Aviva Premiership - Round Three - Rugby Championship

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Northampton Saints vs Bath Rugby
Franklin Gardens
Light Rain Showers - 14 degrees, 8mph Northerly Winds

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Saints

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Bath

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Worcester Warriors vs Exeter Chiefs
Sixways Stadium
Sunny Intervals - 15 degrees, 8mph Northerly Winds

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Warriors

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Chiefs

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Sale Sharks vs London Irish
Salford Stadium
Light Rain Showers - 15 degrees, 16mph Northerly Winds

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Sharks

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Irish

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Leicester Tigers vs Gloucester Rugby
Welford Road
Light Rain Showers - 15 degrees, 8mph Northerly Winds

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Tigers

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Glaws

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Newcastle Falcons vs Saracens
Kingston Park
Light Rain Showers - 13 degrees, 13mph Northerly Winds

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Falcons

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Saracens

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Wasps vs Harlequins
Ricoh Arena
Light Rain Showers - 14 degrees, 7mph Northerly Winds

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Wasps

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Quins

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Bristol Team 
Manager: CJ

01. David Kilcoyne	09. Kahn Fotuali'i
02. Chris Tolofua	10. Freddie Burns
03. Will Collier
04. Donnacha Ryan	11. Charlie Sharples
05. Sam Carter	12. Jimmy Gopperth (k)
06. Chris Robshaw	13. Duncan Taylor
07. Josh Van Der Flier	14. Craig Gilroy
08. John Barclay (c)	15.  Dane Haylett-Petty

:-
16. Loni Uhila 17.  Rob Buchanan 18.  Pouri Rakete-Stones 19.  Carl Fearns  20  Victor Vito 21. Ben Spencer 22. Christian Lealiifano 23. Nick Tompkins

Attributes:

Attack:

Breakdown - Clearing: Ensuring the possession is clean and quick with quick support to the breakdown

Phase Attack: Attacks build momentum until an opportunity arises. 

Defence:

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

Maul Defence: Legally can slow up a maul or stop them gaining headway.


No Wasps team yet, so would like to update these tactics a touch when I know whom I'm facing


Tactics: 


:

Tactics:

Breakdown:

should be a good battle with a good Exeter side here, but we expect our extra fetcher in the backrow with Barclay at 8 to give us an edge, with the pack working in unison in clearing out and minimising the numbers at the ruck unless there's a turnover possibility to target. We should always have a fetcher first to the ruck with the 3 in the backrow. Main aim is keeping ball quick.

Attack:

As usual we will be building a phase attack until we suck in defenders and create gaps to take advantage of out wide.

In good weather we will be looking to play fast and spin wide and change the angles of attack in the midfield with our twin playmakers, with the back 3 coming into the line at various angles and the backrow chasing the ball acting as potential link men to utilise the offload to.

Look to target Ashton against Sharples with chip kicks to use Sharples pace and kick chase against Ashton's defence.

When it's slow ball, carries in the pack in groups of 3.

Alternate plan = kicking game with gritty pack and two class kickers at 10/12, a top level kick chasing backrow and decision making from Fotuali'i.

Defence:

Blitz, led by Taylor. Sweeping at 9. Aggressive blitz to reduce their carrier momentum.

With Laidlaw a tactical rather than attacking 9, can focus the backrow defence on 10 and hound him and cut out their attack there.

With great carrying in their pack, if we are losing that gainline battle, start to let the odd carry breach the line when support looks weak, then have the dummy defenders look to tackle from behind when they are isolated with the backrow there to make the turnover.

Scrum:

Basic scrum, quick ball in and out.

Lineout:

Look to use the maul to grind the opposition down to then get front foot ball to use the backs as above. Barclay the carrier at the maul when attacking the line.

Other:

Kicking high and hanging balls to chase down.
Subs bench has power carrying to match Exeter's

Mark

Saracens
Manager – Pooly

01. Mohamed Boughanmi	09. Baptise Serin
02. Guilhem Guirado	10. Pat Lambie
03. Dan Cole
04. Ed Slater	11. George North
05. Geoff Parling	12. Rohan Janse van Rensburg
06. James Haskell	13. Francis Saili
07. Hamish Watson	14. Telusa Veainu
08. Nathan Hughes	15. Stuart Hogg

:-
16. Richard Hibbard 17. Alex Waller 18. Paul Hill 19. Nick Isiekwe 20. Sam Underhill 21. Morgan Parra 22. Tom Taylor 23. Nathan Earle

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

Points:


General - We'll be playing a structured physical game from the off, look to get at the opposition and target the breakdown. We'll look to tie the opposition in with our physical pack/carrying options and then get at their outisde backs, more so in their half. Look to keep it tight in the forward pack and grind through work. Looking to bring in the opposition pack and then use big carrying options to punch holes through their defence. Look to control the tempo and areas we play with kicking options at halfback.

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 TH and Hooker will look to target LH and try to get between him and Hooker to allow LH to work on TH If no weakness seen will use as restart.

