About v2Fantasy Aviva Premiership Round 22
+7
prop_lyd
Sgt_Pooly
Driver
'Arry Spurs
dammit_chris
LukeLovesLuka
Ozzy3213
11 posters
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Fantasy Aviva Premiership Round 22
by Ozzy3213 Sat Apr 28, 2012 9:38 am
Leicester Tigers v Bath Rugby
Cloudy, 13 degrees, 8 mph winds.
Leicester Tigers
Manager – LukeLovesLuka
16. Andrew Sheridan 17. Tom Youngs 18. Cencus Johnston 19. Simon Shaw 20. Ernst Joubert 21. Chris Cusiter 22. Brock James 23. Topsy Ojo
Tactics
We will play a structured game built around tactiacal HB's moving us into the right areas, the strength of our set piece and getting our backline into space.
- Attack the scrum as a weapon - and call when we can. A front five all in great form, and to look to really get the shove on.
- Strong lineout with Croft, Pape and Horwill as our main jumpers rotating the target. We will relentlessly target the opposition's throws.
- Massive line-breakers right throughout the side that will look to tire down Bath defence.
The likes of Waldrom and Tuilagi used off the shoulder crashing through the Bath defence.
- Pocock is the man charged with reaching the breakdown first and look to turnover possession. We will always look to attack quickly off turnover ball. With Pocock, Jenkins and Moore, we feel our breakdown play will be crucial today.
- In general attacking play, we will play off 9 with Yachvili our general pulling the strings.
- Box kicks from Yachili and up and unders from Wilkinson to give the opposition problems in the air.
Lightning back three to really get the chase on.
- Look to play attacking rugby in the backs, getting the likes of BOD, Jane and Miller on the ball when we can. Croft to look to get into space and join our backs to cause trouble out wide.
- Our back three are encouraged to do what they do best - counter attacking and running the ball back. If isolated all have good kicking games, but the counter is what we ask them to look for.
- Yachvili to kick all penalites.
- Use our powerful bench to see the game out in the last 20 minutes.
Bath Rugby
Manager – inthefastlane
16. Jon Golding 17. Joe Ward 18. Euan Murray 19. Rob Simmons 20. Tom Guest 21. Chris Cook 22. Kurtley Beale 23. Olly Woodburn
Psychological
A good win In the Heineken Cup semi final will have us in a very good mind frame and we will be looking to get a win to end a season which has shown so much promise.
Overall
We will be looking to play attacking running rugby and suffocate Tigers.
Set Piece
Our formidable front row has been picked to play well at scrum time and to have a big impact in the loose as well. Lobbe will to control the scrum at the back. At the lineout we have options with Whitelock and Lobbe capable of taking opposition ball. At the front we have Deacon offering the banker ball.
Kicking
We will look to put the ball behind the Tigers back three and put pressure on them in their own 22 with Lobbe leading the chase. We will not be looking to kick to their back three but making them turn round in order to keep pressure on. Beale will be our main kicker looking to take on anything in range. Hodgson is another option who can kick the ball and if need be will kick.
Ball in Hand
Our game plan is based around our attacking skills with the ball in hand. With Healy, SOB, Mealamu etc we have some of the best forwards who can real make inroads with their running. We will look to make sure runners aren’t isolated with good tracking and will offload if there is minimal risk.
Our backs will be looking to get their hands on the ball and make attacking inroads. Wigglesworth will look to control the tempo of the backs. Hodgson is a sensible head while Allen and Mermoz can cause big problems outside of him. North and Mermoz are also big runners who will look to get their hand on the ball and cause problems.Toeava will look to join attacks late, offering a good running option who can take opposition defenders and ` run through gaps. We will look to target the Sexton-Hook channel which we feel can be taken advantage of defensively.
Defence
Look to get up hard and fast at the Tigers flankers and wrap up the defensive line, we feel we can prevent pack momentum as their backrow has limited hard carrying options and much of the work will be put on Waldroum.
We will look to expect Tigers to kick and will ensure we don't get caught out taking the back line up too far off set piece ball. By employing the drift defence we will force Tigers to create something and put the onus on the halfbacks of Tigers.
Substitutions
We really feel our substitutes can come on and maintain dominance. We have three good props able to come on from the bench and keep the scrum solid. Simmons will come on and look to put in big yards and make his impact felt. Similarly Guest will offer solid running options. Chris Cook is someone who can come on and inject some inventiveness into the game. Beale and Woodburn are huge subs to be able to bring on late in the game.
London Irish v Gloucester Rugby
Cloudy, 13 degrees, 5 mph winds.
London Irish
Manager – stnick88
16. Jean Baptiste Poux 17. Neil Briggs 18. Duncan Bell 19. Stuart Hooper 20. Hendrie Fourie 21. Julien Dupuy 22. Luke McAllister 23. Matthew Tait
- In reasonble conditions, we will still play an attacking, running game and keep the ball in hand and work through the phases. We will run back loose kicks and not look to give away possession. We will however look to dominate the territory and play in the right areas of the pitch.
- We use the scrum as a an attacking platform, with two good scrummaging props we will look to turn the screw and win penalties or use Spies to pick up and carry or Pienaar to get the ball out to the backs. Castro and Tonga'uhia will look to get us on the front foot and drive Gloucester back, looking to win penalties.
- We will look to win the contact area and the collisions. With Castro, Garvey, Spies, Steffon, Kaino, SBW in the side, we have some big, powerful units who will look to smash over the gain line and put Gloucester on the backfoot. We will look for quick ball for Pienaar to use and create opportunities with.
- Kennedy will be our main lineout target and we willl look for quick ball off the top on most occasions, if not use Garvey at the front to create a maul.
- We willl look to dominate possession and tire the Gloucester defence. Kaino, Armitage, Garvey, Tonga'uhia etc will carry hard and look to make inroads. We will look for Pienaar and JMH to play what is infront of them and put SBW and co into gaps and space. Our wingers, especially Tagicakibau, will come inside and along with Smith, look to gather the offloads from SBW, which he will only do when it is on.
- At the breakdown, we will look to use our powerful flankers and the breakdown skills of Steffon to secure quick ball and slow down opposition ball. Any turnover ball will be counter attacked.
- Pienaar will kick all pens for goal in range. If not we will go for touch and use the lineout as a platform to attack.
- If any attacks become slow and we are in danger of being turned of making a mistake, we will look for JMH to pop over a drop goal to keep the scoreboard ticking over.
- We will look to isolate Julian White in open play and any opportunity to go at him one on one and go past him will be taken.
- We will look to pressure what is no doubt a new 8,9,10,12 axis for Gloucester. There is a lot of new combos there that will not be used to each other, whereas our 8,9,10,12 has been playing together for a long time. We will be fluent in attack and defence and look to use this to our advantage.
- If attacks become stifled and slow, we will use the wind to our advantage and test young Johhny May with some bombs. We will pressure him in this area.
- We have plenty of impact off the bench to keep things fresh and hopefully see out the game.
- This is a must win game to make the playoffs. The boys are fired up!
Gloucester
Manager – Mat
16. Nick Wood 17. Jamie George 18. Rupert Harden 19. George Robson 20. Stephen Ferris 21. Will Genia 22. Richard Kahui 23. JSD
Gloucester travel to Irish hoping to get a BP win and land themselves a home tie against sarries who would need to slip up against exeter.
Mindful of the upcoming Play off and Heino final gloucester have made a lot of changes but have gone for a super strong team to match the way we want to play.
It will be a cracker and the centre battle alone is worth the price of admission.
Forwards
Scrum
Gloucester have a powerful scrummaging front row who will have to be on top form against huge irish props. Julian White has been bought in to anchor the scrum and will play 40-50 minutes at most. Coonie will be looking to carry on his magnificent form and also help us to win clean ball to either launch our back row or for murray to clear the ball away to goosen and Carter.
Our engine room will provide a serious amount of power and in Bakkies and Palmer we have one of the best and most played together partnerships in this game. They have been the linchpin of this gloucester side for a number of years and Bakkies is in monster form. They will be the extra grunt to our scrum
Lineouts
This is an area we see as a key and will be targetting mercileslly. We see ourselves as having more jumpers and of a better quality. we see Irish as reliant on Kennedy too much and this will allow us to poach ball and keep possession.
On our ball we will be utilising the drive to begin with to keep possession and steer ourselves in to the territory we want to play in. We will look to hit Alberts and burger etc off the back of it once momentum slows with the maul
As we progress in the game and enter the right territory to play we will be going off the top and out to goosen or carter. We will also on occassion look to hit a moving alberts standing at ten off the back of lineout to get front foot ball and give hernandez nightmares
Genera;l
Gloucester are going to look to play a possesion/territory game to get themselves in to the right positions before launching their exciting backline. to this end the aim will be to keep the ball with our ball carriers hitting it up relentlessly and either offloading or setting up quick ball. In our own half we will muscle the ball in to the right areas of the pitch to allow goosen or carter to kick in between the irish wings to force them to kick to touch and conceding territory to us or allowing us counter attacking ball
Backs
We have an exctiting attacking line up and plan to use it. However we will only do this in the right areas. Goosen and Carter will alternate and will be looking only to get the ball when it is right. If we are not in the right part of the pitch they will turn it back in to the forwards and get them to go again. In our own half once we are in the right area Goosen and Carter we will look to kick in behind the wings and win the territory game. also the up and under will be used
Once we have started to dominate the possesion and territory and get in to the right areas we will turn it on.
Goosen and Carter offer great distribution and will look to Hit JDJ in to holes or to bash it up, Gear will also be used as a ball carrier.
Goosen plays great attacking rugby and launching our back 3 is going to be key.
AS he game breaks up you will see all the attacking skills come to the fore and our back line explode in to action, As ever quick throws will happen if on and gernerally we will be lookiong to exploit holes and mismatches
Goosen has a deadsly break so if the defence drifts he will punish them as he has done lots this year.http://www.planetrugby.com/story/0,25883,3824_7720924,00.html
in rugby the first 60 minutes give you the right to open up the game. We aim to win all the collisions and key points and then cut loose. Our backline are all in great great form and we see them as the difference.
London Wasps v Newcastle Falcons
Cloudy, 13 degrees, 6mph winds.
London Wasps
Manager – ‘Arry
16. Benjamin Kayser 17. Charlie Beech 18. James Slipper 19. Steve Mafi 20. Jackson Wray 21. Luke Burgess 22. Steven Myler 23. Matt Banahan
Tactics
In the last game of our season we will be looking to end the season on a high by beating Newcastle Falcons. We will be looking to play a high intensity power game with our dynamic forwards looking to make inroads early on. We will look to build up several phases of play recycling the ball quickly to get us onto the front foot. We will look to play an offloading game and win the collisions, keeping our hands free out of the contact area which will enable us to continue moving the ball, keeping momentum and speed within our attacks.
Jones will play flat on the gain line, Bowden will be employed as a second play making option with Roberts running plenty of hard lines into the Falcons defensive line. We will look to support him and either drive him over the gain line or take offloads from him and exploit gaps. Attack gaps and half gaps in the Newcastle defensive & look to continously alter the point of attack. We will look to get our back three into the game as much as possible and cause the Falcons some real problems.
Look to hit the breakdown hard and drive past the ball so Blair can inject pace and intensity. Plenty of runners offering themsleves, look to suck in Falcons players to the breakdown before spreading the ball to exploit and gaps/mismatches in midfield. Whole bench will be used look to continue high intensity game plan. Use scrum as platform & use shortened line out with our big carriers in midfield looking to run some hard lines.
Newcastle Falcons
Manager – Sgt Pooly
16. William Servat 17. Paul Doran-Jones 18. Alex Waller 19. Ed Slater 20. Richie McCaw 21. Jonny Arr 22. Nick Evans 23. Brad Barritt
TACTTICS:
Game plan...Fast paced, high intensity, offloading, dynamic rugby. We’ll look to hit the ground running and hit the opposition fast from the off. We’ll be aiming to control possession and go through the phases. Flood will look to get our backline into the game whenever possible and keep the high tempo going throughout.
Set piece:
Control the set piece and use it as a focal point of attacks. We see a slight advantage in the scrum that will be targeted especially in opposition half. We’ll look to get the squeeze on and keep the Wasps back row tied into the scrum giving Youngs, Flood & JOC more space to work in. Parling will marshal the lineout and look to get fast ball off the top with 5 strong jumpers.
We’ll look to go for splits early on from the scrum and try and turn to create more space for our backs to attack the flanks with.
If a weakness is seen in the set piece Read will go for the jugular.
Pack & Breakdown:
Look for strong carries from our pack, tying in the Wasps forwards. We’ll be looking to keep the ball alive and look for the offload when on. Brussow will target the breakdown and look to get in a second tackler to tie up the Wasps carriers. Youngs will wait for the call and look to sweep up any turnover ball getting us on the front foot. We’ll look to win the collision with big our physical pack and dominate the Wasps front 5 in the contact,
Backs:
Basically get the backs into play whenever possible with Flood & JOC the spark. Fourie will mashall the defensive line and act as go to ball to draw defenses. JOC will go looking for the ball in midfield and AAC will come into the line to give us a direct hard runner and alternative/decoy to Fourie. Youngs will eye the gaps and look for the taps to keep us moving.
POINTS:
SCRUM & LINEOUT – Target throughout, if weakness seen go for the jugular
PHYSICAL PACK – Win the collosion and target rucks to drive through Wasps
BREAKDOWN – Brussow then McCaw to work their magic and Youngs to monitor to attack on turnover ball
FORM – We are back to the top and looking to secure top spot
BACK 3 – Look to get our back 3 into the game as much as possible
ROLLING MAUL – With our big front 5 look to get the rolling maul going off selected lineouts and eat up the ground
BOWE – Bowe will look to exchange flanks and target the cross field against Wade
Northampton Saints v Worcester Warriors
Cloudy with sunny spells, 13 degrees, 6 mph winds
Northampton Saints
Manager – Dammit Chris
16. Chris Whitehead 17. Thomas Domingo 18. Henry Thomas 19. Joe Launchbury 20. Sam Cane 21. Mike Phillips 22. Danny Cipriani 23. Elliot Daly
Tactics
Overall – Saints continued their impressive recent form by securing another BP win against Exeter in awful conditions and have now scored 28 tries in just 7 games. The conditions this week will see us return to playing attacking rugby, moving the ball around at speed and looking to get our runners over the gainline and in behind the Worcester defence. Again we will work through the phases, sucking Worcester defenders in and then look to go wide when we have the chance.
Attack - we will continue to play our structured game that evolves working through the phases, getting our big ball carriers on the ball and over the gainline (Davies, Lawes, Messam, Fofana and Tuilagi) and then going wide to stretch the defence and create space for our backthree.
We will look to attack at speed, with power from the forwards and for Simpson to set a fast pace at the base of breakdowns/scrums etc - keep the Worcester defence honest and when the ball goes to Giteau he will be able to exploit any gaps. Use Fofana and Tuilagi to crash the ball up the middle and then generate quick ball and get it to the back three fast - all attack minded and we will look for tries and move Worcester all over the park.
Defence - we build our defensive patterns around Dan Lydiate and Courtney Lawes in the pack, two of the best tacklers in world rugby and will aim to use them to stop Worcester runners (espc Ben Morgan) getting over the gainline. As normal we will play an aggressive defence, putting our opposition under pressure, and targeting the 9-10 combination. Fofana and Tuilagi form a rock in the midfield and are confident they will stop Worcester getting through the middle.
Will try and force errors and mistakes in the tackle area to exploit, this is where our backline can also capitalise – attacking from turnovers, knock ons etc.
Set Piece – Worcester have a very good set piece and some strong players in their front five, but due to the conditions being very encouraging for running rugby we feel that the set piece wont be as important because of the conditions for running rugby.
We’ve opted to start Mullan, Webber and Stevens in the front row for their mobility and allow us to not only have a solid set piece, but advantage in the loose. We will look to secure steady ball at the scrum, with Messam controlling possession at the base of the scrum.
Our lineout has three main jumpers, Messam, Lawes and Davies - we will look to secure good attacking ball on our own throw. Defensively we will look to make sure that we pressurise the Worcester throw and keep MEssam at the back of the lineout so he can target the Worcester no10.
Breakdown – We’ve picked Julian Salvi specifically for his breakdown work and allowing us to have a genuine no7, who can keep us getting quick ball and maintaining our tempo - Messam and Lydiate there to smash Worcester players off the ball. With quicker pack, we should get to the breakdown quicker and both Fofana and Tuilagi in midfield we have another two good options there. Will be aggressive in contact area and force Worcester into mistakes.
Key Points
* Great form, 28 tries in just 7 games – will look to make best use of conditions and attack Worcester with a view to scoring tries.
* Will look to play at high tempo, use the ball carriers in the pack to get us over the gainline and then get Simpson/Giteau and backthree to attack.
* Worcester do have a slight advantage in front row, but we wont be looking to spend much of the game in the set piece, keeping ball in hand and going through the phases – take the game away from Worcesters’s strengths and play to ours.
* Will look to score tries and keep up our running, free flowing rugby
* Defensively we will play very aggressively, try to stop Worcester getting over the gainline with Lawes, Davies, Messam and Lydiate in the forwards - whilst Fofana and Tuilagi will create a brick wall in midfield for Worcester to get through.
* Target the inexperienced Heathcote and try and put him under pressure from the outset.
* Have picked an impact bench and will be used when required to keep speed/tempo of the game high
Worcester Warriors
16. Chris Fortey 17. Chris Budgen 18. David Flatman 19. Mamuka Gorgodze 20. Richard Thorpe 21. Dwayne Peel 22. Morne Steyn 23. Rob Cook
Tactics
We come into this match with a fresh side and a must win attitude. We make a few to the side that won there with Williams bringing a bit more grunt and King the added spark rather than the confrontation which Malzieu would have. Confidence is high and we are look to cause an upset. The squad we have picked is our strongest squad possible and we will be pushing for a good win to secure our safety. This match will be decided by forwards to we have selected a big pack with a back row who are all able to make an aimpact carrying the ball or at the breakdown. In the backs we have certain positions ‘bedded in’ and will use Heathcote to kick us territory and Vesty/King to make the dents in the centre. Our bench is full of talent and impact subs and we will use them throughout the match to run at tired legs. With 3 main kickers in our 1st xv we will be looking to kick a lot of terriotry and put them under pressure with high balls.
Forwards
*A front row who know each other well and will look to gain the advantage on the hit. Botha will lead from the front here and Budgen will be brought on in the last 20 to scrummage Saints off the park.
*Our 2nd row will look to dominate the lineouts and are quite a heavy partnership as we look to dominate the scrum. Kohn will keep his head and look to wind up a few characters in the Saints side and impose himself at the breakdown whilst Cullen will elad and put pressure on lineouts.
*Back-row will be key at the breakdown and with Myall and Williams we have 2 players who are more than capable of doing this well. They will look to hit every other ruck each to gain turnover ball or slow down their possession. The other player will be looking to hit 10 constantly to put him off his game. Morgan will pick from some scrums when a gap is possible and he always gets over the gainline when carrying so we have guaranteed forward advantage when he has his hands on the ball.
*The bench will be used wisely with Budgen coming on for the last 20 and Gorgodze and Thorpe being used as and when to add hard ball carrying and an extra lineout option.
Backs
*Quick ball is key here when we get it (we are expecting a hard slog up front) and Peel will be looking for gaps or forwards running to make the hard yards. Heathcote will stand flat and will use his boot when we are under pressure but; if we are in the opposition’s half most of the time we will look to get the ball out to the centres. He will take the points when possible and use drop goals to keep the board ticking.
*King will simply be given the role of playmaker with Williams and Habana running lines off of him and through the defence. Morgan will be used as a battering ram in the first 20 minutes and we will look to release the wingers off 3rd ball phase to make it quick ball and give them the space required (1st ball will be forwards, 2nd ball will be King/forwards, 3rd ball to the backs).
*Wingers are to go looking for work and to stay sturdy in defence. They will all be comfortable under the high ball and have the pace to take the oppostion on the outside shoulder.
*Bench will be used wisely with Kelleher bringing a fast impact game to Steyn to clear the danger. Cook can cover quite a few positions and will be looking to impress having been given this chance.
