Fantasy Aviva Premiership Round Two

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Bath Rugby vs. London Wasps
Sunny, 21 degrees, 8mph winds.

Bath Rugby
Manager – inthefastlane

01. Cian Healy	09. Richard Wigglesworth
02. Chris Brooker	10. David Skrela
03. Davit Kubrashvilli
04. Louis Deacon	11. George North
05. Graham Kitchener	12. Anthony Allen
06. Brad Shields	13. Aurelien Rougerie
07. Akapusi Qera	14. Maxime Medard
08. James Haskell	15. Stuart Hogg

16. Richard Skuse 17. Will Tanner 18. Jon Golding 19. Tom Donnelly 20. David Seymour 21. Fourie Du Preez 22. Rob Miller 23. Michael Harris
Overall: Look to dominate in the scrum and use that as a platform to really bring our backs in who will be looking to run at the defence with bad intentions.

Forwards: We will really look to attack and come out on top of the scrum. We have two of the best props in Europe in Kubrashvilli and Healy and we feel we can really punish the Wasps scrum, pushing them backwards. Haskell with look to control it at the back. With our second row partnership we are looking at Louis Deacon to provide the grunt necessary and offering the banker ball while Graham Kitchener will be trying to retain our lineout something we feel he is very capable of doing.

We will be looking for big carries from the forwards with the likes of Shields, Haskell and Healy dangerous runners who can really create gaps for our backs. At the breakdown we will look for Akapusi Qera and Brad Shields to win turnover ball or manage to slow down opposition ball. They will both be looking to cause as much trouble as possible. We will be looking for lots of energy from our forwards to open up holes to be exploited.

Backs: We will be looking to play running rugby with the ball in our hands. Using our forwards to create space we will look for quick ball and get the likes of Medard, Hogg and North who are all deadly runners, running at the Worcester defences. Wigglesworth will control the tempo of the backs and will look to keep the backs calm and composed.. Skrela is a strong runner who will also be looking to get involved in the play along with Allen + Rougerie all of who can dangerously run.

Defence: Look to get our defensive line up quickly and put pressure on the key decision makers and playmakers.

Substitutes: We have some really good options on the bench who we feel can really add to the game. Faumuania is one of the most exciting props in the world who can add power to the scrum as well as being a threat in open play. He will backed on the other side of the scrum by Golding who can do some damage.. Donnelly Is another option who can sure up our lineout. Seymour another if he comes on will look to really get at the breakdown and use his energy. FDP is another quality player who will look to control our tempo. Miller + Harris will look to cause damage against a tired Wasps defence. Both offer great kicking options meaning if we need to shut down the game we can use our kicking options to put the game to bed.

London Wasps
Manager – ‘Arry

01. Ben Daley	09. Mike Blair
02. Sean Cronin	10. Rhys Preistland (k)
03. CJ Van Der Linde
04. Mouritz Botha	11. Jamie Elliott
05. Marco Wentzel (c)	12. Brad Barritt
06. Steve Mafi	13. George Pisi
07. Jonathan Poff	14. Matt Banahan
08. Ben Mowen	15. Mike Brown

16. Nathan Morris 17. Charlie Beech 18. Rhodri Jones 19. Dan Tuohy 20. Jackson Wray 21. Haydn Thomas 22. Dan Bowden 23. Dan Hipkiss

Tactics
We will play at a high tempo with pace and intensity with plenty of offloading. Our forwards will carry hard, attacking gaps in the Bath defensive line, getting us over the gain line and onto the front foot. We will ensure our carriers have plenty of support to offload to, so we can continue our attacks.

We will look to recycle the ball quickly by getting good numbers to the breakdown, with the first few players rucking past the ball to clear out the Bath players, allowing Blair to get quick, clean ball for us to get out wide and attack the space on offer.

Line speed and aggression is key for us in defence, we will try and prevent Bath from having time on the ball by having quick line speed and tackling their carriers before they reach the gain line, knocking them back and forcing them into mistakes, where we can try and get turnovers and exert pressure on them.

We will look to use the set piece as a platform to build from, on our own ball we will look to turn the scrum legally to erase the Bath back row from helping out in defence before starting our own attacks. We will look to exert pressure on the Bath scrum on their ball and look to target Haskell at eight.

At the lineout Wentzel will be our main go to man, we will also look to use Mafi and Mowen at the tail of the lineout where we can launch attacks from and get our big centers running at the Bath fly half channel, our back row will look to be in Skrelas face throughout the match.

We aim to control possession and be patient, recycling the ball through several phases with Blair controlling our play. If there is space behind the Bath wingers we will look to kick in behind them and put pressure on them with a good chase game.

Barritt will look to take contact and give us potential line breaking options with Pisi running good outside lines, we will attack gaps and half gaps in the Bath defensive line, we aim to win the collisions and get our offloading game going.

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Harlequins vs. London Welsh
Sunny, 24 degrees, 6mph winds.

Harlequins
Manager – Steven_Sharks

01. Joe Marler	09. Lee Dickson
02. Matthew Rees	10. Felipe Contepomi (k)
03. John Afoa
04. Bakkies Botha	11. Tom Biggs
05. Steve Borthwick	12. Jamie Roberts
06. Tom Wood	13. Jonathan Joseph
07. Sam Warburton (c)	14. Taku Ngwenya
08. Dave Denton	15. Andre Taylor

16. Rob Hawkins 17. Mako Vunipola 18. Kieran Brookes 19. Jerome Thion 20. Carl Fearns 21. Chris Henry 22. Greg Laidlaw 23. Luke Morahan

Tactics

Game Plan

To use our strong carriers in pack and centres to get across the gainline. Carriers will take the ball at pace, keep the legs pumping in contact, make sure they have support and look for the offload should it be on. Winning collisions is key to quick ruck ball so this is important to us, as we are looking to get quick ball so we can attack wider channels, but you can only go wide once you have earned that right through committing defenders infield and getting quick ball.

We will look for our carriers to carry of 9, 10 and 12. This means we are looking for all our players to run lines off the players stood in these positions on each attack. We want each runner to offer a different line so as to keeps the London Welsh defence guessing.

When we get quick ball and have tied in London Welsh defenders, we aim to get the ball into the hands of our outside backs who we feel will be lethal in space in the conditions which the game will be played in. We have lethal finishers outwide and expect to cause damage when they get the ball.

It is vitally important that we are honest at our rucks. We need our players to ruck properly and ruck past the ball so we can get the quick ball we are after.

The quicker the tempo in this game the better for us. We have a mobile pack and an electric set of outside backs which will revel in a fast paced game.

Set Piece

At the scrum we will look for John Afoa to get underneath his opposite number and for our pack as a whole to stay tight and low. We have a strong scrumaging front 5 which will not often go backwards.

At the lineout Steve Borthwick will call the shots, with 5 jumpers we have options galore. When we can we will shorten the line so as to have Carriers (usually Denton and Warburton) to hit in the midfield. We will look to put huge pressure on the London Welsh lineout which we feel can be got at.

Defence

Quick line speed and aggression in contact, putting particular pressure on the key decision makers (9 and 10). When we can have two men in the tackle with one taking the legs away and the other concentrating on the ball. Importance on winning the collisions in defence so as to take away the momentum of the London Welsh attacks. Look to legally slow down London Welsh at ruck time with Warburton controlling this.

Key Points

- Strong ball carrying. We have the carriers (Marler, Rees, Afoa, Botha, Denton and Roberts) to get us across the gain line and then have the craft of Dickson, Contepomi and Joseph to take advantage of the spaces available.

- Breakdown - We expect Warburton to dominate this area. Hopefully we can get some penalties out of London Welsh in this area.

- Pace outwide - In Taylor, Ngwenya and Biggs we have pace to burn outwide. Once we get the ball wide, we expect them to cause London Welsh some real problems.

- Aggression - We need our players, in particular our pack, to be very aggressive so as to get the quick ball we require for our game plan.

- London Welsh - They have Kalamafoni, Hines, Wade and Ludik straight into the starting side after they all arrived this week or soon before. Perhaps some bedding in issues might be in place.

London Welsh
Manager – Ozzy3213

01. Alex Corbisiero	09. Morgan Parra
02. Chris Whitehead	10. Owen Farrell
03. Adam Jones
04. Nathan Hines	11. Christian Wade
05. George Skivington	12. Jonathan Davies
06. Maurie Fa’asavalu	13. Darren Cave
07. Thierry Dusautoir ©	14. Andrew Trimble
08. Sione Kalamafoni	15. Louis Ludik

16. Bismarck du Plessis 17. Steven Kitschoff 18. David Wilson 19. Dean Schofield 20. Luke Wallace 21. Charlie Davies 22. Butch James 23. Tom Homer

Tactics

Basic Game Plan

Basic tactical premise for us to control possession and be solid defensively. Focus will be on winning the gainline collisons in both attack and defence. In order to do this we have picked a very big pack to try to physically dominate this area of the game. We will look to apply pressure to Quins by keeping the ball for long periods and wearing them down defensively, and also by maintaining a solid defence and denying them opportunities to get on the score board. Pressure forces mistakes, and we will look to capitalise on any that Harlequins make.

Attacking specifics

• Play off 9. Parra to pull the strings and get big carriers hitting the gainline at pace.
  
• Carriers to look to hit gaps and keep the ball alive by offloading to support runners.
  
• Support runners to ruck past the ball quickly if the carrier goes to ground in order to secure quick ball to go again.
  
• All opportunities for points with the boot to be taken by Parra, Farrell or Homer as appropriate (penalties or drop goals).
  
• If at any time we feel that we are in danger of conceding a turnover then Parra or Farrell will use their boot to kick for touch deep in Quins territory.
  

Defensive specifics

• Darren Cave will be defensive captain (he fulfils this role for Ulster)
  
• We will look to play a blitz defence with quick line speed to hit the ball carrier before he gets to the gainline and knock him back even further.
  
• We will not overcommit to the breakdown. If a turnover is on, we will go for it, otherwise we will legally slow the ball and maintain a solid defensive line to blitz from.
  
• Maintain discipline and do not give away penalties.
  

Lineout

• George Skivington to call the lineout and look to vary it up calling short ones in attacking areas with big runners coming into midfield.
  

Key Points

• Steve cites winning the collisions as a key factor in winning the game. Our pack is designed to do exactly that. There is real physicality throughout it.
  
• We have a massive, but mobile pack in order to effect our gameplan of controlling the gainline.
  
