NS Rugby Discussion Thread (v.2)

[Neu Engollon]

Running the scorination of a whole season is what is required and is fine to do. Other than that, when I first started doing the AVRU (my union), I just gave them points to start out based on which clubs I thought would have the best players (biggest franchises/cities, able to scout and pull from big universities, etc.) and then rolled on from there. Starting out it really is just arbitrary, though. I found out that xkoranate had different ideas on who my best teams would be from what I thought.

[Apox]

Just a reminder to everyone that the cut-off for entries to RUCT 26 is in just over five days time - with the UICA deadline now posted that gives you all some time to get those entries in! Would be good to see some growth in the size of the domestic rugby tournaments back to the size they were back when PIS was regularly running them.

I am working on beginning a rugby league, but I don't know if I can build it all up + scorinate an entire season in five days. Is it okay to just run a scorination to determine entrants for the first time without really RP'ing it or anything (a "Season 0" so to say)

Rugby is usually done in less detail than most UICA football leagues (though you are of course welcome to do matchday by matchday RPs if you want, which will earn you a higher RP bonus for the RUCT) so you could do similar things to those that Neu Engollon and Ahbanfleft have already suggested. Providing you can post some evidence of a scorinated league with the top two teams entering the RUCT, your entries will be fine. If it doubt, check to see what Darmen and myself have already posted as entries for what you need to submit results.

[Lisander]

Running the scorination of a whole season is what is required and is fine to do. Other than that, when I first started doing the AVRU (my union), I just gave them points to start out based on which clubs I thought would have the best players (biggest franchises/cities, able to scout and pull from big universities, etc.) and then rolled on from there. Starting out it really is just arbitrary, though. I found out that xkoranate had different ideas on who my best teams would be from what I thought.

I'm doing something like this from this season. I have Rugby 08 (a videogame) installed on my pc with most recent rosters, so when I need details of a game, like the finals or something when the opportunity to RP increases, I just start a game between two teams with the exact levels I have sorted out for Lisanderian teams (If I only knew how to mod it, I'd even have gameplays. Imagine how my RP points would grow...). The maximum Ievel I use on xkoranate is 100. And depending on team performance, I can change the real team assigned to them, giving them a better or worst team.

Videogame Teams		Levels		Lisander Teams
Wasps			84		Saracens
Bath			81		Victorian Rugby
Waratahs		79		Harlequins
Leicester		77		Crusaders
Toulouse		77		Monforzh Rugby
Northampton		76		Pines Athletic
Cardiff Blues		75		St. Helens
Bordeaux-Bégles		74		Hárpias de Grívnia
Edinburgh		74		Loren RC
Western Force		73		Club Sparta
Sale Sharks		71		Shamrocks FC
Section Paloise		69		Soria Blues

[Northwest Kalactin]

The Northwest Kalactin Rugby league is being dissolved due to budget cuts these are the stats for people that are interested in players

74 rugby union players

142 Rugby league players

Keep in mind the sevens league is not going away but feel free to pick up any Union or league players from Northwest Kalactin

[Neu Engollon]

The Northwest Kalactin Rugby league is being dissolved due to budget cuts these are the stats for people that are interested in players

74 rugby union players

142 Rugby league players

Keep in mind the sevens league is not going away but feel free to pick up any Union or league players from Northwest Kalactin

Speaking of, Buyan kicked me in the butt to complete the task I was given by my fellow NSRB VPs to do the rugby trades/transfers sheet. I have a working sheet. I will not post it here, as I'd like to avoid the vandalism that happened to the hockey sheet, but TG me for the link to add your union, players, etc.

[Lisander]

The Northwest Kalactin Rugby league is being dissolved due to budget cuts these are the stats for people that are interested in players

74 rugby union players

142 Rugby league players

Keep in mind the sevens league is not going away but feel free to pick up any Union or league players from Northwest Kalactin

Speaking of, Buyan kicked me in the butt to complete the task I was given by my fellow NSRB VPs to do the rugby trades/transfers sheet. I have a working sheet. I will not post it here, as I'd like to avoid the vandalism that happened to the hockey sheet, but TG me for the link to add your union, players, etc.

Ngol, IMO you should post it and keep an off-line copy.

