Little help

errlloyd

How's it going guys - new player I registered yesterday. I'd like to thank you all for posting the guides etc I have used so far. I've a few questions about how my first match went today I was hoping you guys could help me with.

It was a top of the table clash against a team which I think are the only other Human controlled team in my league, IV.26. That other player might be on here, if he is, well done, solid victory!

My question effectively is how much randomness is in the game. The reason I asked is because in terms of CSR my team were quite a lot better than the opposition and we were playing at home. I had taken on an initial team with an average of about 10k and my starting team had an average of about 17k. Id replaced one prop, one lock, my openside flanker and my outhalf. The outhalf I'd brought in was probably the most big name acquisition. He was 40k CSR I just didn't want to miss kicks or whatever.

Anyway during the first phase of the game I had complete dominance but got denied by the TMO, and missed a penalty. Then they scored and converted. Then my players butchered an easy try, and then it seemed that they got a foothold in the game and eventually established dominance and won.

We lost 19-5, but they scored after the hooter so effectively it was a closer game than that. The stats were quite balanced but in the reporter summary I outperformed them by half a star or more on every single statistic, except Driving, Lineout and Maul which were evens.

My outhalf was the only player on the pitch to have a 5 star game, their best player had a 3 star game and on average across the board I seemed to outperform them by about 3/4 of a star.

So the question is, Did I lost because of bad tactics? Is there something I am doing fundamentally wrong which I need to correct before next week, or do games just go like that sometimes?

westman1

what is your team?

Zagato

Some randomness, some tactics I would say. You kicked far too much in a game that it sounds like you expected to dominate. You gave away a lot of possession. There were also a lot of scrums and as you had 50% more knock ons you gave away a good bit of possession here (not an awful lot you can do about this as your team is young and inexperienced/untrained) but maybe play less creative, and more driving.
Main thing I would say is kick at least 50% less than you are.
This is your match here I assume

errlloyd

Zagato wrote: »

Some randomness, some tactics I would say. You kicked far too much in a game that it sounds like you expected to dominate. You gave away a lot of possession. There were also a lot of scrums and as you had 50% more knock ons you gave away a good bit of possession here (not an awful lot you can do about this as your team is young and inexperienced/untrained) but maybe play less creative, and more driving.
Main thing I would say is kick at least 50% less than you are.
This is your match here I assume

That is my game for sure. Yeah I hadn't messed too much with the tactics page, so it was just kicking at the default level which is 50% (it looked like bad weather, so it seemed a good idea). Other than switching to more territory that up and unders because I felt my backline had crappy "jumping" stats.

But I will turn that way down now. I also bought one more player who has some better handling to go outside my ten. So hopefully the players getting the most ball will have decent hands.

So experience, training, less kicking. My 7 is one of my best players, I hear in this game that the number 8 is quite important, is there anything to be said for shifting around my back row?

Thanks for the advice.

Zagato

Yes, kick a lot less, until your kicking is good, I would do virtually no up and under and very little kick for territory. Think of all kicks as giving away possession unless you have a much stronger lineout than the opposition. Start with trying to get a good spine to your team:
Hooker to help secure your own set pieces
Tall second row to secure lineout ball
Halfbacks to distribute the ball

CBracken

I believe you've hit the nail on the head there Zagato! Start with the spine of your team for sure, improving your kicking at the same time, as its a very important aspect of the game

FewFew

I know a lot of people do without, but I've always found a kicking coach to be invaluable. Sure, you may buy in your star outhalf, but it's always nice to have a good boot on your fullback and scrummie.