Aviva Premiership - Round 5

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Leicester Tigers vs Saracens
Welford Road
Light Cloud - 8 degrees, 17mph South Westerly Winds

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Leicester Tigers

01. Ellis Genge	09. Sam Harrison
02. Tom Youngs	10. George Ford
03. Dan Cole
04. Dominic Barrow	11. Jonny May
05. Mike Williams	12. Matt Toomua
06. Brad Shields	13. Many Tuilagi
07. Brendon O'Connor	14. Adam Thompstone
08. CJ Stander	15. Telusa Veainu

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Subs: 16. Harry Thacker 17. Logovi'i Mulipola 18. Kyle Traynor 19. Harry Wells 20. Dominic Ryan 21. Jonno Kitto 22. Joe Ford 23. Tom Brady

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Saracens
Manager – Pooly

01. Mako Vunipola	09. Richard Wigglesworth
02. Jamie George	10. Owen Farrell
03. Vincent Koch
04. Eben Etzebeth	11. Chris Wyles
05. George Kruis	12. Alex Lozowski
06. Maro Itoje	13. Marcelo Bosch
07. Schalk Burger	14. Sean Maitland
08. Billy Vunipola	15. Liam Williams

:-
16. Schalk Brits  17. Hayden Thompson-Stringer 18. Juan Figallo 19. Will Skelton  20. Jackson Wray 21. Ben Spencer 22. Harry Mallinder 23. Nathan Earle
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Tactics:

- Strong, physical pack to set a tone in the collisions. High intensity rugby, with big carries from numerous options. Will look to dominate the opposition pack and lay a foundation for our backs.
- Target Set piece and go for the jugular if a weakness is seen. Kicking for corners and territory if able to exert pressure in this area.
- Strong impact from the bench to keep intensity up.
- Typical Sarries blitz defence, squeezing the life out opposition and forcing errors.
- Play the game in the right areas of the pitch. Low error rugby and go through the phases when required.
- Farrell and Lozowski to give playmaking options and alternate at first receiver. Look to put Lozowski through gaps or mismatches and exploit his gas.
-TARGET LINEOUT - Numerous world class jumpers and excellent defensive line out options. Look to mark Barrow and exploit the ability of Youngs to go to pieces. Think we can get a lot of joy in this area with Etzebeth and Kruis either side of Barrow. If weakness seen look to pin Tigers back in own half and force pressure.

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Newcastle Falcons vs Harlequins
Kingston Park
Light Cloud - 7 degrees, 16mph South Westerly Winds

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 Newcastle Falcons
Manager – Ozzy

01. Sami Mavinga	09. Sonatane Takulua
02. Santiago Socino	10. Toby Flood
03. Owen Franks
04. Sean Robinson	11. Sinoti Sinoti
05. Iain Henderson	12. Juan Pablo Socino
06. Mark Wilson	13. Maxine Mermoz
07. Ni Latu	14. Vereniki Goneva
08. Opeti Fonua	15. Alex Tait

:-
16. Kyle Cooper 17. Rob Vickers 18. David Wilson 19. Will Witty 20. Will Welch 21. Micky Young 22. Craig Willis 23. DTH Van Der Merwe

TACTICS
- Blitz defence with good line speed with 9 and 15 sweeping.
- Big runners carrying close to the ruck but looking to keep the ball alive with offloads to runners on their shoulder.

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Harlequins
Manager – CJ

01. Joe Marler	09. Danny Care
02. Dane Coles	10. Demetri Catrakalis (k)
03. Will Collier
04. James Horwill (c)	11. Alofa Alofa
05. Johnny Gray	12. Jamie Roberts
06. Jack Clifford	13. Joe Marchant
07. Jack Lam	14. Marlon Yarde
08. Renaldo Bothma	15. Mike Brown

:-
16. Mark Lambert 17. Dave Ward 18. Phil Swainston 19. Matt Luamanu 20. Luke Wallace 21. Will Chudley 22. Marcus Smith  23. Francis Saili

TACTICS

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Northampton Saints vs Exeter Chiefs
Franklin Gardens
Light Cloud - 9 degrees, 16mph South Westerly Winds

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Northampton Saints
Manager: StNick

