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Fantasy Aviva Premiership Current League Table

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Waiting List
1. pullthestrings
2. Bathite

Welcome to Season 5 of the Aviva Premiership fantasty rugby game. Below are the rules of the game which must be adhered to. If there are any situations that arise in the course of the game which are not covered by the rules, a final decision will be made by the RFU (Ozzy3213) as to how the situation will be resolved.

Senior Squads wrote:
The maximum squad size is 40 senior players. If a team has more than 40 players in their squad then they will be fined £1 million per player over the permitted amounts per day for the first seven days. If after 7 consecutive days a team still has more than the permitted number of players then the team will be fined £2 million per player per day, and fined 1 league point per player per day for the next seven days. If after this time a team still has more than the permitted number of players in their squad, the RFU (me) will remove players at it’s discretion to bring them back under the permitted numbers. There will be no right of appeal to players being removed.

Be aware that all tier one international matches which are played during the season will count in the game, and players selected in the matchday 22's for those matches will not be eligible to play for their clubs on that weekend, therefore you must give due consideration to the make up of your squad.

Academy Rules wrote:
Each team will be allowed to have a listed senior academy squad of 20 players. Players who are in the senior academy must be under 22 years of age as of 1st September 2012 (therefore must have been born on or after 1st Septmber 1990). Players who are under the age of 20 (so born after 1st September 1992) AND are in the academy of the club that you are managing in real life, DO NOT need to be listed as senior academy players as part of your 20, but are available to you in this game and cannot be poached by other clubs without paying you a fee.

Should a player not listed in your 20 senior academy players, but part of the clubs academy in real life move clubs in real life, then you will have first option of promoting him to your listed senior academy. If you choose not to take this option he will become property of the club that he moves to in real life in this game.

Transfers wrote:

• Domestic (other AP Teams)
  Each team has a budget to use in the purchase of players. Domestic transfers between AP clubs, regardless of nationality of player, should be negotiated between the respective managers, and then confirmed on the Domestic Transfer Confirmation Page.
  
  
• Domestic (Championship and below)
  Each team may during the season purchase no more than 3 players from the Championship or the National Leagues. These players must be bid for on the Championship/National League bidding page, and each bid will be considered by me on it's own merits before being accepted or rejected. No bid will be accepted until a minimum of 24 hours has elapsed from the time the bid was made, in order to afford other managers the opportunity to make a counter bid.
  
  
• Foreign
  To make a foreign transfer (i.e from any club outside of the AP, regardless of whether the player is English) a bid should be made on the Foreign Transfers Page, which will be considered by me against the posted guidelines for purchase prices before being accepted or rejected. No bid will be accepted until a minimum of 24 hours has elapsed from the time the bid was made, in order to afford other managers the opportunity to make a counter bid.
  
  Foreign transfers will unlimited during the off season and 2 during the season. The exact dates of the two transfer windows during the season is to be confirmed.
  

Player Releases wrote:
Managers may choose to release players from their clubs, for which they will be offered compensation

Compensation will be paid as follows

£2 million – current international (must have played international rugby in the previous 12 months)
£1.5 million – former international
£1m – top flight experience
£0.5m – other

If a released player plays in real life for a team outside of this game he will be deemed to have returned to that team. If not then he will be deemed to have signed for a Championship side. If another manager wants to pick a released player up, they will have to bid for him in the same way as for a foreign or Championship/National League player.

Retirements wrote:
There will be no compensation for retiring players. Should a player who retires decide to come out of retirement and play again, then he will automatically go back to the club who he was playing for in the game when he retired.

Fixtures wrote:
There will be 22 Aviva Premiership games per season, plus the play offs. There will also be Heineken Cup, Amlin Challenge Cup and Anglo Welsh Cup matches. These games will take place once a week. A thread will be put up for managers to name their teams on Thursdays, then on Fridays, managers will post the scores that they think will happen from these games (apart from games in which they are involved). An average of all predictions will be taken, and then 0.5 points added to each teams score for each prediction that had them as the winner, and that will then be the final score.

