Week 19 - Aviva Premiership Round 11

Week 19 - Aviva Premiership Round 11

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Team Sheets and tactics due by Saturday (20:00)
Predictions due till Tuesday (20:00)

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Leicester Tigers v Bath Rugby
Unsettled, with showers, 12 degrees, 13mph

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Leicester Tigers
Manager – Sgt_Pooly

01. Marco Ayerza	09. Danny Care
02. Tom Youngs	10. Toby Flood
03. Martin Castrogiovani
04. Richie Gray	11. Christian Wade
05. Geoff Parling	12. Berrick Barnes
06. Tom Croft	13. Manu Tuilagi
07. Sam Warburton (c)	14. James O’Connor
08. Thomas Waldroum	15. Geordan Murphy

16. Rob Hawkins 17. Julian Wite 18. Boris Stankovich 19. Ed Slater 20. Jacques Cronje 21. Sam Harrison 22. Billy Twelvetrees 23. George Lowe

Tactics

In the damp conditions we’ll be looking to play a high tempo game and limit the offloading with the greasy ball. We’ll be looking for big carries from our pack to free up space around the fringes for out talented backline to work in.

We will look to set a tone in the set piece with our big scrummaging front 5 and will look for the squeeze from the off. Parling will lead the line and we will look to target the opposition's throw with Croft/Gray marshalling the front/middle of the line. We'll use big carries from our pack to draw in the opposition defence with Care marshalling and looking for gaps to exploit around the fringes. Gray will play things simple as he's still bedding into the set piece but with Parling leading the line there's little pressure on him here.

Warburton & Croft will target the breakdown with Care sniping around and playing flat to the line to allow Barnes & Manu space to run into. JOC will come looking for the ball in midfield and link up with Manu causing problems in the opposition midfield. We'll look to refresh pack around
60mins + and keep up the intensity.

- Look to play in right areas of pitch and use Flood/Barnes to keep Bath pinned back & force them to run
- Strong hits and fast line to force knock ons and look to dominate scrum
- Look to get Castro at Beech from off and target throughout
- 3 WC jumpers in Croft/Parling/Gray look to dismantle Bath lineout and starve of good ball
- Control set piece and look to wheel Bath round giving JOC/Manu space to work in

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Bath Rugby
Manager – Bathite

01. C.Beech	09. C.Cook
02. L.Mears	10. S.Vesty
03. O.Franks
04. J.Muller	11. O.Woodburn
05. R.Caldwell	12. F.Steyn (k)
06. C.Fearns	13. C.Laulala
07. F.Louw (c)	14. T.Biggs
08. S.O'Brien	15. I.Dagg

16. A.Perenise 17. R.Batty 18. J.Golding 19. G.Skivington 20. M.Lund 21. M.McMillan 22. S.Donald 23. M.Banahan

TACTICS TBC

General
In poor handling conditions, the kicking game will be crucial and with Vesty, Steyn and Dagg, we have three of the best. We want to make sure that we play rugby in the opposition half and force handling errors, where we can attack the scrum and use the boot of Steyn to keep the scoreboard ticking over. Use the physicality of our pack to our advantage, keeping the ball tight in the middle section of the pitch to retain possession and build a platform to attack from. In our third clear to touch and challenge for the ball at lineout.

Vesty and Steyn to ensure we play sensible rugby in the right areas, kicking long for touch in our 22, using the up and under in the centre of the pitch and delicate grubbers in behind centres to chase and force kickable penalties.

Steyn leads the rush defence, with Louw/Fearns flying up to cramp FH for time and space and ensuring he takes the ball deep behind the gainline and starving their outside backs of ball.

Forwards
* Picked a very physical pack to make sure that we defend strongly and smash over the gainline. O'Brien to lead pack from base of scrum making hard yards and setting up the ruck for Louw and Fearns to clear out. SOB to mark Waldrom in defence.
* At the lineout, Muller's return is timely and he will look to dominate the lineout, as he has done previously.
* Louw is a breakdown specialist and will look to stay on his feet at the ruck and slow opposition ball down. Fearns and Lund to guard to the fringes of the ruck
* Use ball carriers of Franks, Louw, Caldwell, O'Brien, Lund, Fearns to make hard yards up the pitch and draw defenders into the ruck area, looking to create space around the fringes for Laulala to exploit
* Steyn to crash it up in the 10/12 channel to test defence of Barnes and Flood. Big hits early on both of these two to intimidate and set the tone

Backs
* Dagg given free rein in attack, looking to come into the line either side of Laulala. Laulala to look for the half gap with power and offload (only if on), with the pace of Biggs and Woodburn on their shoulder to make the break
* Vesty to take the ball flat on the gainline, drawing defenders and buying time and space for Steyn in the 2nd playmaker role. Steyn not afraid to bosh it up if nothing on and set up the ruck.
* Vary the point of attack with 10/12 interchanging, look to keep it unpredictable on the gainline + difficult to defend against. Use the inside pass with forward runners of Franks, Caldwell, SOB to keep the inside shoulder honest and force the 10 to make tackles.
* Get Laulala on the ball early on and encourage a very pacy back three to run off his shoulder. Only offload if it is on, otherwise, crash it up and use SOB, Fearns, Caldwell to clear out and Louw to secure.
* In the second half, bring on Banahan for a huge physical threat. Encourage him to run into the centre channel early on and test a tired defence.

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London Irish v Gloucester Rugby
Showers, 15 degrees, 12mph

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London Irish

Manager – Pullthestrings

01. Max Lahiff	09. Darren Allinson
02. James Buckland	10. Daniel Bowden
03. Euan Murray
04. Steve Mafi	11. Tom Homer (k)
05. Nick Kennedy	12. Jamie Noon
06. Jamie Gibson	13. Regan King
07. David Pocock (c)	14. Topsy Ojo
08. Tom Guest	15. Delon Armitage

16. William Servat, 17. Paulica Ion, 18. Gethin Jenkins, 19. Tom Palmer, 20. Imanol Harinordoquy, 21. Joe Simpson, 22. Shane Geraghty, 23. Paul Diggin

Tactics
We've picked a side for the conditions today, looking to gain advantage in the set piece to create a solid foundation to work from. It will be a simple game plan, executed well. In the showery conditions, we'll keep it simple, using our piston system and look to use our running power to get over the gain line. We'll use the boot sensibly play position. If it's on, we'll trust in our handling ability and have a go.

- Use the set piece as a weapon to dictate the game. We have big players on the bench to ensure we keep the dominane for the full game.

- Look to really gain confidence and stability at scrum time. Quick ball to Bowden if we're stable, Harinordoquy to pick and go if it's messy

- In the lineout, we'll dominate. Opt for full lineouts in their half to tie in their pack and try to initiate a rolling maul to give the backs more time.

- Target the breakdown for possible turnovers, with Pocock staying strong on his feet. When they arise, lets use them to our advantage. If the back three are sparse, look to kick for territory. If there are mis-matches, lets have a go.

- Be disciplined at the breakdown, with a guard and bodyguard at every breakdown to stop those easy yards around the fringes. No excuses here.

- Allinson gets the nod at scrum half and will look to play territory. Between him and Bowden we'll make sure we play rugby in their half.

- Use the piston system Irish have developed so well. Big runners off Bowden to give us real go forward, inside and outside runs.

- For slow ball, look to get outside their guards and bodyguards to suck in more and more forwards at each breakdown. This will give more time to the backs.

- Key emphasis on defence with a great balance in midfield between Noon and King. Rush up fast and close down their space, forcing errors and playing into our set piece advantage

- Homer to go for points at every opportunity.We can have a pop from anywhere in their half. Make them scared to give away penalties in their half, thus giving us more time at the breakdown.

- We have a fantasic bench at the ready. Players like Jenkns, Palmer, Harinordoquy, Simpson and Geraghty to come on and make an impact.

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Gloucester

Manager – prop_lyd

01. Nick Wood	09. Rory Lawson
02. Darren Dawiduk	10. Freddie Burns (k)
03. Adam Jones
04. Alex Brown	11. JSD
05. Sam Whitelock	12. EFS
06. Alistair Strokosch	13. Henry Trinder
07. Akapusi Qera	14. Charlie Sharples
08. JVN (c)	15. Pat Lambie

16. Matais Cortese 17. Rupert Harden 18. Yann Thomas 19. Tom Savage 20. Andy Hazell 21. Dave Lewis 22. Mike Tindall 23. Iain Balshaw

Tactics
Two big wins for us and we are now targetting the 6th spot to get into the Heiniken Cup! We expect a tough forwards battle and will come at them. We haveplayers hitting good form especially the JVN, Jones and Savage. With Burns we have a player at 10 who can make the inspirational breaks. We expect to win this match and none of our players are safe so need to impress.