01. Alex Waller	09. Cobus Reinach
02. Dylan Hartley	10. Johnny Sexton (k)
03. Kieran Brookes
04. David Ribbans	11. Tom Collins
05. Michael Paterson	12. Luther Burrell
06. Courtney Lawes	13. Rob Horne
07. Jamie Gibson	14. George North
08. Facundo Isa	15. Alex Goode

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16 Campese Ma'afu, 17 Mikey Haywood, 18 Paul Hill, 19 Christian Day, 20 Sam Dickinson, 21 Nic Groom, 22 Steven Myler, 23 Ben Foden

Team News

Northampton Saints have freshened up their side after a strong start to the season. Dylan Hartley and Courtney Lawes both return after being given a week off after England duty, in place of Mikey Haywood and Christian Day. Paul Hill also gets a first start of the season in place of Kieran Brookes. Jamie Gibson replaces Teimana Harrison, who drops to the bench, in the backrow. In the backs, Piers Francis comes in for Luther Burrell whilst Tom Collins comes back on the wing in place of Ben Foden.

Tactics

- Use Isa as the main carrier, supported by Lawes, Hartley, Wood
- Sexton to kick all pens for goal in range, otherwise go for corner
- Bring North off his wing to look for work
- Use Norths height with cross field kicks
- Goode to act as second playmaker on occasion

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Exeter Chiefs 
Manager – Fluxy

01. Alec Hepburn	09. Nic White
02. Luke Cowan-Dickie	10. Gareth Steenson (k)
03. Harry Williams
04. Mitch Lees	11. Jack Nowell
05. Sam Whitelock	12. Henry Slade
06. Don Armand (c)	13. Ian Whitten
07. Matt Kvesic	14. Olly Woodburn
08. Thomas Waldrom	15. Lachlan Turner

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16. Jack Yeandle, 17. Ben Moon, 18. Greg Holmes, 19. Jonny Hill, 20. Dave Ewers, 21. Jack Maunder 22. Anthony Belleau, 23. James Short

Look to play the real life Chiefs style of play, a high-intensity game in both defence and attack. Dynamic carrying and rucking at the fore, keeping it narrow until we create quick enough possession to feed our back line.  

- Use the set piece as a weapon to launch attacks, especially the maul, with the likes of Waldrom or Armand to launch themselves off the back of mauls. 
- Pick & goes - in twos and threes around the fringes, to starve Northampton of possession and a great weapon of the Chiefs over the years. 
- It will be phases of carrying, running at least in pairs to help maintain a leg drive. This is the standard Chiefs style, and causes the opposition defence to be drawn into the defend through the middle, creating space out wide for our back line to exploit. 
- Half-backs to dictate the game and play for territory. Steenson to also kick available points when on offer - to keep the scoreboard ticking over. 
- Slade to act as the second playmaker and look to spread the ball wide to back three when the space is available to attack, or to take pressure off Steenson on clearances.
- Wingers to come in off their wings and look for work, and get them 1v1 on a forward to make the most of their footwork and speed to beat the slow Saints forwards. 
- Not worried about how Northampton will play, we will chop them low and early to allow our back row to compete and slow their ball down. The game is based around us having possession for long periods and forcing Saints to panic when they have the ball, as they will want to do something immediately with it, if they get it, and this should yield mistakes and forced opportunities for us to capatilise on.

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Sale Sharks vs Bath Rugby
AJ Bell Stadium
Light Cloud - 8 degrees, 14mph South Westerly Winds

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 Sale Sharks
Manager – Steven_Sharks

01. Ross Harrison	09. Faf Du Klerk
02. Malcolm Marx	10. Nicolas Sanchez (k)
03. Rabah Slimano
04. Josh Beaumont	11. Byron McGuigan
05. Pieter Steph Du Toit	12. Sam James
06. Judicael Cancoriet	13. Jack Goodhue
07. Ben Curry	14. Denny Solomona
08. Jono Ross	15. James O'Connor

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16. Rob Webber, 17. Greg Bateman, 18. Halani Aulika, 19. Bryn Evans, 20. TJ Ioane, 21. Antoine Dupont, 22. AJ MacGinty, 23. Will Addison

- International quality at 9 and 10 to control the game. Du Klerk to control tempo and Sanchez to control territory and direction of attacks.

