Season 7 Homepage V

2013/2014 – London Wasps
2012/2013 – Leicester Tigers 
2011/2012 – Newcastle Falcons 
2010/2011 - Newcastle Falcons 
2009/2010 – Saracens 
2008/2009 - London Irish

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POS		Aviva Premiership	PLAYED	WON	DREW	LOST	P F	P A	P D	T F	T A	TBP	LBP	POINTS
1		Northampton Saints	13	11	0	2	368	321	47	40	30	6	2	52
2		Sale Sharks *	13	10	0	3	362	327	35	40	30	4	3	46
3		London Wasps *	13	9	1	3	358	337	21	37	33	3	2	42
4		Harlequins *	13	8	2	3	367	327	40	38	30	2	3	40
5		Leicester Tigers	13	6	0	7	315	323	-8	26	29	0	7	31
6		Exeter Chiefs *	13	5	4	4	318	324	-6	27	28	0	4	31
7		Saracens	13	5	1	7	315	334	-19	28	30	0	7	29
8		Bath Rugby *	13	5	1	7	337	340	-3	33	33	1	7	28
9		Gloucester	13	5	0	8	333	334	-1	29	30	0	7	27
10		Newcastle Falcons *	13	3	1	9	316	348	-32	28	33	2	7	22
11		London Irish	13	2	2	9	318	348	-30	28	35	1	8	21
12		London Welsh	13	3	0	10	303	350	-47	26	36	0	6	18

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 (SJE) 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 1992. 

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 National League 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.
  
  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.
  
  The window will open from the 9th of June but only to those sides that finish 8th and below at first. They will have a week to make one signing each before the window is open to all.     
  

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 National League 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 European Rugby Champions Cup, European Rugby 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. Failure to meet these deadlines is punishable by the addition of three match points to the oppositions final score, unless both sides fail to do so. Both teams must provide tactics by midnight on Thursday. Predictions will be open from 00:01 hours on Friday and remain open until 15:00 hours on Sunday. 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. 

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:-

For domestic competition at least 8 England qualified players in your match day 23, and at least 4 of those must be in your starting XV.

For European competition at least 8 England qualified players in your match day 23, and at least 6 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 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.

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 upto a maximum of £5m per fine.

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 (SJE) will step in and players from within your squad will be released for the relevant financial compensation (foreign transfer value) in order to bring your budget back above minus £10 million.

Sgt_Pooly wrote:Interesting rant from Cockers on Tom Youngs:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/rugbyunion/international/england/11331839/.html

Even if he is hardly an impartial observer for Lancaster to call upon, Cockerill, as a former international hooker, bears witness to Youngs’ improvement in that regard. “Tom’s throwing is as good as anybody’s,” Cockerill said. “I have got no qualms about that. Hartley has more poor days at the office than Tom Youngs.

“Tom Youngs’ discipline and attitude to physicality is right on the line. It is not over the line, it is not under the line, it is right on it every time he plays. I don’t know what Tommy’s disciplinary record is but I think it is a lot better than the other bloke.”

Fluxy wrote:In my mind Jaime George has overtaken Youngs, because he offers a similar carrying ability and solid darts. Unsure on scrummaging, but its not like sarries have been taken apart since Brits has been injured.

BamBam wrote:Launchbury is apparently out for the rest of the season

BamBam wrote:Guys, which of my academy players do you think are up to playing in league games? Just trying to plan ahead for the 6N.

BamBam wrote:Cheers matt - what about Barrow?

BamBam wrote: shocked to see you two disagreeing! I really like him and think he could challenge for England in the future, but not sure whether he is up to the level of this game just yet ..

Any other opinions?!

Sgt_Pooly wrote:He's better than Stooke, 100% on that.

You can't have seen us much if you think he struggles physically, it's the complete opposite. He over commits and gets pinged too often. He's an absolute unit this season, him and Green are a great combo.

BamBam wrote: shocked to see you two disagreeing! I really like him and think he could challenge for England in the future, but not sure whether he is up to the level of this game just yet ..

Any other opinions?!

Sgt_Pooly wrote:Stooke & Barrow were first choice combo so we're both right lol.

dammit_chris wrote:Is Adam Jones getting better again yet? Seems like a big fall for him in just a year as 2013 he was great and then not really sure what happened in 2014! Is it the new engagement rules he's struggled with?

Sgt_Pooly wrote:Looks like Brookes is off to Saints to replace Ma'afu.

Little disappointing really. He was a Saxon when he jumped over to Tigers and became 5th choice there losing his England spot. He comes back to Falcons, we get him fit and in form, he gets into the England squad and he leaves for Saints.

I understand its a short career and chances are limited but to do it twice is pretty bad imo.

dammit_chris wrote:Every time I've seen Domingo on tv this season he's had glowing reviews about his performance from the commentators at scrum time.

Anyone know what games are on BT this weekend? Sarries v Gloucester this evening isnt it?

anonmattyt wrote:

Sgt_Pooly wrote:Looks like Brookes is off to Saints to replace Ma'afu.

Little disappointing really. He was a Saxon when he jumped over to Tigers and became 5th choice there losing his England spot. He comes back to Falcons, we get him fit and in form, he gets into the England squad and he leaves for Saints.

I understand its a short career and chances are limited but to do it twice is pretty bad imo.

I am disappointed to see this you would expect more from him. He was on his ass when he left Leicester. Who is to say it will not go wrong again. As much as I am no Newcastle fan they are building and I feel he owes them. Money talks