RFU Summer Championship Round 3

Saracens vs Sale Sharks

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Saracens

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Manager – LDCpete

01. Matt Mullen	09. Paul Hodgson
02. Scott Lawson	10. Iain Humphries
03. Tom Mercy
04. Rynhardt Elstadt	11. Tim Visser
05. Graham Kitchener	12. Billy Twelvetrees
06. Joe Van Nikirk	13. Henry Trinder
07. George Smith	14. Rene Ranger
08. Luke Narraway	15. Isia Toevea

16. Tom Cowen-Dickie 17. Alex Waller 18. Phil Swainstone 19. George Kruis 20. Jacob Rowen21. James Lightfloot-Brown 22. Owen Farrell 23. Tom Homer
Tactics
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Sale Sharks

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Manager – SirJohnny

01. Lionel Fourie	09. Nicolas Bezy
02. David Paice	10. Aaron Cruden
03. Luc Ducalcon
04. Romain Millo-Chuski	11. Sam Smith
05. Christian Day	12. Jordan Turner-Hall
06. Victor Veto	13. Yann David
07. Matt Todd	14. David Strettle
08. Louis Picomoles	15. Luke Rooney

16. Lee Imolek 17. Brett Sharman 18. Shaun Knight 19. Andreis Bekker 20. Kai Horstman 21. Shaun Perry 22. Andy Goode 23. Nick Abendonan
Tactics
We will look to play heads up attacking rugby. Bezy and Cruden are two of the most exciting young halfbacks around and wil look to play whats in front of them. We will look to mix up our game using the power of the likes of pickles, Vito, JTH and Chluski to get us over the gain line and the creativity of Bezy and Cruden to open up the Sarries defence. We will look to come up in a banana blitz with Bezy sweeping in behind acting as cover

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Northampton vs Bath

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NORTHAMPTON SAINTS

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Manager – Chris

01. Thomas Domingo	09. Joe Simpson
02. Rob Webber	10. Lionel Bauxise
03. Carl Hayman
04. Dave Attwood	11. Julian Sevea
05. Simon Taylor	12. Willie Mason
06. Callum Clark	13. Manu Tuilagi
07. Liam Gill	14. Rory Lamount
08. Liam Messam	15. Danny Cipriani

16. Chris Whitehead 17. Ben Moon 18. Dave Wilson 19. Joe Launchbery 20. Jackson Wray 21. Mike Phillips 22. George Ford 23. Christian Wade
Tactics
We've picked a really strong front five, to ensure that our team gets a good solid platform at home against an experienced Bath team, Domingo, Webber and Hayman are a strong scurmmaging unit and we've ensure an experienced spine down the middle, Hayman, Taylor and Messam.

Our game is all about speed and attacking this week, we've picked two turnover machines in Gill and Clark (most turnovers in the AP last season) and we will look to really target the breakdown.

Messam will look to carry the ball and set up good field position and Simpson has been told to attack the fringes and keep the tempo high.

Beauxis continues at 10 and the rest of the backline is picked for power and an ability to get over that gainline. Mason's offloading game is world class, a real danger and we'll have Tuilagi, Lamont and Savea all running lines off him. Cipriani has been picked at 10 to add a differnt attacking style to our backline and so that he can come into the midfield and attack Bath.

Defensively we've got a very strong backline, which Bath could struggle to get through and we'll look to contain them in the forwards and stop them attacking and scoring tries.

Subs to come on as and when needed.

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Bath

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Manager – Inthefastlane

01.Salvator Perugini	09. Richard Wrigglesworth
02. Lee Mears	10. Charlie Hodgson
03. David Kubrashvilli
04. Yoaan Maestri	11. Maxime Medard
05. James Cannon	12. Francois Steyn
06. Joe Worsley	13. Wynard Oliver
07. Beau Robinson	14. Gehard Van Der Heever
08. Juan Fernandez Lobbe	15. Tim Nanai Williams

16. Jon Golding 17. Joe Ward 18. Kane Newport 19. Tim Swinson 20. Will Skuse 21. James Grindal 22. Steve Shingler 23. Dom Waldouck
Tactics
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Exeter Chiefs vs Quins

