The Final, Saracens in Newcastle, May 11th. Drive for Five.

[brotheroffrank]

Very different teams/circumstances I know.....but the drive for five coincides with a Roar for Four (in a row).....
01-Apr-2018 - Leinster 30-19 Saracens
15-Jan-2011 - Leinster 43-20 Saracens
16-Oct-2010 - Saracens 23-25 Leinster

Bring it on!

[wixfjord]

Sarries going pretty much full whack this weekend:

Saracens: 15 Alex Goode, 14 David Strettle, 13 Alex Lozowski, 12 Nick Tompkins, 11 Liam Williams, 10 Owen Farrell (c), 9 Ben Spencer, 8 Billy Vunipola, 7 Calum Clark, 6 Mike Rhodes, 5 George Kruis, 4 Maro Itoje, 3 Titi Lamositele, 2 Jamie George, 1 Mako Vunipola
Replacements: 16 Joe Gray, 17 Richard Barrington, 18 Vincent Koch, 19 Will Skelton, 20 Schalk Burger, 21 Richard Wigglesworth, 22 Dom Morris, 23 Alex Lewington

[Logorrhea]

Sarries going pretty much full whack this weekend:

Saracens: 15 Alex Goode, 14 David Strettle, 13 Alex Lozowski, 12 Nick Tompkins, 11 Liam Williams, 10 Owen Farrell (c), 9 Ben Spencer, 8 Billy Vunipola, 7 Calum Clark, 6 Mike Rhodes, 5 George Kruis, 4 Maro Itoje, 3 Titi Lamositele, 2 Jamie George, 1 Mako Vunipola
Replacements: 16 Joe Gray, 17 Richard Barrington, 18 Vincent Koch, 19 Will Skelton, 20 Schalk Burger, 21 Richard Wigglesworth, 22 Dom Morris, 23 Alex Lewington

Next game is home to Exeter too. Can they afford to rest players for that high profile a home game? That's a damn tough run in to the HEC final. Especially considering we'll have a week off for the league quarters.

[riocard911]

Sarries going pretty much full whack this weekend:

Saracens: 15 Alex Goode, 14 David Strettle, 13 Alex Lozowski, 12 Nick Tompkins, 11 Liam Williams, 10 Owen Farrell (c), 9 Ben Spencer, 8 Billy Vunipola, 7 Calum Clark, 6 Mike Rhodes, 5 George Kruis, 4 Maro Itoje, 3 Titi Lamositele, 2 Jamie George, 1 Mako Vunipola
Replacements: 16 Joe Gray, 17 Richard Barrington, 18 Vincent Koch, 19 Will Skelton, 20 Schalk Burger, 21 Richard Wigglesworth, 22 Dom Morris, 23 Alex Lewington

Next game is home to Exeter too. Can they afford to rest players for that high profile a home game? That's a damn tough run in to the HEC final. Especially considering we'll have a week off for the league quarters.

If they run out of puff in Newcastle, you won't hear me complaining!!!!

[desperado]

Probably don't want to risk losing to Wasps away this weekend; allowing them rest against Exeter next week. If they lose they could risk losing out on a home semi by letting Gloucester overtake them. Unlikely; but Gloucester have the 2 bottom of table clubs as their last 2 games. If Wasps were to win tomorrow; Glaws have a sniff as they play Worcester Sunday. Sarries wouldn't fancy having to go to Kingsholm for an away semi.

[The Doc]

Sarries going pretty much full whack this weekend:

Saracens: 15 Alex Goode, 14 David Strettle, 13 Alex Lozowski, 12 Nick Tompkins, 11 Liam Williams, 10 Owen Farrell (c), 9 Ben Spencer, 8 Billy Vunipola, 7 Calum Clark, 6 Mike Rhodes, 5 George Kruis, 4 Maro Itoje, 3 Titi Lamositele, 2 Jamie George, 1 Mako Vunipola
Replacements: 16 Joe Gray, 17 Richard Barrington, 18 Vincent Koch, 19 Will Skelton, 20 Schalk Burger, 21 Richard Wigglesworth, 22 Dom Morris, 23 Alex Lewington

A win guarantees them a home semi and they can rest the team for the following week.

[TrapperChamonix]

Sarries going pretty much full whack this weekend:

Saracens: 15 Alex Goode, 14 David Strettle, 13 Alex Lozowski, 12 Nick Tompkins, 11 Liam Williams, 10 Owen Farrell (c), 9 Ben Spencer, 8 Billy Vunipola, 7 Calum Clark, 6 Mike Rhodes, 5 George Kruis, 4 Maro Itoje, 3 Titi Lamositele, 2 Jamie George, 1 Mako Vunipola
Replacements: 16 Joe Gray, 17 Richard Barrington, 18 Vincent Koch, 19 Will Skelton, 20 Schalk Burger, 21 Richard Wigglesworth, 22 Dom Morris, 23 Alex Lewington

How I dislike Calum Clark

[outcast eddie]

Probably don't want to risk losing to Wasps away this weekend; allowing them rest against Exeter next week. If they lose they could risk losing out on a home semi by letting Gloucester overtake them. Unlikely; but Gloucester have the 2 bottom of table clubs as their last 2 games. If Wasps were to win tomorrow; Glaws have a sniff as they play Worcester Sunday. Sarries wouldn't fancy having to go to Kingsholm for an away semi.

