Fantasy Aviva Premiership Round Six

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Newcastle Falcons vs. Harlequins
Cloudy, 12 degrees, 13mph winds

Newcastle Falcons
Manager – Sgt Pooly

01. Soane Tonga’uiha	09. Ben Youngs
02. Rory Best	10. Toby Flood
03. Paul Doran-Jones
04. Brad Thorn	11. Alex Cuthbert
05. Geoff Parling	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. Clement Ric 18. Fabien Barcella 19. Ed Slater 20. Kelly Brown 21. Luke Burgess 22. Ben Williams 23. Miles Benjamin


Tactics

HOME ADVANTAGE – Won every game at home in over 2 years
BACKLINE – Major talent and game breakers in backline

General – High intensity, quick passing game. Look to keep the ball alive in the forwards and use the offload to keep the tempo high. Play the wind if needed and attack the opposition lineout.

FORWARDS

Set Piece:

Scrum – With the good conditions and minimal restarts expected we’ll be looking to use the scrum as a restart and get the ball in and out and provide quick ball to our backline. If a glaring weakness is seen in the opposition we’ll look to keep the ball in longer but this is the call of the pack captain. Strong bench options to put squeeze on in 2nd half.

Lineout – quick ball off the top using Parling as primary caller, also look to use Robshaw at the tail and Faletau, Thorn to offer front ball. Target opposition ball and contest outside of 22 especially. Good jumping options throughout side. In opposition half look for Best (one of safest throws in game) to throw to middle/back which generates quicker/attacking ball. With our midfield coming into the attacking line flat we’ll look to open up the opposition midfield.

Breakdown – Look to target breakdown throughout game and really slow opposition attacking ball down and limit the opposition FH’s options forcing him to kick. Brussow to lead the attack with Faletau & Robshaw providing a devastating trio. Will look to get Thorn/Tonga in at rucks who’ll clear out and give our backrow the ideal opportunity to get hands on ball

Defence – Look to use the blitz defence and get in the face of the opposition preventing any momentum. Youngs to sweep in behind and look out for any grubbers.

BACKS

Halfbacks – Look to get fast attacking ball and Youngs to play how he does he does for Leicester by raising the tempo and attacking the fringes. Flood to play flat to the line and bring SBW into play.

Centres – Look to Get SBW hitting it hard through the centre and draw in the opposition defence. Also look to use him as decoy with Flood using the miss pass and getting Lowe on the outside or JOC through the middle/outside.

Back 3 – Serious gas and power to exploit the opposition out wide. JOC to come into the line and will mix it up off Flood. Look to exploit Cuthbert & Bowe height in the opposition half with Flood putting in the cross-field kick.

POINTS:


Harlequins
Manager – Steven_Sharks

01. Joe Marler	09. Karl Dickson
02. Schalk Brits	10. Quade Cooper
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. Rob Kearney

16. Matthew Rees 17. Mako Vunipola 18. Kieran Brookes 19. Jerome Thion 20. Carl Fearns 21. Lee Dickson 22. Greig Laidlaw 23. Luke Morahan

Tactics

We are quite simply going to play like Quins do in real life. We are going to stretch Newcastle with carriers and pace throughout the side. We are going to look to control the set piece and have Cooper take the ball to the line and put others into space. Karl Dickson is going to play the game at pace and get quick ball out to our backs.

We will look for our forwards to carry off 9 and 10 in the early phases but then we are going to get into wider channels and get the ball into the hands of our dangermen in the back ground.

We need our forwards to ruck honestly and to get us quick ball which we require. Whilst we have a mobile pack we also have a very powerful pack which will hold its own in an arm wrestle.

Important to win collisions and look for offloads in attack to keep the game at a quick pace. The likes of Marler, Brits, Afoa, Wood, Warburton and Denton will love this in our pack.

We will look to keep the ball in hand for long periods so as to tire Newcastle and forcing them to make lots of tackles.In the backs we will look to explout the gaps and use the electric pace we have in our backline.