Forwards
*Get the inital hit and look for the second shove on the scrums, the front row will look to turn them inside out and their main target will be to clear out the rucks for quick ball
*Dominate the lineouts with 4 jumpers starting and 2 more to come on, the 2nd rows will look to be physical and Whitelock'll look to link with the back row, Brown will come on to take apart a tired lineout.
*Backrow to carry strong throughout the game and to run off the back line giving them further options.
*Look for turnovers and use Qera's hard hitting and Strokosch's to do this and slow their ball, JVN will provide the link to the back line and we will look at a 8-9-15 move off the base of the scrum.
*Use the bench with impact subs in all positions with Hazell coming on on the hour to hit tired defence at the breakdown.

Backs
*Quick ball to Burns who will look to pin them back initally before releasing EFS and Trinder off of quick 2nd phase ball or slow 4th phase ball to run at disorganised defences.
*Centres to run straight and hard and to look to offload to back 3 or back row support, Trinder will look to target tired forwards with angles.
*Back 3 to go hunting for the ball and use their angled running to slice through the defence, high balls will be used to get space and give Clark the opportunity to run, Morgan will pick and choose his runs and, when with the ball in own half will sometimes look at up and unders.
*Hard blitz banana defence with a backrower on Burns’ shoulder to look to get the first hit and turnover, Lawson/Lewis will act as a sweeper.
*Use the bench: Lewis: fresh, sniping legs, Tindall: experience and hard running at tired defences, Balshaw: a calm head in excellent form.

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London Wasps v Newcastle Falcons
Heavy showers, 14 degreess, 12mph

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London Wasps
Manager – Stnick88

01. Tim Payne	09. Karl Dickson
02. Chris Brooker	10. Jimmy Gopperth
03. Nicolas Mas
04. Ross Filipo	11. Tom Varndell
05. Richard Birkett	12. Jordan Turner-Hall
06. Pedrie Wannenburg	13. Jonathan Joseph
07. Julien Salvi	14. Leigh Halfpenny
08. Sergio Parisse	15. Mike Brown

16. Zak Taulafo 17. Ben Broster 18. Andy Titterell 19. James Cannon 20. Michael Lipman 21. Charlie Davies 22. Nicky Robinson 23. Joe Ansbro

Tactics

- We will play a territorial game, and use Gopperths boot to get us playing in the right areas of the pitch.
- All penalties will be kicked for goal by Gopperth, long rangers by Halfpenny.
- We will look to make a lot of carries with Parisse, Wannenburg, Salvi, Brooker, JTH all making inroads.
- Salvi will look to combat Brussow at the breakdown and make his presence felt.
- We will not aimlessly kick away, and if space is spotted, use the pace of JJ, Halfpenny, Brown and Varndell.
- We will look to test the Falcons back 3 with Gopperth kicking in behind and putting up high balls. We will look to pressurise Abendanon and try and expose any defensive frailties.

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Newcastle Falcons

Manager – Fluxy

01. Alex Corbisiero	09. Ruan Pienaar (K)
02. David Paice	10. Tom Heathcote
03. David Wilson
04. James Hudson (C)	11. Adam Thompstone
05. Louis Deacon	12. Tom May
06. Jerome Kaino	13. Dominic Waldlouck
07. Hienrich Brussow	14. Luke Fielden
08. Alex Gray	15. Nick Abendanon

16. Tom Mercey 17. Grant Shiells 18. Chris Whitehead 19. Simon Shaw 20. Jonathan Poff 21. Joel Hodgson 22. Seb Stegmann 23. Suka Hufanga

Tactics
Our game plan is based upon a high intensity attacking game, and a solid defence with competition at the breakdown against the opposition, hunting for turnovers. In the wet conditions we will play a simple territorial game using the clever kicks from the boots of Pienaar and Hodgson to pin the opposition in their half. Pienaar will dictate the tempo and the direction of the game behind a powerful pack, trying to get us playing in the right areas of the pitch and to make it difficult for the opposition to get out of their half. In early phases we will get big carriers like Kaino and Deacon, off the Pienaar and Heathcote to punch holes down the ten channel to put whoever is at ten off tackling. With the tricky conditions, Pienaar and Heathcote will put boot to ball when within the ten metre mark of our half, anything past that towards their line, we will utilise grubbers and chips behind the defensive line to keep them turning around. In their half, and with quick ball we will release our quick and sharp backs to wreak havoc in an unorganised defence. With our carriers making holes, defenders will have to cover each creating mismatches and oppurtunities for the backs to capitalis upon. Pienaar will kick penalties unless Hudson judges we have an advantage at the lineout. Our coaching team has identified some potential weak links in the Wasps lineup due to long periods of consecutive games; Payne has started 13/19 games, Dickson + Wannenburg have played the last 10 games without a break. We will look to target these areas, to gain an advantage to get the win.

Forwards;


• Lineout - We have a large number of quality lineout jumpers and a very cleverly run lineout with Hudson at the helm. This should be a main focus of possession either from the disruption of opposition ball or just claiming our own, in the wet conditions.
  
  
• Scrums – We possess a powerful front five. And with Deacon behind Wilson we shouldn’t go backwards on any shove. This will create space and time for our 8-9-10. Wasps feed we will look to wheel the scrum so that their 8 and 9 become isolated, and with Dickson tiring this will effect his play.
  
  
• Breakdown - We have selected a very physical and powerful team, and will always work for each other and put their bodies online for one another. Brussow and Kaino will be first to all breakdowns and slow the opposition ball down legally, or turn it over.
  
  
• Defensive line - No more than two players, at rucks on their ball, unless the turnover is on. If they have won the ball we look to get into line and then blitz at the same speed. The scrum-half will sweep, with the fullback also further back - creating three lines of defence.
  
  
• Ball Carrying – In our eight, we don’t lack any ball carrying ability, and in the slippery conditions this can be telling as defenders can slip off tackles.
  
  Backs;
  
  
• Game plan - With the wet conditions, we will play a simple game. Kicking to the corners to pin back the Wasps backs and keep their forwards moving to tire them out. There will be raft of handling mistakes and we will look to capitalise on them.
  
  
• Back three - Thompstone and Fielden will come off the wings to come in the line and to cross the gainline on crash balls. Any kicked ball will be run back to get us back in their half, the back-three have been used to recieving ball under pressure, however if under pressure look to find touch.
  
  
• Penalties - Pienaar will look to take all penalties within his range. His accuracy and power will punish all penalties from Saracens.
  
  Key Points;
  
• Wasps have realisitcally nothing to play for this season. Whereas we have everything to play for, our mindset is on getting a win at all costs. Their minds will be on a beach somewhere.
  
  
• We are a hard to break down, and Wasps will need to be at their best to defeat a team with a cause to fight for.
  

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Northampton Saints v Worcester Warriors
Showers, 14 degrees, 13mph

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Northampton Saints

Manager – SirJohnnyEnglish

01. Soane Tonga'uiha	09. Lee Dickson
02. Richardt Strauss	10. Stephen Myler
03. Paul Doran Jones
04. Courtney Lawes	11. Noah Cato
05. Christian Day	12. James Downey
06. Stephen Ferris	13. George Pisi
07. Tom Wood	14. Scott Armstrong
08. Roger Wilson	15. Ben Foden

16. Alex Waller 17. Mike Haywood 18. Brian Mujati 19. Mark Sorenson 20. Kieran Read 21. Martin Roberts 22. Johnny Sexton 23. Vasily Artemiev

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General Game Plan:

In these conditions the most important thing is to play the game in the right areas. Dickson and Myler will look to use an intelligent kicking game to put us in Worcester territory. When there we will look to attack in groups so as to win the collisions, using our strong carriers to attack gaps and half gaps in the Warriors line, getting us over the gain line and keeping our forward momentum going. We will look to use the offload to support runners only when it is really on so as to retain possession in these conditions.

