Homepage

First topic message reminder :

Breaking News: Former London Irish boss stnick88 returns in charge of Worcester Warriors and Quins win the top of the table clash with Tigers to narrow the gap between the two teams to a single point.

---

---

---

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.

Zebo 10weeks sexton 2 weeks missed Scotland game. Burger picked up a knock but is fine . A lot of these back row players are only ever 1 injury away from retirement.

Looking for some EQ props

Guttered about Juan Smith, one of fav players.

England head coach Stuart Lancaster has released the eight players who were on the bench against Ireland for this weekend's Aviva Premiership matches.

Danny Care, Toby Flood, Dylan Hartley, Courtney Lawes, Manu Tuilagi, Mako Vunipola, Thomas Waldrom and David Wilson will all join up with their clubs on Wednesday evening and be available for club duty at the weekend.

Beale starts at 10 for Rebels with JOC at 15.

Etzebeth out for 8-10 weeks.

The Shortlist for the #AvivaPrem Player of the Month for Feb is: Louis Deacon, Mike Brown, Danny Care, Owen Farrell and Elliot Daly.

We have had one AP game so far. 3 of those players didn't play in that round of fixtures. Bemusing.

Lol, they must mean Jan?

only one AP game in Jan. Brown and Farrell won't even play an AP game this month.

Super Rugby Predictions

Oz Conference: Reds
SA Conference: Bulls
NZ Conference: Highlanders

Stormers, Crusaders, Chiefs/Sharks (Can't call it.)

Winners: Crusaders.

Anyone read Gatland's comments about potentially limiting the number of English players on the Lions tour due to the issues that brings?

He must have Cole, Robshaw, Wood, Youngs, Farrell and Tuilagi as definites so far.

He should pick the best players. Quotas is rubbish.

Agree with you - it's important to have a few players from every country, am sure Gatland always said it would be on form alone, guess not!

Gatland does way too much talking for me.

Those are English nailed on tourists I reckon Chris (Wood close) the rest are in with a shout.

Wood is surely going. Been magnificent for England of late. Doesn't play badly for his country.

I'd throw in Ashton. He should be pretty much nailed on as a tourists.

Most England players we've seen so far (except Waldrom) are likely on Gatland's mind. Realistically I expect to see Hartley, Launchbury, Parling and Brown go as well.

Fergus Mulchrone and Eamonn Sheridan rumoured to be signing for London Irish according to someone with knowledge at Rotherham.

Wood has been great but backrow is very tight.

SOB, Ferris, Lydiate, Brown......... Will Wood tour over all of these?

Less competition in the 7 jersey so think Robshaw will go, captain helps too.

I'm thinking:

Ferris, SOB
Robshaw, Tipuric
Beattie, Faletau

Leaves a few spots for Heaslip, Warburton, Brown, Wood, Morgan, Denton, Rennie, POM, Lydiate.

That's been floating around for a few days Steve, and both are big lumps and look like Brian Smith type players, so I supect they are on their way to us.

Backrow is amazingly competitive this time round.

Youngs has to be nailed on starting no9 now, be interesting who he takes along as the other two, he loves Phillips so would imagine he will go but then who out of Laidlow, Care and Murray.

Robshaw got to be captain.

And Ryan Jones too, real battle in the backrow

Lydiate needs to play some rugby and show some form as does Ferris. Brown not close to Wood in my view, but he is playing well.

Robshaw and SOB miles ahead of Tipuric at openside. He will be lucky to tour for me. Think he is very overrated.

Youngs in front I imagine.

Phillips will tour as Gatland fav.

Youngs
Murray
Phillips

Sexton
Farrell
Laidlaw maybe giving SH/FH cover???

I'd try and snap up Mulchrone's brother as well if I were Irish. Very very good scrum half.

Reckon there will be some Welsh bias in the tour, if Lydiate recovers and plays some games I reckon he will definitely go.

Your right with Jones as well, thought he put in a great performance last week - guess it will help with being able to cover a number of positions, think that is why Wood could well go.

I'd like to see Ferris go. My fav backrow would be Ferris/Robshaw/Faletau

I can't see him picking players in France either - unless he makes an exception for Jenkins, which he shouldnt do.

Hogg has to go after the last two weeks, I dont think an English fb will travel this time. Halfpenny and Kearney are world class players in my mind and Hogg would really suit the Lions style of play.

Balance of the squad will be fascinating.

Laidlaw is playing well as a 9 and could be an option as a 9 and 10. Good bench man but would need to play stupendously to get into the test squad I think.

Centres a position I'm a little worried about. At 12 we are short of proven talent there after Roberts who has been hit and miss.

Hogg has been exceptional. Really impressive.

I'd take Jenkins as I think he is in our 3 best looseheads.

I'd love to see JD/Tuilagi midfield.

Hogg best FB in 6N so far.

Can't believe how much Farrell has came on, I'd possibly have him ahead of Sexton currently.

Jenkins is trading on reputation a bit at present. On form he's not even Wales best loosehead, that would be Paul James.