Defence
*Hard blitz banana defence lead by Vesty who will call it up.
*Peel/Reddan will look to sweep and snipe any loose ball.
*Williams/Myall to alternate hitting rucks and hitting 10 to stop quick ball and look for the turnover opportunities.
*If we get a turnover we will look to run it, if nothing is on Steyn will pin them back with long distance touch finders.
Sale Sharks v Harlequins
Scattered Showers, 11 degrees, 11 mph winds.
Sale Sharks
Manager – SJE
16. Nathan Catt 17. Brett Sharman 18. Neemia Tialata 19. Christian Day 20. Matt Kvesic 21. Ben Spencer 22. Johnny Sexton 23. Lelia Masaga
General Game Plan:
We will use our strong carriers to attack gaps and half gaps in the Quins line, looking to offload in contact to support runners thus changing the point of attack and keeping our forward momentum going. Sexton will look to attack from fly half and inject pace to the proceedings committing the Quins defence and leaving space in wider channels to exploit. If running the ball is not on our halfbacks will look to the boot to put us in the right areas.
At scrum time we will look to contest each and 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. While on Quins feeds we will disrupt the put in looking for penalties or to create rushed, poor ball for the Harlequins halfbacks. With 5 jumping options and a reliable thrower at hooker we will look to attack from the lineout mixing things up by bringing the ball down into the maul and using the physicality of our pack or else playing the ball of the top and injecting serious pace into the play.
On defence, we will use a blitz defence coming up at pace looking to isolate the Quin ball carriers before they can get to the gain line stopping any momentum and allowing us to hit the breakdown harder. Danny Care 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 and counter attack at pace.
With the blitz defence 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 Harlequin players providing quick counter attacking ball to be cleared and used against a disorganised defensive line. If the ball does not look available we will not commit to the ruck and look to strengthen the defensive line instead.
Harlequins
Manager – Steven_Sharks
16 Chris Brooker 17. Tony Woodcock 18. Kieran Brookes 19. Nathan Sharpe 20. Phil Dowson 21. Karl Dickson 22. Quade Cooper 23. Shontayne Hape
Tactics
Game Plan
Our game plan will vary throughout the game depending on the game situation. We will initially play a ball retention game based around our players looking to carry off 9, 10 and 12 with the aim of getting across the gainline and getting us quick ball so we can then look to play in wider channels against a less organised defence. If this tactic is successful then we will use this between our 10m line to the Sale try line. We will be looking to have players running different lines off our playmakers to keep the Sale defence guessing. We will look for our halfbacks to see where the Sale defence is at its weakest and we will then look to attack there and have our strong carriers run into these areas. We will look to offload in the contact if it is on but won’t be looking to through miracle balls.
Should this not be working and we aren’t getting the quick ball we want then we will look to use the boots of Dickson, Priestland, Contepomi and Kearney to pin Sale back and win the kicking battle and control territory. We won’t be kicking everything away obviously but will be using up and unders, kick and chases and grubbers to test the Sale back 3. We feel we have the kickers to test Sale in a big way positionally and with their skills under the high ball.
We will kick the points at goal unless we are chasing the game. We know any win will do and we will do it ugly if required. Disipline is vital. We don't want to give penalties away as this relieves pressure on Sale.
Forwards
With a mobile pack which will be more than competitive up front we hope we can really control the game by winning the forward battle. We are looking for our pack to work hard and get through a lot of work both with and without the ball. When carrying we will look to do it in numbers and will aim to keep the legs pumping after contact to take us over the gain line. Winning the collisions is important to us when it comes to getting onto the front foot and controlling the tempo of the game and we want to do this in attack and defence. At the setpiece we will look to really put the pressure on Sale at all times. We have a good scrummaging unit with a very inform front row supported by two big units in the second row. We will look to keep the scrum up and if we are in the ascendancy try and milk Sale for penalties. At the lineout we will look to shorten them between the two 22 metres lines and have players carrying in the midfield. We will look to really pressure the Sale throw, particularly in the middle of the lineout.
At our own rucks we will look to look to clear Sale out the way and ruck past the ball so as to make it easy for Dickson to get it away quickly.
Backs
We have strike runners across the backline and we will look for there to be put into gaps by Priestland and Contepomi. When we are building our attacks we will look for Lowe and the blindside winger to be picking lines off 10/12 but we will look for Lowe to stay in wider channels once we have the ball coming quickly from rucks. Outwide we really think we have some excellent strike runners and will look to bring them into the play when we are getting quick ball. We have numerous players who can create for others, in fact everyone of our back line I would consider a creative player. This is vital when it comes to getting into the Sale 22, we have numerous men who can give us that bit of magic to get through the defence.
Defence
Quick line speed will be key for us as usual and we will give no time to the Sale decision makers. We will look to knock Sale backwards in the tackle and will then concentrate on the turnover.
At the breakdown we will look to dominate with Warburton, Louw and Brits looking to be the first there and to legally turn the ball over. If this isn’t possible then we will at least be slowing the ball down by having one or two of our players adopt a low body position and counter ruck. We really feel this is an area we can dominate and this will affect how Sale can play in a big way.
We will look to have two players back covering kicks when Sale have the ball so we have numbers to counter attack off any loose kicks. Dickson will sweep behind the defensive line for any chips.
General Key Points
- Form Players . We have a very inform side. Everybody is playing well and this is great for us. This game means everything to our season. We have our own fate in our hands and if we win we are in the play offs.
- We know we need to win and don’t care how we do it. This game means much more to us than Sale. Our players will be psychologically a step up and fresher.
- Sale have just lost a Heineken Cup semi final. They have had their bodies beaten and will now be psychologically drained. They can’t make the Heiniken Cup via the league and are playing for pride. We come into this game in better form and better shape.
- League Form – We have won 3 of our last 4 in the league. Sale have won 1 of their last 4. Momentum is vital at this point in the season and add the league form to the HC elimination and we are facing a side without momentum.
- Dynamism We have a very dynamic pack which is important to get us the go forward. Brit, Louw, Marler, Heaslip etc will all get us across the gainline on a regular basis and get us that quick ball which we desire.
- Game Changers - We are packed with game changers from 1 to 15, guys who can unlock the door and create things from nowhere.
Game Specific Key Points
- Breakdown – We intend to dominate this area with Warburton and Louw both great exponents in this area. If we can’t turn the ball over we can at least legally slow it down. Care is half the player with slow ball which we aim to make Sale play with.
- Ball carrying – We have a side packed with ball players and strong carriers. We are very comfortable in the loose and with the ball in hand and this is key to us and our tactics.
- Decision Makers - We have 3 great decision makers at 9, 10 and 12. This is key in what is a huge game which brings pressure and we feel we have the guys to dictate the play very very well.
- Subs - Bring our subs on when the game requires the fresh injection in the last half an hour. Cooper will move onto the blindside wing in defence if he comes on. We feel we have good impact players to come on and affect the game in a good way. We also have plenty of experience on the bench which will be vital in such an important game as this.
Saracens v Exeter Chiefs
Sunny Periods, 13 degrees, 6 mph winds.
Saracens
Manager – Ozzy3213
16. George Chuter 17. Tendai Mtwarira 18. Jannie du Plessis 19. Rynhardt Elstadt 20. Tom Johnson 21. Paul Hodgson 22. Owen Farrell 23. Mark Cueto
Tactics
Our generic gameplan revolves around a high intensity attacking and defensive game.
In attack our primary gameplan is always to control possession and run the ball, utilising big carriers attacking gaps in the line, and looking to offload to support runners to continue getting over the gainline and keep the ball alive. If running the ball is not on we will uitilise the kicking game of one of our backs to take us into the right area of the pitch.
In defence we will look to blitz, with our scrum half sweeping behind the defensive line. Key for us is line speed, getting up to make the tackle before the ball carrier hits the gainline, and confidence and trust in the man next to you in the defensive line, meaning we will not jump out or get pulled to far away from the next defender leaving gaps that can be exploited.
At the breakdown, we will not overcommit players. If the ball is not there to be won, then we will commit 1 or 2 players to legally slow it down whilst maintaining a strong defensive line across the pitch. If the ball looks like it is there to be won, we will look to get more numbers there quickly, with the first 1 or 2 players immediately rucking past the ball to clear the opposition players who are trying to get hands on it, and the next man in will then look to get it out quickly for us to counter attack on turnover ball.
At the scrum we will look to keep it up and scrummage. On our ball we will look to get a scrum turning legally to take the Chiefs back row out of the defensive equation before launching attacks.
Game Specific Tactics
Key Points
Exeter Chiefs
Manager – Driver
16.Neil Clark 17.Brett Sturgess 18.Werner Kruger 19.Dean Schofield 20.Will Welch 21.Rob Coote 22.Tom Catterick 23.Horace Agulla
Cloudy, 13 degrees, 8 mph winds.
Leicester Tigers
Manager – LukeLovesLuka
| 01. Gethin Jenkins | 09. Dimitri Yachvili |
| 02. Stephen Moore | 10. Jonny Wilkinson (k) |
| 03. Dan Cole | |
| 04. Pascal Pape | 11. Alesana Tuilagi |
| 05. James Horwill (c) | 12. Billy Twelvetrees |
| 06. Tom Croft | 13. Brian O'Driscoll |
| 07. David Pocock | 14. Cory Jane |
| 08. Thomas Waldrom | 15. Rob Miller |
Tactics
We will play a structured game built around tactiacal HB's moving us into the right areas, the strength of our set piece and getting our backline into space.
- Attack the scrum as a weapon - and call when we can. A front five all in great form, and to look to really get the shove on.
- Strong lineout with Croft, Pape and Horwill as our main jumpers rotating the target. We will relentlessly target the opposition's throws.
- Massive line-breakers right throughout the side that will look to tire down Bath defence.
The likes of Waldrom and Tuilagi used off the shoulder crashing through the Bath defence.
- Pocock is the man charged with reaching the breakdown first and look to turnover possession. We will always look to attack quickly off turnover ball. With Pocock, Jenkins and Moore, we feel our breakdown play will be crucial today.
- In general attacking play, we will play off 9 with Yachvili our general pulling the strings.
- Box kicks from Yachili and up and unders from Wilkinson to give the opposition problems in the air.
Lightning back three to really get the chase on.
- Look to play attacking rugby in the backs, getting the likes of BOD, Jane and Miller on the ball when we can. Croft to look to get into space and join our backs to cause trouble out wide.
- Our back three are encouraged to do what they do best - counter attacking and running the ball back. If isolated all have good kicking games, but the counter is what we ask them to look for.
- Yachvili to kick all penalites.
- Use our powerful bench to see the game out in the last 20 minutes.
Bath Rugby
Manager – inthefastlane
| 01. Cian Healy | 09. Richard Wigglesworth |
| 02. Kevin Mealamu | 10. Charlie Hodgson |
| 03. Davit Kubrashvilli | |
| 04. Louis Deacon | 11. George North |
| 05. Sam Whitelock | 12. Maxime Mermoz |
| 06. Sean O'Brien | 13. Anthony Allen |
| 07. Will Skinner | 14. Maxime Medard |
| 08. JMF Lobbe | 15. Isiah Toeava |
Psychological
A good win In the Heineken Cup semi final will have us in a very good mind frame and we will be looking to get a win to end a season which has shown so much promise.
Overall
We will be looking to play attacking running rugby and suffocate Tigers.
Set Piece
Our formidable front row has been picked to play well at scrum time and to have a big impact in the loose as well. Lobbe will to control the scrum at the back. At the lineout we have options with Whitelock and Lobbe capable of taking opposition ball. At the front we have Deacon offering the banker ball.
Kicking
We will look to put the ball behind the Tigers back three and put pressure on them in their own 22 with Lobbe leading the chase. We will not be looking to kick to their back three but making them turn round in order to keep pressure on. Beale will be our main kicker looking to take on anything in range. Hodgson is another option who can kick the ball and if need be will kick.
Ball in Hand
Our game plan is based around our attacking skills with the ball in hand. With Healy, SOB, Mealamu etc we have some of the best forwards who can real make inroads with their running. We will look to make sure runners aren’t isolated with good tracking and will offload if there is minimal risk.
Our backs will be looking to get their hands on the ball and make attacking inroads. Wigglesworth will look to control the tempo of the backs. Hodgson is a sensible head while Allen and Mermoz can cause big problems outside of him. North and Mermoz are also big runners who will look to get their hand on the ball and cause problems.Toeava will look to join attacks late, offering a good running option who can take opposition defenders and ` run through gaps. We will look to target the Sexton-Hook channel which we feel can be taken advantage of defensively.
Defence
Look to get up hard and fast at the Tigers flankers and wrap up the defensive line, we feel we can prevent pack momentum as their backrow has limited hard carrying options and much of the work will be put on Waldroum.
We will look to expect Tigers to kick and will ensure we don't get caught out taking the back line up too far off set piece ball. By employing the drift defence we will force Tigers to create something and put the onus on the halfbacks of Tigers.
Substitutions
We really feel our substitutes can come on and maintain dominance. We have three good props able to come on from the bench and keep the scrum solid. Simmons will come on and look to put in big yards and make his impact felt. Similarly Guest will offer solid running options. Chris Cook is someone who can come on and inject some inventiveness into the game. Beale and Woodburn are huge subs to be able to bring on late in the game.
London Irish v Gloucester Rugby
Cloudy, 13 degrees, 5 mph winds.
London Irish
Manager – stnick88
| 01. Soane Tonga'uhia | 09. Ruan Pienaar |
| 02. James Buckland | 10. Juan Martin Hernandez |
| 03. Martin Castrogiovanni | |
| 04. Matt Garvey | 11. Bjorn Basson |
| 05. Nick Kennedy | 12. Sonny Bill Williams |
| 06. Jerome Kaino | 13. Conrad Smith |
| 07. Steffon Armitage | 14. Sailosi Tagicakibau |
| 08. Pierre Spies | 15. Delon Armitage |
16. Jean Baptiste Poux 17. Neil Briggs 18. Duncan Bell 19. Stuart Hooper 20. Hendrie Fourie 21. Julien Dupuy 22. Luke McAllister 23. Matthew Tait
- In reasonble conditions, we will still play an attacking, running game and keep the ball in hand and work through the phases. We will run back loose kicks and not look to give away possession. We will however look to dominate the territory and play in the right areas of the pitch.
- We use the scrum as a an attacking platform, with two good scrummaging props we will look to turn the screw and win penalties or use Spies to pick up and carry or Pienaar to get the ball out to the backs. Castro and Tonga'uhia will look to get us on the front foot and drive Gloucester back, looking to win penalties.
- We will look to win the contact area and the collisions. With Castro, Garvey, Spies, Steffon, Kaino, SBW in the side, we have some big, powerful units who will look to smash over the gain line and put Gloucester on the backfoot. We will look for quick ball for Pienaar to use and create opportunities with.
- Kennedy will be our main lineout target and we willl look for quick ball off the top on most occasions, if not use Garvey at the front to create a maul.
- We willl look to dominate possession and tire the Gloucester defence. Kaino, Armitage, Garvey, Tonga'uhia etc will carry hard and look to make inroads. We will look for Pienaar and JMH to play what is infront of them and put SBW and co into gaps and space. Our wingers, especially Tagicakibau, will come inside and along with Smith, look to gather the offloads from SBW, which he will only do when it is on.
- At the breakdown, we will look to use our powerful flankers and the breakdown skills of Steffon to secure quick ball and slow down opposition ball. Any turnover ball will be counter attacked.
- Pienaar will kick all pens for goal in range. If not we will go for touch and use the lineout as a platform to attack.
- If any attacks become slow and we are in danger of being turned of making a mistake, we will look for JMH to pop over a drop goal to keep the scoreboard ticking over.
- We will look to isolate Julian White in open play and any opportunity to go at him one on one and go past him will be taken.
- We will look to pressure what is no doubt a new 8,9,10,12 axis for Gloucester. There is a lot of new combos there that will not be used to each other, whereas our 8,9,10,12 has been playing together for a long time. We will be fluent in attack and defence and look to use this to our advantage.
- If attacks become stifled and slow, we will use the wind to our advantage and test young Johhny May with some bombs. We will pressure him in this area.
- We have plenty of impact off the bench to keep things fresh and hopefully see out the game.
- This is a must win game to make the playoffs. The boys are fired up!
Gloucester
Manager – Mat
| 01. CoOnie Ousthuizen | 09. Connor Murray |
| 02. Joe Grey | 10. Johan Goosen(k) |
| 03. Julian White | |
| 04. Bakkies Botha | 11. Hosea Gear |
| 05. Tom Palmer | 12. Dan CArter |
| 06. Julian Bonnaire(c) | 13. Juan De Jongh |
| 07. Schalk Burger | 14. Charlie Sharples |
| 08. Willem Alberts | 15. Johnny May |
16. Nick Wood 17. Jamie George 18. Rupert Harden 19. George Robson 20. Stephen Ferris 21. Will Genia 22. Richard Kahui 23. JSD
Gloucester travel to Irish hoping to get a BP win and land themselves a home tie against sarries who would need to slip up against exeter.
Mindful of the upcoming Play off and Heino final gloucester have made a lot of changes but have gone for a super strong team to match the way we want to play.
It will be a cracker and the centre battle alone is worth the price of admission.
Forwards
Scrum
Gloucester have a powerful scrummaging front row who will have to be on top form against huge irish props. Julian White has been bought in to anchor the scrum and will play 40-50 minutes at most. Coonie will be looking to carry on his magnificent form and also help us to win clean ball to either launch our back row or for murray to clear the ball away to goosen and Carter.
Our engine room will provide a serious amount of power and in Bakkies and Palmer we have one of the best and most played together partnerships in this game. They have been the linchpin of this gloucester side for a number of years and Bakkies is in monster form. They will be the extra grunt to our scrum
Lineouts
This is an area we see as a key and will be targetting mercileslly. We see ourselves as having more jumpers and of a better quality. we see Irish as reliant on Kennedy too much and this will allow us to poach ball and keep possession.
On our ball we will be utilising the drive to begin with to keep possession and steer ourselves in to the territory we want to play in. We will look to hit Alberts and burger etc off the back of it once momentum slows with the maul
As we progress in the game and enter the right territory to play we will be going off the top and out to goosen or carter. We will also on occassion look to hit a moving alberts standing at ten off the back of lineout to get front foot ball and give hernandez nightmares
Genera;l
Gloucester are going to look to play a possesion/territory game to get themselves in to the right positions before launching their exciting backline. to this end the aim will be to keep the ball with our ball carriers hitting it up relentlessly and either offloading or setting up quick ball. In our own half we will muscle the ball in to the right areas of the pitch to allow goosen or carter to kick in between the irish wings to force them to kick to touch and conceding territory to us or allowing us counter attacking ball
Backs
We have an exctiting attacking line up and plan to use it. However we will only do this in the right areas. Goosen and Carter will alternate and will be looking only to get the ball when it is right. If we are not in the right part of the pitch they will turn it back in to the forwards and get them to go again. In our own half once we are in the right area Goosen and Carter we will look to kick in behind the wings and win the territory game. also the up and under will be used
Once we have started to dominate the possesion and territory and get in to the right areas we will turn it on.
Goosen and Carter offer great distribution and will look to Hit JDJ in to holes or to bash it up, Gear will also be used as a ball carrier.
Goosen plays great attacking rugby and launching our back 3 is going to be key.
AS he game breaks up you will see all the attacking skills come to the fore and our back line explode in to action, As ever quick throws will happen if on and gernerally we will be lookiong to exploit holes and mismatches
Goosen has a deadsly break so if the defence drifts he will punish them as he has done lots this year.http://www.planetrugby.com/story/0,25883,3824_7720924,00.html
in rugby the first 60 minutes give you the right to open up the game. We aim to win all the collisions and key points and then cut loose. Our backline are all in great great form and we see them as the difference.
London Wasps v Newcastle Falcons
Cloudy, 13 degrees, 6mph winds.
