LV= Cup
Sunday , March 14
Cardiff Blues vs Gloucester 12:15
Northampton vs Saracens 16:15

Preview: Northampton v Saracens
 
Northampton Saints will be taking Saracens 'very seriously' for Sunday's LV= Cup semi-final at Franklin's Gardens.
 
The contest is a match-up between two of the Guinness Premiership's top four sides and is a repeat of last season's European Challenge Cup semi-final.
 
Saints Director of Rugby Jim Mallinder was not taking anything for granted this week when naming his side for Sunday's game.
 
"Saracens are a good team," Mallinder said.
 
"They know how they want to play and they've had a lot of success with it. They've got some very good players and we'll have to be at our best this weekend to beat them.
 
"They are very strong in the contact area in attack and defence and put a lot of pressure on you. They've also got some pacy backs out wide who are good on the counter-attack and half-backs who can put a good, structured kicking game together so we've got to be aware of those threats as well."
 
The Saints have used 33 players in the LV= Cup so far this season and Mallinder is delighted with how all of them have contributed in the team's run to the semi-finals.
 
"The players who have come in have played well and stepped up to the mark," he added.
 
"Ever since the early rounds of the LV= Cup, when we had a lot of players out playing representative rugby, the rest of the squad have all stepped up and played well. That's one of the positives for our season.
 
"We've seen the tournament as a way of winning some silverware and we want to win it. But first we have the semi-final and we have been fully focused on that this week."
 
Meanwhile, Saracens travel to Northampton with Director of Rugby Brendan Venter calling on his team to rediscover the fighting spirit that served them so well in the first half of the season.
 
"We haven't been good enough and haven't shown the fight that we had in the first half of the season and we need to get that back," said Venter ahead of the match.
 
"We've really played ourselves into the position as underdogs on Sunday with our form in the past few weeks but that's a position that we don't mind being in."
 
In team news ahead of the game, Wikus van Heerden misses the game with a shoulder injury so Ernst Joubert captains the side. Kas Lealamanua returns to the front row with Andy Saull also returning to the starting line-up.
 
"Northampton are a good side and a very well rounded team," added Venter.
 
"They like to run the ball up and play multi-phase rugby so we know what to expect from them. The match is a great opportunity to get to a final and to have the chance to secure Heineken Cup rugby at this stage of the season is a big carrot - just as it is to face Northampton Saints."
 
Carlos Nieto, Hugh Vyvyan, Kevin Barrett and Michael Owen miss out through injury while Matias Aguero, Rhys Gill, Fabio Ongaro and Steve Borthwick are all away on international duty.
 
Form: Northampton Saints are in 2nd position in the Guinness Premiership, having lost just one of their last six matches in all competitions. The Saints have a formidable record at Franklin's Gardens with a run of 18 straight victories since Newcastle won there 19-13 on 28 February 2009. Northampton remain the only side with a 100% winning record in this season's LV= Cup as they aim to go one step further than last year when they were eliminated at this stage by Cardiff Blues Saracens are hot on the heels of the Saints just one place behind the East Midlanders in the Premiership table. Sarries have however slipped to three straight defeats and have not won on the road since their visit to Leeds in the LV= Cup on 29 January The two teams have already met twice this season with Saracens victorious 19-16 at Wembley Stadium in the Guinness Premiership on 12 September and Northampton triumphing 19-3 at Franklin's Gardens in the LV= Cup on 14 November. Sarries have not won at Franklin's Gardens since a 35-13 scoreline in the Premiership on 18 November 2006.
 
Northampton: 15 Bruce Reihana, 14 Chris Ashton, 13 Jon Clarke, 12 James Downey, 11 Paul Diggin, 10 Shane Geraghty, 9 Lee Dickson, 8 Roger Wilson, 7 Neil Best, 6 Phil Dowson (c), 5 Juandre Kruger, 4 Ignacio Fernandez Lobbe, 3 Brian Mujati, 2 Brett Sharman, 1 Soane Tonga'uiha.
Replacements: 16 Andy Long, 17 Regardt Dreyer, 18 Jon Vickers, 19 James Cannon, 20 Mark Easter, 21 Alan Dickens, 22 Stephen Myler, 23 Joe Ansbro.
 