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EXETER CHIEFS

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Manager – Driver

01. Cian Healy	09. Haydn Thomas
02. Gary Botha	10. Steven Myler
03. Euan Murrey
04. Simon Shaw	11. Iain Balshaw
05. James Hudson	12. Andrea Masi
06. Kelly Brown	13. Max Evans
07. Marty Holah	14. Adam Thompstone
08. Gareth Delve	15. George Pisi

16. Neil Clark 17. Brett Sturgess 18. Mark Lambert 19. Steve Mafi 20. Rob Wood 21. Rob Coote 22. Adam Powell 23. Matt Smith
Tactics
Exeter will look to play a high intensity game and really take the game to quins by stretching the defence out wide and using our big runners to punch holes in the midfield.
- Up front we’ve gone for a solid scrummage unit combined with mobility. Cian Healy has improved beyond sight this year and is now the best loosehead in Europe on form. Gary Botha makes his second apperence for the club after impressing off the bench against Munster. Euan Murrey is powerful scrummager. Simon Shaw will pack down behind healy to really put pressure on.
- Our back row is well balanced with Brown and Deve providing the physicality for 6 and 8 allowing Holah to target the contact area and snoop around for turnovers.
- Thomas and Myler are building a solid combination and will look to play what’s in front of them with the main aim creating a contact area in the midfield to suck defenders in , creating space both sides of the pitch for our pace men in the backs.
- Masi is our go to man in the midfield he will look to pull defenders in and offload or put the ball into space for Evans and the back 3 who will all be coming off there wings and from deep exploiting the space.
- We’ve got a team packed full of mobility. The likes of Healy , Botha , Hudson , Brown and Delve will all pop up in the loose and will be allowed to do this because of the hard working forwards who have been selected alongside them.
- We are prepared to win ugly or win in style and we have picked a team capable of doing both.

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NEC Harliquins

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Manager – Steve

01. Joe Marler	09. Lee Dickson
02. Matt Rees	10. Rhys Priestland
03. Kieron Brookes
04. Nathan Sharpe	11. Peter Hynes
05. Tom Donnolly	12. George Lowe
06. James Gaskell	13. Gonzalo Canale
07. Juilian Bonniere	14. Yoann Huget
08. Chris Henry	15. Johnathan Joseph

16. Chris Brooker 17. Aston Croall 18. James Johnstone 19. Charlie Matthews 20. Phil Dowsen 21. Ryan Glynn 22. Freddie Burns 23. Jon Clarke
Tactics
Quins are going into this game looking to see how Combinations work and how there set piece copes. This season we are determined to have a squad which is adaptable and to have a team where everybody is comfortable with ball in hand from 1 - 23.

Quins World Cup captain Lee Dickson captains the side and will be integral to our game plan as he will control the pace and direction of our attacks.

George Lowe is being given a run at 12 as we feel if he can make a success of playing 12 then we will be able to integrate a very fast game when we get quick ball.

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London irish vs Newcastle Falcons

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London Irish

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Manager – Stnick

01. Tonga Lea'Toae	09. Juilian Dupuy
02. Neil Briggs	10. Dan Bowden
03. WP Nel
04. Mauritz Botha	11. Paul Sackey
05. Nick Kennedy	12. Matheui Basteraud
06. Jaques Botes	13. Matt Tait
07. Hendre Fourie	14. Joe Maddock
08. Xavier Rush	15. Delon Armitage

16. Darren Fearn 17. Max Anderson 18. Duncan Bell 19. Kieron Low 20. Steffon Armitage 21. Ruan Pienaar 22. Guy Armitage 23. David Marty
Tactics
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Newcastle Falcons

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Manager – Pooly

01. Boris Stanovich	09. Michael Classens
02. Tom Lindsey	10. Nick Evans
03. Craig Mitchell
04. Juandre Kruger	11. Sean Maitland
05. Geoff Parling	12. Luke McAlistair
06. Chris Robshaw (c)	13. Dan Hipkiss
07. Ben Woods	14. Topsy Ojo
08. Duane Vermulen	15. Ben Smith

16. Andrew Hore 17. Paul Doran-Jones 18. Grant Shiells 19. Ed Slater 20. Jonny Arr 21. Brad Barritt 22. Miles Benjiman 23. Tom Catterick
Tactics
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1 Ousthuizen
2 Fourie
3 Somerville
4 Bakkies
5 Robson
6 Ferris
7 Saull
8 Deacon
9 Lewis
10 Donald
11 Guildford
12 Roberts
13 May
14 JSD
15 Hamilton
16 Wood
17 Gray
18 Harden
19 Hanks
20 Harinordoqouy
21 Lamb
22 Sharples
23 Diggin

You sure about the fixtures Driver? Sale and Leicester played each other in R1 and I played Leicester in R2 so thought I would be playing Sale this week???

