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by **Ozzy3213** Sun 30 Jun 2013, 7:34 pm

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

Homepage 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 Sgt_Pooly Sun 30 Jun 2013, 8:13 pm

Metres made....

Aus - 440
Lions - 140

Not a good looking stat.

by Guest Sun 30 Jun 2013, 8:37 pm

The fact Aussies scored 1 try shows how well Backrow and defensive organisation was.

Lack of front 5 and use of a big centre or north to hit a gain line was apparent. To be fair rugby is not a game that lends itself to stats well.

Stats often mean nowt in rugby

by Guest Sun 30 Jun 2013, 8:58 pm

Times

" Hibbard and gray must come in parling put no pressure on their lineout and called a bad ball which gill stole. Without poc and Corbs tom youngs showed his lack of scrummaging ability. When Hibbard came on the scrum went forward"

Hooker scrummaging so important

by Guest Sun 30 Jun 2013, 8:59 pm

Also says that if Sheridan played we would have won

by Steven_Sharks Sun 30 Jun 2013, 9:05 pm

I disagree that parling put no pressure on the lineout. neither side got great ball

by **Ozzy3213** Sun 30 Jun 2013, 9:08 pm

I'm rewatching the game at the moment, will get a better idea on who did what now, as was far too involved when watching it live.

by Sgt_Pooly Sun 30 Jun 2013, 9:10 pm

Talk sport tonight:

Man of tour: AWJ

Disappointment of the tour: Jamie Heaslip - he was ok 1st test but a big disappointment yesterday.

Don't shoot the messenger but did chuckle.

by **Ozzy3213** Sun 30 Jun 2013, 9:10 pm

I'm currently 17 minutes in, and being a saddo am making notes on Parlings tackles to see if my impression of what he did is correct. He's made 3 tackles so far.

by stnick88 Sun 30 Jun 2013, 9:11 pm

Id pretty much agree with that

by Sgt_Pooly Sun 30 Jun 2013, 9:13 pm

Cole & Hibbard came on for jones and Youngs and had a huge first scrum.

Why is this only Youngs fault?

by Sgt_Pooly Sun 30 Jun 2013, 9:18 pm

stnick88 wrote:Id pretty much agree with that

Matt will go crackers but pretty funny.

by **Ozzy3213** Sun 30 Jun 2013, 9:19 pm

Pooly, is your sole aim in life winding Mat and Chris up or something?

by Sgt_Pooly Sun 30 Jun 2013, 9:19 pm

Parling made loads of chop tackles close in to rucks which prob pumped up his number

by **Ozzy3213** Sun 30 Jun 2013, 9:22 pm

I'm 33 minutes in and he's made 3 and a half tackles. He must be everywhere second half to hit 14.

by Sgt_Pooly Sun 30 Jun 2013, 9:22 pm

Totally honest views Pete, just happens they usually disagree which spirals things out.

All opinions end of the day.

by **Ozzy3213** Sun 30 Jun 2013, 9:25 pm

No issue with opinions fella, it's what this game has always been based on, but at times you come across as if you are just out for a reaction, and in all honesty, it's getting a bit tedious for some of us on here.

by Sgt_Pooly Sun 30 Jun 2013, 9:27 pm

TS reckon Roberts & Corbs def available

by Sgt_Pooly Sun 30 Jun 2013, 9:33 pm

Not looking for a reaction, just opinions. Open forum end of the day, I'm not making personal insults just voicing views on rugby.

by Guest Sun 30 Jun 2013, 9:46 pm

Ozzy3213 wrote:No issue with opinions fella, it's what this game has always been based on, but at times you come across as if you are just out for a reaction, and in all honesty, it's getting a bit tedious for some of us on here.

Agree seriously though about jacking it.

by Sgt_Pooly Sun 30 Jun 2013, 9:49 pm

Just ignore my comments if you have an issue.

Only opinions on rugby end of the day.

by Sgt_Pooly Sun 30 Jun 2013, 10:39 pm

How did the Parling experiment go?

