European Challenge Cup Quarter Finals

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Bath Rugby v Connacht Rugby
Location - Recreation Grounds
Thick Cloud, 8 Degrees, 14mph NW Winds

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Bath Rugby
Manager – CJB

01. Richard Barrington	09. Richard Wigglesworth
02. Mikey Haywood	10. Charlie Hodgson
03. James Johnson
04. Luke Charteris	11. Hallan Amos
05. Charlie Ewers	12. Luther Burrell
06. Dan Lydiate	13. Francis Saili
07. Liam Gill	14. Sitiveni Sivivatu
08. James Gaskell	15. Alex Goode

16. Richard Hibbard 17. James Slipper 18. Scott Wilson 19. Graham Kitchener 20. Toby Falateu 21. Maxime Machenaud 22. Christian Lealifano 23. George North

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Connacht

15 Mils Muliaina, 14 Tiernan O'Halloran, 13 Danie Poolman, 12 Robbie Henshaw, 11 Matt Healy, 10 Jack Carty, 9 Kieran Marmion, 8 John Muldoon (c), 7 Eoghan Masterson, 6 Andrew Browne, 5 Aly Muldowney, 4 Quinn Roux, 3 Rodney Ah You, 2 Tom McCartney, 1 Denis Buckley.
Replacements: 16 Shane Delahunt, 17 JP Cooney, 18 Finlay Bealham, 19 Mick Kearney, 20 James Connolly, 21 Ian Porter, 22 Craig Ronaldson, 23 Darragh Leader.

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London Irish v Newport Gwent Dragons

Location - Majedski Stadium
Light Cloud, 10 Degrees, 18mph NW Winds

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London Irish

01. Rhodri Jones	09. Neil De Kock
02. Marc Jones	10. Jules Plisson
03. Will Collier
04. Tom Savage	11. Harry Robinson
05. Kieran Tredwell	12. Cory Allen
06. Kelly Brown (c)	13. Mark Bennett
07. Will Welch	14. Sergeal Petersen
08. David  Sisi	15. Rob Cook

16. Gerard Ellis 17. Tom  Smallbone 18. Richard Palframann 19. Devin Toner 20. George Smith 21. Jack Moates 22. Sam Olver 23. Luke Fitzgerald

*Simple tactics wanting to play open rugby with a pack who can get round the park.
*Experience in Toner,Smith and Fitzgerald to come on.
*This is a game to get confidence for our run in.

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Dragons

15 Jason Tovey, 14 Tom Prydie, 13 Pat Leach, 12 Jack Dixon, 11 Hallam Amos, 10 Dorian Jones, 9 Jonathan Evans, 8 Nick Crosswell, 7 James Benjamin, 6 James Thomas, 5 Cory Hill, 4 Andrew Coombs, 3 Brok Harris, 2 T Rhys Thomas (c), 1 Phil Price.
Replacements: 16 Hugh Gustafson, 17 Lloyd Fairbrother, 18 Dan Way, 19 Toby Faletau, 20 Nic Cudd, 21 Luc Jones, 22 Tyler Morgan, 23 Rhys Jones.

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Exeter Chiefs v Cardiff Blues

Location - Sandy Park
Light Cloud, 9 Degrees, 21mph NW Winds

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Exeter Chiefs 

Manager – Fluxy

01. Ryan Grant	09. Nic White
02. Dimitri Szarzewski	10. Camille Lopez
03. Jake Cooper-Wooley
04. Jake Ball	11. Jamie Elliott
05. Michael Paterson	12. Brad Barritt
06. Sean O'Brien	13. Alex Dunbar
07. Luke Wallace	14. Andrew Trimble
08. Fritz Lee	15. Mike Haley

_
16. Jack Yeandle 17. Cian Healy 18. Mike Ross 19. Tomás Lavanini 20. James Haskell 21. Chris Cook 22. Alex Losowski 23. Cory Jane

Game Plan

• Retain possession and play with high intensity throughout the game in front of our home support.
  
• Look to draw in forwards and defenders, to create overlaps for the back line. 
  
• Solid set piece, using the line-out and scrums to set up attacking points either by mauls to draw in defenders or an 8,9, winger set play to create momentum or try scoring opportunities.
  