- Use our pack to get use over the gain line. Offload just before contact to help us carry over the gain line to keep momentum. Forwards to carry primarily of 9, 10 and 12.

- Look to get the ball wide when we have go forward and the Warriors defence is disorganised. Create space for our outside backs in the outside channels. Try to create mismatches with opposition forwards.

- Du Toit, Beaumont and Cancoriet to pressure Warriors line out at the middle and tail to prevent clean and quick ball off the top.

- Back row to attack the breakdown to turn the ball over or force penalties. Punish isolated carriers. Chop tackles to allow the first man to attack the ball.

- Play the conditions. Slow the ball down and use the kicking game of 9,10, 12 and 15 to control territory.

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Bath Rugby
Manager – Driver

01. Beno Obano	09. Chris Cook
02. Nathan Charles	10. Freddie Burns (k)
03. Ramiro Herrera
04. Dave Attwood	11. Aled Brew
05. Charlie Ewels	12. Robbie Henshaw
06. Matt Garvey (c)	13. Jonathan Joseph
07. Francois Louw	14. Semesa Rokoduguni
08. Zac Mercer	15. Anthony Watson

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16. Tom Dunn 17. Nathan Catt 18. Anthony Perenise 19. Elliot Stooke 20. Josh Bayliss 21. Will Homer 22. Rory Jennings 23. Darren Atkins

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Wasps vs Gloucester Rugby
Ricoh Arena
Light Cloud - 8 degrees, 16mph South Westerly Winds

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Wasps
Manager - Pullthestrings

01. Simon McIntyre	09. Dan Robson
02. Tommy Taylor	10. Danny Cipriani
03. Jake Cooper-Wooley
04. James Gaskell	11. Josh Bassett
05. Scott Barrett	12. Juan De Jongh
06. Sean O'Brien	13. Elliot Daly
07. Thomas Young	14. Christian Wade
08. Nathan Hughes	15. Willie Le Roux

_
16. Ashley Johnson, 17. Alex Lundberg, 18. Marty Moore, 19. Kearnan Myall, 20. James Haskell, 21. Joe Simpson, 22. Kyle Eastmond, 23. Gabiriele Lovobalavu

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Tactics
Attack:
- Mix up our lines of attack, sometimes with two lines with forwards as options
- Loose forwards to offer extra pair of hands in the backline when required
- Mix up forward runners off 9 and 10 to give go forward and tie in defence. When space opens up, go wide and utilise pace of back three.
Defence:
- Quick line speed, getting up to the 10 and putting pressure on.
- Only step out of the line for big hit opportunities.
Breakdown:
- Be disciplined at the breakdown and do not give away penalties in our half
- Compete for the turnover if it's on, even if it's only too slow down the ball
- If ruck is lost, don't compete and fan out in defence
Territory:
- Use box kicks from 9 and nudges from 10 out of hand to pin them back.
- Play rugby in their half and make them attack from deep
- Full back to marshall the back 3 and make sure our positioning is spot on for kick returns

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Gloucester Rugby
Manager - Prop_Lyd

01. Val Ruskin	09. Aaron Smith
02. Richard Hibbard	10. Owen Williams
03. John Afoa
04. Jeremy Thrush	11. Henry Purdy
05. Franco Mostert	12. Billy Twelvetrees
06. Lewis Ludlow	13. Jon Davies
07. Ruan Ackerman	14. Charlie Sharples
08. Ben Morgan	15. Jason Woodward

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16. James Hanson 17. Josh Honeck 18. Gareth Denman 19. Ed Slater 20. Jake Polledri 21. Ben Vellacott 22. Billy Burns 23. Tom Marshall

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Tactics
*Look to grind them down in the front 5 with a hefty pack not afraid to do dirty work,
*Forwards to work in pods round the corner 2 phases then wide and hit gaps,
*JD2 and 12T to play what's in front of them and look to put runners through,
*Williams to look to get quick ball out, if it isn't on then tactical kicking to corners,
*Defence led by JD2 and with a back rower on Burns' shoulder to assist tackle and get over the ball,
*Look to slow them down with a well balanced back row,
*Use bench wisely with experience to come on and pace in the backs to target tired legs especially Vellacott who will be given a run out towards the end,
*Keep the scoreboard ticking over.

