Hard game to call. 

Wasps 24 - 28 Sale Sharks
Wasps improving fast, but Wilson is now a weakness for me at tighthead, and think the Sale pack will edge the front 5 as a whole. Back rows are close, but Sale have a better set of backs imo, and will take the win with the extra try scoring power

Leinster Rugby  35 - 31 Newcastle Falcons
As per last week, one of the ties of the round. Quite close up front, but the Leinster team offer a little more threat with ball I hand for me and will cause some issues for the Falcons defence. The RDS is a tough place to get a win, but Falcons get two LBPs.

Leinster 24 - 25 Newcastle Falcons
Falcons will struggle in the front 5 with a very strong Leinster pack on show. Looking at the back row I think that Falcons can get themselves into the game a bit more here. Half backs currently to Falcons which helps them get better ball, their back 3 will thrive off this and it's just enough for a snatch and grab win against a tough Leinster defence.

Leinster 26 - 25 Newcastle Falcons

Leinster 25 - 25 Newcastle Falcons

Leinster 27 - 26 Newcastle Falcons
Possibly the game of the round. Falcons will throw everything at Leinster but I'm not convinced they've got enough in the backs with Webb lacking form and the centres not great, to see them stealing a good win. 

Leinster 23 - 23 Newcastle Falcons

Leinster 27 - 22 Newcastle Falcons
Leinster with an advantage in the front 5 and edge the backrow on form. Edge midfield for quality and form also and with Sexton pulling the strings see them taking this.

Leinster 24 - 22 Newcastle Falcons
Looking like the hardest place to go and get a win.