Season 6 Homepage

by **Ozzy3213** Sat 8 Jun - 6:02

First topic message reminder :

Breaking News: Leicester Tigers win Aviva Premiership final after a penalty shoot out against Harlequins

Season 6 Homepage - Page 15 Aviva-Premiership-Trophy-e1306508139154

2012/2013 – Leicester Tigers
2011/2012 – Newcastle Falcons
2010/2011 - Newcastle Falcons
2009/2010 – Saracens
2008/2009 - London Irish

POS	Aviva Premiership	PLAYED	WON	DREW	LOST	P F	P A	P D	T F	T A	TBP	LBP	POINTS
1	Bath Rugby	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
2	Exeter Chiefs	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
3	Gloucester	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
4	Harlequins	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
5	Leicester Tigers	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
6	London Irish	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
7	London Welsh	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
8	Newcastle Falcons	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
9	Northampton Saints	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
10	Sale Sharks	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
11	Saracens	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
12	Worcester Warriors	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0

Links

Fixture List
Released/Championship/National League/Academy Bidding
Foreign Transfers
European Homepage
Game History Page

Welcome to Season 6 of the Aviva Premiership fantasy 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 its 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 match day 23'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 an academy squad of 20 players. Players who are in the academy must be born on or after 1st September 1991.

Any player, who is at any Premiership club in real life, either in their senior, academy or AASE squads, can be bid for on the domestic bidding page. Players who are at your own club in real life and are coming through the academy system must be bid for if you want them in your own academy.

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 5 players from the Championship or the National Leagues. These players must be bid for on the Domestic Transfer Bidding page, and each bid will be considered by me on its 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.

There will be a summer foreign transfer window, which will run as follows.

Structured Window

No cash will be used and each team will get effectively free transfers by way of a draft, which will run 12th, 11th, 10th …… 1st, 12th, 11th,10th… 1st place side. This will run from 10th June 2013 until all teams have had their two picks.

Open Window

Open transfer window, teams have unlimited bids provided they have the financial resources to cover them. Teams may only bid for one player at a time.

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

All released players will be deemed to have joined a Championship side and can be bid for on the Domestic Transfer Bidding page.

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 match thread will be put up every Monday. Home teams must be named by midnight on Tuesday. Away teams must be named by midnight on Wednesday. Both teams must provide tactics by midnight on Thursday. Predictions will be open from 00:01 hours on Friday and remain open until 20:00 hours on Saturday. 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.

Managers are asked to provide detail as to why they have predicted a result. To be considered a descriptive prediction this must be a full 3 lines long when entered into the text box. If you are not providing a descriptive prediction you will be restricted to predicting a 1 point win either way.

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 match day 23, and at least 4 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.

£2m 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.

by Guest Wed 26 Jun - 4:00

Wow what an improvement Fluxy top dealing

by Steven_Sharks Wed 26 Jun - 4:06

Back row and Loosehead and Hook could do with improving in my view.

by dammit_chris Wed 26 Jun - 5:02

Driver- how do you reckon Mike Blair will do at Falcons next season? You happy with him as your no9?

by Sgt_Pooly Wed 26 Jun - 6:22

Mas really hammered Crockett & Woodcock, looking great

by Driver Wed 26 Jun - 6:56

We've got a monster pack so he should get plenty of ball, 2nd best 9 in the ap.

by Sgt_Pooly Wed 26 Jun - 7:04

Basteraud didn't half knock Carter on his ass near end of game.

I think we'll be seeing a lot more of Piutau in a black jersey, very classy

by Steven_Sharks Wed 26 Jun - 7:13

Blair 2nd best 9 in the AP? That's laughable!

Youngs, Care and Fotualii undoubtedly better players in my eyes without a shadow of a doubt.

Both Dickson's, Peel, Wigglesworth, TOL, Thomas, De Kock, Simpson and others I;m sure I've forgotten all have strong cases for being better players.

by Sgt_Pooly Wed 26 Jun - 7:20

I think Blair is a fair bit better than Dickson, Peel, Simpson etc Steve.

May not be quite as good as Care/Fotu, need to see how he goes.

Youngs the best 9 by a fair bit but excited to see Fotu

by Steven_Sharks Wed 26 Jun - 7:26

I rank them

Fotualii
Youngs
Care
Peel
Dickson (L)
Dickson (K)
Simpson
Blair
Wigglesworth

by Sgt_Pooly Wed 26 Jun - 7:37

To be fair I don't think people have seen much of Blair so pretty hard to call. If he's as good as he was pre-France I'd have him in top 3.

Peel is on the decline, I thought he was poor nearly every time I seen Sale.