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Worcester Warriors vs London Irish
Sixways Stadium
Light Cloud - 9 degrees, 14mph South Westerly Winds

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Worcester Warriors
Manager: CJB

01. Ethan Waller	09. Francois Hougaard
02. Jack Singleton	10. Beauden Barrett
03. Nic Schonert
04. Will Spencer	11. Dean Hammond
05. Guido Petti	12. Ryan Mills
06. Peter O'Mahony	13. Ben Te'o
07. Michael Hooper	14. Josh Adams
08. David Denton	15. Chris Pennell

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16. Joe Taufete'e, 17. Gareth Milanosivich, 18. Biyi Alo, 19. Christian Scotland Williamson, 20. GJ Van Velze, 21. Jonny Arr, 22. Jamie Shillcock, 23. Wynard Olivier

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London Irish
Manager – Bambam

01. Gordon Reid	09. TJ Perenara
02. Saia Fainga	10. Aaron Cruden (k)
03. Ben Franks
04. Sebastian De Chaves	11. Joe Cokanasiga
05. Brodie Retallick (c)	12. Johnny Williams
06. Mike Coman	13. Fergus Mulchrone
07. Sam Cane	14. Alex Lewington
08. Jake Schatz	15. Jordie Barrett

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16. David Paice 17. Danny Hobbs-Ayowemi 18. Ollie Hoskins 19. Josh McNally 20. Max Northcote-Green 21. Scott Steele 22. Theo Brophy-Clews 23. Ben Ransom

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Saracens
Manager – Pooly

01. Mako Vunipola	09. Richard Wigglesworth
02. Jamie George	10. Owen Farrell
03. Vincent Koch
04. Eben Etzebeth	11. Chris Wyles
05. George Kruis	12. Alex Lozowski
06. Maro Itoje	13. Marcelo Bosch
07. Schalk Burger	14. Sean Maitland
08. Billy Vunipola	15. Liam Williams

:-
16. Schalk Brits  17. Hayden Thompson-Stringer 18. Juan Figallo 19. Will Skelton  20. Jackson Wray 21. Ben Spencer 22. Harry Mallinder 23. Nathan Earle
-
Tactics:

- Strong, physical pack to set a tone in the collisions. High intensity rugby, with big carries from numerous options. Will look to dominate the opposition pack and lay a foundation for our backs.
- Target Set piece and go for the jugular if a weakness is seen. Kicking for corners and territory if able to exert pressure in this area.
- Strong impact from the bench to keep intensity up.
- Typical Sarries blitz defence, squeezing the life out opposition and forcing errors.
- Play the game in the right areas of the pitch. Low error rugby and go through the phases when required.
- Farrell and Lozowski to give playmaking options and alternate at first receiver. Look to put Lozowski through gaps or mismatches and exploit his gas.
-TARGET LINEOUT - Numerous world class jumpers and excellent defensive line out options. Look to mark Barrow and exploit the ability of Youngs to go to pieces. Think we can get a lot of joy in this area with Etzebeth and Kruis either side of Barrow. If weakness seen look to pin Tigers back in own half and force pressure.

Newcastle Falcons
Manager – Ozzy

01. Sami Mavinga	09. Sonatane Takulua
02. Santiago Socino	10. Toby Flood
03. Owen Franks
04. Sean Robinson	11. Sinoti Sinoti
05. Iain Henderson	12. Juan Pablo Socino
06. Mark Wilson	13. Maxine Mermoz
07. Ni Latu	14. Vereniki Goneva
08. Opeti Fonua	15. Alex Tait

:-
16. Kyle Cooper 17. Rob Vickers 18. David Wilson 19. Will Witty 20. Will Welch 21. Micky Young 22. Craig Willis 23. DTH Van Der Merwe

TACTICS


- Blitz defence with good line speed with 9 and 15 sweeping.
- Big runners carrying close to the ruck but looking to keep the ball alive with offloads to runners on their shoulder.

Harlequins
Manager – CJ

01. Joe Marler	09. Danny Care
02. Dane Coles	10. Demetri Catrakalis (k)
03. Will Collier
04. James Horwill (c)	11. Tim Visser
05. Johnny Gray	12. Jamie Roberts
06. Chris Robshaw	13. Joe Marchant
07. Jack Lam	14. Marlon Yarde
08. Renaldo Bothma	15. Mike Brown

:-
16. Mark Lambert 17. Dave Ward 18. Kyle Sinckler 19. Matt Luamanu 20. Jack Clifford 21. Will Chudley 22. Marcus Smith  23. Francis Saili

TACTICS

When are we having this round? Is the deadline tonight?