London Wasps
Manager – ‘Arry
| 01. Perry Freshwater | 09. Mike Blair |
| 02. Tatafu Polota-Nau | 10. Stephen Jones (k) |
| 03. Carlos Nieto | |
| 04. Mouritz Botha | 11. Ugo Monye |
| 05. Dan Tuohy | 12. Dan Bowden |
| 06. Rocky Elsom (c) | 13. Jamie Roberts |
| 07. Deon Stegmann | 14. Christian Wade |
| 08. Luke Narraway | 15. Mike Brown |
16. Benjamin Kayser 17. Charlie Beech 18. James Slipper 19. Steve Mafi 20. Jackson Wray 21. Luke Burgess 22. Steven Myler 23. Matt Banahan
Tactics
In the last game of our season we will be looking to end the season on a high by beating Newcastle Falcons. We will be looking to play a high intensity power game with our dynamic forwards looking to make inroads early on. We will look to build up several phases of play recycling the ball quickly to get us onto the front foot. We will look to play an offloading game and win the collisions, keeping our hands free out of the contact area which will enable us to continue moving the ball, keeping momentum and speed within our attacks.
Jones will play flat on the gain line, Bowden will be employed as a second play making option with Roberts running plenty of hard lines into the Falcons defensive line. We will look to support him and either drive him over the gain line or take offloads from him and exploit gaps. Attack gaps and half gaps in the Newcastle defensive & look to continously alter the point of attack. We will look to get our back three into the game as much as possible and cause the Falcons some real problems.
Look to hit the breakdown hard and drive past the ball so Blair can inject pace and intensity. Plenty of runners offering themsleves, look to suck in Falcons players to the breakdown before spreading the ball to exploit and gaps/mismatches in midfield. Whole bench will be used look to continue high intensity game plan. Use scrum as platform & use shortened line out with our big carriers in midfield looking to run some hard lines.
Newcastle Falcons
Manager – Sgt Pooly
| 01. Fabien Barcella | 09. Ben Youngs |
| 02. Rory Best | 10. Toby Flood |
| 03. Owen Franks | |
| 04. Brad Thorn | 11. Miles Benjamin |
| 05. Geoff Parling | 12. James O’Connor |
| 06. Chris Robshaw | 13. Jaque Fourie |
| 07. Heinrich Brussow | 14. Tommy Bowe |
| 08. Kieran Read(c) | 15. Adam Ashley-Cooper |
16. William Servat 17. Paul Doran-Jones 18. Alex Waller 19. Ed Slater 20. Richie McCaw 21. Jonny Arr 22. Nick Evans 23. Brad Barritt
TACTTICS:
Game plan...Fast paced, high intensity, offloading, dynamic rugby. We’ll look to hit the ground running and hit the opposition fast from the off. We’ll be aiming to control possession and go through the phases. Flood will look to get our backline into the game whenever possible and keep the high tempo going throughout.
Set piece:
Control the set piece and use it as a focal point of attacks. We see a slight advantage in the scrum that will be targeted especially in opposition half. We’ll look to get the squeeze on and keep the Wasps back row tied into the scrum giving Youngs, Flood & JOC more space to work in. Parling will marshal the lineout and look to get fast ball off the top with 5 strong jumpers.
We’ll look to go for splits early on from the scrum and try and turn to create more space for our backs to attack the flanks with.
If a weakness is seen in the set piece Read will go for the jugular.
Pack & Breakdown:
Look for strong carries from our pack, tying in the Wasps forwards. We’ll be looking to keep the ball alive and look for the offload when on. Brussow will target the breakdown and look to get in a second tackler to tie up the Wasps carriers. Youngs will wait for the call and look to sweep up any turnover ball getting us on the front foot. We’ll look to win the collision with big our physical pack and dominate the Wasps front 5 in the contact,
Backs:
Basically get the backs into play whenever possible with Flood & JOC the spark. Fourie will mashall the defensive line and act as go to ball to draw defenses. JOC will go looking for the ball in midfield and AAC will come into the line to give us a direct hard runner and alternative/decoy to Fourie. Youngs will eye the gaps and look for the taps to keep us moving.
POINTS:
SCRUM & LINEOUT – Target throughout, if weakness seen go for the jugular
PHYSICAL PACK – Win the collosion and target rucks to drive through Wasps
BREAKDOWN – Brussow then McCaw to work their magic and Youngs to monitor to attack on turnover ball
FORM – We are back to the top and looking to secure top spot
BACK 3 – Look to get our back 3 into the game as much as possible
ROLLING MAUL – With our big front 5 look to get the rolling maul going off selected lineouts and eat up the ground
BOWE – Bowe will look to exchange flanks and target the cross field against Wade
Northampton Saints v Worcester Warriors
Cloudy with sunny spells, 13 degrees, 6 mph winds
Northampton Saints
Manager – Dammit Chris
| 01. Matt Mullan | 09. Joe Simpson |
| 02. Rob Webber | 10. Matt Giteau (c)(k) |
| 03. Matt Stevens | |
| 04. Bradley Davies | 11. Chris Ashton |
| 05. Courtney Lawes | 12. Weslie Fofana |
| 06. Dan Lydiate | 13. Manu Tuilagi |
| 07. Julian Salvi | 14. Max Evans |
| 08. Liam Messam | 15. Ben Foden |
16. Chris Whitehead 17. Thomas Domingo 18. Henry Thomas 19. Joe Launchbury 20. Sam Cane 21. Mike Phillips 22. Danny Cipriani 23. Elliot Daly
Tactics
Overall – Saints continued their impressive recent form by securing another BP win against Exeter in awful conditions and have now scored 28 tries in just 7 games. The conditions this week will see us return to playing attacking rugby, moving the ball around at speed and looking to get our runners over the gainline and in behind the Worcester defence. Again we will work through the phases, sucking Worcester defenders in and then look to go wide when we have the chance.
Attack - we will continue to play our structured game that evolves working through the phases, getting our big ball carriers on the ball and over the gainline (Davies, Lawes, Messam, Fofana and Tuilagi) and then going wide to stretch the defence and create space for our backthree.
We will look to attack at speed, with power from the forwards and for Simpson to set a fast pace at the base of breakdowns/scrums etc - keep the Worcester defence honest and when the ball goes to Giteau he will be able to exploit any gaps. Use Fofana and Tuilagi to crash the ball up the middle and then generate quick ball and get it to the back three fast - all attack minded and we will look for tries and move Worcester all over the park.
Defence - we build our defensive patterns around Dan Lydiate and Courtney Lawes in the pack, two of the best tacklers in world rugby and will aim to use them to stop Worcester runners (espc Ben Morgan) getting over the gainline. As normal we will play an aggressive defence, putting our opposition under pressure, and targeting the 9-10 combination. Fofana and Tuilagi form a rock in the midfield and are confident they will stop Worcester getting through the middle.
Will try and force errors and mistakes in the tackle area to exploit, this is where our backline can also capitalise – attacking from turnovers, knock ons etc.
Set Piece – Worcester have a very good set piece and some strong players in their front five, but due to the conditions being very encouraging for running rugby we feel that the set piece wont be as important because of the conditions for running rugby.
We’ve opted to start Mullan, Webber and Stevens in the front row for their mobility and allow us to not only have a solid set piece, but advantage in the loose. We will look to secure steady ball at the scrum, with Messam controlling possession at the base of the scrum.
Our lineout has three main jumpers, Messam, Lawes and Davies - we will look to secure good attacking ball on our own throw. Defensively we will look to make sure that we pressurise the Worcester throw and keep MEssam at the back of the lineout so he can target the Worcester no10.
Breakdown – We’ve picked Julian Salvi specifically for his breakdown work and allowing us to have a genuine no7, who can keep us getting quick ball and maintaining our tempo - Messam and Lydiate there to smash Worcester players off the ball. With quicker pack, we should get to the breakdown quicker and both Fofana and Tuilagi in midfield we have another two good options there. Will be aggressive in contact area and force Worcester into mistakes.
Key Points
* Great form, 28 tries in just 7 games – will look to make best use of conditions and attack Worcester with a view to scoring tries.
* Will look to play at high tempo, use the ball carriers in the pack to get us over the gainline and then get Simpson/Giteau and backthree to attack.
* Worcester do have a slight advantage in front row, but we wont be looking to spend much of the game in the set piece, keeping ball in hand and going through the phases – take the game away from Worcesters’s strengths and play to ours.
* Will look to score tries and keep up our running, free flowing rugby
* Defensively we will play very aggressively, try to stop Worcester getting over the gainline with Lawes, Davies, Messam and Lydiate in the forwards - whilst Fofana and Tuilagi will create a brick wall in midfield for Worcester to get through.
* Target the inexperienced Heathcote and try and put him under pressure from the outset.
* Have picked an impact bench and will be used when required to keep speed/tempo of the game high
Worcester Warriors
| 01. Sylvain Marconnet | 09. Eoin Reddan |
| 02. Richardt Strauss | 10. Tom Heathcote |
| 03. BJ Botha | |
| 04. Ollie Kohn | 11. Shane Williams |
| 05. Leo Cullen | 12. Sam Vesty |
| 06. Kearnen Myall | 13. Regan King |
| 07. Martyn Williams (c) | 14. Bryan Habana |
| 08. Ben Morgan | 15. Chris Paterson (k) |
16. Chris Fortey 17. Chris Budgen 18. David Flatman 19. Mamuka Gorgodze 20. Richard Thorpe 21. Dwayne Peel 22. Morne Steyn 23. Rob Cook
Tactics
We come into this match with a fresh side and a must win attitude. We make a few to the side that won there with Williams bringing a bit more grunt and King the added spark rather than the confrontation which Malzieu would have. Confidence is high and we are look to cause an upset. The squad we have picked is our strongest squad possible and we will be pushing for a good win to secure our safety. This match will be decided by forwards to we have selected a big pack with a back row who are all able to make an aimpact carrying the ball or at the breakdown. In the backs we have certain positions ‘bedded in’ and will use Heathcote to kick us territory and Vesty/King to make the dents in the centre. Our bench is full of talent and impact subs and we will use them throughout the match to run at tired legs. With 3 main kickers in our 1st xv we will be looking to kick a lot of terriotry and put them under pressure with high balls.
Forwards
*A front row who know each other well and will look to gain the advantage on the hit. Botha will lead from the front here and Budgen will be brought on in the last 20 to scrummage Saints off the park.
*Our 2nd row will look to dominate the lineouts and are quite a heavy partnership as we look to dominate the scrum. Kohn will keep his head and look to wind up a few characters in the Saints side and impose himself at the breakdown whilst Cullen will elad and put pressure on lineouts.
*Back-row will be key at the breakdown and with Myall and Williams we have 2 players who are more than capable of doing this well. They will look to hit every other ruck each to gain turnover ball or slow down their possession. The other player will be looking to hit 10 constantly to put him off his game. Morgan will pick from some scrums when a gap is possible and he always gets over the gainline when carrying so we have guaranteed forward advantage when he has his hands on the ball.
*The bench will be used wisely with Budgen coming on for the last 20 and Gorgodze and Thorpe being used as and when to add hard ball carrying and an extra lineout option.
Backs
*Quick ball is key here when we get it (we are expecting a hard slog up front) and Peel will be looking for gaps or forwards running to make the hard yards. Heathcote will stand flat and will use his boot when we are under pressure but; if we are in the opposition’s half most of the time we will look to get the ball out to the centres. He will take the points when possible and use drop goals to keep the board ticking.
*King will simply be given the role of playmaker with Williams and Habana running lines off of him and through the defence. Morgan will be used as a battering ram in the first 20 minutes and we will look to release the wingers off 3rd ball phase to make it quick ball and give them the space required (1st ball will be forwards, 2nd ball will be King/forwards, 3rd ball to the backs).
*Wingers are to go looking for work and to stay sturdy in defence. They will all be comfortable under the high ball and have the pace to take the oppostion on the outside shoulder.
*Bench will be used wisely with Kelleher bringing a fast impact game to Steyn to clear the danger. Cook can cover quite a few positions and will be looking to impress having been given this chance.
Defence
*Hard blitz banana defence lead by Vesty who will call it up.
*Peel/Reddan will look to sweep and snipe any loose ball.
*Williams/Myall to alternate hitting rucks and hitting 10 to stop quick ball and look for the turnover opportunities.
*If we get a turnover we will look to run it, if nothing is on Steyn will pin them back with long distance touch finders.
Sale Sharks v Harlequins
Scattered Showers, 11 degrees, 11 mph winds.
Sale Sharks
Manager – SJE
| 01. Marcos Ayerza | 09. Danny Care |
| 02. David Paice | 10. Aaron Cruden |
| 03. Luc Ducalcon | |
| 04. Brodie Retallick | 11. David Strettle |
| 05. Andries Bekker | 12. Jordan Turner Hall |
| 06. Victor Vito | 13. James Hook |
| 07. Peter O'Mahony | 14. Keith Earls |
| 08. Louis Picamoles | 15. Nick Abendanon |
16. Nathan Catt 17. Brett Sharman 18. Neemia Tialata 19. Christian Day 20. Matt Kvesic 21. Ben Spencer 22. Johnny Sexton 23. Lelia Masaga
General Game Plan:
We will use our strong carriers to attack gaps and half gaps in the Quins line, looking to offload in contact to support runners thus changing the point of attack and keeping our forward momentum going. Sexton will look to attack from fly half and inject pace to the proceedings committing the Quins defence and leaving space in wider channels to exploit. If running the ball is not on our halfbacks will look to the boot to put us in the right areas.
At scrum time we will look to contest each and 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. While on Quins feeds we will disrupt the put in looking for penalties or to create rushed, poor ball for the Harlequins halfbacks. With 5 jumping options and a reliable thrower at hooker we will look to attack from the lineout mixing things up by bringing the ball down into the maul and using the physicality of our pack or else playing the ball of the top and injecting serious pace into the play.
On defence, we will use a blitz defence coming up at pace looking to isolate the Quin ball carriers before they can get to the gain line stopping any momentum and allowing us to hit the breakdown harder. Danny Care 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 and counter attack at pace.
With the blitz defence 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 Harlequin players providing quick counter attacking ball to be cleared and used against a disorganised defensive line. If the ball does not look available we will not commit to the ruck and look to strengthen the defensive line instead.
Harlequins
Manager – Steven_Sharks
| 01. Joe Marler | 09. Lee Dickson |
| 02. Schalk Brits | 10. Rhys Priestland (k) |
| 03. Brian Mujati | |
| 04. Jerome Thion | 11. Zac Guildford |
| 05. George Skivington | 12. Felipe Contepomi |
| 06. Francois Louw | 13. George Lowe |
| 07. Sam Warburton | 14. Jonathan Joseph |
| 08. Jamie Heaslip | 15. Rob Kearney |
16 Chris Brooker 17. Tony Woodcock 18. Kieran Brookes 19. Nathan Sharpe 20. Phil Dowson 21. Karl Dickson 22. Quade Cooper 23. Shontayne Hape
Tactics
Game Plan
Our game plan will vary throughout the game depending on the game situation. We will initially play a ball retention game based around our players looking to carry off 9, 10 and 12 with the aim of getting across the gainline and getting us quick ball so we can then look to play in wider channels against a less organised defence. If this tactic is successful then we will use this between our 10m line to the Sale try line. We will be looking to have players running different lines off our playmakers to keep the Sale defence guessing. We will look for our halfbacks to see where the Sale defence is at its weakest and we will then look to attack there and have our strong carriers run into these areas. We will look to offload in the contact if it is on but won’t be looking to through miracle balls.
Should this not be working and we aren’t getting the quick ball we want then we will look to use the boots of Dickson, Priestland, Contepomi and Kearney to pin Sale back and win the kicking battle and control territory. We won’t be kicking everything away obviously but will be using up and unders, kick and chases and grubbers to test the Sale back 3. We feel we have the kickers to test Sale in a big way positionally and with their skills under the high ball.
We will kick the points at goal unless we are chasing the game. We know any win will do and we will do it ugly if required. Disipline is vital. We don't want to give penalties away as this relieves pressure on Sale.
Forwards
With a mobile pack which will be more than competitive up front we hope we can really control the game by winning the forward battle. We are looking for our pack to work hard and get through a lot of work both with and without the ball. When carrying we will look to do it in numbers and will aim to keep the legs pumping after contact to take us over the gain line. Winning the collisions is important to us when it comes to getting onto the front foot and controlling the tempo of the game and we want to do this in attack and defence. At the setpiece we will look to really put the pressure on Sale at all times. We have a good scrummaging unit with a very inform front row supported by two big units in the second row. We will look to keep the scrum up and if we are in the ascendancy try and milk Sale for penalties. At the lineout we will look to shorten them between the two 22 metres lines and have players carrying in the midfield. We will look to really pressure the Sale throw, particularly in the middle of the lineout.
At our own rucks we will look to look to clear Sale out the way and ruck past the ball so as to make it easy for Dickson to get it away quickly.
Backs
We have strike runners across the backline and we will look for there to be put into gaps by Priestland and Contepomi. When we are building our attacks we will look for Lowe and the blindside winger to be picking lines off 10/12 but we will look for Lowe to stay in wider channels once we have the ball coming quickly from rucks. Outwide we really think we have some excellent strike runners and will look to bring them into the play when we are getting quick ball. We have numerous players who can create for others, in fact everyone of our back line I would consider a creative player. This is vital when it comes to getting into the Sale 22, we have numerous men who can give us that bit of magic to get through the defence.
Defence
Quick line speed will be key for us as usual and we will give no time to the Sale decision makers. We will look to knock Sale backwards in the tackle and will then concentrate on the turnover.
At the breakdown we will look to dominate with Warburton, Louw and Brits looking to be the first there and to legally turn the ball over. If this isn’t possible then we will at least be slowing the ball down by having one or two of our players adopt a low body position and counter ruck. We really feel this is an area we can dominate and this will affect how Sale can play in a big way.
We will look to have two players back covering kicks when Sale have the ball so we have numbers to counter attack off any loose kicks. Dickson will sweep behind the defensive line for any chips.
General Key Points
- Form Players . We have a very inform side. Everybody is playing well and this is great for us. This game means everything to our season. We have our own fate in our hands and if we win we are in the play offs.
- We know we need to win and don’t care how we do it. This game means much more to us than Sale. Our players will be psychologically a step up and fresher.
- Sale have just lost a Heineken Cup semi final. They have had their bodies beaten and will now be psychologically drained. They can’t make the Heiniken Cup via the league and are playing for pride. We come into this game in better form and better shape.
- League Form – We have won 3 of our last 4 in the league. Sale have won 1 of their last 4. Momentum is vital at this point in the season and add the league form to the HC elimination and we are facing a side without momentum.
- Dynamism We have a very dynamic pack which is important to get us the go forward. Brit, Louw, Marler, Heaslip etc will all get us across the gainline on a regular basis and get us that quick ball which we desire.
- Game Changers - We are packed with game changers from 1 to 15, guys who can unlock the door and create things from nowhere.
Game Specific Key Points
- Breakdown – We intend to dominate this area with Warburton and Louw both great exponents in this area. If we can’t turn the ball over we can at least legally slow it down. Care is half the player with slow ball which we aim to make Sale play with.
- Ball carrying – We have a side packed with ball players and strong carriers. We are very comfortable in the loose and with the ball in hand and this is key to us and our tactics.
- Decision Makers - We have 3 great decision makers at 9, 10 and 12. This is key in what is a huge game which brings pressure and we feel we have the guys to dictate the play very very well.
- Subs - Bring our subs on when the game requires the fresh injection in the last half an hour. Cooper will move onto the blindside wing in defence if he comes on. We feel we have good impact players to come on and affect the game in a good way. We also have plenty of experience on the bench which will be vital in such an important game as this.
Saracens v Exeter Chiefs
Sunny Periods, 13 degrees, 6 mph winds.
Saracens
Manager – Ozzy3213
| 01. Alex Corbisiero | 09. Francois Hougaard |
| 02. Bismarck du Plessis | 10. Patric Lambie |
| 03. Adam Jones | |
| 04. Lionel Nallet | 11. Digby Ioane |
| 05. Steve Borthwick | 12. Jonathon Davies |
| 06. Thierry Dusautoir | 13. Henry Trinder |
| 07. Tom Wood | 14. Andrew Trimble |
| 08. Joe van Niekerk (c) | 15. Tom Homer |
16. George Chuter 17. Tendai Mtwarira 18. Jannie du Plessis 19. Rynhardt Elstadt 20. Tom Johnson 21. Paul Hodgson 22. Owen Farrell 23. Mark Cueto
Tactics
Our generic gameplan revolves around a high intensity attacking and defensive game.
