Fantasy Aviva Premiership Semi Finals

---

Leicester Tigers vs. Gloucester
White Cloud, 14 degrees, 16 mph winds.

Leicester Tigers
Manager – LukeLovesLuka

01. Andrew Sheridan	09. Dimitri Yachvili
02. Stephen Moore	10. Jonny Wilkinson (k)
03. Dan Cole
04. Nathan Hines	11. Ugo Monye
05. James Horwill (c)	12. Billy Twelvetrees
06. Sean O'Brien	13. Brian O'Driscoll
07. Francois Louw	14. Rene Ranger
08. Ryan Jones	15. Isa Nacewa

16. Tom Youngs 17. Gethin Jenkins 18. Cencus Johnston 19. Geoff Parling 20. Ernst Joubert 22. Micky Young 22. Dominic Waldouck 23. Kurtley Beale

Tactics:

TBC


Gloucester
Manager – Mat

01. Dan Murphy	09. Will Genia
02 Joe grey	10. Johan goosen(k)
03. James Johnston
04. Eben Etzbeth	11. Matt banahan
05. Richie Grey	12. Ryan mills
06. Steven Ferris	13. Juan de Jongh
07. Andy Saull (c)	14. Iain balshaw
08. Immanol Harinordoqouy	15. Israel Dagg

16. Coenie 17. Mike Haywood 18. Rupert Harden 19. Tom Palmer20. Qera 21. Dan robson 22. Stephen Donald 23. Hosea Gear

Tactics

---

Harlequins vs. Newcastle Falcons
White Cloud, 16 degrees, 15 mph winds.

Harlequins
Manager – Steven_Sharks

01. Tony Woodcock	09. Lee Dickson
02. Schalk Brits	10. Freddie Burns (k)
03. John Afoa
04. Bakkies Botha	11. Tom Biggs
05. Steve Borthwick	12. Jamie Roberts
06. Tom Wood	13. Florian Fritz
07. Sam Warburton (c)	14. Yoann Huget
08. Pierre Spies	15. Rob Kearney

16. Gary Botha 17. Joe Marler 18. Kieran Brookes 19. George Kruis 20. Michael Hooper 21. Karl Dickson 22. Quade Cooper 23. Jonathan Joseph

Tactics

Game Plan

Retain possession in Newcastle half, use our strong carrier in the pack to make ground and tie in defenders before spreading the ball wide after defenders have been sucked in. We will ruck effectively to get us quick ball which we need to trouble the Newcastle defence. Playing at a quick tempo is key for us in attempting to create gaps in the Leicester defence and Dickson will control this from 9. Physicality in the contact will allow us to get over the gain line and recycle the ball quickly. When we can offload we will look to do this so as to continue our attacking momentum.

We will look for our forwards to carry of 9 and 10 with Burns standing flat and putting our pack and centres into space. When we are in our half we will look to either gain territory or use attacking kicks to improve our field position.

Forwards

We will look to control the set piece and try to get penalties in this area if possible. We will look to win the hit at the scrum and get lower than the Falcons front row. At the line out we will look to shorten on our own ball and get Spies and Warburton carrying in the midfield. On the Newcastle throw we will really look for Borthwick to get at Best's throw as he did in the HC 1/4 final in real life.

We need our forwards to carry at pace with the aim of winning the collisions and keeping the legs pumping after contact to make the gainline. We will be looking to carry in numbers so that we can offload if it is on or we can recycle the ball quickly.

Backs

Dickson and Burns control the game. We will wait until we get quick ball before the ball goes wide and these two will look to put our pack and midfield into spaces by testing the defence themselves. Roberts and Fritz will look to get across the gain line and put others into space. Our back three will look remain wide and exploit the gaps when we tie in Newcastle defenders and get quick ball wide.

Defence

We will look to employ a quick line speed and target Newcastle's key decision makers. We will look to double up in the tackle when we can. We will look to win the collisions in attack and defence.

