Season 6 Homepage

by **Ozzy3213** Fri 7 Jun - 21:02

First topic message reminder :

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

Season 6 Homepage - Page 17 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 prop_lyd Thu 27 Jun - 9:21

anonmattyt wrote:
Ozzy3213 wrote:Only 2 changes for Aus, Tomane in for Digby, and Beale in for Barnes.

I think this will be another close game, and part of me wants Aus to nick it so that we get a series decider next week.

We will forget you said that Pete

Yes we will forget that as I can't watch the 3rd test!

Fairly happy with that team. Would have put Gray and Tuilagi on the bench though and SOB unlucky.

by dammit_chris Thu 27 Jun - 9:27

Knee injury to Phillips

by Sgt_Pooly Thu 27 Jun - 9:45

2 worst players from last week gone from XV (Croft & Phillips), good call Gats.

Phillips "knee injury" wahoo!!!! Youngs has a canny knack of outplaying Genia, bring it on!

Lydiate over SOB is crazy, can't see anybody else in rugby making that call except Gatland.

by stnick88 Thu 27 Jun - 9:55

First we have heard of this knee injury to Phillips.

i just reckon he has been dropped as he was so bad last week. both 9's have looked better this tour.

Can understand the Lydiate selection but SOB is unlucky.

by Sgt_Pooly Thu 27 Jun - 9:57

Yea agree Nick, both scrummies look better than Phillips at the basics. Murrays had a solid tour, nothing amazing but he won't let anyone down.

by dammit_chris Thu 27 Jun - 10:02

Lydiate is best defensive player I think I've seen - if you have him in your team you have to start him as he's not a bench player at all.

Having Joubert as the ref will make all the difference, can't see this game coming down to the last kick! We will be allowed to compete at the breakdown. Hope JD has a better game at 12, don't see him as international class there, but a world class 13.

by Sgt_Pooly Thu 27 Jun - 10:05

I don't think Lydiate should be on the tour but that's a different issue. No idea how's he's starting, SOB is just as good defensively but adds so much more around the park.

by dammit_chris Thu 27 Jun - 10:08

If SOB was just as good defensively as Lydiate he'd be starting.

by stnick88 Thu 27 Jun - 10:08

Lydiate is better defensively. Chops everything down and hits hard. Offers nothing else though.

SOB better all round game.

by Sgt_Pooly Thu 27 Jun - 10:11

SOB has a fantastic defence, I actually think Lydiate is overrated here.

SOB was top tackler in HC few years back, his defence work is right up there.

Lydiate offers nothing apart from defence, crazy.

by dammit_chris Thu 27 Jun - 10:15

If Lydiate stops the Aussies attacking the fringes of rucks and mauls, gives them no front foot ball then that reduces the risk of Genia running the show.

When Lydiate plays our work around the fringes improves stupidly, been an issue this tour when he hasnt played. Top player, wont ever make breaks or rampaging runs, but what he brings to a team is just as important and allows others to play.

SOB is a great player, but for me lacks the intelligence to be a top class one - great runner, but the times he makes a break and has options to put someone in to score but looks for contact and tries to make it himself is crazy. Also gives away quite a few penalties.

by stnick88 Thu 27 Jun - 10:21

dont think he gives away any more penalties than other backrowers.

he sometimes isnt the most intelligent player but he is very effective.

by Sgt_Pooly Thu 27 Jun - 10:21

SOB is much better flanker than Lydiate, there's no comparison. Robshaw, Wood, Brown are also better players imo.

Mental how he's even toured never mind playing.

by Sgt_Pooly Thu 27 Jun - 10:23

Agree Nick, never seen him overly bad at giving pens away. Big fan of SOB, not so much of Lydiate who you need 2 ball carrying backrowers to compensate for his lack of anything but tackling.

by dammit_chris Thu 27 Jun - 10:25

Wood is the best out of all of those flankers, I'd have had him as starting no6 without a second's though.

I agree that Lydiate shouldn't have toured as was meant to be selected on form etc, but he will do a great job for us and provide a platform for the rest of the team - then bring on SOB to ruin the aussies in final 20mins!

Wasn't Lydiate 6Nations player of the year in 2012? Guess rugby isnt all about going on rampaging runs and breaking tackles...

by stnick88 Thu 27 Jun - 10:28

each to their own.

If you were playing against a hard running 12 like Nonu, Basteraud then Lydiate is perfect. Think SOB would be more effective against the Aussie's though.

by Sgt_Pooly Thu 27 Jun - 10:40

Lydiate mainly got that award because JD creamed his pants every time he made a routine tackle and started a campaign for him, amazing the power a commentator can hold.

Was an extremely odd choice that year as there much better deserving players.

by **Ozzy3213** Thu 27 Jun - 11:13

Lydiate would not be my choice, particularly based on current form. I can however understand Gatland's reasons for selecting him.