On defence, we will use a blitz defence coming up at pace looking to isolate the Worcester ball carriers before they can get to the gain line stopping any momentum and allowing us to hit the breakdown harder. Lee Dickson will act as a sweeper to cover any grubbers or chips behind the line while our back three will sit deep ready to cover any kicks down the touch lines.

With the blitz in operation we will look to be at the breakdown first hitting it fast and hard. The first two players on the scene will look to ruck past the ball and clear out the Worcester players providing quick counter attacking ball to be used against a disorganised defense. If the ball does not look available we will not commit to the ruck and look to strengthen the defensive line instead.

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Key Points:

•Home Advantage

With a baying home crowd at the hostile Gardens looking to intimidate both Worcester and the ref, the Warriors will need to be at their very best to win!

•Scrum

We will contest every engagement! On our own feed we will look to get the wheel on and create extra room for our 8-9-10 axis to work in. On Worcester ball we will disrupt the put in looking for penalties or to create rushed poor ball for the Worcester halfbacks.

We feel we have the power to cause Worcester real problems here and will look to the scrum all game particularly in these conditions.

•Lineout

In these conditions we want to keep things simple and use Wood, Lawes and Read as the main jumpers. We will look to bring the ball down into the maul and use the physicality of our pack to make good ground.

•Target the Worcester wings

Dickson and Myler will look to employ low kicks in behind the Worcester wingers and away from the fullback looking for touch where we will always contest looking for the steal or to force rushed clearences from Worcester.

We will test both wingers out, as neither are particularly renowned for their skills under the ball. Myler will look to send some high hanging balls to the corners with runners chasing looking to claim the ball or force the knock on.

•Fringe Defence

We will look to stay tight around the fringes and deny Genia snipping opportunities and force him to continually go to his first receiver. We want to keep Worcester on the backfoot and disrupt all attacking momentum.

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WorcesterWarriors

Manager – InTheFastLane

01. Matt Mullan	09. Will Genia
02. Ed Shervington	10. Dan Carter
03. Tevita Taumoepeau
04. Gerhard Mostert	11. Ugo Monye
05. Graham Kitchener	12. Ma’a Nonu
06. James Haskell	13. Anthony Allen
07. Jake Abbott	14. Marcel Garvey
08. Ben Morgan	15. Luke Rooney

16. George Bee 17. Oliver Tomascyzk 18. James Currie 19. James Percival 20. Sam Betty 21. Jonny Arr 22. Joe Carlisle 23. Matt Hopper

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Sale Sharks v Harlequins
Overcast, 14 degrees, 13 mph

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Sale Sharks

Manager – LondonIrishOllie

01.Andrew Sheridan	09.Scott Mathie
02.Gary Botha	10.Jonny Wilkinson
03.Davit Kubriashvilli
04.Dean Schofield	11.Charlie Amesbury
05.James Gaskell	12.Sam Tuitupou
06.Schalk Burger	13.Jaque Fourie
07.Dave Seymour	14.Tom Brady
08.Richie Vernon	15.Rob Miller

Subs – 16.Marc Jones 17.Vadim Cobilas 18.Logovoi Mulipola 19.Kearnan Myall 20.Andy Powell 21.Ciaran Wills 22.Nick McLeod 23.Jonny Leota

Tactics
Heading into the last game of the season we know staying up is in our hands. A win will do it.
We are looking to use our solid set piece as a base and wilko’s kicking game to get us in the right areas. Our backrow will ensure possession and Sey mour will look to get turnovers.

Lineout – Gaskell, Schofield, Vernon and Burger are all good lineout jumpers so we have plenty of options.

Scrum – Kubriashvilli will look to target Golding and we will look to use the scrum as a weapon.

Maul – We will look to use the maul well and regularly as a method of tying in defenders. We will undoubtedly get some penalties which will be kicked at goal if it is in range.

Scoreboard – We will look to keep the scoreboard ticking over by really maximising our scoring potential by taking points every time we are in the 22.

Fourie will target Payne who has no form to speak of.

At home, in what is a must win game we expect to get the win that will see premiership rugby played at Salford next season.

Mulipola, Powell, Leota and Jones are all great impact subs and because of this in the last 20 mins we expect to pull away

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Harlequins

Manager – Driver

01.Jon Golding	09.Luke Burgess
02.Joe Grey	10.Nick Evans (K)
03.Dan Cole
04. Ollie Kohn	11. Tom Williams
05. George Robson	12. Riki Flutey
06. Chris Robshaw (C)	13. Jared Payne
07. Will Skinner	14. Elliot Daley
08. Nick Easter	15. Adam Ashley Cooper

16.Tom Lindsey 17.Mark Lambert 18.Chris Budgen 19.Charlie Matthews 20.Matt Kvesic 21.Nic Berry 22.Danny Cipriani 23.Hugo Southwell

TACTICS


Harlequins travel to Sale knowing a win is necessary and have given starts to Jon Golding , Dan Cole and Riki Flutey who are all set to play there final games for the club.

- Use the set piece as a attacking weapon and allow us to control the game.

- A big front row on display and well look for dominance at scrum time. Burgess will feed Evans with any quick ball and Nick Easter will clean up any poor ball.

- Use Robson as banker ball and either play it off the top in the middle of the park to get our backs moving and stuffing it up the jumper in there 22 to create space for our backs.

- Target the breakdown with Skinner and Robshaw keeping on there feet over the ball. Initially we will look to go wide and punish a disjointed backline but if the space is behind Evans will ping the ball behind them.

- Be disciplined in the contact using a fan based defence and flooding the field and pushing the Sale players into wide channels allowing for the turnover

- plenty of runners off Evans to give us options on the inside and outside.

- First phase defense from the set piece will be a blitz to limit the line gain from Sale.

- Burgess to sweep behind and cover.

- Evans and Daley to kick the points which will push us ahead and keep the scoreboard ticking over.

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Saracens v Exeter Chiefs
Light showers, 14 degrees, 12mph

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Saracens

Manager – Beshocked

01. Rhys Gill	09. Morgan Parra (K)
02. Schalk Brits	10. Brock James
03. Carlos Nieto
04. Steve Borthwick	11. James Short
05. George Kruis	12. Owen Farrell
06. Kelly Brown	13. Conrad Smith
07. Jacques Burger	14. Chris Wyles
08. Ernst Joubert ©	15. Alex Goode

16. John Smit, 17. Matt Stevens, 18. Mako Vunipola, 19. Mouritz Botha, 20. Jackson Wray, 21. Neil De Kock, 22. Charlie Hodgson 23.Adam Powell


Tactics: TBC

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Exeter Chiefs

Head Coach – Ozzy3213

01. Brett Sturgess	09. Haydn Thomas
02. Bismarck du Plessis	10. Ignacio Mieres
03. Hoani Tui
04. Tommy Hayes (c)	11. Josh Tatupu
05. James Hanks	12. Jason Shoemark
06. Tom Johnson	13. Richard Kahui
07. James Scaysbrook	14. Paul Sackey
08. Richie Baxter	15. Luke Arscott

16. Neil Clark 17. Brett Sturgess 18. Hoani Tui 19. Ally Muldowney 20. Steffon Armitage 21. Kevin Barrett 22. Gareth Steenson 23. Sireli Naqalevuki

Tactics

Our gameplan involves doing everything with a high intensity and asserting ourselves on our opponents, both in attack and defence. We will work as units and play a structured game (as the Chiefs and Saracens do in real life). We will put a lot of emphasis on the set piece, and look to use both as a real platform to play from, whilst not allowing our opponents to do the same. We will also look to use our big ball carriers to attack the gainline whilst having support runners on their shoulders to either take the offload or hit the ruck quickly as appropriate.


Specifics

• Attacking
  
  
• Target the 10 channel – Look to target Brock James and test his defensive abilities with big runners down his channel.
  
  
• Carry close to the ruck – Get big carriers carrying close to the rucks forcing Sarries to make lots of tackles which will tire them quickly, then shift it wide quickly once we have tied defenders in.
  
  
  
• Defensive
  
  
• Blitz Defence - We will look to blitz and stop the Sarries carriers before they hit the gainline. Thomas will sweep in behind the line.
  
  
• Breakdown - We will look to get our back row there quickly and contest for the ball if it's on to be won, but we will not overcommit, instead maintaining a solid defensive line to repel the Sarries ball carriers.
  
  
  
• Key Points
  
  
• Gameplan – Simple gameplan with the right players to be able to effect it perfectly.
  