He has been sublime. He has shown me something I didn't think he had. All I could see in his game was kicking but he has improved a heck of a lot and shown his all round game to be excellent.

I'd still take Sexton ahead of him but you never know with him having 6N, HC and AP to showcase his skills.

I would go wood heaslip Robshaw on present form. heaslip poor sunday but been in good form and also more of a leader than faletau who can go missing but has been excellent for last 120 minutes. Would love ferris as a starter but wood is playing incredibly so would have to go with form

I really hope we see a top Oz side. They can't afford too many knocks in the pack.

1. Robinson
2. Moore
3. Alexander
4. Timani
5. Horwill
6. Hooper
7. Pocock
8. Palu
9. Genia
10. Cooper
11. Ioane
12. Barnes
13. AAC
14. JOC
15. Beale

Heaslip not been great for a long time, Sunday was a typical showing.

Beattie & Faletau form 8's

Disagree.

Heaslip is the form British 8 and that was not a typical showing. Been excellent for Leinster.

Not for me, bar one or two games he's been poor.

Beattie been much better, as has Faletau in poor side.

Before the All Blacks game I certainly wouldn't have said that there is a shout for Cole, Launchbury, Parling, Wood, Robshaw to be starting in the pack. I don't think there have been better locks than Launch and Parling so far in the 6Nations - would take Gray on top form, but a lot of England players I didnt expect to put their hands up are.

Hartley is going to push for a starting spot, and I think Corbs would have done if he was fit.

Wonder who will miss out from the England match day 23. I don't think Brown or Goode will travel, not sure about Ashton just yet - was going to say Barritt too, but he has been very impressive over the last two games and as Steve said there aren't many options at 12.

Falateua is an odd one, when I see him for his club side I think he is awful, but for Wales he is very good.

Launchbury was quiet on Sunday but Aus conditions will suit him.

I'd just can't see case for Hartley at all, just don't rate the lad.

Steven_Sharks wrote:Disagree.

Heaslip is the form British 8 and that was not a typical showing. Been excellent for Leinster.

That's a pretty universal opinion Steve. He was excellent vs Wales also. Great in the AI's and for Leinster.

Faletau been poor apart from last 120 minutes of 6nations he was anonymous 1st half.

Think it was the telegraph which said where did faletau find his performance against France from after a year in the doldrums form wise. Both him and warbs been off colour.

Beattie has been good since about December and is a mighty carrier. I was tempted by him in the foreigns but have heaslip Hari and Alberts and ferris who can play there

Watch out for the Aussie second row Chris is in for in the foreigns. He looked some prospect last year and got in to Aussie touring side could push for a spot. Tremendous athlete

Neville is only on the Rebels bench for the Super 15 opener

Heaslip has not been in good form. He'll be very lucky to tour. Faletau outplayed Heaslip against Wales

http://www.uafc.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=15761&sid=d5426f4698c393010780e9cd3ab197ba

Discussion about Heaslip after Wales game.

Most calling for him to be dropped.

Sums he up for me:

"I have been a Heaslip fan for a long time, but he is not performing like he was. Compared to SOB, Chris, POM and Fez when fit, his work rate falls short of the mark. I have been thinking this for a while, in fact pretty much since the last Lions tour.
It puzzles me that he was made captain in these circumstances. I don’t see what he brings to the party as captain, because he doesn’t ooze charisma like POC and doesn’t strike me as a guy you would follow into battle like BOD who lays his body on the line every time he steps on the pitch."

"Heaslip hasn't had a really good game for ireland for a few years. The best option would be obrien at number 8 to give that physicality and gain vital metres with Henry at open side. It's crazy that Ireland overlook a guy who is at the top of his game and an out and out open side. Since Wallace we havent had that option. Ferris Obrien and Henry would be a dream back row combination but another 2 Ulster players in the side wont happen (unless another few are dropped to make way for them). Not that I'm cynical."

"Heaslip needs dropped for his own good IMO. Needs a good kick up the backside."

"Heaslip has to be dropped, harsh but a waste of space at current..sorry Jamie shouldn't have been captain in the first place"

I think Heaslip is on the plane at the moment but if he has another game like that i can see him being left at home

At the moment on form the pecking order for me is

Beattie
Falatau
Morgan
Heaslip
SOB
Wood

With very little between the top 3.

Sgt_Pooly wrote:http://www.uafc.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=15761&sid=d5426f4698c393010780e9cd3ab197ba

Discussion about Heaslip after Wales game.

Most calling for him to be dropped.

That's an Ulster fan site with serious provincial bias, hardly a shock them calling for Heaslip out to be honest.

Irish fans though talking about Ireland.

Can understand some bias but they're not calling for others to be dropped such as POM, SOB etc who arnt Ulster players.

If he was playing well you wouldn't see hardly any posts like that.

Ulster fans want Henry in at 7 and they know that slating SOB shows obvious bias, so given that Heaslip hasnt quite been in peak form, they want him out and SOB to 8 in order to get their man in. It's hardly evidence that he's been poor, albeit I do agree he's not been at his best. If we were picking solely on recent form, Beattie and Morgan would be the 8's in the squad.