What I can't understand is Croft and O'Brien on the bench. It smacks to me of indecisiveness from Gatland. If we lose either AWJ or Parling early then I would not be comfortable with Croft packing down for 60-70 minutes in the engine room. Yes, we would still have a decent lineout, but we could seriously struggle in the scrum.

I would have gone with 19. Gray 20. O'Brien as the bench options, which although harsh on Croft, who I thought played reasonably well last week, gives much better balance and impact for the final 20 minutes.

by dammit_chris Thu 27 Jun - 11:15

IRB have announced that they are reviewing the Horwill incident again as they believe that it was the wrong decision not to ban him! Havent heard of that happening before?

by Guest Thu 27 Jun - 12:15

Lydiate is quality. Does so much work. A real players player. However I don't think he has done enough to be in test side.

He was fantastic midweek and was on about 13 tackles by half time. Great player to have in your team but croft and sob more deserving.

Agree re sob lack of finesse and penalty count though.

by Sgt_Pooly Thu 27 Jun - 12:51

SBW back for next Super season???

http://www.sarugby.com/news.cfm?newsid=23541

by SirJohnnyEnglish Thu 27 Jun - 13:09

League world cup is in October isn't it? Was widely reported he would be back after that when he first left union.

by Sgt_Pooly Thu 27 Jun - 13:15

Always sounded like it was more an obligation than him wanting to go across.

Be great having him back, such a talent.

by Sgt_Pooly Thu 27 Jun - 13:24

Possible EPS...

Corbs, Vunipola, Marler, Cole, Wilson
Youngs, Webber
Parling, Launchberry, Attwood, Slater
Robshaw, Wood, Croft, Kvesic, Haskell
Morgan, Vunipola
Youngs, Care
Farrell, Burns, Flood
Twelvetrees, Barritt, Tuilagi, JJ, Eastmond
Wade, Yarde, Ashton
Brown, Goode

by stnick88 Thu 27 Jun - 14:06

Please not Haskell.

Will Fraser.

Apart from that I agree.

by **Ozzy3213** Thu 27 Jun - 14:16

Youngs, Webber, Buchanan
Corbisiero, Vunipola, Marler, Cole, Wilson
Launchbury, Lawes, Parling, Attwood
Wood (c), Croft, Robshaw, Kvesic, Morgan, Vunipola

Youngs, Care, Dickson
Burns, Farrell
Twelvetrees, Barritt, Tuilagi, Eastmond
Yarde, May, Wade, Ashton
Brown, Foden

would be my 33 in the EPS.

Much as I think Hartley is a top player, he needs to grow up and should lose his place. The props pick themselves at the moment. In the engine room I would be very surprised if it's not these 4 that Lancaster goes with. Back row there are cases for others and Fraser would be close, but I'd go with these.

Scrum halves pick themselves as well really. I think Flood's time has passed and Burns and Farrell are the future. In the centres the only other player who could sneak in is JJ but I don't think he's earned it over the last 12 months. The wingers all provide a threat, and I see no future for Alex Goode as an international fullback.

by Sgt_Pooly Thu 27 Jun - 14:33

Totally agree on Hartley, he's not been great and has major discipline issues. Webber has looked very good and Youngs is clearly the best option we have currently.

I'd like to see Lawes out too, think if Slater & Attwood come in that gives us some serious grunt and options outside of Parling/Launchbury.

Fraser was a close call Nick, I really rate him.

by stnick88 Thu 27 Jun - 14:34

Fraser was outstanding for Saracens last season. Kvesic looked good in patches for Worcester but for me Fraser is a class above. Maybe the move to Glos will help Kvesic.

by Sgt_Pooly Thu 27 Jun - 14:37

Fraser was really unlucky he missed out on Arg, similar with Slater. Both could make the AI squads I think.

by **Ozzy3213** Thu 27 Jun - 14:40

Fraser was unlucky, but Kvesic came in and took his chance, which for me means that Fraser will have to wait. If he continues to perform well his chance will come again, but for me Kvesic has stepped above him simply by making it Argentina and playing well enough (without being outstanding) in the two games.

Slater I am not sold on. Good, solid AP payer. Not convinced that he looks international material just now.

by Sgt_Pooly Thu 27 Jun - 14:44

I prefer Slater to Lawes who's a bit of a nothing lock for me, just doesn't do enough.

