I use a Saitek rumble force gamepad, and it works well. The game is good, however the unlicensed teams is where the problem lays.
In my opinion the best features of the game are:-
Excellent player and cpu AI
Fun and enjoyable game, easy to play, but not for the diehard purist.
Excellent goal kicking system
Good graphics
Good feel to the game
Caters for all skills of gamer
Good licensed teams
Good range of licensed tourneys
Good scrum, ruck, maul and lineout systems
Kits can be updated with a couple of programs (baggi studio, dds converter)
Kicking system is good when you know how to do it and why (better for drop goals on certain angles etc)
The poor features of the game:-
No custom team/player editor other than team name and player name.
None, or very few attacking plays (dummy scissors etc)
Kicking doesnt really achieve anything
Hardly any penalties given for anything but knock-on.
Too few scrums
Rucks are slow
Opposition players can tackle you off-side (but you can too i think)
Super 14's are made up teams
unlicensed teams logos are wrong (i.e all blacks, wallabies) but can be fixed by modding (modding is editing the game outside of the game)
Some of the game animations are repetitive.
Tackling can be a little too aggressive on some animations.
Commentary is a little annoying, but i've heard worse!
Can't change game stats (i.e player stats or team rating) unless it is modded, but i havent worked it out yet.
Not always enough support for the lone runner.
Few moves off the base of forward play (i.e driving maul)
I love this game, it has a lot of promise, but seems like it was not finished. Game editors can be made to mod the game i'm sure, but most people prefer rugby06. I dont have a PS or xbox or any of that but i prefer to stick with this and figure out how to mod the game.
On some games you can actually adjust how the game runs, if you get the right programs.
If you want a tutorial on editing kits, and logos i can provide that. Also, it is worth noting that there is a 'cheat' for the game, which is the savegame file of someone who unlocked all the bonus features. That is downloadable off the net.
Happy RC06'ing!