In defence we hammer into Newcastle at 100%. Put everyone of there players under pressure and look to force errors. Warburton and Wood to marshall the breakdown and slow down Newcastle ball. Borthwick to ruin Newcastle line as he has been doing for Saracens.

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Gloucester vs. Bath Rugby
Heavy Rain, 12 degrees, 9mph winds

Gloucester RFC
Manager – Mat

01. Guthro Steenkamp	09 Will Genia
02. Joe Grey	10.Ryan Lamb
03. Nicola Mas
04. Richie Grey	11. Zac guildford
05. George Robson	12. Matt Scott
06. Steven Ferris	13. Richard Kahui
07. Alexandre Lapandry	14. JSD
08. Immanol Harinordoqouy (c)	15. Iain Balshaw

Subs:
16. Nick Wood 17. Jamie George 18. Rupert Harden 19. Julien Pierre 20. Jamie Heaslip21. Dan Robson22. Charlie Sharples 23. Berrick Barnes [/quote]

Glos welcome bath for the west country derby. It is pooring with rain and we have picked a side for the conditions.

Tactics

We are aiming to keep the ball and play proper wet weather rugby.

We have picked a huge scrummaging front 5 and each of our players will be looking to win their individual battle. We believe that man for man our front 5 is better and they will be key to winning the game.

We will aim to be rock steady on our own ball and look to pick up at 8 a lot to keep hold of the ball and play our possession game. On their ball we will be looking to dismantle their scrum and take their front row to the cleaners.

The other area of the set piece we are aiming to dominate is the lineout. We have hari grey robson Lapandry and ferris. On our own ball we will be looking to win and maul us in to good field positions to launch attacks.

We will aim to steal there ball and further dominate possession.

We will be targetting the breakdown to make sure we win our ball easily and disrupt theirs.

General play.

Our pack is full of carriers and we will be looking to keep the ball and really take it to bath. The aim is to maintain possession and get in to the Right areas where genia can orchestrate things.
He will look to hit lamb who will either nudge it to the corners or where in right position look to go wide. Scott is a kicking and distributing 12 and will slot in to ten where necessary. Kahui will also be used as a crash option to keep hold of ball and start building again.

We see ourselves as having a class bench of forwards and will look To get them on early on in to second half as this game will be tiring. Barnes will come on to steer us home.

Any penalties in range will be kicked. We will also employ a blitz defence as handling will be difficult and we can pressure bath this way.


Bath Rugby
Manager – inthefastlane

01. Cian Healy	09. Richard Wigglesworth
02. Chris Brooker	10. Charlie Hodgson
03. Euan Murray
04. Jarrad Hoeata	11. Stuart Hogg
05. Graham Kitchener	12. Anthony Allen
06. James Haskell	13. Aurelien Rougerie
07. David Pocock	14. George North
08. Tom Guest	15. Rob Miller

16. Davit Kubrashvilli 17. Will Tanner 18. Jon Golding 19. Tom Donnelly 20. Akapusi Qera 21. Fourie Du Preez 22. Maxime Medard 23. Isiah Toeava

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 Murray and Healy and we feel we can really punish the Saints scrum, pushing them backwards. With our second row partnership we are looking at Jarrad Hoeata 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 Guest, Haskell and Healy dangerous runners who can really create gaps for our backs. We will be looking for lots of energy from our forwards to open up holes to be exploited. Our carrying is somewhere we feel we have a distinct advantage. We will really look to target Ryan Lamb with our carries. At the breakdown we will look for David Pocock and James Haskell to win turnover ball or manage to slow down opposition ball by going through opponents. They will both be looking to cause as much trouble as possible.

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 Miller, Hogg and North who are all deadly runners, running at the Sale defences. Wigglesworth will control the tempo of the backs and will look to keep the backs calm and composed. We will look to get Allen + Rougerie involved in the game as much as possible. Hodgson will look to get involved in our attack, linking our play

Defence: Look to wrap the defensive line. Look for Pocock to put pressure on Lamb who we feel will struggle.

Substitutes: We have some really good options on the bench who we feel can really add to the game. Golding and Kubrashvilli can come in and help strengthen our front row. Donnelly will look to come on and shore up the lineout. Akapusi Qera is a quality player who can really cause trouble around the park. FDP will look to control our tempo late in the game. Toeava and Medard have the attacking spark that can real create something for our side.

