Semi Finals

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Play Off Semi Finals

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Sharks vs. Stormers
Location - Kings Park Stadium
Sunny Intervals, 28 Degrees, 9 mph NE winds
The Sharks
DoR: Ozzy3213

01. Tendai Mtawarira	09. Danny Care
02. Bismarck du Plessis	10. Quade Cooper
03. Jannie du Plessis
04. Joe Launchbury	11. George North
05. Courtney Lawes	12. Francois Steyn
06. Sam Warburton	13. Conrad Smith
07. Willem Alberts	14. Marland Yarde
08. Sergio Parisse (c)	15. Mike Brown

16. Stephen Moore 17. Cian Healy 18. Lourens Adriaanse 19. Pieter-Steph du Toit 20. Billy Vunipola 21. Freddie Michalak 22. James O'Connor 23. JP Pietersen

TACTICS

We will play a traditional South African gameplan in the forwards, being ultra physical and looking to dominate the collisions in attack and defence.  We are aiming to control possession by running the ball in great conditions, using the pack and big backs off first phase ball, with support runners on the ball carriers shoulder for the offloads in or just prior to contact.  We will be looking to play our game at a high tempo. Cooper will play flat with the outside backs coming from positions of depth to gain momentum.  In defence we will employ the blitz and look to hit the ball carrier before he hits the gainline to stop Stormers getting any momentum.  Danny Care will act as a sweeper behind the defensive line.

• Breakdown.  In attack we will put numbers in rucking past the ball to free it up quickly to go again.  If on Care will snipe to keep us going forwards.  In defence we will be selective.  If it is on to clear out and turn ball over we will throw numbers in to do so, otherwise we will keep a strong defensive line.
  
• Spaces not faces.  Our runners will target the gaps in the defensive line rather than defenders and look to breach the gainline regularly.  
  
• Wingers. Yarde and North to track the play off their wings looking for the offloads to go through gaps in midfield, with North often used either on the inside crash ball or as decoy.
  
• First receiver. Steyn to give the left/right option of two outside halfs to keep the Stormers defence guessing which way we are going..
  
• Possession. We want to keep the ball and play through the phases.  We will kick if we have to but, but first option will always be to run the ball.
  
• Bench World class impact players on the bench to bring on in the final quarter to either see the game out or get us back into it.
  

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ASM Clermont Auvergne vs. Crusaders
Location - Parc des Sports Marcel Michelin
Light Rain Shower, 19 Degrees, 11 mph WNW winds

ASMClermontAuvergne


Manager
= ChequeredJersey

01.  Joe Marler	09.  Morgan Parra (k)
02. Benjamin Kayser	10.    Nick Evans
03. Ben Tameifuina
04.  Samu Manoa	11. Sitiveni Sivivatu
05.  Andries Bekker	12. Ma'a Nonu
06. Ed Slater	13.   Jared Payne
07. Jacques Burger	14.  Napolioni Nalaga
08. JMF Lobbe	15. Willie Le Roux

16. Thomas Domingo 17. Corey Flynn 18. Clement Ric  19.   Schalk Burger 20. Sam Cane 21.Ludovic Radosavljevic 22.Kyle Godwin  .  23. Aurelian Rougerie

Tactics:

The Breakdown- very specific approach here. In attack:  

1) Look to use our strong carriers in units like the front row to carry into their backrow early, and repeat if necessary to force them to tackle and commit to the breakdown close in. Use our balanced backrowers (but NOT Burger on the final carry) and forwards who are good at the breakdown in very clsoe support to ensure we can still get good ball.
2)With their backrow committed, we remove their threat as aggressive tacklers and at the breakdown, and spin fast to Nev to attack the line, with Burger now chasing the ball to get quick ball at the next breakdown out wide. If gaps appear closer to ruck, though, Parra can snipe or send runners like back 3 at the gap
3)Look to use the standard attack of Nev and Nonu off this, recycle quickly and then keep the pace up.
4)If space appears though, flood the channel and offload. If ball slows down, repeat step 1. Step 1 will both allow us quicker ball unopposed out wide and takes pressure off Nev and Parra.