• We have a backline that is extremely solid defensively in the belief that if we can stop the opposition from scoring points it will build pressure on them which causes mistakes that we can capitalise on.
  
• With the possible exception of Kalamafoni, none of our new recruits are in key decision making positions, therefore the fact that they have not been at the club long is unlikely to have any real effect on how they can perform.
  
• By our tactics we are in effect turning this into a big physical battle, which we believe we have the players to win.
  
• If we are going well, we will not just unload our bench for the sake of it. Fresh legs will be brought on if required, or replacements would be tactical. If we are on top we want to maintain continuity rather than risk losing the flow of the game by making changes.
  

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Leicester Tigers vs. Worcester Warriors
cloudy, 22 degrees, 7mph winds.

Leicester Tigers
Manager – LukeLovesLuka

01. Gethin Jenkins	09. Dimitri Yachvili
02. Tom Youngs	10. Jonny Wilkinson (k)
03. Dan Cole
04. Pascal Pape	11. Rene Ranger
05. James Horwill (c)	12. Billy Twelvetrees
06. Tom Croft	13. Brian O'Driscoll
07. Sean O'Brien	14. Vincent Clerc
08. Ernst Joubert	15. Isa Nacewa

16. Andrew Sheridan 17. Christopher Tolofua 18. Brian Mujati 19. Simon Shaw 20. Jacques Burger 21. Micky Young 22. Dominic Waldouck 23. Ugo Monye

Tactics:

We will play to our strengths and play a game built around the intelligence of our HB's and the strength of our lineout in an effort to get our electric back three into space

- Attack the scrum as a weapon - Cole and Jenkins to look to really get the shove on against James and BJ.

- Target the lineout all game. Our lineout is led by Horwill, using either Croft or Joubert as our banker ball, and with Pape and SOB as our other options.
With Yachvili and Wilkinson, we will look to get the ball deep in Worcester territory and contest all lineouts.

- Use the massive line-breakers we have to tire down the Welsh defence.
The likes of SOB, Youngs, Pape and Horwill used off the shoulder at pace off 9/10 crashing through the Worcester defence.

- In general attacking play, we will play off 9 with Yachvili our general pulling the strings. We want Yach and Wilko to control the game, mixing up the point of our attack and looking for where the gaps are.

- Look to play attacking rugby in the backs. 36 to play his natural game with so much experience around him. We want to give BOD time on the ball to release Nacewa, Clerc and Ranger into space.
Croft and Joubert to look to link with our backs and get into space to cause trouble out wide.

- Unload our powerful bench to impact the game in the last 20/30 minutes.

- Wilkinson to kick all penalites.

Worcester Warriors
Manager: prop_lyd

01. Paul James	09. Eion Reddan
02. Richardt Strauss	10. Olly Barkley
03. BJ Botha
04. Ollie Kohn	11. Sean Maitland
05. Luke Charteris	12. Fergus McFadden
06. Ryan Jones (c)	13. Matt Hopper
07. Justin Tipuric	14. James Short
08. Ben Morgan	15. Cameron Shepherd

16. Koree Britton 17. Nathan Catt 18. Chris Budgen 19. Craig Newby 20. Mamuka Gorgodze 21. Kerr-Barlow 22. Sam Vesty 23. Rob Cook

Tactics

A bit more experience in this squad with a centre partnership and back row who can cause a lot of destruction and a back 3 who are constantly dangerous.


Forwards

*Experienced front row who will look to dominate the set piece and we have experience on the bench to come on and do similar,

*2^nd rows are two players who will look to dominate the lineouts and with Gorgodze we can bring on the confrontation in the 2^nd half to switch our style of play,

*Backrow has Tips for the breakdown, Jones for the tackles and wind-up and Morgan providing brute strength off the back of the scrum and off the backs, again the bench provides more breakdown control with Newby.


Backs

* Reddan to marshall and Barkley to aim for corners when under pressure but to release McFadden when possible, he will go for goal when in range,

* McFadden to release Hopper who will have a winger on his shoulder at all times and also look for Morgan to break through the defence, Hopper is an exciting runner and will look to take it close off McFadden then drag the defence wide,

* A fast back 3 here who will always look for work and are strong in defence and under the high ball, on the bench we have Cook who is an excellent goal kicker and steady in defence.


Defence

*McFadden to lead this,

*Tips to be on 10’s shoulder looking to wrap the ball up,

*Contest at the breakdown and all set piece,

*No silly penalties anymore!

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London Irish vs. Gloucester
Sunny, 23 degrees, 6mph winds.

London Irish
Manager – stnick88

01. Matt Stevens	09. Julien Dupuy
02. Motu Matu'u	10. Nick Evans
03. Martin Castrogiovanni
04. Matt Garvey	11. Marland Yarde
05. Johann Muller	12. Sireli Naqalevuki
06. Jerome Kaino	13. Max Evans
07. Steffon Armitage	14. JP Pieterson
08. Pierre Spies	15. Delon Armitage

16. Grant Shiells 17. James Buckland 18. Jean Baptiste Poux 19. Stuart Hooper 20. Hendrie Fourie 21. Neal De Kock 22. Shane Geraghty 23. Sailosi Tagicakibau

- Look to play a fast, attacking and expansive running game.
- Counter any loose kicks with Armitage, Yarde, JP.
- Evans to control the game and use his experience to get us in the right areas of the pitch.
- Put pressure on Lamb. He is a confidence player and we will look to knock him early on.
- Target the breakdown, get Armitage in quick to force turnovers and secure our own ball quickly.
- Muller is our main lineout jumper, with Garvey, Kaino and Spies all good options.
- This may be Matu'u's debut, but I'm sure this is Perenara and Lamb's first time playing together so the fluidity might not be there.
- Naqalevuki is definitely not a winger, he always players centre for the Chiefs. Evans also plays 13 in France and a lot for Scotland. Both are recognised as centres not wingers.
- Evans to kick all pens for goal, if out of range go for touch.

Gloucester
Manager – Mat

01. Gurthro Steenkamp	09. TJ Perenara
02. Joe Gray	10. Ryan Lamb
03. Nicolas Mas
04. Julien Pierre	11. Zac Guildford
05. Tom Palmer	12. Matt Scott
06. Imanol Harinordoquy	13. Richard Kahui
07. Alexandre Lapandry	14. Charlie Sharples
08. Jamie Heaslip	15. Ian Balshaw

16. Nick Wood 17. Deon Fourie 18. Rupert Harden 19. George Robson 20. CJ Stander 21. Dan Robson 22. Stephen Donald 23. James Simpson-Daniel

Glaws tactics

- Glaws to target scrums. Motutu is in his first game and is usually a sub in super 15. Mas will look to get after stevens and get a wheel on
- Look for lineout domination to starve irish of ball. Pierre, Palmer and Hari to challenge every throw and look to get after motutu's darts.
- Glaws to look to control the ball with a pack of pure ball carriers. We will look to get over the gain line and if safe offload. if not to generate quick ruck ball we want to attack with our backs.
- heaslip will pick up a lot in the first half and look to pick on Kaino who has not played in about a year.
- We have bought in TJ perenara and Lamb as want to play a quick atttacking game once we can win the battle up front.
- lamb to pick up where he left off against glos in real life last week and run the show.
-Scott alongside him acts as a second distirbutor
- Scott and Kahui to target naqlevuki and Evans who are 2 wingers playing at centre.
- Glos back 3 to take quick throw ins and counter any loose ball when the game breaks up
- Impact bench to close out the match
- Should be high scoring so good luck nick

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Northampton Saints vs. Newcastle Falcons
Sunny, 22 degrees, 8mph winds.

Northampton Saints
Manager – Dammit Chris

01. Thomas Domingo	09. Mike Phillips
02. Dylan Hartley	10. George Ford
03. Carl Hayman
04. Joe Launchbury	11. Leigh Halfpenny (k)
05. Alun Wyn Jones	12. Matt Giteau
06. Dan Lydiate	13. Manu Tuilagi
07. Julian Salvi	14. Chris Ashton
08. Sergio Parisse (c)	15. Ben Foden

16. Rob Webber 17. Ryan Grant 18. Logovi'i Mulipola 19. Courtney Lawes 20. Julien Bonnaire 21. Joe Simpson 22. Danny Cipriani 23. Siti Siviatu

Tactics: Overall

Saints to play a really expansive, powerful game that plays off the 10-12 and take full advantage of the lack of form of Newcastle's key players. Aim to exploit gaps and give our backline the opportunities to attack space. We have picked a strong, mobile pack that will take the game to Newcastle and make full use of our all international bench to take the game out of Newcastle's reach in the final 20-25minutes of the game.

Aggressive defence is key - we've opted for Lydiate as opposed to Bonnaire with the task of nailing SBW every time he gets the ball. Put in the big hits and play at a high tempo to nullify POC and Thorn in the loose.

Get our forwards to work through the phases but play to the conditions and play off Giteau, who is in cracking form for Toulon.

Offence

We are going on the offensive at home and the conditions are absolutely perfect for our team - all of our backs have shown great try scoring form and strongly believe we can outscore Newcastle in tries and with Halfpenny's boot we can keep the score ticking over for 80minutes.

We will look for Ford and Giteau to control the game and have no concerns of Ford's ability to handle the game, especially as he is playing between Phillips and Giteau and has the best tactical kicking game in the Aviva Premiership and we will look to hammer Newcastle in the tactical kicking game.

A lot of our play with come through Giteau, and he will look to put Tuilagi into space and attack Lowe - Ashton will have a field day playing in the same backline as Giteau whose passing will get him into space.

Will also look to launch Launchbury up the middle, great ball carrier, and get Parisse doing the same - Tuilagi will help get us over the gainline.

Salvi picked as no7 to provide the link between forwards and backs – with the whole backline showing good form at the end of last season.

Defence

We know we have to stop SBW - Lydiate is in the team to knock him down every time he gets the ball, arguably the best defensive forward in world rugby.

Phillips to really frustrate Youngs and get in his face and wind him up - see if we can get at his temperament. Slow down the ball and then stifle the Falcons attack.

Specifically on Ford, he is now just 3kg lighter than Toby Flood and is a very good defensive player (can't not be with Mike Ford as his dad, so it is clutching at straws targeting him as a weak link there).

Otherwise will play our usual aggressive, controlled defence with Launchbury, Lydiate the main force in the pack and using Tuilagi to put in big hits on Lowe and stop the ball getting to Newcastle back three.