1. Youngs
2. Fotu
3. Blair (pre France)
-----------------------gap
4. Care
-----------------------big gap
5. Wigglesworth
6. De kock
7. Cowan (bad form pre injury)
8. L Dickson
9. TOL

Robson will kick on this season, personally think he's better than Simpson who's terrible. Dickson & Thomas steady players but nothing more.

by Sgt_Pooly Wed 26 Jun - 7:40

Blair below the Dicksons & Simspon is an odd one Steve. I think he's a better scrum half blindfolded than those 3.

by Fluxy Wed 26 Jun - 8:41

You don't rate Webber Steve?

by Guest Wed 26 Jun - 17:14

T
You were never a fan of Blair before pooly ??? You had cussiter and said how he was light years ahead of Blair and Lawson. To be fair Lawson has lost it

I am a big Blair fan. A very astute great passing scrum half. I think Newcastle will struggle in the front row and Blair will not get that great ball.

Also Blair is very good for playing an open style and Newcastle seemed pretty pragmatic when watching them so not sure he will suit them

Most teams coming up play quite tight and try and eek out wins and with the options at ten Newcastle have think that will be the way they play.

Blair has lost that yard of pace he had years ago. What is he 33/34 ? Good player but no way above Carr, fotuali, Peel, Youngs etc but definitely better than TOL Hayden Thomas and co. great signing for falcons

by stnick88 Wed 26 Jun - 17:48

there is a lot of good SH's in the AP.

I don't think Blair is any better than TOL, L. Dickson and Wigglesworth. I'd have them all about level a step below Fotuali'i, Youngs and Care.

Peel was quality at times last season but seemed a bit inconsistent had some poor games too.

by SirJohnnyEnglish Wed 26 Jun - 18:44

Going to be releasing Tommy Bell from my academy later if anyones interested cash bids welcome on my page Smile

by stnick88 Wed 26 Jun - 18:45

Pat Lambie is available for anyone who wants a 10.

by Sgt_Pooly Wed 26 Jun - 19:05

Blair has just gone 32, be a top signing for us.

by stnick88 Wed 26 Jun - 19:15

He is a quality signing, as TOL was for us, shame he only played about 8 games then was out for the season as he was our best player when he was fit.

is back in pre season training now so be like a new signing.

We have Sarries at the double header, hope it's not like a repeat of last year when they absolutely battered us. Can't wait for the season to start, double header is always a quality day out, can't understand why some people moan about it and want it changed.

by Sgt_Pooly Wed 26 Jun - 19:32

I must admit Nick, I see you really struggling this season. You along with us, Sale and Worcester will be big favourites to go down.

by stnick88 Wed 26 Jun - 19:45

yeh definitely mate, will be a 4 way battle I imagine. Can see Wasps being worse than last year too but they will probably be more like 8th.

i think we will have enough to stay up though. our backline is still class. just the pack is lacking and we will struggle to win away again but think at home we will get enough wins.

9 O'Leary
10 Humphries
11 Tagicakibau
12 Sa
13 Armitage
14 Yarde
15 Homer / Fenby

dangerous backline that will score tries on front foot. just need to make sure the pack can get us enough ball!

by dammit_chris Wed 26 Jun - 19:53

I think we'll be better next year, purely because we will have a goal kicker who will be around the 90% mark, and we lost so many games by 3-6 points when Nicky Robinson missed 3-4 kicks in a game.

With a backline that will be

9. Simpson
10. Goode
11. Varndell
12. Masi
13. Bell
14. Wade
15. Daly

We will score tries - losing Wentzel is a huge blow and I am not sure we've really gone anyway in replacing BV but we've got a lot more depth in the pack, so would hope we will improve there. We've signed a NZ'er who is meant to be very good in the backrow, massive carrier and hopefully he will be as good as his reputation.

by stnick88 Wed 26 Jun - 19:57

yeh your backline is quality as well Chris.

Just think Wentzel, Billy V and Poff are big losses in the pack that you haven't replaced.

Mullan will help you though.

by dammit_chris Wed 26 Jun - 20:03

When it rains it pours for the Wallabies - they've now launched an investigation as to why Beale and JOC were out until 4am after the test. Crazy during a Lions tour and all the trouble that team has been through.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/rugbyunion/international/britishandirishlionsrugby/10142849/Lions-2013-Australia-launch-investigation-after-Kurtley-Beale-and-James-OConnor-pictured-in-burger-bar-at-4am.html

We've also lost our first choice hooker and Zak Taulafo - so that is 5 from our starting pack - though by the end of last season Poff was injured or on the bench, as we preferred to start Sam Jones. Wentzel was injured a lot too, just need James Cannon to continue to improve and hope that Myall's lineout works well too.

I'm hoping losing Wentzel will mean that Launchbury gets more responsibility, him and Palmer arent a bad combination and if Launchbury can add leading a lineout then he's going to be even better.

by stnick88 Wed 26 Jun - 20:24

Forgot you have Myall. He will dominate lineouts.

