Fantasy Aviva Premiership Season 4 homepage

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Welcome to the Aviva Premiership Season 4

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Teams

Bath RFC	InTheFastLane
Exeter Chiefs	Driver - RIP 606
Gloucester	Anonmattyt
Harlequins	Steven_Sharks
Leicester Tigers	LukeLovesLuka
London Irish	stnick88
London Wasps	Arry
Newcastle Falcons	Sgt_Pooly
Northampton Saints	Dammit_Chris
Sale Sharks	SirJohnnyEnglish
Saracens	LDCPete
Worcester Warriors	prop_lyd

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Waiting List
1. Sam
2. pullthestrings
3. Bathite

I think the form of the halfbacks and back 3 papered over how bad the midfield was and Hape in particular. Hope MJ tries a few players post WC.

I hope MJ goes post World Cup.

For me he is not up to the job. On the field he was fearless, but his selections show no such fearlessness or bravery. He has been in charge for 3 years now, and do we honestly have a better side now than we did in the autumn of 2008? I don't think we do. Where is the progression, where is the ability to identify players who will make the grade, where is the gameplan to suit the players at your disposal???

If MJ and the current coaching set up stay, I can see another 4 years of being on the same overall level as Wales, Ireland and France, but well below the 3N's teams, and frankly, that is just not good enough.

You changed your mind on Hape pooly. You were a big fan.

I agree with pete that MJ is not the best option. Jake white would have been a great appointment.
JTH was in great form at the end of the season. we seem to lack spark. you really have to question what Brian Smith is doing

I was a big fan and defended him a fair bit on the main boards but he's went backwards and not developed his game. Somebody else deserves a shot as Hape is not the answer.

Jake White would be a cracking selection if he were allowed to bring in his own coaches.

There really needs to be a reshuffling now. We are consistently in the top 2/3 teams in the world at junior level but this equates to nothing at senior level anymore.

Sale Sharks appoint New Zealander Sam Tuitupou as their captain for next season.

decent appointment. Very experienced player indeed. No other outstanding candidates.

can anyone post a link where i can download the france game

You need to join a site Matt, I'll PM details

Pooly, if you need a good game to watch get the Reds v Crusaders game from 2010 s14. Its good sto see how much some players (Read, Franks, Faainga etc have improved) Also get to watch Peter Hynes who is a class act

top man pooly all sorted and game downloaded

Might do that mate when I get back down South. Been watching a bit of old SA and Lions games lately.

It's mad how much the scrum has changed over the last 10-15 years, no binds and the ball is in and out like a bullet. I watch it and just can't make a call on who has the upper hand, so much dodgy play going on.

You've downloaded the game already!!!!! What kind of connection you got down there?

got the top of the range virgin broadband it is super quick. took less than 15 minutes to dl i reckon

Jesus, takes me 3hrs on a good run. Only got 2Mb down a phoneline, you'll be 30-50Mb I reckon.

Enjoy the game anyway, hopefully the missus will let me watch it later.

51.4 just ran the u switch broadband speed test.

Damn you lot over there! My home place is just being upgraded to 10mb, 12mb is the fastest you can get down this way!!

Damn you Matt, do you want a skinny Northern lodger?

Sgt_Pooly wrote:Damn you Matt, do you want a skinny Northern lodger?

You driver's estate agent now?!

northerners not allowed in my house!!!

lakafia, trin duc, swarzwski and hari playing well so far

Just watched the France game. hari,yachvilli, Lakafia and Swaraeski had excellent game.

Poux and POC made massive impact when they came on.

France had a plan for SOB and it definitely worked. he dropped the ball in contact at least 4 times.

Irish scrum got mullered. how buckley is an international is pretty shocking.

Just watching first half now, scrum holding up so far, Ire lineout dire though.

Pallison, Traille and Lakafia playing very well. Hari putting in a good shift too. Swaraeski looks very rusty.

Kearney and Healy playing well for Ire. Cullen and Fitzy arn't. Paddy Wallace is no Int rugby player either. SOB only player shining in Ire backrow but agree France defence great and holding him back well.

prop_lyd wrote:

Sgt_Pooly wrote:Damn you Matt, do you want a skinny Northern lodger?

You driver's estate agent now?!

Lol prop

Lakafia is awesome mate obs best player last season

He looks a real talent Driver, can see him nailing that 8 jersey. Hari played well from BS but not as effective as 8, got to be in team for lineout work though.

Pretty fair assessment Matt.

Ireland have no lineout outside of POC. They were shocking there till he came in.

Ducalcon and Poux at different times gave the Irish scrum a horrible beating. Healy and Ross will steady the ship a bit but will be a weakness at the world cup as always.

Though Hari was very good first half but anonymous 2nd half. The same could be said of alot of the French though. Lakafia went well on debut?... looks a good player but similar to Faletau for Wales not yet fully ready for this level. Cracking prospect though. Expect the French to go with Dus, Quedragao and Harrri during the world cup with Pickles on the bench. Swazerki looked a bit rusty for me. Guirado looked better when he came on

If Ireland lose Healy, Ross or POC they're in trouble.

POC is the key man. ireland raise their game to such a higher level when hes on the field. For all the talk of captain fantastic BOD, POC is the true Irish leader

Not on yet. Lakuifa has some serious gas!!!

