Season 6 Homepage II

First topic message reminder :

Breaking News: Falcons get back amongst the playoff contenders with a win over rivals Sale while the top two begin to draw away from the rest of the pack.
 

---

 
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 (SJE) 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.

Prop maybe he has had the rugby sense gene surgically inserted   

Love you Matt   

Oh no Pooly is drunk!

Haha....sgt's mess 75p a pint brings the worst out in me!

France:

15- Brice Dulin, 14-Yoann Huget, 13-Mathieu Bastareaud, 12-Wesley Fofana, 11-Maxime Medard, 10-Jules Plisson, 9-Jean-Marc Doussain, 8-Louis Picamoles, 7-Bernard Leroux, 6-Yannick Nyanga, 5-Pascal Pape (captain), 4-Alexandre Flanquart, 3-Nicolas Mas, 2-Benjamin Kayser, 1-Thomas Domingo

Substitutes: 16-Dimitri Szarzewski, 17-Yannick Forestier, 18-Rabah Slimani, 19-Yoann Maestri, 20-Antoine Burban, 21-Damien Chouly, 22-Maxime Machenaud, 23-Gael Fickou

England:

15-Mike Brown, 14-Jack Nowell, 13-Leroy Burrell, 12-Billy Twelvetrees, 11-Jonny May, 10-Owen Farrell, 9-Danny Care; 8-Billy Vunipola, 7-Chris Robshaw (captain), 6-Tom Wood, 5-Courtney Lawes, 4-Joe Launchbury, 3-Dan Cole, 2-Dylan Hartley, 1-Joe Marler.

Substitutes: 16-Tom Youngs, 17-Mako Vunipola, 18-Henry Thomas, 19-Dave Attwood, 20-Ben Morgan, 21-Lee Dickson 22-Brad Barritt, 23-Alex Goode

Terrible selection of bench backs for England. What impact will any of them bring?

Very little I imagine.

Barritt could sure up defence if either centre struggling but past that I'm lost

It looks like a back bench to cling onto a lead rather than chance the game.

Is a very bad backs bench - if we are chasing the game with 20 minutes to go then we've got nothing. Should have been more adventurous there.

Would like to see guys that can win games picked, Ford and Daly should be there - prefer Daly to Watson, but at Wasps he doesnt seem to get as much credit as he deserves.

Didnt realise that Dausatair was out - big boost for us!

When did Quins sign Yarde? That is a massive signing for them.

Today.

Worcester signed Ryan Mills & Sam Smith too

Hopefully see a bit of this from the new boys:

Nowell: https://youtu.be/IOgA2CO4u-w

May: https://youtu.be/PDmHdeYNw5s

Burrell: https://youtu.be/hbroDQm0K9E

Can't believe we have that bench of backs what do Goode and Barritt offer.

Goode is a club player and does not have the pace or defence for international rugby. This has been proven countless times

Anybody know if the saxons match is being shown tomorrow and if so what time?

Stream on on sru youtube

Rob miller signs for wasps apparently. Had turned down bristol and told them he is off to wasps.

Rhys Ruddock in talks with us that would soften the yarde blow along with court

Knoyle signed for the blues

Wasps are getting some good players in - we've just signed a Samoan who had been asked to make himself available for the AB's. Can't remember the name though. If Miller signs for us then we've got some backline for next year!

Got to feel bad for Sale though, would that be Gaskell (also Wasps), Thomas (Bath?) and Miller gone.

Ireland:

15. Rob Kearney (Leinster);
14. Andrew Trimble (Ulster),
13. Brian O’Driscoll (Leinster),
12. Luke Marshall (Ulster),
11. Dave Kearney (Leinster);
10. Johnny Sexton (Racing Metro) ,
9. Conor Murray (Munster);

1. Cian Healy (Leinster) ,
2. Rory Best (Ulster),
3. Mike Ross (Leinster),
4. Devin Toner (Leinster),
5. Paul O’Connell (Munster, capt),
6. Peter O’Mahony (Munster),
7. Chris Henry (Ulster),
8. Jamie Heaslip (Leinster).

Replacements: Jack McGrath, Sean Cronin, Marty Moore, Dan Tuohy, Tommy O’Donnell, Isaac Boss, Paddy Jackson, Fergus McFadden

Exeter have signed Waldroum for next season apparent;y

Old news chris! Keep up to date man!

Was going to ask about Yarde signing for Quins after the 6 Nations.

Irish must have some signings on the way - Ruddock was one wasnt he?

Saxons coverage

http://www.rfu.com/news/2014/january/news-articles/310114_saxons_live

Plenty on the way yeh

Score?

16-16 at full time U20s lost to france.

Morning gents, I've torn a muscle in my shoulder so am currently one hand typing which is tedious. You may have to bear with me in terms of getting my teams sorted and predictions.

No worries Pete. I'll mark down for the next few weeks predictions.
Young Nowell having a real baptism of fire!

Farrell had a few nice little delayed passes now

Nowell having a mare

Not helped by Goode either whos had a rough time since coming on!!

Great finish Brown

Brilliant!

Playing really well, cracking back play.

C'mon lads!

Impressive game from Farrell

Lancasters subs and choice of backs cost us that.

Absolute idiocy from him - why take off care and Hartley off when they were playing so well.

Losing May upset the balance.

I thought we played well bar the scrum.

Ratings in observer.

15 Mike Brown 6/10 An excellent evening for England's most consistent player in the autumn. Forced to play most of game on left wing but took first international try superbly.