Set Piece

Really strong scrum and this will get stronger and stronger as the game goes on due to the power from our bench in the front row and second row. There will be some real opporunities to use this as a fantastic attacking option when the Falcons bench empties, or starting players tire.

Lineout is very functional with Parisse leading. We've improved this from last week with the addition of Wyn Jones and if there are any issues Julien Bonnaire will come on. No issue with Hartley's darts, personally see him as one of the best lineout throwers in the northern hemisphere.


Key Points

- Form and home advantage - pretty much the whole Saints team is in top form, with try scorers all over the park. We are fortunate to be playing Falcons with a lot of their key players a little out of sorts or have been injured for long periods. That is why we will play expansive rugby and look to take full advantage of the difference in form.

- SBW - will look to get Lydiate to marshall him out of the game and he hasn't been rested at all since playing for NZ so not convinced he will be his usual force.

- Aim to dominate the breakdown with the onform Salvi and with Launchbury, Lydiate and Tuilagi clearing out the Newcastle players and play aggressively trying to force mistakes. We've got a faster pack and will look to secure the ball before POC or Thorn have realised what's happening.

- Backline is buzzing and is scoring tries for fun at present, will look to outscore Falcons on the try count and take every point available with Halfpenny's boot.

- Bench is a huge factor for us - every player an international and picked as a game changer. Can dominate the front row in the final 20mins, and both Lawes and Bonnaire can have a huge impact. Simpson to add spark and Siviatu's ball carrying will help too.

- Playing the conditions, it's running rugby time and we've picked a team that can make the best of that e.g. will be playing expansive stuff instead of looking at rolling mauls, which are far more effective in the wet.

- Again with George Ford, he's up against Toby Flood and personally don't see this as a huge difference, many commentators saying that Ford is good enough to start for England (Greenwood, Sir Clive etc). Got no issues playing him in this game.

Newcastle Falcons
Manager – Sgt Pooly

01. Fabien Barcella	09. Ben Youngs
02. Rory Best	10. Toby Flood
03. Clement Ric
04. Brad Thorn	11. Miles Benjamin
05. Paul O’Connell(c)	12. Sonny Bill Williams
06. Chris Robshaw	13. George Lowe
07. Heinrich Brussow	14. Tommy Bowe
08. Toby Faletau	15. James O’Connor

16. Lee Mears 17. Scott Wilson 18. Alex Waller 19. Geoff Parling 20. Kelly Brown 21. Luke Burgess 22. Colin Slade 23. Ben Williams

Tactics

HIGH TEMPO, POSSESION, BIG CARRIES.....GAME CHANGERS IN BACKLINE IN JOC, SBW, YOUNGS, BOWE

WE’VE NOT LOST TO SAINTS FOR 2 SEASONS

TARGET GEORGE FORD WITH MASSIVE CARRIES WITH SBW COMING OFF FLOOD

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 play flat and 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 (if weakness seen – POC to call shots). If 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 opposition back row tied into the scrum giving Youngs, Flood & JOC more space to work in. POC/Parling will marshal the lineout and look to get fast ball off the top with 4 strong jumpers.

If a weakness is seen in the set piece POC will go for the jugular.

Pack & Breakdown:

Look for strong carries from our pack, tying in the opposition forwards. We’ll be looking to keep the ball alive and look for the offload when on. Our backrow will target the breakdown and look to get in a second tackler to tie up the opposition 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 opposition pack in the contact.

DEFENCE:

Look to neutralise the opposition early on and allow out backrow to dominate affairs. Thorn/POC in particular will look to hit the ruck hard and remove attempted turnovers from the equation allowing us to ruck over the ball and control the breakdown. Robshaw will look to target the opposition fly half early on and pressure his kicking. Youngs to sweep in behind the defensive line.

Backs:

Basically get the backs into play whenever possible with Flood, SBW & JOC the spark. JOC will go looking for the ball in midfield and SBW will come into the line to give us a direct hard runner and alternative/decoy to Lowe. Youngs will eye the gaps and look for the taps to keep us moving. Pace, power and flair in the back 3 to play off the chaos SBW will cause when he smashes through Ford.


POINTS:

SCRUM & LINEOUT – Target throughout, if weakness seen go for the jugular
LINEOUT – With no lineout leader in Saints pack look to target all game. Hartley can really struggle if he doesn’t start well and with no leader or top ops in the Saints pack we can take their first phase ball to pieces.
PHYSICAL PACK – Win the collosion and target rucks to drive through opposition
BREAKDOWN – Brussow/Robshaw to work their magic and Youngs to monitor to attack on turnover ball. Brussow to play the ref early on
FORM – We are Saints bogey team and they always struggle against us
BACKS – World class running options and finishers
ROLLING MAUL – With our big front 5 look to get the rolling maul going off selected lineouts and eat up the ground

MAJOR POINTS

GEORGE FORD – As we’ve seen in the bigger games, Ford is not up to this level of rugby (basically Int standard) We’ll send big runners down his channel all day and and with Giteau alongside he has no strong defensive back up.

LINEOUT – Saints have no lineout leader in their pack and with POC one of the worlds best operators they could struggle for ball from their own throw plus allowing us fast attacking ball from own throw. Theres nothing better than quick ball off the top and SBW running into space against Ford/Giteau.

LACK OF CARRIERS IN SAINTS PACK – We’ll be targeting the collision and with no big carrying options in the Saints pack they’ll struggle for front foot ball. With no front foot ball Ford will be on back foot allowing our backrow to target him throughout the game. Not a game to make your first AP start!

SAINTS FRONT ROW HEIGHTS Hayman (6'4"), Domingo (5'8"). This would cause real issues in the scrum with such differing heights and Saints would struggle to be effective as a unit.

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Sale Sharks vs. Saracens
Cloudy, 18 degrees, 8mph winds.

Sale Sharks
Manager – SJE

01. Vasil Kakovin	09. Danny Care
02. Darren Dawdiuk	10. Johnny Sexton
03. Davit Zirakishvilli
04. Dave Attwood	11. Keith Earls
05. Christian Day	12. James Hook
06. Peter O'Mahony	13. Robbie Freuen
07. Fulgence Quedragao	14. David Strettle
08. Louis Picamoles	15. Jean-Marcellin Buttin

16. Lee Imolek 17. Tommy Taylor 18. Luc Ducalcon 19. Stephen Sykes 20. Matt Kvesic 21. Ben Spencer 22. Yann David 23. Nick Abendanoon

Key Points

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Attack The Scrum

• We have gone with a big meaty front 5 to really go for the scrum and get at Saracens here. We will look to build a good platform before really turning the screw as the game goes on. As the subs come into play Ducalcan will look to get at young Lahiff and draw penalties.

Playing The Fringes

• With Hodgson at 9 our defence know what to expect and know they can neglect the fringes somewhat and focus on FTD at flyhalf. If Doussain comes into play we know to tighten up and will look to really target the fringes as with minimal time with the Squad we feel he can really be got at.

Ticking Over The Score Board

• In Sexton & Hook we have two players of keeping the score board moving. The same cannot be said of FTD. This gives us greater leeway to use the “darker arts” through the game.

Game Plan

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Attack

• We will look to play a fast paced attacking game using big carriers running of the 9/10/12 axis to get us over the gain line and generate quick ball.

• Keeping the ball alive is crucial so our carriers will be looking for support runners to hit on the offload to keep the ball moving and get us further over the gain line.

• Our back three will look to get involved as much as possible running support lines of the halfbacks and midfield looking for the inside ball or offload.

• If for whatever reason we aren’t getting quick ball, we will look to take control of territory with the boots of Sexton & Hook and force Saracens to come at us from deep.

Set Piece

• With a powerful front 5 on show we will look to keep the scrum up and use it as a weapon. On our own feed we will look to get the wheel on and give our 8-9-10 axis as much more room as possible to attack from.

• In Sarries territory, with 5 jumping options to use, we will look to play off the top and move the ball out to Sexton and the backs.

• In our own territory, we will look to take the ball down into the maul and drive ourselves into the right areas.

Defense

• We will look to blitz aggressively, playing on the edge of the offside line and coming up at pace, looking to isolate the ball carrier and stop any Sarries momentum before it can get going.

• Danny Care will play sweeper and cover any chips or grubbers behind the defensive line.

• We will leave two players sitting deep to cover any kicks and they will look to counter attack off any loose kicks.

Breakdown

• With the blitz in operation, we will look to be at the breakdown first hitting it hard and fast. If the ball looks available we will flood the breakdown with POM and Quedragao looking to get their hands on the ball.

• If the ball is not immediately available we will only commit 1 or 2 players to legally slow the ball down and instead look to strengthen the defensive line.

---

Saracens
Manager – Driver

01.Matt Mullen	09.Paul Hodgson
02.George Chuter	10.Francois Trinh-Duc (K)
03.Craig Mitchell
04.Lionel Nallet	11.Tim Visser
05.Ali Williams	12.Yannick Jauzion
06.Allesandro Zanni	13.Chris Bell
07.Ross Rennie	14.Mark Cueto
08.Joe Van Nikirk (c)	15.Rory Lamount

16.John Smit 17.Max Lahiff 18.Phil Swainstone 18.Phil Dowson 19.Tim Swinson 20.Jean Doussain 21.Paddy Jackson 22.Adam Thompstone

---

London Welsh have announced their side for this weeks fixture against Harlequins at The Stoop. The starting XV shows five changes from the side that was narrowly beaten by Leicester Tigers last week. Up front, Chris Whitehead, Nathan Hines and Sione Kalamafoni start, with Bismarck du Plessis and Dean Schofield dropping to the bench. Duane Vermeulen is unavailable due to joining up with the South Africa squad in Perth. There are also two changes in the back three, where Christian Wade and Louis Ludik replace Luke Fitzgerald and Tom Homer, both of whom drop out of the matchday 23.

London Welsh
Manager – Ozzy3213

01. Alex Corbisiero	09. Morgan Parra
02. Chris Whitehead	10. Owen Farrell
03. Adam Jones
04. Nathan Hines	11. Christian Wade
05. George Skivington	12. Jonathan Davies
06. Maurie Fa’asavalu	13. Darren Cave
07. Thierry Dusautoir ©	14. Andrew Trimble
08. Sione Kalamafoni	15. Louis Ludik

16. Bismarck du Plessis 17. Steven Kitschoff 18. David Wilson 19. Dean Schofield 20. Luke Wallace 21. Charlie Davies 22. Butch James 23. Tom Homer

Tactics

Basic Game Plan

Basic tactical premise for us to control possession and be solid defensively. Focus will be on winning the gainline collisons in both attack and defence. In order to do this we have picked a very big pack to try to physically dominate this area of the game. We will look to apply pressure to Quins by keeping the ball for long periods and wearing them down defensively, and also by maintaining a solid defence and denying them opportunities to get on the score board. Pressure forces mistakes, and we will look to capitalise on any that Harlequins make.

