I think this is good tuesdays gamplay updates thursdays visuals and etc updates it gives big Ant enough time to test the gameplay updates out thoroughly
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I just am dissapointed that this game was sold at full price as the finished piece but it clearly is still early access.
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Just started my next season mode AI v AI game.
URC Championship:
Scarlets lead Connacht 19-14 at half time. Itās been an entertaining half which Iāve enjoyed. A number of offside penalties resulting in kicks to touch which Iām glad to see.
Just one thing puzzles me though. Why is the Left Prop for Scarlets kicking off the 2nd half? Surely the designated kicker in the team, in this case Ioan Lloyd, should be kicking off?
Maybe something for the team to have a look at @JNT_BA
Itās not happening every time so maybe just a random bug. However, I thought Iād let you know as it has happened in other games too. 
Just another thing Iāve had which is good. An offside in the 22 and the opposing team awarded the penalty have opted for a quick tap and go.
Iām impressed. Some much needed variations to these penalties now. Good job Big Ant 
.
Same with Franklinās Gardens, The Stoop, Kingston Park, Ashton Gate and a few other Premiership stadia - only two which are bang on are the Salford Community Stadium and the fully licensed StoneX Stadium.
Dunno what version of the game that Iāve got (probably the latest patch version for XBox) but I just donāt see much improvement when watching Comp v Comp game. AI still would rather keep it tight and offload down the field whilst Iām screaming to pass the ball to a colleague who is in space and could make say 10-15 yardsā¦but no. They evade the first tackleā¦make a few yardsā¦offloadā¦and repeat. Itās getting a bit tiresome to watch now!
Sad news 
I started my first game under play now of my rugby tournament and game froze after 65 mins in gameā¦
Very sad
Tbh Iām with @TheJackSmit on this topic.
I know it might be asking a little too much at this point in time. But I am hoping that over time the team may look at updating some stadiums to look like their real life counterparts. As best as possible anyway.
Many thanks
Btw in my previous match I had another offside penalty inside the 22. Connacht committed the offside and Scarlets were awarded the penalty.
I applaud the situational awareness of the AI for going for a kick to posts. They could have gone for kick to corner or tap and go. However, because Connacht were trailing by 12 points at the time with 10 minutes to go, dare I say this but was there some mental AI awareness knowing for well that the 3 points would take them out of losing bonus point range?
Just a thought that is all. Maybe just me over analysing as usual.
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This sadly makes a lot of sense. To make a game like Rugby with the sheer number of teams Big Ant have put in it, you need a massive amount of pretty accurate data for all of the individual players across a range of skill categories. They have to add up to what the teamās overall score should be more or less and thatās just for one team!
With the number of teams in this Rugby game, thatās a mountain of data to get through and Big Ant are not a huge company. Then theyāre doing AFL, Cricket, Rugby, Rugby League and Tennis. I love that theyāre doing all these projects, I buy them all except AFL, but it just about seems impossible for one moderately sized team to get all the skills even 70-80% right.
So there are no doubt a huge number of discrepancies and if skills were fully implemented, the game would probably play even more weirdly than it did at first release with players doing some unusual things. How do they counter this? Iād suspect that some things players can just do, no matter how their āstatsā are for that thing.
When you think about it, you can play players out of position and they more or less do the same thing and thereās no consequences at all for playing someone in a position which isnāt one of their ā3ā positions.
Up until recently there was very little difference in speed between front rowers and fulllbacks. So right now, the same thing is going on with fend and offload.
Why wonāt Big Ant hand things fully over to the games skills and stats? Iād have to imagine that it could cause all sorts of dramatic variances in outcomes across the user base and make patching things up much more difficult to manage.
Also, if Big Ant chose to implement custom players being able to be put into any team, it opens those teams to players with absurd data from the Community. Then it may unbalance the experience and make the game much worse.
If individual player skills are fully implemented, youād only need 2-3 custom players on the field who have crazy skills (99ās in some areas and 0ās in others) that you downloaded from the community and then the game would produce some massively irregular results. One personās experience with letās say Munster, would be wildly different to someone elseās with the default team.
So I feel like Big Ant have some areas of the skill sets locked to certain levels globally across the game. Fend and Offload appear to be two of those areas.
Make no mistake, Iām not having a go at Big Ant, I can see why they are being careful, they seem to be seeking stability before making other changes. I do hope things can gradually change over the coming weeks though.
Itās great @JNT_BA is engaging with us all and he should be able to express his opinion on the game of course. I do happen to think that his opinion about the balance between AI and human fending/offloading being somewhere near where it needs to be is wrong though.
I think the AI and human need to be able to do this based on the skills and fatigue of the attacker and defender. Right now it is NOT at all like Rugby.
I played actual Rugby for 24yrs and if the ball carrier could always fend off the first defender I would have noticed it. I honestly probably saw that maybe 5-10% of the time in real life. Iām not saying it should be that low in the game (it is a game after all), but less like 100% of the time and more like 50% would be great, but more tied to player skills.
Instead the game needs to be more diverse than that. It needs the bump-off to actually work without a 30m run up and the sidestep to be more effectual. It needs AI players to be more agile and swerve and step into gaps, rather than first tackle invincibility.
I love a good fend and an offload, they look GREAT! Though Iām a bit worried if this current Fend and Offload fest which is a MASSIVE chunk of the game is seen as being anywhere near where it needs to be.