14 Jack Nowell 5/10 A torrid start to international rugby with a knock-on from the kick-off leading to Huget's first try and the game did not get any easier.

13 Luther Burrell 7/10 The powerful centre helped counter the danger posed by Wesley Fofana and gobbled up his first opportunity of a try on a promising debut.

12 Billy Twelvetrees 5/10 The Gloucester man was a rock in defence but his centre partnership with Burrell needs a little polishing. Made some good runs in the first half.

11 Jonny May 5/10 The winger's second Test lasted eight minutes after he left the field with a bloody nose and robbed England of a potent threat on the flank.

10 Owen Farrell 7/10 His evening ended painfully with a bout of cramp but for 70 minutes had an excellent game, showing he can play very effectively on the gainline.

9 Danny Care 7/10 Smart decision to tap a penalty led to Mike Brown's try and almost scrambled over for try of his own after the break. Fully justified his selection.

1 Joe Marler 6/10 He coped with the scrummaging threat of Nicolas Mas and made some bullocking runs. Continued his great strides of the autumn.

2 Dylan Hartley 6/10 The hooker was unobtrusive but effective for an hour before being replaced by Tom Youngs, who will not dislodge Hartley from his spot.

3 Dan Cole 7/10 His form and fitness will be vital in this championship. Unyielding in the scrum and played the full 80 minutes as France chopped and changed.

4 Joe Launchbury 7/10 The Wasps lock had a quiet first half but got stronger as the game wore on and looked effective with the ball in hand. He is improving with every game.

5 Courtney Lawes 7/10 Had one of his most effective games, taking an early French lineout, working tirelessly in the loose and tackling in his usual brutal style.

6 Tom Wood 6/10 He worked his socks off in the back row. Wood was a key man in nullifying the threat of the much vaunted French back row.

7 Chris Robshaw 6/10 England's captain was vital in the hard yards and made lots of ground before the break. His half-time talk must have been pretty inspirational.

8 Billy Vunipola 8/10 Crunching tackle on Yannick Nyanga and was England's most effective ball-carrier when he was on the pitch. A great Six Nations debut.

All the papers giving Twelvetrees a 5 rating - will be incredibly lucky to keep his place next week, not sure how many more chances he will get to claim the shirt, didn't help with the attack at all.

Shame that May got injured so early on, couple of times he touched the ball he looked very good.

Hope Lancaster gets more balance for the backs on the bench next week - Dickson, Goode and Barritt will never make an impact.

Fofana and basteraud did nothing all game. 36 and Burrell stopped one of the top partnerships around. 36 made a few decent carried and our back line looked good at times.

We're a different outfit with Tuilagi though. When's he back?

Not that 36 has much bearing on what Bast did, but Bast did make a good number of turnovers for the French. 

Glad the pack came out and fronted up in the second half. Not so sure making on all of the subs as the pack were doing well. 

I know I have said this numerous times, but I think it worth us looking at a backrow of 
6. Vunipola
7. Robshaw/Wood
8. Morgan

Number of reasons to me, two being it varies who carries and frees Robshaw and Wood from carrying to get around a bit more.

Manu might be back for wales

I was thinking about that back row the other day Fluxy but for it too work for me you'd need to play Parling in there at 4 alongside Lawes. Wood brings a lot too our lineout.


Anyway on yesterdays game i thought we where pretty good going forward and the backs looked really good in parts and Jonny May would have made a difference if he'd of stayed on the break he made early on pulled the french all over. 

Faz showed his skills with the ball again and 12T hit the ball up well and produced some nice touchs.

Last try was entirely Burrells fault though , just had to stay on the wing and make Fickou but stepped in to make big hit when Barritt had his man covered.

For the jocks game i would go for

Marler
Hartley
Cole
Launchbury
Lawes
Wood
Robshaw
Vunipola 

Dickson - If it's between him and care have to start with dickson as he brings no impact from bench.
Farrell
May
T12
Burrell
Nowell
Brown

Youngs , Vunipola , Thomas , Attwood ,  Morgan , Care , Ford , Watson

May will be out for next week if he's broken his nose.

I can just see Lancaster playing Brown on the wing and Goode at fb.

Was Nowell injured for when he got taken off? If not was a bizarre choice by Lancaster to shift Burrell out to wing, France only ever looked dangerous out wide and an inside centre is never going to stop a flyer one on one. Despite Nowell's nervy start I thought he did pretty well afterwards, especially with his one on one tackling.

Still not sure why we took of Hartley and Care, they were brilliant yesterday and it just seems that Lancaster says before the game at 60 minutes I am going to make certain subs. If we kept them both on we'd have won.

France didn't look dangerous outwide at all i thought , kept resorting to kick and chase and relying on the bounce.

Cares kicking was just a bit aimless I thought.

I thought Care, Billy V and Lawes were our best players, and Lancaster took all of them off in pre planned substitutions. Twelvetrees I thought was poor, and has done nothing so far at international level to convince me that he is the long term solution at 12.

How big a loss will poc be today?

I'd add Hartley to that as well Pete - Youngs really needs to sort his throwing out, he's so dynamic around the park, but would rather have Webber until he hits his jumpers far more often.

Robshaw had a good game, made some really hard yards and Wood did a great job of harassing the French halfbacks all game. Again did show a real problem with not having an out and out no7 playing.

Twelvetrees was solid in defence, but isn't the playmaking no12 he could have been for England. Can see England going Burrell and Tuilagi when the latter is fit. Can see a problem with Burrell being his lack of speed defending the wide channels or outside breaks, coped v well with Basteraud all game but he only knows how to run straight!

Tasty game so far at croke park