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Cardiff Blues

15 Dan Fish, 14 Alex Cuthbert, 13 Joaquin Tuculet, 12 Gavin Evans, 11 Richard Smith, 10 Gareth Anscombe, 9 Lloyd Williams, 8 Josh Navidi, 7 Sam Warburton, 6 Josh Turnbull, 5 Lou Reed, 4 Jarrad Hoeata, 3 Scott Andrews, 2 Matthew Rees (c), 1 Gethin Jenkins.
Replacements: 16 Kristian Dacey, 17 Sam Hobbs, 18 Adam Jones, 19 Macauley Cook, 20 Ellis Jenkins, 21 Tavis Knoyle, 22 Simon Humberstone, 23 Gareth Davies

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London Welsh v Saracens

Location - Kassam Stadium
Thick Cloud, 10 Degrees, 19mph NW Winds

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 London Welsh
Manager – CJ

01. Nathan Catt	09. Ben Spencer
02. Dave Ward	10. Remi Tales
04. Mike McCarthy	11. Josh Watkins
05. Jamie Cudmore	12. Casey Laulala
06. Josh Buggea	13. Nick Tompkins
07. Carl Fearns	14. Nemani Nadolo
08. Tom Guest	15. Jesse Mogg

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16.  Adrian Strauss 17. Yannick Forestier 18. Oliver Tomaszczyk 19.  Jordan Ononaife  19. John Barclay 20. Thierry Lacrampe 21.  Kyle Godwin 22. Mark Cueto

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Saracens
Manager – Pooly

01. Nick Auterac	09. Francois Hougaard
02. Keven Mealamu	10. Pat Lambie
03. Dan Cole
04. Brad Davies	11. Miles Benjamin
05. James Horwill	12. Maxime Mermoz
06. Callum Clark	13. Scott Williams
07. Heinrich Brussow	14. Chris Ashton
08. Dave Denton	15. Matt Tait

:-
16. Jack Walker 17. Alex Waller 18. Paul Hill 19. Sam Carter 20. Brad Shields 21. Henry Taylor 22. Morne Steyn 23. Simon Hammersley

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Bath Rugby
Manager – CJB

01. Richard Barrington	09. Richard Wigglesworth
02. Mikey Haywood	10. Charlie Hodgson
03. James Johnson
04. Luke Charteris	11. Hallan Amos
05. Charlie Ewers	12. Luther Burrell
06. Dan Lydiate	13. Francis Saili
07. Liam Gill	14. Sitiveni Sivivatu
08. James Gaskell	15. Alex Goode

16. Richard Hibbard 17. James Slipper 18. Scott Wilson 19. Graham Kitchener 20. Toby Falateu 21. Maxime Machenaud 22. Christian Lealifano 23. George North

I'll be going in weak CJ, zero interest in Europe

01. Rhodri Jones	09. Neil De Kock
02. Marc Jones	10. Jules Plisson
03. Will Collier
04. Tom Savage	11. Harry Robinson
05. Kieran Tredwell	12. Cory Allen
06. Kelly Brown (c)	13. Mark Bennett
07. Will Welch	14. Sergeal Petersen
08. David  Sisi	15. Rob Cook

16. Gerard Ellis 17. Tom  Smallbone 18. Richard Palframann 19. Devin Toner 20. George Smith 21. Jack Moates 22. Sam Olver 23. Luke Fitzgerald

*Simple tactics wanting to play open rugby with a pack who can get round the park.
*Experience in Toner,Smith and Fitzgerald to come on.
*This is a game to get confidence for our run in.

Sgt_Pooly wrote:I'll be going in weak CJ, zero interest in Europe

Will put out a less than full strength side

 London Welsh
Manager – CJ

01. Nathan Catt	09. Ben Spencer
02. Dave Ward	10. Remi Tales
04. Mike McCarthy	11. Josh Watkins
05. Jamie Cudmore	12. Casey Laulala
06. Josh Buggea	13. Nick Tompkins
07. Carl Fearns	14. Nemani Nadolo
08. Tom Guest	15. Jesse Mogg

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16.  Adrian Strauss 17. Yannick Forestier 18. Oliver Tomaszczyk 19.  Jordan Ononaife  19. John Barclay 20. Thierry Lacrampe 21.  Kyle Godwin 22. Mark Cueto

Saracens
Manager – Pooly

01. Nick Auterac	09. Francois Hougaard
02. Keven Mealamu	10. Pat Lambie
03. Dan Cole
04. Brad Davies	11. Miles Benjamin
05. James Horwill	12. Maxime Mermoz
06. Callum Clark	13. Scott Williams
07. Heinrich Brussow	14. Chris Ashton
08. Dave Denton	15. Matt Tait