Think SOB is having a bit of a stormer tbh in a quiet Ireland pack. Kearny really looking good too

Kearney has gone well in these warm up games so far. Looking pretty good for that FB spot for the world cup. Thought the French somewhat nullified SOB in that match. He was fairly quiet by his usual standards

Ireland look a different team with POC & Heaslip on, massive players for them.

Guiardo & Poux def improve France scrum, Swaraeski is a good lineout thrower but poor in the scrum. As soon as he goes off France dominate.

i think bringing on poux and ross going off was the key to irelands scrum going wrong

Ross hasn't gone off yet and France scrum getting on top. I seem to recall you calling Swaraeski "powder puff" in scrum Matt, you're not wrong!

Swarzeski is not a great scrummager but there lineout is much better with him on,

Servat is the main man for france. Swarzeski looked super fit considering its his first game back.

If servat is out i would play 2 monster props and swarzeski.

I'm a fan of Swaraeski, think he gets a bad rep tbh. Very good throw. France have some v good hookers.

Think Ireland will win next week if they bring out big guns, they dominated 2nd half. Buckley went to LH Matt, he is a dire prop.

Yeah they have some really good hookers. Bruno is quality and nowhere near the french set up.

Buckley went to Loosehead and then to tight head and they bought healy back on.

I think Ireland could win with their big guns.

Interesting how hari and dusatoir switched between open and blind. I like Hari at 6 but prefer him at 8. he did a one handed lineout catch and pass which is so difficult to do. amazing player and one of the most talented people to ever play the game. i love all the little subtle touches and off loads he gets away with

Juan Smith likely to play for Cheetahs this weekend, didn't see that one coming.

http://www.rugbyweek.com/news/article.asp?id=31548

Just watched Wellington vs. manawatu from the weekend. Aaron Cruden was superb. If he was English he would be first choice 10.

Totally agree Pete... Hint of biast with me though
Hes been in cracking form through the Super 15 and has kept it up through the ITM now. Im actually delighted he didnt get called up by the All Blacks

He was in cracking form to the end of year and his kicking at goal was good. However there is a huge difference to playing against manawatu and international rugby.

I would take wilko over him any day currently

I really like Cruden but I don't think he's currently better than Flood/Wilko. Hard to judge as Int rugby a step up although S15 is as close as you can get

Aplogies for no predo's - was at a festival all weekend - am a right mess right now. Boss keeps asking me to do stuff too...

Id take Cruden ahead of Flood anyday...
Had a cracking year in the Super 15. 80% kicking, great playmaking and a running threat with ball in hand. Going well playing for Manawatu whom arent particularly the strongest in the ITM either.

Would take Wilko over him of course even Im not that biased but definately a better option then Flood currently.

France:

15 Cedric Heymans, 14 Maxime Médard, 13 Aurélien Rougerie, 12 Fabrice Estebanez, 11 Alexis Palisson, 10 David Skrela, 9 Morgan Parra, 8 Louise Picamoles, 7 Julien Bonnaire, 6 Fulgence Ouedraogo, 5 Lionel Nallet, 4 Pascale Papé, Nicolas Mas, 2 Dimitri Szarzewski, 1 Jean-Baptiste Poux.

Replacements:16 Guilhem Guirado , 17 Fabien Barcella , 18 Julien Pierre, 19 Raphaël Lakafia, 20 Dimitri Yachvili, 21 David Marty, 22 Vincent Clerc

Good to see Barcella ready to go again. Going to be one hell of a battle in the backrow depending on who ireland name. Be interesting to see how Szarzewski gets on with two monster scrummagers around him. Was half expecting Guirado to get a chance at starting this week.

The depth the french have in all positions is just amazing really!

Will be a cracker of a game, no doubt Barcella will break a finger nail and be out for 4 years

If hes up against Tony Buckley he wont even have to break a sweat

I've not seen a TH at Int level crumble like Buckley did on Saturday. Poux is an awsome scrummager but Buckley made him look like Oz du Randt!

That is one tasty pack. Cant wait to watch it. not sure the french have the balance right in the backrow and that Lakifi needs more game time to get used to internaional rugby.

not sure the back 3 will offer much if it rains either but could be great on a dry clear day

L Byrne (Clermont Auvergne), L Halfpenny (Cardiff Blues), J Davies (Scarlets), J Roberts (Cardiff Blues), G North (Scarlets); J Hook (Perpignan), T Knoyle (Scarlets); P James (Ospreys), R Hibbard (Ospreys), A Jones (Ospreys), B Davies (Cardiff Blues), A-W Jones (Ospreys), D Lydiate (Newport Gwent Dragons), M Williams (Cardiff Blues), R Jones (Ospreys, captain) Replacements: H Bennett (Ospreys), R Bevington (Ospreys), A Powell (Sale Sharks), J Tipuric (Ospreys), L Williams (Cardiff Blues), S Jones (Scarlets), A Brew (Newport Gwent Dragons).

http://www.planetrugby.com/story/0,25883,16024_7105750,00.html


Interesting side. Think some of the Boks could struggle. Playing your first game back against the blacks is pretty hard work