I think Palmer is a bit of a has been now.

Sam Jones looks a talent not sure if he is an out and out 7 though.

by dammit_chris Wed 26 Jun - 20:29

Palmer is ok at club level, can be outstanding one game and look an international but then next few games he isn't, but still doesnt do anything wrong. Good to get experience next to Launchbury though, who I think could be a very special player.

Sam Jones is another who could be very good, with Poff gone now, I'd imagine we will be going 6. Haskell 7. Jones and 8. AJ - so I expect Jones to get a lot more experience there, hopefully he will kick on.

by Sgt_Pooly Wed 26 Jun - 20:40

Yea I can see Wasps struggling this season too, don't think they'll be quite bottom 4 but they'll be close.

Palmer looked pretty much finished last season.

by stnick88 Wed 26 Jun - 20:42

That's a strong backrow.

I think similar to us and a lot of teams near the bottom your first team is strong but after that lacking a bit of depth.

When you look at some other backrows though...

6 Garvey
7 Louw
8 Fearns ?

6 Brown
7 Fraser
8 Vunipola

6 Croft
7 Salvi
8 Crane / Waldrom

6 Qera
7 Kvesic
8 Morgan

Some really strong ones

by dammit_chris Wed 26 Jun - 20:46

He was out injured for half of it and the other half he was playing with the injury.

We'll be above Falcons, Worcester, Irish and Sale I think, and there or there abouts with Gloucester, Exeter and Quins - the latter I think will struggle a bit more due to not improving their small squad - I think they've only signed Paul Doran Jones?

Bath, Tigers, Sarries, Saints have got the best squads now, and can see them all having very good seasons because they all stay within the salary cap Wink

by dammit_chris Wed 26 Jun - 20:47

Nick, Bath have signed a guy call Leeroy Houston I think - apparently a giant of a player who could make similar impact to Mafi and Manoa. He should replace Taylor as Bath's no8.

by Fluxy Wed 26 Jun - 20:50

I imagine Fearns will take the 8 shirt, unless injury or Houston steps up

by stnick88 Wed 26 Jun - 20:52

I hope Bath crash and burn.

I can see Quins dropping down a bit with Gloucester being in top 4.

Exeter will be same as usual mid table.

I can't see Sale and Irish starting as badly as last year and only start playing after Xmas which will put pressure on Worcester and Newcastle.

I think Worcester will go down.

by dammit_chris Wed 26 Jun - 20:55

Worcester have made some very clever signings though - a lot will depend on kicker and losing Goode could be a big blow for them. Yet I am not sure what Falcons kicker is like either, shame they lost Gopperth.

by Guest Wed 26 Jun - 21:04

stnick88 wrote:I hope Bath crash and burn.

I can see Quins dropping down a bit with Gloucester being in top 4.

Exeter will be same as usual mid table.

I can't see Sale and Irish starting as badly as last year and only start playing after Xmas which will put pressure on Worcester and Newcastle.

I think Worcester will go down.

Let's all hope Bath crash and burn !

by Fluxy Wed 26 Jun - 21:22

Didn't wuss with Mieres? He's rather reliable. Although probably with Argentina over the 4Ns

by Sgt_Pooly Wed 26 Jun - 21:28

I think Worcester look pretty good, they've lost some quality but have made some good signings.

My bet is on Irish going down.

by stnick88 Wed 26 Jun - 21:32

big call Pooly!

if we play like we did 2nd half of last season then no chance. same with Sale who were excellent after Xmas.

Worcester looked the poorest side after Xmas but had enough points from the start of the season.

will be close between the 4 sides I think. could go down to the wire.

by Sgt_Pooly Wed 26 Jun - 21:54

If will be very close.

Losing Corbs, Lahiff, Garvey(biggest one), JJ, Gibson is just too much imo.

You were poor last season and losing arguably your 3 best forwards and one of your best backs will be big.

We're an unknown quantity but defensively we're strong, could just be the difference for us. We need a few more signings in, a winger & backrower and we'll be ok.

by stnick88 Wed 26 Jun - 21:58

Garvey is by the far the biggest blow. Lahiff a big blow also. And we havent really replaced them worringly. Smith has said he wants more players but no idea who.

Gibson, JJ and Corbs is not as huge a loss as it sounds. look how many games they played last season between them. probably about 10 if that in the league. corbs is always injured, when fit an immense player but his appearance record for us was a joke. JJ has class but his attitude stinks and he needs to re-find his form of the season before last. gibson is an odd one. has talent but didnt fit in with us. probably do well for leicester as they have a quality pack to do the gritty work and let him do his thing.

you need players that actually want to develop and play for you like Guy Armitage showed last season. more like that and i think we will survive.

by **Ozzy3213** Wed 26 Jun - 22:10

Agree with Nick. Garvey is a massive loss, and Lahiff a big one. The other three not so much. JJ did very little for us last year and I think given an extended run Armitage will gave a good season at 13. He looked very good for us in the latter part of last season.