:-
16. Jack Walker 17. Alex Waller 18. Paul Hill 19. Sam Carter 20. Brad Shields 21. Henry Taylor 22. Morne Steyn 23. Simon Hammersley

Tactics:

Exeter Chiefs 

Manager – Fluxy

01. Ryan Grant	09. Nic White
02. Dimitri Szarzewski	10. Camille Lopez
03. Jake Cooper-Wooley
04. Jake Ball	11. Jamie Elliott
05. Michael Paterson	12. Brad Barritt
06. Sean O'Brien	13. Alex Dunbar
07. Luke Wallace	14. Andrew Trimble
08. Fritz Lee	15. Mike Haley

_
16. Jack Yeandle 17. Cian Healy 18. Mike Ross 19. Tomás Lavanini 20. James Haskell 21. Chris Cook 22. Alex Losowski 23. Cory Jane

Game Plan

• Retain possession and play with high intensity throughout the game in front of our home support.
  
• Look to draw in forwards and defenders, to create overlaps for the back line. 
  
• Solid set piece, using the line-out and scrums to set up attacking points either by mauls to draw in defenders or an 8,9, winger set play to create momentum or try scoring opportunities.
  

Happy to go no tactics CJ?

And you don't have Adrian Strauss

Am I right that it's the teams from last week? If so then these one's are: Connacht: T O'Halloran; D Leader, D Poolman, C Ronaldson, M Healy; J Carty, K Marmion; D Buckley, T McCartney, R Ah You; M Kearney, A Muldowney; J Muldoon (capt), E Masterson, G Naoupu.

Replacements: S Delahunt, R Loughney, F Bealham, Q Roux, E McKeon, J Cooney, S O'Leary, C Finn


BBC did the Blues one differently so their bench is all over the place!!

Newport Gwent Dragons: Jason Tovey, Tom Prydie, Pat Leach, Jack Dixon, Hallam Amos, Dorian Jones, Jonathan Evans; Boris Stankovich, T. Rhys Thomas, Brok Harris, Andrew Coombs, Cory Hill, James Thomas, James Benjamin, Nick Crosswell.
Replacements: Hugh Gustafson, Phil Price, Dan Way, Taulupe Faletau, Ollie Griffiths, Luc Jones, Tyler Morgan, Carl Meyer.

Cardiff: Patchell, Cuthbert, Allen, G. Evans, Gonzalez-Amorosino, Anscombe, L. Williams, Hobbs, Rees, A. Jones, Hoeata, Reed, Turnbull, E. Jenkins, Navidi.
Replacements: G. Davies, T Isaacs, T Knoyle, T Filise, K Dacey, S Andrews, M Cook, M. Vosawai

Completely forgot about putting opposition up
Its usually the team from the last round played of the competition. I'll get something up tonight. Apologies!

Sgt_Pooly wrote:Happy to go no tactics CJ?

Me too

Bath 22-19 Connacht

Bath have a better side but cannot see them connecting the dots to score as many as they should do. Front 5 even and bath have a better backrow but as a pack so light on carriers.

Can't see how bath carry ball and against other teams would lose:

Halfbacks to bath with wiggles steady and in form. He will put them in right places and take right options. Likewise Hodson will put runners in space but bath centres lack creativity. Having watched Kieran marmion live today I think he is easy to rattle. I thought he was a young lad but programme had him
As 28??

Bath bench a step up

Irish 28-16 dragons

Irish rotating but half backs and outside backs storm it. Petersen and bennet are talents. Both were on my list did not realise they were in the game. Shrewd signing

Exeter 32-18 Cardiff

Warburton aside Exeter take pack and have more options on backs. Will dominate possession but as good as centres are they are not a pair and Dunbar out of position. They stifle the attack . However Exeter have a huge work rate pack with great carriers in lee and sob. Generally they are better and despite Lopez and white showing they are maybe not good int players they are mighty effective club players and will really dominate here. Easy win

Bath Rugby 28 - 19 Connacht Rugby

Good contest up front with Connacht renowned for their hard work up front. But the quality on show from Bath up front means that things eventually start moving their way. The quality at half back for Bath allows them to control the game and play in the right places on the pitch. The likes of Marmion, Henshaw and O'Halloran are capable of moments to scare Bath, but in the end the home side have enough to put the visiting Celts to the sword. 

London Welsh 22 - 24 Saracens

Looking at the sides, I presume Kepu is supposed to be starting for Welsh. Not marking Welsh down as this would be more of a mistake, rather than picking someone who is injured!