Sorry Pete had the other 2 fixture pages open so i'v got them mixed up

Thought you were changing it so everyone played each week?

After this week Luke , Thought we will go through with the original fixtures as when you look at the groups there's very little between the teams so it gives us a good chance to really see where we can improve to overtake teams in our bracket of quality.

As of next week though all teams will be in actions.

so it is actually me playing Newcastle?

It is Nick

who am i playing?

Sorry Matt full of flu and put you down when it was meant to be Irish

Exeter Team for Quins

1.Cian Healy
2.Gary Botha
3.Euan Murrey
4.Simon Shaw
5.James Hudson
6.Kelly Brown
7.Marty Holah
8.Gareth Delve
9.Haydn Thomas
10.Steven Myler
11.Iain Balshaw
12.Andrea Masi
13.Max Evans
14.Adam Thompstone
15.George Pisi

16.Neil Clark
17.Brett Sturgess
18.Mark Lambert
19.Steve Mafi (U21)
20.Rob Wood (U21)
21.Rob Coote (U21
22.Adam Powell
23.Matt Smith

Tactics

Exeter will look to play a high intensity game and really take the game to quins by stretching the defence out wide and using our big runners to punch holes in the midfield.

- Up front we’ve gone for a solid scrummage unit combined with mobility. Cian Healy has improved beyond sight this year and is now the best loosehead in Europe on form. Gary Botha makes his second apperence for the club after impressing off the bench against Munster. Euan Murrey is powerful scrummager. Simon Shaw will pack down behind healy to really put pressure on.

- Our back row is well balanced with Brown and Deve providing the physicality for 6 and 8 allowing Holah to target the contact area and snoop around for turnovers.

- Thomas and Myler are building a solid combination and will look to play what’s in front of them with the main aim creating a contact area in the midfield to suck defenders in , creating space both sides of the pitch for our pace men in the backs.

- Masi is our go to man in the midfield he will look to pull defenders in and offload or put the ball into space for Evans and the back 3 who will all be coming off there wings and from deep exploiting the space.

- We’ve got a team packed full of mobility. The likes of Healy , Botha , Hudson , Brown and Delve will all pop up in the loose and will be allowed to do this because of the hard working forwards who have been selected alongside them.

- We are prepared to win ugly or win in style and we have picked a team capable of doing both.

Saracens team to face Sale Sharks

15. Isaia Toeava
14. Rene Ranger
13. Henry Trinder
12. Billy Twelvetrees
11. Tim Visser
10. Iain Humphreys
9. Paul Hodgson

1. Matt Mullan
2. Scott Lawson
3. Tom Mercey
4. Rynhardt Elstadt
5. Graham Kitchener
6. Joe van Niekerk
7. George Smith
8. Luke Narraway

16. Tom Cowan-Dickie 17. Alex Waller 18. Phil Swainston 19. George Kruis 20. Jacob Rowan 21. James Lightfoot-Brown 22. Owen Farrell 23. Tom Homer

Tactics to follow...

Driver do I not have a game?

Saints Team:

After a good showing from a young team last week, Saints have made a number of changes to the team to face Bath at Franklins Gardens.

1. Thomas Domingo
2. Rob Webber
3. Carl Hayman
4. Dave Attwood
5. Simon Taylor
6. Calum Clark
7. Liam Gill
8. Liam Messam
9. Joe Simpson
10. Lionel Beauxis
11.
12. Willie Mason
13. Manu Tuilagi
14. Rory Lamont
15. Danny Cipriani

16. Chris Whitehead
17. Ben Moon
18. Dave Wilson
19. Joe Launchbury
20. Jackson Wray
21. Mike Phillips
22. George Ford
23. Christian Wade

Was meant to write Julian Savea as my winger there!

