Rugby 25 Megathread

[Nesreviac]

These recently discussed bugs have no place in a finished game. I’ve usually been pretty reserved about my feelings in relation to this game, but the recently discussed bugs including the 50/22 are of an absolutely insane level of stupidity.

Big Ant can obviously get away without hotfixing these problems, but they really should have been.

The game’s playability is now frustrating low. The fact that nobody has said that these are going to be addressed and fixed as soon as possible is pretty surprising and could be seen as outrageous and irresponsible.

Things are frankly a bit of a mess right now. We can’t even hope for features that other big ant games have (sliders, custom competition options etc) because they are playing catch up on an endless list of bugs.

[Lionmaul]

Big Ant, first of , thank you. For continuing to improve the game. We still have a way to go, but I respect that you are trying and adding different things. I am finding that I am reaching to play this game now over other rugby game, it has been much more challenging and the AI has improved tremendously.(thank you) Now having said that this is what needs improvement.

Rucks: we need a better explanation of what does what, does the Y serve any function. The steal attempt should be a different button function from the push over. Maybe since Y is not being used now use the Y for the push over and X for the steal. Or tap x for steal and hold x for a push over. Boths having there strengths depending on the ruck situation, if the ruck forms and you keep pressing steal then you should get penalized “hand in the ruck”,same for the AI.
If a ruck forms and the opponent takes to long to take the ball out, and you smash the push over at the correct gauge time , you can get a pushover, but if you do it at the wrong time the gauge is not in your favor , get penalized for, pushing from the side , aligator roll, ect ect. Seems like it can be an good implementation, we need more penalties at ruck time, hands in the ruck, not letting go, coming in from the side, coming in late, alligator roll, ect, ect.
This ruck system if implemented correctly, given the animations that it has, could be one of the best rucking systems. Just needs more tuning or sliders that we can tune.
The tackle, stand, and steal isolation animation must make it back into the for the rucking to feel complete ( holding on and hands in the ruck ,must be in the game for rucking to feel complete.

Scrums: Need more reward if played to perfection, if you play to perfection, you should either get many meters movement in the scrum, or cause the opponent to infringe in scrum, giving you a penalty. (this would make the scrums more fun and engaging)

Mauls: They still need a better system (but atleast now if you play them correctly, you can force the AI to infringe in the Mauls) ( so they have improved, but need more work)

Offensive moves( good job, these seem to be improving, although the sidestep has too much of a delay you have to anticipate way before) speed up the animations some, so it doesn’t feel like you have to time them way before. But at least now I am using various moves for different situations, not just the fend. Although the fend still seems to be the best over all. Offensive moves are good but need more tuning.

Overall I am enjoying the games now, even on medium , you have to concentrate to defeat the AI (this is good).

Bomb/Up and unders : are much improved, (thank you) grubbers ( are good but sometimes I don’t know how to pick the ball up after the grubber(is it auto or do you press a button to recover the ball on grubbers) I applaud Big Ant for the grubbers , they play great , in all other Rugby games the grubber can become a cheat, not in this game, they are different every time in the way the AI responds to them. (So ,good job Big Ant team).

I have had a few fist shaking moments in celebration in tries and some turnovers, somthing that was nonexistent in the past. So game is headed in the right direction. So looking forward to see what next update will bring.
Would be nice if the bellow

1. Rucks (a seperate button or button hold for steals vs pushovers) using the current graph for when its best to do each.
   Isolated tackle, stand and steal makes it into the game
   Holding the ball AI infringement, hands in the ruck penalties.
2. Scrums: with more penalties against the AI, and more difficult overall
3. 50/22 tone down AI expertise on this( AI is too good at it)
4. Punts by user players with good kicking skill, should go further(I know this has been improved, but a little more distance, even if it means less accuracy, would make it more realistic and more reason to choose to kick away) if the AI can do it , user should be able Aswell.
5. Kicks have improved, but should have an even quicker release animation, by players that have a high kicking skill. Otherwise it is to risky to implement a true in game kicking game.
   Tackles (I really like the way tackles feel, need some tuning but going in the right direction) low and high tackles should have different advantages. It seems like it is moving in that direction.

Looking forward to the next update.

[Italeo48]

GotBy

Please, for the love of anything is good, let the AI do a clearance kick in their 5 meters or below.
I don’t want to see it anymore.
Ai doing 5/10 phases to try find a gap in their RED zone, if they gain 10 meters then they instantly kick…
Please.