In attack our primary gameplan is always to control possession and run the ball, utilising big carriers attacking gaps in the line, and looking to offload to support runners to continue getting over the gainline and keep the ball alive. If running the ball is not on we will uitilise the kicking game of one of our backs to take us into the right area of the pitch.
In defence we will look to blitz, with our scrum half sweeping behind the defensive line. Key for us is line speed, getting up to make the tackle before the ball carrier hits the gainline, and confidence and trust in the man next to you in the defensive line, meaning we will not jump out or get pulled to far away from the next defender leaving gaps that can be exploited.
At the breakdown, we will not overcommit players. If the ball is not there to be won, then we will commit 1 or 2 players to legally slow it down whilst maintaining a strong defensive line across the pitch. If the ball looks like it is there to be won, we will look to get more numbers there quickly, with the first 1 or 2 players immediately rucking past the ball to clear the opposition players who are trying to get hands on it, and the next man in will then look to get it out quickly for us to counter attack on turnover ball.
At the scrum we will look to keep it up and scrummage. On our ball we will look to get a scrum turning legally to take the Chiefs back row out of the defensive equation before launching attacks.
Game Specific Tactics
- Vary the point of attack - Exeter have picked a heavy side and we will look to tire them by shifting the point of attack often to keep them moving around the pitch.
- Exploit gaps - Lambie to look to run the ball from 10 when it is on with a support runner on his shoulder to keep the attack moving forward.
- Kick for touch - When employing the kicking game we will look for touch in the corners and contest the lineout deep in Chiefs territory.
Key Points
- Form/Momentum - Our recent form is exceptional. We have qualified for the Heineken Cup final and have huge momentum for this final push.
- Home Advantage - In 4 seasons of AP and HC rugby our home record is P 57 W 52 D 3 L 2. Vicarage Road is a fortress that will take something special to storm.
- Freshness - 6 of our starting pack were rested last week so they are fresh for this and the games to come. We will go for the full 80 minutes at full tilt.
Exeter Chiefs
Manager – Driver
| 01.Wyatt Crockett | 09.Haydn Thomas |
| 02.John Smit (c) | 10.Colin Slade |
| 03.Hoani Tui | |
| 04.Tommy Hayes | 11.Matt Smith |
| 05.James Hudson | 12.Mike Tindall |
| 06.Declan Danahar | 13.George Pisi |
| 07.David Wallace | 14.Adam Thompstone |
| 08.Nick Easter | 15.Lee Bryne |
16.Neil Clark 17.Brett Sturgess 18.Werner Kruger 19.Dean Schofield 20.Will Welch 21.Rob Coote 22.Tom Catterick 23.Horace Agulla
Last edited by Ozzy3213 on Sat May 05, 2012 9:11 am; edited 5 times in total
Ozzy3213- Moderator
- Posts : 18500
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LukeLovesLuka- Posts : 5865
Join date : 2011-04-19
Age : 40
Location : London
Re: Fantasy Aviva Premiership Round 22
by Ozzy3213 Sat Apr 28, 2012 9:53 am
Ozzy3213 wrote:
P W D L PF PA TF TA PD BP PTS 01 - Newcastle Falcons 21 16 2 3 599 464 63 46 +135 10 78 02 - Saracens 21 15 2 4 561 469 67 36 +92 11 75 03 - Gloucester 21 14 2 5 591 489 59 45 +102 11 71 04 - Harlequins 21 12 2 7 526 518 49 48 +8 6 58 --------------------------- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- 05 - London Irish 21 10 2 9 562 511 62 53 +51 13 57 06 - Leicester Tigers 21 11 0 10 571 518 59 50 +53 12 56 --------------------------- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- 07 - Sale Sharks 21 10 1 10 524 520 53 48 +4 9 51 08 - Bath Rugby 21 11 0 10 519 541 50 56 -22 5 49 09 - Northampton Saints 21 8 2 11 535 574 52 54 -39 12 48 10 - London Wasps 21 8 0 13 508 568 42 60 -60 5 37 11 - Worcester Warriors 21 3 1 17 432 589 37 62 -157 4 18 --------------------------- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- 12 - Exeter Chiefs 21 1 0 20 409 578 28 63 -169 8 12
Massive games for you, Nick and Steve this week Luke. Wouldn't like to guess who is going to get that final play off spot.
Ozzy3213- Moderator
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Re: Fantasy Aviva Premiership Round 22
by LukeLovesLuka Sat Apr 28, 2012 9:57 am
Could go any way. I'd be backing Irish if they didn't have Gloucester. I need a BP win and two losses for Quins and Irish. Irish just need a win. Great to have so much to play for on the last game.
LukeLovesLuka- Posts : 5865
Join date : 2011-04-19
Age : 40
Location : London
Re: Fantasy Aviva Premiership Round 22
by Ozzy3213 Sat Apr 28, 2012 10:08 am
Certainly keeps it interesting. Irish and Quins both have really tough games, could go any way really, as if they both lose, any sort of win for you would see you leapfrog them.
Gets tougher and tougher every season this league.
Gets tougher and tougher every season this league.
Ozzy3213- Moderator
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Re: Fantasy Aviva Premiership Round 22
by LukeLovesLuka Sat Apr 28, 2012 10:14 am
It's just away wins. Think I won just one or two this year. Good for the league though. Saints/Bath both put incredible runs together at some stage.
LukeLovesLuka- Posts : 5865
Join date : 2011-04-19
Age : 40
Location : London
Re: Fantasy Aviva Premiership Round 22
by Ozzy3213 Sat Apr 28, 2012 10:19 am
Getting away wins is hard and is ultimately I think what makes the difference as to where you finish. Irish have also put together a fantastic run second half of the season as they looked well out of it at the halfway point.
Ozzy3213- Moderator
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Re: Fantasy Aviva Premiership Round 22
by Guest Sat Apr 28, 2012 6:37 pm
I was planning on resting everyone but it's unfair so will be putting out a strong side.
Weather is a big issue and affects selection.
Bonnaire and Alberts will start and mas will
Be rested I think.
In real life this is a nothing game as both have nothing to play for
Weather is a big issue and affects selection.
Bonnaire and Alberts will start and mas will
Be rested I think.
In real life this is a nothing game as both have nothing to play for
Guest- Guest
Re: Fantasy Aviva Premiership Round 22
by dammit_chris Sun Apr 29, 2012 5:47 am
Northampton Saints team versus Worcester
Manager – Dammit Chris
16. Chris Whitehead 17. Thomas Domingo 18. Henry Thomas 19. Joe Launchbury 20. Sam Cane 21. Mike Phillips 22. Danny Cipriani 23. Elliot Daly
Tactics
Overall – Saints continued their impressive recent form by securing another BP win against Exeter in awful conditions and have now scored 28 tries in just 7 games. The conditions this week will see us return to playing attacking rugby, moving the ball around at speed and looking to get our runners over the gainline and in behind the Worcester defence. Again we will work through the phases, sucking Worcester defenders in and then look to go wide when we have the chance.
Attack - we will continue to play our structured game that evolves working through the phases, getting our big ball carriers on the ball and over the gainline (Davies, Lawes, Messam, Fofana and Tuilagi) and then going wide to stretch the defence and create space for our backthree.
We will look to attack at speed, with power from the forwards and for Simpson to set a fast pace at the base of breakdowns/scrums etc - keep the Worcester defence honest and when the ball goes to Giteau he will be able to exploit any gaps. Use Fofana and Tuilagi to crash the ball up the middle and then generate quick ball and get it to the back three fast - all attack minded and we will look for tries and move Worcester all over the park.
Defence - we build our defensive patterns around Dan Lydiate and Courtney Lawes in the pack, two of the best tacklers in world rugby and will aim to use them to stop Worcester runners (espc Ben Morgan) getting over the gainline. As normal we will play an aggressive defence, putting our opposition under pressure, and targeting the 9-10 combination. Fofana and Tuilagi form a rock in the midfield and are confident they will stop Worcester getting through the middle.
Will try and force errors and mistakes in the tackle area to exploit, this is where our backline can also capitalise – attacking from turnovers, knock ons etc.
Set Piece – Worcester have a very good set piece and some strong players in their front five, but due to the conditions being very encouraging for running rugby we feel that the set piece wont be as important because of the conditions for running rugby.
We’ve opted to start Mullan, Webber and Stevens in the front row for their mobility and allow us to not only have a solid set piece, but advantage in the loose. We will look to secure steady ball at the scrum, with Messam controlling possession at the base of the scrum.
Our lineout has three main jumpers, Messam, Lawes and Davies - we will look to secure good attacking ball on our own throw. Defensively we will look to make sure that we pressurise the Worcester throw and keep MEssam at the back of the lineout so he can target the Worcester no10.
Breakdown – We’ve picked Julian Salvi specifically for his breakdown work and allowing us to have a genuine no7, who can keep us getting quick ball and maintaining our tempo - Messam and Lydiate there to smash Worcester players off the ball. With quicker pack, we should get to the breakdown quicker and both Fofana and Tuilagi in midfield we have another two good options there. Will be aggressive in contact area and force Worcester into mistakes.
Key Points
* Great form, 28 tries in just 7 games – will look to make best use of conditions and attack Worcester with a view to scoring tries.
* Will look to play at high tempo, use the ball carriers in the pack to get us over the gainline and then get Simpson/Giteau and backthree to attack.
* Worcester do have a slight advantage in front row, but we wont be looking to spend much of the game in the set piece, keeping ball in hand and going through the phases – take the game away from Worcesters’s strengths and play to ours.
* Will look to score tries and keep up our running, free flowing rugby
* Defensively we will play very aggressively, try to stop Worcester getting over the gainline with Lawes, Davies, Messam and Lydiate in the forwards - whilst Fofana and Tuilagi will create a brick wall in midfield for Worcester to get through.
* Target the inexperienced Heathcote and try and put him under pressure from the outset.
* Have picked an impact bench and will be used when required to keep speed/tempo of the game high
Manager – Dammit Chris
| 01. Matt Mullan | 09. Joe Simpson |
| 02. Rob Webber | 10. Matt Giteau (c)(k) |
| 03. Matt Stevens | |
| 04. Bradley Davies | 11. Chris Ashton |
| 05. Courtney Lawes | 12. Weslie Fofana |
| 06. Dan Lydiate | 13. Manu Tuilagi |
| 07. Julian Salvi | 14. Max Evans |
| 08. Liam Messam | 15. Ben Foden |
16. Chris Whitehead 17. Thomas Domingo 18. Henry Thomas 19. Joe Launchbury 20. Sam Cane 21. Mike Phillips 22. Danny Cipriani 23. Elliot Daly
Tactics
Overall – Saints continued their impressive recent form by securing another BP win against Exeter in awful conditions and have now scored 28 tries in just 7 games. The conditions this week will see us return to playing attacking rugby, moving the ball around at speed and looking to get our runners over the gainline and in behind the Worcester defence. Again we will work through the phases, sucking Worcester defenders in and then look to go wide when we have the chance.
Attack - we will continue to play our structured game that evolves working through the phases, getting our big ball carriers on the ball and over the gainline (Davies, Lawes, Messam, Fofana and Tuilagi) and then going wide to stretch the defence and create space for our backthree.
We will look to attack at speed, with power from the forwards and for Simpson to set a fast pace at the base of breakdowns/scrums etc - keep the Worcester defence honest and when the ball goes to Giteau he will be able to exploit any gaps. Use Fofana and Tuilagi to crash the ball up the middle and then generate quick ball and get it to the back three fast - all attack minded and we will look for tries and move Worcester all over the park.
Defence - we build our defensive patterns around Dan Lydiate and Courtney Lawes in the pack, two of the best tacklers in world rugby and will aim to use them to stop Worcester runners (espc Ben Morgan) getting over the gainline. As normal we will play an aggressive defence, putting our opposition under pressure, and targeting the 9-10 combination. Fofana and Tuilagi form a rock in the midfield and are confident they will stop Worcester getting through the middle.
Will try and force errors and mistakes in the tackle area to exploit, this is where our backline can also capitalise – attacking from turnovers, knock ons etc.
Set Piece – Worcester have a very good set piece and some strong players in their front five, but due to the conditions being very encouraging for running rugby we feel that the set piece wont be as important because of the conditions for running rugby.
We’ve opted to start Mullan, Webber and Stevens in the front row for their mobility and allow us to not only have a solid set piece, but advantage in the loose. We will look to secure steady ball at the scrum, with Messam controlling possession at the base of the scrum.
Our lineout has three main jumpers, Messam, Lawes and Davies - we will look to secure good attacking ball on our own throw. Defensively we will look to make sure that we pressurise the Worcester throw and keep MEssam at the back of the lineout so he can target the Worcester no10.
Breakdown – We’ve picked Julian Salvi specifically for his breakdown work and allowing us to have a genuine no7, who can keep us getting quick ball and maintaining our tempo - Messam and Lydiate there to smash Worcester players off the ball. With quicker pack, we should get to the breakdown quicker and both Fofana and Tuilagi in midfield we have another two good options there. Will be aggressive in contact area and force Worcester into mistakes.
Key Points
* Great form, 28 tries in just 7 games – will look to make best use of conditions and attack Worcester with a view to scoring tries.
* Will look to play at high tempo, use the ball carriers in the pack to get us over the gainline and then get Simpson/Giteau and backthree to attack.
* Worcester do have a slight advantage in front row, but we wont be looking to spend much of the game in the set piece, keeping ball in hand and going through the phases – take the game away from Worcesters’s strengths and play to ours.
* Will look to score tries and keep up our running, free flowing rugby
* Defensively we will play very aggressively, try to stop Worcester getting over the gainline with Lawes, Davies, Messam and Lydiate in the forwards - whilst Fofana and Tuilagi will create a brick wall in midfield for Worcester to get through.
* Target the inexperienced Heathcote and try and put him under pressure from the outset.
* Have picked an impact bench and will be used when required to keep speed/tempo of the game high
Last edited by dammit_chris on Thu May 03, 2012 6:23 am; edited 3 times in total
dammit_chris- Posts : 8685
Join date : 2011-05-03
Re: Fantasy Aviva Premiership Round 22
by 'Arry Spurs Sun Apr 29, 2012 6:16 am
London Wasps
Manager – ‘Arry
16. Benjamin Kayser 17. Charlie Beech 18. James Slipper 19. Steve Mafi 20. Jackson Wray 21. Luke Burgess 22. Steven Myler 23. Matt Banahan
Tactics
In the last game of our season we will be looking to end the season on a high by beating Newcastle Falcons. We will be looking to play a high intensity power game with our dynamic forwards looking to make inroads early on. We will look to build up several phases of play recycling the ball quickly to get us onto the front foot. We will look to play an offloading game and win the collisions, keeping our hands free out of the contact area which will enable us to continue moving the ball, keeping momentum and speed within our attacks.
Jones will play flat on the gain line, Bowden will be employed as a second play making option with Roberts running plenty of hard lines into the Falcons defensive line. We will look to support him and either drive him over the gain line or take offloads from him and exploit gaps. Attack gaps and half gaps in the Newcastle defensive & look to continously alter the point of attack. We will look to get our back three into the game as much as possible and cause the Falcons some real problems.
Look to hit the breakdown hard and drive past the ball so Blair can inject pace and intensity. Plenty of runners offering themsleves, look to suck in Falcons players to the breakdown before spreading the ball to exploit and gaps/mismatches in midfield. Whole bench will be used look to continue high intensity game plan. Use scrum as platform & use shortened line out with our big carriers in midfield looking to run some hard lines.
Manager – ‘Arry
| 01. Perry Freshwater | 09. Mike Blair |
| 02. Tatafu Polota-Nau | 10. Stephen Jones (k) |
| 03. Carlos Nieto | |
| 04. Mouritz Botha | 11. Ugo Monye |
| 05. Dan Tuohy | 12. Dan Bowden |
| 06. Rocky Elsom (c) | 13. Jamie Roberts |
| 07. Deon Stegmann | 14. Christian Wade |
| 08. Luke Narraway | 15. Mike Brown |
16. Benjamin Kayser 17. Charlie Beech 18. James Slipper 19. Steve Mafi 20. Jackson Wray 21. Luke Burgess 22. Steven Myler 23. Matt Banahan
Tactics
In the last game of our season we will be looking to end the season on a high by beating Newcastle Falcons. We will be looking to play a high intensity power game with our dynamic forwards looking to make inroads early on. We will look to build up several phases of play recycling the ball quickly to get us onto the front foot. We will look to play an offloading game and win the collisions, keeping our hands free out of the contact area which will enable us to continue moving the ball, keeping momentum and speed within our attacks.
Jones will play flat on the gain line, Bowden will be employed as a second play making option with Roberts running plenty of hard lines into the Falcons defensive line. We will look to support him and either drive him over the gain line or take offloads from him and exploit gaps. Attack gaps and half gaps in the Newcastle defensive & look to continously alter the point of attack. We will look to get our back three into the game as much as possible and cause the Falcons some real problems.
Look to hit the breakdown hard and drive past the ball so Blair can inject pace and intensity. Plenty of runners offering themsleves, look to suck in Falcons players to the breakdown before spreading the ball to exploit and gaps/mismatches in midfield. Whole bench will be used look to continue high intensity game plan. Use scrum as platform & use shortened line out with our big carriers in midfield looking to run some hard lines.
Last edited by 'Arry Spurs on Thu May 03, 2012 4:58 pm; edited 1 time in total
'Arry Spurs- Posts : 1051
Join date : 2011-11-02
Re: Fantasy Aviva Premiership Round 22
by Driver Sun Apr 29, 2012 3:43 pm
Exeter Chiefs
Manager – Driver
16.Neil Clark 17.Brett Sturgess 18.Werner Kruger 19.Dean Schofield 20.Will Welch 21.Rob Coote 22.Tom Catterick 23.Horace Aguella
Manager – Driver
| 01.Wyatt Crockett | 09.Haydn Thomas |
| 02.John Smit (c) | 10.Colin Slade |
| 03.Hoani Tui | |
| 04.Tommy Hayes | 11.Matt Smith |
| 05.James Hudson | 12.Mike Tindall |
| 06.Declan Danahar | 13.George Pisi |
| 07.David Wallace | 14.Adam Thompstone |
| 08.Nick Easter | 15.Lee Bryne |
16.Neil Clark 17.Brett Sturgess 18.Werner Kruger 19.Dean Schofield 20.Will Welch 21.Rob Coote 22.Tom Catterick 23.Horace Aguella
Driver- Posts : 11038
Join date : 2011-04-20
Age : 32
Location : Hartlepool
Re: Fantasy Aviva Premiership Round 22
by Ozzy3213 Mon Apr 30, 2012 2:40 am
Saracens make 9 changes to the starting XV that beat Toulouse in the Heineken Cup semi final, for this weeks visit of Exeter Chiefs to Vicarage Road. In the pack Alex Corbisiero, Bismarck du Plessis, Adam Jones, Thierry Dusautoir, Tom Wood and Joe van Niekerk return to action having been rested last week, with an also rested Rynhardt Elstadt returning to the bench. Behind them Francois Hougaard starts at scrum half in place of Morgan Parra who gets a break this week, with Henry Trinder and Andrew Trimble replacing Ma'a Nonu and Mark Cueto, in a move that sees Jonathon Davies switch from outside to inside centre.
Head coach Ozzy3213 had this to say.
"Once again it was in interesting selection meeting this week, with a lot of very tough calls to be made. In effect every game is a cup final now, and we are determined to ensure that all of our hard work this season is rewarded. Whilst Exeter are already relegated I am certain that they will come to us fired up and determined to win the game. We know that we have to be focused and at our best to win the game, which we have to do in order to be certain of a home semi final."
Saracens
Manager – Ozzy3213
16. George Chuter 17. Tendai Mtwarira 18. Jannie du Plessis 19. Rynhardt Elstadt 20. Tom Johnson 21. Paul Hodgson 22. Owen Farrell 23. Mark Cueto
Tactics
Our generic gameplan revolves around a high intensity attacking and defensive game.
