Fixtures 2 Predictions

Exeter Chiefs vs. London Irish

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Exeter Chiefs

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Manager – Driver

01. Cian Healy	09. Tomas O’Leary
02. Gary Botha	10. Ronan O’Gara
03. Euan Murrey
04. Simon Shaw	11. Iain Balshaw
05. George Skivington	12. Eliota Sapolu
06. Carl Fearns	13. Regan King
07. Shane Jennings	14. Max Evans
08. Rapheal Lakafia	15. Luke Arscott

16.John Smit 17.Brett Sturgess 18.Mark Lambert 19.James Hudson 20.Kelly Brown 21.Haydn Thomas 22.Steven Myler 23.Andrea Masi
Tactics
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London Irish

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Manager – stnick88

01. Soane Tonga'uhia	09. Ruan Pienaar
02. James Buckland	10. Butch James
03. Martin Castrogiovani
04. Mouritz Botha	11. Bjorn Basson
05. Nick Kennedy	12. Sonny Bill Williams
06. Jerome Kaino	13. David Marty
07. Hendrie Fourie	14. J.P Pieterson
08. Pierre Spies	15. Delon Armitage

16 Jean Baptiste Poux 17 Neil Briggs 18 Duncan Bell 19 Matt Garvey 20 Steffon Armitage 21 Julien Dupuy 22 Matthew Tait 23 Juan Martin Hernandez
Tactics
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Harlequins vs. Bath

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Harlequins

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Manager – Steven

01. Joe Marler	09. Lee Dickson
02. Matthew Rees	10. Rhys Priestland
03. John Afoa
04. Jerome Thion	11. Cedric Heymans
05. Erik Lund	12. James Downey
06. Schalk Brits	13. Jon Clarke
07. Lewis Moody (c)	14. Jonathan Joseph
08. Richie Vernon	15. Ben Blair (k)

16. Kieran Brookes 17. Matias Aguero 18. Tom Donnelly 19. James Gaskell 20. Phil Dowson 21. Byron Kellaher 22. Freddie Burns 23. George Lowe
Tactics
Have picked a very quick backrow and a powerful front 5. We want to play at pace when we spread the ball wide when we have tied in defenders. We are going to run the ball when possible. We will look to get the best crowd in world sport on our side as we visit a ground which is so used to seeing success from the Home side.

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Bath

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Manager – 207

01. Salvatore Perugini	09. Richard Wigglesworth
02. Lee Mears	10. Charlie Hodgson
03. Davit Kubrashvilli
04. Louis Deacon	11. Ugo Monye
05. Tim Swinson	12. Anthony Allen
06. Sean O'Brien	13. Jaque Fourie
07. Beau Robinson	14. Maxime Medard
08. Tom Guest	15. Kurtley Beale

16. Jon Golding 17. Will Tanner 18. James Currie 19. Sam Whitelock 20. Juan Martin Fernandez Lobbe 21. Chris Cook 22. Steven Shingler 23. Francois Steyn
Tactics
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Gloucester vs. Sale Sharks

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Gloucester

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Manager – Matt

01. Nick Wood	09. Will Genia
02. Deon Fourie	10. Steven Donald
03. Nicolas Mas
04. Bakkies Botha	11. James Simspon Daniel
05. Tom Palmer	12. Juan De Jongh
06. Maure Fasavalu	13. Jonny May
07. Andy Saull	14. Charlie Sharples
08. Willem Alberts	15. Israel Dagg

16 Tim Payne 17 Jamie George 18 Julian White 19 George Robson 20 Immanol Harinordoquoy 21 Dave Lewis
22 Dan Carter 23 Mils Muiliana
Tactics
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Sale Sharks

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Manager – SJE

01. Marcos Ayerza	09. Danny Care
02. David Paice	10. Johnny Sexton
03. Luc Ducalcon
04. Romain Millo Chluski	11. David Strettle
05. Andries Bekker	12. James Hook
06. Adam Thomson	13. Robbie Freuen
07. Fulgence Quedragao	14. Luke Rooney
08. Louis Picamoles	15. Nick Abendanon

16. Nathan Catt 17. Brett Sharman 18. Carlos Nieto 19. Christian Day 20. Wycliffe Palu 21. Nicholas Bezy 22. Olly Barkley 23. Sam Smith
Tactics
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Leicester Tigers vs. London Wasps

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Leicester Tigers

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Manager – Luke

01. Clarke Dermody	09. Dimitri Yachvilli (k)
02. Matt Thompson	10. Dave Walder
03. Gethin Jenkins
04. Chris Jack (c)	11. Alesana Tuilagi
05. Tom Denton	12. Florian Fritz
06. Tom Croft	13. Tim Molenaar
07. Jonathan Poff	14. Cory Jane
08. Thomas Waldrom	15. Isa Nacewa