In contrast to Sarries run in to the EPRC final Leinster's buffer in the Pro14 is perfect preparation.

Whether it's coincidence or planned it reflects well on the coaching team.

[wixfjord]

Sarries going full second string this weekend.

[mildlyinterested]

No excuses for next weekend then.

[backrower8]

7 of those lads will most likely bench in the final...once they don't get injured this weekend

[FLIP]

Will Skelton could miss next week after a dangerous tackle in the air against Exeter. Was only given a yellow card but could have been a red.

[neiliog93]

Hopefully Skelton is banned. He is such a massive and athletic man, you definitely don't want him coming on for the last 20 mins and charging for the line from a few metres out.

[backrower8]

I expect Saracens to:

- go after both our wingers in the air in a big way. Especially Larmour.
- target Luke if HOS is on the bench
- get in Johnny's grill
- target our lineout selectively, given the occasional weaknesses in our throwers
- get Billy on the ball as often as possible
-do whatever they like at the breakdown, as Garces doesn’t care anyway

I think we have an edge in the backs through the centres and J-Lowe.

Stats-wise, Goode is a massive player for them in terms of mètres, carries, try assists

Both packs have 4 strong carriers

Their bench is vastly superior to ours. We HAVE to get in front and build our lead.

Leinster to win by a score through superior back-play

[hugonaut]

I expect Saracens to:

- go after both our wingers in the air in a big way. Especially Larmour.
- target Luke if HOS is on the bench
- get in Johnny's grill
- target our lineout selectively, given the occasional weaknesses in our throwers
- get Billy on the ball as often as possible
-do whatever they like at the breakdown, as Garces doesn’t care anyway

I think we have an edge in the backs through the centres and J-Lowe.

Stats-wise, Goode is a massive player for them in terms of mètres, carries, try assists

Both packs have 4 strong carriers

Their bench is vastly superior to ours. We HAVE to get in front and build our lead.

Leinster to win by a score through superior back-play

I think you're absolutely right. It's a really difficult fixture for us. They're a very rounded side with few weaknesses.

We've got to be aware that they will compete to tap back, not always to catch. It's difficult to counter, but we have to get one man on their side and infield when they're putting up contestables near the wings - that way if they tap back, we make it more like 50/50 that we regather. It's high risk, but difficult to see another way to play it.

Nobody is going to get carded in the first five minutes of a final, so I think that if somebody hits Sexton late early on in the game we should pile into him. We may lose a pen, but it draws the referees attention to it and he'll have to be on the look-out from then on.

Our scrum-half situation is what it is, not ideal. Got to take the same approach we do with Sexton - if they rough McGrath up, make more of it than it is. Pile into them, make it an incident and let the ref know what's going on in the aftermath.

I think we are going to have to show a lot of variation in what we do, how we attack. I wouldn't be surprised to see some gimmick plays at the lineout and a different emphasis in where and how we attack in each quarter. We were favourites against Racing last year and they played a strong underdog game and almost beat us ... this time I think that we're the underdogs and have to make a gameplan that is relatively high risk/high reward.

[riocard911]

hugonaut wrote:

"Our scrum-half situation is what it is, not ideal. Got to take the same approach we do with Sexton - if they rough McGrath up, make more of it than it is. Pile into them, make it an incident and let the ref know what's going on in the aftermath."

Luckily Luke will have Seánie looking out for him. I was chuffed to see SO'B giving out slaps in the Toulouse semi when Luke nearly had his head torn off scoring the try at the bottom of that maul!!!!!

[leinsterforever]

Lancaster will be familiar with the tapping back rather than trying to catch contestable box kicks routine. The England wingers used to do it when he was coaching them.

If a Leinster player was brave enough to put his neck on the line, he could focus on getting up really high and putting the Saracens chaser in danger of getting a red card for causing a dangerous fall while not being in a realistic position to catch the ball.

[wixfjord]

The make up of our bench will be interesting. Hopefully Rhys and Cronin are fit, would make a huge difference. If they are, I'd be going for
Healy, Cronin, Furlong, Ryan, Toner, Fardy, SOB, Conan, McGrath, Sexton, Lowe, Henshaw, Ringrose, Larmour, RK
McGrath, Tracy, Porter, Rhys, Deegan, HOS, Byrne, ROL.

That forward bench would at least give us a good opportunity to compete when they bring in the likes of Koch, Skelton, Burger etc.

For me Fardy is a hugely important player in this game, both in terms of putting turnover pressure on them and keeping Rhodes (who's hugely underrated) quiet.

[leinsterforever]

Molony will come into the reckoning for the bench if he's fit and if Ruddock isn't.

[wixfjord]

Watched a good bit of the Sarries v Munster semi earlier. Goode is a very important player for them. Gives their backline something extra coming into the line, a bit like Carbery used to do for us.