Fantasy Aviva Premiership season 4

First topic message reminder :

Welcome to the Aviva Premiership

---

---

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

---

Links
Rules
Fixtures
Aviva Premiership League Table
European Homepage
LDCPete Cup homepage
Budgets
Domestic Confirmations
Transfer Homepage
Foreign Transfers
Press Releases

---

Waiting List
1. Sam
2. pullthestrings
3. Bathite

This is where i'm hoping to capitalise!!

LET IT RAIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!

think most teams have a good enough blend and a big enough squad.
set piece becomes vital now. Castro is ready to destroy all those who oppose!

As are Bismarck and Adam Jones!!!

Can't see Jones destroying Tonga'uhia son!

Salvator , Smit , Sheridan , Lewis Roberts ,Dickinson , Kayser , Clark , Tui , Zirka , Wilson

Lets be scrummaging boys!!!!!

Dickinson is one dreadful scrummager driver. The others are good though

you got some units there Driver!

Think we could see 30 minutes of Julian white followed by 50 of Mas which is pretty brutal in the wet

stnick88 wrote:Can't see Jones destroying Tonga'uhia son!

We'll see fella, my team will be up early tomorrow, and let the banter begin!

i'm only messing around pal, not in to all the banter! we'll see how it goes.
dont even think its forecast to be wet this week anyway.

Forgot to mention Shawsy and Pierre packing down behind them as well

Pooly you there?

I see you been over on the rugby page knocking my boy Homer.

Did you see the stats comparison between him and Sharples?


stnick

I suspect it will be a fair old battle between us next week, you seem to be coming into some form and I'm off the back of a big away win.

The people will decide as they always do!

What did you reckon to Spratt at 12 yesterday?

he didnt do too bad, thought him and Ansbro went ok for their first outing.
you?
corbs, faan and garvey were good too.
one more game till we get hoff and delon back isnt it?

bowden and allison also should be back for Metro.

When is hape back ?

So dding Tom Homer's boot! He's a machine and doesnt look like he will ever miss a kick. Unbelievable. THought Wasps were the team that wanted to play the better rugby, but Hodgson chose yesterday as the day he came back to form. thought he was good.

That's two games where Wasps have lost to a team with a good kicker now, when in reality they should have won - shoould have beaten NEwcastle away and would have done if Gopperth didnt kick everything!

3 more weeks mat

I disagree that in reality Wasps should have won Chris. I concede that they looked the more likely to score a try through either Daly or Wade, but we marshalled them well and did not allow them the space to cause problems.

Thought we were good value for the win off the back of a very solid defensive effort and well executed tactical gameplan.

I thought Spratt looked decent and pretty solid defensively nick. want to see how he goes with Bowden at 10, as he will get more attacking opportunity then.

Think Hoff is back this week. Will be fantastic if he is, get him tearing into the Sarries forwards.

You just relied on Homer's boot for points. Apart from the first minute with Hodgson it didnt look as though Irish had any intention to run the ball at all. Think against better opposition you would have lost - don't lnow what it is with Wasps at the moment, just dont seem to be clicking, I think we lack having a nasty-type player in the pack, all to honest and have no one who puts in big hits.

What did you make of Daly? Be interested to hear your thoughts on him.

we had a game plan chris and stuck to it. when our back line was missing allinson, bowden, joseph, armitage, tagicakibau, hape, that is why we played a forward orientated game

dont blame you at all - its so annoying at Wasps right now as we are on the verge of being a good club again, but keep on losing by 3-4 points. I think we stuggle on the prop front and backrow right now and dont really have any leaders in the pack.

has been interesting that weve played better when Launchberry was playing, added a lot of urgency to our game.

we play so much better with Rees too, miss his leadership big time. think webber is coming on leaps and bounds though, set piece has developed a great deal.

our backline is also a bit light - need someone to crash over the gainline, whereas we have too many running backs who use skill and pace. but if you dont get over that gainline you dont get to use those players!

dammit_chris wrote:You just relied on Homer's boot for points. Apart from the first minute with Hodgson it didnt look as though Irish had any intention to run the ball at all. Think against better opposition you would have lost - don't lnow what it is with Wasps at the moment, just dont seem to be clicking, I think we lack having a nasty-type player in the pack, all to honest and have no one who puts in big hits.

What did you make of Daly? Be interested to hear your thoughts on him.

Did you go to the game?

Thought Daly looked a decent player mate, needs a big 12 alongside him though and Waldouck is not that man. I did laugh on the couple of occasions that Wasps tried to use him on the crash ball and he got smashed back into last week!

I think we all have some pretty good options in the wet tbh, takes a bit more thinking with lineups.

Are the Aus/Welsh players available next week?

I'd say yes as the game is not inside a recognised international window so there would be no IRB requirement to release players.

I asked that earlier Pooly and was told that they are.

I think the breakdown becomes even more important in the poor conditions myself, not just about big carries. All about finding that balance with carries, breakdown and kicking options.

The breakdown is a funny one in the wet. The way to play is slow and recycle and play as big a side as possible. The most important players in the wet are your 9 and 10.