Teams wrote:
When naming your team, not only should you put the starting XV and replacements, but also tactics that your team will employ. Results will be affected by the tactics described.

In addition, each team must have the following:-

At least 10 England qualified players in your matchday 23, and at least 5 of those must be in your starting XV.

At least 2 props and 1 hooker on the bench.

All players must be eligible (not injured or banned).

If you fail to submit a team for a match, then the other team will be automatically awarded a 30-0 bonus point win. If both teams fail to submit a team, then it will be scored as a 0-0 draw.

Injuries and Suspensions wrote:
Injuries in this game do NOT reflect real life, they will be generated by me.

Players banned in real life will be ineligible for selection in this game for the duration of the ban.

Inclusion of injured/banned players will result in them being replaced by players on the bench, and the bench not having eight players, which may result in punishment if it concerns the front-row.

Punishment for fielding an ineligible player will be loss of one match point for a first offence, two for a second offence and so on.

Financial Rewards wrote:
There will be no rewards for the result of an individual match, instead the managers will receive cash for predicting.

£1.5m for descriptive predictions
£0.25m for scores on the doors predictions
If you fail to predict without first advising me that you are unable to do so that week, you will be fined £1m for a first offence, £2m for a second offence, £3m for a third offence etc.

AP finishing positions.

Champions: 8m
Runners Up: 6m
Playoff Semi Finalist Losers: 5m
5th: 4m
6th: 3.5m
7th: 3m
8th: 2.5m
9th: 2m
10th: 1.5m
11th: 1m
12th: 0.5m

Heineken Cup

Losing Quarter Finalists - £2 million each
Losing Semi Finalists - £3 million each
Runners Up - £4 million
Champions - £5 million

Amlin Challenge Cup

Losing Quarter Finalists - £1 million each
Losing Semi Finalists - £2 million each
Runners Up - £3 million
Champions - £4 million

Anglo-Welsh Cup

Losing Semi Finalisst - £1 million each
Runners Up - £2 million
Champions - £3 million


If your budgets falls below minus £10 million for any reason, the administrators (ozzy3213) will step in and players from within your squad will be released for the relevant financial compensation in order to bring your budget back above minus £10 million.

Pretty much agree with that Steve, not sure Haskell deserves to start over TJ but we need some power

TJ keeps making mistakes. I haven't been hugely impressed by him as he keeps doing one thing well then one badly. Not the level we need.

Said Morgan not an 80 minute player. Stadium had loads of empty seats. 40 quid a throw is a lot in joburg and SA. Hougaard Alberts and bdp immense Kruger looked serious.

Corbs was excellent as was youngs second half( kicking poor first half but service good) flood was a threat. Botha and Parling toss and treated like children. SA so physical compared to us and direct. That's way we should play. Habana in great form and best wing in world. Petes back 3 gone from impotent to rapier.

Poor game to give jj a debut. Youngs excellent behind a poor pack. Scrum instantly better when Marler off. He is top and will learn.

SA bench poor. Olivier ???? How

Tj does magic and then unbelievable errors not an international.

Priest land and few others having second season syndrome. Amazing how you can go from hero to poor so quick. Murray faletau priest land etc.

Does not bode well for etsbeth who was immense today
My old coach always said if they have a big winger kick to him and behind. Lomu and many others like savea today always struggle with it.

I haven't been overly impressed with Etzebeth, think he's struggled to adapt after so much hype.

For a big bloke he doesn't carry well, seems to be very top heavy and just kind of flops about. Only a young boy though and can see him really kicking on if stuck with.

Savea was complete opposite after last week, really struggled. Smith was class though, really like the look of him.

Etsbeth was great today as was Kruger. His workrate is unbelievable would love to see his stats. Although judging by most stats sites they would be garbage.