1 Salvatore Perugini
2 Lee Mears
3 Davit Kubrashvilli
4 Yoann Maestri
5 James Cannon
6 Joe Worsley
7 Beau Robinson
8 Juan Martin Fernandez Lobbe
9 Richard Wigglesworth
10 Charlie Hodgson
11 Maxime Medard
12 Francois Steyn
13 Wynard Oliver
14 Gehard Van Der Heever
15 Tim Nanai Williams
Jon Golding, Joe Ward, Kane Newport, Tim Swinson, Will Skuse, James Grindal, Steven Shingler, Dominic Waldouck

You taking these games quite seriously then lol - not a bad team that!

Harlequins

1. Joe Marler
2. Mathew Rees
3. Kieran Brookes
4. Nathan Sharpe
5. Tom Donnelly
6. James Gaskell
7. Julien Bonnaire
8. Chris Henry
9. Lee Dickson (c)
10. Rhys Preistland (k)
11. Peter Hynes
12. George Lowe
13. Gonzalo Canale
14. Yoann Huget
15. Jonathan Joseph

16. Chris Brooker
17. Aston Croall
18. James Johnstone
19. Charlie Matthews
20. Phil Dowson
21. Ryan Glynn
22. Freddie Burns
23. Jon Clarke

Quins are going into this game looking to see how Combinations work and how there set piece copes. This season we are determined to have a squad which is adaptable and to have a team where everybody is comfortable with ball in hand from 1 - 23.

Quins World Cup captain Lee Dickson captains the side and will be integral to our game plan as he will control the pace and direction of our attacks.

George Lowe is being given a run at 12 as we feel if he can make a success of playing 12 then we will be able to integrate a very fast game when we get quick ball.

Saints Tactics:

We've picked a really strong front five, to ensure that our team gets a good solid platform at home against an experienced Bath team, Domingo, Webber and Hayman are a strong scurmmaging unit and we've ensure an experienced spine down the middle, Hayman, Taylor and Messam.

Our game is all about speed and attacking this week, we've picked two turnover machines in Gill and Clark (most turnovers in the AP last season) and we will look to really target the breakdown.

Messam will look to carry the ball and set up good field position and Simpson has been told to attack the fringes and keep the tempo high.

Beauxis continues at 10 and the rest of the backline is picked for power and an ability to get over that gainline. Mason's offloading game is world class, a real danger and we'll have Tuilagi, Lamont and Savea all running lines off him. Cipriani has been picked at 10 to add a differnt attacking style to our backline and so that he can come into the midfield and attack Bath.

Defensively we've got a very strong backline, which Bath could struggle to get through and we'll look to contain them in the forwards and stop them attacking and scoring tries.

Subs to come on as and when needed.

Newcastle Falcons:

1. Boris Stankovich
2. Tom Lindsay
3. Craig Mitchell
4. Juandre Kruger
5. Geoff Parling
6. Chris Robshaw(c)
7. Ben Woods
8. Duane Vermeulen

9. Michael Classens
10. Nick Evans

11. Sean Maitland
12. Luke McAlister
13. Dan Hipkiss
14. Topsy Ojo
15. Ben Smith

16. Andrew Hore
17. Paul Doran-Jones
18. Grant Shiells
19. Ed Slater
20. Jonny Arr
21. Brad Barritt
22. Miles Benjamin
23. Colin Slade

Quick clarification in rules everyone but how many u21's do you need to play in these games? Sure I read something about that, was it 3?

Change Slade with Tom Catterick please

irish team to face newcastle

1 Tonga Lea'toea
2 Neil Briggs
3 WP Nel
4 Mouritz Botha
5 Nick Kennedy
6 Jacques Botes
7 Hendrie Fourie
8 Xavier Rush
9 Julien Dupuy
10 Daniel Bowden
11 Paul Sackey
12 Mathieu Bastereaud
13 Matthew Tait
14 Joe Maddock
15 Delon Armitage

16 Darren Fearn
17 Max Anderson
18 Duncan Bell
19 Kieran Low
20 Steffon Armitage
21 Ruan Pienaar
22 Guy Armitage
23 David Marty