Saracens: 15 Alex Goode, 14 Rodd Penney, 13 Kameli Ratuvou, 12 Brad Barritt, 11 Chris Wyles, 10 Derick Hougaard, 9 Neil de Kock, 8 Ernst Joubert (c), 7 Andy Saull, 6 Jacques Burger, 5 Mouritz Botha, 4 Hayden Smith, 3 Richard Skuse, 2 Schalk Brits, 1 Kasiano Lealamanua.
Replacements: 16 Ethienne Reynecke, 17 Alex Brown, 18 Tom Mercey, 19 Tom Ryder, 20 Justin Melck, 21 Justin Marshall, 22 Glen Jackson, 23 Richard Haughton.
 
Date: Sunday, March 14
Venue: Franklin's Gardens
Kick-off: 16.15 GMT
Referee: Romain Poite

Preview: Cardiff Blues v Gloucester
 
Injuries and international call-ups have forced Bryan Redpath into several changes for Gloucester's LV= Cup semi-final against Cardiff Blues on Sunday.
 
The return of the Six Nations sees Gloucester lose players to Italy, Scotland and Wales in the shape of Marco Bortolami, Rory Lawson, Scott Lawson and Gareth Delve.
 
Already ruled out due to injury were Dave Attwood, Luke Narraway and Greg Somerville and added to that list this week was full-back Olly Morgan who picked up a knock whilst training with England this week.
 
Half-backs Andy Williams and Tim Taylor also miss out due to injuries suffered at London Wasps last weekend.
 
As a result, England U20 international Freddie Burns will turn out at full-back and former U20 international Dave Lewis returns at scrum-half.
 
Paul Doran-Jones is preferred to Pierre Capdevielle at tighthead and a reshuffled back row sees Peter Buxton on the blindside and Jake Boer packing down at number eight.
 
Of note amongst the replacements is the name of scrum-half Jordi Pasqualin who is named on the bench for England U20s in Glasgow on Friday evening but receives a call-up in the absence of Rory Lawson and Andy Williams.
 
The two sides have already met once already in the competition this season, at Kingsholm in the opening round of group matches when Cardiff snatched a 26-25 win with the last kick of the match.
 
Head Coach Redpath knows that the Blues will be a tough proposition on Sunday even though they have been affected by international call-ups as well.
 
"Cardiff have been a pretty effective side over the past few years and I think that last season was probably their best season for a long, long time."
 
"Even with several internationals away, they've still got a very good squad. It's a very big challenge for us. It's a semi-final, it's a one off game. It isn't four points at stake, it's win or lose."
 
"But, we've got a game to play no matter whoever takes the pitch for them. Our focus will be on the ones who are playing and not the ones who are missing. They'll still have a lot of good players in their side."
 
"We're aware of how dangerous they are, they've beaten us three or four times. We'll just look to learn from last week and push on to Sunday."
 
Meanwhile, Cardiff Blues Director of Rugby David Young has made four changes to his side.
 
In the backs Dafydd Hewitt starts at inside centre in place of Tom Shanklin who is on Wales duty in Ireland.
 
In the forwards Scott Andrews comes in for the injured Gary Powell. Ben White replaces Sam Warburton, who is also on Wales duty, and Andy Powell starts at Blindside with Maama Molitika dropping down to the bench.
 
"We've got 22 players to pick 22 from so we can't rest people or change many," said Young.
 
"This is a massive game for us that we'd love to win and put ourselves in the final but we know it's a huge challenge against a full strength Gloucester team."
 
"They've got very few withdrawals and we'll probably have 8 or 9 unavailable to us."
 
"We're looking forward to the match. It's a massive challenge for us but a game where we'll have to perform much better than we did against Leinster last weekend."
 