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London Irish vs. Northampton Saints
Light Rain, 12 degrees, 7mph winds

London Irish
Manager – stnick88

01. Jean Baptiste Poux	09. Julien Dupuy
02. Tom Lindsay	10. Nick Evans
03. Martin Castrogiovanni
04. Matt Garvey	11. Marland Yarde
05. Johann Muller	12. Luke McAllister
06. Keegan Daniel	13. Mathieu Bastereaud
07. Steffon Armitage	14. JP Pieterson
08. Netani Talei	15. Delon Armitage

16. Matt Stevens 17. James Buckland 18. WP Nel 19. Stuart Hooper 20. Hendrie Fourie 21. Neal De Kock 22. Shane Geraghty 23. Sireli Naqalevuki

Team News

London Irish hand a start to Pacific Islander Netani Talei at number 8. The big ball carrier replaces Springbok Pierre Spies. In the backs, Luke McAllister and Mathieu Bastereaud come in for Sireli Naqalevuki and Max Evans.

'With it set to rain, we wanted Netani to come in to really take the game to Saints and repeatedly get us over that gain line. Pierre deserves a rest and Netani brings a slightly different aspect to the game, his physicality and ball carrying will really test Saints defence. Mac coming back gives us great kicking options and playmaking ability playing outside Nick Evans.'

Tactics

- Play the game in the right areas. Dupuy, Evans and Mac to dictate this. We can still attack and will still run the ball but also we want to dominate territory. Our 9,10,12 are on good form and can control the game for us. We will look to pressure Simpson, whos real life form has been shaky, and try to disrupt the service to Saints backline and spoil their flow.

- Armitage will look to dominate the breakdown, win us penalties and secure quick ball. With Evans and Mac in attack we have great playmakers who can put people like Bast, JP, Yarde and Delon in space. JP will come off his wing and look for gaps to be put through.

- Evans to kick all pens for goal, if out of range go for touch. Muller is our main lineout jumper but Garvey and Daniel will also be used to keep Saints guessing. We will look for quick ball off the top and use Bast as a decoy runner as well as ball carrier to get over the gainline.

- Saints have a dangerous back three so we will not kick loose to them. Any kicks will be in to space with Yarde and JP putting as much pressure as possible on the opposition.

- We will target the scrum with two big powerful scrummaging props on our side. We will look to win as many pens as poss to kick points from.


Northampton Saints
Manager – Dammit Chris

01. Sona Taumalolo	09 Joe Simpson
02. Dylan Hartley	10.Matt Giteau
03. Carl Hayman
04. Bradley Davies	11. Leigh Halfpenny (k)
05. Courtney Lawes	12. Ashley Beck
06. Julian Bonnaire	13. Manu Tuilagi
07. Julian Salvi	14. Chris Ashton
08. Sergio Parisse (c)	15. Ben Foden

Subs:
16. Rob Webber 17. Logovi'i Mulipola 18. Thomas Domingo 19. Joe Launchbury 20. Billy Vunipola 21. Mike Phillips 22. George Ford 23. Siti Siviatu

Tactics

Overview - To play a game based on power, speed, pressure and aggression. To use the extra physicality and ball carrying power of our pack to gain an advantage for open play and look to get over the gainline and create gaps for our backline to exploit.

Aggressive defence to force mistakes and turnovers and will aim to target the breakdown for turnover ball to attack with. Light rain makes conditions perfect for our pack and backline, especially the backthree who are all ideally suited to the weather.

Pack/SetPiece

- strong, physical pack and an area we feel we can target Irish with. Big ball carriers throughout and will look to work through the phases and tie in Irish defenders before going wide to our backline.

- six internationals players to use in the front row that can be used throughout the 80mins and we will really target the scrum, look for penalties and assert dominance to get a good attacking platform here.

- target Lindsay at both the scrum and lineout.