Line out – Look for safe ball with world class line out options and experience. Will allow SH good clean ball and have big carriers running off the 9 at angles. Look to target opposition throw and put pressure on the hooker.

Defence - Blitz defence with high intensity and big hits, looking to drive past the ball player if the ball hits the deck. physical pack that can look to get at the collision and breakdown allowing a chance to slow down/steal ball. Put pressure on SH's basics and force him into errors. Scrum half to sweep behind the defensive line.

Attack - Keep things simple in our own half then look to unleash backs in opp 22 territory. Scrum half to dictate play from the breakdown and runners on his shoulder. Huge carrying pack to get us over the gain line after front 5 set a platform. Midfield to run angles off the 9/10, allowing us gain line breakers. Look to keep opposition guessing with clever lines through midfield. Wingers will look to track the midfield combo.

01. Val Ruskin	09. Gareth Davies
02. Jack Yeandle	10. Dan Biggar (k)
03. WP Nel
04. Leone Nakawara	11. Waisaki Naholo
05. Yohann Maestri	12. Jamie Roberts
06. Jackson Wray	13. Huw Jones
07. Matt Todd (c)	14. James Short
08. Warren Whiteley	15. David Havilli

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16. Ross Batty 17. Joe Moody 18. Henry Thomas 19. Mike Williams 20. Sam Warburton 21. Sam Harrison 22. Owen Williams 23. Mark Atkinson

DEFENCE-We have brought in Roberts to add physicality to our defence and look to stop Tigers from spreading the ball. We will target 10 with a back rower defending alongside Biggar.
ATTACK-Havili can come into the 12 position after Roberts has carried giving us a backline with flair and pace. We will look to use our heavier pack to rumble the ball and hit Tigers wide after retaining for a number of phases.
*Bench-we have huge impact on our bench able and will use Moody, Williams, Warburton and Atkinson to cause all sorts of trouble in the last 20 minutes minimum.

-We have selected a heavy, hard working pack looking to nullify the danger from their big carriers and set piece,
-We will play a controlled game, offloading-only when on. Biggar will look for territory,
-Big carriers up front looking to offload if the conditions allow possible although being mindful of the encroaching defence and we will have support runners on their shoulders,
-Back row looking to be balanced with carrying, tackling and Todd bringing the turnover attribute,
-The breakdown is likely to be scrappy and the first man there will look to go for the ball using our turnover attribute. If it is obviously lost we will fan out. If they under-commit we will look to drive through them for the turnover,
-Look to not commit too much to their breakdown if the ball is lost and use blitz defence led by Roberts allowing the chance to apply the choke tackle to stop them playing a quick tempo game,
-Backs to play what is in front of them, runners off Jones and Roberts/Havilli, we will use the back three as strike runners and know the pace of our back three to put pressure with quick ball,
-When nothing is on  go for territory and also use  'bombs' to challenge and turn their backlline,
-We will the wingers to come into the line and switch things up to keep them guessing and allow us the chance to hit from deep at times and not be predictable,
-We have selected a huge bench which will be used for impact and to maintain a high tempo game running against tired legs,
-Take all kickable penalties.

Exeter Chiefs

01. Jefferson Poirot	09. Greg Laidlaw
02. Tom Youngs	10. Camille Lopez
03. Kyle Sinckler
04. Courtney Lawes	11. James Lowe
05. James Horwill	12. Ma'a Nonu
06. Marcell Coetzee	13. Remi Lamerat
07. Steffon Armitage	14. Chris Ashton
08. Sergio Parisse	15. Scott Spedding

:-
Replacements: 16 Nathan Catt 17 Ricky Riccitelli 18 Ben Tamiefuna 19 Juandre Kruger 20 Teimana Harrison 21 Ruan Pienaar 22 Alex Lozowski 23 Jared Payne

Territorial Kicking: Looking to pin back sides and kick for open spaces or touch.
First phase attack/strike moves: Will look to break the defence, with either a bust through or a clever move to create a gap.

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.
Chop Tackle: Tacklers look to get low and chop down attackers before gaining momentum or metres over the gain line.

Exeter Chiefs have made two changes from last weeks game with Ma'a Nonu and Steffon Armitage coming in for Damien Penaud and Dave Ewers.

We will play a forward based and territory based game to get in the right positions of the pitch.

We have picked the players to do this. Big carriers and a mobile back and hard working back row. Laidlaw is the perfect controlling 9 and will give good service to Lopez.

Nonu picked to nullify Roberts.

We have picked a big pack and are targeting the forward battle as key to the win. We have a solid scrum to build from and two big locks who are both good lineout options.

The set piece will be important and we will look to use this as a weapon to attack from and gain territory. Our back row are all big carriers and we will use them all to gain hard yards and tire out opposition defenders. Armitage , Sinckler, Coetzee, Parisse are all good strong ball carriers and will look to get us front foot ball for Lopez to work with.

