Fixtures 1

First topic message reminder :

Teams due by Friday , predictions over the weekend.

As a treat the fixtures will take place at Camp Nou

Gloucester vs Harliquins

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Gloucester

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Manager – Matt

01. Coonie Oustheiuzen	09. Dave Lewis
02. Adriaan Strauss	10. Stephen Donald
03. Rupert Harden
04. George Robson	11. Zac Guildford
05. Tom Palmer	12. Shontayne Hape
06. Stephen Ferris	13. Jonny May
07. Andy Hazell	14. Charlie Sharples
08. Brett Deacon	15. Scott Hamilton

16. Nick Wood 17. Jamie George 18. Nicolas Mas 19. Bakkies Botha 20. Immanol Harinoediquy 21. Will Genia 22. Dan Carter 23. James Simpson-Daniel
Tactics
Gloucester have picked a super mobile pack with the aim of moving the ball around. we are blessed with some serious ball carriers and aim to use them to batter the oppostion.
We will play a very high tempo and then empty our bench on 50 minutes. Then we will see probably the best bench ever put together in the game take the game further away

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Harliquins

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Manager – Steve

01. Tony Woodcock	09. Byron Kelleher
02. Matt Rees	10. Quade Cooper
03. Brian Mujati
04. Jerome Thion	11. George Lowe
05. Nathan Sharpe	12. Riki Flutey
06. Lewis Moody	13. Gonzarlo Canale
07. Sam Warburton	14. Johnathan Joseph
08. Jamie Heaslip	15. Freddie Burns

16. Schalk Brits 17. Joe Marler 18. Kieron Brookes 19. Tom Donnoly 20. Phil Dowsen 21. Lee Dickson 22. Rhys Priestland 23. Jon Clarke
Tactics
We have picked what is at the moment our strongest 23 players who fit the criteria of 10 EQ players. Would like people to comment on weaknesses they see on the bench but most importantly in the Starting XV

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London Wasps vs. Leicester Tigers

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London Wasps

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Manager – Arry

01. Perry Freshwater	09. Martin Roberts
02. Steve Thompson (c)	10. Jimmy Goppereth
03. Werner Kruger
04. Steven Sykes	11. Tom Williams
05. Mark Chisholm	12. Anthoney Faniga'a
06. Tom Johnson	13. Jamie Roberts
07. Jaques Burger	14. Noah Cato
08. Roger Wilson	15. Olly Morgan

16. Tatafu Polota - Nau 17. Benn Robinson 18. James Slipper 19. Dan Ward-Smith 20. James Haskell 21. Luke Burgess 22. Rory Clegg 23. Tom May
Tactics
Look to the forwards to provide us with a solid platform up front to attack from. Use our big, powerful ball carriers to wear Leicester down up front and get us onto the front foot. Early on we will look to our pack to do the dirty work, eventually we will look to play a more expansive game and get our offloading going.

Gopperth will play flat and look to use our centres to get us over the gainline. We will attempt to keep the ball in hand as much as possible and start counter attacks with our back three. Roberts will be our main man in getting us over the gain line, he will run from deep and hit the gain line hard. We will support him in numbers and look to keep him on his feet and drive him forwards.

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Leicester Tigers

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Manager– Luke

01. Wyatt Crockett	09. Micky Young
02. Sabastian Bruno	10. Dave Walder
03. Faan Rauntenbach
04. Tom Denton	11. Rupeni Caucaunibuca
05. Alex Brown	12. Clement Poitrinaud
06. Magnus Lund	13. Yannick Jauzion
07. David Pocock	14. Cory Jane
08. Ernst Joubert	15. Isa Nacewa

16. Dan Murphey 17. Matt Thompson 18. Cencus Johnstone 19. James Horwell 20. Thomas Waldrom 21. Ben Youngs 22. Toby Flood 23. Aurelian Rougerie
Tactics
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Northampton Saints vs. Newcastle Falcons

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Northampton Saints

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Manager – Chris

01. Andrew Sheridan	09. Mike Phillips
02. Rob Webber	10. Matt Giteau
03. Carl Hayman
04. Dave Attwood	11. Christian Wade
05. Patrico Albacete	12. Willie Mason
06. Simon Taylor	13. Manu Tuilagi
07. Liam Gill	14. Leigh Halfpenny
08. Ryan Kankowski	15. Rory Lamount

16. Chris Whitehead 17. Henry Thomas 18. Dave Wilson 19. Joe Launchbery 20. Callum Clark 21. Joe Simpson 22. George Ford 23. Casey Lualala
Tactics
Put out a weakish team against Newcastle this week, small front five, slow backrow and an inexperienced halfback combination. Christian Wade is our most experienced back, so the younger heads will be looking for him for iinspiration.
Play a forward orientated game, get stong ball carriers running from depth and dictate play. Look at Mason and Tuilagi to get over the gainline and bring in backthree when possible. Subs will all come on.