- Bonnaire to control the calls and generate quick ball to attack from at the lineout. We will use Lawes to attack the Irish lineout and will aim to put Lindsay's throwing under a lot of pressure. We've got 4 good options with Davies, Lawes, Bonnaire and Parisse.

- The inform Salvi is a key figure at the breakdown&we are looking to really target this area - this week we have Taulalolo, Davies and Lawes to add more physicality in clearing out the rucks and if the ball is there to be won at the breakdown we will put numbers in and get the fast ball to launch attacks from.


Attack -

- feel we have a very strong pack that has more physicality and ball carriers than Irish, so should see more ball to attack with and have the option to go route one with the forwards - will aim to get Hartley,Taumalolo, Lawes, Davies and Parisse on the ball as much as we can early on and set the game up as a really physical confrontation.

- key is punching holes in the Irish midfield and getting the ball to our backthree in space - Simpson has a big role in making snipes around the fringes (on good form too!) and Giteau to act as key playmaker in bringing runners into the channels. Will look to send attacks down Yarde's channel and see how he handles the pressure.

- look for turnovers to attack Irish when they haven't set their defence, attack with speed and stretch them. Got a lot of try scorers and confident can score more tries than Irish and Halfpenny's boots to match Evans.

Defence -

- aggressive defence and we will look for Lawes to target the Evans/McAlister channel from the off - looking to force mistakes.

- will implement a blitz defence, with Tuilagi looking to marshall Pisi and keep the main Wasps playmaker out of the game.

Key points -

- really strong pack that is vital away from home, big ball carriers and very physical. Good form with 3 wins in a row and good try scoring form

- target Lindsay at the set piece and look to get the upper hand here, very strong scrum and lineout - Saints showed how important this was in real life v Wasps last week.

- strong impact bench that can make a difference towards the end of the game.

- conditions suit the team perfectly in both forwards and the backline.

- great form in real life - Hartley, Lawes, Bonnaire, Parisse, Giteau, Tuilagi and all back three.

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Sale Sharks vs. Leicester Tigers
Cloudy, 12 degrees, 10mph winds

Sale Sharks
Manager – SJE

01. Jerome Schuster	09. Danny Care
02. David Paice	10. Johnny Sexton
03. Davit Zirakishvilli
04. Stephen Sykes	11. David Strettle
05. Christian Day	12. Francois Steyn
06. Peter O'Mahony	13. Robbie Freuen
07. Fulgence Quedragao	14. Keith Earls
08. Louis Picamoles	15. Nick Abendanon

16. Vasil Kakovin 17. Darren Dawdiuk 18. Luc Ducalcon 19. Dave Attwood 20. Matt Kvestic 21. Ben Spencer 22. James Hook 23. Kyle Eastmond

Key Points

• Fantastic record at home. In the last two years we have lost just one game at home. Games between Sale & Tigers have always been tight so home support is massive.

• We come into this game with some momentum ourselves with two good wins including a great performance away to Bath.

• Fantastic real life form throughout the side with the likes of Zirka, Day, POM, Pickles, the halfbacks, Steyn, Earls & Bendy all going really well.

Tactics

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 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 & Steyn and force Tigers to come at us from deep.

• With a powerful front 5 on show we will look to get at least parity at the scrum. 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 Tigers 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.

• 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 Tigers 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 of any loose ball.

• 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.

Leicester Tigers
Manager – LukeLovesLuka

01. Andrew Sheridan	09. Dimitri Yachvili
02. Stephen Moore	10. Jonny Wilkinson (k)
03. Brian Mujati
04. Alistair Hargreaves	11. Ugo Monye
05. James Horwill (c)	12. Billy Twelvetrees
06. Sean O'Brien	13. Brian O'Driscoll
07. James Scaysbrook	14. Vincent Clerc
08. Thomas Waldrom	15. Isa Nacewa

16. Gethin Jenkins 17. Tom Youngs 18. Dan Cole 19. Pascal Pape 20. Tom Croft 21. Michael Claasens 22. Brock James 23. Dominic Waldouck

Tactics:

We will play to our strengths and play a game built around our intelligent HB's controlling the game, the power of our gigantic pack and the strength in our set piece.