The pack as ever is the issue. First choice pack is reasonable, but behind that we have no depth whatsoever.

by stnick88 Wed 26 Jun - 23:12

I think Guy Armitage was the leagues top try scoring centre last year with 5.

Apart from Aulika and Hagan, are props are poor which is where we could struggle.

Likewise the 2nd row, after Skivington and Evans we are so weak.

Annoyed we didnt go for Mills from Welsh.

by Sgt_Pooly Wed 26 Jun - 23:18

Your pack looks weak Pete. If Skivington doesn't show up you're struggling.

We have decent depth there with Del Fava, McLeod, McKenzie, Tomes, Barrow (potentially).

Our backrow needs a tweak but is decent.

by **Ozzy3213** Wed 26 Jun - 23:19

It will be interesting to see what BS does in relation to the props. I suspect we may see Aulika switch to the loosehead side with Hagan starting at 3, which if it works then great, but it leaves us light on back up. I would prefer we signed a decent loosehead and rotated Aulika and Hagan on the tighthead side.

by stnick88 Wed 26 Jun - 23:24

we seriously need another good lock.

We will be relying on home form and the likes of Hala'ufia, Aulika and Paice to get us over the gainline and get some good ball for TOL and iHumph to get Yarde and Tagi in space.

If a few injuries mount up we could be in trouble. but same could be said for any of the lower teams.

by Sgt_Pooly Wed 26 Jun - 23:25

Do you think Smith is the man to keep you up? Your defence was stinking for large parts of last season from what I saw.

by **Ozzy3213** Wed 26 Jun - 23:26

Our first choice pack is decent enough Pooly, but if we lose any of them we are struggling really.

1. Aulika 2. Paice 3. Hagan
4. Skivington 5. Evans
6. Sinclair 7. Treviranus 8. Hala'ufia

is an almost fully internaitonal pack and has enough power in it to do a job.

1. Matt Parr 2. Jimmy Stevens 3. Jonny Harris
4. Nic Rouse 5. Kieran Low
6. Dec Danaher 7. Blair Cowan 8. Jon Fisher

does not inspire me with confidence as the back up. If we lose any of our first choice front 5 forwards for an extended period, we could be in the shoite!

by **Ozzy3213** Wed 26 Jun - 23:28

Sgt_Pooly wrote:Do you think Smith is the man to keep you up? Your defence was stinking for large parts of last season from what I saw.

To be fair to Smith, the defence improved when he took over the coaching of it from Shaun Edwards. Edwards defensive system is apparently pretty complicated and him only being there one day a week meant the players had no clue. Smith brought in a simpler system and we did improve defensively. I am prepared to give him a bit of time and see how we go before making a real judgement.

by dammit_chris Wed 26 Jun - 23:29

WOrcester will be a good team, the signings they have made are very good.

Ignacio Mieres (Exeter)
Paul Warwick (Stade Francais)
Paul Stephenson (Bedford)
Leonardo Senatore (Toulon)
Agustin Creevy (Montpellier)
Mike Williams (Blue Bulls)
Ofa Fanga'anuku (Glasgow Warriors)
Paul Andrew (Cornish Pirates)
Chris Brooker (Harlequins)
Jonathan Thomas (Ospreys)
Jeremy Su'a (Canterbury Crusaders)
Cameron Goodhue (Auckland Blues)
Jeremy Becasseau (Stade Francais)

by Sgt_Pooly Wed 26 Jun - 23:35

That is a real poor backup, we have a better backup I'd say but too many average players.

1. Shiels 2. Lawson 3. Brookes
4. Del Fava 5. McLeod
6. Welch 8. Hogg. 7. Saull

Backup..

1. Nobo 2. Vickers 3. Tomahawk
4. McKenzie 5. Barrow/Tomes
6. Wilson. 8. York. 7. Mayhew

I'd be more than confident any of our second string could step in, question is can our best compete? We need a new 6 I think but that'll prob be it.

by stnick88 Wed 26 Jun - 23:44

time will tell.

whatever happens im looking forward to it.

smith has said he will rest top players in the Amlin and LV which is good, last season we played our best team nearly every game and it cant be good for them.

by **Ozzy3213** Thu 27 Jun - 0:03

I just can't wait for the season to start to be honest. I think our backline could be quality if our forwards can give them anything to play with. Really looking forward to seeing Sa play this year. I think him and Armitage could turn out to be a top centre pairing given a bit of time to gel.

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