Mako made the most tackles apparently which is some going.

by Guest Mon 01 Jul 2013, 6:02 am

Great article re scrum. http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/blog/2013/jun/29/lions-tactics-board-gatland-vunipola

by **Ozzy3213** Mon 01 Jul 2013, 8:06 am

Dean Ryan has it bang on mate.

by Sgt_Pooly Mon 01 Jul 2013, 8:40 am

Mako was poor but after around 30mins he started getting on top. Maybe Jones was struggling too??

by dammit_chris Mon 01 Jul 2013, 9:28 am

Clive Woodward did a good article in the Mail today (think its the Mail). Described Warburton's performance as the best he's ever seen from a Lion. Awful loss for him not making the final test - will Tipuric be called in to compete with Hooper?

I rate Parling quite highly and think he has improved a lot in last 18months - but when none of our hookers can throw it to the back of a lineout, limiting our options, so he's not as effective as he could be there.

We need some ball carriers in the pack, would like to see Corbs starting and I'd be tempted to recall Gray for Parling, espc if Horwill is banned. If not then we need Falteau at the back of the scrum, but if our front five perform so badly it doesnt matter who we have at the back.

Would also be tempted to recall Phillips, if Roberts is fit then play him with Davies. And really just go down the be as physical as possible route. Manu on the bench too.

by **Ozzy3213** Mon 01 Jul 2013, 9:34 am

This was my Parling research which I posted on a thread in the rugby forum...

Ok, so being a sad individual I just rewatched the game focusing on Parlings 'tackles'.

I made it 13 made and 1 missed.

The miss was fairly crucial as it was in the 75th minute on Genia allowing him to cross the gainline in the build up to the try. Of the 13 tackles he made, he stopped the ball carrier on the gainline 3 times. On the other 10 Australia crossed the gainline and either offloaded or recylcled, with 1 exception where another Lion came in and got his hands on the ball and the Aussie ball carrier was pinged for not releasing. Overall I would estimate that he was about -12 to -15 metres in terms of how far the ball carriers got across the gainline.

14 (or 13 and a miss) is all well and good, but actually the majority of the tackles were pretty ineffective.

Ozzy3213 wrote:
Manu's Boxing Coach wrote:Well Parling has gone down in everyone's estimations in the last 24 hours.

But I can't disagree with what any of you guys are saying, Parling does lack grunt for a lock and if the likes of of Kitchener or Attwood gain his intellect in the lineout area he will be put under serious pressure and probably surplus to requirements.

However, despite Parling's seemingly wirey frame and lack of bulk he has played well in the test arena hence his Lions call up and Geoff has consistently kept making the step up in standard when asked to and uses offloads and outside shoulders to get around his lack of size. From relatively unknown Newcastle player, to being an essential cog in the Tigers 2010 Prem win and playing in massive HC fixtures to then running England's lineout and finally playing for the lions, where in the tour games he has played well IMO. Yesterday was probably the one occasion where he fell short. Also do not underestimate his ability at running the lineout, it is very highly regarded at Tigers and I can remember how much Skiv struggled when he tried to replace him in the 2011 season. Also he is a real leader, captaining Newcastle and Tigers a few time being the lineout caller and that was shown after the Brumbies game when he stood up and told everyone what was what. Don't underestimate ol' Geoff fellas. I think he is one of those players that's influence will be far more apparent when he isnt there.

He was clearly selected for his lineout ability, however our lineout did not function for us in this game. Now that may be due to poor throwing from the hooker, but as the lineout leader it is then Parling's responsibility to work things out. Given the success we had from the early lineouts where we went to the front and used the driving maul to good effect, when the hooker was struggling throwing to the tail, why not make the call and secure ball at the front and go that way. Sure it limits your attacking options somewhat, but it doesn't limit them half as much as chucking the ball to the opposition does.

by dammit_chris Mon 01 Jul 2013, 9:39 am

Think that shows why stats are misleading in rugby Pete.