  
• Momentum – We come in off a good semi final win, whereas Saracens come in off a defeat which may have an effect on them
  
  
• Mental/Physical approach – Saracens season is over. They cannot make the play offs and cannot be relegated. Their players may mentally be on a beach somewhere. Our players are playing for a cup final shirt.
  
  

Good hustle Fluxy!

It's a big week...

[tr][tr]

	P	W	D	L	PD	BP	PTS
01 - Leicester Tigers	10	9	0	1	+124	7	43
02 - Northampton Saints	10	9	1	0	+82	3	41
03 - Bath Rugby	10	6	0	4	+26	4	28
04 - London Irish	10	5	0	5	+29	5	25
-----------------------------	----	----	----	----	----	----	----
05 - Gloucester	10	4	0	6	+6	8	24
06 - London Wasps	10	5	0	5	-27	3	23
07 - Exeter Chiefs	10	4	0	6	-31	4	20
08 - Saracens	10	3	1	6	-4	6	20
09 - Harlequins	10	4	0	6	-49	2	18
10 - Sale Sharks	10	4	0	6	-43	0	16
11 - Worcester Warriors	10	3	0	7	-50	4	16
-----------------------------	----	----	----	----	----	----	----
12 - Newcastle Falcons	10	3	0	7	-63	2	14

Anyone of Harlequins , Sale Sharks , Worcester Warriors or Newcastle Falcons could be relegated this week. It looks set to a pretty tense week , the fixture between me and Ollie could affect Worcester and Newcastle below me so much and Exeter and Saracens seedings in next years Amlin too.

Harlequins

Manager – Driver

01.Jon Golding	09.Luke Burgess
02.Joe Grey	10.Nick Evans (K)
03.Dan Cole
04. Ollie Kohn	11. Tom Williams
05. George Robson	12. Riki Flutey
06. Chris Robshaw (C)	13. Jared Payne
07. Will Skinner	14. Elliot Daley
08. Nick Easter	15. Adam Ashley Cooper

16.Tom Lindsey 17.Mark Lambert 18.Chris Budgen 19.Charlie Matthews 20.Matt Kvesic 21.Nic Berry 22.Danny Cipriani 23.Hugo Southwell

TACTICS


Harlequins travel to Sale knowing a win is necessary and have given starts to Jon Golding , Dan Cole and Riki Flutey who are all set to play there final games for the club.

- Use the set piece as a attacking weapon and allow us to control the game.

- A big front row on display and well look for dominance at scrum time. Burgess will feed Evans with any quick ball and Nick Easter will clean up any poor ball.

- Use Robson as banker ball and either play it off the top in the middle of the park to get our backs moving and stuffing it up the jumper in there 22 to create space for our backs.

- Target the breakdown with Skinner and Robshaw keeping on there feet over the ball. Initially we will look to go wide and punish a disjointed backline but if the space is behind Evans will ping the ball behind them.

- Be disciplined in the contact using a fan based defence and flooding the field and pushing the Sale players into wide channels allowing for the turnover

- plenty of runners off Evans to give us options on the inside and outside.

- First phase defense from the set piece will be a blitz to limit the line gain from Sale.

- Burgess to sweep behind and cover.

- Evans and Daley to kick the points which will push us ahead and keep the scoreboard ticking over.

Can someone confirm that i'm assured of 4th at least? I can't work it out and don't know how positions are judged if equal on points

If Gloucester win by 21 points and you don't score or concede (finish 0-0) and London Irish win you could drop out and Irish would finish 3rd with Gloucester 4th.

What if I lose without a LBP? I'm thinking about giving youngsters a go and been in excel all day.....brain fried!

Oh hang on, Gloucester are playing Irish, so both can't win, so looks like im safe

Wait your safe because Irish are playing Gloucester and the most points Gloucester can claim in 3 (Draw and TBP).

Alright for some to play a second string

London Wasps
Manager – Stnick88

01. Tim Payne	09. Karl Dickson
02. Chris Brooker	10. Jimmy Gopperth
03. Nicolas Mas
04. Ross Filipo	11. Tom Varndell
05. Richard Birkett	12. Jordan Turner-Hall
06. Pedrie Wannenburg	13. Jonathan Joseph
07. Julien Salvi	14. Leigh Halfpenny
08. Sergio Parisse	15. Mike Brown

16. Zak Taulafo 17. Ben Broster 18. Andy Titterell 19. James Cannon 20. Michael Lipman 21. Charlie Davies 22. Nicky Robinson 23. Joe Ansbro

Tactics

- We will play a territorial game, and use Gopperths boot to get us playing in the right areas of the pitch.
- All penalties will be kicked for goal by Gopperth, long rangers by Halfpenny.
- We will look to make a lot of carries with Parisse, Wannenburg, Salvi, Brooker, JTH all making inroads.
- Salvi will look to combat Brussow at the breakdown and make his presence felt.
- We will not aimlessly kick away, and if space is spotted, use the pace of JJ, Halfpenny, Brown and Varndell.
- We will look to test the Falcons back 3 with Gopperth kicking in behind and putting up high balls. We will look to pressurise Abendanon and try and expose any defensive frailties.

Mathematically Wasps could still over take you Bathite but it would need a BP win and a 50 odd point swing to happen

SirJohnnyEnglish wrote:Mathematically Wasps could still over take you Bathite but it would need a BP win and a 50 odd point swing to happen

That would be unprecedented, but after Chelski last night, anything is possible!

Yeah my thoughts exactly!!

Bath Rugby
Manager – Bathite

01. C.Beech	09. C.Cook
02. L.Mears	10. S.Vesty
03. O.Franks
04. J.Muller	11. O.Woodburn
05. R.Caldwell	12. F.Steyn (k)
06. C.Fearns	13. C.Laulala
07. F.Louw (c)	14. T.Biggs
08. S.O'Brien	15. I.Dagg

16. A.Perenise 17. R.Batty 18. J.Golding 19. G.Skivington 20. M.Lund 21. M.McMillan 22. S.Donald 23. M.Banahan

TACTICS TBC

General
In poor handling conditions, the kicking game will be crucial and with Vesty, Steyn and Dagg, we have three of the best. We want to make sure that we play rugby in the opposition half and force handling errors, where we can attack the scrum and use the boot of Steyn to keep the scoreboard ticking over. Use the physicality of our pack to our advantage, keeping the ball tight in the middle section of the pitch to retain possession and build a platform to attack from. In our third clear to touch and challenge for the ball at lineout.

Vesty and Steyn to ensure we play sensible rugby in the right areas, kicking long for touch in our 22, using the up and under in the centre of the pitch and delicate grubbers in behind centres to chase and force kickable penalties.

Steyn leads the rush defence, with Louw/Fearns flying up to cramp FH for time and space and ensuring he takes the ball deep behind the gainline and starving their outside backs of ball.

Forwards
* Picked a very physical pack to make sure that we defend strongly and smash over the gainline. O'Brien to lead pack from base of scrum making hard yards and setting up the ruck for Louw and Fearns to clear out. SOB to mark Waldrom in defence.
* At the lineout, Muller's return is timely and he will look to dominate the lineout, as he has done previously.
* Louw is a breakdown specialist and will look to stay on his feet at the ruck and slow opposition ball down. Fearns and Lund to guard to the fringes of the ruck
* Use ball carriers of Franks, Louw, Caldwell, O'Brien, Lund, Fearns to make hard yards up the pitch and draw defenders into the ruck area, looking to create space around the fringes for Laulala to exploit
* Steyn to crash it up in the 10/12 channel to test defence of Barnes and Flood. Big hits early on both of these two to intimidate and set the tone

Backs
* Dagg given free rein in attack, looking to come into the line either side of Laulala. Laulala to look for the half gap with power and offload (only if on), with the pace of Biggs and Woodburn on their shoulder to make the break
* Vesty to take the ball flat on the gainline, drawing defenders and buying time and space for Steyn in the 2nd playmaker role. Steyn not afraid to bosh it up if nothing on and set up the ruck.
* Vary the point of attack with 10/12 interchanging, look to keep it unpredictable on the gainline + difficult to defend against. Use the inside pass with forward runners of Franks, Caldwell, SOB to keep the inside shoulder honest and force the 10 to make tackles.
* Get Laulala on the ball early on and encourage a very pacy back three to run off his shoulder. Only offload if it is on, otherwise, crash it up and use SOB, Fearns, Caldwell to clear out and Louw to secure.
* In the second half, bring on Banahan for a huge physical threat. Encourage him to run into the centre channel early on and test a tired defence.