28th I think

This is to be played on the 30th.

1 Alex Waller
2 Dylan Hartley
3 Kieran Brookes
4 David Ribbans
5 Michael Paterson
6 Courtney Lawes
7 Jamie Gibson
8 Facundo Isa
9 Cobus Reinach
10 Johnny Sexton
11 Tom Collins
12 Luther Burrell
13 Rob Horne
14 George North
15 Alex Goode

16 Campese Ma'afu
17 Mikey Haywood
18 Paul Hill
19 Christian Day
20 Sam Dickinson
21 Nic Groom
22 Steven Myler
23 Ben Foden

Tactis from last league game please, no access to a computer until Tuesday

Newcastle Falcons
Manager – Ozzy

[/td]

01. Rob Vickers	09. Sonatane Takulua
02. Kyle Cooper	10. Toby Flood
03. Owen Franks
04. Will Witty	11. Sinoti Sinoti
05. Iain Henderson	12. Juan Pablo Socino
06. Mark Wilson	13. Maxine Mermoz
07. Nili Latu	14. Vereniki Goneva
08. Opeti Fonua	15. Alex Tait

:-
16. Ben Sowery 17. Sami Mavinga 18. David Wilson 19. Sean Robinson 20. Will Welch 21. Micky Young 22. Craig Willis 23. DTH Van Der Merwe

TACTICS


- Blitz defence with good line speed with 9 and 15 sweeping.
- Big runners carrying close to the ruck but looking to keep the ball alive with offloads to runners on their shoulder.
- Fast paced game with high tempo offloading game

Can't do Tigers this week with me playing them.....not sure Ben Youngs is great at TH??

Will do them, as I do my Exeter team

1. Ethan Waller
2. Jack Singleton
3. Nick Schonert
4. Will Spencer
5. Guido Petti
6. Peter O'Mahoney
7. Michael Hooper
8. David Denton
9. Francois Hougaard
10. Beauden Barrett
11. Dean Hammond
12. Ryan Mills
13. Ben Te'o
14. Josh Adams
15. Chris Pennell

16. Joe Taufete'e
17. Gareth Milanosivich
18. Biyi Alo
19. Christian Scotland Williamson
20. GJ Van Velze
21. Jonny Arr
22. Jamie Shilock
23. Wynard Olivier

Wasps
Manager - Pullthestrings

01. Logovi'i Mulipola	09. Dan Robson
02. Tommy Taylor	10. Danny Cipriani
03. Jake Cooper-Wooley
04. James Gaskell	11. Elliot Daly
05. Scott Barrett	12. Jimmy Gopperth (k)
06. James Haskell	13. Juan De Jongh
07. Thomas Young	14. Christian Wade
08. Nathan Hughes	15. Willie Le Roux

_
16. Ashley Johnson, 17. Alex Lundberg, 18. Paul Doran-Jones, 19. Kearnan Myall, 20. Sean O'Brien, 21. Joe Simpson, 22. Kyle Eastmond, 23. Josh Bassett

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Tactics
Attack:
- Mix up our lines of attack, sometimes with two lines with forwards as options
- Loose forwards to offer extra pair of hands in the backline when required
- Mix up forward runners off 9 and 10 to give go forward and tie in defence. When space opens up, go wide and utilise pace of back three.
Defence:
- Quick line speed, getting up to the 10 and putting pressure on.
- Only step out of the line for big hit opportunities.
Breakdown:
- Be disciplined at the breakdown and do not give away penalties in our half
- Compete for the turnover if it's on, even if it's only too slow down the ball
- If ruck is lost, don't compete and fan out in defence
Territory:
- Use box kicks from 9 and nudges from 10 out of hand to pin them back.
- Play rugby in their half and make them attack from deep
- Full back to marshall the back 3 and make sure our positioning is spot on for kick returns