Form: Cardiff Blues lie in 8th spot in the Magners League table and lost their five game winning run in all competitions on Sunday with their 20-29 home reversal to Leinster. The reigning Cup holders Blues' only defeat in the LV= Cup this season was 11-12 at home to London Irish in round two. The Blues have won ten of their last eleven home games against English teams in all tournaments. Gloucester are in 7th place in the Guinness Premiership and have lost their two most recent away fixtures: 11-33 at Leicester and 19-24 at Wasps. Gloucester began this season's LV= Cup with a pair of defeats but followed this up with back to back wins against Worcester and Harlequins. This is a repeat of last year's final at Twickenham when the Blues won 50-12. The two teams have already met in the LV= Cup this season with the Blues winning a thriller 26-25 in the opening round at Kingsholm thanks to a 79th minute Ceri Sweeney penalty goal. Cardiff Blues have won on the last four occasions that the two teams have met.
 
Cardiff Blues:15 Ben Blair, 14 Tom James, 13 Casey Laulala, 12 Dafydd Hewitt, 11 Chris Czekaj, 10 Ceri Sweeney, 9 Gareth Cooper, 8 Xavier Rush, 7 Ben White, 6 Andy Powell, 5 Paul Tito (Capt), 4 Scott Morgan, 3 Scott Andrews, 2 T Rhys Thomas, 1 Faao Filise.
Replacements:16 Huw Dowden 17 Ian George 18 Nathan Trevett 19 Andries Petorius 20 Maama Molitika 21 Darren Allinson 22 Sam Norton-Knight.
 
Gloucester: 15 Freddie Burns, 14 James Simpson-Daniel, 13 Mike Tindall (c), 12 Eliota Fuimaono-Sapolu, 11 Lesley Vainikolo, 10 Nicky Robinson, 9 Dave Lewis, 8 Jake Boer, 7 Akapusi Qera, 6 Peter Buxton, 5 Alex Brown, 4 Will James, 3 Paul Doran-Jones, 2 Olivier Azam, 1 Nick Wood.
Replacements: 16 Darren Dawidiuk, 17 Rupert Harden/Alasdair Dickinson, 18 Pierre Capdevielle, 19 Adam Eustace, 20 Andrew Hazell, 21 Jordi Pasqualin, 22 Tim Molenaar, 23 Tom Voyce.
 
Date: Sunday, March 14
Venue: City of Cardif Stadium
Kick-off: 12.15 GMT
Referee: George Clancy

Cardiff Blues -4.0  1.90  
Gloucester  +4.0  1.90  
 
Northampton -9.0 1.90      
Saracens  +9.0  1.90  

Salut Raffael! j'ai regardé un peu les compos des équipes, et à première vue, grosse équipe alignée par les SAINTS qui prennent ce match trés au sérieux! je ferai une analyse de cette rencontre demain je pense, mais mon idée est déja pratiquement faite!
Pareil pour Cardiff, match à priori plus équilibré mais Gloucester est décimé par les nombreuses absences, Cardiff joue à la maison, et ils ont l'air trés concerné par ce match..de plus, le H est raisonnable sur bet365 (-/+4), ma préférence ca à CARDIFF pour le moment, mais pour l'instant, je suis trop préoccupé par le top 14!!!!!  on a le temps de voir ça demain!!!  bons matchs à tous, j'espère qu'on va triompher ce soir..

Northampton v Saracens :
Demi finale demain de la LV=CUP qui opposera donc les Saints de Northampton aux Saracens: ce match est pris trés au sérieux des deux côtés, n'oublions pas qu'elle offre au vainqueur une place en H.Cup et à la vue des compos , on peut dire que les Saints alignent une grosse équipe. Alors bien sur manqueront à l'appel les internationaux , à savoir Ben Foden, Courtney Lawes,  Dylan Hartley, mais l'équipe proposée reste trés compétitive,c'est d'ailleurs la meilleure équipe que le coach puisse faire avec les joueurs qu'il a à sa disposition.
Signe qui ne trompe pas, le coach Mallinder en apelle au public ce dimanche et espére une grosse ambiance pour soutenir et pousser ses joueurs!!
La charniere Geraghty-Dickson est en place, bref, les intentions sont claires..faire un gros match et jouer la finale!
En face, les Saracens , comme le dit leur coach, vont venir avec le fameux "fighting spirit" , et il attend de son équipe un gros combat, dans une situation d'outsider qui lui convient bien apparemment!!
Au niveau des absents, le dernier en date n'est ni plus ni moins que  Wikus van Heerden , piéce essentielle de l'équipe: on peut rajouter à la liste Carlos Nieto, Hugh Vyvyan, Kevin Barrett et Michael Owen pour blessures, et Matias Aguero, Rhys Gill, Fabio Ongaro , Steve Borthwick retenus en sélection..
Avec un pack fortement remaniée et ses absences, je pense que ça sera difficile pour les Saracens.
Mon prono: Northampton Saints -9@1,90 bet365.