He carried and cleared out like nothing else. Remarkable player for
His age He was man of match

Looks like most agree
With me

http://planetrugby.com/story/0,25883,3551_7820374,00.html

Best quote of the day was my saffer
Mate who said " England's locks carry the ball as well
As lesbians "

Pretty accurate.

Watching game back so different on tv without the emotion.

Youngs outstanding as was hougaard.


Waldron good cameo.

We were physically second best and look smaller and not as fit as them.
Lock is our problem position. Palmer must start but is not the option long term.


Locks do all your dirty work like clearing rucks to produce phased
And quick ball. Botha and Parling do neither.

We turned up to a gun fight with a knife.

They coasted and always had more.

Our backrow second best and do not carry with same menace. Coortzee
Went well for SA

Means nowt but after 2 tests between best nations excluding France team of first 2 rounds

1 Healy
2 bdp(best unlucky player of a generation in his position)
3 Kepu (jdp close, Ross one game, franks great 1st test poor today, cole penalty machine )
4 etsbeth
5 whitelock
6 Alberts/sob
7 pocock ( landslide) robshaw worth a mention
8 heaslip ( read would walk this but was injured today so played 1 and a bit. Heaslip all defence last week but was more all action this week) hardest position to call
9 genia( purely last week but smith and hougaard close, youngs magic this week dross week before.
10 carter
11 habana
12 sbw
13 devilliers
14 ioane
15 ??? Dagg week one. Halfpenny week 2 no stand out


Villains

Ben franks - almost lost game and got murdered. Not an ap let alone an AB
Olivier- why
Morgan- cinderford got rid of him due to fitness is he repeating it
Priest land - where has your kicking game gone
Rees and Hartley - good players having mares
Dagg- best mates with Guildford yellow card shows it
Tuhoy- how can you be rubbish when at glos and now this good. Yachvilli did same to us

From another site



Ben youngs 9. Should take some responsibility for endlessly kicking possession back to SAf and the scrum feed that went straight through for the easiest try ever scored. As well as Hartley. 2 games this has happened. Johnson chose the wrong game to stop it with his hand. Youngs is better with Flood outside him. No way a 9 though... That was no Genia out there. No Youngs at his best.

Hartley was ok. In the thick of it. No worse than the others. Good low tackles. But we need better.

Gift try and a no try were just rewards for first half complete dominance.

Time to give Turner Hall a go at 12 with Jonathan Jo.

England just don't have a pack like they used to. Cole Marler and Robshaw can survive this tour. Maybe Johnson as an option. But a new tougher bunch is needed..

Ashton needs dropping and Strettle. Foden was fine on wing in first game. Bring in Wade and Goode at 15. Flood and Youngs can stay but please, Care must be on bench. Mears no. Gray and Mullen should have a go on bench.

Etzebeth was never man of match, he was ok but nothing special, better than last week when he was poor.

Youngs was England man of match, I'd say JP or Spies were SA.

I like your villains by the way, looks like you were having fun last night!

Just had a look at the Telegraph ratings. Stopped reading when there is a picture of Manu Tuilagi with the caption 'Jonathan Joseph get's tackled'

I think yesterday was a massive lesson for us. Our pack in the first half got absolutely smashed off the park, no one stood up and matched the Boks physicality. However we showed heart and resilience, after the first 20 minutes yesterday I was expecting a cricket score. We dug in and showed tremendous character that is a good sign.

In my opinion, yesterday was made for Lawes and Haskell, they are two of our most physical and brutish players, if they would’ve been playing perhaps we would have been able to deal better with the Boks relentless physicality in the opening exchanges.

I think Robshaw, Youngs and Flood were our standout players yesterday. Youngs looks as though he is getting back to his best, injected pace and addressed the issue of his poor box kicking from the previous test. Very threatening with the ball in hand and showed good awareness for his two tries.

Flood played pretty well with the ball in hand but at times kicked aimlessly. Robshaw was good, at the breakdown especially, perhaps he needs to be slightly more aggressive in defence, infact I think the whole pack should be, we were like rag dolls at times yesterday being thrown around by the likes of BDP and Alberts.