In defence- minimal players committed unless turnover is on. Burger to focus spefically on spoiling and turning any ball he can get to, helped by the backrow to allow him to harry Carter in defence too.

Other attacking points: Crossfield kick targetting Ranger with high, chased kicks. kick low and past Folau, to test his turn and positioning. Use the chip over a blitz defence if space is there. Can mix up maul for slow ball too, and use crash balls with Big Ben etc off Nev, but primarily use the attack above, improvosing depending on what Parra and Nev see in front of them. If Crusaders adapt to the above plan, start to target the fringes more and play in our usual style. Back 3 always looking to get involved, especially on support lines. Run back kicks where possible and take any points available

Defence- Blitz, led by Nonu, Parra covering especially the centres' lines, Kayser sweeping, Burger harrying the Halfbacks and Marler helping him by targeting Carter. Attack their centres narrow and aggressively, we have good cover tacklers if needed so make tehm pass rather than run and look for the intercept.

Scrum- Get ball out quickly and then use backrow move to commit their backrow leading into set plays. They have a very strong front row but we can match them.

Lineout- Bekker calling, mix up our options and use mauls near the front and off the top further back. Slater an extra excellent option and with knowledge through sub hooker Flynn of Crusaders' calls and multiple jumpers we will try and pick apart their calls and contest every throw

Subs- use as needed, go all out in pack knowing bench is strong. Slater covering lock.

Targets- rough up Carter, otherwise as above

Key points:

We are at home, in our fortress where we are unbeaten

Take their backrow out of the wider game

Make their centres pass not run

Kick past Folau and high to Ranger to exploit different weaknesses

Keep quick ball out wide alive and flood any broken channels

Crusaders

01. Marcus Ayerza	09. Jonathan Pelissie
02. Dylan Hartley	10. Dan Carter(k)
03. Davit Zirakashvili
04. Flip Van Der Merwe	11. Rene Ranger
05. Sam Whitelock	12. Luther Burrell
06. Chris Robshaw	13. Jonathan Davies
07. Richie McCaw (c)	14. Israel Folau
08. Kieran Read	15. Charles Piutau

16. Ben Funnell 17. Vincent Debaty 18. Owen Franks 19. Luke Romano 20. Mamuka Gorgodze 21. Andrew Ellis 22. Beauden Barrett 23. Zac Guildford

Set piece - looking to give Ayerza a 1 on 1 with Big Ben, so Hartley and Vili are instructed to put max pressure on Kayser, try and prevent him from being able to support his tighthead, at the very least weaken him around the park. Look to keep the ball in the scrum, Manoa not as strong a force at 4 as he is in the back row so perhaps a lack of lock power we can exploit. Really looking to get after them in the lineout, Bekker likes to call to himself and will be marked by Whitelock, we have Flip as a second world class lineout jumper to really disrupt their ball. Look to mix up our own calls and take ball off the top when we can

Breakdown - use the front 5 to contest tight to the ruck, with one of the flankers close by. Put the other flanker and Read into midfield to help against their big runners further out, and look to work as a pair if Burger is the only back rower  supporting their breakdown in the wider channels, to force a turnover. We trust our front 5 to hold their attack around the fringes, giving us freedom to strengthen our defence our wide.

Attack - go down the fringes, they want to put minimal numbers in so go straight up the middle until they adjust. When they do, start to fire out the passes and get our midfield and back 3 going. Use the kicking game of Carter and JD to probe the wings, neither of whom are outstanding kickers. Use grubber kicks in behind to test the hookers hands with Folau etc bearing down on him. Target Payne at 13, he plays a lot at full back in real life so his defence can be tested with the back 3 coming into the line and centres interchanging. Piutau to play first receiver at times to give us another option to take on the line

Defence - front 5 to hold the area around the ruck, we have strong defenders through out our back line and Pelissie will sweep behind