1. Lionel Faure *
2. David Paice
3. Luc Ducalcon *
4. Romain Millo Chluski *
5. Christian Day
6. Victor Vito
7. Matt Todd
8. Louis Picamoles

9. Nicholas Bezy *
10. Aaron Cruden *
11. Sam Smith (u21)
12. Jordan Turner Hall
13. Yann David *
14. David Strettle
15. Luke Rooney

16. Lee Imolek (u21) 17. Brett Sharman 18. Shaun Knight (u21) 19. Andries Bekker 20. Kai Horstman 21. Shaun Perry 22. Andy Goode 23. Nick Abendanoon

We will look to play heads up attacking rugby. Bezy and Cruden are two of the most exciting young halfbacks around and wil look to play whats in front of them. We will look to mix up our game using the power of the likes of pickles, Vito, JTH and Chluski to get us over the gain line and the creativity of Bezy and Cruden to open up the Sarries defence. We will look to come up in a banana blitz with Bezy sweeping in behind acting as cover

Saracens 15 Sale Sharks 20

Front 5 swings Sales way by a long shot , Mullen is a good player but Mercy has scrimmaged well about once since he moved to Saints - Just happened to be in the HC final.
Back rows are 50/50 with JVN out of place at 6 if he was at 8 would have been rated higher. Pickles is a great 8 and unlucky to be behind Hari and have Lakafia coming through. Todd at 7 is on fire of late. Smith is a great option to have at 7 during the RWC. When Wood is available I’d play him JVN and Dusitour in the back row.
Half backs it’s a great contrast with Pete being more conservative where as SJE has gone for the exciting halfbacks who could tear defences to pieces.
Centres go to pete not a fan of JTH. 12T and Trinder have been great for the saxons and are a strong combo.
Sarries back 3 is great for the counter and this keeps them in touch.

Saints 22 Bath 18

Front row is pretty close with it swinging a bit more towards Bath because Hayman has been poor of late. Mears poor scrimmaging keeps saints competitive here.
Locks go to Saints think Chris has balance here with Attwood doing the work in the tight and Taylor running about in the loose. Cannon is pants struggles to get his place on Wasps bench , havnt seen enough of Maestri to cast an opinion on him.
Back row is same as front row here with Clark better than Worsley , Lobbe same as messem now and Robinson better than Gill.
Half backs is a draw with Bauxise prone to errors but hodgson a defence liability with Messam running down his channel from the base of the scrum. Simpson has the pace to cause problems but poor service doesn’t help bauxise. Chris I’d start Ford.
Centres go Saints way with Mason’s offloading game suiting Tuilagi aggressive running style. Steyn is a poor distributer so he kills off any backs play and Oliver is not a 13.
Seavea , Lamount and Cips is a well balanced back 3 as is the Bath back 3 both matching each other for quality.
In the end it came down to Baths centres not being able to bring there back 3 into play.

Irish 15 Falcons 15

Front rows both tough with Mitchell/WP Nel both huge scrummagers with Stanks the better LH and Briggs the better hook so swings irish way.
Locks once again go to Irish with Botha being like a kid on speed in the loose won’t get through the wall but will keep running at it. Parling I struggle to rate the Same with Kruger who hasn’t played once this season for the bulls. Kennedy a solid lineout a guy and shows how good he is by how much Irish struggle when he’s missing.
Back rows its Robshaw>Botes , Woods<Fourie and Vermulen = Rush. So It’s a draw here.
Half backs Falcons are a class above.
Centres are both a match in terms of skills and form wise for me. Another draw here.
Back 3 Falcons shade it through Form. Ben Smith and Topsy both playing very well.

Krugers played for Bulls a few times off the bench Driver, good write ups tho.

Saracens 19-23 Sale

Front row heavily to Sale and I see them having alot of joy in the scrum. Good physical engine room from Sarries but lack of top options in the lineout against a good Sale team, see Sarries
struggling in the set piece. Backrow to Sale taking 6 & 8, Smith v Todd would be a great matchup though.

Halfbacks side to Saracens, but good form from all 4. Prefer Sales midfield but good combinations. Back 3 to Sarries by a good margin.

See the Sarries pack struggling to get a foothold in the set piece especially and although shading backs not seeing great attacking ball.

