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First topic message reminder :

Saracens move off the bottom of the table after picking up a losing bonus point against Gloucester.

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Welcome to Season 5 of the Aviva Premiership fantasty 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 (Ozzy3213) 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 it’s 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 matchday 22'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 a listed senior academy squad of 20 players. Players who are in the senior academy must be under 22 years of age as of 1st September 2012 (therefore must have been born on or after 1st Septmber 1990). Players who are under the age of 20 (so born after 1st September 1992) AND are in the academy of the club that you are managing in real life, DO NOT need to be listed as senior academy players as part of your 20, but are available to you in this game and cannot be poached by other clubs without paying you a fee.

Should a player not listed in your 20 senior academy players, but part of the clubs academy in real life move clubs in real life, then you will have first option of promoting him to your listed senior academy. If you choose not to take this option he will become property of the club that he moves to in real life in this game.

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 3 players from the Championship or the National Leagues. These players must be bid for on the Championship/National League bidding page, and each bid will be considered by me on it's 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.
  
  Foreign transfers will unlimited during the off season and 2 during the season. The exact dates of the two transfer windows during the season is to be confirmed.
  

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

If a released player plays in real life for a team outside of this game he will be deemed to have returned to that team. If not then he will be deemed to have signed for a Championship side. If another manager wants to pick a released player up, they will have to bid for him in the same way as for a foreign or Championship/National League player.

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 thread will be put up for managers to name their teams on Thursdays, then on Fridays, 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.

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 matchday 23, and at least 5 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.

£1.5m 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.

Who's better Pete?

I thought he put in a very strong performance.

No man love, just think he's our best option and him and Tuilagi are starting to look quite tasty.

Just because there is no better alternative to Barritt at present, it does not make him an international or the long term answer at 12.

I thought he was average, and that is against what was poor opposition at international level.

Alex Goode looks made for international rugby.

I rate Barritt, can't win then all though!

Goode looks better the higher the standard of rugby he plays, such a clever player and gives our backline a different dimension. I rate Foden very highly but he doesn't really offer more than just straight running in attack. Could struggle to get back in with Goode and Brown playing so well.

I think we could be seeing the end of Palmer on the Int stage. He seems to have carried his poor prem form through and not stepped up at all, definitely on the decline.

Locks going forward: Lawes, Parling, Robson, Launchbury?

Just watching Wales game, Lobbe outstanding.

I don't think Warburton will be captaining the Lions. Judging by today's performance he won't tour, what has happened to him?!?!

French pack looking good. Destroying oz in the scrum and back row so powerful. Surprised Nyanga never got snapped up.

Sensational from Michalak. Could be a scramble for him...

Deans has to know his days are numbered defeat to England could seal it.

Got to feel for him. Most of his side unavailable.

True but i somehow thing the ARU are going to use him as a scapegoat and bring McKenzie in along with the Aus superstar that is Quade Cooper.

If Australia had a front 5 they would be unstoppable on there day. It's a shame James Horwill isn't a Kiwi , best lock in the world for my money.

I'd say Whitelock edges Horwill over the last 12 months, but not a lot in it. Take Pococok, Horwill, Higs, Genia, JOC, Ioane etc any of any team they're not the force they should be.

Whitelock best in world for me. Watching England on catch up. Qera rampant in first 20. Ran thru parling twice that's why he is not England material. Easy game for youngs debut. Good touches by Goode

Sorry for no details in predictions , slept in this morning and in a bit of a rush as going to Newcastle at 11.

Goode and sharpies excellent so far

If you don't think Parling is England class I'd keep an eye on Palmer Matt. Had a real poor game, looks past it.

Both locks poor tbh. Parling got ran thru a few times and muffed a few restarts. Fiji poor side . Next week will be a better test

Think Waldroum took every restart???

Parling put in a good shift, ran the line impeccably (easy opp) and made more yards than Palmer.

Ratings:

Alex Goode
England's best player. Stood in for Care when scrum-half was binned and provided pace, imagination, width and variety throughout. Impressive. 9/10

Charlie Sharples
Scored England's first try when he cut in from the wing, dragging defenders over the line. Strong on the ball and not cowed by the occasion. 8

Manu Tuilagi
Just so, so powerful. Always interests a couple of defenders when he carries and runs good lines. Was too much for a tiring Fiji defence in final quarter. 8

Brad Barritt
Another powerful runner who punched big holes in Fiji's midfield. Evidence, too, of more intelligent distribution. Difficult to leave out now. 7

Ugo Monye
Not quite as forceful and effective as the rest of England's backline. Seems to fade as he gets nearer the opposition goal-line. 6

Toby Flood
Swapped the first receiver role with Goode so less influential as an individual. His experience will be more valuable against the better sides. 6

