Season 7 Homepage VI

First topic message reminder :

Breaking News: Saints & Harlequins pick up strong bonus point wins while the battle for top 6 heats up with Gloucester & Saracens good form continuing. 
 

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Welcome to Season 7 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 (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.

Sam Burgess can tackle, he can pass. He is a supreme athlete. He has left it a year too late in my view if he wants to make the world cup but he has the basic skills. The reason he is getting the attention he is is because he is one of the most talked about athletes in world rugby. I cannot quantify how big he is in Australia. Everyone knows who he is. Not just rugby league fans, everyone. That is why he is getting attention.

Lancaster has every right to include him in the training squad. Why not? Who is it hurting? Their isn't a 12 left in England who is could play at the top level who isn't injured or in the squad so why not let him get him involved for 2 days let him get a feel for it.

Anyone who has an ounce of rugby intelligence would ignore the garbage being fed out about Burgess playing well last night. But they would also steer clear of simplistic drivel about him being useless as that isn't the case.

Let the man play rugby.

He's jumped the queue and hasn't justified it imo. You have kids like Sam Hill playing well for Exeter yet Burgess has been brought in ahead of him for the Saxons and is now training (albeit not in squad) with the main squad.

I don't think he has a good pass on him Steve or gas. He's not a back imo.

I find myself once again agreeing with Pooly. Sam Hill has been very good for Exeter and looks a potential international 12. He would be far more deserving of the attention that Burgess is getting and the opportunity to gain experience training with the senior squad. Mo Farah is a supreme athlete, but he's not a rugby union international centre either!

Thought this was a good article on the Saxons:

http://intheloose.com/2015/01/31/7-things-england-will-learnt-game-ireland-wolfhounds/

Burgess needs games, people saying he's sensational are wrong, people saying he's awful are wrong. The guys going to be a great player but it's going to take some time. England have him in the set up as he has enormous potential - Rob Baxter said that the reason why more Chiefs weren't involved in England wS because their form had dropped off and that included Hill. Find people are amazingly harsh on Burgess but also the other extreme.

Agree with Steve, let him play rugby!

I agree, let him play rugby, at the right level.

Totally agree Pete.

Chris, he is pretty poor at the minute, certainly not a Saxon level centre. I do completely agree that he should be allowed to play rugby. He should be playing A league games, LV games, possibly even Championship rugby till the end of the season.

What he shouldn't be doing is wasting a Saxons spot and training with Full squad when he's obviously nowhere near good enough currently.

We're talking about him because he's been thrust into these situations, he's rightly being judged as he's being put into the situation to be judged. I feel sorry for the guy.

Pretty sure they are helping him with development, personally don't see anything wrong with it myself. If there were other centres around who were head and shoulders better than him then I am sure that the coaches at Bath, Saxons and England would be picking them and given them the same opportunities, like they have with Slade - he's not been called up to train with England during the Wales game as the 4th no10, sure they're testing him out as a viable option at no12.

Wouldn't say Hill deserved to be there as he started the season brilliantly and then dropped right off the boil from October and is now starting to play ok again - isn't anyone else you'd really pick who starts regularly for their clubs as far as I can see who would then have the potential to be a good no12 - Bell at Wasps doesn't start, Allen at Tigers has shown he's a great club player but that's his limit, Lowe at Quins isn't a future international, so I'm not really sure whose spot he has taken.

Burgess for me is an option that will come good, doubt very much for the WC but from next year I can see him doing very well. People seem to forget that he didn't have any pre-season with Bath, but his team mates told the management to play him after 2 weeks of training and he's been starting a lot of games since.

Shall we move on to a different topic, as sure we've all had our say on Burgess now?

How about Joe Simpson for England

Hill is a much better centre than Burgess currently, it's not really a discussion.

Simpson & England should never be used in the same sentence......

You wont like this article then Pooly...

http://intheloose.com/2015/01/31/7-things-england-will-learnt-game-ireland-wolfhounds/

I'm not even going to read it. Anybody with basics that bad shouldn't be starting or benching for England, I don't need a random article to help change my mind, I just need to watch him.

