Homepage

First topic message reminder :

Saracens move off the bottom of the table after picking up a losing bonus point against Gloucester.

---

---

---

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).

Failure to comply with these rules will result in forfeiting the match and a 1 league point deduction.

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 Finalist - £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.

Would have had Halfpenny far, far better than Kearney over the course of the year.

Do see where you are coming from with Farrell to some degree, but if you take a player as a whole he's got plenty more pros than cons and still very young (only 21-22) so plenty of time to iron out the flaws - certainly no worse than any other English 10 at the minute though!

Wouldnt have had Carter on the list either - a player that has surpised me is Savea, but he gets a slight advantage playing behind the AB pack and distribution of Smith and Carter! Isreal Dagg has been brilliant all year too. Think I'd just have had All Blacks onthe list!

Not a chance I'm afraid chris. Kearney was magnificent for Leinster in last years HC.

No way Halfpenny was better than Kearney, he was immense in the 6N

Carter not on the list?!?! Are you mental lol

And Farrell has been really poor this season, hard to think of 10 worse!!

Seen the size of this mast I climbed today, mental!


http://browncardigan.com/imagesfarm/Xdfctb1iUJCG9Sp.jpg

Kearney part of an awesome team, Halfpenny not at all. Thought Halfpenny was awesome all through the WC and most of the season. Do agree that Kearney was amazing during HC and probably had better games that Halfpenny but over the season I'd have it as Halfpenny.

He's one of my favourite players, just like the style he plays. Do really like Kearney as well, such a good player. Lions 15 shirt is going to be a battle and a half.

I know I'm in the minority but I like Farrell, like what he can bring to a team. Just needs to be stopped moving around all over the place by Sarries, wouldnt be surprised if he's played more games for England at 10 then for Sarries - can't expect him to be an int 10 if he doesnt play there for his club - no other nation does that.

He's played 11 games for England , think he might just have played a few more for Saracens at 10

He shouldn't be in the squad then, he's there as 10 cover

Morne Steyn to Stade Francais as well by all accounts.

Farrell being nominated makes a mockery of the awards

Would be interested to see how many game Farrell has played as a 10 though for Sarries - he did half a season there when their SA got injured (cant remember his name now), stood in and did very well - couldnt have been more than 10-15 games there that year?

Then they signed Hodgson and since then he's kind of been playing a really odd role as a mix between a 12 and 13.

Can't believe he got nominated though - wonder how they select it.

Team: 15-Israel Dagg, 14-Cory Jane, 13-Conrad Smith, 12-Ma'a Nonu, 11-Julian Savea, 10-Dan Carter, 9-Aaron Smith, 8-Kieran Read, 7-Richie McCaw (captain), 6-Liam Messam, 5-Sam Whitelock, 4-Brodie Retallick, 3-Owen Franks, 2-Keven Mealamu, 1-Tony Woodcock.

Replacements: 16-Dane Coles, 17-Wyatt Crockett, 18-Charlie Faumuina, 19-Luke Romano, 20-Victor Vito, 21-Piri Weepu, 22-Aaron Cruden, 23-Ben Smith

All the AB's have sickness bug.....is this our chance!!!

Along with our world player of the year nominee this is our chance!!!

where did you hear that pooly?

BBC news Nick

Sexton never really does it in the Ireland shirt compared to the leinster shirt.

Read Dagg carter mccaww and sharpe my nominations

I think Michalak deserves his nomination. Was probably the best 10 in super rugby and has been good for France in last few games. Carter didnt do that well in super rugby.

Agree Read and Sharpe should of been up.

It's not club rugby Nick, just Ints.

IRB(International Rugby Board) Player of the year

Have we employed the same chef as the South Africans did before the '95 WC final? Great tactical ploy - must be Mike Catt's best attacking move yet!

Must be Mike Catt's only attacking move yet

Oh no, the other one is pass the ball to Tuilagi. We've got two you see.

Are the Ab's sick?

Team details:

England XV: A Goode (Saracens); C Ashton (Saracens), M Tuilagi (Leicester), B Barritt (Saracens), M Brown (Harlequins); O Farrell (Saracens), B Youngs (Leicester); A Corbisiero (London Irish), T Youngs (Leicester), D Cole (Leicester), J Launchbury (Wasps), G Parling (Leicester), T Wood (Northampton), C Robshaw (Harlequins, capt), B Morgan (Gloucester).

Replacements: D Paice (London Irish), D Wilson (Bath), M Vunipola (Saracens), C Lawes (Northampton), J Haskell (Wasps), D Care (Harlequins), F Burns (Gloucester), J Joseph (London Irish).

The bench is looking far more impacty - if we could get Hartley back in starting XV, have Youngs as impact from the bench and get a better replacement than Wilson on the bench, then we've got a pretty impressive bench!

