How about you don't jump to conclusions and presumptions about how good or bad I am at the game before you go and badmouth me, because it makes you sound like a d**khead.
Yeah, I'm not any good at the game, that's why I don't like it. Ignore that I've won a world cup and tri-nations on hard, and still find the game boring as all heck. Ignore that I've beaten Australia with Namibia, on hard, like the challenges ask. All the things I have described happen in the game, the offside rule especially happens very regularly, and ruins a lot of multiplayer games. Sure, I can bring them all back onside, but why should I have to do that? The AI put the players offside to start with, it should be able to bring em back, but no, its too dumb to do that, so they just tiptoe like they're walking on glass to get back onside, or just stand around the ruck looking stupid, wondering why they have to run all the way around behind the ruck, stand there for a while, then eventually pile on once the ball has obviously been won by the opposition.
The only times I've scored with forward hitups are from so close to the line that my grandmother could barge over, or playing good teams against terrible ones and busting the line and getting through cleanly with speed. Sure, you can make good ground from hitups if you spot a gap to one side of the ruck and bolt through, but that's mainly because the defense is so poor.
The rucks, well, if you think you have control, good on you. For all the pressing of square to add players into the ruck, most of the time they dawdle behind the ruck, wait until the opposition has pushed their teammates over the ball, then just tack themselves onto the back of the ruck.
Do you have so much control over the players that if you try any type of pass inside half the time it will go to nobody and sit on the ground, while both teams run around randomly, until two players magically turn stiff as a board and glide towards the ball? Picking up the ball off the ground is ridiculous, but of course, because I'm not 'good' at this game, that's why the ball goes to ground. Well that would be correct, if 'good' means 'figuring out exactly what situations the game can't handle when you want to pass to someone and avoiding them, limiting you to spreading the ball wide or taking a hitup'.
I understand how to kick a goal, it isn't very difficult. What I'm complaining about is the lack of control over the curve of the ball, the stupid arrow you have to use, and the power bar. The Rugby 2001 system was fine, why change it? Not to mention any goalkicker with a rating under 80 spraying the ball wide on a regular basis.
So mate, before you try and come off all big and mighty defending a game you like for some reason that is beyond my understanding, how about you realise you win arguments by actually MAKING points about why the game is good, rather than criticising my ability at the game. I have spent a fair while playing it now, and I wouldn't make my opinion on it public if I wasn't confident I had seen all the game has to offer. You have made continual points that I haven't played the game enough, play it on easy, and am crap at the game, which are all untrue. I can run around teams on easy, normal and hard, on hard, I just score three or four tries a game using it rather than 11 or 12.
Fact remains, the game bores me. The gameplay is repetative and mundane, defense is an absolute chore, since you have little control in forcing a turnover and the AI plays boring possession rugby without doing anything creative at all, and gets all its field position from random turnovers in the ruck or when the AI mysteriously drops a sitter of a pass, throws a forward pass from the ruck (which happens too often for my liking) or throws a pass from the ruck that goes nowhere and hits the ground, and then its anyones guess where it'll end up.
Also, I got sin binned for a forward pass. Yeah, this game is good. Real good.