- Ability to play in different ways - we're not here to kick the ball away. We have the personnel in our side to play a mixture of different styles, and we will play the game as we see it.

- Attack at all scrums with our huge pack - Mujati and Sheridan to look to really get the shove on against Schuster and Zirakishvilli. Jenkins and Cole to pile the pressure on against Kakovin and Ducalcon in the second half.

- Attack at all lineouts. Our lineout is led by Horwill; with Hargreaves, SOB and Scaysbrook as our other jumping options.
Some great lineout stealers in our ranks who will pressure every one of Paice's throws.

- Gigantic pack made up of massive line-breakers, used in the tight to tire down the Sale defence. The likes of Waldrom, SOB, Scaysbrook, Moore, Hargreaves and Horwill to be used to crash through the Sale defence.
Look to play an offloading game, with runners always supporting.

- Scaysbrook is the man charged with reaching the breakdown first and look to turnover possession. With Scaysbrook, SOB, and BOD, we feel our breakdown play will be crucial today.

- In general attacking play, we will play off 9 with Yachvili our general pulling the strings. We want Yach and Wilko to control the game, mixing up the point of our attack and looking for where the gaps are. We want 12T and BOD on the ball looking to send our back three into space.

- We will look to employ a blitz defence, focusing on a quick line speed to hit the ball carrier before he gets to the gainline. We have aggressive forwards to carry out this instruction. Yachvili to sweep behind with an eye on short kicks.

- Unload our powerful bench to impact the game in the second half.

- Wilkinson to kick all penalites.


Key Points:

Gigantic Pack
Average weight of 18st per player, we will look to dominate Sale's pack physically allowing our HB's quick, clean ball.

Form and Momentum
5 wins out of 5, having just beat League Champions Newcastle last week - we are absolutely flying.

Second Half
We feel we can get a massive advantage as the game wears on, and will look to the likes of Jenkins, Cole, Pape and Croft to really give us the upper hand in the second half.

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Saracens vs. London Welsh
Light Rain, 12 degrees. 8mph winds

Saracens
Manager – Driver

01.Matt Mullen	09.Jean-Marc Doussain
02.John Smit	10.Francois Trinh-Duc (K)
03.Craig Mitchell
04.Lionel Nallet	11.Mark Cueto
05.Ali Williams	12.Chris Bell
06.Joe Van Nikirk(c)	13.Henry Trinder
07.Ross Rennie	14.Tim Visser
08.Rapheal Lakafia	15.Freddie Burns (k)

16.Hika Elliot 17.Max Lahiff 18.Phil Swainstone 18.Tim Swinson 19.Luke Narraway 20.Dewaldt Duvenage 21.Paddy Jackson 22.Adam Thompstone

Tactics


This is a big game for us and we will stick to a simple game plan and limit our mistakes through this. Our forwards will work hard in the tight to ensure we keep the possession and make the Welsh pack work hard with runners coming round the corner with the likes of Cueto and Visser looking to get involved from the wing and run at the 10 channel from deep.

Attacking wise.

1. Plenty of carriers in the team, ask questions of the Welsh team with the likes of JVN , Lakafia Visser , Bell and Trinder running at them
   
2. JMD and FTD to play the percentages , keep a level head throughout. kick when we have and use the ball when the oppertunity presents itself
   
3. High tempo in the attack with the ball presented in front of them

Blitz defense with plenty of big hitters and 9 sweeping behind to cover any kicks.


Home advantage - plenty of pressure on Welsh on the road and the Saracens crowd right behind us in this huge game.


London Welsh
Manager – Ozzy3213

01. Alex Corbisiero	09. Morgan Parra
02. Bismarck du Plessis	10. Owen Farrell
03. Adam Jones
04. Nathan Hines	11. Matt Jess
05. George Skivington	12. Jonathon Davies
06. Kevin McLaughlin	13. Darren Cave
07. Thierry Dusautoir ©	14. Christian Wade
08. Sione Kalamafoni	15. Louis Ludik

16. Chris Whitehead 17. Brett Sturgess 18. David Wilson 19. James Hanks 20. Tom Johnson 21. Charlie Davies 22. Butch James 23. Ross Chisholm

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 Saracens 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 Saracens make.