Bench - Big ball carriers in Franks, Romano and Gorgodze to really take the fight to Clermont if we are behind, or just carry in the tight if we need to close out the game. We have Barrett and Guildford to add strike running, and both props can help us continue the dominance at scrum time, especially after Big Ben goes off at 50 mins

We have beaten Clermont at home, we know we can do it away, especially with Cruden missing, Evans has been in Carter's shadow for years for a reason! Good luck CJ![/quote]

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Plate Semi Finals

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Racing Metro 92 vs. Leicester Tigers
Location - Stade Olympique Yves-du-Manoir
Heavy Rain Showers, 16 Degrees, 16 mph W winds

Racing Metro

01. Ryan Grant	09. Ben Youngs
02. Andries Strauss	10. Jonathon Sexton (k)
03. Juan Figallo
04. Juandre Kruger	11. Juan Imhoff
05. Brodie Retallick	12. Kurtley Beale
06. Steven Luatua	13. Marcelo Bosch
07. Francois Louw (c)	14. Benjamin Fall
08. Toby Faletau	15. Ben Smith

16. Soane Tonghu'ia  17. Dimitri Szarzewski 18. Luc Ducalcon 19. Steve Mafi 20. Bernard Le Roux 21. Maxime Machenaud 22. Jonathon Wisnewski 23. Marc Andreu

TACTICS 
As always, we are built on a solid set piece, with the lineout Tigers slow ball to play off,and allowing us to use our strike runners against a disjointed defence. Luatua clearing out, Louw forcing the turnover and Faletua playing it as he sees it. We've picked a big scrummaging front row, with two very good technical operators. Power players picked for carrying - Retallick, Faletau, Luatau, Bosch, Strauss, Louw

- Use carriers of Strauss, Tekori, Bosch, Luatua, Faletau to tie up back row. Youngs to snipe around the fringes, with strike runners off him on the pop 
- Use Sexton flat on the gainline, drawing defenders, with Bosch and Smith offering short pops and Faletau, Retallick offering the inside ball to keep them narrow. 
- Smith and Bosch both encouraged to come into the line either before Roberts or on his shoulder, looking for the offload.
- We've got a world class spine in this time at 2,5,8,9,10,12,15 and these blokes will lead the team, their experience and decision making will be crucial. The 8 9 10 12 is a very familiar unit from the Lions tour.
- Sexton and Beale to interchange at 10/12 and look to split left and right on scrums in the middle of the pitch, to keep the opposition guessing
- Louw to play as out and out 7, looking to slow ball and force turnovers. In Faletau and Louw, we have two blokes that are brilliant at turning over ball. Both can't be stopped!

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RC Toulonnais vs. Stade Touloussain
Location - Stade Mayol
Sunny, 21 Degrees, 11 mph SW winds

RC Toulonnais

01. Mako Vunipola 09. Aaron Smith
02. Richard Hibbard 10. Johnny Wilkinson(k)
03. Carl Hayman
04. Jocelina Suta 11. Bryan Habana
05. Alun Wyn-Jones (c) 12. Wesley Fofana
06. Julien Bonnaire 13. Adam Ashley-Cooper
07. Justin Tipuric 14. Craig Gilroy
08. JVN 15.Drew Mitchell

16. Kyle Cooper 17.Gethin Jenkins18. Dan Cole 19. Ali Williams 20. Juan Smith 21. Sebastian Tillous-Borde 22. Butch James 23. Maxime Mermoz
Tactics
We will play a running game today and have selected a big pack to win us ball and a fast backrow to get around the park. Wilko will stand short and play heads up rugby, the pack will carry a lot as will our centres for quick ball. Strong front row with immense power to come on and a 2nd row who are used to driving players back come scrum time. We have selected a centre partnership who will make good breaks and look for quick recycling of the ball to keep them on the back foot and under constant pressure. Forwards will look to carry a lot in first 20 punching the holes before moving to running off of 12-13. We will be looking to target Slater off the back of the scrum as he is playing out of position.


