Dear Subunet,

How is it, that a players/team whom has considerably less scrum power etc etc etc...that is beaten quite considerably in a friendly match before a Championship game (level 5)....then somehow turns that result around in 10 mins to 18 - 0...then straight afterwards (1 min) lose considerably 19 - 3? Also to note...A number of teams whom were being thrashed at the begin of the Championship, and were and still are considerably less rated than other teams are now unbeatable?

I am not Sublinet, but to answer your question:

Because the opposition in a friendly is computer controlled, whilst those you play in a championship match are human controlled. So they (the human) may have more subtle tactics after having watched your strengths and weakness in the friendly, they also may have decided to pay their players a match bonus, this can lead to up to a 100% improvement in the skill levels of your opposition.

well not wishing to ruine your strawberries but i have played a game recently where every player on my team was better than every player on the opponents team. i was paying 100% on salary, everyone was at 100% fitness. i have left my tactics at a winning config having won two out of the last 3 games (narrowly lost 3rd) BUT i got beaten easily 18-0 by a far inferior team! its just random and is not strategy but luck, absolute rubbish as the game goes on! the fact that strategy and guild can be upgraded but is not worth upgrading because it actually does nothing leads you to believe the game is full of holes and not worth playing as its pure luck!

Were u paying match bonus? I believe luck is a factor yes but obviously not the only factor

I'm not sure about friendly matches being computer or player based like mentioned, what I do know is that when you play a friendly none of the energy and other stats come into play, thats why you can play friendlies even if your energy is very low, like 40% or lower the game will start normal, where as when you play proper matches and your energy is under 70% the game will warn you that your team is tired. Also if the team you just beat in a friendly is online and saw you beating him in friendly, he might change to a different strategy which can make a huge difference. I have 3 main setups that I play with, when I'm not online I will leave team on the strategy which seems the strongest, but then it happens that, that strategy dont work against all teams and so I wont win all matches. My team rating is 30* and I have beaten teams with over 45* with my main strategy, then with that same strategy i have lost against teams with only a 16* rating.. If I'm online I will always start games with my [Kick] strategy, if match counter reach 20 and I still havent scored a try or get very close to try line, or other team gets through my defenses in that time, I will switch to different strategy. Different strategies work on different teams, but saying that I admit that theres many things that I also still believe is up to pure luck if it works out or not, like successful conversions.

Having wages at 100% does help morale, but paying out a bonus can make a big difference. If your team averages 60 and your opponent 40; if they pay a full bonus, their players could play like they average 80, and thus you will be struggling.

How do you pay out a bonus?

As you go into matches theres a slider at the bottom of the screen

I suspect match bonus was to blame here!