Slater needs a chance to see if he can step up but I think he has a big future, can't see Lawes staying around too long unless he improves some of his weaknesses. Have Kruis coming through too who could leap past both of them.

by **Ozzy3213** Thu 27 Jun - 14:48

There are plenty of young locks 'coming through', who could oust anyone who fails to perform. There are no guarantees though. Kruis I think has more about him than Slater.

by Sgt_Pooly Thu 27 Jun - 14:54

Disagree, really like Slater. Time will tell I guess, nice to have some quality backups

by stnick88 Thu 27 Jun - 15:11

I prefer Slater to Kruis, only just. Not sure if either will make the step up but be good to test one soon.

by **Ozzy3213** Thu 27 Jun - 15:16

At this moment in time I would agree that Slater is ahead of Kruis. My impression with Slater is that he's reached the glass ceiling in terms of where his ability can take him. Kruis on the other hand looks to have the potential to get better and surpass him. Of course there is nothing tangible that I can link this to and is merely the impression I get watching each fo them. Time will tell I guess.

by Sgt_Pooly Thu 27 Jun - 15:26

It's all opinions end if the day, nobody is more right. We're getting some great depth, hope some if these current crop can make the step to world class rather than average Ints.

by Guest Thu 27 Jun - 17:07

Amusing comment

" Richie grey must be practicing his welsh accent wearing his Leicester shirt now because that must be the only way he can get a sniff. He has been great but totally ignored"

Disgruntled jock fan I think

by Sgt_Pooly Thu 27 Jun - 17:17

Just a bit, he's been ok but hardly great, I thought Evans looked better against Rebels.

Just watched it on YouTube, SOB & Faletau had great games. Farrell had a cracking game too, goes from dire to pulling a top performance out.

Lovely try from Youngs, almost carbon copy of his one against Aus few years back.

by Guest Thu 27 Jun - 17:27

Gray was after faletau best player on the pitch Tuesday. Surprised he was not involved.

Brian Moore has been carping on about it also

by Guest Thu 27 Jun - 17:29

Sob was decent against rebels dropped at least 3 balls and gave away a few pens though. His hands are very much a work in progress to say the least.

Great impact sub to bring on.

by Guest Thu 27 Jun - 17:36

Good signing wuss.

This guy had a big rep a couple of years ago and is
Only 21.

http://www.planetrugby.co.uk/story/0,25883,3823_8793635,00.html

by Sgt_Pooly Thu 27 Jun - 17:49

Def would say Gray was 2nd best player, Evans was the better lock. Made a bag full of steals and put in some massive hits.

Gray was decent but can think of many better from that game, Murray & Farrell for starters.

by Guest Thu 27 Jun - 17:57

Think this is accurate

4. Richie Gray: 7.5 Hands down Gray’s best performance of the tour. He made several promising runs and totalled 11 tackles, no mean feat for a man with plenty of other responsibilities. Probably just nosed ahead of Evans in the battle for the test bench spot. 5.

Ian Evans: 7.5 Like Gray, this was probably his best performance of the tour and it was certainly encouraging to see them, along with Hibbard, clicking at line-out time after last week’s utter failure. Like Gray he put in a huge shift in defence, and was also the chief disrupter of Rebels ball at the line-out. Gatland has a very tough decision on his hands – as if he needed another one.

All the locks have had very good tours. I think croft covering second row could be a bad decision this saturday. That said if it is a super quick game it could be an inspired decision to bring on croft and sob to run at tired defenders:

by LukeLovesLuka Thu 27 Jun - 17:58

Sob is a carrier, tackler, lineout option and scrummages well from flank. Lydiate is a tackler.

Most would have selected sob from what I've read.

by Sgt_Pooly Thu 27 Jun - 18:04

Why do you feel the need to search for scores all the time Matt? I could quite easily find scores saying Evans was better than Gray and vice versa.

Can you not just have an opinion?

by Guest Thu 27 Jun - 18:10

Just something I had read and agreed with. Always felt SOB is an impact sub. Undoubted carrier just for me makes some wrong decisions and hands not the best.

He shells the ball a few times most matches. That said he also carries more and hits the line hard so will shell some.

Lydiate is very underrated like Richard hill was. His hands for sob try and Tuesday were very good.

I don't think he has done enough to be in test side.

Most people wanted croft or sob to start. I would have kept it the same personally

by Guest Thu 27 Jun - 18:11

It actually backed up my opinion I made a few comments above pooly. It must have been an opinion because you instantly disagreed which is your standard response

by Guest Thu 27 Jun - 18:14

Anyone had any experience of this BT tv?

Can you get all sky sports channels ??

The house I am moving to is a listed building and a conservation site so council said no to me having sky. Trying to find a way around it

by Sgt_Pooly Thu 27 Jun - 18:14

It's from the Rugby Blog, great source.

I think it was you that began this actually by doing your standard bigging up after I stated Faletau & SOB had top games.

Glad I'm around to keep you in check Wink

by Guest Thu 27 Jun - 18:21

I said faletau was best player on the pitch last 2 games. Had a good tour but heaslip has been slightly better.

Backrow and locks have all gone well. Could have picked different combos in these units and all would have gone well. Hearing on the radio that lydiate is also covering second row and may step up there if an injury with croft to flank. Apparently both covering lock.

Never knee lydiate could play lock

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