Attacking specifics

• Play off 9. Parra to pull the strings and get big carriers hitting the gainline at pace.
  
• Carriers to look to hit gaps and keep the ball alive by offloading to support runners.
  
• Support runners to ruck past the ball quickly if the carrier goes to ground in order to secure quick ball to go again.
  
• All opportunities for points with the boot to be taken by Parra, Farrell or Homer as appropriate (penalties or drop goals).
  
• If at any time we feel that we are in danger of conceding a turnover then Parra or Farrell will use their boot to kick for touch deep in Quins territory.
  

Defensive specifics

• Darren Cave will be defensive captain (he fulfils this role for Ulster)
  
• We will look to play a blitz defence with quick line speed to hit the ball carrier before he gets to the gainline and knock him back even further.
  
• We will not overcommit to the breakdown. If a turnover is on, we will go for it, otherwise we will legally slow the ball and maintain a solid defensive line to blitz from.
  
• Maintain discipline and do not give away penalties.
  

Lineout

• George Skivington to call the lineout and look to vary it up calling short ones in attacking areas with big runners coming into midfield.
  

Key Points

• Steve cites winning the collisions as a key factor in winning the game. Our pack is designed to do exactly that. There is real physicality throughout it.
  
• We have a massive, but mobile pack in order to effect our gameplan of controlling the gainline.
  
• We have a backline that is extremely solid defensively in the belief that if we can stop the opposition from scoring points it will build pressure on them which causes mistakes that we can capitalise on.
  
• With the possible exception of Kalamafoni, none of our new recruits are in key decision making positions, therefore the fact that they have not been at the club long is unlikely to have any real effect on how they can perform.
  
• By our tactics we are in effect turning this into a big physical battle, which we believe we have the players to win.
  
• If we are going well, we will not just unload our bench for the sake of it. Fresh legs will be brought on if required, or replacements would be tactical. If we are on top we want to maintain continuity rather than risk losing the flow of the game by making changes.
  

Saracens
Manager – Driver

01.Matt Mullen	09.Paul Hodgson
02.George Chuter	10.Francois Trinh-Duc (K)
03.Craig Mitchell
04.Lionel Nallet	11.Tim Visser
05.Ali Williams	12.Yannick Jauzion
06.Allesandro Zanni	13.Chris Bell
07.Ross Rennie	14.Mark Cueto
08.Joe Van Nikirk (c)	15.Rory Lamount

16.John Smit 17.Max Lahiff 18.Phil Swainstone 18.Phil Dowson 19.Tim Swinson 20.Jean Doussain 21.Paddy Jackson 22.Adam Thompstone

Guys, I'm pretty fooked with jet lag at the moment so if i don't get a team in on time could someone edit the injuries in please?!

Not need till Thursday anyway bud.

ah ok cool, someone nudge me if i forget!

You can't play Ross Chisholm this week Pete.

HAVE HAD TO EDIT THIS AS I LEFT THE 'T' OF CANT

Harlequins
Manager – Steven_Sharks

Harlequins have named there side for the first home game of the new season against the newly promoted London Welsh. Conditions allow for some exciting rugby and Harlequins have picked a back three to relish the running conditions and hopefully this week will see Harlequins make it 2 from 2.

01. Joe Marler	09. Lee Dickson
02. Matthew Rees	10. Felipe Contepomi (k)
03. John Afoa
04. Bakkies Botha	11. Tom Biggs
05. Steve Borthwick	12. Jamie Roberts
06. Tom Wood	13. Jonathan Joseph
07. Sam Warburton (c)	14. Taku Ngwenya
08. Dave Denton	15. Andre Taylor

16. Rob Hawkins 17. Mako Vunipola 18. Kieran Brookes 19. Jerome Thion 20. Carl Fearns 21. Chris Henry 22. Greg Laidlaw 23. Luke Morahan

Tactics

Game Plan

To use our strong carriers in pack and centres to get across the gainline. Carriers will take the ball at pace, keep the legs pumping in contact, make sure they have support and look for the offload should it be on. Winning collisions is key to quick ruck ball so this is important to us, as we are looking to get quick ball so we can attack wider channels, but you can only go wide once you have earned that right through committing defenders infield and getting quick ball.

We will look for our carriers to carry of 9, 10 and 12. This means we are looking for all our players to run lines off the players stood in these positions on each attack. We want each runner to offer a different line so as to keeps the London Welsh defence guessing.

When we get quick ball and have tied in London Welsh defenders, we aim to get the ball into the hands of our outside backs who we feel will be lethal in space in the conditions which the game will be played in. We have lethal finishers outwide and expect to cause damage when they get the ball.

It is vitally important that we are honest at our rucks. We need our players to ruck properly and ruck past the ball so we can get the quick ball we are after.

The quicker the tempo in this game the better for us. We have a mobile pack and an electric set of outside backs which will revel in a fast paced game.

Set Piece

At the scrum we will look for John Afoa to get underneath his opposite number and for our pack as a whole to stay tight and low. We have a strong scrumaging front 5 which will not often go backwards.

At the lineout Steve Borthwick will call the shots, with 5 jumpers we have options galore. When we can we will shorten the line so as to have Carriers (usually Denton and Warburton) to hit in the midfield. We will look to put huge pressure on the London Welsh lineout which we feel can be got at.

Defence

Quick line speed and aggression in contact, putting particular pressure on the key decision makers (9 and 10). When we can have two men in the tackle with one taking the legs away and the other concentrating on the ball. Importance on winning the collisions in defence so as to take away the momentum of the London Welsh attacks. Look to legally slow down London Welsh at ruck time with Warburton controlling this.

Key Points

- Strong ball carrying. We have the carriers (Marler, Rees, Afoa, Botha, Denton and Roberts) to get us across the gain line and then have the craft of Dickson, Contepomi and Joseph to take advantage of the spaces available.

- Breakdown - We expect Warburton to dominate this area. Hopefully we can get some penalties out of London Welsh in this area.

- Pace outwide - In Taylor, Ngwenya and Biggs we have pace to burn outwide. Once we get the ball wide, we expect them to cause London Welsh some real problems.

- Aggression - We need our players, in particular our pack, to be very aggressive so as to get the quick ball we require for our game plan.

- London Welsh - They have Kalamafoni, Hines, Wade and Ludik straight into the starting side after they all arrived this week or soon before. Perhaps some bedding in issues might be in place.

Sale Sharks
Manager – SJE

01. Vasil Kakovin	09. Danny Care
02. Darren Dawdiuk	10. Johnny Sexton
03. Davit Zirakishvilli
04. Dave Attwood	11. Keith Earls
05. Christian Day	12. James Hook
06. Peter O'Mahony	13. Robbie Freuen
07. Fulgence Quedragao	14. David Strettle
08. Louis Picamoles	15. Jean-Marcellin Buttin

16. Lee Imolek 17. Tommy Taylor 18. Luc Ducalcon 19. Stephen Sykes 20. Matt Kvesic 21. Ben Spencer 22. Yann David 23. Nick Abendanoon

Key Points

---

Attack The Scrum

• We have gone with a big meaty front 5 to really go for the scrum and get at Saracens here. We will look to build a good platform before really turning the screw as the game goes on. As the subs come into play Ducalcan will look to get at young Lahiff and draw penalties.

Playing The Fringes

• With Hodgson at 9 our defence know what to expect and know they can neglect the fringes somewhat and focus on FTD at flyhalf. If Doussain comes into play we know to tighten up and will look to really target the fringes as with minimal time with the Squad we feel he can really be got at.

Ticking Over The Score Board

• In Sexton & Hook we have two players of keeping the score board moving. The same cannot be said of FTD. This gives us greater leeway to use the “darker arts” through the game.

Game Plan

---

Attack

• We will look to play a fast paced attacking game using big carriers running of the 9/10/12 axis to get us over the gain line and generate quick ball.

• Keeping the ball alive is crucial so our carriers will be looking for support runners to hit on the offload to keep the ball moving and get us further over the gain line.

• Our back three will look to get involved as much as possible running support lines of the halfbacks and midfield looking for the inside ball or offload.

• If for whatever reason we aren’t getting quick ball, we will look to take control of territory with the boots of Sexton & Hook and force Saracens to come at us from deep.

Set Piece

• With a powerful front 5 on show we will look to keep the scrum up and use it as a weapon. On our own feed we will look to get the wheel on and give our 8-9-10 axis as much more room as possible to attack from.

• In Sarries territory, with 5 jumping options to use, we will look to play off the top and move the ball out to Sexton and the backs.

• In our own territory, we will look to take the ball down into the maul and drive ourselves into the right areas.

Defense

• We will look to blitz aggressively, playing on the edge of the offside line and coming up at pace, looking to isolate the ball carrier and stop any Sarries momentum before it can get going.

• Danny Care will play sweeper and cover any chips or grubbers behind the defensive line.

• We will leave two players sitting deep to cover any kicks and they will look to counter attack off any loose kicks.

Breakdown

• With the blitz in operation, we will look to be at the breakdown first hitting it hard and fast. If the ball looks available we will flood the breakdown with POM and Quedragao looking to get their hands on the ball.

• If the ball is not immediately available we will only commit 1 or 2 players to legally slow the ball down and instead look to strengthen the defensive line.

---

Bath Rugby
Manager – inthefastlane

01. Cian Healy	09. Richard Wigglesworth
02. Chris Brooker	10. David Skrela
03. Davit Kubrashvilli
04. Louis Deacon	11. George North
05. Graham Kitchener	12. Anthony Allen
06. Brad Shields	13. Aurelien Rougerie
07. Akapusi Qera	14. Maxime Medard
08. James Haskell	15. Stuart Hogg

16. Charlie Faumuania 17. Will Tanner 18. Jon Golding 19. Tom Donnelly 20. David Seymour 21. Fourie Du Preez 22. Rob Miller 23. Michael Harris
Overall: Look to dominate in the scrum and use that as a platform to really bring our backs in who will be looking to run at the defence with bad intentions.

