Fantasy Aviva Premiership Season 4 homepage

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Welcome to the Aviva Premiership Season 4

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Teams

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

See lawes is a doubt for RWC after today's behind doors game.

Lawes seems to of been given the ok according to an article on the rugby page here thankfully. Strettle took a knock as well but there hasnt been feed back on him yet

Doubtful he would make the final 30 though. Depends on the make up of the squad. See Tuilagi going as a 13 who can cover the wing

Think Lawes has been given all clear, it was just a precaution.

another irish signing on the way pete and it's not o'toole.

Forward or back stnick?

number 8

Apparently all squads to be named by 22nd August.

Please tell me it is an established top class player and not someone who is potential (Siggery) or a good player but not top class (Sinclair)!!!

not an established top class player by any means but a decent signing.

potential is the future pete!

Only if it becomes realised. We have plenty of potential in the squad, just need it to all come good.

PM me who it is mate, I won't breathe a word!

I know I trust you mate! just cant be seen broadcasting it as can get in trouble.

have messaged you.

Amazed to see pooly saying sharples may go but apparently he has been on fire in training and caught johnnos eye. Disaster for me if him or Jsd goes. With Guildford, habana, gear, kahui etc nailed on my wings could be short. Bizarre considering I have way to many wings !!!

Pete - will you let us all know who it is now please? Go on...

time will tell christopher! it's no-one that exciting anyway!

I'm hoping botha doesnt go as want him to partner Kendo for me. if not garvey will do a job, will be an AP stand out next year, is irish's best prospect.

This England trial game shows johnnos love of nz. They always used to televise possibles vs probables in all levels of Nz rugby.

Henry did it before last wc. Most stopped doing it as fringe players go over top as keen to impress. Played in a few myself and when in the possibles you just try and hurt people

I really rate Garvey think he will be a great club player. Don't
Think he will be an international.

Reminds me of Peter Buxton one
Of Gloucesters best ever players. Got selected
For England once and got injured but was never an international despite
Dominating the Prem. Carries and did everything but just did not have that extra bit.

Last year we all thought bux finished
But was keeping out stroks, qera etc until injured

not sure if garvey will ever be an int. but is a great talent and in the lawes mould, his work rate and tackle stats are awesome. be good to see him reguarly alongside kennedy now casey is pretty much spent.

I really like Sharples Matt, think he's progressed loads. Can't see JSD and Sharples going though, be one or the other. I hope it isn't JSD though, no fan at all, his defence just isn't good enough for Int rugby.

Just seen on RugbyWeek.com that P Divvy has switched Steyn and Lambie for the weekend. Interesting call, have never seen Steyn at full back before.

Driver

What did you decide about foreigns mate? Has everyone had their three now, and are we getting any more, and if so when and how many???

Anybody who has any foreigns left use them by August 13th.

Next one which will be after round 3 of the Six Nations

I thought we could wait until the World Cup squads were announced?? Will they all be announced by then?

Final world cup squad date is 22nd Steve but i'd rather just get them all out the way early doors as i imagine most people know who they want.

But I've deliberately waited so I'd know who will definitely be out......

Steve

I think everyone has a rough idea of whether or not a player will be heading to the rugby world cup and it's part of the fun of the game taking risk's on someone who could be a rwc wildcard and them coming back a star

What do we think England squad will be. Should have a prize for closest to it.

Just went to watch Angry Bosses with the missus and Kieran Brookes walked in! He's some unit!

Brookes is wide as tall. Where were you pooly?? Was angry bosses as bad as it looked?? It was huge in Canada the Other week yet they wear all in one denim suits( Canadian tuxedo)

Players today are huge

Was in Hartlepool....I thought he'd moved to Leicester but was wearing Newcastle training top?!?!

Was pretty good tbh, no Harry Potter mind

This could be a cricket score. Got to feel sorry for some of the good younger boks like Lambie and dejongh playing in this.

Just dragged myself out of bed....hour behind, not so sure of that AB shirt

About 20mins in....Jesus. Carter, Nonu, Smith playing beautifully!

Lovely try Jane....starting AB wing? Jane, Guildford, Gear, Sivivatu?

Pooly it's a nice option to have

not sure why they are bothering with Tri-Nations this year - they should have just arranged 3 friendlies each and be done with it. Teams are just going to select 'B' teams for the away games as wont want to risk injuries at all.