In attack our primary gameplan is always to control possession and run the ball, utilising big carriers attacking gaps in the line, and looking to offload to support runners to continue getting over the gainline and keep the ball alive. If running the ball is not on we will uitilise the kicking game of one of our backs to take us into the right area of the pitch.
In defence we will look to blitz, with our scrum half sweeping behind the defensive line. Key for us is line speed, getting up to make the tackle before the ball carrier hits the gainline, and confidence and trust in the man next to you in the defensive line, meaning we will not jump out or get pulled to far away from the next defender leaving gaps that can be exploited.
At the breakdown, we will not overcommit players. If the ball is not there to be won, then we will commit 1 or 2 players to legally slow it down whilst maintaining a strong defensive line across the pitch. If the ball looks like it is there to be won, we will look to get more numbers there quickly, with the first 1 or 2 players immediately rucking past the ball to clear the opposition players who are trying to get hands on it, and the next man in will then look to get it out quickly for us to counter attack on turnover ball.
At the scrum we will look to keep it up and scrummage. On our ball we will look to get a scrum turning legally to take the Chiefs back row out of the defensive equation before launching attacks.
Game Specific Tactics
Key Points
Head coach Ozzy3213 had this to say.
"Once again it was in interesting selection meeting this week, with a lot of very tough calls to be made. In effect every game is a cup final now, and we are determined to ensure that all of our hard work this season is rewarded. Whilst Exeter are already relegated I am certain that they will come to us fired up and determined to win the game. We know that we have to be focused and at our best to win the game, which we have to do in order to be certain of a home semi final."
Saracens
Manager – Ozzy3213
| 01. Alex Corbisiero | 09. Francois Hougaard |
| 02. Bismarck du Plessis | 10. Patric Lambie |
| 03. Adam Jones | |
| 04. Lionel Nallet | 11. Digby Ioane |
| 05. Steve Borthwick | 12. Jonathon Davies |
| 06. Thierry Dusautoir | 13. Henry Trinder |
| 07. Tom Wood | 14. Andrew Trimble |
| 08. Joe van Niekerk (c) | 15. Tom Homer |
16. George Chuter 17. Tendai Mtwarira 18. Jannie du Plessis 19. Rynhardt Elstadt 20. Tom Johnson 21. Paul Hodgson 22. Owen Farrell 23. Mark Cueto
Tactics
Our generic gameplan revolves around a high intensity attacking and defensive game.
In attack our primary gameplan is always to control possession and run the ball, utilising big carriers attacking gaps in the line, and looking to offload to support runners to continue getting over the gainline and keep the ball alive. If running the ball is not on we will uitilise the kicking game of one of our backs to take us into the right area of the pitch.
In defence we will look to blitz, with our scrum half sweeping behind the defensive line. Key for us is line speed, getting up to make the tackle before the ball carrier hits the gainline, and confidence and trust in the man next to you in the defensive line, meaning we will not jump out or get pulled to far away from the next defender leaving gaps that can be exploited.
At the breakdown, we will not overcommit players. If the ball is not there to be won, then we will commit 1 or 2 players to legally slow it down whilst maintaining a strong defensive line across the pitch. If the ball looks like it is there to be won, we will look to get more numbers there quickly, with the first 1 or 2 players immediately rucking past the ball to clear the opposition players who are trying to get hands on it, and the next man in will then look to get it out quickly for us to counter attack on turnover ball.
At the scrum we will look to keep it up and scrummage. On our ball we will look to get a scrum turning legally to take the Chiefs back row out of the defensive equation before launching attacks.
Game Specific Tactics
- Vary the point of attack - Exeter have picked a heavy side and we will look to tire them by shifting the point of attack often to keep them moving around the pitch.
- Exploit gaps - Lambie to look to run the ball from 10 when it is on with a support runner on his shoulder to keep the attack moving forward.
- Kick for touch - When employing the kicking game we will look for touch in the corners and contest the lineout deep in Chiefs territory.
Key Points
- Form/Momentum - Our recent form is exceptional. We have qualified for the Heineken Cup final and have huge momentum for this final push.
- Home Advantage - In 4 seasons of AP and HC rugby our home record is P 57 W 52 D 3 L 2. Vicarage Road is a fortress that will take something special to storm.
- Freshness - 6 of our starting pack were rested last week so they are fresh for this and the games to come. We will go for the full 80 minutes at full tilt.
Last edited by Ozzy3213 on Thu May 03, 2012 8:32 am; edited 1 time in total
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Re: Fantasy Aviva Premiership Round 22
by Sgt_Pooly Mon Apr 30, 2012 4:10 am
Is that all players availale this week Pete?
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Join date : 2011-04-27
Re: Fantasy Aviva Premiership Round 22
by Ozzy3213 Mon Apr 30, 2012 4:16 am
Yes mate, unless suspended in real life. 
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Re: Fantasy Aviva Premiership Round 22
by Guest Mon Apr 30, 2012 4:20 am
Manager – Mat
16. Nick Wood 17. Jamie George 18. Rupert Harden 19. George Robson 20. Stephen Ferris 21. Will Genia 22. Richard Kahui 23. JSD[/quote]
Gloucester travel to Irish hoping to get a BP win and land themselves a home tie against sarries who would need to slip up against exeter.
Mindful of the upcoming Play off and Heino final gloucester have made a lot of changes but have gone for a super strong team to match the way we want to play.
It will be a cracker and the centre battle alone is worth the price of admission.
Forwards
Scrum
Gloucester have a powerful scrummaging front row who will have to be on top form against huge irish props. Julian White has been bought in to anchor the scrum and will play 40-50 minutes at most. Coonie will be looking to carry on his magnificent form and also help us to win clean ball to either launch our back row or for murray to clear the ball away to goosen and Carter.
Our engine room will provide a serious amount of power and in Bakkies and Palmer we have one of the best and most played together partnerships in this game. They have been the linchpin of this gloucester side for a number of years and Bakkies is in monster form. They will be the extra grunt to our scrum
Lineouts
This is an area we see as a key and will be targetting mercileslly. We see ourselves as having more jumpers and of a better quality. we see Irish as reliant on Kennedy too much and this will allow us to poach ball and keep possession.
On our ball we will be utilising the drive to begin with to keep possession and steer ourselves in to the territory we want to play in. We will look to hit Alberts and burger etc off the back of it once momentum slows with the maul
As we progress in the game and enter the right territory to play we will be going off the top and out to goosen or carter. We will also on occassion look to hit a moving alberts standing at ten off the back of lineout to get front foot ball and give hernandez nightmares
Genera;l
Gloucester are going to look to play a possesion/territory game to get themselves in to the right positions before launching their exciting backline. to this end the aim will be to keep the ball with our ball carriers hitting it up relentlessly and either offloading or setting up quick ball. In our own half we will muscle the ball in to the right areas of the pitch to allow goosen or carter to kick in between the irish wings to force them to kick to touch and conceding territory to us or allowing us counter attacking ball
Backs
We have an exctiting attacking line up and plan to use it. However we will only do this in the right areas. Goosen and Carter will alternate and will be looking only to get the ball when it is right. If we are not in the right part of the pitch they will turn it back in to the forwards and get them to go again. In our own half once we are in the right area Goosen and Carter we will look to kick in behind the wings and win the territory game. also the up and under will be used
Once we have started to dominate the possesion and territory and get in to the right areas we will turn it on.
Goosen and Carter offer great distribution and will look to Hit JDJ in to holes or to bash it up, Gear will also be used as a ball carrier.
Goosen plays great attacking rugby and launching our back 3 is going to be key.
AS he game breaks up you will see all the attacking skills come to the fore and our back line explode in to action, As ever quick throws will happen if on and gernerally we will be lookiong to exploit holes and mismatches
Goosen has a deadsly break so if the defence drifts he will punish them as he has done lots this year.http://www.planetrugby.com/story/0,25883,3824_7720924,00.html
in rugby the first 60 minutes give you the right to open up the game. We aim to win all the collisions and key points and then cut loose. Our backline are all in great great form and we see them as the difference.
Best of luck nick a titanic game
| 01. CoOnie Ousthuizen | 09. Connor Murray |
| 02. Joe Grey | 10. Johan Goosen(k) |
| 03. Julian White | |
| 04. Bakkies Botha | 11. Hosea Gear |
| 05. Tom Palmer | 12. Dan CArter |
| 06. Julian Bonnaire(c) | 13. Juan De Jongh |
| 07. Schalk Burger | 14. Charlie Sharples |
| 08. Willem Alberts | 15. Johnny May |
16. Nick Wood 17. Jamie George 18. Rupert Harden 19. George Robson 20. Stephen Ferris 21. Will Genia 22. Richard Kahui 23. JSD[/quote]
Gloucester travel to Irish hoping to get a BP win and land themselves a home tie against sarries who would need to slip up against exeter.
Mindful of the upcoming Play off and Heino final gloucester have made a lot of changes but have gone for a super strong team to match the way we want to play.
It will be a cracker and the centre battle alone is worth the price of admission.
Forwards
Scrum
Gloucester have a powerful scrummaging front row who will have to be on top form against huge irish props. Julian White has been bought in to anchor the scrum and will play 40-50 minutes at most. Coonie will be looking to carry on his magnificent form and also help us to win clean ball to either launch our back row or for murray to clear the ball away to goosen and Carter.
Our engine room will provide a serious amount of power and in Bakkies and Palmer we have one of the best and most played together partnerships in this game. They have been the linchpin of this gloucester side for a number of years and Bakkies is in monster form. They will be the extra grunt to our scrum
Lineouts
This is an area we see as a key and will be targetting mercileslly. We see ourselves as having more jumpers and of a better quality. we see Irish as reliant on Kennedy too much and this will allow us to poach ball and keep possession.
On our ball we will be utilising the drive to begin with to keep possession and steer ourselves in to the territory we want to play in. We will look to hit Alberts and burger etc off the back of it once momentum slows with the maul
As we progress in the game and enter the right territory to play we will be going off the top and out to goosen or carter. We will also on occassion look to hit a moving alberts standing at ten off the back of lineout to get front foot ball and give hernandez nightmares
Genera;l
Gloucester are going to look to play a possesion/territory game to get themselves in to the right positions before launching their exciting backline. to this end the aim will be to keep the ball with our ball carriers hitting it up relentlessly and either offloading or setting up quick ball. In our own half we will muscle the ball in to the right areas of the pitch to allow goosen or carter to kick in between the irish wings to force them to kick to touch and conceding territory to us or allowing us counter attacking ball
Backs
We have an exctiting attacking line up and plan to use it. However we will only do this in the right areas. Goosen and Carter will alternate and will be looking only to get the ball when it is right. If we are not in the right part of the pitch they will turn it back in to the forwards and get them to go again. In our own half once we are in the right area Goosen and Carter we will look to kick in behind the wings and win the territory game. also the up and under will be used
Once we have started to dominate the possesion and territory and get in to the right areas we will turn it on.
Goosen and Carter offer great distribution and will look to Hit JDJ in to holes or to bash it up, Gear will also be used as a ball carrier.
Goosen plays great attacking rugby and launching our back 3 is going to be key.
AS he game breaks up you will see all the attacking skills come to the fore and our back line explode in to action, As ever quick throws will happen if on and gernerally we will be lookiong to exploit holes and mismatches
Goosen has a deadsly break so if the defence drifts he will punish them as he has done lots this year.http://www.planetrugby.com/story/0,25883,3824_7720924,00.html
in rugby the first 60 minutes give you the right to open up the game. We aim to win all the collisions and key points and then cut loose. Our backline are all in great great form and we see them as the difference.
Best of luck nick a titanic game
Last edited by anonmattyt on Thu May 03, 2012 9:40 am; edited 1 time in total
Guest- Guest
Re: Fantasy Aviva Premiership Round 22
by Sgt_Pooly Mon Apr 30, 2012 9:30 am
Newcastle Falcons
Manager – Sgt Pooly
16. William Servat 17. Paul Doran-Jones 18. Alex Waller 19. Ed Slater 20. Richie McCaw 21. Jonny Arr 22. Nick Evans 23. Brad Barritt
TACTTICS:
Game plan...Fast paced, high intensity, offloading, dynamic rugby. We’ll look to hit the ground running and hit the opposition fast from the off. We’ll be aiming to control possession and go through the phases. Flood will look to get our backline into the game whenever possible and keep the high tempo going throughout.
Set piece:
Control the set piece and use it as a focal point of attacks. We see a slight advantage in the scrum that will be targeted especially in opposition half. We’ll look to get the squeeze on and keep the Wasps back row tied into the scrum giving Youngs, Flood & JOC more space to work in. Parling will marshal the lineout and look to get fast ball off the top with 5 strong jumpers.
We’ll look to go for splits early on from the scrum and try and turn to create more space for our backs to attack the flanks with.
If a weakness is seen in the set piece Read will go for the jugular.
Pack & Breakdown:
Look for strong carries from our pack, tying in the Wasps forwards. We’ll be looking to keep the ball alive and look for the offload when on. Brussow will target the breakdown and look to get in a second tackler to tie up the Wasps carriers. Youngs will wait for the call and look to sweep up any turnover ball getting us on the front foot. We’ll look to win the collision with big our physical pack and dominate the Wasps front 5 in the contact,
Backs:
Basically get the backs into play whenever possible with Flood & JOC the spark. Fourie will mashall the defensive line and act as go to ball to draw defenses. JOC will go looking for the ball in midfield and AAC will come into the line to give us a direct hard runner and alternative/decoy to Fourie. Youngs will eye the gaps and look for the taps to keep us moving.
POINTS:
SCRUM & LINEOUT – Target throughout, if weakness seen go for the jugular
PHYSICAL PACK – Win the collosion and target rucks to drive through Wasps
BREAKDOWN – Brussow then McCaw to work their magic and Youngs to monitor to attack on turnover ball
FORM – We are back to the top and looking to secure top spot
BACK 3 – Look to get our back 3 into the game as much as possible
ROLLING MAUL – With our big front 5 look to get the rolling maul going off selected lineouts and eat up the ground
BOWE – Bowe will look to exchange flanks and target the cross field against Wade
Manager – Sgt Pooly
| 01. Fabien Barcella | 09. Ben Youngs |
| 02. Rory Best | 10. Toby Flood |
| 03. Owen Franks | |
| 04. Brad Thorn | 11. Miles Benjamin |
| 05. Geoff Parling | 12. James O’Connor |
| 06. Chris Robshaw | 13. Jaque Fourie |
| 07. Heinrich Brussow | 14. Tommy Bowe |
| 08. Kieran Read(c) | 15. Adam Ashley-Cooper |
16. William Servat 17. Paul Doran-Jones 18. Alex Waller 19. Ed Slater 20. Richie McCaw 21. Jonny Arr 22. Nick Evans 23. Brad Barritt
TACTTICS:
Game plan...Fast paced, high intensity, offloading, dynamic rugby. We’ll look to hit the ground running and hit the opposition fast from the off. We’ll be aiming to control possession and go through the phases. Flood will look to get our backline into the game whenever possible and keep the high tempo going throughout.
Set piece:
Control the set piece and use it as a focal point of attacks. We see a slight advantage in the scrum that will be targeted especially in opposition half. We’ll look to get the squeeze on and keep the Wasps back row tied into the scrum giving Youngs, Flood & JOC more space to work in. Parling will marshal the lineout and look to get fast ball off the top with 5 strong jumpers.
We’ll look to go for splits early on from the scrum and try and turn to create more space for our backs to attack the flanks with.
If a weakness is seen in the set piece Read will go for the jugular.
Pack & Breakdown:
Look for strong carries from our pack, tying in the Wasps forwards. We’ll be looking to keep the ball alive and look for the offload when on. Brussow will target the breakdown and look to get in a second tackler to tie up the Wasps carriers. Youngs will wait for the call and look to sweep up any turnover ball getting us on the front foot. We’ll look to win the collision with big our physical pack and dominate the Wasps front 5 in the contact,
Backs:
Basically get the backs into play whenever possible with Flood & JOC the spark. Fourie will mashall the defensive line and act as go to ball to draw defenses. JOC will go looking for the ball in midfield and AAC will come into the line to give us a direct hard runner and alternative/decoy to Fourie. Youngs will eye the gaps and look for the taps to keep us moving.
POINTS:
SCRUM & LINEOUT – Target throughout, if weakness seen go for the jugular
PHYSICAL PACK – Win the collosion and target rucks to drive through Wasps
BREAKDOWN – Brussow then McCaw to work their magic and Youngs to monitor to attack on turnover ball
FORM – We are back to the top and looking to secure top spot
BACK 3 – Look to get our back 3 into the game as much as possible
ROLLING MAUL – With our big front 5 look to get the rolling maul going off selected lineouts and eat up the ground
BOWE – Bowe will look to exchange flanks and target the cross field against Wade
Last edited by Sgt_Pooly on Wed May 02, 2012 2:41 pm; edited 1 time in total
Sgt_Pooly- Posts : 36294
Join date : 2011-04-27
Re: Fantasy Aviva Premiership Round 22
by LukeLovesLuka Tue May 01, 2012 4:51 pm
Leicester Tigers have named their side to play Bath at Welford Rosd this week. Tigers know they must secure a victory if they are to reach the playoffs this season.
Leicester Tigers
Manager – LukeLovesLuka
16. Andrew Sheridan 17. Tom Youngs 18. Cencus Johnston 19. Simon Shaw 20. Ernst Joubert 21. Chris Cusiter 22. Brock James 23. Topsy Ojo
Tactics
We will play a structured game built around tactiacal HB's moving us into the right areas, the strength of our set piece and getting our backline into space.
- Attack the scrum as a weapon - and call when we can. A front five all in great form, and to look to really get the shove on.
- Strong lineout with Croft, Pape and Horwill as our main jumpers rotating the target. We will relentlessly target the opposition's throws.
- Massive line-breakers right throughout the side that will look to tire down Bath defence.
The likes of Waldrom and Tuilagi used off the shoulder crashing through the Bath defence.
- Pocock is the man charged with reaching the breakdown first and look to turnover possession. We will always look to attack quickly off turnover ball. With Pocock, Jenkins and Moore, we feel our breakdown play will be crucial today.
- In general attacking play, we will play off 9 with Yachvili our general pulling the strings.
- Box kicks from Yachili and up and unders from Wilkinson to give the opposition problems in the air.
Lightning back three to really get the chase on.
- Look to play attacking rugby in the backs, getting the likes of BOD, Jane and Miller on the ball when we can. Croft to look to get into space and join our backs to cause trouble out wide.
- Our back three are encouraged to do what they do best - counter attacking and running the ball back. If isolated all have good kicking games, but the counter is what we ask them to look for.
- Yachvili to kick all penalites.
- Use our powerful bench to see the game out in the last 20 minutes.
Leicester Tigers
Manager – LukeLovesLuka
| 01. Gethin Jenkins | 09. Dimitri Yachvili |
| 02. Stephen Moore | 10. Jonny Wilkinson (k) |
| 03. Dan Cole | |
| 04. Pascal Pape | 11. Alesana Tuilagi |
| 05. James Horwill (c) | 12. Billy Twelvetrees |
| 06. Tom Croft | 13. Brian O'Driscoll |
| 07. David Pocock | 14. Cory Jane |
| 08. Thomas Waldrom | 15. Rob Miller |
Tactics
We will play a structured game built around tactiacal HB's moving us into the right areas, the strength of our set piece and getting our backline into space.
- Attack the scrum as a weapon - and call when we can. A front five all in great form, and to look to really get the shove on.
- Strong lineout with Croft, Pape and Horwill as our main jumpers rotating the target. We will relentlessly target the opposition's throws.
- Massive line-breakers right throughout the side that will look to tire down Bath defence.
The likes of Waldrom and Tuilagi used off the shoulder crashing through the Bath defence.
- Pocock is the man charged with reaching the breakdown first and look to turnover possession. We will always look to attack quickly off turnover ball. With Pocock, Jenkins and Moore, we feel our breakdown play will be crucial today.
- In general attacking play, we will play off 9 with Yachvili our general pulling the strings.
- Box kicks from Yachili and up and unders from Wilkinson to give the opposition problems in the air.
Lightning back three to really get the chase on.
- Look to play attacking rugby in the backs, getting the likes of BOD, Jane and Miller on the ball when we can. Croft to look to get into space and join our backs to cause trouble out wide.