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Newcastle Falcons

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Manager – Sgt_Pooly

01. Boris Stankovich	09. Michael Classens
02. Tom Lindsey	10. Nick Evans
03. Paul Doran-Jones
04. Ed Slater	11. Sean Maitland
05. Juandre Kruger	12. Luke Mcalister
06. Chris Robshaw(c)	13. Brad Baritt
07. Marty Holah	14. Miles Benjiman
08. Duane Vermulen	15. Ben Smith

16. Andrew Hore 17. Craig Mitchell 18. Grant Sheills 19. Geoff Parling 20. Jonny Arr 21. Dan Hipkiss 22. Topsy Ojo 23. Colin Slade
Tactics
Normal Falcons tactics...contol the breakdown and contest at the set piece. Get backs into the game at every chance, use McAlsiter as second playmaker and bring Ben Smith into the line.

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Sale Sharks vs. Bath RFC

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Sale Sharks

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Manager – SirJohnny

01. Lionel Faure	09. Nico Bezy
02. David Paice	10. Aaron Cruden
03. Carlos Nieto
04. Stuart Hooper	11. Luke Rooney
05. Christian Day	12. Jordan Turner-Hall
06. Matt Todd	13. Yann David
07. Michael Lipman	14. Nick Abendanon
08. Victor Vito	15. Geordon Murphy

16. Nathan Catt 17. Brett Sharman 18. Neemia Tialate 19. Chris Jones 20. Matt Kvesic 21. Shaun Perry 22. Olly Barkley 23. Tom Bradey
Tactics
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Bath RFC

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Manager – inthefastlane

01. Jon Golding	09. Fourie Du Preez
02. Lee Mears	10. Steve Shingler
03. Davit Kubrashvilli
04. Louis Deacon	11. Ugo Monye
05. Sam Whitelock	12. Anthoney Allen
06. Joe Worsley	13. Jaque Fourie
07. Sean O'Brian	14. Ollie Phillips
08. Johnnie Beattie	15. Tim Nanai Williams

16. Kane Newport 17. Lee Mears 18. Davit Zirakishvilli 19. James Cannon 20. Tom Guest21. Richard Wrigglesworth 22. Dom Wouldouck 23. Kurtley Beale
Tactics
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Saracnes vs. London Irish

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Saracens

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Manager – LDCPete

01. Alex Corbisero	09. Paul Hodgson
02. Scott Lawson	10. Iain Humphries
03. Adam Jones
04. Rynhardt Elstadt	11. Rene Ranger
05. Graham Kitchener	12. Billy Twelvetrees
06. Tom Wood	13. Nevin Spence
07. George Smith	14. Tim Visser
08. Joe van Niekerk	15. Alex Goode

16. George Chuter 17. Matt Mullen 18. Tom Mercy 19. Dean Schofield 20. Luke Narraway 21. James Lightfoot-Brown 22. Owen Farell 23. Ben Ransom
Tactics
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London Irish

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Manager – Stnick

01.Tonga Lea'toea	09. Neil De Kock
02. James Buckland	10. Juan Hernandez
03. WP Nel
04. Mauritz Botha	11. Paul Sackey
05. Nick Kennedy	12. Sireli Naqalevuki
06. Jaques Botes	13. David Marty
07. Insert text here	14. Joe Maddock
08. Insert text here	15. Insert text here

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Tactics
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Worcester Warriors vs. Exeter Chiefs

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Worcester Warriors

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Manager – Prop_Lyd

01. Dave Flatman	09. Jordi Pasqalin
02. Richardt Strauss	10. Nicky Robinson
03. Yann Thomas
04. Marco Wentzel (c)	11. Leilia Masaga
05. Ollie Kohn	12. Nils Mordt
06. Kearnen Myall	13. Seru Rabeni
07. Craig Newby	14. Phil Chesters
08. Ben Morgan	15. Rob Cook

16. Koree Britton 17. George Porter 18. Bj Botha 19. Dominic Borrow 20. Sabastian Chabal 21. Dan White 22. Sam Vesty 23. Michael La Bourgios
Tactics
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Exeter Chiefs