*9-10 combo-we have Smith to Wilko who will then look to play a counter attacking game especially from turnover ball and using tight runners off 2nd phase ball.
*Bench-Our bench is full of impact and will look to dominate the end of the game.
*Defence-we have strong defensive leaders in Wilko and AAC and will look to slow down/turnover a lot of ball.
*Set Piece-power is key today at scrum time and in the lineouts using AWJ and Bonnaire's leading skills to get good ball.
*Breakdown-look to here and use our abrasive pack to do this with heavy carrying and tactical breakdown slowing.

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ASMClermontAuvergne


Manager
= ChequeredJersey

01.  Joe Marler	09.  Morgan Parra (k)
02. Benjamin Kayser	10.    Nick Evans
03. Ben Tameifuina
04.  Samu Manoa	11. Sitiveni Sivivatu
05.  Andries Bekker	12. Ma'a Nonu
06. Ed Slater	13.   Jared Payne
07. Jacques Burger	14.  Napolioni Nalaga
08. JMF Lobbe	15. Willie Le Roux

16. Thomas Domingo 17. Corey Flynn 18. Clement Ric  19.   Schalk Burger 20. Sam Cane 21.Ludovic Radosavljevic 22.Kyle Godwin  .  23. Aurelian Rougerie

Tactics:

The Breakdown- very specific approach here. In attack:

1) Look to use our strong carriers in units like the front row to carry into their backrow early, and repeat if necessary to force them to tackle and commit to the breakdown close in. Use our balanced backrowers (but NOT Burger on the final carry) and forwards who are good at the breakdown in very clsoe support to ensure we can still get good ball.
2)With their backrow committed, we remove their threat as aggressive tacklers and at the breakdown, and spin fast to Nev to attack the line, with Burger now chasing the ball to get quick ball at the next breakdown out wide. If gaps appear closer to ruck, though, Parra can snipe or send runners like back 3 at the gap
3)Look to use the standard attack of Nev and Nonu off this, recycle quickly and then keep the pace up.
4)If space appears though, flood the channel and offload. If ball slows down, repeat step 1. Step 1 will both allow us quicker ball unopposed out wide and takes pressure off Nev and Parra.

In defence- minimal players committed unless turnover is on. Burger to focus spefically on spoiling and turning any ball he can get to, helped by the backrow to allow him to harry Carter in defence too.

Other attacking points: Crossfield kick targetting Ranger with high, chased kicks. kick low and past Folau, to test his turn and positioning. Use the chip over a blitz defence if space is there. Can mix up maul for slow ball too, and use crash balls with Big Ben etc off Nev, but primarily use the attack above, improvosing depending on what Parra and Nev see in front of them. If Crusaders adapt to the above plan, start to target the fringes more and play in our usual style. Back 3 always looking to get involved, especially on support lines. Run back kicks where possible and take any points available

Defence- Blitz, led by Nonu, Parra covering especially the centres' lines, Kayser sweeping, Burger harrying the Halfbacks and Marler helping him by targeting Carter. Attack their centres narrow and aggressively, we have good cover tacklers if needed so make tehm pass rather than run and look for the intercept.

Scrum- Get ball out quickly and then use backrow move to commit their backrow leading into set plays. They have a very strong front row but we can match them.

Lineout- Bekker calling, mix up our options and use mauls near the front and off the top further back. Slater an extra excellent option and with knowledge through sub hooker Flynn of Crusaders' calls and multiple jumpers we will try and pick apart their calls and contest every throw

Subs- use as needed, go all out in pack knowing bench is strong. Slater covering lock.