[TheRugbyMan]

Tbh probably better they don’t as the AI will do a 50/22 straight from their 5m line so they will be doing a lineout right on your 5m line

[Rowan]

There are to many AI 50/22 and ruck turnovers

[dungrel]

Surely not
surely that’s why they’ve taken ages to bring it out..Vossy said they’ve spent as much money on this one game as all of the RLL series put together.
hopefully that’s not all on licensing

[Rugbygamer40]

Hi Team,

Feedback on Top 14

A few days ago I saw a Rugby 25 Facebook post promoting people to play the game on Rugby 25. So I prepared a coach career and gave it a go this evening. For me I will probably stop right now as it’s sadly really boring to play the competition when you can’t identify who is what player on the field ?

Whether you are running the ball lt scoring a try or having the opposition score against you , you have no idea who the players are ? It really affects game immersion and enjoyment. I can’t continue to play if this is the state the Top 14 is in and I noticed Pro D2 is the same.

Also just general feedback from the weekend of playing various matches in casual mode , competition, coach career. PS5. I did not see a single High tackle from the Ai. No yellow or Red Cards.
I did 2 high tackle incidents out of 8 or so games with my own players.
The Rugby 25 coach career Judiciary have an easy cosy job in Rugby 25 as they have no reviewing to do and no players cited.

I also spent all weekend making Academy players for a handful of ProD2 teams and Top 14 teams and sharing them onto fan hub. But seeing no player names on the field is disappointing.

[Nesreviac]

Yet another frustrating thing about the game is that the AI does not move your defensive line to the try line when you are on defence. A lot of your players can be standing two to three meters back behind the try line and they then come forward, but often too late to stop a try.

This also happens to the AI and they are unable to defend a try because of it.

Every time I come on here to post about something that’s not working with this game I then go off and do something else and think “oh that’s right I forgot that bug and that one and that one”, that I should have posted on here.

[Bapean]

@Rugbygamer40

Whether you are running the ball lt scoring a try or having the opposition score against you , you have no idea who the players are ? It really affects game immersion and enjoyment. I can’t continue to play if this is the state the Top 14 is in and I noticed Pro D2 is the same.

Even with the names, you would not know who the players are, as more than half of the Top 14 photogrammetry is still missing, and almost all Pro D2.

Pro D2 season is over, and there is only the Final left for Top 14
Kelvin never liked Union

[Carlo34]

Can you please make it so that we can put real players into custom teams cause we want to play with the lions with the real players

[IsmaelRugby]

"I’ve started playing the video game again and I want to thank the developers for their effort with the weekly updates. Right now, I think it’s a game you can have fun with, despite all the issues that have already been mentioned on the forum. Hopefully everything gets resolved

[Lionmaul]

Are you getting ruck turnovers, or the AI is getting the ruck turnovers. I have tried easy, med, and hard and the amount of turnovers feels good, they are fairly rare, unless you are passing out wide without support then the AI will turn the ruck over. At times I do have to use the hold the ball, so the AI does not isolate me, which in turn maybe 1 or 2 twice in a 10 min game I get called for holding the ball to wait for my ruck support, but over all the amount of turnovers playing real rugby sim, atleast for me has been good, now in saying this they still need much tunining as for when pushovers happen and when steals happen. Would be good if we had a 2 button option at ruck time, steal (x) , pushover (Y) maybe, with each having there benefits depending on the ruck. I believe they will eventually implement this, they have good animations for the different ruck turnovers , they just have to implement it better, and let us base our selection based on the rucking meter, if you time it just right, and you arrive at the correct time , or with enough support, you should be able to choose steal, or push over depending on the circumstance.

[Rowan]

There are to many Players with the wrong Representative Country here is a few players that need to be fixed

JOEY CARBERY it says New Zealand should be IRELAND
SHAYNE BOLTON it Says South Africa but it should be Ireland
KANE DOUGLAS It says France But it should Be Australia🇦🇺

And there are players Some Positions That are wrong Such as

Tommy Freeman it says Full back But it should be Right wing
Louis Bielle Biarrey It says Full Back but should be Left Wing
Posolo Tuilagi It Says Openside Flanker But it should be Lock

Just Wondering if this small issue Could be fixed for the next Update on Wednesday
Thanks

[Spataki]

Hey team,

Have played the game after a long break. Have been enjoying the improvements. Liking the new box kicks, high balls seem a lot more contestable to.

Is there going to be any work done to attacking and defensive shapes and tactics?

Would be awesome if on defence you could select between, rush D, up and out and umbrella defence. Would make it a lot more enjoyable being on defence in the game, and add some strategy to the game. When you are defending on your own line, the players are too far behind the try line, allowing the opposition to pretty much just dive at the line. Is there a plan to add in pick and go’s?

AI seems to be kicking too many 50/22’s which doesn’t happen that frequently in real rugby. So hopefully this gets tweaked. Doesn’t encourage you to kick the ball as the AI will always kick a 50/22 on the kick return. Other than that though they seem to be a lot more competitive.