16. Dan Murphy 17. Tom Youngs 18. Dan Cole 19. Brad Thorn 20. Nick Easter 21. Micky Young 22. David Skrela 23. Vincent Clerc
Tactics
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London Wasps

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Manager – Arry

01. Perry Freshwater	09. Luke Burgess
02. Steve Thompson	10. Ruadirh Jackson
03. Werner Kruger
04. Steven Sykes	11. Tom Williams
05. Mark Chisholm	12. Jamie Roberts
06. James Haskell	13. Anthony Fainga'a
07. Francois Louw	14. Lachie Turner
08. Roger Wilson	15. Olly Morgan

16. Tatafu Polota-Nau 17. Benn Robinson 18. Charlie Beech 19. Dan Ward-Smith 20. Tom Johnson 21. Martin Roberts 22. Rory Clegg 23. Tom May
Tactics
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Saracens vs. Northampton Saints

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Saracens

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Manager – Pete

01. Matt Mullan	09. Paul Hodgson
02. Scott Lawson	10. Iain Humphreys
03. Alex Corbisiero
04. Graham Kitchener	11. Rene Ranger
05. Bob Casey	12. Billy Twelvetrees
06. Joe van Niekerk	13. Nevin Spence
07. George Smith	14. Tim Visser
08. Luke Narraway	15. Alex Goode

16. George Chuter 17. Alex Waller 18. Tom Mercey 19. Rynhardt Elstadt 20. Jacob Rowan 21. Francois Hougaard 22. Owen Farrell 23. Tom Homer
Tactics
- We will look to play our normal game. Running rugby with support runners looking for the offload in or just before the tackle.

- Blitz defence with Hodgson sweeping behind the line.

- Humphreys to play what's in front of him, off the cuff switching the point of attack frequently to move the Saints defence around and create space for su to put runners through.

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Northampton Saints

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Manager – Chris

01. Dave Wilson	09. Joe Simpson
02. Rob Webber	10. Lionel Beauxis
03. Matt Stevens
04. Courtney Lawes	11. Rory Lamont
05. Dave Attwood	12. Jean de Villiers
06. Liam Messam	13. Manu Tuilagi
07. Tom Rees	14. Leigh Halfpenny
08. Sergio Parisse (c)	15. Danny Cipriani

16. Ross Batty 17. Henry Thomas 18. Mako Vunipola 19. Joe Launchbury 20. Simon Taylor 21. Stuart Commins 22. Shane Geraghty 23. Siti Siviatu
Tactics
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Worcester Warriors vs. Newcastle Falcons

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Worcester Warriors

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Manager – Prop

01. Dave Flatman	09. Jordi Pasqalin
02. Richardt Strauss	10. Nicky Robinson
03. Yann Thomas
04. Marco Wentzel (c)	11. Leilia Masaga
05. Ollie Kohn	12. Lee Thomas
06. Kearnen Myall	13. Seru Rabeni
07. Craig Newby	14. Phil Chesters
08. Ben Morgan	15. Rob Cook

16. Koree Britton 17. George Porter 18. Bj Botha 19. Dominic Borrow 20. Sabastian Chabal 21. Dan White 22. Sam Vesty 23. Michael La Bourgios
Tactics
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Newcastle Falcons

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Manager – Insert text here

01. Boris Stankovich	09. Sarel Pretorius
02. Andrew Hore	10. Nick Evans
03. Paul Doran-Jones
04. Flip van der Merwe	11. Sean Maitland
05. Geoff Parling	12. Luke McAlister
06. Chris Robshaw (c)	13. Dan Hipkiss
07. Marty Holah	14. Miles Benjamin
08. Duane Vermeulen	15. Ben Smith

16. Tom Lindsay 17. Craig Mitchell 18. Grant Shiells 19. Juandre Kruger 20. Ben Woods 21. Michael Claassens 22. Topsy Ojo 23. Tom Catterick
Tactics
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Get predo's done in a bit.

Normal Falcons tactics - compete in the set piece and get ball out wide. Evans to play what's in front and Pretorious to snipe around the fringes.

Marker - will preado tomorrow

Exeter 23-25 Irish

Some impressive teams on show this week. Top draw front 5's on show here, Possible slight front row advantage for Irish but evened up with Exeter's engine room. Great backrows, bit more
pedigree for Irish and more exciting youngsters for Exeter.

One a piece in the halfbacks, Rog has been better than Butch lately and similar with Pienaar and TOL. Great balanced centres but a bit more quality for Irish and same in back 3. Strong benches from both but Irish sneak this one.