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Manager – Driver

01. Brett Sturgess	09. Tomas O'Leary
02. Gary Botha	10. Ronan O'Gara
03. Juan Pablo Orlandi
04. Juilian Pierre	11. Iain Balshaw
05. James Hudson	12. Eliota Sapolu
06. Declan Danahar	13. Regan King
07. Shane Jennings	14. Adam Thompstone
08. Gareth Delve	15. Luke Arscott

16. Neil Clark 17. John Smit 18. Mark Lambert 19. George Skivington 20. Carl Fearns 21. Haydn Thomas 22. Horace Aguella 23. Max Evans
Tactics
- Physical and mobile front 5 will look to work hard in the tight and secure quick ball to allow us to go wide. We don’t want to be dragged into an arm wrestle with Worcester.
- We will defend the fringes and stop there power runners in Strauss , Kohn and Newby.
- TOL and ROG will look to play what is in front of them.
- Eliota will look to pull defenders in and create space for Regan King through his off loads

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Have to disagree with Evans mate, he's pretty consistent. No probs though.

have to say I don't think Evans has been poor. perhaps overshadowed by the form of Danny Care towards the end of the season.

Care was outstanding last dozen games or so

I am a huge fan of Evans and also care who I think gets a rough deal.

Evans was never fully fit and too often rushed out. Shows the confIdence they have in clegg IMO. Clegg will be an ap back up his whole life.

Evans is same as Donald in that they have tO leave to get full recognition.

Evans was always maligned in NZ and then now they want him back. A tremendous player. 1 poor seasOn half fit is nothing. He will be back to top ap 10 next year

I was dissapointed that Clegg was in Saxons head of Burns who i think to be a better player with more potential

Clegg shouldnt have left Falcons, he could have been first choice by now. Similar with Brookes and Young, find it crazy that they could be getting regular gametime and they'd rather be playing seconds.

Brookes will be in the Leicester side soon enough and would likely be behind Murray at Newcastle anyway. Big advantage that he plays all 3 positions in the front row

agree that Young and Clegg should have stayed

Brookes is quality, be in England squad in 2 years

Gloucester 32 Harlequins 28

2 good sides suiting the running conditions. Neither 12 has any form for me, and just shade it Gloucester courtesy of Guildford and Sharples being in great form and likely to finish more chances than their opponents. Other than that two good sides with nothing to choose between them.


London Wasps 23 Leicester Tigers 27

Two evenly matched packs, but Wasps have a serious lack of form from 11-15 which means they are going to struggle to take any chances they create. Tigers have just too much in the back line for them.


Northampton Saints 26 Newcastle Falcons 30

I'd give Saints the pack, as Lindsay, Slater, Kruger and Holah don't do it for me, although for Saints have to say Kanko is in poor form at the mo. Problem for Saints is that I don't rate Phillips and for me Giteau has been hit and miss for 2 years. Add in Mason who I can't rate yet, and Halfpenny who has been injured or gash over the past 12 months and I have to go with Falcons.

Sale Sharks 25 Bath Rugby 23
Worcester Warriors 28 Exeter Chiefs 31

(Sorry guys, have run out of time got to bath the kids!!!)

Sale 22 22 bath difficult game to call sale front row bath second row. Lots Of new combos dIsjointed all round

Just a quick 1 Rooney plays as much on the wing as he does at fullback so would expect him to have his positioning down pretty well there. While some would say Abendanoon is a better winger then fullback

Gloucester 22-25 Quins - Quins have a strong team out and will get the better upfront. Kelleher will help out Cooper to control the game and allow him to work his magic. plentty of danger in glos backs and i do not really like the lowe, joseph, burns back three as too inexperienced.

Wasps 18-21 Tigers - Prefer tigers backline and think they will be the difference. Wasps centres are powerful but need some creativity especially as its Gopperth at 10.

Northampton 29-25 Newcastle - Front five to Saints with falcons edging backrow. Backs are close but home advantage and enough firepower with Tuilagi and Halfpenny edge it for Saints.

Sale 24-24 - Bath - tough to call. good battle upfront which sale edge, but bath 2nd rows take it there. shingler still very young but helped out by experienced backs and FDP. Not overly keen on Sales backline think it lacks a bit of spark.

Worcester 18-22 Exeter - Half backs win it for Exeter, experience and the ROG boot. close forwards battle, not enough in warriors backline to get them the win.

No home advanatge in this one Nick....it's at Barcelona

take a couple of points off then! still a narrow home win 27-25.

RESULTS

Gloucester 28 Harlequins 29
Sale Sharks 26 Bath 22
Northampton Saints 24 Newcastle Falcons 30
London Wasps 22 Leicester Tigers 29
Saracens 30 London Irish 21
Exeter Chiefs 31 Worcester Warriors 22