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Bath RFC	InTheFastLane
Exeter Chiefs	Driver - RIP 606
Gloucester	Anonmattyt
Harlequins	Steven_Sharks
Leicester Tigers	LukeLovesLuka
London Irish	stnick88
London Wasps	Arry
Newcastle Falcons	Sgt_Pooly
Northampton Saints	Dammit_Chris
Sale Sharks	SirJohnnyEnglish
Saracens	LDCPete
Worcester Warriors	prop_lyd

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Waiting List
1. Sam
2. pullthestrings
3. Bathite

Am after a decent hooker not going to the World Cup if anyone is selling.

Sgt_Pooly wrote:Maybe a freeze on predo bonus till the start of the season?

And you lose 3m if you don't predo without more than 2 lines of detail?

I'm easy mate, but we have to do something otherwise teams are going to start the season with £60-£70 million in the bank which is daft.

I would change the predos to £3m if you give a detailed reason £0 if you just put a score and you lose £3m if you dont make a prediction.

also Elsom makes a great captain for Australia, he's probably first name on their team sheet. Might not have played his best for 12 months, but its his leadership qualities and how he pushes his teammates on

Not played his best for 12 months but is the first name on the teamsheet so therefore a great captain.

Do you not see the irony in that statement given that Higginbotham who plays in the same position was arguably the best forward in Super Rugby this season.

Don't get me wrong Chris, I like Elsom as a player and at his best he is one of the best players in the world, but he has done nothing to justify his selection at 6 recently let alone make himself a great choice as captain.

Given Australia's problems at 8 without Palu there, I would seriously consider a back row of 6. Higginbotham 7. Pocock 8. Elsom if I were Deans.

Looking to tweak English players...available:

Tom Lindsay
Ed Slater
Ben Woods
Ben Skirving
Topsy Ojo
Dan Hipkiss

Think Pete is right on the budgets Driver mate.

Maybe stop the prediction bonus for the rest of the summer and cut the figures during the season. 2m for a full prediction (i.e a paragraph or two on reasoning) .5m for scores and -2m for no predictions at all

Think pete is right in that we will need extra foreigns to keep cash having a value. Dont mean now during the offseason but maybe 1 in November after the world cup and 1 in Feburary before the 6 nations or just two signings a week apart in Jan/Feb before the 6 nations

Agree pete think this 3 million is poor as stated before. Understand thinking behind it though.think enough has been done to help those at the bottom and it is better dealt with at end of season with drafts and extra cash.

Could do 1 more foreign

I think another foreign in November and Feb maybe, 3 is more than enough for now.

Perhaps everyone could sign a foreign who is under 21 or 23 or something.

Pete captaincy has more to do than just playing well, its about having respect of your team-mates & opposition, inspiring others in what you say and do on the pitch and being able to lead. Take Elsom out of the Aussie team and suddenly you don't have a leader. Give him some more gametime and he'll be back to his best.

Aussies wont win the WC though - forwards arent good enough and they don't have a goal kicker. I think a second string England team could have beaten Samoa, not because they are better than the Aussies but because they play far more intelligently - why on earth didnt the Aussies just keep them to the set piece and kick their goals. Awful tactics by Deans.

I would suggest that for the WC and to ease the money side of things the money that is left over can go on signing 1 or 2 players as WC wildcards, as per the super 14 in France. I think they have each been allowed to sign two players during the course of the WC. We could draw up a list of players with a price next to them and then starting with the bottom team from last year allow them to select first and then go all the way up the table, and start the process again...

I love Elsom as a player when on form but he's no captain for me, he'll be in danger of losing his place to Higginbottom if he doesn't buck his ideas up.

Genia, Pocock and Sharpe could all potentially lead the side.

Horwill has just lead the Reds to a title so I reckon he'd be a good candidate.

Pocock isn't captain material in my eyes

Forgot about Horwill, not sure he's garenteed a place though so maybe not a wise choice

I really don't think there is another option to James Horwill and Nathan Sharpe.

Rob Simmons is the next in line for me and can't see him getting in ahead of Horwill. Dean Mumm might have a shot I suppose

Worth pointing out I think that Sharpe should be the WC captain then Genia to take the reigns regardless of how well they do at WC

horwill and sharpe for me, mumm bench. horwill is a good shout for captain. agree pocock not captain material.

Only guaranteed are Alexander, Sharpe, Pocock, Genia, Beale and JOC (where I don't know!) and possibly Moore.

Think Shape, Genia and Pocock look the obvious candidates myself. But I guess they'll prob stick with Elsom.

Chris, of course being a good captain has more to it than just playing well, but if you are failing to justify your selection with your performances then how do you expect to command the respect of your team and to inspire them.

I have seen nothing from Elsom since Deans made him captain that says to me he is a natural leader.

Nathan Sharpe would be a better choice for Aus in my opinion.

On the WC Wildcard thing, I don't like that idea in the form it's been put forward. Why should the teams that finished bottom last year get first pick from the list again? Inevitably they will be losing fewer players during the WC than teams that finished top last year, so in effect what is currently a reasonably level playing field is being tipped further in their favour again.

I think Cooper's position is a safe as Beale's and JOC's.

Worryingly young squad

Shows how much faith Deans has in his locks the way he's fast tracked Vickerman in. Don't think Simmons or Mumm are Int quality myself, good players but just lack that extra quality.

I still think a couple of average performances and Cooper will be out. He has no kicking to fall back on and can be pretty flakey at times to say the least. Doubt Aus will hide him as much as the Reds do.

Guys

In the interest of fairness so Chris doesn't think I am picking on him, I have said to driver that I will go through academies for him to make sure everyone is the required age.