SBW's handling is incredible, the offloads that he can do are out of this world - surely should start ahead of Nonu now?

I reckon the England squad will be:

Props: Sheridan, Cole, Stevens, PDJ
Hookers: Hartley, Thompson, Mears
Second Rows: Lawes, Palmer, Deacon, Shaw
Back Row: Croft, Moody, Wood, Haskell, Fourie, Easter
Scrum Halves: Youngs, Care
Fly Halves: Flood, Wilkinson, Hodgson
Centres: Hape, Tindall, Banahan
Wingers: Cueto, Ashton, Strettle
Full Backs: Foden, Armitage

Missed the game. Last thing i needed was Jane and Crockett going over. Who played well/badly?

Got 5 mins left. Back 3 and backs in general superb. Andrew Hore was immense, my motm. Franks had a good game and McCaw looked back to form/fitness. AB wingers very good.

SA didn't play too bad. Scrum wasn't great or backrow, Hargreaves looked a little lost.

De Jongh and Lambie pretty solid, De Jongh prob pick of backline. Pienaar was awful again, as was Jacobs and Steyn not great from FB.

Thought Johnson made a big impact for the Boks too, didnt realise he had good hands like that. Was impressed with him.

First 25 minutes Jacobs seems to be the only bok back trying anything.

John Smit - top try scorer in tri-nations , take note when predicting

He was 1000% times better than last game, has a tendency to rush up in defence though. I doubt he'll get near the 22 when the big guns are back or even make WC squad but I reckon we might see him post WC.

"John Smit - top try scorer in tri-nations , take note when predicting"

Stick him on the wing Driver!

Lambie impressed me. Defence was sensational. Wasn't up to much on the front foot but that was more down to game situation than his own fault.

Cory Jane played well but it was Thompson who impressed me the most. giving Henry selection headaches in the back row. It was the best ive seen Smit play since 09. Needs to be playing prop if he wants to be involved in the World Cup without being involved in controversy.

can't believe it - spent the whole day watching the England v India game, turned it off as was just getting annoyed with it and then Broad takes a hattrick! He's quickly turning into the new Flintoff...

Anyone watch the Canterbury game today guys? Really interested to see what people made of Tyler Bleyendaal - he got a try and kicked a lot of goals from the sound of it. He was the star of last years u20 tournament and quite a few have said he was natural heir to Carter in the 10 jersey, but then went a bit quiet, but looks like he's made a good start to this season

http://www.planetrugby.com/story/0,25883,16024_7070312,00.html

Good article for lovers of the front row/scrum from an AB perspective and particular Ben Franks.

http://m.nzherald.co.nz/sport/news/article.php?c_id=4&objectid=10741968

Evening folks

Just sitting down to watch the Tri Nations game. Not sure if everyone has predicted this week yet, but will do the results sometime tomorrow anyway.

Lost count of how many tackles the Boks missed. Dreadful.

Well that was a drubbing for the Boks, but could have been so much worse had Carter had his kicking boots on.

Whilst I appreciate that it was a second string Bok side there is no real excuse for falling of tackles so easily and displaying the lack of heart and pride in the shirt that some of them did.

Players that come out with a modicum of credit for the Boks were Smit (tried manfully but had nothing to work with), Roussouw, Lambie and De Jongh, who at least showed some bottle out there and gave their all despite it not going their way. The rest of them were an embarrassment and there are a few who should be nowhere near a shirt to be honest.

The AB's looked ominous. Even without 3 or 4 of their first choice starters, and with Cowan throwing some awful passes at times they cruised through this without getting out of 3rd gear. Hore was very good and Richie appears to have found his invisibility cloak again around the tackle area. DC was unbelievable (apart from his place kicking), Nonu and Smith looked to have put their poor season behind them and the back three looked dangerous every time they got the ball.

In relation to SBW, I still think the best role for him is as an impact sub. His greatest strength is also one of his biggest weaknesses over 80 minutes. He offloads so well it is untrue, but over the course of a full game he tries it too much. If you watch him for the Crusaders he tries to offload even when it is not on and it's obvious tat he should take the contact and recycle the ball. A lot of the turnovers that Crusaders conceded came from SBW offloads last year. As a 20 minute cameo against tiring legs, he will be awesome though. It also doesn't help his cause that Nonu and Smith looked to be getting back to near their best yesterday.

Bledisloe Cup game next week should be a cracker!