Can we get some correct attacking shapes and patterns added to the game. Would add more depth, realism, strategy and enjoyment to the game. Players seem to still not be getting into the correct position for the tactic you’ve selected e.g 1-3-3-1.

Can we also get support players standing more flat and running good lines and hard at gaps. Would be handy if you held down the pass button for when the 10 has the ball, X would always be the first player outside him, Square the next player, triangle the player outside him etc etc as often you don’t have much time to see what player you want to pass the ball to and which button is each supporting player as it rapidly changes.

Would be awesome seeing some work get done to scrums and lineouts as set piece is such an important aspect of rugby and at the moment, the systems are a bit too complicated and not functioning properly. Opposition seems to be winning majority of lineouts and scrums just collapse even when you get all your hits right. Some teams with a very dominant front row would often opt for a scrum when they get a penalty but because the system doesn’t work properly in the game, you end up avoiding it.

Also will squads, lineups and kits get updated as teams and kits are released? Eg All Blacks, Wallabies and Springbok squads have been announced.

Cheers for the continued updates. Feeling a lot more confident in the team now but still a lot of work to do.

Cheers!

[nikovegna]

I picked up the game a couple of months ago and, for the most part, it’s been an awesome.

That said, I’m still wrestling with the dark arts of rucking and scrummaging. There have been more than a few occasions where I’ve isolated an AI player only to watch them cling to possession, and the in-game tutorials feel broken—I can’t seem to force a turnover in those either. I feel it used to be easier to get a turnover. If it really is all about timing, I’m completely missing the beat. If anyone has an answer to this or a video that would be amazing.

When it comes to scrums, I’d love to see a revamped system. Short of that, once the hook is secured, the scrum should simply go your way. Right now the trigger-pulling dance almost always ends in a collapse and it’s maddening. The 50/22 rule is awesome, but the AI’s pinpoint accuracy borders on uncanny.

Finally, adding a Man of the Match accolade with an accompanying highlight reel would take immersion to another level.

Please keep refining the mechanics and polish these rough edges; this edition has tremendous potential for longevity.

[Corby84]

I’m finding even “hard” and “hardest” difficulties it’s easy to win by at least 30 points each game all of a sudden, AI is suddenly not trying to kick as many 50/22s.
If you give away a penalty on the 5m line your defensive line seems to go back to the dead ball line which makes it impossible to defend and stop the opposing team scoring.
Rush and kick defences don’t seem to do/change anything either, the defensive line just stays the same yet the AI is always in kick defence positioning.
Still can’t win lineouts against the throw which is frustrating

[HeadoftheTable1237]

We need this in Rugby 25 ASAP.

I believe this game is awesome but being able to remove and add all players whether licensed or not will benefit the game in a major way. For example being able to add Pollard to the Bulls team now, and downloading players from the community and being able to add them to any team.

The issue is that some squads also have a Max of 50 players and thus we cannot add more players to the team or squad.

Please Big Ant, with the upcoming Lions tour and the June/July internationals we want to add the updated players and kits, this will make the game even better than it is now. Please listen.
Thanks.

[Nesreviac]

@Corby84

I’m finding even “hard” and “hardest” difficulties it’s easy to win by at least 30 points each game all of a sudden, AI is suddenly not trying to kick as many 50/22s.

Not finding that at all. Some games the AI will get 3-4 50/22’s, other games they’ll get 8+ of them!

@Corby84

If you give away a penalty on the 5m line your defensive line seems to go back to the dead ball line which makes it impossible to defend and stop the opposing team scoring.
Rush and kick defences don’t seem to do/change anything either, the defensive line just stays the same yet the AI is always in kick defence positioning.

Totally agree with this. It’s maddening at times.

@Corby84

Still can’t win lineouts against the throw which is frustrating

I’m able to win them against the throw, but not very often anymore. It’s just a simple guessing game, but also requires timing. The timing is harder than it was not long after release, but it’s now probably too hard.

[Peter]

Just something to add on my side with regards to the in-goal area issues.

When my player dives to score the try in the in-goal area, and they slide over the dead ball line, it does not count as a try and the opposing team gets a goal-line dropout even if the player land in-goal first.

I’ve noticed especially with Saracens home ground where the in-goal area is very small and with the inability to score the try unless you are in-goal, this gets very frustrating.

Thank you

[Tigersmad83]

Hi BA
I have a wish list that i think would make the game cloer to the real thing

1. Scrum penalties for both ai and the the player and not only on my put in
2. More penalties in general
3. 50/22 the amount in a game seems way to high than there is in a really game
4. Custom competition could we please be able to have group stages and knockout, and also be able to select the trophy

Just a side question will there be an update to squads for the 2025-2026 season norther hemisphere?