Targets- rough up Carter, otherwise as above

Key points:

We are at home, in our fortress where we are unbeaten

Take their backrow out of the wider game

Make their centres pass not run

Kick past Folau and high to Ranger to exploit different weaknesses

Keep quick ball out wide alive and flood any broken channels

won't be able to predict sorry

BamBam

01. Marcus Ayerza	09. Jonathan Pelissie
02. Dylan Hartley	10. Dan Carter(k)
03. Davit Zirakashvili
04. Flip Van Der Merwe	11. Rene Ranger
05. Sam Whitelock	12. Luther Burrell
06. Chris Robshaw	13. Jonathan Davies
07. Richie McCaw (c)	14. Israel Folau
08. Kieran Read	15. Charles Piutau

16. Ben Funnell 17. Vincent Debaty 18. Owen Franks 19. Luke Romano 20. Mamuka Gorgodze 21. Andrew Ellis 22. Beauden Barrett 23. Zac Guildford

Set piece - looking to give Ayerza a 1 on 1 with Big Ben, so Hartley and Vili are instructed to put max pressure on Kayser, try and prevent him from being able to support his tighthead, at the very least weaken him around the park. Look to keep the ball in the scrum, Manoa not as strong a force at 4 as he is in the back row so perhaps a lack of lock power we can exploit. Really looking to get after them in the lineout, Bekker likes to call to himself and will be marked by Whitelock, we have Flip as a second world class lineout jumper to really disrupt their ball. Look to mix up our own calls and take ball off the top when we can

Breakdown - use the front 5 to contest tight to the ruck, with one of the flankers close by. Put the other flanker and Read into midfield to help against their big runners further out, and look to work as a pair if Burger is the only back rower  supporting their breakdown in the wider channels, to force a turnover. We trust our front 5 to hold their attack around the fringes, giving us freedom to strengthen our defence our wide.

Attack - go down the fringes, they want to put minimal numbers in so go straight up the middle until they adjust. When they do, start to fire out the passes and get our midfield and back 3 going. Use the kicking game of Carter and JD to probe the wings, neither of whom are outstanding kickers. Use grubber kicks in behind to test the hookers hands with Folau etc bearing down on him. Target Payne at 13, he plays a lot at full back in real life so his defence can be tested with the back 3 coming into the line and centres interchanging. Piutau to play first receiver at times to give us another option to take on the line

Defence - front 5 to hold the area around the ruck, we have strong defenders through out our back line and Pelissie will sweep behind

Bench - Big ball carriers in Franks, Romano and Gorgodze to really take the fight to Clermont if we are behind, or just carry in the tight if we need to close out the game. We have Barrett and Guildford to add strike running, and both props can help us continue the dominance at scrum time, especially after Big Ben goes off at 50 mins

We have beaten Clermont at home, we know we can do it away, especially with Cruden missing, Evans has been in Carter's shadow for years for a reason! Good luck CJ!

Will try to get tactics in by the deadline but might have to be Saturday morning, apologies in advance

Racing Metro

01. Ryan Grant	09. Ben Youngs
02. Andries Strauss	10. Jonathon Sexton (k)
03. Juan Figallo
04. Juandre Kruger	11. Juan Imhoff
05. Brodie Retallick	12. Kurtley Beale
06. Steven Luatua	13. Marcelo Bosch
07. Francois Louw (c)	14. Benjamin Fall
08. Toby Faletau	15. Ben Smith

16. Soane Tonghu'ia  17. Dimitri Szarzewski 18. Luc Ducalcon 19. Steve Mafi 20. Bernard Le Roux 21. Maxime Machenaud 22. Jonathon Wisnewski 23. Marc Andreu

TACTICS 
As always, we are built on a solid set piece, with the lineout Tigers slow ball to play off,and allowing us to use our strike runners against a disjointed defence. Luatua clearing out, Louw forcing the turnover and Faletua playing it as he sees it. We've picked a big scrummaging front row, with two very good technical operators. Power players picked for carrying - Retallick, Faletau, Luatau, Bosch, Strauss, Louw


- Use carriers of Strauss, Tekori, Bosch, Luatua, Faletau to tie up back row. Youngs to snipe around the fringes, with strike runners off him on the pop 
- Use Sexton flat on the gainline, drawing defenders, with Bosch and Smith offering short pops and Faletau, Retallick offering the inside ball to keep them narrow. 
- Smith and Bosch both encouraged to come into the line either before Roberts or on his shoulder, looking for the offload.
- We've got a world class spine in this time at 2,5,8,9,10,12,15 and these blokes will lead the team, their experience and decision making will be crucial. The 8 9 10 12 is a very familiar unit from the Lions tour.
- Sexton and Beale to interchange at 10/12 and look to split left and right on scrums in the middle of the pitch, to keep the opposition guessing
- Louw to play as out and out 7, looking to slow ball and force turnovers. In Faletau and Louw, we have two blokes that are brilliant at turning over ball. Both can't be stopped!