Key Points

Experience in Pack - We have a pack with International captains, World Cup winners and guys with shed loads of caps. We have experience of big games which is crucial upfront.

Retain possession and quick tempo - These are what we need in the Newcastle half. This will see us either score tries or win penalties when combined with effective rucking.

Commit to rucks - We need quick ball so we need to control the breakdown. We will commit as many as we need to get our ball back with the aim of using no more than 2 or 3 players ideally.


Falcons team to play Quins

1.Fabian Barcella
2.Rory Best
3.Owen Franks
4.Ed Slater
5.Paul O'Connell(c)
6.Tom Croft
7.Hienrich Brussoue
8.Kieron Read

9.Ben Youngs
10.Toby Flood (k)
11.James O'Connor
12.Scott Williams
13.Adam Ashley-Cooper
14.Tommy Bowe
15.Alex Goode

16.Nathan Morris 17.Alex Waller 18.Paul Doran Jones 19.Brad Thorn 20.Toby Falatau 21.Sam Harrison 21.Aaron Cruden 23.George Lowe

Falcons to play a high tempo game based around generating quick ball and playing a wide game.

- Use our big carriers to get us on the front foot playing off Flood and taking the ball to the line with intent.

- Youngs and Flood to control the tempo of the game and mixing the game up.

- Target the front row , Barcella and Franks will look to really get at schalk Brits and try to force him up.

- Williams and Read to target the 10 channel and run at Burns and ask questions of his defense.

- Use the pace of O'Connor and Bowe coming late into the line when Flood stands flat to get away from the centres.

- Test Briggs positioning game with Flood , JOC and Goode keeping a eye on the space around them.

- POC to call the line and mix the options up on our throw and useing Croft to pressure from 2.

- Flood/JOC to kick the goals to gives us the lead and keep the lead growing.

- High tempo at the breakdown, try to blast rucks and really pressure Dickson through slow ball

---

Howay the Lads!!!!

Leicester Tigers haven named their side to play Gloucester in the Aviva Premiership semi-final this week.

Tigers have made two changes from the side that beat London Irish 30-23 last week. Ugo Monye returns from injury to take his place on the wing with Vincent Clerc missing out, and Ryan Jones also comes in for Ernst Joubert at No.8.

Tigers finished the season top of the Aviva Premiership, winning eighteen of their twenty two games, losing only three.


Leicester Tigers
Manager – LukeLovesLuka

01. Andrew Sheridan	09. Dimitri Yachvili
02. Stephen Moore	10. Jonny Wilkinson (k)
03. Dan Cole
04. Nathan Hines	11. Ugo Monye
05. James Horwill (c)	12. Billy Twelvetrees
06. Sean O'Brien	13. Brian O'Driscoll
07. Francois Louw	14. Rene Ranger
08. Ryan Jones	15. Isa Nacewa

16. Tom Youngs 17. Gethin Jenkins 18. Cencus Johnston 19. Geoff Parling 20. Ernst Joubert 22. Micky Young 22. Dominic Waldouck 23. Kurtley Beale

Tactics:

TBC

Harlequins
Manager – Steven_Sharks

01. Tony Woodcock	09. Lee Dickson
02. Schalk Brits	10. Freddie Burns (k)
03. John Afoa
04. Bakkies Botha	11. Tom Biggs
05. Steve Borthwick	12. Jamie Roberts
06. Tom Wood	13. Florian Fritz
07. Sam Warburton (c)	14. Yoann Huget
08. Pierre Spies	15. Rob Kearney

16. Gary Botha 17. Joe Marler 18. Kieran Brookes 19. George Kruis 20. Michael Hooper 21. Karl Dickson 22. Quade Cooper 23. Jonathan Joseph

Tactics

Game Plan

Retain possession in Newcastle half, use our strong carrier in the pack to make ground and tie in defenders before spreading the ball wide after defenders have been sucked in. We will ruck effectively to get us quick ball which we need to trouble the Newcastle defence. Playing at a quick tempo is key for us in attempting to create gaps in the Leicester defence and Dickson will control this from 9. Physicality in the contact will allow us to get over the gain line and recycle the ball quickly. When we can offload we will look to do this so as to continue our attacking momentum.

