Fantasy Aviva Premiership - Season 1

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Bath Rugby	Bathite
Exeter Chiefs	Luke
Gloucester	Prop
Harlequins	Driver
Leicester Tigers	Pooly
London Irish	Pull
London Wasps	Nick
Newcastle Falcons	Flux
Northampton Saints	Johnny
Sale Sharks	Ollie
Saracens	Chequred
Worcester Warriors	ITFL

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INJURIES

FOREIGN U21 bid - 0900 Sunday 27/05

• Born on/after 02/09/91
• U21 by 01/09/2012
• Non Int only
• 3m starting bid

FULL FOREIGNS (Summer transfers)

1st bid - 0900 Monday 04 June

2nd bid - 0900 Monday 02 July

Summer foreigns close - 31 August


WAITING LIST:
1. HERSH

Just seen Beale is out of the June tests, surely Cooperman for ten?

Aus are really unlucky with 10s ATM!

Not bad players Barnes and Copper though!

Barnes has been awful this season, generally steps up for Int though

Question for all; does Brodie Retalick count as an U21?

I checked mate doesnt fall in under the guidelines. Would have bid for him after you out did me for Eztebath otherwise

First branch of U21's responded to will do next lot around 6pm

http://www.planetrugby.com/story/0,25883,16024_7784055,00.html

Steyn returns home.

Guessing it's a 9 I need to go for now then yeah? So many options to look at...........

Stacks mate...foreign market is still HUGE!!!!

I know....currently drawing up a list of who to go for.....looking for someone not too old too so will be with me for a while!!

Phillips, Murray, Cusiter, Yachvili, Knoyle, Reddan,....NH alone lol

I think Hougaard would be a pretty good call for your team Prop

I was thinking him or Yachvilli or maybe look at Lloyd Williams, just a quick scrum half and keep Lawson for the wet

Some Falcons available for cash

Anthony Watson and Marland Yarde available for cash. Start bids at £10 mil.

Right then, had a shocking few days on here, missing out on players, U21, deals and all sorts!

Now looking for my next foreign, with Steyn and Cooper now gone, who's a good shout at 10?

Trinh-Duc, ROG, Priestland, Hook, McAllister, JMH?

With FTD you need a reliable kicking option, do you have this???

I'd personally go Priestland, McA is not a 10, ROG is too old, Hook gets shunted about too much, JMH is too injury prone.

Steyn hasn't technically gone yet, and I think £22m would be scraping it anyway. Mcal could be a good call, all year rounf and cover at IC. Not going to opinionate anyone else seeing as I'm in for a ten too!

Dont go ROG anyway. Fantastic servant over the years but has been poor for Munster this year and is looking like hes on his way out.

Wouldnt play Mac at 10 if I had him. Tends to struggle there. Was much better for Toulouse this year when he played 12.

Trinc Duc would be a good option for you with Steyn in midfield. Big fan of Hook have him on the other game think he will get ahead in the Welsh 10 battle this summer with Priestland inconsistent

If you're in for a ten, i'll take heathcote off your hands, he is quality!

I'd have Frans Steyn to kick tactically and for goal, so FTD is a real option I guess.

Hasn't Hook been 10 pretty much all season in France?

Pretty much, has won a few games on his own with the boot down there. Could worth the punt for me with a structured SH like Pienaar inside him.

So I can have Heathcote back then? Awesome

It'll cost you Franks

Bargain

Deal!

I'll just stick it on confirms....

I'd just stay away from ROG. Stands far too deep, can't tackle and doesn't get a backline moving. There's no way he should be in the Ireland squad but Kidney is blind to the fact two drop goals in Heineken group games pre christmas does not make an on form player.

The others it depends on what sort of game you want to play. JMH is injury prone and will miss most of the games before christmas 'cause of the rugby championship and AI's.

To throw another name out there Giteau could be an option, not really flavour of the month but a good quality player who's availiable all year round.

Giteau is one of my fav players of the 2000s, but his form has been pretty stinky. ROG is scratched right of the list. I think i'd have my top 10 fhs something like this right now

Carter
Evans
Cooper
Sexton


Cruden
FTD
Steyn
Flood
Wilko
Priestland

Order is up for debate though really

Cooper would be nowhere near a top 4 imo, has been poor for a year or so.

I'd have

Carter (more reputation than form though)
Evans (bloody love the lad and never plays badly)
Sexton (Needs to transform outstanding club form onto Int)
Cruden (Prob the form FH in world rugby but needs more Int)
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Flood (again outstanding club form, must start for England)
Steyn (Coming into good nick and prob start for SA)
Priestland (Question marks all round but great world cup)
Lambie (good all rounder but again nothing at Int hinders him)
Cooper (Electric but so many flaws)
FTD (has suffered with bad form & selection)

Lambie for me will settle at 15, and be a SA regular at fullback.

Flood still has got alot to prove in my mind. Never impressed me at international level and has done very little in the Heineken.