01. Mako Vunipola 09. Aaron Smith
02. Richard Hibbard 10. Johnny Wilkinson(k)
03. Carl Hayman
04. Jocelina Suta 11. Bryan Habana
05. Alun Wyn-Jones (c) 12. Wesley Fofana
06. Julien Bonnaire 13. Adam Ashley-Cooper
07. Justin Tipuric 14. Craig Gilroy
08. JVN 15.Drew Mitchell

16. Kyle Cooper 17.Gethin Jenkins18. Dan Cole 19. Ali Williams 20. Juan Smith 21. Sebastian Tillous-Borde 22. Butch James 23. Maxime Mermoz
Tactics
We will play a running game today and have selected a big pack to win us ball and a fast backrow to get around the park. Wilko will stand short and play heads up rugby, the pack will carry a lot as will our centres for quick ball. Strong front row with immense power to come on and a 2nd row who are used to driving players back come scrum time. We have selected a centre partnership who will make good breaks and look for quick recycling of the ball to keep them on the back foot and under constant pressure. Forwards will look to carry a lot in first 20 punching the holes before moving to running off of 12-13. We will be looking to target Slater off the back of the scrum as he is playing out of position.


*9-10 combo-we have Smith to Wilko who will then look to play a counter attacking game especially from turnover ball and using tight runners off 2nd phase ball.
*Bench-Our bench is full of impact and will look to dominate the end of the game.
*Defence-we have strong defensive leaders in Wilko and AAC and will look to slow down/turnover a lot of ball.
*Set Piece-power is key today at scrum time and in the lineouts using AWJ and Bonnaire's leading skills to get good ball.
*Breakdown-look to here and use our abrasive pack to do this with heavy carrying and tactical breakdown slowing.
.

The Sharks
DoR: Ozzy3213

01. Tendai Mtawarira	09. Danny Care
02. Bismarck du Plessis	10. Quade Cooper
03. Jannie du Plessis
04. Joe Launchbury	11. George North
05. Courtney Lawes	12. Francois Steyn
06. Sam Warburton	13. Conrad Smith
07. Willem Alberts	14. Marland Yarde
08. Sergio Parisse (c)	15. Mike Brown

16. Stephen Moore 17. Cian Healy 18. Lourens Adriaanse 19. Pieter-Steph du Toit 20. Billy Vunipola 21. Freddie Michalak 22. James O'Connor 23. JP Pietersen

TACTICS

We will play a traditional South African gameplan in the forwards, being ultra physical and looking to dominate the collisions in attack and defence.  We are aiming to control possession by running the ball in great conditions, using the pack and big backs off first phase ball, with support runners on the ball carriers shoulder for the offloads in or just prior to contact.  We will be looking to play our game at a high tempo. Cooper will play flat with the outside backs coming from positions of depth to gain momentum.  In defence we will employ the blitz and look to hit the ball carrier before he hits the gainline to stop Stormers getting any momentum.  Danny Care will act as a sweeper behind the defensive line.

• Breakdown.  In attack we will put numbers in rucking past the ball to free it up quickly to go again.  If on Care will snipe to keep us going forwards.  In defence we will be selective.  If it is on to clear out and turn ball over we will throw numbers in to do so, otherwise we will keep a strong defensive line.
  
• Spaces not faces.  Our runners will target the gaps in the defensive line rather than defenders and look to breach the gainline regularly.  
  
• Wingers. Yarde and North to track the play off their wings looking for the offloads to go through gaps in midfield, with North often used either on the inside crash ball or as decoy.
  
• First receiver. Steyn to give the left/right option of two outside halfs to keep the Stormers defence guessing which way we are going..
  