I think Morgan looked terribly unfit yesterday, he has the potential to be an excellent test match number eight, I agree with what many of you have said on here – he needs to be put in an intense boot camp and improve his fitness massively. Waldrom looked impressive when he came on, I see him as more of an impact sub rather than a starter. I’m undecided on Johnson, misses too many tackles for my liking, he does look good with the ball in hand but I really am unsure on him as a test match player.

I think our kicking game needs serious work on it. Yesterday Ben Youngs either would kick a decent box kick, or we would see Flood, Foden etc smashing the ball down field for no reason, with no chasers which would allow the likes of Habana and Pietersen to counter attack. In addition, our pack needs to seriously man up and get physical in defence and with the ball in hand. We will learn from these defeats and as stupid as it sounds they will help us, we are a developing, young side who are learning more and more.

'Arry Spurs wrote:I think yesterday was a massive lesson for us. Our pack in the first half got absolutely smashed off the park, no one stood up and matched the Boks physicality. However we showed heart and resilience, after the first 20 minutes yesterday I was expecting a cricket score. We dug in and showed tremendous character that is a good sign.

In my opinion, yesterday was made for Lawes and Haskell, they are two of our most physical and brutish players, if they would’ve been playing perhaps we would have been able to deal better with the Boks relentless physicality in the opening exchanges.

I think Robshaw, Youngs and Flood were our standout players yesterday. Youngs looks as though he is getting back to his best, injected pace and addressed the issue of his poor box kicking from the previous test. Very threatening with the ball in hand and showed good awareness for his two tries.

Flood played pretty well with the ball in hand but at times kicked aimlessly. Robshaw was good, at the breakdown especially, perhaps he needs to be slightly more aggressive in defence, infact I think the whole pack should be, we were like rag dolls at times yesterday being thrown around by the likes of BDP and Alberts.

I think Morgan looked terribly unfit yesterday, he has the potential to be an excellent test match number eight, I agree with what many of you have said on here – he needs to be put in an intense boot camp and improve his fitness massively. Waldrom looked impressive when he came on, I see him as more of an impact sub rather than a starter. I’m undecided on Johnson, misses too many tackles for my liking, he does look good with the ball in hand but I really am unsure on him as a test match player.

I think our kicking game needs serious work on it. Yesterday Ben Youngs either would kick a decent box kick, or we would see Flood, Foden etc smashing the ball down field for no reason, with no chasers which would allow the likes of Habana and Pietersen to counter attack. In addition, our pack needs to seriously man up and get physical in defence and with the ball in hand. We will learn from these defeats and as stupid as it sounds they will help us, we are a developing, young side who are learning more and more.

100% agree arry. Lawes and Haskell would have made it less embarrassing up front. Physicality is major issue in our game

Good write up that Arry, can't really disagree with any of it

I still think it will be a titanic battle between Youngs and Care for who has the 9 shirt long term.

I think it is whoever gets there service up to Lee Dickson's standard will have the shirt.

Too right Steve neither care or youngs has the zippiest service but they threaten the opposition more.

The ab lad has bloody good service. Buys a yard

How do we always end up talking about scrum half?!?!

Lucky to have 3 very good scrum halfs anyway, I bet a few nations would love that depth

Wish we had one good lock and a good winger to alongside Ashton.?

Can I stick a hooker on that wish list pls

England were comfortably second best yesterday, but I don't see it as all doom and gloom. There were positives to take and there are players there who can go on to do really good things at international level.

Lock is a massive issue and we need to find a couple of players with infinitely more physicality than the pairing we currently have.

I thought that Youngs had his best game for some considerable time in an England shirt and taking him off was a poor decision from Lancaster.

In relation to the Saffas I have to agree with Pooly (I am in shock at typing that) that Etzebeth has not carried well. Not sure how you have him as MOTM Mat, he was nowhere near it from where I was sitting. I did mention his carrying a few weeks ago after one of the Super Rugby Saffa derbies where he got knocked back continually. He will be a superstar but needs to work on that aspect of his game.