Northampton 18-24 Bath

Great front row battle, just siding to Bath by a whisker. Engine room to Bath, Taylor isn't a great lock for me, decent backrower. See bath edging the backrow too.

Bath take the 8/9/10 combo with more control. Huge physical centres on show and Bath take the back 3.

Bath have edge throughout the XV, two strong sides though.

Exeter 23-21 Harlequins

Cracking upfront battle which sides to Exeter with more top class experience. Slight edge to Quins in the engine room but great pairings. Backrow to Exeter in each man. Much prefer Gaskell at lock, don't think he's physical enough to play backrow against top draw and Bonnaire is more a BS, nice balance from Exeter.

One a piece in the halfbacks, Dickson shades Thomas and Myler shades Priestland. Prefer Exeter midfield combo but Quins have the back 3. Good game with Exeter having edge in the pack.

Sarries 24-22 Sale - good blend of experience and youth, plenty of danger in sarries backline.

saints 22-26 bath - bath edge forwards and better backline

exeter 25-28 harlequins - quins edge forwardds and more dangerous backs

Saints 15 17 Bath

Front row to Saints for me here. Hayman maybe not had the best of seasons but the same can be said for Perugini. Mears at hook isn't the strongest scrummager. Good balance to the Saints 2nd row and Maestri for Bath is a good talent. Bath edge the backrow for me although Messam has really come on this year. Halfbacks to Bath. Hodgson although not the strongest defender is better then given credit for and is a fantastic attacking 10. Been better then Flood through the aviva this year. Beaxuis a good 10 but very incosistent maybe Toulouse will knock that out of him. Centres to Bath for me. Mason hasnt really got a rating yet to be honest for me. Back 3s to Bath. Good close match here but Bath looking stronger overall.

Exeter 23 18 Quins

Hard day at the scrum for the Quins front row in this one. 2nd row goes to Quins though with a classy combination although Donnelly is lacking some form. Backrow battle to Chiefs for me. They have a bit more at 6 and 8 whle Holah is more of a 7 then Bonnaire. Halfbacks to Quins for me. Im a fan of Priestland. Should really make the world cup squad for Wales and should be in consideration for the fullback shirt with Byrnes lack of form! Both sides with a good set of backs and not really much to choose between them. Chiefs take this one with a good strong performance from the pack

Irish 22 18 Newcastle

Front row battle to Irish here for me. Lindsay full of potential but now 3rd choice at Wasps with Thommo signed up. Mitchell a potential welsh TH but not had alot of gametime at Ospreys. COuld be well rated at Exeter this year though. 2nd row to Irish. Lack of grunt in Falcons selection with Kruger not really an enforcer style lock and Parling needs gametime to be rated again. Backrow to Newcastle. Big fan of Robshaw would prefer to see him in the english backrow over Haskell, Woods etc. Fourie stronger at 7 but Vermulen the stronger 8 . In some good form while Rush has been fairly quiet. Halfbacks even. In the backs theres a lack of form for Irish particularly in midfield. Some top form for Newcastle in the back 3. Ben Smith has been preety damn good this year. Good game here and hard to call. Falcons struggling at scrum time and in the tight without an enforcer. Fourie is crucial for me in this one. He will be all over the place at the breakdown with a good tight 5 around him and will see Newcastle struggle.

Saracenss 21 - 20 Sale

Saints 18 - 16 Bath

Irish 23 - 25 Newcastle

Will try to get explanations in later

Sarries 29 - 33 Sale
Exeter 27 - 25 Quins
Irish 23 - 19 Newcastle

It would be handy if people gave some kind of breakdown on where teams are going wrong or right.

Sarries 27-23 Sale
Better backs and forwards from Sarries.

Exeter 19-16Quins
Forwards good from Exeter, not much in backs

Irish 17-18 Falcons
Newcastle backs get them the win

Saracens 18 - 23 Sale

Northampton 22 - 22 Bath

Exeter 12 - 9 Quins

Irish 22 - 23 Falcons

RESULTS

Saracens 22 Sale Sharks 23
Northampton Saints 22 Bath 24
Exeter Chiefs 25 Harlequins 21
London Irish 22 Newcastle Falcons 23

Sorry I didn't predict, pm me next time to remind me.