[Neu Engollon]

Speaking of, Buyan kicked me in the butt to complete the task I was given by my fellow NSRB VPs to do the rugby trades/transfers sheet. I have a working sheet. I will not post it here, as I'd like to avoid the vandalism that happened to the hockey sheet, but TG me for the link to add your union, players, etc.

Ngol, IMO you should post it and keep an off-line copy.

Oh, I will have a backup copy. Let's just see the interest for now and hold off on posting it.

[Nova Anglicana]

The Northwest Kalactin Rugby league is being dissolved due to budget cuts these are the stats for people that are interested in players

74 rugby union players

142 Rugby league players

Keep in mind the sevens league is not going away but feel free to pick up any Union or league players from Northwest Kalactin

Speaking of, Buyan kicked me in the butt to complete the task I was given by my fellow NSRB VPs to do the rugby trades/transfers sheet. I have a working sheet. I will not post it here, as I'd like to avoid the vandalism that happened to the hockey sheet, but TG me for the link to add your union, players, etc.

I guess I should have held off on reviving my domestic newsfeed with rugby. It just was the simplest place to start. But I may add a few players to it or peruse the sheet for new players, since we have both a XVs and a 7s league now.

[Neu Engollon]

I guess I should have held off on reviving my domestic newsfeed with rugby. It just was the simplest place to start. But I may add a few players to it or peruse the sheet for new players, since we have both a XVs and a 7s league now.

I TG'd you the link to the sheet. There are tabs for Union, League and Sevens.

I will be putting a lot of my players up but I haven't gotten around to it just yet.
Also, some of you gave me players years back for the Alpen Valley Rugby Union. I have them on my copy of the sheet in the 'Completed Transfers' tab, but you can also find them in this post of AVRU club rosters.

[Neu Engollon]

I guess I should have held off on reviving my domestic newsfeed with rugby. It just was the simplest place to start. But I may add a few players to it or peruse the sheet for new players, since we have both a XVs and a 7s league now.

I TG'd you the link to the sheet. There are tabs for Union, League and Sevens.

I will be putting a lot of my players up but I haven't gotten around to it just yet.
Also, some of you gave me players years back for the Alpen Valley Rugby Union. I have them on my copy of the sheet in the 'Completed Transfers' tab, but you can also find them in this post of AVRU club rosters.

All this still stands. We still have plenty of room for more players on the transfer sheet.

Okay, okay. In all honesty Neu Engollon needs more players for the AVRU. They are a highly competitive union and the top sports organization in the nation, besides the Ministry of Athletics. They can pay top dollar for your players over most other organizations, so it's only logical that players looking for both high salaries and prestige would want to come over to the AVRU. Seems that since I last updated the club rosters, most of the foreign players in the AVRU have aged out and retired, so there are a lot of spots to fill.

TG me for the link to get on the transfer sheet (Google Sheets which won't work for most phones and tablets. TG me if you need me to enter players on your behalf). Also, does anyone know the current or most used account for the player behind Uitbregen/Cyborg Holland?

[Lisander]

There aren't that much players leaving Lisander this season, since I'm still filling the starter XV's. But Kevin Armada, the Irises fly-half, is searching for a new team. He's 30yo now, and is about to start its last season with NT, but still a very good player.

PM Neu Engollon about the Transfer Spreadsheet if you're interested on contract him.

[Hudson Islands]

I know I've TG'ed some of you individually, but The Hudsonian Football Championship plays the game of Hudsonian Football, which is most similar to Rugby League, and some of the more progressive teams have been interested in signing foreign rugby (league or union) players who are interested in code switching and learning the game (not unlike RLStates code switchers). The league is the biggest sports league in Hudson Islands and can offer large money contracts, along with the league being heavily RP'ed. If your nation has any players who are interested, please TG me.

[Barunia]

Just added some names to the transfer list. How does this work? Do we just write in our club name in the bidding team section, or do we need to TG first?

[Neu Engollon]

Just added some names to the transfer list. How does this work? Do we just write in our club name in the bidding team section, or do we need to TG first?

Either or. A heads up TG to the person whose players you're interested in might help.

Just FYI, I might be snagging a couple of your players.

Also, take note all, I put some of the top players from the Goats national squad up on the sheet who are retiring and looking for coaching/management jobs overseas. Lisander has spoken for Emmett, but there's others and I plan to add even more.

[Liventia]

Also, does anyone know the current or most used account for the player behind Uitbregen/Cyborg Holland?

Popping my head up above the parapet here for the first time in ages to answer this.