I think tempo is
So
Important and something we are
Poor
At raising.
It's why care should start because he
Has the ability to make us play at a decent tempo. That is hoaever
If we want to play that way. Otherwise we should play wiggles
And play Barrit etc and try and win matches by force.
PersonAlly think we do not have a style of play currently and fall between 2 stalls.

Simpson is the form prem 9 this year.
Robson is in incredible
Form and I believe will be wasps starting
9
And in the england squad next year

I agree Robson will be starting Wasps 9 in no time, he has a much all round game than Simpson. I disagree he's in "outstanding form", he's had a few good games but is still 2nd choice at Gloucester.

Last 3 games he started due to Laidlaw being out including
Vs wasps and scored in each match including one
Of the tries of the season vs wasps

Would recommend reading it Pooly, some good points and only the one mention of Simpson (promise!). Can get some good articles on that site.

Don't think Robson will get the starting no9 at Wasps next year, can see the two being used like they do with Dickson and KF at Saints. Simpson has had a cracking season for us.

Kno wwhat you mean about England being between two styles Mat - it is such a shame the coaches haven't moved us forward from that amazing performance against NZ a few years back, which showed we can beat any team when we play with an attacking style.

Admittedly we've had injuries to some key players that stops us, espc Tuilagi, but it seems that we play our game plan based on stats and can just see Lancaster telling Ford to kick the ball a lot against Wales - similar to how Saxons played. Our kicking game has been woeful in the last 12 months at international level, just giving opposition backthrees the ball to attack.

Would like to see Watson getting more tries, not the natural scorer that Wade or Ashton are, think he's better suited to fb than a winger. Such a shame Wade isn't in the full England mix.

Our wings essentially have to create their own tries as we have no spark. If ford kicks aimlessly in cardiff They will
Give us a cuffing. I am off to Cardiff Friday for the game and in all honesty I am not expecting to win. Like all big wingers north struggles when turned so we should look to do that.

Is an odd one with North, a lot of Welsh fans were calling for him to be dropped and play Williams instead - not sure why they don't go with North, Williams and Halfpenny personally as think that would offer more threat than when they play Cuthbert.

I'm not expecting to win - confident in Ford's kicking from hand, but just don't think we play positively enough and will try and just kick into their half and force mistakes. Could be good if Jonathan Davies isn't fit as Roberts and him always cause us problems.

I don't require an article to give me an opinion on a player Chris, you know that

I can see us falling down in the lock department, Lawes & Launchbury are a big miss.

I'm half expecting at best too see Henry Slade and Brad Barritt in the centre for Cardiff.

Barritt is injured isn't he?

oh Poopie yeah he is, oh well 40 plus win to Wales

Can see us winning the front row battle, agree that they can win the locks, but backrow could be very different as Haskell, Robshaw and BV all in very good form now.

Barritt is out unfortunately as he would have been good against Roberts - could see us going Ford, Slade and Joseph in the midfield, but if we do that then we can't play the way Lancaster has set us out before, we'd have to attack and play at pace, otherwise we'd get steam rollered.

I hope Jack Nowell starts, kids got real talent

dammit_chris wrote:Pretty sure they are helping him with development, personally don't see anything wrong with it myself. If there were other centres around who were head and shoulders better than him then I am sure that the coaches at Bath, Saxons and England would be picking them and given them the same opportunities, like they have with Slade - he's not been called up to train with England during the Wales game as the 4th no10, sure they're testing him out as a viable option at no12.

Wouldn't say Hill deserved to be there as he started the season brilliantly and then dropped right off the boil from October and is now starting to play ok again - isn't anyone else you'd really pick who starts regularly for their clubs as far as I can see who would then have the potential to be a good no12 - Bell at Wasps doesn't start, Allen at Tigers has shown he's a great club player but that's his limit, Lowe at Quins isn't a future international, so I'm not really sure whose spot he has taken.