Attacking specifics

• Play off 9. Parra to be key decision maker in the backs.
  
• Play in the right areas. We want to play possession rugby but in the damp conditions we will only do that in the right areas. Parra and Farrell will target the area behind Visser with the boot and we will get up quiclkly forcing him to kick and concede territory.
  
• With the damp conditions we will still look to play a possession game but will tighten things up a bit and if the offload is not 100% on we will take the contact and look to stay up and drive through before recycling when eventually taken to ground.
  
• Big carriers to run hard and straight in midfield off early phase ball.
  
• 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 or Farrell(penalties or drop goals).
  

Defensive specifics

• Darren Cave will be defensive captain.
  
• 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. Parra will sweep in behind.
  
• 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.
  

Key Points

• We come in with confidence, having picked up points in every game so far this season and having got our first win last weekend. Saracens are under presure having lost 5 from 5 and pressure forces mistakes, which we have the players in the side to capitalise on.
  
• Settled players in key positions (2, 8, 9,10). We have good continuity in key jerseys and in difficult conditions this is important. For Saracens Smit and Lakafia make their first starts with this 8,9,10 combination never having played together before.
  
• We are solid defensively in midfield with real attacking threat out wide.
  
• We have no traditional fetcher, but with BdP in the side the balance of our pack is good as he is better at the breakdown than most opensides.
  

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London Wasps vs. Worcester Warriors
Light Rain, 12 degrees. 8mph winds

London Wasps
Manager – ‘Arry

01. Ben Daley	09. Mike Blair
02. Sean Cronin	10. Rhys Preistland (k)
03. Carlos Nieto
04. Mouritz Botha	11. Matt Banahan
05. Marco Wentzel (c)	12. Brad Barritt
06. Steve Mafi	13. George Pisi
07. Jonathan Poff	14. Tom Varndell
08. Roger Wilson	15. Mike Brown

16. Nathan Morris 17. Charlie Beech 18. Shaun Knight 19. Dan Tuohy 20. Dewald Potgieter 21. Haydn Thomas 22. Dan Bowden 23. Topsy Ojo

Tactics
We will look to our forwards to carry hard, attacking gaps in the Worcester defensive line, getting us over the gain line and onto the front foot. We will ensure our carriers have plenty of support, so we can continue our attacks.

We will look to recycle the ball by getting good numbers to the breakdown, with the first few players rucking past the ball to clear out the Worcester players, allowing Blair to get quick, clean ball for us to attack the space on offer. We will look to create mismatches in midfield and will target the outside shoulder of the Worcester players.

Line speed and aggression is key for us in defence, we will try and prevent Worcester 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 exert pressure and try and get turnovers.

Preistland will look to kick in behind the Worcester wingers and target Malzieu and put us deep into their territory where we will look to really pressurize and go after their lineout.

Wentzel will be our main go to man, we will also look to use Mafi and Wilson at the tail of the lineout where we can launch attacks from and get our big centers running at the Worcester fly half, whom our back row will look to be in the face of all game.

With the ball in hand, we will look to punch holes in the Worcester defensive line and get the ball to our back three. Barritt will look to take the contact and give us line breaking options with Pisi running good outside lines, we will attack gaps and half gaps in the Worcester defensive line.

We will use Banahan as another crash ball option, coming in off his wing, looking to suck in Worcester defenders before spreading the ball and making use of the space.

At the scrum, on our own ball, we will look to turn the scrum legally to erase the Worcester back row from helping out in defence before starting our own attacks. We will look to control possession and be patient, recycling the ball through several phases with Blair and Preistland controlling our play.