Exeter Chiefs 
Manager – Fluxy

01. Alec Hepburn	09. Nic White
02. Luke Cowan-Dickie	10. Gareth Steenson (k)
03. Harry Williams
04. Mitch Lees	11. Jack Nowell
05. Sam Whitelock	12. Henry Slade
06. Don Armand (c)	13. Ian Whitten
07. Matt Kvesic	14. Olly Woodburn
08. Thomas Waldrom	15. Lachlan Turner

. 
16. Jack Yeandle, 17. Ben Moon, 18. Greg Holmes, 19. Jonny Hill, 20. Dave Ewers, 21. Jack Maunder 22. Anthony Belleau, 23. James Short

Look to play the real life Chiefs style of play, a high-intensity game in both defence and attack. Dynamic carrying and rucking at the fore, keeping it narrow until we create quick enough possession to feed our back line.  

- Use the set piece as a weapon to launch attacks, especially the maul, with the likes of Waldrom or Armand to launch themselves off the back of mauls. 
- Pick & goes - in twos and threes around the fringes, to starve Northampton of possession and a great weapon of the Chiefs over the years. 
- It will be phases of carrying, running at least in pairs to help maintain a leg drive. This is the standard Chiefs style, and causes the opposition defence to be drawn into the defend through the middle, creating space out wide for our back line to exploit. 
- Half-backs to dictate the game and play for territory. Steenson to also kick available points when on offer - to keep the scoreboard ticking over. 
- Slade to act as the second playmaker and look to spread the ball wide to back three when the space is available to attack, or to take pressure off Steenson on clearances.
- Wingers to come in off their wings and look for work, and get them 1v1 on a forward to make the most of their footwork and speed to beat the slow Saints forwards. 
- Not worried about how Northampton will play, we will chop them low and early to allow our back row to compete and slow their ball down. The game is based around us having possession for long periods and forcing Saints to panic when they have the ball, as they will want to do something immediately with it, if they get it, and this should yield mistakes and forced opportunities for us to capatilise on.

1. Ross Harrison
2. Malcolm Marx
3. Rabah Slimani
4. Josh Beaumont
5. Pieter Steph Du Toit
6. Judicael Cancoriet
7. Ben Curry
8. Jono Ross
9. Faf Du Klerk
10. Nicolas Sanchez (k)
11. Byron McGuigan
12. Sam James
13. Jack Goodhue
14. Denny Solomona
15. James O'Connor

16. Rob Webber
17. Greg Bateman
18. Halani Aulika
19. Bryn Evans
20. TJ Ioane
21. Antoine Dupont
22. AJ MacGinty
23. Will Addison

Tactics from last round please. No access to computer

Gloucester Rugby
Manager - Prop_Lyd

01. Val Ruskin	09. Aaron Smith
02. Richard Hibbard	10. Owen Williams
03. John Afoa
04. Tom Savage (c)	11. Henry Purdy
05. Franco Mostert	12. Billy Twelvetrees
06. Ross Moriarty	13. Jon Davies
07. Ruan Ackerman	14. Ollie Thorley
08. Ben Morgan	15. Jason Woodward

_
16. James Hanson 17. Josh Honeck 18. Gareth Denman 19. Ed Slater 20. Jake Polledri  21. Ben Vellacott 22. Billy Burns 23. Tom Marshall

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Tactics
*Look to grind them down in the front 5 with a hefty pack not afraid to do dirty work,
*Forwards to work in pods round the corner 2 phases then wide and hit gaps,
*JD2 and 12T to play what's in front of them and look to put runners through,
*Williams to look to get quick ball out, if it isn't on then tactical kicking to corners,
*Defence led by JD2 and with a back rower on Burns' shoulder to assist tackle and get over the ball,
*Look to slow them down with a well balanced back row,
*Use bench wisely with experience to come on and pace in the backs to target tired legs especially Vellacott who will be given a run out towards the end,
*Keep the scoreboard ticking over.

I need a side from Irish and Bath.. 

Also the following have injured players included: 
Gloucester (all of your injuries are included)
Wasps - Paul Doran Jones
Quins - Visser/ Robshaw and Sinckler

If you can amend and comment when you have changed, would be appreciated. I will update tomorrow, would prefer to have all teams in.

When did they come in?
4. Thrush
6. Ludlow
14. Sharples

I’ll swap in Clifford, Swainston and Alofa Alofa directly please.