To be fair Hartley is a decent hook. Just had a bad day at the office yesterday. On form his set piece work is probably the best of the 6 nations hookers these days.

Surprised to see you call for Ashtons dropping Matt. I thought he was getting back to his best. Ran some good lines and was tracking all over the place. Only Tuilagi consistently breaks the line though but hes never going to make the offload!!

Was really interesting listening to Dean Ryan and Will Greenwood after the game. They are spot on about so many things.

Great pundits, Ryan especially talks so much sense. Easy to talk about it less so to transfer it to the set up as we seen when he was at Gloucester

What locks do we have in the squad out there?

Parling, Botha, Kitchener, Palmer, Robson

None are really physical tbh

Kitchener is physical only other physical locks we have are Garvey and lawes. I thought botha was poor yday. Jj average but hard debut. Morgan not great spies showed how a 8 should carry.

Lock is a massive issue for us. Also the fact that our pack do not carry enough. Johnson was highest yesterday with 7 carries, and second was Waldrom with 6, and he was only on for 30 minutes.

Front 5 lack physicality massively

I am not saying drop Ashton sje. Saying we need another to go with him.

Bdp my man of match. Planet rugby and many other places had etsbeth as mom. Thought he was relentless yesterday and massively physical. Him and Kruger a great pairing .

How good is Sam whitelock these days. Best lock in world and never less than an a 8. Amazingly consistent

i thought johnson carried ok but cant see him being involved much in future. garvey is the best option we have for a ball carrying lock.

SA back row carry with much more intensity.

what do you think the back row will be come next year 6N ?

Robshaw Morgan croft is my bet. Robshaw is growing in to a good
International player:

Morgan is not fit enough to be an international back forward.

Easily remedied that though pete

Should have been remedied before now though. Not convinced he is able to get any fitter than he is.

He has had weight issues all his life he was about 22 stone but got fitter but he was blowing yesterday which is not right

Anyone know how bad Kruger injury was

I think he needs to sit out the 3rd test and be told he has to get fitter if he wants the shirt back.

I'd go 6. Haskell 7. Robshaw 8. Waldrom with Johnson on the bench for the final test.

Kitchener for me isn't physical. He spends to much time standing on the wing or in the centres. I want to see him doing more of the tough stuff.

I'd agree with that Backrow pete.

Palmer is our most physical
Lock but is 34 so they shoud look at another option.

I would go with that backrow also. Think Lancaster may be loyal Though

id go with that for the 3rd test.

for november id like to see 6 robshaw 7 armitage 8 morgan. croft, haskell or wood on the bench.

I'm not sure what Kitchener is to be honest. He needs to work out if he's going to be an enforcer or a 5. At Tiggers he has spent a fair amount of time alongside Skivington in the engine room this year, with Skivs playing as the 4, but also leading the lineout (this is when Parling was away). So not really sure what Kitch's role was other than when he played he did get through a lot of work in the loose, although his carrying seemed to be in wider areas rather than close to ruck which is what England need.

At full strength I'd have

6. Wood
7. Robshaw
8. Morgan (Waldrom if Morgan still struggling for fitness)

with Haskell on the bench

Wood is very physical defensively and knocks players back in the tackle but not sure he is an overly physical carrier which is what we are really missing.

Lots of talk of wood retiring due to injury a few months ago. Hope not he is a great option

With Waldrom or Morgan, we should have enough between Robshaw and Wood as carriers as flankers.

I'd be very surprised if Wood retires. Just unusual injury and uncertainty over how to treat it. Not like a Neck or back injury.

I would too
Steve. It was all coming about at end of season. Sure they must be able to sort it out

Will Greenwood on Twitter suggesting that Carl Fearns should be given a go in the final test match, his physicality would help I suppose.

Anyone got any EQ players available?