Worcester Warriors
Manager - prop_lyd

01. Paul James	09 Dwayne Peel (c)
02. Richardt Strauss	10.Tom Heathcote
03. BJ Botha
04. Ollie Kohn	11. Sean Maitland
05. Luke Charteris	12. Olly Barkley (k)
06. Mamuka Gorgodze	13. Matt Hopper
07. Justin Tipuric	14. Julien Malzieu
08. Ryan Jones	15. Rob Cook

Subs:
16. Gary Botha 17. Nathan Catt 18. Chris Budgen 19. Shane Jennings 20. Ben Morgan 21. Eoin Reddan 22. Sam Vesty 23. Olly Morgan

Tactics
Forwards

Strong front row who will look to edge up on the tighthead to give Jones more time to pick the scrum. Strauss will be good for the wet weather work.

A strong 2nd row who will target the lineout and we will utilise the lineout as out main weapon of attack providing quick ball and allow us to maul with a very heavy and efficient pack.

Back row again is strong and we will look to counter act the breakdown as well as picking up and keeping the game tight.Kohn and Gorgodze will look to run off of 12-13 to create the gaps.

A good bench with old heads who can slow down the play and Morgan to bring on more power.
Wet weather pack to cause issues at the breakdown and play 'ball up the jumper's' rugby.


Backs

Heathcote and Barkley are to ping the ball into the corners unless an overlap has been created.. This is where we will use our lineout force. Heathcote will stand deep at times to create the space for our outside backs to hit the gaps.

Barkley will look for quick offloads to wingers or back row who will target the 9-10 channel to bring the ball back into our forwards. This should create overlaps and suck in the defence before quick ball out wide.

We have a strong back 3 and Cook is a strong clearer of lines. Malzieu brings the brute force and in defence will hold his own and Maitland can bring some flair. They will look to run as much ball as possible but not get isolated so we can keep to our gameplan.

After 30 minutes, if we are getting joy off 1st phase ball we will continue to use it but; for the first 30minutes it will be the forwards ball unless something is on.

Barkley will take all kicks at goal he is confident in.


Defence

We will use a banana defence. People have picked up on our 10-12 defence so we will make sure we have one of our stronger pack members on their shoulders to assist in the tackle and look for quick turnover ball. Any turnovers will be punted off the pitch in the oppositions half unless a massive gap is obvious.

IF THIS DEFENCE IS NOT WORKING then we will bring Malzieu in to stand at 12 and use his heavy hitting to prevent the ball being spun out wide. We will look to stop Wasps playing by slowing the ball down at the breakdown.

We will look to not commit too many at the breakdown so we can defend strongly from inside out and stop any gaps. If we see an available turnover we will take it but no silly penalties. Pressure will be put on their scrum half to use the ball quickly and put 10 under pressure.


Overall

Forward orientated play with experienced players. Backs to get us into good positions. And our pack and strong pack bench will be controlling the game and rolling us towards the opposition’s tryline. Jennings has had a number of sessions with us and will be brought on to cause problems at the breakdown against tired opposition.

We are very fired up, have a set of leaders in the squad, want another win and to rattle the opposition.

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Man if only i'd gone: 10. Barkley 12. McFadden!!!!!

Just Chris to predo

There are a couple of tight games I think luke.

Newcastle Falcons 19 - 17 Harlequins
Think to win these games Quins need to get a world class player into their backthree, as pack battle is very even and think Quins have one of the best balanced backrows in the game. Close game, but think Falcons need to improve their bench options as I see guys like Williams and Benjamin as real weaknesses.

Gloucester 15 - 11 Bath
Very even game, thing that gives Gloucester the win is that one of Bath's tactics is to play running rugby with ball in hand when it is heavy rain. I'd have just targeted Lamb with ball carriers and got Hodgson to pump the ball up in the air all game to Balshaw.

Sale Sharks 18-19 Leicester Tigers
So close, was going to go for the draw, but then looked at Tigers bench and think that they would have more to bring on in the final 20-30mins to see through the win.

Saracens 23-23 London Welsh
Would have given Sarries the home win, but I think Welsh have got an edge in the front five and would take Sarries apart at scrum time, rather like the Saints v Wasps game - but for Welsh I think there is just a slight lack of experience in the backline to win these physical encounters, but can't see Welsh losing due to their front five performance and that for me is key for me when playing away.