Compare that to Lydiate's tackling, stopping the man each time and giving the Lions the chance to get turnovers or penalties. Same with Warburton.

For me Parling is one of the best lineout operators in rugby, but with Youngs, Hibbard and Best all unable to throw accurately on this tour, then Parling's best asset is wasted.

by Guest Mon 01 Jul 2013, 9:46 am

That lineout we lost deep in there half towards the end was a dreadful call . We needed front ball mauled with the chance of a pen.

Parling has made some bad calls a few times for England. Just too small. Gray or Evans to start with AWJ for me.

Apparently we are so battered and bruised that we may see new locks and Backrow

by Fluxy Mon 01 Jul 2013, 9:48 am

I'm not defending Parling here, but more playing devil's advocate. Surely Pete you're not going to stop every attacker at the gainline or beforehand, in fact surely its a good thing that someone is actually at least making that tackle? Otherwise if his tackles were ineffective take him out of the game and then the next defending player would probably lose more yards in defence as they have further to travel to make up the ground he was covering.

I can accept that maybe his negative tackling metres is a little high, but I'd rather that tackles were mostly made, than more tackles stopped on the line and then miss more.

by dammit_chris Mon 01 Jul 2013, 9:50 am

I'd imagine pack with be Jones, Youngs, Corbs, AWJ, Gray, Lydiate, SOB, Heaslip/Falateau - with Cole, Hibbard, Vunipola, Croft/Parling and Heaslip/Falateau on the bench. Would be so tempted with Tipuric though as need to stop the threat of the aussies at the breakdown.

by stnick88 Mon 01 Jul 2013, 9:53 am

I want to see

1 Corbisiero
2 Youngs
3 Jones
4 AWJ
5 Gray
6 SOB
7 Tipuric
8 Faletau
9 Youngs
10 Sexton
11 North
12 Roberts
13 Tuilagi
14 Bowe
15 Halfpenny

16 Vunipola
17 Hibbard
18 Cole
19 Parling
20 Croft
21 Murray
22 Farrell
23 O'Driscoll

by **Ozzy3213** Mon 01 Jul 2013, 9:56 am

Fluxy, I agree with that sentiment. The thing is, at the top level, I want us to be the best, and want the best of everything, meaning that I want by locks (who are amongst the biggest men on the pitch) making that volume of tackles AND stopping the opponent on the gainline when they do it.

I can only talk about Parling here, as that was the player I watched closely, and what I would say about his tackling is this.

He tries to get very low when making the tackle and attempts to wrap up the legs, which is great and is what we are all taught to do when learning the game. However, for a man of his height, it's not easy, and he looks very much as if he loses power/momentum as he goes down. He seems to tend to drag the player down as they are passing him.

If you get the chance to watch the second half of the game have a look at him and you will see what I mean. On a large number of occasions, he seems to fall off having dragged the man down and the ruck forms a good 2 metres away from where he is.

I'm not trying to hammer him here, as actually he really did put in a shift on Saturday. I just don't think that we (England) will win a world cup or consistently turn over the top sides unless we are more physical than we are with him in the side.

by Guest Mon 01 Jul 2013, 9:58 am

Hope Phillips starts the 3rd test or Murray. May see Evans instead of gray as its a proven pairing

by **Ozzy3213** Mon 01 Jul 2013, 10:02 am

Irrespective of who plays in the 3rd test, the only way we will win is if our mindset is different.

We went out on Saturday not to lose. To ensure that Australia scored fewer than we did. This week we have to go out with the intention to score more than they do. I know those two things essentially amount to the same at the very end, but they are very different mindests to go out with. If we just try to contain them again, we will lose again. For whatever deficiencies this Aus side has, if you give them 65% of the possession, they will beat you. Probably the only side that would beat them off 35% possession id the AB's.

by Sgt_Pooly Mon 01 Jul 2013, 10:11 am

"Compare that to Lydiate's tackling, stopping the man each time and giving the Lions the chance to get turnovers or penalties. Same with Warburton."