Quins 21-28 Bath

Slight advantage in the front 3 for Bath with some beastly props. Better engine room for Quins though but two strong combo's. Stronger backrow and better balance see Bath take the backrow and
edge pack.

Bath stronger 9-15 for me, centres by a fair bit and similar in the back 3. Quins only stronger in the engine room will see them suffering in this one.

Gloucester 27-28 Sale

Good upfront battle going to Sale in the scrum and Gloucester a bit more in the loose. Great engine rooms again with Sale having more in the lineout and Gloucester the loose. More quality for
Sale in the backrow sees them take the pack.

One a piece in the halfbacks, great recent form Care but Genia has been great also. Sexton brings a better game than Donald and be more effective behind Sales stronger pack. Sales centres are a class above but prefer Gloucesters back 3. Stronger bench from Matt keeps it tight but Sale edge pack and centres to sneak it.

Leicester 22-24 Wasps

Good advantage for Wasps in the front 3, Jenks is no TH for me and engine room stronger for Wasps also. Good backrow battle but Wasps edge pack.

Halfbacks close to call, more quality in the centres for Wasps but not a good balance for me, not a massive lover of Roberts but stronger than Fritz at 12. Leicester edge back 3 but nit enough to sneak win.

Exeter 33 - 35 Irish
Irish do seem to have more power throughout there team, but Driver has done a great job pushing Exeter up and really like Skivington in his pack, good move that one. Would recommend Max Evans in the 13 shirt though, feel he's wasted out wide.

Quins 30 - 31 Bath
Would say that Quins need a few superstars in the backline as Bath I think could cause them a lot of trouble. In saying that I think Bath arent set up with being able to cope with a maurading Brits, who could get a lot more ball in the backrow. He could cause havoc, think he's the reason the game stays close.

Gloucester 27 - 25 Sale
I prefer the balance to Mat's pcak, especially the backrow - I think Fasavalu is a beast and had such a good end to the season. These conditions seem to suit Mat's backrow better, was going for the draw until I saw Carter was on the bench.

Worcester 18 - 23 Newcastle
Would say that Worcestor definitely need some more backthree players in before the start of the season. Nick Evans controls the game for Newcastle and pulls in players when he needs. Think Newcastle will win by 5+ - Prop I would really look at improving your backthree.

Wasps 24 - 24 Leicester
Engine room goes to Arry, think he's built a really good pack, but somehting isnt quite right about the feel to the backline, not a fan of the backthree, I dont think it offers enough, and not convinced Wilson is the best no8 in this game. Think Tigers have the better backline and more potent attack, but Dave Walder isnt the right 10 at all, as a Wasps fan he was never quite right and would say he's a good backup 10 but he wont win you games.

Saracens 20-19 Saints

Small edge in the front row for Sarries, Wilson isn't a good LH and that combo would be better with Stevens at LH. Stronger engine room from Saints, can't see either side dominating lineout.
Back rows are close can't rate Rees with a dozen games in 3 or so years so Smith would have fun here. Parisse is a class above Narraway which evens it up slightly but not enough.

Slight advantage in the Sarries halfbacks but more quality in the Saints centre pairing, Tuilagi/Spence a close battle. Stronger back 3 from Sarries and benches tight. A real tough one to call but think Sarries would edge by a whisker, not much in this though and home advantage would swing it.

Pooly think its all at neutral venues? My predictions would be different in home and away games - sure I read this was all being played in Liverpool lol.

Spence is a very good player, he's going to replace BOD for Ireland - going to be such a great battle between him and Tuilagi over the next 10 years for both club and country.

Wonder when Ulster will get to the point where their players dont go to Leinster or Munster to feel that they are going to achieve more with their careers?

I meant you'd edge it if at home Chris, was a close call if I'm honest. Rees is a massive negative for me though and prob cost you a draw.

He'll come back! He was playing some good rugby last season until he got injured again - I think one more injury and his career is over, but from sounds of it he is now fully fit for first time in 4 years. I hope so, as always had so much talent and a very good leader. Still cant be older than 27 now. Just needs some good games in the AP again.

Wasps have got a pretty good team for next year - just looking at it and hardly any of them will be going to the World Cup, apart from Thompson, Shaw and Simpson. Think we could be top of the table by time WC finishes!

Saints will be top of the table at the end of WC I reckon. Lose Foden, Ashton, Lawes and Hartley and Tonga (who will likely be back asap anyway)

Exeter 18-19 Irish
Exeter have the better forwards while Irish have the better backs. Irish have better subs as well.

Gloucester 26–22 Sale
Gloucester have the edge in the forwards. The backs are very similar, slight edge to Sale maybe but then you look at Gloucester bench and see they won’t have trouble closing matches.