Danny Care
Careless with a dangerous tackle at the start of the match and diffident at other times. Does put pace on the game with quick free kicks. 5

Joe Marler
Majestic scrummaging effort which is his principal job. Not so clever trying to make passes in open play. 7

Tom Youngs
Did all that could be asked of him on debut. Carried well, part of a dominant front row and hit his jumpers. 8

Dan Cole
Very much the wise, old man of the forwards. Scrummaged powerfully and forced a few turnovers. England's Mr Indispensable. 8

Tom Palmer
Gave away the game's first penalty and had one of his quieter afternoons. Needs to find greater consistency in his contribution. 5

Geoff Parling
Organised and called the lineout well. Not that noticeable in open play. Can he snarl? 6

Tom Johnson
Covers a huge amount of ground and has surprisingly quick feet for a big man. Has yet to let England down. 7

Chris Robshaw
Whole-hearted, committed, looks the part. What's not to like? Interesting to see how he will handle a crisis when it comes. 8

Thomas Waldrom
A big man who was heavily involved but he does mistakes. One off-load went about 10 metres forward. Not sure how effective he is defensively. 6

Waldroum, Palmer, Monye out.

Morgan, Lawes, Ashton in.

Care/Youngs touch and go, Care not at his best. Youngs looked better when he came on but Care might just keep place.

Parling got 2 restarts wrong 1st half. I would start lawes instead of palmer. We are weak in second row. It's. A problem position

I said earlier I'd go with a four of Parling, Robson, Lawes, Launchbury. No point persisting with Palmer. Have Garvey, Botha as backup.

Palmer Is much better than launchbury currently as he does proper 4 work hitting rucks etc. however he will not be around for the wc so we should look to develop launchbury etc.

Palmer Is much better than launchbury currently as he does proper 4 work hitting rucks etc. however he will not be around for the wc so we should look to develop launchbury etc.

I'm not so sure Matt, I think Launchbury might have surpassed him. Palmer looked well off the pace yesterday.

I think those ratings you poSted were right pooly.bOth lockS average. Palmer ahead of launchbury at wasps and England and been decent every time I have seen him this year.one average game does not make him a bad player.

Palmer been poor all season and last, really off the boil. He's what 34 now? Think he's had his day.

Palmer good and criminally overlooked at World Cup. I am happy with Palmer. He is ahead of Launchbury at the moment.

Have to say England have a hell of a headache at 15 by the sounds of it.

Goode was great yesterday if he had a bit more pace he would be unreal

I still don't understand why Lancaster selected him ahead of Brown, but whatever his reasons he got it right

Goode & Sharples big pluses

2nd playmaker Steve.

Always said Goode would be better for England than Sarries

Sharples showed how much he has worked
On his strength.
Thought he was excellent but next few games will show whether Goode and Sharples can hack it at international level

Steven_Sharks wrote:Have to say England have a hell of a headache at 15 by the sounds of it.

Good headache to have at 15 though, Lancaster must be pleased, unlike at 12 and in the second row where we are seriously lacking in alternatives to the mediocrity that we currently have in the side.

Youngs a big positive too, showed how poor Hartley carries. He could really nail the 2 shirt

Sgt_Pooly wrote:Just watching Wales game, Lobbe outstanding.

I don't think Warburton will be captaining the Lions. Judging by today's performance he won't tour, what has happened to him?!?!

Telegraph gave Warbs a 6 in a side where only Jarvis got a 7. Think you might be jumping the gun.

Warbs' form has been affected by the Blues poor form too. Plus Tips had been playing more often whereas Warb's has hardly played a full match!

Looking forward to this match and will be good to see Kerr-Barlow get a run out!!

Haven't seen the Wales game but heard it's one to forget, glad Jarvis did well.

This could be bad for jocks. They have 2 poor scrummaging props. First scrum will be interesting

Disagree matt. Like Grant and Cross better than Murray

Cross always gets stuffed when I watch him play.

Terrible booing

N.Z 3 is binding on the flanker come scrumtime, hence why Scotland collapsed that one under pressure because the flanker was being dragged in....clever play but right infront of ref too!!

Steven_Sharks wrote:

Sgt_Pooly wrote:Just watching Wales game, Lobbe outstanding.

I don't think Warburton will be captaining the Lions. Judging by today's performance he won't tour, what has happened to him?!?!

Telegraph gave Warbs a 6 in a side where only Jarvis got a 7. Think you might be jumping the gun.

Warbs not played great since 6N Steve, I'm a big fan but he's really not playing well

Carter class!!!

Very shoddy defence from Visser there (think it was him, could have been Lamont)

Simple rugby wins the game!!

Excellent try . Pure basics

A lot is basic about NZ. Lots of simple switches done well works for them

Hands are amazing

Denton just blasted through mccaw. Collectors item that!

Not many bump McCaw!! Huge carry that