We will look for our forwards to carry of 9 and 10 with Burns standing flat and putting our pack and centres into space. When we are in our half we will look to either gain territory or use attacking kicks to improve our field position.

Forwards

We will look to control the set piece and try to get penalties in this area if possible. We will look to win the hit at the scrum and get lower than the Falcons front row. At the line out we will look to shorten on our own ball and get Spies and Warburton carrying in the midfield. On the Newcastle throw we will really look for Borthwick to get at Best's throw as he did in the HC 1/4 final in real life.

We need our forwards to carry at pace with the aim of winning the collisions and keeping the legs pumping after contact to make the gainline. We will be looking to carry in numbers so that we can offload if it is on or we can recycle the ball quickly.

Backs

Dickson and Burns control the game. We will wait until we get quick ball before the ball goes wide and these two will look to put our pack and midfield into spaces by testing the defence themselves. Roberts and Fritz will look to get across the gain line and put others into space. Our back three will look remain wide and exploit the gaps when we tie in Newcastle defenders and get quick ball wide.

Defence

We will look to employ a quick line speed and target Newcastle's key decision makers. We will look to double up in the tackle when we can. We will look to win the collisions in attack and defence.

Key Points

Experience in Pack - We have a pack with International captains, World Cup winners and guys with shed loads of caps. We have experience of big games which is crucial upfront.

Retain possession and quick tempo - These are what we need in the Newcastle half. This will see us either score tries or win penalties when combined with effective rucking.

Commit to rucks - We need quick ball so we need to control the breakdown. We will commit as many as we need to get our ball back with the aim of using no more than 2 or 3 players ideally.

Falcons team to play Quins

1.Fabian Barcella
2.Rory Best
3.Owen Franks
4.Ed Slater
5.Paul O'Connell(c)
6.Tom Croft
7.Hienrich Brussoue
8.Kieron Read

9.Ben Youngs
10.Toby Flood (k)
11.James O'Connor
12.Scott Williams
13.Adam Ashley-Cooper
14.Tommy Bowe
15.Alex Goode

16.Nathan Morris 17.Alex Waller 18.Paul Doran Jones 19.Brad Thorn 20.Toby Falatau 21.Sam Harrison 21.Aaron Cruden 23.George Lowe

Falcons to play a high tempo game based around generating quick ball and playing a wide game.

- Use our big carriers to get us on the front foot playing off Flood and taking the ball to the line with intent.

- Youngs and Flood to control the tempo of the game and mixing the game up.

- Target the front row , Barcella and Franks will look to really get at schalk Brits and try to force him up.

- Williams and Read to target the 10 channel and run at Burns and ask questions of his defense.

- Use the pace of O'Connor and Bowe coming late into the line when Flood stands flat to get away from the centres.

- Test Briggs positioning game with Flood , JOC and Goode keeping a eye on the space around them.

- POC to call the line and mix the options up on our throw and useing Croft to pressure from 2.

- Flood/JOC to kick the goals to gives us the lead and keep the lead growing.

- High tempo at the breakdown, try to blast rucks and really pressure Dickson through slow ball

Any chance of knowing your side matt...?

Sorry for the late side luke was going to jack the game full stop but will carry on until end of season and assess then.

Glos 23
Manager – Mat

01. Dan Murphy	09. Will Genia
02 Joe grey	10. Johan goosen(k)
03. James Johnston
04. Eben Etzbeth	11. Matt banahan
05. Richie Grey	12. Ryan mills
06. Steven Ferris	13. Juan de Jongh
07. Andy Saull (c)	14. Iain balshaw
08. Immanol Harinordoqouy	15. Israel Dagg

16. Coenie 17. Mike Haywood 18. Rupert Harden 19. Tom Palmer20. Qera 21. Dan robson 22. Stephen Donald 23. Hosea Gear

Tactics[/quote]

Guys...as I'm on rugby tour tomorrow from 8am, would people be happy if I p.m'd Ozzy my predos based purely on the teams if people don't get the tactics in by 10ish tonight?