I’m also struggling to do this properly more and more, feeling I’m not really able to give this my all

Battle through it CJ, we can't lose another good lad

Thanks for putting a team in for me Flux

Anymore for anymore?

Give me five minutes and I’ll do scores

Top man

Guessing I'm too late? Sorry bit of a hectic morning.

Get them in if you can mate

Leicester Tigers 24 - 25 Saracens 

Leicester Tigers 20 - 24 Saracens
Sarries too strong for a Leicester side needing a few signings before being able to compete against the top sides in the league, even at home

Leicester Tigers 21 - 20 Saracens 

Leicester Tigers 23 - 24 Saracens

Leicester Tigers 20 - 21 Saracens

Leicester Tigers 24 - 25 Saracens

Leicester Tigers 24 - 26 Saracens
A good contest between the two sides and the Tigers pack at home does front up well against the visiting Sarries. They are probably a good second row away from becoming a dangerous unit. The Tigers midfield would cause issues all day, but the lack of Ben Youngs is a differing factor in which could have helped Tigers win. Sarries win out, but it is a close run game in the end.

Newcastle Falcons 25 - 26 Harlequins

Newcastle Falcons 20 - 22 Harlequins
Quins look really good with the signings they've made, and a talented backline will help them overcome a strong Falcons pack

Newcastle Falcons 18 - 19 Harlequins

Newcastle Falcons 20 - 19 Harlequins

Newcastle Falcons 26 - 26 Harlequins

Newcastle Falcons 22 - 24 Harlequins
The strong Falcons pack will provide a strong platform for the home side, but the Quins forwards can match them to provide their back line with a platform. The form of care is a swinging factor to help push Quins over the line, with the added impact off the bench against a tired Newcastle side.

Northampton Saints 29 - 28 Exeter Chiefs

Northampton Saints 26 - 27 Exeter Chiefs
Game of the round for me. Both packs look really good, Saints lack a bit of real life form but Isa is such a brilliant pick up and exactly what they needed. Behind the scrum, Sexton is the class act on show and will get Saints into dangerous areas, but the Exeter side is playing so well, and even without that bit of stardust they'll have enough to sneak this on the road

Northampton Saints 20 - 21 Exeter Chiefs

Northampton Saints 22 - 21 Exeter Chiefs

Northampton Saints 24 - 25 Exeter Chiefs

Sale Sharks 26 - 25 Bath Rugby

Sale Sharks 28 - 19 Bath Rugby
Sale have some great pack reinforcements, exactly what they needed. With the international quality sprinkled through the backs, they'll easily win against a directionless Bath team

Sale Sharks 24 - 23 Bath Rugby

Sale Sharks 26 - 25 Bath Rugby

Sale Sharks 25 - 24 Bath Rugby

Sale Sharks 25 - 24 Bath Rugby
The Sale side are strong in the front five and this provides a solid enough supply of possession for the Sharks half backs. The bath back row will overpower the Sale one and cause them to not run roughshod, but there is a lack of direction from their management. I like both back lines, but the difference is the quality of the halfbacks that Sharks provide.

Wasps 24 - 23 Gloucester Rugby

Wasps 27 - 24 Gloucester Rugby
Glos have been good early doors, but with the internationals coming back in now, their pack isn't as dominant. Wasps look very handy and have a top quality backline which will give them the win

Wasps 27 - 26 Gloucester Rugby

Wasps 20 - 19 Gloucester Rugby

Wasps 28 - 27 Gloucester Rugby


Wasps 29 - 28 Gloucester Rugby
Two sides dictated by their halfbacks and their quality from the base of the ruck and ability to create something from nothing for their packs. Having the impact of Hughes and SOB helps give Wasps go forward and a little more spark with Daly in midfield, they win out a close game.

Worcester Warriors 24 - 24 London Irish

Worcester Warriors 23 - 23 London Irish

Worcester Warriors 19 - 20 London Irish

Worcester Warriors 26 - 25 London Irish

Worcester Warriors 23 - 22 London Irish 
Warriors get the edge up front, with POM and Hooper out-manoeuvering Cane who is doing the job by himself really, against two great components. Retallick will help out, but again, just a little outclassed here. Both halfbacks are great at getting the back line moving, but I just feel the overall warriors back line is more of a threat and will hold the line well in defence. Within that, it is a narrow victory for Worcester at home.