What is Invincible XV? The draft game that asks you to build the greatest rugby team of all-time and go unbeaten...

Despite the World Cup on the horizon, football social media has been taken over by a new online game that is dominating feeds and now rugby has its own version.

Better than Sudoku, Invincible XV is the addictive game that Rugby World have spent hours playing this morning as we look to find perfection.

Based upon its sibling games “38-0” for Premier League football and “82-0” for NBA basketball, we can guarantee that once you find it on your feed, you will spend the rest of the day playing too!

What is Invincible XV?

The new online game asks players to do a simple task – assemble a 15-man team in a random draft to win a 20-game tour against the greatest rugby teams of all-time.

Can you build a team of greats that can beat the 1974′ Invincible British & Irish Lions team but also can topple the 2023 back-to-back World Cup Springboks?

To do so, all you have to do is build a team from the greatest players of all-time to complete the task, using a random simulator and luck of the draw to feed your XV.

Once you run the simulator, you will take on 20 teams from a century of rugby with the hope of a perfect tour. If you do not manage it, you simply go again.

If you want to play, you can find the simulator here.

How do I play Invincible XV?

The new social media game occupying all of our time is quite simple and here are the steps for how to play:

  • Pick your game mode from which players you have access to. You have the option of all-time XV, players from World Cup-winning sides, Six Nations champions, Rugby Championship winners or successful British & Irish Lions Tours.
  • Select your difficulty. You can go easy which allows you up to three redraws, medium that allows one redraw or go hard with none at all.
  • Decide whether you want to see the player’s ratings as determined by the game or pick blind, trust your rugby knowledge.
  • And then decide if you want to pick position first or from a squad selection first.
  • Then start your draft, filling in all 15 positions from the random generator, using redraws if you have opted for them.
  • Once you have picked your full team, start your tour and see if you can go unbeaten for 20 games.

What happened when Rugby World played?

Being rugby experts, Rugby World expected to pick a team that would go unbeaten with its first attempt at the game. We could not have been more wrong.

We opted for the easy mode, allowing up to three redraws, and decided to pick from squads rather than positions.

Going through the squad selection process, we began to build a very capable team that include Sir Gareth Edwards and Jonny Wilkinson at nine and 10 plus Willie John McBride and Victor Matfield in the second row.

Invincible XV, the new viral rugby draft game (Invincible XV)

Invincible XV, the new viral rugby draft game (Invincible XV)

Invincible XV, the new viral rugby draft game (Invincible XV)

Invincible XV, the new viral rugby draft game (Invincible XV)

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However you quickly realise that some teams are not as stacked as others and when you get to the last final picks, you may be left with sub-optimal choices.

For us, even though we are fans of his, Argentina’s Marcos Ayerza coming in at loosehead prop really brought our pack overall ranking down.

In the end, we were left with a team rated 89/100 and given the projected record of a 19-1 tour.

Rugby World were one game away from perfection (Invincible XV)

Rugby World were one game away from perfection (Invincible XV)

This is exactly what happened when we run the simulator, eventually losing one match to the 2003 England World Cup-winning side.

Why are these games proving so popular?

Whether it is the “38-0” Premier League game, “46-0” Championship game of Invincible XV for rugby fans, these games are proving highly addictive.

In fact, the Rugby World X feed is dominated by them which makes a nice change from Ai slop videos.

The beauty of the game is that not only does it give us a nostalgia hit of our favourite rugby stars of the past, it gives us a platform to show off our superior rugby brains to all of our followers.

For example, knowing to pick a Springbok-heavy pack and Gerald Davies on the left wing is a key to success.


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