Forwards: We will really look to attack and come out on top of the scrum. We have two of the best props in Europe in Kubrashvilli and Healy and we feel we can really punish the Wasps scrum, pushing them backwards. Haskell with look to control it at the back. With our second row partnership we are looking at Louis Deacon to provide the grunt necessary and offering the banker ball while Graham Kitchener will be trying to retain our lineout something we feel he is very capable of doing.

We will be looking for big carries from the forwards with the likes of Shields, Haskell and Healy dangerous runners who can really create gaps for our backs. At the breakdown we will look for Akapusi Qera and Brad Shields to win turnover ball or manage to slow down opposition ball. They will both be looking to cause as much trouble as possible. We will be looking for lots of energy from our forwards to open up holes to be exploited.

Backs: We will be looking to play running rugby with the ball in our hands. Using our forwards to create space we will look for quick ball and get the likes of Medard, Hogg and North who are all deadly runners, running at the Worcester defences. Wigglesworth will control the tempo of the backs and will look to keep the backs calm and composed.. Skrela is a strong runner who will also be looking to get involved in the play along with Allen + Rougerie all of who can dangerously run.

Defence: Look to get our defensive line up quickly and put pressure on the key decision makers and playmakers.

Substitutes: We have some really good options on the bench who we feel can really add to the game. Faumuania is one of the most exciting props in the world who can add power to the scrum as well as being a threat in open play. He will backed on the other side of the scrum by Golding who can do some damage.. Donnelly Is another option who can sure up our lineout. Seymour another if he comes on will look to really get at the breakdown and use his energy. FDP is another quality player who will look to control our tempo. Miller + Harris will look to cause damage against a tired Wasps defence. Both offer great kicking options meaning if we need to shut down the game we can use our kicking options to put the game to bed.

London Wasps
Manager – ‘Arry

01. Ben Daley	09. Mike Blair
02. Sean Cronin	10. Rhys Preistland (k)
03. CJ Van Der Linde
04. Mouritz Botha	11. Jamie Elliott
05. Marco Wentzel (c)	12. Brad Barritt
06. Steve Mafi	13. George Pisi
07. Jonathan Poff	14. Matt Banahan
08. Ben Mowen	15. Mike Brown

16. Nathan Morris 17. Charlie Beech 18. Rhodri Jones 19. Dan Tuohy 20. Jackson Wray 21. Haydn Thomas 22. Dan Bowden 23. Dan Hipkiss

Tactics
We will play at a high tempo with pace and intensity with plenty of offloading. Our forwards will carry hard, attacking gaps in the Bath defensive line, getting us over the gain line and onto the front foot. We will ensure our carriers have plenty of support to offload to, so we can continue our attacks.

We will look to recycle the ball quickly by getting good numbers to the breakdown, with the first few players rucking past the ball to clear out the Bath players, allowing Blair to get quick, clean ball for us to get out wide and attack the space on offer.

Line speed and aggression is key for us in defence, we will try and prevent Bath from having time on the ball by having quick line speed and tackling their carriers before they reach the gain line, knocking them back and forcing them into mistakes, where we can try and get turnovers and exert pressure on them.

We will look to use the set piece as a platform to build from, on our own ball we will look to turn the scrum legally to erase the Bath back row from helping out in defence before starting our own attacks. We will look to exert pressure on the Bath scrum on their ball and look to target Haskell at eight.

At the lineout Wentzel will be our main go to man, we will also look to use Mafi and Mowen at the tail of the lineout where we can launch attacks from and get our big centers running at the Bath fly half channel, our back row will look to be in Skrelas face throughout the match.

We aim to control possession and be patient, recycling the ball through several phases with Blair controlling our play. If there is space behind the Bath wingers we will look to kick in behind them and put pressure on them with a good chase game.

Barritt will look to take contact and give us potential line breaking options with Pisi running good outside lines, we will attack gaps and half gaps in the Bath defensive line, we aim to win the collisions and get our offloading game going.

CJB wrote:Bath Rugby
Manager – inthefastlane

01. Cian Healy	09. Richard Wigglesworth
02. Chris Brooker	10. David Skrela
03. Davit Kubrashvilli
04. Louis Deacon	11. George North
05. Graham Kitchener	12. Anthony Allen
06. Brad Shields	13. Aurelien Rougerie
07. Akapusi Qera	14. Maxime Medard
08. James Haskell	15. Stuart Hogg

16. Charlie Faumuania 17. Will Tanner 18. Jon Golding 19. Tom Donnelly 20. David Seymour 21. Fourie Du Preez 22. Rob Miller 23. Michael Harris

Charlie Faumuania has been called onto AB bench mate

Northampton Saints
Manager – Dammit Chris

01. Thomas Domingo	09. Mike Phillips
02. Dylan Hartley	10. George Ford
03. Carl Hayman
04. Joe Launchbury	11. Leigh Halfpenny (k)
05. Alun Wyn Jones	12. Matt Giteau
06. Dan Lydiate	13. Manu Tuilagi
07. Julian Salvi	14. Chris Ashton
08. Sergio Parisse (c)	15. Ben Foden

16. Rob Webber 17. Ryan Grant 18. Logovi'i Mulipola 19. Courtney Lawes 20. Julien Bonnaire 21. Joe Simpson 22. Danny Cipriani 23. Siti Siviatu

Tactics: Overall

Saints to play a really expansive, powerful game that plays off the 10-12 and take full advantage of the lack of form of Newcastle's key players. Aim to exploit gaps and give our backline the opportunities to attack space. We have picked a strong, mobile pack that will take the game to Newcastle and make full use of our all international bench to take the game out of Newcastle's reach in the final 20-25minutes of the game.

Aggressive defence is key - we've opted for Lydiate as opposed to Bonnaire with the task of nailing SBW every time he gets the ball. Put in the big hits and play at a high tempo to nullify POC and Thorn in the loose.

Get our forwards to work through the phases but play to the conditions and play off Giteau, who is in cracking form for Toulon.

Offence

We are going on the offensive at home and the conditions are absolutely perfect for our team - all of our backs have shown great try scoring form and strongly believe we can outscore Newcastle in tries and with Halfpenny's boot we can keep the score ticking over for 80minutes.

We will look for Ford and Giteau to control the game and have no concerns of Ford's ability to handle the game, especially as he is playing between Phillips and Giteau and has the best tactical kicking game in the Aviva Premiership and we will look to hammer Newcastle in the tactical kicking game.

A lot of our play with come through Giteau, and he will look to put Tuilagi into space and attack Lowe - Ashton will have a field day playing in the same backline as Giteau whose passing will get him into space.

Will also look to launch Launchbury up the middle, great ball carrier, and get Parisse doing the same - Tuilagi will help get us over the gainline.

Salvi picked as no7 to provide the link between forwards and backs – with the whole backline showing good form at the end of last season.

Defence

We know we have to stop SBW - Lydiate is in the team to knock him down every time he gets the ball, arguably the best defensive forward in world rugby.

Phillips to really frustrate Youngs and get in his face and wind him up - see if we can get at his temperament. Slow down the ball and then stifle the Falcons attack.

Specifically on Ford, he is now just 3kg lighter than Toby Flood and is a very good defensive player (can't not be with Mike Ford as his dad, so it is clutching at straws targeting him as a weak link there).

Otherwise will play our usual aggressive, controlled defence with Launchbury, Lydiate the main force in the pack and using Tuilagi to put in big hits on Lowe and stop the ball getting to Newcastle back three.

Set Piece

Really strong scrum and this will get stronger and stronger as the game goes on due to the power from our bench in the front row and second row. There will be some real opporunities to use this as a fantastic attacking option when the Falcons bench empties, or starting players tire.

Lineout is very functional with Parisse leading. We've improved this from last week with the addition of Wyn Jones and if there are any issues Julien Bonnaire will come on. No issue with Hartley's darts, personally see him as one of the best lineout throwers in the northern hemisphere.


Key Points

- Form and home advantage - pretty much the whole Saints team is in top form, with try scorers all over the park. We are fortunate to be playing Falcons with a lot of their key players a little out of sorts or have been injured for long periods. That is why we will play expansive rugby and look to take full advantage of the difference in form.

- SBW - will look to get Lydiate to marshall him out of the game and he hasn't been rested at all since playing for NZ so not convinced he will be his usual force.

- Aim to dominate the breakdown with the onform Salvi and with Launchbury, Lydiate and Tuilagi clearing out the Newcastle players and play aggressively trying to force mistakes. We've got a faster pack and will look to secure the ball before POC or Thorn have realised what's happening.

- Backline is buzzing and is scoring tries for fun at present, will look to outscore Falcons on the try count and take every point available with Halfpenny's boot.

- Bench is a huge factor for us - every player an international and picked as a game changer. Can dominate the front row in the final 20mins, and both Lawes and Bonnaire can have a huge impact. Simpson to add spark and Siviatu's ball carrying will help too.

- Playing the conditions, it's running rugby time and we've picked a team that can make the best of that e.g. will be playing expansive stuff instead of looking at rolling mauls, which are far more effective in the wet.

- Again with George Ford, he's up against Toby Flood and personally don't see this as a huge difference, many commentators saying that Ford is good enough to start for England (Greenwood, Sir Clive etc). Got no issues playing him in this game.

1. Steenkamp
2. Gray
3. Mas
4. Pierre
5. Palmer
6 harinordqouy
7 Lapandry
8 Heaslip
9 Perenara
10 Lamb
11 Guildford
12 Scott
13 Kahui
14 Sharples
15 Balshaw
16 Wood
17 Deon Fourie
18 Harden
19 Robson
20 CJ Stander
21 Robson
22 Donald
23 JSD

On phone at airport be back later but wanted to post for Nick to see

Leicester Tigers
Manager – LukeLovesLuka

01. Gethin Jenkins	09. Dimitri Yachvili
02. Tom Youngs	10. Jonny Wilkinson (k)
03. Dan Cole
04. Pascal Pape	11. Rene Ranger
05. James Horwill (c)	12. Billy Twelvetrees
06. Tom Croft	13. Brian O'Driscoll
07. Sean O'Brien	14. Vincent Clerc
08. Ernst Joubert	15. Isa Nacewa

16. Andrew Sheridan 17. Christopher Tolofua 18. Brian Mujati 19. Simon Shaw 20. Jacques Burger 21. Micky Young 22. Dominic Waldouck 23. Ugo Monye

Tactics:

We will play to our strengths and play a game built around the intelligence of our HB's and the strength of our lineout in an effort to get our electric back three into space

- Attack the scrum as a weapon - Cole and Jenkins to look to really get the shove on against James and BJ.