He was Wray for a while and was active in cricket with that nation, but I don't believe he's currently around on NS.

[Savojarna]

Good news, rugby fans: The Savojar International Sevens is here to continue the NSRB Sevens Series!

[Savojarna]

Cutoff is being delayed for an unknown amount of time. Reason: I am working in live coverage of ice hockey games, and the one I am covering tonight is in its second overtime with no end in sight so far.

[Savojarna]

KO matchups are online!

Also, is it normal to see such quite random scores with xkoranate's Rugby Sevens function? It didn't seem to be the case with my test runs, but these had less close rankings, so I'm not 100% sure.

[Lisander]

I do not want to disregard the results. I'll accept it whatever it takes. But due to recent results completely out of usual, I must ask. What's the value you're using on Maximum Skill? It looks unbalanced.

[Savojarna]

I do not want to disregard the results. I'll accept it whatever it takes. But due to recent results completely out of usual, I must ask. What's the value you're using on Maximum Skill? It looks unbalanced.

The maximum achieved rank + RP bonus, so that the highest value in the game is actually the max. I did the same for WCoH and WJHC when I hosted these (and my domestic stuff) and those all seemed largely fine. Also, some outliers aside the top ranks should still be favourites, but somehow Xkoranate insists on having quite a few spectacular upsets.

[Neu Engollon]

Glad someone else brought it up first instead of me, including the host themselves. I didn't want to come off as sour grapes.
I'm not any kind of xkoranate expert, but I can say that no, what has happened is not close to normal results in comparison to what we've seen before. Upsets are putting it mildly. I don't completely understand what you did, but I hope that someone with more expertise would be willing to take a closer look at your files and tables and figure it out.

[Lisander]

I took some time to test the xkoranate. I selected four games with unusual results and scorinated them 10 times. I'm not considering RP bonus to scorinate this, and I'm not using home team advantage. Here are the results.

Neu Engollon v Marianne: Neu Engollon won 9 in 10 times.
Hutanjia v Savojarna: Hutanjia won 8 in 10 times.
Abanhfleft v Northwest Kalactin: Abanhfleft won 10 in 10 times.
Lisander v Copper Cuprum: Lisander won 8 in 10 times.

As I said before to my fellow NSRB executives, I'm not judging the criteria used by Savojarna to apply RP bonus. When we join any competition, we accept the host criteria to receive RP bonus. Unless these results are fixed (and I hope not), the only extant justification for these results under a fair scorinating is that the winning teams on these four matches received big RP bonuses.

Personally, I do not mind that much, since I'm even thriving to run with my leagues to next RUCT and only after that I'll give a look at Irises. But as NationStates Rugby Board Acting President, I'd be much appreciated if Savojarna could, for the good of this event, clarify its criteria about giving RP bonus.

[Apox]

As someone not participating in the event, and as a past Football World Cup host, if you want someone impartial to have a glance over the files to check its all cool, I'm able to do that.

Not for one second suggesting Savojarna has doctored the results or anything, excessive RAND happens every now and then in tournaments (I can think of a couple of World Cups straight away).

[Neu Engollon]

As someone not participating in the event, and as a past Football World Cup host, if you want someone impartial to have a glance over the files to check its all cool, I'm able to do that.

Not for one second suggesting Savojarna has doctored the results or anything, excessive RAND happens every now and then in tournaments (I can think of a couple of World Cups straight away).

I would not at all jump to say that the results were intentionally doctored or that the host was intentionally skewing matches. At least in my opinion, something is simply off in error, not through malicious intent.

[Elejamie]

Not really going to comment on the whole scoring thing, since my fellow NSRB presidents have already said what they need to and I don't have much to add. Other than "if a result seems wrong, don't be afraid to rescorinate".

What I will say is that, Savojarna, if you need a scorinator for your octofinal game (as well as quarter-final, semi-final and final if and when you get there), don't be afraid to ask Lisander or Neu Engollon, two of my fellow NSRB presidents, who have hosted the last two stops here on the NSRB Sevens tour. Failing that, Apox (the other NSRB president) might be another person to turn to since he's hosted a few competitions as well. Ditto Ceni, who I found out is my Sevens VP. The Kiaser Colonies might also be worth turning to since he's hosting the next sevens tourney. Just letting you know this just so you don't need to ask around, although if none of them are able to help you then you might need to ask.