Think I know my result prop!!'

Predictions are OPEN

I am in Crown Court all day today so if Mat or Luke add tactics I won't be able to add them to the OP.

Props Prediction....

Tigers 25-21 Glos

Quins 23-22 Falcons

Glaws tactics are simply to play an open game and run anything on after trying to gain front foot ball.

We have rotated again leaving our heino final team having had 2 weeks rest

Simple tactics of using tactical HB's to control proceedings, use massive pack to tire Gloucester and then use our explosive backnline.

Harlequins 27-25 Falcons

Close close game.

Quins will get on top In front row with barcella shot to pieces and best and franks having difficult seasons.

Second rows one a piece but overall maybe a slight slight edge to falcons.
Backrow interesting but falcons take this. Croft in great form as is Brussow and read is world class. It will be tight but I think falcons get the better here.

.




Can't split the lineout with both having super shrewd operators in wood northwick croft and poc.

Half backs one a piece in these conditions with all 4 in good form. Youngs better than Dickson but in ideal conditions burns is a much better attacker than flood and he will get joy.

Again one a piece in centres. Roberts different planet to Scott Williams who I am no fan of. However at 13 AAC has had a great season and gets on top of fritz

Falcons have much better wingers all round but Kearney different planet to Goode.

I think falcons will have a slight edge until the benches come in to play. Quins better in every position on the bench and can see cooper and co winning this for them. Home advantage also plays a part

Leicester 26 - 19 Gloucester

Leicester should do better at the scrum with lineouts pretty even. Great carriers in both packs and in the back row I think that Leicester edge it with Ferris in no form and Saull similar. I like RJ at 8 but think he is perhaps lacking the dynamism which he used to have of the base of the scrum.

One a piece at half back with Genia and Wilko ahead of their counterparts and in sublime form. Centres to Leicester but both sets lacking physicality for me. Back 3's to Leicester.

Leicester stronger off the bench and expect them to pull away late.

Tigers 27-22 Glos
- Still a reasonably strong Glos side but too many players rested to win at Welford. Shame really would of made for a great game otherwise. Tigers deserve to be in final though consistently best side this year.

Quins v Falcons
- Tough one. Prefer Quins front row just, 2nd rows even. All on good form. Pretty even back rows too. Prefer the Falcons half back combo, they can get joy there. Wingers to Falcons, centres even. Kearney massively over Goode. really close one. subs even both have impact. sorry have to draw it.
24-24

Leicester Tigers 32-25 Gloucester

Scrum: Edge to Tigers with more in the row and Murphy struggling.
Lineout: Evens. Glaws possibly slightly stronger off attacking ball.
Breakdown: Saull out of his depth and Ferris struggling for rating.
HB's: Edge to Tigers. Goosen struggling for rating.
Attack: Dagg provides the most spark but Tigers stronger in most positions.
Defence: Reckon both sets of wings could struggle against a top kicking game.
Bench: Little more quality for Tigers but they won’t dominate.
Tactics: N/A. Leaves a bitter sweet taste missing out on the play offs and Glaws just giving up the ghost for the 2nd year in a row??


Harlequins 36-34 Newcastle Falcons

Scrum: No edge either way with both front 5s fairly even.
Lineout: Interesting battle with some very good jumpers for both. Both hooks not always the most reliable either.
Breakdown: Edge to Quins. Better form in the front 5 and good mobility sees them help out around the park.
HB's: Edge to Falcons on current form but Quins are capable.
Attack: More threat out wide for Falcons but Quins with more power in midfield.
Defence: Both sides strong defensively overall.
Bench: Falcons struggle in the front row but both sides with impact outside of that.
Tactics: See a try fest with both sides setting the high tempo. Bit more detail to the Quins approach is a plus. Very tight game to call. Feel Quins can get at the breakdown a bit more and disrupt the stronger Falcons halfbacks.