- Target the lineout all game. Our lineout is led by Horwill, using either Croft or Joubert as our banker ball, and with Pape and SOB as our other options.
With Yachvili and Wilkinson, we will look to get the ball deep in Worcester territory and contest all lineouts.

- Use the massive line-breakers we have to tire down the Welsh defence.
The likes of SOB, Youngs, Pape and Horwill used off the shoulder at pace off 9/10 crashing through the Worcester defence.

- In general attacking play, we will play off 9 with Yachvili our general pulling the strings. We want Yach and Wilko to control the game, mixing up the point of our attack and looking for where the gaps are.

- Look to play attacking rugby in the backs. 36 to play his natural game with so much experience around him. We want to give BOD time on the ball to release Nacewa, Clerc and Ranger into space.
Croft and Joubert to look to link with our backs and get into space to cause trouble out wide.

- Unload our powerful bench to impact the game in the last 20/30 minutes.

- Wilkinson to kick all penalites.

London Irish
Manager – stnick88

01. Matt Stevens	09. Julien Dupuy
02. Motu Matu'u	10. Nick Evans
03. Martin Castrogiovanni
04. Matt Garvey	11. Marland Yarde
05. Johann Muller	12. Sireli Naqalevuki
06. Jerome Kaino	13. Max Evans
07. Steffon Armitage	14. JP Pieterson
08. Pierre Spies	15. Delon Armitage

16. Grant Shiells 17. James Buckland 18. Jean Baptiste Poux 19. Stuart Hooper 20. Hendrie Fourie 21. Neal De Kock 22. Shane Geraghty 23. Sailosi Tagicakibau

- Look to play a fast, attacking and expansive running game.
- Counter any loose kicks with Armitage, Yarde, JP.
- Evans to control the game and use his experience to get us in the right areas of the pitch.
- Put pressure on Lamb. He is a confidence player and we will look to knock him early on.
- Target the breakdown, get Armitage in quick to force turnovers and secure our own ball quickly.
- Muller is our main lineout jumper, with Garvey, Kaino and Spies all good options.
- This may be Matu'u's debut, but I'm sure this is Perenara and Lamb's first time playing together so the fluidity might not be there.
- Naqalevuki is definitely not a winger, he always players centre for the Chiefs. Evans also plays 13 in France and a lot for Scotland. Both are recognised as centres not wingers.
- Evans to kick all pens for goal, if out of range go for touch.

Newcastle Falcons
Manager – Sgt Pooly

01. Fabien Barcella	09. Ben Youngs
02. Rory Best	10. Toby Flood
03. Clement Ric
04. Brad Thorn	11. Miles Benjamin
05. Paul O’Connell(c)	12. Sonny Bill Williams
06. Chris Robshaw	13. George Lowe
07. Heinrich Brussow	14. Tommy Bowe
08. Toby Faletau	15. James O’Connor

16. Lee Mears 17. Scott Wilson 18. Alex Waller 19. Geoff Parling 20. Kelly Brown 21. Luke Burgess 22. Colin Slade 23. Ben Williams

Tactics

HIGH TEMPO, POSSESION, BIG CARRIES.....GAME CHANGERS IN BACKLINE IN JOC, SBW, YOUNGS, BOWE

WE’VE NOT LOST TO SAINTS FOR 2 SEASONS

TARGET GEORGE FORD WITH MASSIVE CARRIES WITH SBW COMING OFF FLOOD

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 play flat and 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 (if weakness seen – POC to call shots). If 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 opposition back row tied into the scrum giving Youngs, Flood & JOC more space to work in. POC/Parling will marshal the lineout and look to get fast ball off the top with 4 strong jumpers.

If a weakness is seen in the set piece POC will go for the jugular.

Pack & Breakdown:

Look for strong carries from our pack, tying in the opposition forwards. We’ll be looking to keep the ball alive and look for the offload when on. Our backrow will target the breakdown and look to get in a second tackler to tie up the opposition 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 opposition pack in the contact.

DEFENCE:

Look to neutralise the opposition early on and allow out backrow to dominate affairs. Thorn/POC in particular will look to hit the ruck hard and remove attempted turnovers from the equation allowing us to ruck over the ball and control the breakdown. Robshaw will look to target the opposition fly half early on and pressure his kicking. Youngs to sweep in behind the defensive line.

Backs:

Basically get the backs into play whenever possible with Flood, SBW & JOC the spark. JOC will go looking for the ball in midfield and SBW will come into the line to give us a direct hard runner and alternative/decoy to Lowe. Youngs will eye the gaps and look for the taps to keep us moving. Pace, power and flair in the back 3 to play off the chaos SBW will cause when he smashes through Ford.


POINTS:

SCRUM & LINEOUT – Target throughout, if weakness seen go for the jugular
LINEOUT – With no lineout leader in Saints pack look to target all game. Hartley can really struggle if he doesn’t start well and with no leader or top ops in the Saints pack we can take their first phase ball to pieces.
PHYSICAL PACK – Win the collosion and target rucks to drive through opposition
BREAKDOWN – Brussow/Robshaw to work their magic and Youngs to monitor to attack on turnover ball. Brussow to play the ref early on
FORM – We are Saints bogey team and they always struggle against us
BACKS – World class running options and finishers
ROLLING MAUL – With our big front 5 look to get the rolling maul going off selected lineouts and eat up the ground

MAJOR POINTS

GEORGE FORD – As we’ve seen in the bigger games, Ford is not up to this level of rugby (basically Int standard) We’ll send big runners down his channel all day and and with Giteau alongside he has no strong defensive back up.

LINEOUT – Saints have no lineout leader in their pack and with POC one of the worlds best operators they could struggle for ball from their own throw plus allowing us fast attacking ball from own throw. Theres nothing better than quick ball off the top and SBW running into space against Ford/Giteau.

LACK OF CARRIERS IN SAINTS PACK – We’ll be targeting the collision and with no big carrying options in the Saints pack they’ll struggle for front foot ball. With no front foot ball Ford will be on back foot allowing our backrow to target him throughout the game. Not a game to make your first AP start!

SAINTS FRONT ROW HEIGHTS Hayman (6'4"), Domingo (5'8"). This would cause real issues in the scrum with such differing heights and Saints would struggle to be effective as a unit.

Tigers Away

01. Paul James	09. Eion Reddan
02. Richardt Strauss	10. Olly Barkley
03. BJ Botha
04. Ollie Kohn	11. Sean Maitland
05. Luke Charteris	12. Fergus McFadden
06. Ryan Jones (c)	13. Matt Hopper
07. Justin Tipuric	14. James Short
08. Ben Morgan	15. Cameron Shepherd

16. Koree Britton 17. Nathan Catt 18. Chris Budgen 19. Craig Newby 20. Mamuka Gorgodze 21. Kerr-Barlow 22. Sam Vesty 23. Rob Cook



Tactics

A bit more experience in this squad with a centre partnership and back row who can cause a lot of destruction and a back 3 who are constantly dangerous.



Forwards

*Experienced front row who will look to dominate the set piece and we have experience on the bench to come on and do similar,

*2^nd rows are two players who will look to dominate the lineouts and with Gorgodze we can bring on the confrontation in the 2^nd half to switch our style of play,

*Backrow has Tips for the breakdown, Jones for the tackles and wind-up and Morgan providing brute strength off the back of the scrum and off the backs, again the bench provides more breakdown control with Newby.



Backs

* Reddan to marshall and Barkley to aim for corners when under pressure but to release McFadden when possible, he will go for goal when in range,

* McFadden to release Hopper who will have a winger on his shoulder at all times and also look for Morgan to break through the defence, Hopper is an exciting runner and will look to take it close off McFadden then drag the defence wide,

* A fast back 3 here who will always look for work and are strong in defence and under the high ball, on the bench we have Cook who is an excellent goal kicker and steady in defence.



Defence

*McFadden to lead this,

*Tips to be on 10’s shoulder looking to wrap the ball up,

*Contest at the breakdown and all set piece,

*No silly penalties anymore!

Will have tactics in before 8 am

"Again with George Ford, he's up against Toby Flood and personally don't see this as a huge difference"

You may not but Cockerill & Lancaster do.....Ford is a fair bit off Flood in experience, abilty, defence, goal kicking.....Ford is not ready to start to for England when he's not even first choice at Tigers

"SBW - will look to get Lydiate to marshall him out of the game"

How does a flanker marshal SBW from 1st phase ball from a scrum???

"Specifically on Ford, he is now just 3kg lighter than Toby Flood and is a very good defensive player"

Ford has never had players like SBW & Thorn running at him. Tigers website has Ford at 80kg and Flood at 91kg.

"Lineout is very functional with Parisse leading"

Parisse does not lead for club or country....

Good luck Pooly, not going to debate any points as have put my tactics down and happy with Ford at no10, and with Hartley's throwing, Parisse leading Stade's lineout at the moment I'm not overly worried about the lineout either.

Parisse not leading Stade lineout Chris, never has, not sure where you got your info from.

Surprised you started Ford tbh but your call.

Should be a good one, always tight affairs at Franklins.

You two should really get a room by the way, all this flirting with each other has been going on for years now!

Pooly are you trying to get me to write a list of the players in your team that are out of form? Because I could do that quite easily...

Thought I'd rather not as my fingers could cramp and I dont want to write Volume II of War and Peace.

(my bad).

Fill your boots Chris, I've not mentioned lack of form/games about any of your players....just facts.

We both have players not at the top of their game and some who are just not at the same levels of opposition.

All opinions

Even my out of form players are banging in the tries though mate - Chris Ashton take a bow son!

All you need is Cips to have a half decent game at some point this season and all your dreams will have come true!!!

Then perhaps I could loan Ben Youngs from you, give him some decent coaching and maybe he could remember he's a rugby player, as for the last year or so I really couldnt tell you what sport he's been trying to play (ohhhh handbag)...

I'm guessing you missed him dragging Tigers back into the AP final (after Ford froze on the big stage) and his motm performance in his last game against SA???

As apposed to Lawes who was excellent in SA.....oh yes he hasnt played for nearly a year!!

I'm done anyway, it past predo cut off time in middle east....

We could slag off each others players all night I reckon so I'll bow out ungraciously now

But my players are in form...just makes you look silly if you slag them off. My insults all have great substance and meaning.

