Aviva Premiership final preview

The East Midlands derbies have always been fiery affairs, but never have the stakes been so high, and never has the talent of both teams been at the top of it's game when they have played each other. Northampton come into this after an explosive victory over Saracens where forward domination was the name of the game. Leicester marched on after they catalysed the destruction of not-so defending champions Harlequins.

History

As we know history counts for nothing as tomorrow will be a one-off, all guns blazing affair. In the last 7 meetings between these two sides, Leicester have come up trumps, this stat stretching back to September 2010 when Northampton last beat Leicester 27-19, however, none of these wins (or defeats) will matter come 3pm at Twickenham on Saturday, and i'm sure whoever wins this match, it will be their sweetest win against the other midland rival. Only 2 months ago Leicester absolutely wiped the floor with Northampton so it would be all the more ecstatic if the Saints were to beat Tigers at HQ. That thumping will certainly give Northampton and impetus to put one over Leicester in the big match.

Strengths and weaknessess

Front row: Historically, both sides have a big pack, with perhaps Saints having the edge here as Mulipola for Tigers isn't the strongest scrummager at Loosehead prop. What a big miss Ayerza may prove to be. Northampton have Mujati and Tonga'uiha, two huge Southern hemisphere monsters, up against Lion Dan Cole and as previosuly mentioned, Logo Mulipola. And in between them, Lions teamates Tom Youngs, but there will be no love shared I assure you as each man aims to guide their sides to victory, and to provide dominant lineouts for their teams. This battle will be huge. 

Second row: The set- piece battle will be absolutely vital, and two men at the centre of that, are lineout generals Geoff Parling and Christian Day, and they will be trying to outwit one another and steal and retain the ball for their scrum halves to ship it wide. 

Back row: Each side has their fetcher, their carrier, and their grafter. An absolutely key battle will be Samu Manoa vs whoever is tackling him. Manoa is bigger than big, and hits harder than hard. To stop him, Leicester players tackling technique will need to be up to scratch completely, which i'm sure it will be, and they need to stop him offloading if he does break through the gain line. Leicester pose a little less threat with their number 8 Jordan Crane, but the good thing about Crane is that he always sets Leicester onto the front foot, and is willing to tidy up and secure possession when things go pear shaped. Every metre that he gains could be absolutely vital for the Tigers tomorrow. Leicester will be hoping that Salvi can add another few turnovers to his 28 he's got this season. In the last match between theses sides, Salvi wreaked havoc and was vastly superior to opposite number Tom Wood, so Wood will definitely be seeking revenge today. And the grafters: Tom Croft, who has an unbelievably high work ethic, and Dowson, who is very solid in defence and a leader with lots of experience that Saints will truly need tomorrow. Croft also has outstanding lineout ability that will need to come to the fore tomorrow, and gas, he has serious gas, too.

Half backs: This is where the game will be won and lost. Big match temperament are my three key words. Both kickers have been in good form with the boot, but what could provide the edge, is that Flood has been to Twickenham numerous times, but Myler has never played there. The occasion could get to him, we'll see. Ben Youngs has been in inspired form, and he picked up the try of the season award this season for his wonderful solo effort against Bath. But this match won't be about such a spark like that, it will be more about his game management, which has definitely improved this season, and he must get it right. Dickson is the real forward controller, always shouting at his lumps to march on, and if the pitch is wet tomorrow, he'll need to be at his mouthy best to guide his forwards over the line. 

Centres: Both sides have a lump and a footballer. Manu and Burrell will punch holes in the opposition defence and Allen and Wilson will chuck the ball around and use their brains as opposed to their brawn. There isn't too much to say really, both centres will be key in this match to provide their teams with a platform to take the game.

Back three: Both sides have speedsters and sharp, talented players. Tait, Goneva and Morris will go up against Foden, Elliott and K Pisi. Goneva has a tendency to drop passes more often than most, so as a Leicester fan I hope it isn't wet tomorrow! Elliott has been in wonderful try scoring form and his pace could prove vital if Saints are to go on and win it tomorrow. I fell that Leicester have elected to choose Goneva to try and walk over the small figure of Elliott and the poor defence of Ken Pisi. So if Leicester exploit these flaws with two massive ball carriers of Manu and Goneva, it will definitley cause Northampton problems.

Finally, two England full backs who are both climbing up to past form and former heights and Foden's high ball catching is superior to Tait's and neither are mugs in defence. They are definitely two players that could provide that magic break for their respective teams.

In conclusion: 

Key players: Manoa and Croft- both game changers that could turn the game.

Result: Leicester's experience and will power will guide them to a record 10th English title, and they will win by 8 points.