Sarries just edge the battle up front with Cole providing a strong base at the scrum and not having much trouble from Catt. Welsh will edge the second rows and have an edge at the line out, but sarries overall are more effective at the breakdown, with Clark prominent in this area. Spencer has been in fine form and will keep his forwards ticking over and the scoreboard for Welsh. Hougaard and Lambie international quality and they will provide a fizzing attack with their pace of service, but it has been a while since hougaard has been considered as a starting nine and can see his service being a bit hit and miss at points. Laulala is a solid presence in midfield and will keep mermoz and williams relatively quiet and provide Tompkins and Nadolo good service to run rampage. But the quality of the Sarries bench and having someone like Steyn come on to kick the home side into territory and slot penalties will see the away side edge the win. 

London Irish 25 - 19 Newport Gwent Dragons

Despite Irish rotating in the end they will wear down a rugged and hard working Dragons side. The experience in key positions late on and coupled with the home advantage sees Irish take, not an easy win, but a win nonetheless.

Bath 36-17 Connacht

Plenty of strength from Bath and a good bench to see out the game.

Irish 30-18 Newport

I've liked the look of the Dragons this season but Irish have the balance right and will bag a decent win.

Exeter 34-20 Cardiff

Another pretty routine win with Exeter quite strong and easing away in the 2nd half.

Bath 28 - 7 Connacht
Bath just too strong here - can't really see Connacht troubling the scoreboard.

London Irish 28-10 Newport Dragons
Relatively routine for the home side, a few of the youngsters stop it being a landslide - still a big win against a team that has been awful in the Rabo.

Exeter Chiefs 35 - 18 Cardiff
Another poorly performing team in the Rabo, gives the home team a strong win as only position where Cardiff have an advantage is with Warburton.

London Welsh 24 - 30 Saracens
Just see the away team having too much in the pack and at the breakdown to give a great attacking platform. Really like the Welsh backline but they won't get enough ball overall to win - they've also gone with a lot more youngsters, so a hard lesson for some of them.

Bath 23 - 19 Connacht

Irish 26 - 20 NGD
Welsh 24 - 25 Saracens
Exeter 30 - 20 Cardiff

Irish 26 - 20 NGD
Welsh 24 - 25 Saracens
Exeter 30 - 20 Cardiff

Bath 19-12 Connacht
Bath flanks give a good advantage and the Sarries combo at halfback control territory for them

Irish 34-26 Dragons
Irish stronger man for man

Chiefs 25-19 Blues
Chiefs backs dont get fully firing but pack and late impact sees comfortable win

Welsh 27-31 Saracens
Sarries pack can get on top at the breakdown and give that 10-12-13 combo some great ball to play off

Will do mine in morning

Bath 37-20 Connacht

Too much power up front for Bath, and the halfback partnership is proven to cut teams apart when they have that level of dominance, and Amos, Saili and Sivivatu are more than capable of running in plenty of scores off the back of it.

Irish 27-19 dragons

Irish have got the blend of youth and quality right in the pack, and there's plenty of attacking talent in Bennett and Allen to see them home easily

Exeter 24-17 Blues

some big hitters in the Exeter line up gives them a real platform up front, and Lopez/White will run the game. Solid looking back line means not the highest scoring game, but result never in doubt

Welsh 23-27 Saracens

Sarries gone with more international class players in the pack, and it shows with Cole dominating the scrum and the back row winning the breakdown. Closer in the backs, but the 10-12-13 combo for Sarries wins this for them on the road.

Irish 29-15 Dragons
Exeter 25-19 Blues
Welsh 22-24 Sarries

Bath 28-15 Connacht
Bath's backrow and backline will be too strong for Connacht here.

Chiefs 24-16 Blues
Chiefs have enough fire power up front and back line steady enough to take the win.

Welsh 20-24 Sarries
Can see the Sarries pack causing Welsh trouble meaning the Welsh backline which looks pretty good won't have enough ball and Sarries backline will be on the front foot.

RESULTS:

Bath 32-16 Connacht
London Irish 32-18 Newport Gwent Dragons
Exeter Chiefs 33-18 Cardiff Blues
London Welsh 23-30 Saracens

SEMI FINALS

Bath Rugby v London Irish
Saracens v Exeter Chiefs

Some big wins there then!

Marmion is still only a young lad Matt. Hes 23 same age as Dan Robson

Didn't realise Robson was 23