Give you some credit though Robshaw is a pretty good player, and SBW. They'd get on my bench I think.

And I bid you all good night. Good luck Pooly!

Haha....yea something like that.

Night all x

Right, match thread is updated (CJB, I have edited Charlie Faumuania out of your side and put in the first available prop I saw on your team page).

Predictions are OPEN

01. Gurthro Steenkamp 09. TJ Perenara
02. Joe Gray 10. Ryan Lamb
03. Nicolas Mas
04. Julien Pierre 11. Zac Guildford
05. Tom Palmer 12. Matt Scott
06. Imanol Harinordoquy 13. Richard Kahui
07. Alexandre Lapandry 14. Charlie Sharples
08. Jamie Heaslip 15. Ian Balshaw


16. Nick Wood 17. Deon Fourie 18. Rupert Harden 19. George Robson 20. CJ Stander 21. Dan Robson 22. Stephen Donald 23. James Simpson-Daniel

Glaws tactics

- Glaws to target scrums. Motutu is in his first game and is usually a sub in super 15. Mas will look to get after stevens and get a wheel on
- Look for lineout domination to starve irish of ball. Pierre, Palmer and Hari to challenge every throw and look to get after motutu's darts.
- Glaws to look to control the ball with a pack of pure ball carriers. We will look to get over the gain line and if safe offload. if not to generate quick ruck ball we want to attack with our backs.
- heaslip will pick up a lot in the first half and look to pick on Kaino who has not played in about a year.
- We have bought in TJ perenara and Lamb as want to play a quick atttacking game once we can win the battle up front.
- lamb to pick up where he left off against glos in real life last week and run the show.
-Scott alongside him acts as a second distirbutor
- Scott and Kahui to target naqlevuki and Evans who are 2 wingers playing at centre.
- Glos back 3 to take quick throw ins and counter any loose ball when the game breaks up
- Impact bench to close out the match
- Should be high scoring so good luck nick

Bath Rugby 15 London Wasps 16

Big physical pack from Bath, slightly lighter but more mobile one from Wasps. Not sure of the spark that Wigglesworth and Skrela would be able to provide at half back, and as a result not sure how effective the Bath backline would be. I do like the Wasps centre pairing, very solid and also with Pisi they will get some good go forward for their team. Tactically Wasps are right to be patient and and go through the phases and they have players in there who can do this. Looking through both sets of tactics there is more clarity for me to Wasps, where Arry tells me how he is going to play, such as the first men to the breakdown not going for the ball, but to ruck past and clear things out. Bath's tactics in this area simply say 'At the breakdown we will look for Akapusi Qera and Brad Shields to win turnover ball or manage to slow down opposition ball. They will both be looking to cause as much trouble as possible', which just tells me what they want to achieve and not how they are going to achieve it.

The teams ultimately have little between them in terms of ability, but I can see the Wasps backs suplementing the forwards defensive efforts more than I can see the Bath backs doing for them. Also, with it being close in terms of abilty, I have to look at the tactics, and for me Wasps gameplan is better and has more clarity. Big defensive effort, and Wasps take a tight one here for me.

Bath v Wasps
- Slight edge to Bath front row but think Wasps have better balance in the backrow. Agree with Pete that Bath half back combo wont be the greatest to unleash there backline in good conditions. Solid Wasps backline, defensively good but may lack a little in attack compared to Bath.
22-20

Quins v Welsh
- Strong combo's for Quins upfront with a very good backrow. Welsh have two good scrummagers, powerful locks and a good backrow. Prefer Dusatoir at 6 and think Warbs at 7 could be key for Quins. Wade provides the main spark for Welsh, Quins have plenty of dangerous runners. Think Comtepomi will ignite better than Farrell.
29-25

Tigers v Warriors
- Big powerful Tigers pack that gets a slight edge on the Warriors pack. Warriors have some good players in the backs but think Wilko and 12T outside him can control better and kick there goals to win it.
25-22

Saints v Falcons
- Game of the week. Bit more experience in the 2nd row for Falcons egdes them the front five. The backrows are even though, some great players on show. Prefer the Youngs/Flood combo which again gives Falcons an edge. Both have impressive backlines, smallest margin for Falcons.
35-36

Sale v Saracens
- No real edge to either scrum, but give Saracens the back 5. Half backs go to the home side though, good combo. Slight edge to the Sale backline too and at home a narrow win.
28-26

Bath Rugby 15-17 London Wasps

See a slight edge to the Bath scrum but it’s not an area they will dominate. Fancy Wasps to cause problems at the lineout though. Back row battle is fairly even balance and ability wise to be honest. Can’t see either side getting on top at any one point. Half backs shade to Wasps ability wise. Not sure the Bath pair can play the running rugby Bath want to play and they wont get the best out of that backline. In the backs Bath with a great back 3 on show but Wasps right to target a few kicks in behind. Midfield area fairly similar overall with a good balance to both sides. Rougerie the biggest name but Pisi the form player. I don’t see much between either bench both sides can change it up a bit. Not a whole lot in this one. Usually home advantage would decide it but don’t see the Bath halfbacks getting the running game going that CJB is looking for and see Bath being a bit labored on attack.

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Quins 22-19 Welsh

Can see a slight edge to Welsh at the scrum. See Quins with a bit more at the lineout though and they may cause a few problems. Bit more ball carrying from the Quins front 5. In the back row both sides will get through a lot of work. Shade more carrying wise from Quins again though. In the halfbacks its one apiece. Two good midfield units both sides will get good go forward but shade more solidarity defensively to the Welsh unit. In the back three I feel both sides could be caught defensively but Welsh have the better kicking game in the halfbacks to do so. Maybe some communication issues from the Welsh back 3 on attack though with a few new faces on show. Very tight game here but I see the Quins pack winning those collisions at the key stages and they take a narrow win at home.

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Leicester Tigers 23-16 Worcester Warriors

Two big front 5s will cancel each other out at the scrum. Stronger jumping options for Tigers but Youngs won’t always hit the man so lineout fairly even. Tigers front 5 will get through more work around the park though. In the back row bigger names for Tigers but good form for Worcester sees this fairly tight. At halfback though see the Tigers pair offering a lot more control. See defensive issues for Worcester from 10-13 and the Tigers midfield can take advantage of this. (Talking of defense I see no defensive tactics for tigers?) Two decent back 3s but a little more class to the Tigers combo when attacking. Can see the Tigers replacements sowing up the scrum in the last quarter. Don’t see any problems for Tigers getting over the gain line in this one which is crucial but see Worcester struggling a bit with the Tigers pack out working them.

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London Irish 32-26 Gloucester

See Gloucester getting a slight edge at scrum time in this one with Stevens/Matu struggling a little. Lineout wise both sides have plenty of decent jumpers but both hooks can have the occasional yips. Can’t see anything between the front 5s for work rate. In the back row Harri much better at 8 while Kaino struggling for rating now. More form to the Irish 7/8 though see them shade the back row. At half back Evans will bring a lot more to the game then Lamb. Not sure how much change the Gloucester midfield will get from Irish with two recognized centres on?? Back 3s are fairly even overall. Balshaw could be caught defensively but can’t see anything to target this in the Irish game plan. Nothing between the benches either really. Just see Irish getting the better of the back row battle with more form allowing Evans the cleaner ball.

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Northampton Saints 27-28 Newcastle Falcons

Well plenty on the tactical front in this one!!
Can see Newcastle getting at both set pieces a bit in this one. The Falcons 2nd row will give a better showing on the loose. In the back row see Robshaw the more complete BS, See OS even with Brussow struggling for form and Parisse the stronger at 8 so fairly even overall! Halfbacks go to Falcons with Youngs form starting to pick up. See the midfield fairly even overall but there is a bit more form to the Saints back 3. Little bit more impact from the Saints bench. See Newcastle doing more on attack with Ford struggling in this one with the front 5 not giving him much of a platform.

Leicester Tigers 29 Worcester Warriors 24

Tigers have probably bigger names in the pack, but Worcester have some very solid players who will do a job within the team. For me, and I appreciate that I might be in a minority here, O'Brien is not a 7, he is a 6 or 8. Up against Tipuric at the breakdown, I would see the Tigers backrow being marginally second best, however, this is countered slightly by the fact that Dan Cole is currently excelling in this area, so it balances itself out across the pack overall and there is no real dominance either way. In terms of the gainline collisions, which for me is a key area in the modern game, both teams have forwards who can be strong in that area. Where I think Tigers have a marginal edge is in the power of their backs compared to Worcesters. They could get some joy at the gainline in that regard.

For Tigers, Ranger can be cuaght out positionally, and Short is pacy enough to potentially expose this, but likewise for Worcester, Matt Hopper can mis read where he should be defensively, and in 36 and BOD Leicester have a centre pairing that could exploit this. I think Worcester have missed a trick a little bit tactically, where I would have looked to play a territorial game and used Charteris to attack Youngs throwing in near to his own goal line. overall, they are very small margins, but I have Tigers as marginally ahead in most areas, and in particular the ones that I consider as key, so combined with home advantage it's a relatively comfortable win.

London Irish 38 Gloucester 35

Totally agree with Mat's last comment on his tactics, that thsi would be a high scorer. Some real quality on show across both teams, especially in the pack. I would however see Gloucester getting some real joy at the lineout, where Motu'u is not the best thrower. He is a monster carrier and tackler, but his darts and scrummaging are not great, so Iwould also see an edge for Gloucester in the scrum, although I don't see many scrums in the game, so not a huge issue for Irish really.

Both sides have some real big carriers in the pack, but I see Irish having slightly the better fo the gainline collisions, so a marginal edge for them there. Kaino through lack of game time is starting to lose some rating for me though, so Nick needs to be careful how long he ontinues to start him as it will start to effect how I see things soon. One area where I think Irish have a good edge is at halfback, where Evans is on a different level to Lamb, and will really get the best from the players outside him. Lamb can do this when on top form, and he had a very good first half last week in real life, but seemed to go off the boil a bit second half (although I am only basing that on the highlights I saw), so I have him getting his backs going a bit, but not as much as Evans.

Pretty even up front then, but at home and with better service from the half backs, it's Irish who take a high scoring close one for me.