Cardiff Blues- Gloucester:
 
Les Blues de Cardiff accueilleront ce dimanche pour la seconde demi-finale, les anglais de Gloucester, et déja, on peut retenir un point commun entre ces deux équipes: c'est qu'elles sont décimées par les blessures et les joueurs retenus dans leurs sélections!!!
Ainsi, pour Gloucester, manqueront à l'appel, Dave Attwood, Luke Narraway , Greg Somerville , Olly Morgan , Andy Williams et Tim Taylor  ( tous blessés ), auxquels on peut rajouter  Marco Bortolami, Rory Lawson, Scott Lawson et Gareth Delve, retenus par leurs sélections! rien que ça!!
Evidemment, le coach a du composer avec ça, et il a du pour l'occasion, faire appel à de jeunes joueurs pour pallier à ces absences , des joueurs qui néanmoins, font partie de l'équipe des U20 anglaise: malgré cela, dans un tel match, leur inéxpérience sera préjudiciable à mon avis.
Du côté de Cardiff, c'est à peu prés la même chose! de nombreuses absences,Tom Shanklin , Gary Powell, Sam Warburton , et j'en passe!
D'ailleurs, le coach cite cette phrase:""We've got 22 players to pick 22 from so we can't rest people or change many." ça veut tout dire, faudra faire avec les présents!
Ceci dit, jouer à la maison reste un atout considérable, et la contre performance du week-end dernier contre Leinster fait que cette équipe de Cardiff va réagir, c'est sur!
Dernière chose, cette rencontre n'est autre que l'affiche de la finale de l'an passé ou Cardiff s'était imposé, les blues auront à coeur à vouloir conserver leur titre, c'est sur!
Mon prono: Cardiff Blues -4@1,90 bet365.

J'étais bien chaud pour jouer cardiff , mais sur bet365 l'handicap est passé à -3    
Y'aurait il des blessés en plus côté cardiff?

 
Comme je l'écris plus haut, faut pas se cacher que les deux formations sont quand même bien amoindries par les absences, mais je reste sur ma position, en plus , sur le banc de Cardiff, y a des joueurs qui peuvent apporter, Go Cardiff!!!

Allez je suis lechat! Cardiff a l'avantage du terrain, et le 8 de devant me plait bien!  
 
Bonnes chances à vous pr ces 2 paris!

Salut lechat        
 
ajord'hui j'ai te suivi on Northampton (-9h) bet365 stake 3  
Il sont tres en form (5 victoire dans le dernieres 6) il ont une equipe tres tres fort.  
Puor moi le Saracens sans Nieto, Ongaro, Aguero, le point de Owen il perd beacoup sourtour ed defense.
Allez Saints  

Cardiff  

 
Dégouté aussi, désolé..

Aie aie aie...de manière générale, c'est pas évident à cerner les matchs de coupe (en ce qui concerne la motivation des uns et des autres notamment)
C'était quand même une demi-finale donc à priori la motivation était là pour le coup
Tant pis...

 
merci le chat bravooooooooooooooo        
 
   

La finale est Gloucester-Northampton Saints  
 
Allez Saints  

 
 
Ouf!! merci les Saints!! ça passe, de peu, mais on s'en fout, ça passe! FT: 21-20

 
Merci Raffael! je suis déçu pour Cardiff, je les croyais vraiment capable de l'emporter chez eux, mais bon, je regrette pas mon bet, et je vais voir de plus prés ce qu'il s'est passé!!

Lechat tu est tres tres tres bravo, ne pas te preoccuper