Falcons announce an alost full strength side for the last game of the season against London Wasps. With the return of Tom Heathcote and Simon Shaw from injury they both come into the matchday squad, after the squad had a week off last week due to the Aviva Cup Semi Finals.

Newcastle Falcons

Manager – Fluxy

01. Alex Corbisiero	09. Ruan Pienaar (K)
02. David Paice	10. Tom Heathcote
03. David Wilson
04. James Hudson (C)	11. Adam Thompstone
05. Louis Deacon	12. Tom May
06. Jerome Kaino	13. Dominic Waldlouck
07. Hienrich Brussow	14. Luke Fielden
08. Alex Gray	15. Nick Abendanon

16. Tom Mercey 17. Grant Shiells 18. Chris Whitehead 19. Simon Shaw 20. Jonathan Poff 21. Joel Hodgson 22. Seb Stegmann 23. Suka Hufanga

Tactics;

Saracens
Manager – Beshocked

01. Rhys Gill 09. Morgan Parra (k)
02. Schalk Brits 10. Brock James
03. Carlos Nieto
04. Steve Borthwick 11. James Short
05. George Kruis 12. Owen Farrell
06. Kelly Brown 13. Conrad Smith
07. Jacques Burger 14. Chris Wyles
08. Ernst Joubert © 15. Alex Goode

16. John Smit, 17. Matt Stevens, 18. Mako Vunipola, 19. Mouritz Botha, 20. Jackson Wray, 21. Neil De Kock, 22. Charlie Hodgson 23.Adam Powell


Tactics: TBC

Gloucester

Manager – prop_lyd

01. Nick Wood	09. Rory Lawson
02. Darren Dawiduk	10. Freddie Burns (k)
03. Adam Jones
04. Alex Brown	11. JSD
05. Sam Whitelock	12. EFS
06. Alistair Strokosch	13. Henry Trinder
07. Akapusi Qera	14. Charlie Sharples
08. JVN (c)	15. Pat Lambie

16. Matais Cortese 17. Rupert Harden 18. Yann Thomas 19. Tom Savage 20. Andy Hazell 21. Dave Lewis 22. Mike Tindall 23. Iain Balshaw

Tactics
Two big wins for us and we are now targetting the 6th spot to get into the Heiniken Cup! We expect a tough forwards battle and will come at them. We haveplayers hitting good form especially the JVN, Jones and Savage. With Burns we have a player at 10 who can make the inspirational breaks. We expect to win this match and none of our players are safe so need to impress.

Forwards
*Get the inital hit and look for the second shove on the scrums, the front row will look to turn them inside out and their main target will be to clear out the rucks for quick ball
*Dominate the lineouts with 4 jumpers starting and 2 more to come on, the 2nd rows will look to be physical and Whitelock'll look to link with the back row, Brown will come on to take apart a tired lineout.
*Backrow to carry strong throughout the game and to run off the back line giving them further options.
*Look for turnovers and use Qera's hard hitting and Strokosch's to do this and slow their ball, JVN will provide the link to the back line and we will look at a 8-9-15 move off the base of the scrum.
*Use the bench with impact subs in all positions with Hazell coming on on the hour to hit tired defence at the breakdown.

Backs
*Quick ball to Burns who will look to pin them back initally before releasing EFS and Trinder off of quick 2nd phase ball or slow 4th phase ball to run at disorganised defences.
*Centres to run straight and hard and to look to offload to back 3 or back row support, Trinder will look to target tired forwards with angles.
*Back 3 to go hunting for the ball and use their angled running to slice through the defence, high balls will be used to get space and give Clark the opportunity to run, Morgan will pick and choose his runs and, when with the ball in own half will sometimes look at up and unders.
*Hard blitz banana defence with a backrower on Burns’ shoulder to look to get the first hit and turnover, Lawson/Lewis will act as a sweeper.
*Use the bench: Lewis: fresh, sniping legs, Tindall: experience and hard running at tired defences, Balshaw: a calm head in excellent form.

Beshocked...

There's a proper format on your page (page 1 I think) all you have to is insert players into it, makes it easier

Exeter make 6 changes to the side that beat London Wasps last week to secure a cup final place, for this weeks visit to Vicarage Road to face Saracens. Brett Sturgess, Hoani Tui, James Hanks, James Scaysbrook and Richie Baxter come into the starting pack, with Haydn Thomas returning from injury at scrum half.

Exeter Chiefs

Head Coach – Ozzy3213

01. Brett Sturgess	09. Haydn Thomas
02. Bismarck du Plessis	10. Ignacio Mieres
03. Hoani Tui
04. Tommy Hayes (c)	11. Josh Tatupu
05. James Hanks	12. Jason Shoemark
06. Tom Johnson	13. Richard Kahui
07. James Scaysbrook	14. Paul Sackey
08. Richie Baxter	15. Luke Arscott

16. Neil Clark 17. Brett Sturgess 18. Hoani Tui 19. Ally Muldowney 20. Steffon Armitage 21. Kevin Barrett 22. Gareth Steenson 23. Sireli Naqalevuki

Tactics

Our gameplan involves doing everything with a high intensity and asserting ourselves on our opponents, both in attack and defence. We will work as units and play a structured game (as the Chiefs and Saracens do in real life). We will put a lot of emphasis on the set piece, and look to use both as a real platform to play from, whilst not allowing our opponents to do the same. We will also look to use our big ball carriers to attack the gainline whilst having support runners on their shoulders to either take the offload or hit the ruck quickly as appropriate.


Specifics

• Attacking
  
  
• Target the 10 channel – Look to target Brock James and test his defensive abilities with big runners down his channel.
  
  
• Carry close to the ruck – Get big carriers carrying close to the rucks forcing Sarries to make lots of tackles which will tire them quickly, then shift it wide quickly once we have tied defenders in.
  
  
  
• Defensive
  
  
• Blitz Defence - We will look to blitz and stop the Sarries carriers before they hit the gainline. Thomas will sweep in behind the line.
  
  
• Breakdown - We will look to get our back row there quickly and contest for the ball if it's on to be won, but we will not overcommit, instead maintaining a solid defensive line to repel the Sarries ball carriers.
  
  
  
• Key Points
  
  
• Gameplan – Simple gameplan with the right players to be able to effect it perfectly.
  
  
• Momentum – We come in off a good semi final win, whereas Saracens come in off a defeat which may have an effect on them
  
  
• Mental/Physical approach – Saracens season is over. They cannot make the play offs and cannot be relegated. Their players may mentally be on a beach somewhere. Our players are playing for a cup final shirt.
  
  

Leicester Tigers
Manager – Sgt_Pooly

01. Marco Ayerza	09. Danny Care
02. Tom Youngs	10. Toby Flood
03. Martin Castrogiovani
04. Richie Gray	11. Christian Wade
05. Geoff Parling	12. Berrick Barnes
06. Tom Croft	13. Manu Tuilagi
07. Sam Warburton (c)	14. James O’Connor
08. Thomas Waldroum	15. Geordan Murphy

16. Rob Hawkins 17. Julian Wite 18. Boris Stankovich 19. Ed Slater 20. Jacques Cronje 21. Sam Harrison 22. Billy Twelvetrees 23. George Lowe

Tactics

In the damp conditions we’ll be looking to play a high tempo game and limit the offloading with the greasy ball. We’ll be looking for big carries from our pack to free up space around the fringes for out talented backline to work in.

We will look to set a tone in the set piece with our big scrummaging front 5 and will look for the squeeze from the off. Parling will lead the line and we will look to target the opposition's throw with Croft/Gray marshalling the front/middle of the line. We'll use big carries from our pack to draw in the opposition defence with Care marshalling and looking for gaps to exploit around the fringes. Gray will play things simple as he's still bedding into the set piece but with Parling leading the line there's little pressure on him here.

Warburton & Croft will target the breakdown with Care sniping around and playing flat to the line to allow Barnes & Manu space to run into. JOC will come looking for the ball in midfield and link up with Manu causing problems in the opposition midfield. We'll look to refresh pack around
60mins + and keep up the intensity.