- Our back three are encouraged to do what they do best - counter attacking and running the ball back. If isolated all have good kicking games, but the counter is what we ask them to look for.
- Yachvili to kick all penalites.
- Use our powerful bench to see the game out in the last 20 minutes.
Last edited by LukeLovesLuka on Thu May 03, 2012 9:36 am; edited 1 time in total
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Join date : 2011-04-19
Age : 40
Location : London
Re: Fantasy Aviva Premiership Round 22
by prop_lyd Wed May 02, 2012 5:23 am
Should get my team and hopefully tactics in later Chris!! Guess your out for revenge 
pretty much a dead rubber for us though.
pretty much a dead rubber for us though.
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Join date : 2011-01-28
Age : 36
Location : Rogerstone, Wales
Re: Fantasy Aviva Premiership Round 22
by dammit_chris Wed May 02, 2012 5:46 am
In that case please feel free to rest Ben Morgan mate!
dammit_chris- Posts : 8685
Join date : 2011-05-03
Re: Fantasy Aviva Premiership Round 22
by prop_lyd Wed May 02, 2012 5:53 am
Haha I may do but it's doubtful...apparently he wants to walk all over you!!
prop_lyd- Posts : 10387
Join date : 2011-01-28
Age : 36
Location : Rogerstone, Wales
Re: Fantasy Aviva Premiership Round 22
by dammit_chris Wed May 02, 2012 6:05 am
Good job I'm not playing then...
That's why I picked Lydiate to stop him getting over that gainline - when you first got him I thought you paid way over the top, but has to go down as a great transfer! Hopefully he will really develop at Gloucester - him and Qera in same backrow is pretty impressive.
That's why I picked Lydiate to stop him getting over that gainline - when you first got him I thought you paid way over the top, but has to go down as a great transfer! Hopefully he will really develop at Gloucester - him and Qera in same backrow is pretty impressive.
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Join date : 2011-05-03
Re: Fantasy Aviva Premiership Round 22
by stnick88 Wed May 02, 2012 6:28 am
London Irish
Manager – stnick88
16. Jean Baptiste Poux 17. Neil Briggs 18. Duncan Bell 19. Stuart Hooper 20. Hendrie Fourie 21. Julien Dupuy 22. Luke McAllister 23. Matthew Tait
- In reasonble conditions, we will still play an attacking, running game and keep the ball in hand and work through the phases. We will run back loose kicks and not look to give away possession. We will however look to dominate the territory and play in the right areas of the pitch.
- We use the scrum as a an attacking platform, with two good scrummaging props we will look to turn the screw and win penalties or use Spies to pick up and carry or Pienaar to get the ball out to the backs. Castro and Tonga'uhia will look to get us on the front foot and drive Gloucester back, looking to win penalties.
- We will look to win the contact area and the collisions. With Castro, Garvey, Spies, Steffon, Kaino, SBW in the side, we have some big, powerful units who will look to smash over the gain line and put Gloucester on the backfoot. We will look for quick ball for Pienaar to use and create opportunities with.
- Kennedy will be our main lineout target and we willl look for quick ball off the top on most occasions, if not use Garvey at the front to create a maul.
- We willl look to dominate possession and tire the Gloucester defence. Kaino, Armitage, Garvey, Tonga'uhia etc will carry hard and look to make inroads. We will look for Pienaar and JMH to play what is infront of them and put SBW and co into gaps and space. Our wingers, especially Tagicakibau, will come inside and along with Smith, look to gather the offloads from SBW, which he will only do when it is on.
- At the breakdown, we will look to use our powerful flankers and the breakdown skills of Steffon to secure quick ball and slow down opposition ball. Any turnover ball will be counter attacked.
- Pienaar will kick all pens for goal in range. If not we will go for touch and use the lineout as a platform to attack.
- If any attacks become slow and we are in danger of being turned of making a mistake, we will look for JMH to pop over a drop goal to keep the scoreboard ticking over.
- We will look to isolate Julian White in open play and any opportunity to go at him one on one and go past him will be taken.
- We will look to pressure what is no doubt a new 8,9,10,12 axis for Gloucester. There is a lot of new combos there that will not be used to each other, whereas our 8,9,10,12 has been playing together for a long time. We will be fluent in attack and defence and look to use this to our advantage.
- If attacks become stifled and slow, we will use the wind to our advantage and test young Johhny May with some bombs. We will pressure him in this area.
- We have plenty of impact off the bench to keep things fresh and hopefully see out the game.
- This is a must win game to make the playoffs. The boys are fired up!
Manager – stnick88
| 01. Soane Tonga'uhia | 09. Ruan Pienaar |
| 02. James Buckland | 10. Juan Martin Hernandez |
| 03. Martin Castrogiovanni | |
| 04. Matt Garvey | 11. Bjorn Basson |
| 05. Nick Kennedy | 12. Sonny Bill Williams |
| 06. Jerome Kaino | 13. Conrad Smith |
| 07. Steffon Armitage | 14. Sailosi Tagicakibau |
| 08. Pierre Spies | 15. Delon Armitage |
16. Jean Baptiste Poux 17. Neil Briggs 18. Duncan Bell 19. Stuart Hooper 20. Hendrie Fourie 21. Julien Dupuy 22. Luke McAllister 23. Matthew Tait
- In reasonble conditions, we will still play an attacking, running game and keep the ball in hand and work through the phases. We will run back loose kicks and not look to give away possession. We will however look to dominate the territory and play in the right areas of the pitch.
- We use the scrum as a an attacking platform, with two good scrummaging props we will look to turn the screw and win penalties or use Spies to pick up and carry or Pienaar to get the ball out to the backs. Castro and Tonga'uhia will look to get us on the front foot and drive Gloucester back, looking to win penalties.
- We will look to win the contact area and the collisions. With Castro, Garvey, Spies, Steffon, Kaino, SBW in the side, we have some big, powerful units who will look to smash over the gain line and put Gloucester on the backfoot. We will look for quick ball for Pienaar to use and create opportunities with.
- Kennedy will be our main lineout target and we willl look for quick ball off the top on most occasions, if not use Garvey at the front to create a maul.
- We willl look to dominate possession and tire the Gloucester defence. Kaino, Armitage, Garvey, Tonga'uhia etc will carry hard and look to make inroads. We will look for Pienaar and JMH to play what is infront of them and put SBW and co into gaps and space. Our wingers, especially Tagicakibau, will come inside and along with Smith, look to gather the offloads from SBW, which he will only do when it is on.
- At the breakdown, we will look to use our powerful flankers and the breakdown skills of Steffon to secure quick ball and slow down opposition ball. Any turnover ball will be counter attacked.
- Pienaar will kick all pens for goal in range. If not we will go for touch and use the lineout as a platform to attack.
- If any attacks become slow and we are in danger of being turned of making a mistake, we will look for JMH to pop over a drop goal to keep the scoreboard ticking over.
- We will look to isolate Julian White in open play and any opportunity to go at him one on one and go past him will be taken.
- We will look to pressure what is no doubt a new 8,9,10,12 axis for Gloucester. There is a lot of new combos there that will not be used to each other, whereas our 8,9,10,12 has been playing together for a long time. We will be fluent in attack and defence and look to use this to our advantage.
- If attacks become stifled and slow, we will use the wind to our advantage and test young Johhny May with some bombs. We will pressure him in this area.
- We have plenty of impact off the bench to keep things fresh and hopefully see out the game.
- This is a must win game to make the playoffs. The boys are fired up!
Last edited by stnick88 on Thu May 03, 2012 6:59 am; edited 1 time in total
stnick88- Posts : 5345
Join date : 2011-05-10
Re: Fantasy Aviva Premiership Round 22
by prop_lyd Wed May 02, 2012 11:10 am
| 01. Sylvain Marconnet | 09. Eoin Reddan |
| 02. Richardt Strauss | 10. Tom Heathcote |
| 03. BJ Botha | |
| 04. Ollie Kohn | 11. Shane Williams |
| 05. Leo Cullen | 12. Sam Vesty |
| 06. Kearnen Myall | 13. Regan King |
| 07. Martyn Williams (c) | 14. Bryan Habana |
| 08. Ben Morgan | 15. Chris Paterson (k) |
16. Chris Fortey 17. Chris Budgen 18. David Flatman 19. Mamuka Gorgodze 20. Richard Thorpe 21. Dwayne Peel 22. Morne Steyn 23. Rob Cook
Tactics
We come into this match with a fresh side and a must win attitude. We make a few to the side that won there with Williams bringing a bit more grunt and King the added spark rather than the confrontation which Malzieu would have. Confidence is high and we are look to cause an upset. The squad we have picked is our strongest squad possible and we will be pushing for a good win to secure our safety. This match will be decided by forwards to we have selected a big pack with a back row who are all able to make an aimpact carrying the ball or at the breakdown. In the backs we have certain positions ‘bedded in’ and will use Heathcote to kick us territory and Vesty/King to make the dents in the centre. Our bench is full of talent and impact subs and we will use them throughout the match to run at tired legs. With 3 main kickers in our 1st xv we will be looking to kick a lot of terriotry and put them under pressure with high balls.
Forwards
*A front row who know each other well and will look to gain the advantage on the hit. Botha will lead from the front here and Budgen will be brought on in the last 20 to scrummage Saints off the park.
*Our 2nd row will look to dominate the lineouts and are quite a heavy partnership as we look to dominate the scrum. Kohn will keep his head and look to wind up a few characters in the Saints side and impose himself at the breakdown whilst Cullen will elad and put pressure on lineouts.
*Back-row will be key at the breakdown and with Myall and Williams we have 2 players who are more than capable of doing this well. They will look to hit every other ruck each to gain turnover ball or slow down their possession. The other player will be looking to hit 10 constantly to put him off his game. Morgan will pick from some scrums when a gap is possible and he always gets over the gainline when carrying so we have guaranteed forward advantage when he has his hands on the ball.
*The bench will be used wisely with Budgen coming on for the last 20 and Gorgodze and Thorpe being used as and when to add hard ball carrying and an extra lineout option.
Backs
*Quick ball is key here when we get it (we are expecting a hard slog up front) and Peel will be looking for gaps or forwards running to make the hard yards. Heathcote will stand flat and will use his boot when we are under pressure but; if we are in the opposition’s half most of the time we will look to get the ball out to the centres. He will take the points when possible and use drop goals to keep the board ticking.
*King will simply be given the role of playmaker with Williams and Habana running lines off of him and through the defence. Morgan will be used as a battering ram in the first 20 minutes and we will look to release the wingers off 3rd ball phase to make it quick ball and give them the space required (1st ball will be forwards, 2nd ball will be King/forwards, 3rd ball to the backs).
*Wingers are to go looking for work and to stay sturdy in defence. They will all be comfortable under the high ball and have the pace to take the oppostion on the outside shoulder.
*Bench will be used wisely with Kelleher bringing a fast impact game to Steyn to clear the danger. Cook can cover quite a few positions and will be looking to impress having been given this chance.
Defence
*Hard blitz banana defence lead by Vesty who will call it up.
*Peel/Reddan will look to sweep and snipe any loose ball.
*Williams/Myall to alternate hitting rucks and hitting 10 to stop quick ball and look for the turnover opportunities.
*If we get a turnover we will look to run it, if nothing is on Steyn will pin them back with long distance touch finders.
Last edited by prop_lyd on Thu May 03, 2012 4:31 am; edited 1 time in total
prop_lyd- Posts : 10387
Join date : 2011-01-28
Age : 36
Location : Rogerstone, Wales
Re: Fantasy Aviva Premiership Round 22
by prop_lyd Wed May 02, 2012 11:11 am
dammit_chris wrote:Good job I'm not playing then...
That's why I picked Lydiate to stop him getting over that gainline - when you first got him I thought you paid way over the top, but has to go down as a great transfer! Hopefully he will really develop at Gloucester - him and Qera in same backrow is pretty impressive.
I make good spots sometimes!!
prop_lyd- Posts : 10387
Join date : 2011-01-28
Age : 36
Location : Rogerstone, Wales
Re: Fantasy Aviva Premiership Round 22
by Sgt_Pooly Wed May 02, 2012 2:41 pm
Tactics updated, all the best Arry 
Sgt_Pooly- Posts : 36294
Join date : 2011-04-27
Re: Fantasy Aviva Premiership Round 22
by Steven_Sharks Wed May 02, 2012 6:15 pm
Our season comes down to this game at Edgeley Park, win and we get into the top 4 when very few expected we would (Predicted 9th and 6th by other managers in their pre-season predictions). We have got to this stage and have it all in our own hands and the players are focused upon a win. We have made 2 changes to the side with Joe Marler and Francois Louw coming in for Tony Woodcock and Carl Fearns. A week’s rest has been great for us with regards to player freshness and prepartation time. The conditions do allow rugby but will also cause the ball to be greasy so having a side with an excellent handling ability will benefit us.
Harlequins
Manager – Steven_Sharks
16 Chris Brooker 17. Tony Woodcock 18. Kieran Brookes 19. Nathan Sharpe 20. Phil Dowson 21. Karl Dickson 22. Quade Cooper 23. Shontayne Hape
Tactics
Game Plan
Our game plan will vary throughout the game depending on the game situation. We will initially play a ball retention game based around our players looking to carry off 9, 10 and 12 with the aim of getting across the gainline and getting us quick ball so we can then look to play in wider channels against a less organised defence. If this tactic is successful then we will use this between our 10m line to the Sale try line. We will be looking to have players running different lines off our playmakers to keep the Sale defence guessing. We will look for our halfbacks to see where the Sale defence is at its weakest and we will then look to attack there and have our strong carriers run into these areas. We will look to offload in the contact if it is on but won’t be looking to through miracle balls.
Should this not be working and we aren’t getting the quick ball we want then we will look to use the boots of Dickson, Priestland, Contepomi and Kearney to pin Sale back and win the kicking battle and control territory. We won’t be kicking everything away obviously but will be using up and unders, kick and chases and grubbers to test the Sale back 3. We feel we have the kickers to test Sale in a big way positionally and with their skills under the high ball.
We will kick the points at goal unless we are chasing the game. We know any win will do and we will do it ugly if required. Disipline is vital. We don't want to give penalties away as this relieves pressure on Sale.
Forwards
With a mobile pack which will be more than competitive up front we hope we can really control the game by winning the forward battle. We are looking for our pack to work hard and get through a lot of work both with and without the ball. When carrying we will look to do it in numbers and will aim to keep the legs pumping after contact to take us over the gain line. Winning the collisions is important to us when it comes to getting onto the front foot and controlling the tempo of the game and we want to do this in attack and defence. At the setpiece we will look to really put the pressure on Sale at all times. We have a good scrummaging unit with a very inform front row supported by two big units in the second row. We will look to keep the scrum up and if we are in the ascendancy try and milk Sale for penalties. At the lineout we will look to shorten them between the two 22 metres lines and have players carrying in the midfield. We will look to really pressure the Sale throw, particularly in the middle of the lineout.
At our own rucks we will look to look to clear Sale out the way and ruck past the ball so as to make it easy for Dickson to get it away quickly.
Backs
We have strike runners across the backline and we will look for there to be put into gaps by Priestland and Contepomi. When we are building our attacks we will look for Lowe and the blindside winger to be picking lines off 10/12 but we will look for Lowe to stay in wider channels once we have the ball coming quickly from rucks. Outwide we really think we have some excellent strike runners and will look to bring them into the play when we are getting quick ball. We have numerous players who can create for others, in fact everyone of our back line I would consider a creative player. This is vital when it comes to getting into the Sale 22, we have numerous men who can give us that bit of magic to get through the defence.
Defence
Quick line speed will be key for us as usual and we will give no time to the Sale decision makers. We will look to knock Sale backwards in the tackle and will then concentrate on the turnover.
At the breakdown we will look to dominate with Warburton, Louw and Brits looking to be the first there and to legally turn the ball over. If this isn’t possible then we will at least be slowing the ball down by having one or two of our players adopt a low body position and counter ruck. We really feel this is an area we can dominate and this will affect how Sale can play in a big way.
We will look to have two players back covering kicks when Sale have the ball so we have numbers to counter attack off any loose kicks. Dickson will sweep behind the defensive line for any chips.
General Key Points
- Form Players . We have a very inform side. Everybody is playing well and this is great for us. This game means everything to our season. We have our own fate in our hands and if we win we are in the play offs.
- We know we need to win and don’t care how we do it. This game means much more to us than Sale. Our players will be psychologically a step up and fresher.
- Sale have just lost a Heineken Cup semi final. They have had their bodies beaten and will now be psychologically drained. They can’t make the Heiniken Cup via the league and are playing for pride. We come into this game in better form and better shape.
- League Form – We have won 3 of our last 4 in the league. Sale have won 1 of their last 4. Momentum is vital at this point in the season and add the league form to the HC elimination and we are facing a side without momentum.
- Dynamism We have a very dynamic pack which is important to get us the go forward. Brit, Louw, Marler, Heaslip etc will all get us across the gainline on a regular basis and get us that quick ball which we desire.
- Game Changers - We are packed with game changers from 1 to 15, guys who can unlock the door and create things from nowhere.
Game Specific Key Points
- Breakdown – We intend to dominate this area with Warburton and Louw both great exponents in this area. If we can’t turn the ball over we can at least legally slow it down. Care is half the player with slow ball which we aim to make Sale play with.
- Ball carrying – We have a side packed with ball players and strong carriers. We are very comfortable in the loose and with the ball in hand and this is key to us and our tactics.
- Decision Makers - We have 3 great decision makers at 9, 10 and 12. This is key in what is a huge game which brings pressure and we feel we have the guys to dictate the play very very well.
- Subs - Bring our subs on when the game requires the fresh injection in the last half an hour. Cooper will move onto the blindside wing in defence if he comes on. We feel we have good impact players to come on and affect the game in a good way. We also have plenty of experience on the bench which will be vital in such an important game as this.
I won't be on at all tomorrow except for perhaps an hour in the afternoon and maybe a quick glimpse on my phone. Best of luck SJE.
Harlequins
Manager – Steven_Sharks
| 01. Joe Marler | 09. Lee Dickson |
| 02. Schalk Brits | 10. Rhys Priestland (k) |
| 03. Brian Mujati | |
| 04. Jerome Thion | 11. Zac Guildford |
| 05. George Skivington | 12. Felipe Contepomi |
| 06. Francois Louw | 13. George Lowe |
| 07. Sam Warburton | 14. Jonathan Joseph |
| 08. Jamie Heaslip | 15. Rob Kearney |
16 Chris Brooker 17. Tony Woodcock 18. Kieran Brookes 19. Nathan Sharpe 20. Phil Dowson 21. Karl Dickson 22. Quade Cooper 23. Shontayne Hape
Tactics
Game Plan
Our game plan will vary throughout the game depending on the game situation. We will initially play a ball retention game based around our players looking to carry off 9, 10 and 12 with the aim of getting across the gainline and getting us quick ball so we can then look to play in wider channels against a less organised defence. If this tactic is successful then we will use this between our 10m line to the Sale try line. We will be looking to have players running different lines off our playmakers to keep the Sale defence guessing. We will look for our halfbacks to see where the Sale defence is at its weakest and we will then look to attack there and have our strong carriers run into these areas. We will look to offload in the contact if it is on but won’t be looking to through miracle balls.
Should this not be working and we aren’t getting the quick ball we want then we will look to use the boots of Dickson, Priestland, Contepomi and Kearney to pin Sale back and win the kicking battle and control territory. We won’t be kicking everything away obviously but will be using up and unders, kick and chases and grubbers to test the Sale back 3. We feel we have the kickers to test Sale in a big way positionally and with their skills under the high ball.
We will kick the points at goal unless we are chasing the game. We know any win will do and we will do it ugly if required. Disipline is vital. We don't want to give penalties away as this relieves pressure on Sale.