Bath 19 - 19 Wasps

Advantage to Bath up front with a stronger unit, not a lot in the 2nd rows, edge to Wasps in the lineout though. Two well balanced back row units, edge to Wasps though with a bit more class. Tough to call HB's - slight edge to Wasps but not a lot in it. Really good centre battle - not a lot in it really. Much more quality for Bath in the back three. Finding these two tough to split - at Wasps they would win, but think Bath have enough at home to get the draw.

Harlequins 24 - 22 Welsh

Not a great deal in it up front - Ress might edge it to Quins but marginal really. Similar story in the 2nd rows - Hines helps Welsh considerably and they match Quins for me here too. Quins take the breakdown, but Welsh's unit is extremewly powerful and won't be beaten. One apiece in the HB's with two nice units but Parra is the standout here. Two similar looking centre duos - Roberts vs JD2 would be worth the admission fee alone. Once again simlar in the back threes - not a great deal in it. Not a lot in this at all, home advanatge all that sways it.

Irish 28 - 26 Gloucester

Both TH's to get the advanatge means there is no clear winner in the scrum. Not a great deal in the 2nd rows, but Gloucester will dominate the lineout. Back row is tough to call. Kaino (form) vs Hari (out of position) means no clear winner, but expect Steffon to give Irish the advantage vs Lapandry. Irish take the HB's with more quality and better control. Not a great deal in the centres, slight edge to Gloucester but marginal. Not a lot in the back three's either, maybe edge to Irish. So tough to pick the result here, home advatnge and HB's means Irish nick it.

Northampton Saints 23 Newcastle Falcons 20

Ok, so apologies in advance, but this might be war and peace as I have read through everything both teams have written and there are quite a lot of points to pick up on. I'll start with the last thing that I read, which was about the difference in heights of the Saints props. I do agree that a particularly tall Th and short LH is not ideal in terms of working as unit in the scrum. This would be a big mark down for me in poor conditions where there are likely to be a lot of scrums, but as it is, it's only a small mark down in these ocnditions where I don't see many knock ons happening.

Form, along with tactics always plays a major part for me in this game, and as I said last week I do have some issues over the form of some of the Falcons players. I'm not going to go into it all in detail again, suffice to say that I have issues in that regard with POC, Brussow, Faletau and Bowe (the two Irishmen having missed a lot of rugby with injury recently). For Saints, in terms of form, as I said a few weeks back in a discussion on the homepage, Foden has not been at his peak for a year, and Hartley and AWJ have both been a bit up and down over the past 12 months. Overall though, more form issues for Falcons than for Saints for me.

Gainline collisions is a key area for me, and taking into account the overall ability of the players and what I see as form issues I see Lydiate as a key man in this area. he has the ability to chop the best in the world down early in the tackle and I see him here being key for Saints defensively.

Ford defensively is potentially an issue, but in attack he and Giteau will get the best out of the Saints players. Flood will do a good job getting Newcastle playing as well.

As I am going through this game thinking about how the combinations work and the key battles I am finding it really difficult, as wher one team is strong the other isn't as strong and vice versa. Tough call as expected, but at home and with some form issues for Falcons in particular in the pack, I think Saints take this one.

Saints 25 - 25 Newcastle

The banter tells you both managers know this is a close game...

Both LH's to take the scrum, and two even HK's means nothing in it up front. Big advantage Newcastle in the 2nd rows with much better options. Not much in the back rows with the 6's similar, Newcastle taking 7 and Saints taking 8. One apiece in the HB's with Youngs out of form but Flood better than Ford. Same story in the centres, with SBW and Tuilagi the better options. Better form for Saints in the back threes sees them edge it there. Only real area of dominance for either side is the 2nd row to Newcastle. Home advantage cancels this out. Otherwise very tight. Can't split 'em.

Sale 26 - 23 Saracens

No real advanatge to either front rows - neither unit has enough to dominate. Prefer Sarries experienced 2nd row combo and think they will get an advantage here. Hell of a back row contest - struggling to see either side dominating. Sale edge the HB combo, and see SJE's point of FTD's kicking being a very valid one. Sale take the centres, and edge the back threes. Sarries edge the pack, but in good weather and at home, see Sale's backs having that bit too much.

Guys, I know it's been an ongoing thing but these tactics: i normally copy and paste this page so I can predict easier but some tactics for one side are coming out at 3 pages of a4 paper! Obviously I do shrink it down sizewise but some still come out at 1 1/2 pages of tactics at size 6 font.

If I'm honest I will struggle to take everything in with tactics of this length!

Harlequins 23 – 21 London Welsh
Give the edge to London Welsh in the scrum, two excellent scrummaging props who will provide a solid platform for them. It’s a huge physical battle up front with both sides placing a lot of emphasis on winning the collision area. It will be brutal, both sides have good balance and dynamic carriers and it really is difficult to give an edge to either pack in open play.

Prefer the London Welsh half backs, I think Para will provide the smoother service out of the scrum halves. Think the offloading will work with the London Welsh backline, Davies has good hands, I prefer him at outside centre though as he has a good outside break on him but still a good option at 12.

Prefer the Quins centres and back three to London Welsh’s. Roberts and Joseph is a great combo that has good balance. Serious pace and threat out wide that will score tries. Really like Christian Wade who is in fantastic form at the moment, think he will fit in well to the London Welsh backline no problem as they want to play fast, open rugby which he thrives on.

Very close up front, apart from the scrum where I can see London Welsh getting some joy, London Welsh have power but so do Quins. Both sides will get good ball but I think Quins have more threat and pace to put away the chances. Think Wade will be a huge player for Welsh and can see him scoring a few tries here. Home advantage and the better backline just gives Quins the victory.

Leicester Tigers 22 – 19 Worcester Warriors
Close battle again up front, see it being very close in the scrum with neither side really gaining an advantage. Tigers have plenty of jumpers but whether Youngs can hit them or not is another question.

Charteris is a decent lineout operator and can see Worcester causing some problems for the Tigers at the lineout. Both packs have good carriers, Tigers have the more dynamic forwards though and I can see the likes of O’Brien and co setting out a good platform for Luke’s side to build from.

Yachvili and Wilkinson both have excellent kicking games and I think they can exert pressure on Worcester in their own half and come away with points. Step up in quality for Leicester in the back line, think BOD will cause Hopper some problems, think there will be gaps for the Tigers to exploit and they have the players to finish off the chances on offer.

London Irish 28 – 25 Gloucester Rugby
Again a close battle in the forwards, not sure how well the London Irish lineout will function with Matu'u making his debut, I think Gloucester have an advantage here with several jumpers I think they will be able to make a mess of the Irish lineout. Both packs have good carriers, Kaino hard to judge like many have said. Think Armitage will do well at the breakdown and manage to slow down the Gloucester ball.

Prefer the London Irish half backs, Evans right on form at the moment I see him really pulling the strings and sending the runners in Irish’s backline over the gain line with his excellent distribution. Lamb for me is too unpredictable, I think the Irish back three is electric and I imagine there will be quite a few loose kicks coming their way which I think will be returned with interest. Gloucester will fight but I think with the better half backs and home advantage London Irish will come away with a hard fought victory.

Northampton Saints 30 – 28 Newcastle Falcons
This is definitely the pick of this weeks fixtures. The form of some of the players in the Falcons pack is quite patchy and hard to judge. Good balance to the Saints pack, I think Lydiate is the man to stop the Falcons going forward, his tackling is superb and I can see him halting Newcastle at times before the build up a head of steam.

I can see the Falcons getting some joy running at Ford, but I think with the ball in hand Ford and Giteau can do some damage for the Saints, and bring in the likes of Foden and Halfpenny with their passing. Ashton is in good form and I see the Saints backline linking up nicely here. With the likes of Launchbury, Hartley and Tuilagi the Saints will get front foot ball and they have some real spark and pace to do some damage.

Flood playing flat will create chances, but I think the Saints have plenty of players in good form and a backline that will put away the chances they create. They have a pack that can hold onto the ball through the phases and their backs will score tries. Think the Saints will manage to prevent Newcastle from really building any momentum up here and will be the victors.

Sale Sharks 23 – 22 Saracens
As in all the fixtures this week, this is a close forward battle. Prefer the Sarries back row it has good balance, think Rennie will steal Sarries plenty of ball here. Very close battle in the forwards, think the scrum will be just as tight. Think Sale will control the lineout though.

Think Sale edge the backs, Sexton to call the shots and along with Hook who is a good distributor I think the Sale wingers will see plenty of the ball. Good experience in the Sarries backline but I think Sale have enough quality in the back line to come away with victory, just.

Will predict later on tonight or tomorrow during RC

Bath 29–28 Wasps

Great game. Arry has been unlucky that he’s came up against one of the strongest 4N sides in Bath. Little shade to bath in front 5’a but Deacon & Brooker not at top rating due to injuries. Can see Bath edging scrum and Wasps lineout. Little bit more in the Bath backrow but 2 good units. I really like Wasps halfbacks and they’ll really contest. Similar in centres with Barritt giving Allen a game and Rougerie similar with Pisi. Bath back 3 is top draw though and class above despite Wasps having a solid unit. Tight game but Bath just shade.

Harlequins 25–21 Welsh

Although can’t see too many scrums would be a great battle and nothing really in the props with Quins offering a bit more in the loose. See Borthwick starting to settle in for Quins and a good unit. Better for Welsh with Hines adding some steel although on debut not fully with it. Quins backrow stronger as a unit and again more debuts for Welsh could hinder them slightly.Not much in halfbacks and centres but I think Quins back 3 a better unit. See Welsh suffering a bit for fluidity with so many loan players and debuts through their side. They’ll gel but I think it’ll take a few games. Quins edge at home.

Leicester 26–24 Worcester

Cracking pack battle and see Worcester matching Tigers for most of the game. Tigers have a bit more in the backline and home advantage sees them through in a tough game. I like the balance of your backline more Prop.

Irish 27–24 Gloucester

Not much in scrum but agree with Matt that Matu’u would struggle, he’s not great anyway and would find calls hard. Engine room is Gloucesters with a great combo but prefer Irish 7/8 and Kaino pretty equal with Hari on flank despite lacking a lot of form he’s world class so holds some rating for me. Irish halfbacks much stronger and one a piece in centres . Yarde may struggle a bit but Irish back 3 as a unit stronger with Balshaw not great for Gloucester. Tight game but irish have enough in pack and more in backs to see home advantage count.

Sale 28–23 Saracens

Great pack battle and can see Sarries really contesting. Would be a real tight game but Sarries lacking a game plan really hinders them and can see Sale taking control in the latter stages. Shame as it’s a real tight affair.