Parlings tackles stopped players too Chris, I fail to see how Lydiates tackles were so different. He's a very effective side tackler.

It was a very negative selective really, with very few carriers in the pack. Really need to mix it up.

by dammit_chris Mon 01 Jul 2013, 10:20 am

Pooly - Lydiate stops people dead in the tackle or knocks them backwards, this lets our players get advantage at the breakdown and a chance to win turnover ball, or slow down ball and realign defence. If you tackle someone and they still make 2-3 yards with the tackle then advantage of recycling the ball goes with the attackers and far more chance of getting quick ball. That explain it?

by Sgt_Pooly Mon 01 Jul 2013, 10:27 am

No need to be patronising.

Lydiate does sometimes knock people back but it's not "each time" as you suggest. He's an excellent side on tackler which is where he gets most of his tackle count. If you watch him closely you'll see he doesn't often knock the attacker back, he wraps them up.

by **Ozzy3213** Mon 01 Jul 2013, 10:34 am

I'd agree with Pooly here, Lydiate does tend to wrap his man up and does it very effectively. That does however buy the next man in a fraction of a second to get over the ball and try to turn it over, and at very least prevents the opposition recycling quickly. I thought that Lydiate was very effective at what he did on Saturday and worked well in tandem with Warburton defensively. My issue with having him in there though is that Gatland picked the wrong front 5 to stick him behind, as they pretty much all need to be carrying hard to compensate for him not performing that fucntion, and they just didn;t do that.

The balance of our pack was wrong, and if we get it wrong again this week, the result will be the same.

by Sgt_Pooly Mon 01 Jul 2013, 10:48 am

Totally agree Pete, Lydiate & Warbs work great together. Heaslip is the wrong type of 8 to match up with them as he's more effective at the breakdown than he is a carrier.

We had no go forward from the pack at all really.

by dammit_chris Mon 01 Jul 2013, 10:58 am

No intention of being patronising! Just asking if that explained it for you.

For me Lydiate is best tackler in rugby, people just don't get over the gainline when he tackles you. But you do need carriers in your pack if you play him and our front five didnt carry at the weekend or provide a platform for our backs.

Only way we will beat the Aussies is to get players who give us attacking ball by getting over the gainline again, but we aren't using our backthree at all - they made something like 12 carries between them last week, and it isn't as if Bowe and North aren't dangerous runners!

by Sgt_Pooly Mon 01 Jul 2013, 11:10 am

He's def Worsley mkII

by Driver Mon 01 Jul 2013, 12:07 pm

Marker

by prop_lyd Mon 01 Jul 2013, 3:38 pm

marker

by **Ozzy3213** Mon 01 Jul 2013, 3:52 pm

Why exactly are you boys marking the page? It stays a the top of the top box on the game forum anyway.

by LukeLovesLuka Mon 01 Jul 2013, 5:48 pm

I'm at a wedding in Wales this week from Friday morning to Sunday night so will struggle to predict unfortunately.

I'm also in Thailand from 18th July - 3rd August so won't be on at all, but Pete will msg through my teams for the period I'm away.

by prop_lyd Mon 01 Jul 2013, 6:12 pm

I'm marking it because it doesn't come up on my recent posts which is how I navigate round the site

by Guest Mon 01 Jul 2013, 6:34 pm

LukeLovesLuka wrote:I'm at a wedding in Wales this week from Friday morning to Sunday night so will struggle to predict unfortunately.

I'm also in Thailand from 18th July - 3rd August so won't be on at all, but Pete will msg through my teams for the period I'm away.

where you off to in Thailand Luke. Get some odd weather that time of year but only for a couple hours of day. Love Thailand great craic

by prop_lyd Mon 01 Jul 2013, 6:45 pm

Im not about friday to sunday night either as am in west wales camping

by Sgt_Pooly Mon 01 Jul 2013, 6:50 pm

Can't beat a big of camping Prop! I'm out most weekends, love it

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