Cheers mate. Yeah its an issue with every update, other issues that werent prevalent before suddenly get thrown in to the spotlight.
Ivs noticed flankers also hold back from rucks. I also noticed flankers are on the wrong side in scrums, so might be the case that the flankers roles arent locked in fully.
Or could be the case that with the switch to 5 player rucks, that actual mechanics is not a case of 5 empty slots to fill with players at a ruck, but more 5 empty slots, but only certain positions can fill the slots. So the first 3 are locked to players with shirt numbers 1-5. Then the remaining 2 slots are available to all, but thats the first open slots for back row players to join?
Who knows.
POTENTIAL FIX FOR RUCK SELECTION
Attempting to work with the system they have in the game, I would think a solution to the ruck selection priority issue would be:
-In a ruck there are 5 open slots
-The first 3 button presses prioritise the nearest forwards to be added. You can also add the extra 2 if need be once the 3 are in the ruck.
-But if your player is isolated, you press the button 5 times which automatically allows all slots to open up, and that way nearby backs can fill 2 spots quickly, to secure the ball until your forwards arrive.
Alternatively
-Make B button press add 1 forward in to the ruck, while making X add 1 back to the ruck.
This way the player can assess who are the nearest players to the tackle and add the players they want to support the ruck.
If you play more conservatively playing 1 off passes near forwards you can focus on only adding forwards.
But if you play expansive and always want to go to the wingers, it requires players to have a higher level of skill to pick which players need to enter the ruck. And will also reduce the amount of offloads, because spamming offload after tackles will leave you with an isolated winger easy for the turnover. And so people might take it in to contact more, and just add those outside backs in to rucks.
OUTSPRINTING PLAYERS
-Yeah thats an annoying one, been an explout since EA. It feels more like if you control a player, they can sprint faster than non controlled players, but stamina drops whereas other dont. When kick chase is on. Its currenty better after the kick to just swap to a prop, let the AI run your winger up the pitch for you, then swap to them late and sprint to beat the defender.
Hard balance to get right with the fatigue system too.
I played a game last night playing a 60 rated team because i was testing drop goals. And them running all over the field chasing kicks meant by half time the whole team lost all their stamina wheres mine didnt. So Non controlled players seem to drop in fatigue even if on a single run their stamina holds up better than your controlled player.