Forwards
With a mobile pack which will be more than competitive up front we hope we can really control the game by winning the forward battle. We are looking for our pack to work hard and get through a lot of work both with and without the ball. When carrying we will look to do it in numbers and will aim to keep the legs pumping after contact to take us over the gain line. Winning the collisions is important to us when it comes to getting onto the front foot and controlling the tempo of the game and we want to do this in attack and defence. At the setpiece we will look to really put the pressure on Sale at all times. We have a good scrummaging unit with a very inform front row supported by two big units in the second row. We will look to keep the scrum up and if we are in the ascendancy try and milk Sale for penalties. At the lineout we will look to shorten them between the two 22 metres lines and have players carrying in the midfield. We will look to really pressure the Sale throw, particularly in the middle of the lineout.
At our own rucks we will look to look to clear Sale out the way and ruck past the ball so as to make it easy for Dickson to get it away quickly.
Backs
We have strike runners across the backline and we will look for there to be put into gaps by Priestland and Contepomi. When we are building our attacks we will look for Lowe and the blindside winger to be picking lines off 10/12 but we will look for Lowe to stay in wider channels once we have the ball coming quickly from rucks. Outwide we really think we have some excellent strike runners and will look to bring them into the play when we are getting quick ball. We have numerous players who can create for others, in fact everyone of our back line I would consider a creative player. This is vital when it comes to getting into the Sale 22, we have numerous men who can give us that bit of magic to get through the defence.
Defence
Quick line speed will be key for us as usual and we will give no time to the Sale decision makers. We will look to knock Sale backwards in the tackle and will then concentrate on the turnover.
At the breakdown we will look to dominate with Warburton, Louw and Brits looking to be the first there and to legally turn the ball over. If this isn’t possible then we will at least be slowing the ball down by having one or two of our players adopt a low body position and counter ruck. We really feel this is an area we can dominate and this will affect how Sale can play in a big way.
We will look to have two players back covering kicks when Sale have the ball so we have numbers to counter attack off any loose kicks. Dickson will sweep behind the defensive line for any chips.
General Key Points
- Form Players . We have a very inform side. Everybody is playing well and this is great for us. This game means everything to our season. We have our own fate in our hands and if we win we are in the play offs.
- We know we need to win and don’t care how we do it. This game means much more to us than Sale. Our players will be psychologically a step up and fresher.
- Sale have just lost a Heineken Cup semi final. They have had their bodies beaten and will now be psychologically drained. They can’t make the Heiniken Cup via the league and are playing for pride. We come into this game in better form and better shape.
- League Form – We have won 3 of our last 4 in the league. Sale have won 1 of their last 4. Momentum is vital at this point in the season and add the league form to the HC elimination and we are facing a side without momentum.
- Dynamism We have a very dynamic pack which is important to get us the go forward. Brit, Louw, Marler, Heaslip etc will all get us across the gainline on a regular basis and get us that quick ball which we desire.
- Game Changers - We are packed with game changers from 1 to 15, guys who can unlock the door and create things from nowhere.
Game Specific Key Points
- Breakdown – We intend to dominate this area with Warburton and Louw both great exponents in this area. If we can’t turn the ball over we can at least legally slow it down. Care is half the player with slow ball which we aim to make Sale play with.
- Ball carrying – We have a side packed with ball players and strong carriers. We are very comfortable in the loose and with the ball in hand and this is key to us and our tactics.
- Decision Makers - We have 3 great decision makers at 9, 10 and 12. This is key in what is a huge game which brings pressure and we feel we have the guys to dictate the play very very well.
- Subs - Bring our subs on when the game requires the fresh injection in the last half an hour. Cooper will move onto the blindside wing in defence if he comes on. We feel we have good impact players to come on and affect the game in a good way. We also have plenty of experience on the bench which will be vital in such an important game as this.
I won't be on at all tomorrow except for perhaps an hour in the afternoon and maybe a quick glimpse on my phone. Best of luck SJE.
Steven_Sharks- Posts : 7528
Join date : 2011-04-19
Location : Chester/Manchester
Re: Fantasy Aviva Premiership Round 22
by CJB Thu May 03, 2012 1:37 pm
Bath Rugby
Manager – inthefastlane
16. Jon Golding 17. Joe Ward 18. Euan Murray 19. Rob Simmons 20. Tom Guest 21. Chris Cook 22. Kurtley Beale 23. Olly Woodburn
Psychological
A good win In the Heineken Cup semi final will have us in a very good mind frame and we will be looking to get a win to end a season which has shown so much promise.
Overall
We will be looking to play attacking running rugby and suffocate Tigers.
Set Piece
Our formidable front row has been picked to play well at scrum time and to have a big impact in the loose as well. Lobbe will to control the scrum at the back. At the lineout we have options with Whitelock and Lobbe capable of taking opposition ball. At the front we have Deacon offering the banker ball.
Kicking
We will look to put the ball behind the Tigers back three and put pressure on them in their own 22 with Lobbe leading the chase. We will not be looking to kick to their back three but making them turn round in order to keep pressure on. Beale will be our main kicker looking to take on anything in range. Hodgson is another option who can kick the ball and if need be will kick.
Ball in Hand
Our game plan is based around our attacking skills with the ball in hand. With Healy, SOB, Mealamu etc we have some of the best forwards who can real make inroads with their running. We will look to make sure runners aren’t isolated with good tracking and will offload if there is minimal risk.
Our backs will be looking to get their hands on the ball and make attacking inroads. Wigglesworth will look to control the tempo of the backs. Hodgson is a sensible head while Allen and Mermoz can cause big problems outside of him. North and Mermoz are also big runners who will look to get their hand on the ball and cause problems.Toeava will look to join attacks late, offering a good running option who can take opposition defenders and ` run through gaps. We will look to target the Sexton-Hook channel which we feel can be taken advantage of defensively.
Defence
Look to get up hard and fast at the Tigers flankers and wrap up the defensive line, we feel we can prevent pack momentum as their backrow has limited hard carrying options and much of the work will be put on Waldroum.
We will look to expect Tigers to kick and will ensure we don't get caught out taking the back line up too far off set piece ball. By employing the drift defence we will force Tigers to create something and put the onus on the halfbacks of Tigers.
Substitutions
We really feel our substitutes can come on and maintain dominance. We have three good props able to come on from the bench and keep the scrum solid. Simmons will come on and look to put in big yards and make his impact felt. Similarly Guest will offer solid running options. Chris Cook is someone who can come on and inject some inventiveness into the game. Beale and Woodburn are huge subs to be able to bring on late in the game.
Manager – inthefastlane
| 01. Cian Healy | 09. Richard Wigglesworth |
| 02. Kevin Mealamu | 10. Charlie Hodgson |
| 03. Davit Kubrashvilli | |
| 04. Louis Deacon | 11. George North |
| 05. Sam Whitelock | 12. Maxime Mermoz |
| 06. Sean O'Brien | 13. Anthony Allen |
| 07. Will Skinner | 14. Maxime Medard |
| 08. JMF Lobbe | 15. Isiah Toeava |
Psychological
A good win In the Heineken Cup semi final will have us in a very good mind frame and we will be looking to get a win to end a season which has shown so much promise.
Overall
We will be looking to play attacking running rugby and suffocate Tigers.
Set Piece
Our formidable front row has been picked to play well at scrum time and to have a big impact in the loose as well. Lobbe will to control the scrum at the back. At the lineout we have options with Whitelock and Lobbe capable of taking opposition ball. At the front we have Deacon offering the banker ball.
Kicking
We will look to put the ball behind the Tigers back three and put pressure on them in their own 22 with Lobbe leading the chase. We will not be looking to kick to their back three but making them turn round in order to keep pressure on. Beale will be our main kicker looking to take on anything in range. Hodgson is another option who can kick the ball and if need be will kick.
Ball in Hand
Our game plan is based around our attacking skills with the ball in hand. With Healy, SOB, Mealamu etc we have some of the best forwards who can real make inroads with their running. We will look to make sure runners aren’t isolated with good tracking and will offload if there is minimal risk.
Our backs will be looking to get their hands on the ball and make attacking inroads. Wigglesworth will look to control the tempo of the backs. Hodgson is a sensible head while Allen and Mermoz can cause big problems outside of him. North and Mermoz are also big runners who will look to get their hand on the ball and cause problems.Toeava will look to join attacks late, offering a good running option who can take opposition defenders and ` run through gaps. We will look to target the Sexton-Hook channel which we feel can be taken advantage of defensively.
Defence
Look to get up hard and fast at the Tigers flankers and wrap up the defensive line, we feel we can prevent pack momentum as their backrow has limited hard carrying options and much of the work will be put on Waldroum.
We will look to expect Tigers to kick and will ensure we don't get caught out taking the back line up too far off set piece ball. By employing the drift defence we will force Tigers to create something and put the onus on the halfbacks of Tigers.
Substitutions
We really feel our substitutes can come on and maintain dominance. We have three good props able to come on from the bench and keep the scrum solid. Simmons will come on and look to put in big yards and make his impact felt. Similarly Guest will offer solid running options. Chris Cook is someone who can come on and inject some inventiveness into the game. Beale and Woodburn are huge subs to be able to bring on late in the game.
Last edited by InTheFastLane on Thu May 03, 2012 5:02 pm; edited 2 times in total
CJB- Posts : 5762
Join date : 2011-04-24
Age : 29
Location : Croydon
Re: Fantasy Aviva Premiership Round 22
by LukeLovesLuka Thu May 03, 2012 2:06 pm
Is Haskell not suspended ITFL?
LukeLovesLuka- Posts : 5865
Join date : 2011-04-19
Age : 40
Location : London
CJB- Posts : 5762
Join date : 2011-04-24
Age : 29
Location : Croydon
Re: Fantasy Aviva Premiership Round 22
by SirJohnnyEnglish Thu May 03, 2012 5:46 pm
Sale Sharks
Manager – SJE
16. Nathan Catt 17. Brett Sharman 18. Neemia Tialata 19. Christian Day 20. Matt Kvesic 21. Ben Spencer 22. Johnny Sexton 23. Lelia Masaga
General Game Plan:
We will use our strong carriers to attack gaps and half gaps in the Quins line, looking to offload in contact to support runners thus changing the point of attack and keeping our forward momentum going. Sexton will look to attack from fly half and inject pace to the proceedings committing the Quins defence and leaving space in wider channels to exploit. If running the ball is not on our halfbacks will look to the boot to put us in the right areas.
At scrum time we will look to contest each and 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. While on Quins feeds we will disrupt the put in looking for penalties or to create rushed, poor ball for the Harlequins halfbacks. With 5 jumping options and a reliable thrower at hooker we will look to attack from the lineout mixing things up by bringing the ball down into the maul and using the physicality of our pack or else playing the ball of the top and injecting serious pace into the play.
On defence, we will use a blitz defence coming up at pace looking to isolate the Quin ball carriers before they can get to the gain line stopping any momentum and allowing us to hit the breakdown harder. Danny Care 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 and counter attack at pace.
With the blitz defence 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 Harlequin players providing quick counter attacking ball to be cleared and used against a disorganised defensive line. If the ball does not look available we will not commit to the ruck and look to strengthen the defensive line instead.
Manager – SJE
| 01. Marcos Ayerza | 09. Danny Care |
| 02. David Paice | 10. Aaron Cruden |
| 03. Luc Ducalcon | |
| 04. Brodie Retallick | 11. David Strettle |
| 05. Andries Bekker | 12. Jordan Turner Hall |
| 06. Victor Vito | 13. James Hook |
| 07. Peter O'Mahony | 14. Keith Earls |
| 08. Louis Picamoles | 15. Nick Abendanon |
16. Nathan Catt 17. Brett Sharman 18. Neemia Tialata 19. Christian Day 20. Matt Kvesic 21. Ben Spencer 22. Johnny Sexton 23. Lelia Masaga
General Game Plan:
We will use our strong carriers to attack gaps and half gaps in the Quins line, looking to offload in contact to support runners thus changing the point of attack and keeping our forward momentum going. Sexton will look to attack from fly half and inject pace to the proceedings committing the Quins defence and leaving space in wider channels to exploit. If running the ball is not on our halfbacks will look to the boot to put us in the right areas.
At scrum time we will look to contest each and 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. While on Quins feeds we will disrupt the put in looking for penalties or to create rushed, poor ball for the Harlequins halfbacks. With 5 jumping options and a reliable thrower at hooker we will look to attack from the lineout mixing things up by bringing the ball down into the maul and using the physicality of our pack or else playing the ball of the top and injecting serious pace into the play.
On defence, we will use a blitz defence coming up at pace looking to isolate the Quin ball carriers before they can get to the gain line stopping any momentum and allowing us to hit the breakdown harder. Danny Care 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 and counter attack at pace.
With the blitz defence 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 Harlequin players providing quick counter attacking ball to be cleared and used against a disorganised defensive line. If the ball does not look available we will not commit to the ruck and look to strengthen the defensive line instead.
SirJohnnyEnglish- Posts : 8536
Join date : 2011-05-10
Age : 36
Location : Limerick
Re: Fantasy Aviva Premiership Round 22
by Guest Thu May 03, 2012 6:08 pm
Sje is this rettalicks debut for you ??! Looks some player you have landed. Our u20s bids have worked out for almost everybody.
Great addition to the game by driver or pete
Great addition to the game by driver or pete
Guest- Guest
Ozzy3213- Moderator
- Posts : 18500
Join date : 2011-01-29
Age : 47
Location : Sandhurst
Re: Fantasy Aviva Premiership Round 22
by SirJohnnyEnglish Fri May 04, 2012 4:17 am
Started him a few weeks back Matt. Brought him based on the u20s world cup last year. Didnt expect him to go so well this season though! Was stuck between him and Eztebath the Saffas young lock at the time. Decided to go with Retalick as didnt expect Eztebath to get a lot of rugby right away. Didnt know Elsadt was injured for the start of the Super 15! 
SirJohnnyEnglish- Posts : 8536
Join date : 2011-05-10
Age : 36
Location : Limerick
Re: Fantasy Aviva Premiership Round 22
by Guest Fri May 04, 2012 4:30 am
Etzbath is phenomenally good. may even get capped. saw that meyer was considering blooding a few young uns. from bench. him and goosen were favourites
Guest- Guest
Re: Fantasy Aviva Premiership Round 22
by prop_lyd Fri May 04, 2012 4:34 am
Tigers 18-19 Bath
Tigers do have the advantage at scrum time but I can see Bath offering a bit more with the runners. Bath's recent form helps here too and I feel that Mermoz will suffocate 13T not giving BOD much time on the ball.
Irish 20-24 Glos
Glos will win the scrum time for a while. But White will tire. Cracking centre battle here but in running conditions Glos will rule the wings. Good fight from Irish back row keeps this close.
Wasps 17-24 Falcons
Dominance all over from Falcons. If Roberts was played at 12 I think he'd have some joy against JOC but can see Newcastle's runners causing all sorts of problems for Wasps.
Sharks 14-16 Quins
Warburton vs POM will be such a close battle with the Welshman getting just ontop. Love the Quins 9-10 and will inject good pace in here. Big front 5 battle but Kearney's form will help Quins gain a good win here against a tough Sale team to beat.
Sarries 20-12 Chiefs
No tactics hurt Chiefs here. Sarries gaining good momentum and think that they could have a few problems come scrum time but their backs will run away with this.
Tigers do have the advantage at scrum time but I can see Bath offering a bit more with the runners. Bath's recent form helps here too and I feel that Mermoz will suffocate 13T not giving BOD much time on the ball.
Irish 20-24 Glos
Glos will win the scrum time for a while. But White will tire. Cracking centre battle here but in running conditions Glos will rule the wings. Good fight from Irish back row keeps this close.
Wasps 17-24 Falcons
Dominance all over from Falcons. If Roberts was played at 12 I think he'd have some joy against JOC but can see Newcastle's runners causing all sorts of problems for Wasps.
Sharks 14-16 Quins
Warburton vs POM will be such a close battle with the Welshman getting just ontop. Love the Quins 9-10 and will inject good pace in here. Big front 5 battle but Kearney's form will help Quins gain a good win here against a tough Sale team to beat.
Sarries 20-12 Chiefs
No tactics hurt Chiefs here. Sarries gaining good momentum and think that they could have a few problems come scrum time but their backs will run away with this.
Last edited by prop_lyd on Fri May 04, 2012 5:01 am; edited 1 time in total
prop_lyd- Posts : 10387
Join date : 2011-01-28
Age : 36
Location : Rogerstone, Wales
Re: Fantasy Aviva Premiership Round 22
by SirJohnnyEnglish Fri May 04, 2012 4:37 am
Wasnt Goosen named in the u20 squad though before he got injured so wouldnt have been around for the summer games? Looks a cracking little player though. Boks are well sorted with him and Lambie on the scene. Be interesting to see how the 4 nations go this year with the Saffas and All Blacks in transition
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Re: Fantasy Aviva Premiership Round 22
by SirJohnnyEnglish Fri May 04, 2012 5:08 am
Leicester Tigers 26-24 Bath Rugby
At the set piece can see Tigers get an edge at scrum time but it’s a cracking lineout battle. Around the park not an awful lot either way. Back row battle edges to Tigers with more form and more class at 7. Fly half battle is fairly even and both will pull the strings well but Yachvili will provide the better service. Cracking back line from ITFL will do damage but away from home with less ball its not enough and Tigers get the win.
London Irish 22-18 Gloucester Rugby
Irish with an edge at the scrum with 2 world class props on show but really like the look of the Gloucester back row. In the backs the back 3s are fairly tight but Irish have more in the halfbacks and midfield for me overall. Irish at home get more go forward from 9-13 and get the win.
London Wasps 20-24 Newcastle Falcons
Good scrum battle but Falcons can get the upper hand here and will have more of the back row battle. Good form in the 10-12 axis for Falcons sees them pull the strings well and with control of possession they should see the regular season out with a win.
Northampton Saints 27-27 Worcester Warriors
Can see Worcester causing a lot of problems for the Saints at both set pieces here. Saints though have the advantage in the back row. Halfbacks are tight. Prefer Giteau to Heathcote but he’s in good form and Reddan is the stand out scrum half. Both back 3s are dangerous but the midfield is a step up in quality and form for Saints. Worcester can have some serious impact in the last 20 though with Gorgodze, Peel and Steyn to come in. Actually see this as quite tough to call. Saints will do well at home with a cracking midfield and backrow but Worcester with a strong set piece and cracking bench options deserve the draw in what would be a great game to watch in real life I think.
Saracens 27-21 Exeter Chiefs
Sarries with a bit more in the forwards overall and can get the better base here. Loving the Saffa halfback combo and with some real power runners in the backs Pete’s men get a good win.
At the set piece can see Tigers get an edge at scrum time but it’s a cracking lineout battle. Around the park not an awful lot either way. Back row battle edges to Tigers with more form and more class at 7. Fly half battle is fairly even and both will pull the strings well but Yachvili will provide the better service. Cracking back line from ITFL will do damage but away from home with less ball its not enough and Tigers get the win.
London Irish 22-18 Gloucester Rugby
Irish with an edge at the scrum with 2 world class props on show but really like the look of the Gloucester back row. In the backs the back 3s are fairly tight but Irish have more in the halfbacks and midfield for me overall. Irish at home get more go forward from 9-13 and get the win.
London Wasps 20-24 Newcastle Falcons
Good scrum battle but Falcons can get the upper hand here and will have more of the back row battle. Good form in the 10-12 axis for Falcons sees them pull the strings well and with control of possession they should see the regular season out with a win.
Northampton Saints 27-27 Worcester Warriors
Can see Worcester causing a lot of problems for the Saints at both set pieces here. Saints though have the advantage in the back row. Halfbacks are tight. Prefer Giteau to Heathcote but he’s in good form and Reddan is the stand out scrum half. Both back 3s are dangerous but the midfield is a step up in quality and form for Saints. Worcester can have some serious impact in the last 20 though with Gorgodze, Peel and Steyn to come in. Actually see this as quite tough to call. Saints will do well at home with a cracking midfield and backrow but Worcester with a strong set piece and cracking bench options deserve the draw in what would be a great game to watch in real life I think.
Saracens 27-21 Exeter Chiefs
Sarries with a bit more in the forwards overall and can get the better base here. Loving the Saffa halfback combo and with some real power runners in the backs Pete’s men get a good win.
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Re: Fantasy Aviva Premiership Round 22
by Steven_Sharks Fri May 04, 2012 12:41 pm
Leicester 23 - 21 Bath
This is a tough one. I think Luke's tactics are spot on and highlight the strengths of his side. Both packs are pretty even overall but Leicester edging the set piece and Bath in the loose. Half backs to Leicester and the outside backs also go to Leicester. They get a decent win.