- Look to play in right areas of pitch and use Flood/Barnes to keep Bath pinned back & force them to run
- Strong hits and fast line to force knock ons and look to dominate scrum
- Look to get Castro at Beech from off and target throughout
- 3 WC jumpers in Croft/Parling/Gray look to dismantle Bath lineout and starve of good ball
- Control set piece and look to wheel Bath round giving JOC/Manu space to work in

WorcesterWarriors

Manager – InTheFastLane

01. Matt Mullan	09. Will Genia
02. Ed Shervington	10. Dan Carter
03. Tevita Taumoepeau
04. Gerhard Mostert	11. Ugo Monye
05. Graham Kitchener	12. Ma’a Nonu
06. James Haskell	13. Anthony Allen
07. Jake Abbott	14. Marcel Garvey
08. Ben Morgan	15. Luke Rooney

16. George Bee 17. Oliver Tomascyzk 18. James Currie 19. James Percival 20. Sam Betty 21. Jonny Arr 22. Joe Carlisle 23. Matt Hopper

London Irish

Manager – Pullthestrings

01. Max Lahiff	09. Darren Allinson
02. James Buckland	10. Daniel Bowden
03. Euan Murray
04. Steve Mafi	11. Tom Homer (k)
05. Nick Kennedy	12. Jamie Noon
06. Jamie Gibson	13. Regan King
07. David Pocock (c)	14. Topsy Ojo
08. Tom Guest	15. Delon Armitage

16. William Servat, 17. Paulica Ion, 18. Gethin Jenkins, 19. Tom Palmer, 20. Imanol Harinordoquy, 21. Joe Simpson, 22. Shane Geraghty, 23. Paul Diggin

Tactics
We've picked a side for the conditions today, looking to gain advantage in the set piece to create a solid foundation to work from. It will be a simple game plan, executed well. In the showery conditions, we'll keep it simple, using our piston system and look to use our running power to get over the gain line. We'll use the boot sensibly play position. If it's on, we'll trust in our handling ability and have a go.

- Use the set piece as a weapon to dictate the game. We have big players on the bench to ensure we keep the dominane for the full game.

- Look to really gain confidence and stability at scrum time. Quick ball to Bowden if we're stable, Harinordoquy to pick and go if it's messy

- In the lineout, we'll dominate. Opt for full lineouts in their half to tie in their pack and try to initiate a rolling maul to give the backs more time.

- Target the breakdown for possible turnovers, with Pocock staying strong on his feet. When they arise, lets use them to our advantage. If the back three are sparse, look to kick for territory. If there are mis-matches, lets have a go.

- Be disciplined at the breakdown, with a guard and bodyguard at every breakdown to stop those easy yards around the fringes. No excuses here.

- Allinson gets the nod at scrum half and will look to play territory. Between him and Bowden we'll make sure we play rugby in their half.

- Use the piston system Irish have developed so well. Big runners off Bowden to give us real go forward, inside and outside runs.

- For slow ball, look to get outside their guards and bodyguards to suck in more and more forwards at each breakdown. This will give more time to the backs.

- Key emphasis on defence with a great balance in midfield between Noon and King. Rush up fast and close down their space, forcing errors and playing into our set piece advantage

- Homer to go for points at every opportunity.We can have a pop from anywhere in their half. Make them scared to give away penalties in their half, thus giving us more time at the breakdown.

- We have a fantasic bench at the ready. Players like Jenkns, Palmer, Harinordoquy, Simpson and Geraghty to come on and make an impact.

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Sale Sharks
Manager – LondonIrishOllie

01.Andrew Sheridan	09.Scott Mathie
02.Gary Botha	10.Jonny Wilkinson
03.Davit Kubriashvilli
04.Dean Schofield	11.Charlie Amesbury
05.James Gaskell	12.Sam Tuitupou
06.Schalk Burger	13.Jaque Fourie
07.Dave Seymour	14.Tom Brady
08.Richie Vernon	15.Rob Miller

Subs – 16.Marc Jones 17.Vadim Cobilas 18.Logovoi Mulipola 19.Kearnan Myall 20.Andy Powell 21.Ciaran Wills 22.Nick McLeod 23.Jonny Leota

Tactics
Heading into the last game of the season we know staying up is in our hands. A win will do it.
We are looking to use our solid set piece as a base and wilko’s kicking game to get us in the right areas. Our backrow will ensure possession and Sey mour will look to get turnovers.

Lineout – Gaskell, Schofield, Vernon and Burger are all good lineout jumpers so we have plenty of options.

Scrum – Kubriashvilli will look to target Golding and we will look to use the scrum as a weapon.

Maul – We will look to use the maul well and regularly as a method of tying in defenders. We will undoubtedly get some penalties which will be kicked at goal if it is in range.

Scoreboard – We will look to keep the scoreboard ticking over by really maximising our scoring potential by taking points every time we are in the 22.

Fourie will target Payne who has no form to speak of.

At home, in what is a must win game we expect to get the win that will see premiership rugby played at Salford next season.

Mulipola, Powell, Leota and Jones are all great impact subs and because of this in the last 20 mins we expect to pull away

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I've got work at seven, therefore the page won't be updated until I get a free moment at some point tonight.

Unless... - SJE, Beshocked and ITFL you all update your teams and tactics before then I can do the page beforehand.

Just to give you all the heads up.

Northampton Saints
Manager – SirJohnnyEnglish

01. Soane Tonga'uiha	09. Lee Dickson
02. Richardt Strauss	10. Stephen Myler
03. Paul Doran Jones
04. Courtney Lawes	11. Noah Cato
05. Christian Day	12. James Downey
06. Stephen Ferris	13. George Pisi
07. Tom Wood	14. Scott Armstrong
08. Roger Wilson	15. Ben Foden

16. Alex Waller 17. Mike Haywood 18. Brian Mujati 19. Mark Sorenson 20. Kieran Read 21. Martin Roberts 22. Johnny Sexton 23. Vasily Artemiev

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General Game Plan:

In these conditions the most important thing is to play the game in the right areas. Dickson and Myler will look to use an intelligent kicking game to put us in Worcester territory. When there we will look to attack in groups so as to win the collisions, using our strong carriers to attack gaps and half gaps in the Warriors line, getting us over the gain line and keeping our forward momentum going. We will look to use the offload to support runners only when it is really on so as to retain possession in these conditions.

On defence, we will use a blitz defence coming up at pace looking to isolate the Worcester ball carriers before they can get to the gain line stopping any momentum and allowing us to hit the breakdown harder. Lee Dickson will act as a sweeper to cover any grubbers or chips behind the line while our back three will sit deep ready to cover any kicks down the touch lines.

With the blitz in operation we will look to be at the breakdown first hitting it fast and hard. The first two players on the scene will look to ruck past the ball and clear out the Worcester players providing quick counter attacking ball to be used against a disorganised defense. If the ball does not look available we will not commit to the ruck and look to strengthen the defensive line instead.

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Key Points:

•Home Advantage

With a baying home crowd at the hostile Gardens looking to intimidate both Worcester and the ref, the Warriors will need to be at their very best to win!

•Scrum

We will contest every engagement! On our own feed we will look to get the wheel on and create extra room for our 8-9-10 axis to work in. On Worcester ball we will disrupt the put in looking for penalties or to create rushed poor ball for the Worcester halfbacks.

We feel we have the power to cause Worcester real problems here and will look to the scrum all game particularly in these conditions.

•Lineout

In these conditions we want to keep things simple and use Wood, Lawes and Read as the main jumpers. We will look to bring the ball down into the maul and use the physicality of our pack to make good ground.

•Target the Worcester wings

Dickson and Myler will look to employ low kicks in behind the Worcester wingers and away from the fullback looking for touch where we will always contest looking for the steal or to force rushed clearences from Worcester.

We will test both wingers out, as neither are particularly renowned for their skills under the ball. Myler will look to send some high hanging balls to the corners with runners chasing looking to claim the ball or force the knock on.

•Fringe Defence

We will look to stay tight around the fringes and deny Genia snipping opportunities and force him to continually go to his first receiver. We want to keep Worcester on the backfoot and disrupt all attacking momentum.

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Predicitions, open

Leicester Tigers 19-15 Bath Rugby

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Cracking battle at the set piece. Tigers can get an edge at the scrum but the lineout will be even. Slight edge to Bath around the park with a very dynamic back row. No real edge either way at the breakdown with Warburton the main man on show but the Bath back row all capable. Much more on offer from the Tigers halfbacks but not a lot in it overall through the outside backs. Both game plans solid in the conditions but Tigers will do more with their possession with the halfbacks on show and finish the regular season with a win.