Burgess for me is an option that will come good, doubt very much for the WC but from next year I can see him doing very well. People seem to forget that he didn't have any pre-season with Bath, but his team mates told the management to play him after 2 weeks of training and he's been starting a lot of games since.

Shall we move on to a different topic, as sure we've all had our say on Burgess now?

How about Joe Simpson for England

Kind of hugely presumptuous to make those statements about Lowe or Allen. I disagree on both except of course Lowe is a 13 playing 12 through necessity. Allen is IMO a more complete player than Burgess and more rounded than I ever expect him to be, just less headline grabbing. Being powerful enough for your teammates to want you play at CLUB level is nothing at all like being near International level. At this point with less time on the ball and harder defences, he was not near Saxon level (harsh judging on one chance I agree) and that's a big step down from 6N never mind RWC opposition 

Burgess will get there. But he needs more CLUB rugby. He won't be ready by the World Cup so now he is taking the place of people who are ready and Allen is one of those players. Hill could be. Burrell at 12 and a runner at 13.

SBW on Burgess - http://www.planetrugby.com/story/0,25883,3551_9693760,00.html

Not saying in anyway at all he's ready for international rugby, he's nowhere near that level yet CJ and yes Allen and Lowe are better union players, but neither for me are international standard and never will be (Allen's had chances too) - they have very good all round games, but for me neither show me that they have the attributes to be top class, while Burgess with his size, power and ability to suck defenders in can (eventually).

Size and power don't equate to a top union player, there's skill involved.

Burgess will never be a top 12 imo, he lacks gas and his passing isn't good enough. I stand by he could be a very good backrower. He can hit hard, run hard and clear rucks.

I'd say he's got gas, just hasn't had a real chance to show it. He's as quick as Burrell/Eastmond/Barritt if not quicker. 

He's hands will get better , i can't believe people are writing him off at 12 after 8 games.

Agree with you Driver - SBW isn't the quickest, Greenwood wasn't the quickest and both WC. He'll come good.

His brother George is meant to be signing for an AP team, then we'll all have another Burgess to talk about!

George is pretty good aswell to be fair!

Come on, SBW has played wing for NZ, he's much quicker than Burgess.

Burgess has very little speed, he's ok off the mark but he's not got the gas for a back (or the hands).

He's getting wrote off because he's in the spotlight. He's been selected for the Saxons and training with the full squad....he's there to be judged. If he was learning the game at a lower level then fair enough but he's not, it grates on me.

Burgess quick over 20-40 metres, not ever going to go the length of the pitch, but hard man to stop.

Shall we move on from this topic?

The quicker he moves to the backrow the better imo, he could be fantastic there. Agree, lets move on.

Bad result for Bristol this weekend

Bristol played a mixed side today and paid for it.
Bristol play an exceptional to watch brand of
Rugby but everyone wonders if there is a plan b. First loss and also not their strongest line up so expect the Loss

dammit_chris wrote:SBW on Burgess - http://www.planetrugby.com/story/0,25883,3551_9693760,00.html

Not saying in anyway at all he's ready for international rugby, he's nowhere near that level yet CJ and yes Allen and Lowe are better union players, but neither for me are international standard and never will be (Allen's had chances too) - they have very good all round games, but for me neither show me that they have the attributes to be top class, while Burgess with his size, power and ability to suck defenders in can (eventually).

Allen's chances being when he was what, 19? 20? Missed a couple of tackles and makes one bad pass, never picked again? No second chance, even though his game has improved and he plays with our first choice 13 every week (when Manu, whom Allen makes look even better, isn't injured..). He and Lowe are and have been two of the most effective and underrated players in the premiership and you have no evidence to assume they wouldn't carry their quality onto the next level. I'd pick Allen for England at 12 any day, and I can't believe how poorly our worst ever coach, Robinson, treated him

I think they are both great AP players but have seen them struggle in some big European games as they haven't had the chance the impose their games like they do at AP.

As they aren't in the Saxons squad you'd imagine the coaches view them the same, not sure if it's fair when they haven't been tried, but then again you get v few pundits saying they should be there.