Tigers 23–26 Wasps
I give wasps a slight edge in the forwards and a similar advantage in the backs. Subs from Leicester keeps it close

Saracens 16–20 Saints
Saints are better in the forwards, especially in the engine room. Also slightly edge the backs . Slightly stronger set of subs from Sarries but not enough to make a difference.

Worcester 23-29 Newcastle
Newcastle are too good personally.

Sarries 9 16 saints. Sarries front row would get slaughtered even with Wilson at lh. Throw in saints engine room and you have consistent ball and pressure. I put no stock on summer games as we all play different teams and try combos. If pete added bdp etc game different

Exeter 21-22 Irish

Quins 22-20 Bath

Gloucester 28–24 Sale

Tigers 22-20 Wasps

Saracens 18–18 Saints

Exeter 22 - 25 London Irish

Gloucester 19 - 17 Sale

Leicester 20 - 21 Wasps

Saracens 15 - 18 Saints

Worcester 15 - 25 Newcastle

Guys - from what people have said should I only really play Wilson at tighthead from now on?

Out of interest what 5 props do you think Johnson will take to the WC? It's got to be Sheridan, Cole and Stevens and then Doran Jones and then a battle between Corbisierio, Wilson and Payne - if Payne makes WC squad I will be shocked. Great club player, but has had his time on the internatioanl scene.

Prop seems an area we are getting strong at again - Mullan, Marler then a new batch of u20s - Thomas, Vunipola etc.

Exeter 17 24 Irish
Good game here with two fairly even packs. Comes down to the 9-15 for me where Irish have that extra touch of quality and will do better with there own ball

Quins 15 20 Bath
Bath shading the front row battle for me, but a great unit in the 2nd row for Quins. Back row to Bath though for me. 1 a piece in the half backs but Bath step it up in the backs for the win.

Tigers 23 19 Wasps
Strong front 5 from Wasps and they will have a shove on at scrum time for me. Fairly even battle in the back row. Halfbacks 1 a piece. Powerful looking back line from Wasps maybe lacking creatiity in midfield but Jackson will help with that at 10. Tigers with the much stronger back 3 though. More impact from the Tigers bench. Think in wetter conditions Wasps would out power Tigers but good summer conditions see Tigers pick up the win

I think he'll take 4 Chris, toss up between Stevens and PDJ for the 4th slot I think. I'd def play Wilson at TH.

Sarries 21 21 Saints

Props the other way around and Saints could really cause problems for Sarries in the srum with a strong 2nd row backing them up. Good battle in the back orw with Sarries shading due to Rees serious lack of gametime. Half backs as a unit to Sarries. Simpson a great running threat but dont think he has the basics of a top scrummie yet while Beaxuis is extremly inconsistent and I think he needs a more steady scrummie like Hodgson inside of him. Good backlines for both sides with JDV being a big influene in midfield. Better balance in the halfbacks would have seen Saints win here for me

Warriors 9 20 Falcons
Hard day at the office for Worcester today. Strong pack from Newcastle getting on the front foot here with a classy set of half backs dictating things should see them pick up the win

Quins 27 Bath 23
Gloucester 20 Sale 16
Tigers 20 Wasps 20
Saracens 18 Saints 15 - Stevens better at 1 , Wilson better at 3 Chris
Worcester 12 Falcons 24

Will do results tomorrow afternoon lads

Exeter 21-22 Irish

Quins 22-21Bath


Tigers 24-20 Wasps

Worcester 3-19 falcons

quins 25-22 bath
gloucester 25-25 sale
leicester 23-22 wasps
saracens 18-15 saints
worcester 14-20 newcastle

Quins 22 - 21 Bath
Gloucester 20 - 20 Sale
Saracens 25 - 23 Saints
Worcester 19 - 21 Newcastle
Exeter 15 - 18 London Irish

Exeter 18 - 25 Irish

Harlequins 23 - 23 Bath

Gloucester 28 - 26 Sale

Saracens 21 - 19 Saints

Worcester 15 - 22 Newcastle

RESULTS.......

Exeter 21 London Irish 33
Harlequins 28 Bath 26
Gloucester 26 Sale Sharks 26
Leicester 26 London Wasps 25
Saracens 23 Northampton Saints 21
Worcester 14 Newcastle Falcons 31

Hey Driver mate are you sure those results are right?
Just asking as ive only the 1 winning prediction and matt 3 or 4 so would have expected him to pick up the win

Meant to be 23 mate on your part just had 26 on the brain after putting Matts score in lol

Cheers mate
Mind I wouldnt complain at being given a draw against Matt