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London Irish 18-19 Gloucester Rugby

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Gloucester have an edge at both set pieces here. Not a lot around the park between the sides but Irish have an edge at the breakdown battle. Not an awful lot between the halfbacks but Gloucester with more in midfield and a bit more in the back 3. Irish can up the tempo big time in the last 15 minutes. Again both game plans solid (need updating when you copy and paste though!). Question for me is can Gloucester build up big enough of a lead to hold Irish off at the end and with set piece control I think they can. Narrowest of wins here.

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London Wasps 13-15 Newcastle Falcons

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Cracking battle in the pack here. Maybe a slight edge to Newcastle in terms of quality overall but its a real arm wrestle and can’t see either side getting on top. Halfbacks edge to Newcastle with Pieneer the star man on show. Wasps with more outside that though. More danger men in the backs for Wasps to bring on but Newcastle can get an edge in the pack with subs. Bit more depth to the Falcons tackle and see fatigue a slight issue for a few Wasps players. Falcons with more to play for here just sneak a massive win.

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Sale Sharks 22-18 Harlequins

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Again another cracking pack battle. The back row edges to Sale a bit here though. Halfbacks an edge to Quins but Wilko will keep Sale in the right areas. Midfield is an issue for Quins. But the back 3 can do more damage. Not a lot either way on the bench. Both game plans solid. Sale at home have enough particularly in midfield to seal their spot for next season.

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Saracens 12-15 Exeter Chiefs

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A few men being rested this week by the Chiefs management on real life form though there isn’t an awful lot between the 2 packs. Halfbacks are a step up though for Sarries. Not a lot in it in the outside backs. No game plan for Sarries sees them a bit rough today. Would give Sarries the win here with home advantage and halfbacks but no game plan is crucial and Chiefs snatch this one.

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Irish 14 - 16 Gloucester
Forwards - Front five goes to Glos here, with Jones having some joy on Lahiff with his experience and think Daiwudik's form and consistency is a plus over Buckland. Back row would be about even I think, but Hari on the bench can't cause any damage in the first half. Think that having the big dogs on the bench is a big gamble.
Backs - Half backs also go to Glos here and this is exaggerated by the better centre partnership. Outside backs are pretty close, can't really seperate them. Have Gloucester winning key battles at back row and half backs, so they scramble a win here.

Wasps 10 - 12 Falcons
Forwards - See the Falcons getting some joy at scrum time here and I prefer their second row as well. Back rows are quite even here, maybe edged to Falcons again, as Wannenburg isn't really a 6 in my book.
Backs - Prefer the away team half backs here, with Ruan and Heathcote in some very good form. In the outside backs is where there is a marked difference though, with Wasps having some real class 11-15. Find it hard to decide on a result here, but with Falcons superior 1-10 and it heavy showers, I think Ruan is the perfect man to grind out a win.

Saints 19 - 14 Worcs
Forwards - A huge solid platform in the front row for the home team here, with Mujati to come on in the second half and make a huge impact. Worcs will probably match the home team in the second row, but with Wood in the side and with Read off the bench, Saints won't struggle at lineout time.
Backs - Worcs have quite a bit of advantage here I think, despite Genia's poor form. Not convinced that Allen at 13 is a good idea though. However, in the conditions and with such a dominant pack and good bench, Saints have enough here

Sale 18 - 16 Quins
Forwards - Some interesting match ups in the front row here, with both THs having some joy. See the second rows both as quite even as well, with no real stand out stars or weaknesses. Quins get a real gain in the back row though, with Robshaw and Easter in such good form and Burger's lack of game time neglecting his impact to an extent. Mullipola and Powell are great options to come off the bench though and could make a real impact in terms of carrying, which will be critical in poor conditions.
Backs - Half backs to Quins again, as normal for these league, but those centres are really hurting the away team, without any form or practice at all. On the other hand, Sale's back three is in good knick and Fourie is world class.

Enough overall for the home team here and their good bench swings it for me in a close game.

Sarries 20 - 16 Exeter
Forwards - Big gain in the front row to the home team here and with Smit Stevens and Mako to come off the bench, this advantage will be sustained. Not much in the second and back rows here though, as I'll rate real life form above names on a teamsheet. Joubert is class, but Burger and Brown haven't played any rugby, whilst Scaysbrook has been tearing it up, as has Hayes.
Backs - A full strength Sarries backline looks quite frightening and with the Clermont pair pulling the strings and Farrell taking the pressure of Brock with the kicking, they look really good. There's enough in the locker in most areas of the pitch for the home team to get a win here.

Close game again this week

London Irish 18-21 Gloucester

Good upfront battle, fancy a few scrums in the conditions and see Gloucester getting the edge. Not much in the lineout with good jumpers from both but a little more around the park for Gloucester. Pocock the standout backrow but I think Gloucester have the better unit and will edge pack.

Prefer Bowden at 10 but Gloucester have a better balance that Irish in the backs and I think they have enough for the win here.

London Wasps 15-15 Newcastle Falcons

Good plan from Flux I'll start with, he's set out well. Scrums and pack will be key in this one and I see Wasps getting an edge on. Deacon will help in engine room and Falcons have more 4-7 which will make the pack battle a great on. Not sure of Gray in a retreating scrum up against Parisse though.

Good halfbacks for Falcons but no mugs from Wasps, Pieenar will be key at 9. Wasps backs more threatning and stronger in the contact which will be key in the conditions. Real tight affair this one with the boot of Pieenar getting a draw for Wasps.

Northampton 22-20 Worcester

Big game for Worcester here. Can see Saints getting nudge on in scrum but Worcester engine room is stronger although nothing in lineout. Little edge for Saints in the backrow but complete different class in the halfbacks and centres for Worcester. Worcesters lack of tactics cost them here as I could see them doing some damage with ball in hand. Saints to see it home.

Sale 24-24 Harlequins

Great upfront battle, don't think scrum will be key but Sale edge although Cole anchors well. Really good back 5 contest with both having plenty of quality on show. Class above at halfback for Quins and I see them controlling with good ball. Think the physicality of the Sale's centres will just edge the QUins pair although Quins have a little more spark in the back 3 with AAC the driving force. Close game but Quins have enough to get draw.

Saracens 19-19 Exeter

No game plan for Sarries hinders slightly. No change in the front row battle or engine room. Prefer the Sarries backrow combo and halfbacks side to the home side. Sarries have a little bit more in the backs also and a strong bench to call in. Would have been a Sarries win with a gameplan but home advantage and stronger side sees them get a draw.

3 draws... why Sgt Pooly?


Leicester vs Bath

22-15

Two cracking packs. Slight edge to Leicester though because Ayerza >Beech and Croft >Fearns.

Exciting Leicester backline but negated a bit in this weather.Think this Bath halfback combo will struggle.

Home advantage and slight edges in pack and backs mean Tigers take the win.

London Irish vs Gloucester

17-28

I really like the balance of this Gloucester side.

Frontrow clearly to Gloucester as Lahiff is completely mauled by A.Jones. Just cruel. 2nd rows - even. Slight edge to London Irish in the backrow.

The London Irish backline looks imbalanced in my opinion. The Gloucester one seems to have a lot more class and established combos. Surely Armitage and Homer should switch positions? Noon at 12 will negate most LI attacking play.

Gloucester to really turn up the heat.

London Wasps vs Newcastle Falcons

18-15

Slight edge to Newcastle in that pack because of the great backrow.

Backlines are very close for this weather. Gopperth swings it for Wasps.

Such a tight call but home advantage means that Wasps just about edge it in a penalty fest.

Saints vs Worcester Warriors

24 -16

Very strong Saints pack holds the superiority over their counterparts in all areas. The Warriors has obvious advantages at 9,10 and 12 in terms of class but the baffling selection of A.Allen at 13 is an odd one. The Worcester Warriors backs hold the slight edge but the strange centre partnership hampers things.

Saints pack and home advantage swing it for them.


Sale Sharks vs Harlequins

18 vs 16

Two even packs in my opinion. Both strong.

Harlequins in my opinion have picked an interesting backline. I am a big fan of combinations and playing people in their proper positions so not too pleased. Love their half back combo though.