ChequeredJersey wrote:

dammit_chris wrote:SBW on Burgess - http://www.planetrugby.com/story/0,25883,3551_9693760,00.html

Not saying in anyway at all he's ready for international rugby, he's nowhere near that level yet CJ and yes Allen and Lowe are better union players, but neither for me are international standard and never will be (Allen's had chances too) - they have very good all round games, but for me neither show me that they have the attributes to be top class, while Burgess with his size, power and ability to suck defenders in can (eventually).

Allen's chances being when he was what, 19? 20? Missed a couple of tackles and makes one bad pass, never picked again? No second chance, even though his game has improved and he plays with our first choice 13 every week (when Manu, whom Allen makes look even better, isn't injured..). He and Lowe are and have been two of the most effective and underrated players in the premiership and you have no evidence to assume they wouldn't carry their quality onto the next level. I'd pick Allen for England at 12 any day, and I can't believe how poorly our worst ever coach, Robinson, treated him

Allen is decent but he has no exceptional qualities. Just not an int player. Would love him back at glos but he is a club player.

As for Lowe he is another rank average player be it at 12 or 13. Allen different league to Lowe for me

Agree re Robinson CJ he is so poor with people. Been coached by him lots as a kid and he was a typical school teacher and so poor at interacting with me and the other lads.

Irish confirm Trayfoot signing. First season in a while we have made decent signings and not championship players and has beens.

stnick88 wrote:Irish confirm Trayfoot signing. First season in a while we have made decent signings and not championship players and has beens.

Trayfoot looks a prospect.
Are you annoyed about losing him CJ?

Quins have a lot of good young backrow so would be hard keeping them all happy

Wales look full strength on paper

Jenkins, Hibbard, Lee, Ball, AWJ, Lydiate, Warbs, Faletau, Webb, Biggar, North, Roberts, Davies, Cuthbert, Halfpenny

Baldwin, James, Jarvis, Charteris, Tipuric, Phillips, Preistland, Williams

Strong side, its going to be a tough one on Friday

Not sure if I'm looking forward to Friday night or not! Think we can get the beating of them in the front row, but other than that...shame Roberts is in really good form!

Very tough.

We need to have a go in the backs. Create gaps.

We can't match Roberts/JD in power terms with injuries. Need to get JJ in against them.

Sounds like Wilson is likely to miss the test.

Agree with you Steve, think we have to go on the attack and get the ball away from the Welsh power game, the Aussies do this every time against the Welsh and win.

Was a good article in the Rugby Paper in the weekend by Brendan Gallagher who was saying that we also have to sort out our bench and it isn't necessarily about getting the best 2 players in a position on the bench, but those that can make the best impact - he was pushing Simpson, Cipriani and Wade there.

Most benches are usually picked in case the first choice gets injured in the first 10 ins rather than someone who can add something late on.

Also need decent cover for midfield and backthree - with those choices you just don't get that.

Agree Steve, it's not always about chasing a game as some like to think, it's good to have control and players that can perform at the too level.

I wouldn't be happy with Simpson coming on after 5mins (or 75mins tbh).

I would rather see another option on the bench I have to say. Same for same doesn't challenge the opposition or ask any questions.

Sorry guys if this is advertising a bit, but if anyone on here is interested in football then we could use another member in the Euro division as GSC might be packing in so we are looking for another member if we can. If anyone's interested, just PM me or just post your interest on the homepage. Very similar to this (I'd guess seen as its Rugby) so, again if anyone is interested, we could use a member. Thanks.

P.S. If anyone was previously on JA, I was LRF (in other words, the cúnt that nobody liked for some reason because I barely did anything wrong. )

Quick Anglo Welsh Wrap Up

- Gloucester have already confirmed top spot in pool one.
- London Irish need 1 point to confirm qualification. Failure to do so and a bonus point win for Sale sees them through.
- Wasps/Falcons level on 11 points but Wasps with the higher PD/TF at the moment.
- Victory for Quins sees them through (on 12 pts at the moment)but if they slip up Chiefs can go through with a win (9pts).