They dictate how its played and the tens kicking out of hand and t goal will more often than not decide the game.

Not sure I agree on that one, I think a strong backrow at the breakdown can slow so much ball down the opposition become predictable.

To play a good tactical kicking game you need to dominate the lineout also.

its a team effort, you can have a great pack but not a good enough 10 to dictate play. vice versa a quality 10 that gets no ball to work with from a poor pack

Would say that the most important thing in the wet is having a team that gives you possession and territory - for me slowing the ball down is essential in dry conditions because it stops quick attacks, in the wet it doesnt matter anywhere near as much.

You want to play it slow, recycle ball and go through the phases - most important thing for me is having a great kicker, forwards that can protect their half backs. good defensive line around the fringes and lots of ball carriers. In the wet and mud its all about territory, stopping forward packs and keeping the ball away from your own 22, and forcing mistakes...for me a solid set piece, good kicker and lots of ball carriers does far more than winning the turnover.

completely different in the dry though, i made a huge mistake not getting a no7 specialist!

Turnovers are always gold dust no matter what the conditions imo. Turnover ball is the best attacking ball as defences tend not be set. That could be from running or boot

Quite handy in the wet if your kicker has a good kicking game

Would have kicking game and solid set piece way ahead of turnover ball - in dry turnover ball is best attacking option. In wet weather and boggy English pitches I'd value players like Julian White, Dan Cole, Nathan Hines way more than breakdown specialists - big front five, solid set piece, big ball carriers and a kicking & chasing game means your set to do well!

I need Phillips back quickly - cheers for injury him for so long Driver! Appreciated!

Hopefully you'll do better in the wet than you have the dry Chris

Heard chants of Chris out from sections of the Saints fans lol

Good teams and good players can play in any conditions. Just because a team has a massive pack or a great 10 doesn't mean they'll do better. It's all about selecting a gameplan to suit the players you have for me.

Yea seen them Pete, don't think give a rounded picture as Sharples has played more wing I think so most likely seen less ball.

It's more about winding that other fella up now tbh, seems to bite quite easily!

Rumours about Gary Speed and possible "Michael Hutchinson" accident

Available:

HK Marius Tincu (Romania)
PR Craig Mitchell (TH) (Wales)
PR Ben Alexander (TH/LH) (Austrailia)
PR Rodrigo Roncero (LH) (Argentina)
PR Boris Stankovich(LH) (England)
LK Juandre Kruger (South Africa)
LK Donncha O'Callaghan (Ireland)
CE Dan Hipkiss (England)
WG Drew Mitchell (Austrailia)

how do people view Luke Watson at the moment? He hasnt started playing in 2nd tier of rugby yet and in my mind would therefore be seen in same sort of form as other southern hem players whose season hasnt started yet?

Tempted to try him at 7 this weekend!

Chris it's one of those things. He should really have kept his rating but i doubt he will.

Same with these players in Japan when do people start saying Thorn, Mils etc are losing ratings for playing in Japan??

I see some people getting picked up for lack of form when others who have been missing for far longer are not.

Good example is Domingo for you he seems to keep his rating no matter what despite being out for ages yet Ben Youngs who whilst has been really out of form has not been out for that long gets marked down more.

Youngs has been playing Matt.

"He hasnt started playing in 2nd tier of rugby yet"

Watson has been playing SA 2nd tier for a few months Chris, been in a fair few teams of the week.

Pooly my point was Domingo has been out ages where as Youngs has not yet youngs gets marked down more.

that pass Youngs threw for Narraways intercept was terrible.

Care looked good yesterday.

Thorn, Mils will keep rating for me for a while. You dont turn in to a bad player overnight.

So arguably Watson is in better form than some others? I hope Liam Gill comes through strong this season, think he could be a very good player! Hope so anyway as really need a good no7!

I dont mind people rating Domingo like they do Mat! I've had problems with guys like Parisse before who got a lot of criticism, even when he was playing well, which I never understood. Also Albacete, who I've always thought was one of the best locks going,

youngs was not great Saturday but he did better than Lawon.

I think any scrum half would love to play behind that pack. If we are going to have Youngs and Flood as our 9,10 internationally then its really useful they play together week in week out.

Helps the understanding massively

Got some good scrum halves coming through at the moment, never understood why Tigers signed Micky Young when they have Sam Harrison on their books!

Really not sure about Flood as our 10, think its an area where we are really weak compared to other nations, as apart from Flood the cupboard is pretty much barren.

Lamb has been excellent this year but i still have reservations over him at the next level.

Lets see how he performs when the weather changes

I think everybody rates differently Chris, form seems to be bigger for some than it is others.

Albacete is a very good lock, don't think he's quite top tier but a class act still.

Going along to watch Sale Jets v Northampton A tonight. Sale have got their new flanker A'uva playing. Played S15 so must be half decent.

kind of agree with Pooly re Albacete. Top player coming near the end. I would play Williams who i have loaned you above him. More athletic and better in the lineout