• Possession. We want to keep the ball and play through the phases.  We will kick if we have to but, but first option will always be to run the ball.
  
• Bench World class impact players on the bench to bring on in the final quarter to either see the game out or get us back into it.
  

Are my tactics OK? mostly using iphone here in Singapore, but they look shorter than other people's, happy to trim them to make sure it's all fair!

Ok, so teams were due in 18 hours ago. Stormers, Toulouse and Tigers haven't bothered and I'm not putting them in for them, so Toulon, Racing Metro and Sharks have walkovers into the respective finals and the only game to predict on is ASM Clermont Auvergne vs. Crusaders.

Predictions are OPEN

I don't even get to vote!

Given that predos were meant to be in by 9pm last night, i wonder if anyone is going to bother.  Real shame, but it seems to me that this game has died a death.

I'm going to bother. I'm keen to keep this going, but it seems many have been quiet for a while

Fluxy hasn't posted on here in a while, and it's meant to be his game.  CF's account is deactivated and is showing up as a 'guest' on his team page.  Driver lost interest once Toulouse were out of the running and prop is away on a rugby tour.

That just leaves me and you who are able to predict on this weeks game Bathite.

Clermont 30-32 Crusaders.
Backline just edges it for Crusaders with a massive win here.

ASM Clermont Auvergne 29 Crusaders 28
Nothing in it to be honest. Have gone with home advantage to sneak it.

Clermont 25 Crusaders 26
First things first, these tactics are getting a bit out of hand! Two really solid front rows, but i prefer the crusaders, as Hartley and Ayerza has top class basics. Slightly newer partnership in the Crusaders might disjoin the lineout a touch. There's more power from the Crusaders backrow and they are better man for man. Clermont are really on top in the half backs, but I'm still not convinced by Payne at 13, he's a brilliant 15 for me. Two very interesting back threes and hard to split. 

For me, Crusaders will disrupt and earn enough ball at lineout and set piece to squeeze a win

Bathite mate, you've given Clermont the win in the scores but have Crusaders winning in your write up!

Bathite wrote:Clermont 26 Crusaders 25
First things first, these tactics are getting a bit out of hand! Two really solid front rows, but i prefer the crusaders, as Hartley and Ayerza has top class basics. Slightly newer partnership in the Crusaders might disjoin the lineout a touch. There's more power from the Crusaders backrow and they are better man for man. Clermont are really on top in the half backs, but I'm still not convinced by Payne at 13, he's a brilliant 15 for me. Two very interesting back threes and hard to split. 

For me, Crusaders will disrupt and earn enough ball at lineout and set piece to squeeze a win

Score and prediction are out of sync, which one is it, Bathite

I know, now on computer rather than phone and my tactics too long by the rules on this game. Would be happy to take a point deduction, but I did ask and nobody commented ealier!

Whoops, sorry lads, wrong way round, i'll amend it now

Bathite wrote:Whoops, sorry lads, wrong way round, i'll amend it now

Thanks

Well, not actual thanks given the result but you know what I mean...

If Flux doesn't predict, off the top of my head I make it BamBam's by 30 points to 29, ish

I don't have an issue with the length of your tactics CJ. they are quite short by the standard of some of the war and peace length tactics we used to get on the AP game!

It is the first time i've had to scroll up and down to compare teams and tactics. It is quite nice when you can see them all on one screen, beyond that and I switch off to be honest

I get a bit tactical genius (in my own head) sometimes so definitely can't complain about CJs!

Congrats, BamBam, good luck in the Final!

Well played CJ, was pretty sure that you had this one if I'm being honest

Bring on the Sharks!

You flying back to New Zealand or heading straight to the Shark Tank from France BamBam?   

Final must be in a neutral venue, surely?

The Moon would be very neutral

I hear you can kick goals from your own try line there as well

Good point actually, I had assumed it would be at the Shark tank but neutral sounds good to me !

Super Rugby final is always played at the home ground of the team that finished highest in the table.

Well, fair enough, doesn't bother me!