Boot of Sir Johnny vs Nick Evans only one winner. Home advantage and a better kicker in this tight encounter is the difference.

Tigers 22-19 Bath
Forwards: Bath have standout players here who will help their case but Tigers have the better overall pack which will slow down the Bath ball and cause problems at scrum time.
Backs: Still a big fan of Bath's centres but like for like Tigers win this however, Bath keep it close as I think they'll get more joy from their kicking tactics rather than Tigers' offloading in the weather.

Wasps 12-9 Falcons
Forwards: Falcons may struggle win front row here with Mas and Corbs a good battle but on form (can't believe I'm saying this) Payne wins. Falcons will have joy in the lineouts but Gray vs Parisse when Parisse is in the dominate scrum will be the decider.
Backs: Gopperth will kick Falcons to death here and I feel that Wasps have the edge in the centres. Falcons hooker and 2nd row replacements will keep this closer.

Saints 24-18 Warriors
Forwards: Saints will dominate up front with only Haskell and Morgan offering strong runners but meaning Warriors will struggle at the break down.
Backs: Warriors have the better backs here but without tactics they will struggle. Can see Pisi causing Allen problems if the ball gets to him. With tactics this would have been much closer to a draw.

Sharks 21-20 Quins
Forwards: Even up front with Sharks just edging the scrum but Quins edging the breakdown battle. Two good impact subs in Budgie and Munipola!
Backs Burgess has a bit more form that Mathie however it is down to Wilko vs Evans and I can see Johnny just, just edging his battle. Centres going to Sharks with this being Quins' weakessed area and Quins win the back 3 battle. Overall just edged to Sharks.

Sarries 16-18 Chiefs
Forwards: Very even here with neither side budging at scrum time. At the breakdown I can see Scaysbrook and Johnson gaining some momentum here but Sarries have good carriers in the back row.
Backs: Sarries win the hb combo but only just with Mieres on form. Kahui vs Smith will be a good battle and I can see Tatupu gaining on Wyles here. Chiefs edge the bench with Armitage, Naqa and Steenson. The winning thing here is Exeter having tactics though!!

If I get a moment's breath at work later I'll get the reasons in!!

Leicester 17 Bath 15
Wasps 15 Newcastle 15
London Irish 18 Gloucester 20
Northampton 20 Worcester 19
Saracens 20 Exeter Chiefs 20

Leicester 23 - 17 Bath

Hard to see anything but a home win here. Bath come with the right tactics and attempt to pin the Tigers back. The tigers lineout is solid though and they win their own ball easily enough. Great balance in Tiger's midfield. Dagg would cause problems in Bath's attack but wouldn't get enough of the ball.

Wasps 20 - 22 Newcastle



Northampton 19 - 15 Worcester



Sale 27 - 24 Harlequins



Sarcens 20 - 18 Chiefs

Leicester Tigers 22 - 17 Bath

A great up front battle, at first Tigers will get the ascendancy up front, especially on their on ball at the lineout. However later in the game when White and Stankovich come on, Leicester dominance will decline and it will allow Bath to get back into the game. Great in depth tactics from Bathite and his great game plan, however his halfbacks are overwhelmed in this one. With Care and Flood bossing the Tigers to a home win.

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London Irish 18 - 20 Gloucester

Up front Lahiff will get a lesson from Jones, as the weather will lead to a few scrums. Lineout I can see edging towards Irish, and getting some joy with some mauls with Mafi and kennedy here. Glouc have a better backrow unit, but Pocock will make a nuisance of himself. A good halfback battle, which will be equal either way, but Noon will stunt any attacking play from Irish. Glouc backs are better, but they don't like this weather. But the boot of Lambie to secure a solid win for the Cherry and Whites.

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Northampton Saints 26 - 16 Worcester Warriors

Saints dominate the up front battle, although there are some shining lights for the Warriors from Mullan, Kitchener and Morgan. Their halfbacks of course are a world apart, but on the back foot you can't do too much - especially considering they'd have limited ball too. The back threes are pretty even, but I would have Saints down to win this one with ease at home.

Sale Sharks 19 - 18 Harlequins

An even in the scrummage, with both teams having good anchor like TH's, can't really see either LH getting an advantage here. Lineout would edge towards Quins, although Sale have Gaskell - Robson is a master at the lineouts for the Quins. A tough battle as each halfback tries to gain an upper hand, but Burgess will get the upperhand on Mathie. Although the Quins centres aren’t in the best for IRL, whereas the Sharks combo are quite potent. I can't separate the teams, however at home with a level pack and Wilko in form - Sale should nick it at the death.

Saracens 20 - 20 Exeter Chiefs

A brilliant game here, but without tactics from Beshocked it impairs him at home. A good setpiece from both sides, and I can't really separate the forwards. The backs I lean more to the Sarries overall, but the lack of tactics hurts them, so the Chiefs come back into the game. In the end the quality of the Sarries team lead by Smith earns them a draw.

Score for Sale vs Quins Flux

Won't be able to do scores tonight. No power in barracks so stuck without a laptop

Tigers 26-17 Bath
Tigers have a huge advantage on a weakened Bath team. Think Tigers will dominate the forwards with an advantage in the set piece and in the loose. Think Tigers have much better half backs which will allow them to dominate. Don't see much in the back threes but prefer the Tigers centres.

Irish 19-24Glaws
Think Gloucester will dominate in both the scrum and the lineout and overall think they have an advantage in the loose in the forwards. Really like the Gloucester backs and think both teams are strongest in the same team, the back three. Overall Gloucester have the advantage and home advantage + better bench can't negate this.

Wasps 18-17 Falcons
Forwards edge to Newcastle here. Hard to call some real quality all over the place. Parrisse could be a huge factor but do like Newcastle 4-7. Tiniest edge to Falcons. Like Pienaar at 9, think he has much more of an impact but think Gopperth's boot could have a big say. Not sure how much chance Wasps 11-15 will get to work. If at Newcastle, woulda given it to them

Sale 28-26 Quins
Prefer Sale at scrum time but overall the forwards are so hard to call, Schalk is the stand-out forward and I think with him having a big game, Sale get the advantage up front. Do like the Quins half back combination and think they have an advantage him. Not sure about back 5 with both having decent backlines, can see Fourie have some success running at Payne.

Exeter 23-21 Sarries
Prefer Sarries at scrum time but only just and think Exeter will do far more damage in the loose so prefer their forward. Prefer the Sarries 9-10 and think their centre combination is exquisite, still don't get why Beshocked is giving up Farrell but I think they are better here. Don't fancy giving them the win without a gameplan.

Leicester 23 Bath 18
Not alot in it but Flood in good form and Tigers dangersous backs will have a lot of ball to do damage with, as i see them getting an advantage up front and their set piece will hold firm. Bath push them but Leicester too strong.

Irish 22 Gloucester 20
Not a lot in it. Lahiff to have trouble at scrum time as his technique still needs to be improved and this will be a source of penalties for Gloucester, but i can see Kennedy and Mafi enjoying success in the lineout. Backrows are pretty even with Pocock being the outstanding player who will get some turnovers. In the backs i think Irish's defence will be decent against Glaws' attack and they will hold out with a win, but Noon at 12 is not a good move and he undoubtedly stifles the otherwise attacking back unit of Irish. Irish have strong bench that i expect to make an impact and overall this will mean just enough for a home win.

Wasps 24 Newcastle 21

Not alot in it but yet again home advantage is crucial. Packs very even maybe a slight advantage for Wasps in the scrum but Newcastle may get an equally as slight advantage at the breakdown. Gopperth's experience is crucial at this stage of the season with it being an important game for both teams and this along with the great form of JTH and Brown sees wasps to victory.

Northampton 24 Worcester 16

Saints dominant up front and at home this will be a victory for them. Although Worcester have a great 9-10-12 combo i feel they will struggle on the backfoot and Northampton will do enough to beat this Worcerster team in the forward battle.

Sarries 21 Exeter 20

Sarries for me will get the slightest of advantage up front and although the second row does lack a bit of grunt. Back pretty even but can see Parra and James really using their big match experience to get Sarries in the right areas. Expect Steffon and Naqa to make an impact and to run Sarries close but in the end i think at home Sarries have enough.

Predo's closed

Looks like It's going to be tight at the bottom between Falcons and Wuss

I'll do the results now , is it still a point added for every win?

It is mate, cheers driver