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Hi Team,
Just some feedback on Goal line areas. The Durban Stadium. PS5 Hardest Difficulty. Coach career. This is before last nights patch on PS5
Ai player Mapimpi for Sharks was about to ground the ball then was tackled on legs lower body and then got back up in goal area then dived again into touch. Not enough room in the goal line area. Can this be extended ? Or at least stop the Bug when if the Ai player gets tackled on lower body/waist they still ground the ball with momentum and donāt get back up again.
Had another similar incident. Ai player tackled , ran out of room went to ground ball in dead ball area.
I lodged a ticket #29269 this morning with a video with time stamps. Thanks
Get gud!!!
Na this is still something we want to look at, especially around how plays work in the goal zone with specific tackles.
4 Likes
Hey @JNT_BA ,
As always, thanks to you and the team for the hard work.
I wonāt add anything regarding gameplay, a lot are doing it way better than I am.
Regarding ācustomizationā, do you think we might be able someday to switch/add some teams, logos, competitions in the Career ?
As you know, Iāve made a bunch of logos, would be cool to replace unlicensed competitions logos by official created ones etcā¦
Is it something that is planned for the game or not yet particularly ?
Cheers and when gripsocks?
PS: Just managed to do a bumpoff with a player named Michael on an other one named Shep. No lie.
5 Likes
Career is a pretty locked system atm with how the schedule works. As lots of data points have to be very specific to exactly what is in there and what happens to maintain the save data without bringing in new variables that would cause career instability
TLDR I donāt want to ruin career saves.
Even while typing this i thought of something we may be able to do. Iāll submit what I was thinking to the career mode guys. To see what they think.
3 Likes
Thanks for the answer mate.
Yeah I understand adding a new comp to the career might be tricky.
Maybe being able to switch all teams from Polish Ekstraliga (for example) by created teams from Japan Rugby League 1 could be something possible and easier to be implemented, while
keeping the same schedule of the Ekstraliga?
Also, could be cool to have the possibilty to replace the unlicensed logos in this tab by logos available in the Community. Is it something complicated to be implemented atm ?
1 Like
I had an AI player run through the goal area totally and not ground the ball which was first time I saw that glitch tonight
Hi Big Ant,
I was pondering how to try and make difficulty better without a just the fend and thought of this. I know things are likely set for how the tackle area is implemented in this game now, but maybe something that could be considered for future versions.
Proposal: Dynamic Tackle/Evasion System for Enhanced Skill-Based Gameplay
Core Mechanic: Implement a rock-paper-scissors counter system for tackle/evasion interactions to reduce repetitive āfend spamā and add strategic depth.
Controls & Interactions:
-
Tackle Types (Defense):
- Low Tackle (LT + B): Pre-emptive, low-risk tackle.
- Standing Tackle (B): Standard tackle.
- Dive Tackle (Y): High-risk, long-range tackle.
-
Evasion Moves (Attack, Right Stick):
- Bump (RS Press): Counters Low Tackle only.
- Shoulder (RS Forward): Counters Standing Tackle only.
- Fend (RS Backward): Counters Dive Tackle only.
Design Intent:
- Each evasion move hard-counters one specific tackle type, creating situational risk/reward decisions.
- Forces players to read defender animations/positioning and react with the correct input.
Difficulty Scaling:
- Increase AI success rate in selecting optimal counter-tackles at higher difficulty levels.
- Indirectly incentivizes players to diversify tactics (e.g., kicking, passing) when evasion becomes riskier.
Benefits:
- Reduces repetitive dominance of single evasion moves.
- Adds layer of skill/anticipation without overcomplicating controls.
- Encourages dynamic, adaptive playstyles.
Optional: Test alternative counter-logic permutations during prototyping (e.g., tweaking priority hierarchy) to optimize feel.
I am sure even getting the shoulder and bump to work in this version would be an improvement. Although I have not seen a bump in months. Maybe has been canned?
11 Likes
One of the best points made here recently!
This would also bring in more penalties for high tackles when risking too much, and therefore more yellow cards, which is something we have all asked for.
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Hi Everyone
Just a small thing I was thinking about last night as I was playing. The Kickoff seems a bit bare, thereās a nice entrance of the 2 teams running onto the field and the next moment you just watching the kicker kick the ball off. No whistle even, maybe add a countdown from the crowd along with a screen in the shot to show the countdown and the whistle to signal the start of the match along with an approving roar from the crowd?
Most matches I watch IRL start like that.
Just a suggestion though.
Thank you
3 Likes
Played career last night, and played a final, Boks vs Fiji. must say, very nice surprise when the teams took the field and lined up for the national anthems. first time i experienced it, nice touch. now maybe add the Haka to the all blacks team?
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I noticed last night the cpu kicking for corner only trailing by 4 points
I think the cpu needs to kick for goal more when slightly behind
Understandable kicking for touch trailing by a lot but just behind I think they should kick for goal much more
Rather then the ai and player spamming handoffs to make ground, there should be more dominant carries in the game, forwards making 2-3m in contact, this could be affected by the strength stat and if the attacker/defender is a forward or back.
Also an option for the forwards to pick and go rather than the scrum half passing from the ruck would be good to if it could be toggled on and off., and could be used when trying to drive over the tryline.
5 Likes