In the backs we will use Nonu as a crash ball option and a decoy runner to open up space for the likes of Spedding, Lowe and Ashton to exploit. Laidlaw will kick all pens for goal if in range and if not look to kick deep to gain territory.

Bath Rugby
Manager – CJB

01. Eddy Ben Arous	09. Richard Wigglesworth
02. Mikey Haywood	10. Finn Russell
03. Samson Lee
04. Josh Beaumont	11. Christian Wade
05. Graham Kitchener	12. Sam Hill
06. Dan Lydiate	13. george Moala
07. Justin Tipuric	14. Juan Imhofd
08. Toby Falateu	15. Liam williams

16. Ellis Genge 17. Leni Asipai 18. scott Wilson 19. Will Skelton 20. Liam Gill 21. Nick Phipps 22. Harold Vorster 23. Alex Goode

 Newcastle Falcons
Manager – Bambam

01. Matt Mullan	09. Rhys Webb
02. Camille Chat	10. Owen Farrell
03. Vincent Koch
04. Michael Fatiolofa	11. Charles Piutau
05. Matt Symons	12. Ngani Laumape
06. Callum Clark	13. Vince Aso
07. Francois Louw	14. Denny Solomona
08. Elliott Dixon	15. Ben Smith

:-
16. Jamie George 17. Alec Hepburn 18. Davit Kubriashvili 19. Rory Thornton 20. Tom Curry 21. Will Chudley 22. Otere Black 23. Sam James

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

Game plan

Key points

Look for turnovers and attack - We've got some very good turnover merchants in Clark and Louw, pinch the ball at the breakdown and get it out wide for the lethal pace we have from 11-15

Set piece - Look to really put their props under maximum pressure with our strong front row, we've got a great scrummaging lock pairing to help. If no weakness, use as restart. On their ball, mark their second rows and force long throws. On our ball, use the back row options to mix it up.

Breakdown - Back row and hooker to lead the way on turnovers. Others focus on strong clear outs and maintaining a strong defensive line. . On our ball, smash them off the ball, use pod system to ensure support if they are having success. Our openside is charged with keeping their main breakdown threat off our ball, and target turnovers if one of their carriers gets isolated

Kicking - Options throughout the backs . Kick in behind the wings for territory, aim for space not the man. Challenge wings positioning, Wings free to drop back for the counter off their kicks

Attack - Run our attack off 9 who sets the tempo, constantly change the point of attack and get our 10 quick ball.. Challenge their 10 defensively with our power backs cutting in running hard lines at his channel with the full back coming into the line. Big carrying forwards to set a platform, run at 10/12 all day long to put them on the back foot off first phase, see how they handle it.  

Defence - no weak links in the backline, use the blitz defence to put them on the back foot,  

Bench - Big carrying forwards throughout and talented, pacy backs to see us home

Harlequins
Manager – Steven_Sharks

01. Cyrill Baille	09. Ben Youngs
02. Rob Webber	10. Ihaia West
03. Tadhg Furlong
04. Ultan Dillane	11. Jack Nowell
05. George Kruis	12. Robbie Henshaw
06. Jack Clifford	13. Jonathan Joseph
07. Dan Leavy	14. Yoann Huget
08. Damien Chouly (c)	15. Mike Haley

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16. Jack Singleton 17. Cian Healy 18. Kieran Brookes 19. Mamuka Gorgodze 20. Mitchel Karpik 21. Luke McGrath 22. Dan Jones 23. Jack Goodhue

Tactics

• Look to play with width and move Wasps around the pitch. Play with forward runners off 9 and 10 before spreading the ball wide when we have go forward utislising the pace in our outside backs.
  
• Look to carry in numbers so we have the option to offload or to recycle the ball quickly. Look to attacks gaps in the defence and look to offload before and out of contact if required to keep the momentum of our attack.
  
• Look to keep ball in hand outside of our own 22, Only kicks are straight to touch or with the aim of retaining the ball through cross-fields or up and under kicks.
  
• Look to set up one or two hard runners and then a play maker out the back. Allows us variety in our attack to keep the Wasps defence honest.
  
• Whilst we are looking to run in tries, this is an away game so we will look to keep the scoreboard ticking over to build pressure on Wasps.
  

Exeter Chiefs 
Manager – Fluxy

01. Ben Moon	09. Nic White
02. Jack Yeandle	10. Gareth Steenson (k)
03. Greg Holmes
04. Mitch Lees	11. Jack Nowell
05. Jonny Hill	12. Ollie Devoto
06. Don Armand (c)	13. Ian Whitten
07. Matt Kvesic	14. Olly Woodburn
08. Thomas Waldrom	15. Lachlan Turner

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16. Luke Cowan-Dickie, 17. Alec Hepburn, 18. Harry Williams, 19. Ollie Atkins, 20. Sam Simmonds, 21. Conor Murray 22. Henry Slade, 23. Phil Dollman