Ruck
- Lowered by 70% the influence of the first defender sent into the ruck.
- Illegal jackaling is punished faster by the referee.
- Jackling impact on the ruck has been slightly reduced.
- The AI is now more efficient during the ruck in Pro difficulty by sending players into the ruck faster.
- Players stamina has a greater influence on the ruck.
- Animations are more dynamic.
Referee
- The referee is now more tolerant
- The knock-ons are better handled (ex: some small knock-ons that were imperceptible are not whistled anymore).
- When an AI-controlled player is offside, he'll be less prone to play the ball.
- AI now performs fewer high tackles.
- “Advantage lost” is no longer displayed when lost less than a second after the advantage was granted.
- Tap And Go is now available when “Hands in ruck“ is whistled.
AI
- The difference between the AI of teams is more significant
- The players catch the ball more efficiently after a kick and on the ground
- AI uses more diverse and consistent play styles to respond to different situations (positions on the field, current score, current time, etc…) :
- Playing pick'n'go style to fixate defense.
- Playing wide towards wings to exploit a favorable player ratio.
- Kicking far in an empty space or towards touchline to escape pressure.
- Trying out grubbers/chip kicks towards teammates to gain meters.
- Set plays near opponent try line to create confusion and breakthrough possibilities.
- etc…
- AI teams are assigned one of the three following play styles and adapt their play accordingly:
- Possession (focused on short passes, pick'n'go and set plays)
- Occupation (tends to play more with kicks to gain terrain)
- Balanced (a blend of the two others)
Kick
- When kicking during the open play the default direction is now in the direction of the attack.
Solo mode
- A mid-season budget bonus has been added to increase your overall budget.
- The overall score of your squad now has two numbers
- The first one (displayed on the right of the score) is the global one taking into account the cohesion between your players
- The second one is the average score of your 23 players.
Bug fixes
- Control tips are now available in the pause menu.
- AI jersey is chosen according to user’s jersey so that the colors are as different as possible.
- A “Surprise me” button has been added to randomly choose bonus cards before a match.
- You can see your current challenges in the pause menu, do not forget this is a great way to gain more SP and XP!