Tactics: N/A. Leaves a bitter sweet taste missing out on the play offs and Glaws just giving up the ghost for the 2nd year in a row??

Agree SJE.

Lost ap finals on basis of having won heino so have to pick one. Tried winning both and got picked up for fatigue so had to take best option

Any consolation if I play next year ap is target.

Sorry SJE I apologised to you driver and Steve other day about it.

3 heinos is big so gone for it. Can't imagine I will win if I have hacked everyone off lol!

Leicester Tigers 34 - 21 Gloucester

All together tigers are much better unit, form and ability wise. There are some stars in the Glos side, but they are let down by some of the quality lacking in key positions. Tigers get to the final with a great display, which is just afer being the best side consistently this season.

---

Harlequins 32 - 30 Newcastle Falcons

The forwards battle is equal in almost every department, but will just edge the way of Quins due to a tad more experience in their forwards. Both have a great set of halfbacks, and brilliant attacking backlines. I feel that the extra size and physicality of the Quins boys in the backs will just shade them here too. Both have cracking benches for later impact as well. Easily could've been the final with the talent on show, but I think in the end Quins will just snip it at home.

Tigers 25 - 15 Gloucester
Too much power throughout the Tigers pack and can see them dominating this area. View Tigers as a very similar team to Toulon, great power throughout and controlled amazingly well by Mr Wilkinson. Can see a bit of a bullying up front, with subs who can keep this going for the full 80minutes.

Can see this resulting having a massive knock on effect to the entire Gloucester squad for the HC final

Quins 35 - 33 Falcons
Such a tough one to call, but for me securing home advantage in a semi final is worth 5 points to the home side. It is going to be a really high scoring affair and Driver's tactics to target Biggs could see some joy for him. Key for me has been the form of Dickson and Burns in recent weeks, a great halfback combination.

Pack battles very even, two of the best back row combinations going - I like the options Falcons have on the bench, but the form of Quins players can't be overlooked either, so it is very even overall. Really close game, two fly halves that wont miss kicks, but Burns just adds that little bit more creative spark.

Tigers 32 Glaws 24

Tigers have too much muscle and glaws 1 eye on hieno. Not sure on jones at 8 anymore

Harlequins 32 - 28 Newcastle

Really good game between two good sides. Packs are fairly evenly matched. Really like Newcastle's team, but for me home advantage is about all that splits these two. Quins maybe a tad stronger off the bench too.

Leicester Tigers 33 Gloucester 19

Gloucester have made it clear where their priorities lie both in terms of team selection and mindset. Tigers have geared up for this all season and the pack they have out just wouldn't get turned over at home. very strong side who thoroughly deserve their place in the final.


Harlequins 34 Newcastle Falcons 31

Much tougher to call, and home advantage is a real factor here as it is very close. Quins pack I like, and they have an edge in the front row. I can see the halfback battle being fascinating in this one, and in good conditions I would back Burns, with Cooper backing him up off the bench to see Quins through at home.

Tigers 35-18 Gloucester
Real shame that Glaws chucked this one, could have been a proper semi final scrap. Tigers just much stronger throughout and will be well drileld having played loads together as opposed to Glaws who appear just chucked together.


Quins 28-27 Falcons
I don't think there is anything to separate the sides really. If it was a league game I would have scored it a draw, but in a knockout game I have to pick a winner so am going with home advantage.

RESULTS

Leicester Tigers 34 (T: Ranger 2, Louw, Beale C: Wilkinson 4 P: Wilkinson 2)
Gloucester 20 (T: Dagg, Genia C: Goosen 2 P: Goosen 2)

Harlequins 34 (T: Kearney, Afoa, Roberts, Biggs C: Burns 4 P: Burns 2)
Newcastle Falcons 28 (T: O'Connor, Bowe, Croft C: Flood 2 P: Flood 3)


Congrats to Luke and Steve and good luck to both of you in the final.