Will be doing it this week, so get your pages sorted or you will be forced to release players if it takes you over the squad numbers

Coopers kicking out of hand is very decent.

makes no sense to break up the Genia Cooper axis, which has been the best in the world by a mile.

Giteau hasn't shown anything to suggets he's a better option than Cooper and JOC would be found out at 10 in the big games v NZ, SA and eng and france.

I do think Genia makes Cooper look better sometimes, takes away masses of decision making.

Couple of flakey games and Giteau will be straight back in.

Changed your tune Pooly

Usually one of the lead Giteau Bashers

I'm not a massive fan of either really Steve, think FH could be an issue for Aus. Genia has really impressed me over the last few months though.

Genia has been brilliant but I also think Cooper makes him look good at times and that's how they work so well. When Genia is being hounded Cooper still creates things out of nowhere and tries are scored.

I'd like to see Cooper's assist stats

You can call me a kid but just back from Harry Potter... Brilliant!...

On Elsom since the stint at Leinster ended haven't been too impressed with him. Shouldnt be guranteed his shirt for the aussies based on his captaincy which hasnt been great either. Higginbottom pushing for Elsoms shirt for me. Think Moore or Horwill could do a fine job leading the Oz with Genia taking over as the new Gregan after the world cup.

On the world cup wild pick agree with Pete. We have just had a draft for the sides that finished bottom next year to close the gap. Why should there be effectivly another draft?

Think predition bonuses should be frozen, then cut a bit for the season. We want cash to have some importance in the game so we wil need foreigns again. Preferbly one in Nov after the world cup so we ca all battle it out for any surprise packages and then 1 in Feb to strenghthen up for the 6 nations

Elsom's game is suited to European rugby - he always impresses me when he plays against European teams. He doesnt seem to drop back and receive kicks like he used to for Leinster anymore - wonder if its tactical?

Think there is still a massive gap between bottom teams and the very top ones - can't be enjoyable getting beaten every single week...

Pete saw you mention that Giteau was being dropped back to 15 and Ioane being used in first line of defence - think it must be getting Ioane used to defending from there when Cooper starts for Aus. Giteau's defence is pretty good, so it wouldnt be for that reason. Think its Deans knowing that Cooper will be targeted and preparing defenders for that in advance of WC.

What do people make of the Tri-Nations finishing just two weeks before the WC - think its crazy. Can't go into a WC with the bashing that their bodies will take during the games. Wonder if it will cost any of the teams, surely they all wont come through unscathed...

Finally what do people think my strongest team is during the WC?

pm for you chris with my breakdown of your world cup team

dammit_chris wrote:
Pete saw you mention that Giteau was being dropped back to 15 and Ioane being used in first line of defence - think it must be getting Ioane used to defending from there when Cooper starts for Aus. Giteau's defence is pretty good, so it wouldnt be for that reason. Think its Deans knowing that Cooper will be targeted and preparing defenders for that in advance of WC.

Wasn't Ioane defending the 10 channel it was Gerrard mate. Are you serious with your explanation there? Giteau got hidden because Cooper who wasn't playing can't defend and it was to get others used to defending different channels!?!?! Phipps, McCabe, Davies and Gerrard will be nowhere near the starting line up come the WC so I doubt very much that it had anything to do with getting players ready to cover Coopers a r s e when they get there.

Don't think we'll ever know that unless Elsom comes back up north Chris, can see it happening as he's struggling to get a club in Aus.

Can I have a few thoughts from people on what my strongest XV for the World Cup should be. I'm interested to get other peoples takes on it.

post what you think it should be arry, but maybe put a couple of options that we can give you tips on, i.e 15. mcleod / murphy/ morgan / brown

Ok here is what I feel is my strongest line up for the WC.

1. Freshwater
2. Gray
3. Nieto
4. Chisholm
5. Hooper
6. Johnson
7. Stegmann
8. Wilson

9. Claassens
10. Gopperth
11. Mitchell
12. Downey
13. Clarke
14. Cato
15. Brown

The parts I am unsure about are

1. Freshwater or Robinson

9. Claassens or Roberts

14. Cato or Wyles

15. Brown or Morgan

Robinson, Claassens(by miles), Wyles, Brown

agree with pooly on them

Agree with Pooly on those 4 mate. An enforcer lock or more mobile carrying lock is a need. Chisholm more a lineout specialist then anything and off a poor season. Maybe look to get some creativity into the backline before the season starts as well. Think with Gopperth at 10 and that midfield combo defenses will know what to expect Apart from that you have a fairly strong side to get you through the world cup mate

Anyone got any creative centres available at all?

The Rugby Challenge game has got the licensing for the AP, T14 and magners as well as all SH comps.

The game looks soooooooo good

Steve fo you know when it's released? I'v heard the end of this month but apparently thats not true.

Isnt the rugby challenge game from the same guys that made the best rugby game of all time?... Jonah Lomu rugby!!

Seen pictures of the game and have to say it looks fairly good. The EA game is just an update on Rugby 08 really from the looks of things nothing too different really

Just watched the trailer for the Rugby challenge game looks great, I will be buying that for sure!

On the lookout for a hooker, replacement back rower and fly half.

wheres the trailer arry?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=90hJI0iI-Jw

http://rugbydump.blogspot.com/2011/07/rugby-club-plays-of-season-for-super.html

Plays of the season from the Aussie rugby club

'Arry wrote:The parts I am unsure about are

1. Freshwater or Robinson

9. Claassens or Roberts

14. Cato or Wyles

15. Brown or Morgan

Will Wyles not be going to the World Cup as part of the USA squad?

I'm not sure, I've been looking everywhere on the internet for their world cup squad but I cant find it.