Priestland, FTD and Cooper all need more consistency. Cooper also has to have a solid 12 outside him. Someone to take the pressure off him. He can only really play one way and would struggle in the Northern Hemisphere imo.

In future can see Sexton playing more rugby at 12, with Madigan playing at 10. Especially as Darcy is past it and McFadden does not seem to be trusted by Schmidt yet. Don;t think this will happen for a couple of years though.

Personally I see it the other way round Ollie. If one of them is to go to 12 it should be Madigan. Sexton the better game manager while Madigan looks the better running threat. Sexton is already world class at 10 so no point shifting him around. If one of them is to move it should be the youngster who will have more time to find his way in the position.

Would Madigan's defence be good enough to play at 12? Not seen him play enough to make comment on his defence. His attacking play at times is sublime though. I don't for one minute if they were playing together think it would be rigid anyway. I could see plenty of interchanging. Maybe the greater space and time at 12 would benefit him.

Hes not fantastic defensively but is always improving. Schmidt has done a great job on him. The two of them linking up together at 10/12 would be fantastic to watch


Shame he didnt get a go at the summer tour definately deserved been better then ROG this year

A fit Hernandez is always a good bet for top 10 10s as well.

Cruden has to be the form 10 from S15
followed by Steyn.
Barrett has looked good too.

From the NH for me it has to be Flood, Evans and Sexton on form.

Evans is a class act but hasnt been great since Christmas really though. Supposedly hes been playing with a bit of an injury but nothing ever came out of Quins about it.

I don't buy into this 'Evans is the second best 10 in the world' stuff to be honest. Has had an average second half of the season. He's a very good player, but not playing international rugby I don't see how you can compare him to other 10's that are.

I think he's fantastic Pete.

Club rugby has to be taken into consideration (for me anyway). Sexton & Cruden have been awesome domestic but not transferred that to Int

Cruden has had very limited opportunity at international level so difficult to judge. Sexton for me has massive ???'s against him as I've rarely seen him shine int he green jersey, which is a reason why I wouldn't have him ahead of Steyn or Cooper to be honest.

I Think Evans is great and thought it before he even came to us but a he hasn't played International rugby in 5 years I understand the points against him

London Irish players available for cash:

Clarke Dermody (LH) [NZL]
James Buckland (HK) [ENG]
Leo Halavatau (TH) [TON]
Paulică Ion (TH) [ROM]
Faan Rautenbach (TH) [RSA]
Bryn Evans (LK) [NZL]
Declan Danaher (FL) [ENG]
Richard Thorpe (FL) [ENG]
Ally Hogg (N8) [SCO]
Tom Guest (N8) [ENG]
Jebb Sinclair (N8) [CAN]
Darren Allinson (SH) [WAL]
Shontayne Hape (IC/OC) [ENG]
Jamie Noon (OC) [ENG]
Jonathan Spratt (IC/OC) [WAL]
Ryan Shortland (OC/WG) [NZL]
Paul Diggin (WG) [ENG]
Suka Hufanga (WG) [SAM]

Rob Herring (HK) [RSA]
Max Lahiff (LH) [ENG]
Kieren Low (LK) [ENG]
Jack Ramshaw (LK/FL) [ENG]
Ben Pritchard (FL) [ENG]
James Sanford (FL) [ENG]
Ed Shiggery (FL) [WAL]
David Sisi (N8) [ENG]
Freddie Clarke (N8) [ENG]
Jack Moates (SH) [ENG]
Guy Armitage (IC) [ENG]
Luke Peters (IC) [ENG]
Anthony Watson (WG) [ENG]
Marland Yarde (WG) [ENG]
Sam Edgerley (FB) [ENG]

Does the U21 foreign close end of August, or does it run for a bit?

All close end of August

We get our first summer foreign next Monday dont we?

Aye mate, 4th June

Guys where do i need to improve

1.Rhys Gill
2.Joe Grey
3.James Johnstone
4.Ollie Kohn
5.George Robson
6.Chris Robshaw
7.Matt Kvesic
8.Nick Easter

9.Luke Burgess
10.Nick Evans
11.George North (Potentially)
12.Owen Farrell
13.Adam Ashley-Cooper
14.James Short/Tom Williams
15.Jared Payne

Whilst a good front row, i'm not sure it will dominate many teams and there isn't huge power from the second row. Not convinced with Farrell at 12 either personally, although an improvement on Flutey.

I was hoping JJ taking Ayerza to the cleaners would boost his ratings and i'v got a monster 4 lined up along with a 12.

Backline looks tasty Driver, agree on Farrell at 12 though. I think he's still a work in progress.

A beefy 4 would look good to cover for Robson's lack of grunt

I'm a fan of the front row personally. 2nd row is ok but good if you had a monster option to replace Kohn, just like the real Quins need. Farrell at 12 is a no-no for me, I'd bench him to cover for Evans and have a playmaker in their. Every single thing Farrell can do at 12, Nev can do at 10 to a higher level without the distribution or running flaws