Agreed pete. Wilson is a disgraceful bench player. Sooner you can have 2 props on the bench the better. Great impact backs. Care unlucky not too start.

Pass to Tualigi.........thats where any attacking move stops lol

anonmattyt wrote:Agreed pete. Wilson is a disgraceful bench player. Sooner you can have 2 props on the bench the better. Great impact backs. Care unlucky not too start.

There is 2 props

Ah i forgot about Mako lol. Wilson is thieving caps. terrible player for me

Pooly pretty certain that Flood's crabbing across the park and Barritt's attacking 'intent' also contributes to our backlines fluidity - such a bad midfield combination when those three play together. Manu might well have to move to 12

How Barritt keeps escaping the axe mystifies me.

The thing is with flood is he plays so laterally. He just shovels the ball out. he is not an intelligent distributor.

Often puts the ball behind the man which kills the momentum.

Watch Carter, Barnes, Cooper, Cruden etc the way they distribute is so much more clever.

You all know my thoughts about lancaster. How lancaster has the job mystifies me.

Probably the least qualified person to lead a tier 1 nation

Flood crab?!?!

If anything he plays too flat to the line and takes the ball on too much.

Hard to knock Farrell's distribution when we Farrell coming into th team who can't even pass 5yrd!

Flood's distribution isn't as good as it needs to be with a midfield of Barritt and Manu. Granted the burden he has to take on for getting the ball wide quick is increased by their lack of passing quality.

That said I think Care and Young's passing is mediocre for a international 9. Nothing like as good as Smith's, Genia's as well as many others. Dickson englands best passing 9 by a mile.

Hard for a 10 when neither of your midfield are great distributers. Barritt hasn't shown much and Tuilagi doesn't ever pass.

Barritt is an absolutely brilliant defensive 12, but doesnt offer any attack and all international backs have to offer something there.

I'm not a fan of Flood at all, not consistent enough, don't think he is overly good at controlling a game and gets isolated far too much. He's been crabbing a lot recently and shuffling bad ball on, but can't really blame him with the slow ball he gets.

Flood is out best 10 by some margin, fan of his or not. People seem to think we have this world class team waiting in the wings......we don't.

Flood is our best, but not by much. If Burns plays well on Saturday if he gets on their will no doubt be people calling for him to be no 1.

I think Burns will pass him within 12 months and Ford not long after.

Burns has been great this season, agreed.

All ifs and but about passing though, can say that about anyone but they need to do it on the park. Ford is a long way off at the minute

Ford isnt that far off in his general play, been very good since the Maori game (got 22 points in that) - it's his place kicking that is causing issues - his passing game, game management for me is already better than Floods.

Burns looks very good, enjoy watching him play and could really bring a lot to England if he's allowed to play the same style - havent seen much of Twelvetrees this year, heard he's been playing well too?

Heyneke Meyer's thoughts on a couple of his players...

Frans Louw:

“Francois was definitely the player who totally blew me away. I think we saw in these Tests over here in the northern hemisphere that it is not so much about the battle on the ground. In Super Rugby there was a lot of blowing of players for going off their feet when cleaning at the ruck, but I haven’t seen it once in the November Tests this year.

“So I don’t know if you need a specialist openside, but Francois brings so much to our game and he has really been phenomenal for us this year. The good thing is that Marcell Coetzee also appears to be learning from Flo, so we should next season have two players who can both play to the ball and carry when needed to.”


Duane Vermeulen:

“Francois also plays really well with Duane Vermeulen, and he is another guy I have been surprised about. I normally like my openside flank to play to the ball, and the blindside flank to be a carrier, and then the number 8 to be a really pacy guy like Ryan Kankowski or Pierre Spies who can contribute in broken play.

“But although Duane is certainly not the quickest number 8, he brings so many things. He sets the lineout drive so well, and he is a great stealer, and works well in tandem with Flo in that regard. He is the perfect player to have at number 8 in the northern hemisphere conditions.”

http://www.theroar.com.au/2012/11/28/heyneke-meyer-a-year-in-review-part-i/

Cockrill has stated Ford is not at Floods level all round

I knew Vermeulen would step up, just needed a chance

Struggling with work atm until next week then I should be alright.

But I will be on the hunt to improve me EQ and team, so big names will be allowed to leave etc - just giving you all notice!

This weeks podcast if anyone fancies a listen...

http://v2journal.com/the-breakdown-v2-rugby-podcast-29-november-2012.html

I'll be taking a listen.

I really like them Pete, should do them after each AP weekend.

Anybody watching Sale-Saints??

Looks like Sale are getting a stuffing

Even more shocking Andy Goode is kicking Quins to death,

Trying to watch it Pooly, but that fog's not making it easy.

We do one each week mate, so once the AI's are over it will be all AP and Rabo chat. We've had a couple of guests on as well, Neil Clark the Chiefs hooker and Victor Ubogu.