Wasps 27 - 25 Worcester
Woops nearly missed this one - would give the advantage to the home team in the forwards and Arry is lucky that it wasnt heavy rain at all as I would have given prop the win. But...even though Warriors will get more possession I don't see Heathcote, BArkley and Hopper working and Pisi will cause them all sorts of trouble, as it's not the best defensive unit. Wasps to get more points from less ball here, conditions count against Warriors!

Was reading through one of the predictions and not sure who said it but mentioned that Cave was an odd choice for Pete's defensive captain - he's doing a great job for Ulster there at the moment who nilled Connacht last night and have best defensive record in the league I think. Really good defence captain in my opinion.

dammit_chris wrote:Was reading through one of the predictions and not sure who said it but mentioned that Cave was an odd choice for Pete's defensive captain - he's doing a great job for Ulster there at the moment who nilled Connacht last night and have best defensive record in the league I think. Really good defence captain in my opinion.

You know it was me who said it lol

I've watched Ulster about 3 times this season and Cave has struggled in defence. In the Cardiff game I think the commentator said he'd missed 7 tackles overall which is not good enough at that level imo.

I do rate him highly by the way Pete, fantastic talent. I just wouldn't have him as defensive leader in a backline.

Mate, he is Ulsters defence captain and I've not seen him miss 7 tackles all season. Ulster beat Cardiff 49-19 and according to the ESPN stats Ulster missed about 30 tackles with Cave apparently missing 7 of them. I watched that game, and I have absolutely no idea where they got them stats from.

Anyway, it's not a drama, this game's all about opinions. All the predos are in now, but I won't be able to get the results done until this evening as the kids a hyper at the moment!

I didn't realise ESPN had him down as 7 missed tackles also.

Good player anyway, rate him highly.

Pooly - saw you mention my scrum this week in the predo, wondered if you could say what my best scrum would be as both of the props I put out are on good form, Hayman is doing very well in France - Hartley hsa been getting a lot of plaudits for his scrummaging, and my bench is all international too.

I opted for Lawes and Davies because of the grunt they offer in second row, so any tips on this much appreciated as trying to build around a strong scrum and you said I'd be in trouble in heavy rain?

I don't think any of your front row were as strong as opposite number in scrum Chris thats why I mentioned it. (Hartley - Lindsay is close).

You came up against a top scrummaging unit this week

Sorry for the delay....

RESULTS

Newcastle Falcons 27 Harlequins 21
Gloucester 22 Bath Rugby 15
London Irish 25 Northampton Saints 22
Sale Sharks 22 Leicester Tigers 24
Saracens 21 London Welsh 20
London Wasps 22 Worcester Warriors 20

No real surprise that this week there are no TBP's and everyone who lost got a LBP. Going to be a tight league come next May I reckon.

Scorers

Newcastle Falcons 27 (T: Bowe 2, Faletau C: Flood 3 P: Flood 2)
Harlequins 21 (T: Afoa, Joseph C: Cooper P: Cooper 3)

Gloucester 22 (T: Ferris, Harden P: Lamb 4)
Bath Rugby 15 (P: Hodgson 5)

London Irish 25 (T: Lindsay, Yarde, Talei C: Evans 2 P: Evans 2)
Northampton Saints 22 (T: Ashton, Tuilagi P: Halfpenny 4)

Sale Sharks 22 (T: Care, Steyn P: Sexton 4)
Leicester Tigers 24 (T: O'Brien. Monye C: Wilkinson P: Wilkinson 4)

Saracens 21 (T: Visser, van Niekerk C: Burns P: Burns 3)
London Welsh 20 (T: Ludik, Corbisiero C: Parra 2 P: Parra 2)

London Wasps 22 (T: Varndell 2 P: Priestland 4)
Worcester Warriors 20 (T: Gorgodze, Strauss C: Barkley P: Barkley 4)

Really close game this week, went right to the wire.

Ironically, due to the way the bonus points for winning predictions work, our game was a draw, until Chris predicted a draw, which because of the averaging out and rounding up/down gave you the win. Keeps thing interesting, really didn't want to see anyone getting cut adrift at the bottom this season, need the league to be competitive from top to bottom right until the end.