Not a huge jump from 06 but it is still very addictive if you are into rugby. Great if you play against your friends.
If you played 06 a lot and could not wait for 08 to hit the shelves you where probably disappointed just like me the first couple of times you played 08. Not much have changed from 06, except for line-out controls, how drop-goals are taken, star players and the odd small thing here and there. No effort has gone into the development of the game itself. Everything looks pretty much the same.
No research has gone into the players themselves, ratings of players does not match their real potential and some even don't look like their real life counter parts... the skin color is wrong, the position they play, ext.
the 'create a player' option sucks... trust me all your guys that you create will look the same and wont fit in with the rest of the players (maybe something they can really approve on in the forth coming rugby games)
With all this it doesn't mean its a bad game, its just a bit disappointing. I really don't have an issue with the difficulty level, that's what multiplayer is for. hours and hours of fun playing against your mates. for the first time EA has the rights for the Rugby World Cup this time around, so it great to win it with my country South Africa on the game seeing that they won it in real life. You might have a view issues with some of the handling of the players like, 90 degree angle changes on full speed and grubber kicks taking to long to execute, but overall if you like rugby you will love this game.
just one note and this is not only on my game, i have witnessed it on 4 different copies. 50% of the time when you make a substitution or a player gets injured the game will freeze, really really annoying.
If you are reading this and you work for EA... PLEASE BRING OUT A NEW RUGBY GAME!