London Irish 21 - 21 Gloucester
Packs overall are pretty even. I think the scrum's will go to Irish but the lineout to Gloucester. I like both back 5's but give the slight edge to Gloucester but only slight. Half backs to Irish, Centres to Gloucester and the back 3's also even. So tough to call. Had to go draw.
London Wasps 24 - 25 Newcastle
I have the front 5's as really very tight. I really like the Wasps engine room. Backrow goes to Newcastle, half backs are even. Centres are also evenly matched with the back 3 ever so slightly to Newcastle. Very very tight game and a stronger back row would have seen Wasps win.
Northampton 23 - 20 Worcester
Besides the front 5 I think Northampton are stronger across the board. This is a game between two hugely improved sides and I think it would be very entertaining.
Saracens 32 - 23 Exeter
Really quite comfortable. Strong Saracens side which should get a home semi to add to there Heiniken Cup final. Strong across the board with a nice balance to the side.
This is a tough one. I think Luke's tactics are spot on and highlight the strengths of his side. Both packs are pretty even overall but Leicester edging the set piece and Bath in the loose. Half backs to Leicester and the outside backs also go to Leicester. They get a decent win.
London Irish 21 - 21 Gloucester
Packs overall are pretty even. I think the scrum's will go to Irish but the lineout to Gloucester. I like both back 5's but give the slight edge to Gloucester but only slight. Half backs to Irish, Centres to Gloucester and the back 3's also even. So tough to call. Had to go draw.
London Wasps 24 - 25 Newcastle
I have the front 5's as really very tight. I really like the Wasps engine room. Backrow goes to Newcastle, half backs are even. Centres are also evenly matched with the back 3 ever so slightly to Newcastle. Very very tight game and a stronger back row would have seen Wasps win.
Northampton 23 - 20 Worcester
Besides the front 5 I think Northampton are stronger across the board. This is a game between two hugely improved sides and I think it would be very entertaining.
Saracens 32 - 23 Exeter
Really quite comfortable. Strong Saracens side which should get a home semi to add to there Heiniken Cup final. Strong across the board with a nice balance to the side.
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Re: Fantasy Aviva Premiership Round 22
by Ozzy3213 Fri May 04, 2012 3:13 pm
Leicester Tigers 29 Bath Rugby 23
Bath have nothing to play for whereas Tigers are desperately scrapping for a play off spot and that will have a bearing. Both teams have some players in good form, but I prefer the balance in the Tigers pack, and behind a pack on the front foot they have the half backs to make it count. At home as well and this is really loaded in Tigers favour for me.
Bath have nothing to play for whereas Tigers are desperately scrapping for a play off spot and that will have a bearing. Both teams have some players in good form, but I prefer the balance in the Tigers pack, and behind a pack on the front foot they have the half backs to make it count. At home as well and this is really loaded in Tigers favour for me.
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Re: Fantasy Aviva Premiership Round 22
by Ozzy3213 Fri May 04, 2012 3:20 pm
London Irish 29 Gloucester 26
Both teams still in the mix and fighting for something so would expect real intensity here. Big game players in both sides as well and two sparkling back lines with serious attacking threat. The thing for me is that I prefer the balance of the Irish pack with Armitage the form player in the NH right now. I also think that the extra experience of the Irish half backs could be a crucial factor, although I do take on board that Murray/Goosen will have Carter at 12 to steady the ship as well. Gloucester will push Irish all the way here, but at home and with the better pack for me, I think Irish take it, although Genia (albeit not in top form), JSD and Kahui off the bench will give them a real scare.
Both teams still in the mix and fighting for something so would expect real intensity here. Big game players in both sides as well and two sparkling back lines with serious attacking threat. The thing for me is that I prefer the balance of the Irish pack with Armitage the form player in the NH right now. I also think that the extra experience of the Irish half backs could be a crucial factor, although I do take on board that Murray/Goosen will have Carter at 12 to steady the ship as well. Gloucester will push Irish all the way here, but at home and with the better pack for me, I think Irish take it, although Genia (albeit not in top form), JSD and Kahui off the bench will give them a real scare.
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Re: Fantasy Aviva Premiership Round 22
by Ozzy3213 Fri May 04, 2012 3:25 pm
London Wasps 22 Newcastle Falcons 24
Wasps are another team with nothing to really play for, and Falcons although guaranteed a home semi final will want to win and finish top to go into the play offs with confidence. There isn't much in it in the packs player wise, but where there is some advantage in individual positions it does seem to be towards Newcastle. I like Roberts at 13 and outside Bowden he could cause some real problems for Newcastle, but I don't see Wasps being able to build enough pressure to keep on top of Falcons and stop them scoring points. Falcons will have to work for it, but they have the quality through there team to take the win.
Wasps are another team with nothing to really play for, and Falcons although guaranteed a home semi final will want to win and finish top to go into the play offs with confidence. There isn't much in it in the packs player wise, but where there is some advantage in individual positions it does seem to be towards Newcastle. I like Roberts at 13 and outside Bowden he could cause some real problems for Newcastle, but I don't see Wasps being able to build enough pressure to keep on top of Falcons and stop them scoring points. Falcons will have to work for it, but they have the quality through there team to take the win.
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Re: Fantasy Aviva Premiership Round 22
by Sgt_Pooly Fri May 04, 2012 4:03 pm
Leicester 27–26 Bath
Great game. See a total cancel out in the fron 5’s with two fantastic units, no change in scrum and similar in the lineout with Horwill/Croft v Whitelock/Lobbe a cracking contest. Skinner stands out a little in the backrow battle but I can see a few more carrying options for Bath and things will be tight. Really not much in the halfback battle with Tigers possibly just shading but Bath backs may just have the edge all round. Home advantage and more to play for sees Tigers just sneak a thriller.
London Irish 24–22 Gloucester
Really interesting Gloucester line-up in this one. See the scrum going to Irish throughout although Gloucester engine room adds more grunt here. Not much in the lineout with Bonnaire helping Palmer out and both secure on own ball. Bit more about the park for the Irish front row but Gloucester have more in the engine room. Craking backrow battle just shading to the home side with more form, if Alberts & Burger fully firing for Gloucester would be different story. Nothing in the 10’s but Irish stronger at 9, centres and back 3. Extremely strong bench for Gloucester but I can’t see them having enough time on the pitch to beat a very capable Irish side at home.
Northampton 23–23 Worcester
Fair set piece advantage for Worcester in this one with them edging the scrum and getting a big advantage in the lineout with Myall & Cullen strong here. Not sure who will lead the Saints line and they miss a top draw jumper in their armoury. More energy in the Saints engine room and stronger on the flanks although Messam may struggle in a retreating scrum. Not much in the halfbacks with Giteau playing predominantly 12 in France losing a bit of rating at 10 for me although still having more than Heathcote, Reddan more at 9 than Simpson though. I really like the Saints midfield pairing although Manu lacks a little form they’ll cause the Worcester pairing all sorts of issues here. Not much in the back 3’s and strong benches for both teams. Worcester have enough for the draw with a stronger set piece throughout although Saints come close to the win with a strong centre pairing causing issues.
Sale Sharks 28–23 Harlequins
See a few more scrums in this one and Sale having a clear advantage with a stronger front row. Also see Sale having more in the lineout with Bekker controlling affairs and more quality option in the the 2nd and backrow for Sale. Great backrow battle with Warbs getting on top of POM around the park but Sale having more at 6/8 to even things up. Great pack battle that sides with the home team. More at halfback for the home team and similar story in the centres, not sure of the balance in the Quins centres and this could be an issue as the game goes on. Guildford and Kearney in good form for Quins but see Strettle giving JJ issues throughout who’s not a great winger. Bit more for Quins in back 3 though. Sale have a lot more in set piece and control affairs from there with a good backs lineup and home advantage.
Saracens 25–19 Exeter
Cracking front 5 for Exeter but Sarries are strong here and have a sound foundation in the set piece. Not great balance in the Sarries backrow but some real quality and they’ll have plenty around the park for the Exeter trio. Not much in the 10’s but Hougaard is playing well and will cause problems. More quality in the Sarries backline (first outing for JD/Trinder?) and they’ll play off stronger ball. A good win for Sarries with Exeter battling till the end but not having enough.
Great game. See a total cancel out in the fron 5’s with two fantastic units, no change in scrum and similar in the lineout with Horwill/Croft v Whitelock/Lobbe a cracking contest. Skinner stands out a little in the backrow battle but I can see a few more carrying options for Bath and things will be tight. Really not much in the halfback battle with Tigers possibly just shading but Bath backs may just have the edge all round. Home advantage and more to play for sees Tigers just sneak a thriller.
London Irish 24–22 Gloucester
Really interesting Gloucester line-up in this one. See the scrum going to Irish throughout although Gloucester engine room adds more grunt here. Not much in the lineout with Bonnaire helping Palmer out and both secure on own ball. Bit more about the park for the Irish front row but Gloucester have more in the engine room. Craking backrow battle just shading to the home side with more form, if Alberts & Burger fully firing for Gloucester would be different story. Nothing in the 10’s but Irish stronger at 9, centres and back 3. Extremely strong bench for Gloucester but I can’t see them having enough time on the pitch to beat a very capable Irish side at home.
Northampton 23–23 Worcester
Fair set piece advantage for Worcester in this one with them edging the scrum and getting a big advantage in the lineout with Myall & Cullen strong here. Not sure who will lead the Saints line and they miss a top draw jumper in their armoury. More energy in the Saints engine room and stronger on the flanks although Messam may struggle in a retreating scrum. Not much in the halfbacks with Giteau playing predominantly 12 in France losing a bit of rating at 10 for me although still having more than Heathcote, Reddan more at 9 than Simpson though. I really like the Saints midfield pairing although Manu lacks a little form they’ll cause the Worcester pairing all sorts of issues here. Not much in the back 3’s and strong benches for both teams. Worcester have enough for the draw with a stronger set piece throughout although Saints come close to the win with a strong centre pairing causing issues.
Sale Sharks 28–23 Harlequins
See a few more scrums in this one and Sale having a clear advantage with a stronger front row. Also see Sale having more in the lineout with Bekker controlling affairs and more quality option in the the 2nd and backrow for Sale. Great backrow battle with Warbs getting on top of POM around the park but Sale having more at 6/8 to even things up. Great pack battle that sides with the home team. More at halfback for the home team and similar story in the centres, not sure of the balance in the Quins centres and this could be an issue as the game goes on. Guildford and Kearney in good form for Quins but see Strettle giving JJ issues throughout who’s not a great winger. Bit more for Quins in back 3 though. Sale have a lot more in set piece and control affairs from there with a good backs lineup and home advantage.
Saracens 25–19 Exeter
Cracking front 5 for Exeter but Sarries are strong here and have a sound foundation in the set piece. Not great balance in the Sarries backrow but some real quality and they’ll have plenty around the park for the Exeter trio. Not much in the 10’s but Hougaard is playing well and will cause problems. More quality in the Sarries backline (first outing for JD/Trinder?) and they’ll play off stronger ball. A good win for Sarries with Exeter battling till the end but not having enough.
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Re: Fantasy Aviva Premiership Round 22
by stnick88 Fri May 04, 2012 4:09 pm
tigers v bath - like the tigers side, very balanced and some nico combos. at welford are hard to beat and cant see a strong bath side doing that. will be close as bath have some WC players and a class backrow.
25-23
wasps v falcons - falcons on good form and will want more momentum going in to playoffs. can see them getting a narrow, tough win here to do so. they have class throughout. wasps have a good side but have struggled for form recently.
18-21
saints v worcetser - glad saints started season poorly as otherwise they may have taken another playoff spot. on great form and see that continuing here. some good form players and combos too strong for a resilient warriors side.
27-22
saracens v exeter - pete has rotated well recently to keep players fresh. like falcons they will want a home semi and momentum and at home to an already bottom exeter side they will continue good form. too much all over.
26-22
sale v quins - big game here which massively impacts my season. slight edge to sale in scrum until woodcock comes on and he can swing it for quins. locks and backrow very close, tough to pick a winner but warburton the standout player for me. care and cruden is a great, on form partnership and they get the edge over dickson and priestland. back 3 goes to quins, kearney on great form, jj and guildford both threats. centres is close, lowe playing well and contepomi to control things works well. gonna have to be lame and sit on the fance with a draw
20-20
25-23
wasps v falcons - falcons on good form and will want more momentum going in to playoffs. can see them getting a narrow, tough win here to do so. they have class throughout. wasps have a good side but have struggled for form recently.
18-21
saints v worcetser - glad saints started season poorly as otherwise they may have taken another playoff spot. on great form and see that continuing here. some good form players and combos too strong for a resilient warriors side.
27-22
saracens v exeter - pete has rotated well recently to keep players fresh. like falcons they will want a home semi and momentum and at home to an already bottom exeter side they will continue good form. too much all over.
26-22
sale v quins - big game here which massively impacts my season. slight edge to sale in scrum until woodcock comes on and he can swing it for quins. locks and backrow very close, tough to pick a winner but warburton the standout player for me. care and cruden is a great, on form partnership and they get the edge over dickson and priestland. back 3 goes to quins, kearney on great form, jj and guildford both threats. centres is close, lowe playing well and contepomi to control things works well. gonna have to be lame and sit on the fance with a draw
20-20
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Re: Fantasy Aviva Premiership Round 22
by Ozzy3213 Fri May 04, 2012 5:11 pm
Northampton Saints 25 Worcester Warriors 23
Neither team with anything to play for in this game so no real advantage likely either way in terms of intensity. I think Worcester have missed a trick a little bit tactically. I know their tactics say they will play a territory game but it implied that it would be a lot of high balls to test the back three of Saints. That is a risk as Saints have a back three that can hurt you. For me a better option would have been Morne at 10 and kicking deep for touch and contesting the lineout, as I see a big advantage for Worcester there with no lineout leader in the Saints team. They have decent jumpers, no question, but there is nobody that I can see who can run it. Fortunately for them they will not get punished massively for it due to Worcester not exploiting it fully in tactics. Overall, I think at home Saints have enough in this one, but Worcester look on the right track to be competitive next season.
Neither team with anything to play for in this game so no real advantage likely either way in terms of intensity. I think Worcester have missed a trick a little bit tactically. I know their tactics say they will play a territory game but it implied that it would be a lot of high balls to test the back three of Saints. That is a risk as Saints have a back three that can hurt you. For me a better option would have been Morne at 10 and kicking deep for touch and contesting the lineout, as I see a big advantage for Worcester there with no lineout leader in the Saints team. They have decent jumpers, no question, but there is nobody that I can see who can run it. Fortunately for them they will not get punished massively for it due to Worcester not exploiting it fully in tactics. Overall, I think at home Saints have enough in this one, but Worcester look on the right track to be competitive next season.
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Re: Fantasy Aviva Premiership Round 22
by Ozzy3213 Fri May 04, 2012 5:21 pm
Sale Sharks 27 Harlequins 26
Pretty even pack battle for me, but it's at half back that I give Sale the edge here, with Cruden the form 10 in the world right now. Behind that there is also very little between the teams. I would have Steve's tactics which are excellent as cancelling out Sale's home advantage, but Cruden just swinging it Sharks way.
Pretty even pack battle for me, but it's at half back that I give Sale the edge here, with Cruden the form 10 in the world right now. Behind that there is also very little between the teams. I would have Steve's tactics which are excellent as cancelling out Sale's home advantage, but Cruden just swinging it Sharks way.
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Re: Fantasy Aviva Premiership Round 22
by LukeLovesLuka Fri May 04, 2012 5:30 pm
London Irish 19 - 19 Gloucester Rugby
Slight edge to home side up front, but edge to the away side in the second row. Massive back row battle that is tough to call. One apiece in the hb's, and two great centre combos. Even back threes. Home advantage Vs Gloucester bench even. Have to give a draw, sorry.
Slight edge to home side up front, but edge to the away side in the second row. Massive back row battle that is tough to call. One apiece in the hb's, and two great centre combos. Even back threes. Home advantage Vs Gloucester bench even. Have to give a draw, sorry.
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Re: Fantasy Aviva Premiership Round 22
by LukeLovesLuka Fri May 04, 2012 5:34 pm
London Wasps 20 - 27 Newcastle Falcons
Slight edge to falcons up front, with franks on top of freshwater. Great 2nd row battle. Big advantage falcons in the back row, and the hb's, which is crucial today. Wasps strong back line but they can't compete with newcastle's. Easy win in the end.
Slight edge to falcons up front, with franks on top of freshwater. Great 2nd row battle. Big advantage falcons in the back row, and the hb's, which is crucial today. Wasps strong back line but they can't compete with newcastle's. Easy win in the end.
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Re: Fantasy Aviva Premiership Round 22
by CJB Fri May 04, 2012 7:00 pm
Irish 24-21 Glaws
Wasps 18-20 Falcons
Saints 22-20 Warriors
Sale 26-27 Quins
Sarries 26-21 Exeter
Wasps 18-20 Falcons
Saints 22-20 Warriors
Sale 26-27 Quins
Sarries 26-21 Exeter
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Re: Fantasy Aviva Premiership Round 22
by 'Arry Spurs Sat May 05, 2012 4:29 am
Tigers 26 - 23 Bath
London Irish 21 - 20 Gloucester
Northampton Saints 23 - 20 Worcester
Sale 25 - 28 Harelquins
Saracens 28 - 23 Exeter
London Irish 21 - 20 Gloucester
Northampton Saints 23 - 20 Worcester
Sale 25 - 28 Harelquins
Saracens 28 - 23 Exeter
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Re: Fantasy Aviva Premiership Round 22
by dammit_chris Sat May 05, 2012 5:04 am
Leicester 26 - 24 Bath
Really close game this, very even forwards - good tactics from both, see the Bath backthree having more to them attack wise, but more control in Tigers halfbacks and BOD having a very key role in the game. He's come back to good form now.
London Irish 28-28 Gloucester
Just can't call this one - would have props to Irish, second row to Glaws, backrow probably Gloucester just shading it but Armitage on cracking form. Sorry guys but am struggling to separate.
Sale 32 - 32 Quins
Quins have put out a cracking forward pack that is ideal for the conditions and can see them moving the ball through the phasses and attacking well in the pack. I do like Cruden at no10 and his form will release the Sale backs and its between a better Quins pack and a really exciting Sale backline. Can't split this one.
London Wasps 26-25 Newcastle
With the condition as they are this game is going to get a lot of tries, really like Wasps options outwide and although Newcastle are going to have stronger pack, backrow I think Wasps outwide will put away their chances better than Newcastle, espc as O'Connor is not playing that well. Stephen Jones with his kicks and a narrowest of wins for the home team.
Saracens 34 - 29 Exeter
Sarries are building quite nicely for the playoffs now and hitting some good form, really strong team and think they will win this one quite comfortably in the end - Exeter still capable of getting tries though and will give this a good fist of things.
Really close game this, very even forwards - good tactics from both, see the Bath backthree having more to them attack wise, but more control in Tigers halfbacks and BOD having a very key role in the game. He's come back to good form now.
London Irish 28-28 Gloucester
Just can't call this one - would have props to Irish, second row to Glaws, backrow probably Gloucester just shading it but Armitage on cracking form. Sorry guys but am struggling to separate.
Sale 32 - 32 Quins
Quins have put out a cracking forward pack that is ideal for the conditions and can see them moving the ball through the phasses and attacking well in the pack. I do like Cruden at no10 and his form will release the Sale backs and its between a better Quins pack and a really exciting Sale backline. Can't split this one.
London Wasps 26-25 Newcastle
With the condition as they are this game is going to get a lot of tries, really like Wasps options outwide and although Newcastle are going to have stronger pack, backrow I think Wasps outwide will put away their chances better than Newcastle, espc as O'Connor is not playing that well. Stephen Jones with his kicks and a narrowest of wins for the home team.
Saracens 34 - 29 Exeter
Sarries are building quite nicely for the playoffs now and hitting some good form, really strong team and think they will win this one quite comfortably in the end - Exeter still capable of getting tries though and will give this a good fist of things.
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