Rabo Final

Leinster meet Ulster in this All-Irish affair at the RDS in Dublin. I fancy Leinster for this one as they are a strong and experienced team who will be avidly seeking the double after the historic Challenge cup victory over Stade Francais. The Ulster side however will be looking to avenge their Heineken cup final thumping they received from Leinster last year, and the will to do that could serve them well as they bid to win the tournament for the first time since 2006 and young Paddy Jackson will look to emulate the former Ulster fly half David Humphreys as he was playing when Ulster won it last time round. For Leinster, this would be their 4th title in the 12 seasons that the tournament has been running.
It is sure to be an exciting final with both teams going out all guns blazing, with perhaps Ulster being the fresher of the two sides. With the Ireland squad having just been announced for the summer this would be a good time for young faces to shine and make sure that their name is on the back of that green jersey come June. Not only a green jersey will be worn this summer of course, but also the red of the Lions. This is the final domestic chance for Sexton, O'Brien, Heaslip, Kearney, Healy and of course Tommy Bowe. (Doubts about O'Driscoll's injury hence why I haven't included him in that list, but the whole rugby world already knows what he has to offer!)
Here's how the two teams got here:

Heineken Cup

Captain Fantastic Jonny Wilkinson booted his All Stars to Heineken glory yesterday as Toulon overcame an unbeaten Clermont side in the tournament. Tries early in the second half from Napalioni Nalaga and Brock James looked to have sealed the victory for Clermont but a steely Toulon defence and a cocky Delon Armitage breakaway score (and the extras added by Wilko) put Toulon into the lead, a lead which they never then lost. The tackle count rose to 176 from Toulon to 66 made by Clermont which shows you the momentous effort put in by Toulon.

Now we all look forward to next years tournament and I have tiered the competition already:

TIER 1

LEINSTER

TOULON

TOULOUSE

CLERMONT

MUNSTER

ULSTER

TIER 2

SAINTS

QUINS

CARDIFF

SARACENS

TIGERS

PERPIGNAN

TIER 3

EDINBURGH

OSPREYS

SCARLETS

GLASGOW

MONTPELLIER

CONNACHT

TIER 4

GLOUCESTER

CASTRES

RACING METRO

EXETER

TREVISO

ZEBRE

One team is chosen from each tier to go in a pool. the 2014 tournament looks to be thoroughly competitive with heavy spenders Racing Metro down in the 4th Tier! 

Aviva Premiership final

A wet weekend saw the semi finalists from the Aviva Premiership clash head on with one another in two exciting matches where Lions roared in the face of in-the-not-too-distant-future teammates. Yet they did not think about the summer, but only in gaining the victory. Victory for these teams means walking out for their clubs at HQ. The Lions in these teams will have the best chance of catching Warren Gatland's eye, the last chance for any British or Irish player, to make it on to Gatland's lucky fifteen for the first test. There will be 7 of these players playing in this final.

Now back to last weekend. Leicester were second best in the first half to the defending champions Harlequins, but came up trumps, with an outstanding and powerful second half performance that surely means that they are classed as favourites for the final. Northampton, inspired by Wigan, knocked out the table toppers Saracens, like Wigan, the underdog, bit Man City's complacent head off. Saints' in form pack will definitely make sure that Leicester don't become complacent.

England tour to Argentina

Now the Lions squad has been announced, English egg-shaped eyes turn to the tour to Argentina this summer, as undoubtedly some new, young players wear the red rose proudly upon their breast for the first time in their careers. Not only will there be new faces, but also there will definitely be some of the old, but young, Six Nations stars and if they're old, what about the possible selections of 27 year old Toby Flood and    34 year old Tom Palmer. And if James Haskell features in all three matches that the boys in white are scheduled to play, then that will bring him up to the grand old total of 50 caps, to join only Flood who has done this in the current crop of players.
With the captain decision inevitably a lot easier for this, the main debate will be to see which young players will make the squad, and when I say young I mean really young, as in < 23 years old. However with this being Argentina, and not, say Japan, who Wales are visiting, then it will be a lot more physical and more skill will be required, naturally. Among the young players available you have the likes of: Christian Wade, who is currently the Aviva Premiership top high scorer; Kyle Eastmond, who is Bath's rugby league convert who posseses all the skill of League players, like offloading and the ability to beat a man one-on-one; Eliott Daly, who has very quick feet and a massive, usually successful, long-range boot, which could come in very handy on this trip; Freddie Burns, the young exciting, speedy Fly-Half who makes a living at Gloucester; Rob Buchanan, who may possibly feature, with the absence of Lions Dylan Hartley and Tom Youngs; and finally the beast-that-is, Billy Vunipola, who's battering ram-esque qualities could be very useful against a physical Argentina pack.
So with that in mind my England squad would be:
Backs: Ben Foden, Mike Brown, Christian Wade, Johnny May, Chris Ashton, David Strettle, Joel Tompkins, Jonathan Joseph, Billy Twelvetrees, Kyle Eastmond, Brad Barritt, Toby Flood, Freddie Burns, Danny Care, Joe Simpson
Forwards: Alex Corbisiero, Joe Marler, Joe Gray, Rob Buchanan, David Wilson, Keiran Brookes, Joe Launchbury, Ed Slater, George Robson, Courtney Lawes, Tom Wood, Calum Clark, Chris Robshaw, Will Fraser, Ben Morgan, Billy Vunipola.

They are likely to come up against a classic Argentinian team, so massive forwards, the likes of Marcos Ayerza, Fernandez Lobbe and Albacete, who will attempt to physically dominate England, which of course with the young English squad isn't entirely out of the question you know, and it will probably be an arm wrestle for 60 minutes, like we saw in the 2011 world cup. Then their backs are always fast, nippy, agile and possess handling and running skill never often seen in Northern Hemisphere rugby, with players like Camacho, Hernandez, Agulla and Bosch. No doubt their off-loading will be sublime and their defence fairly weak. I have international experience against Argentina as an Argentinian school visited ours earlier this year, and they were all rapid and had good side-steps so if they're the junior versions of the international players then they will be good. You'll be pleased to know our team won, 7-0, and yes it was rugby surprisingly and not football!