The Rugby Magazine - Fantasy Rugby

[Stom]

I forgot So my team is the same as last week. Sigh. That's me done for.

[Scrumhead]

Stom you’re still ahead of me even without changing your team!!!!

I’ve had a fairly crap week so far that can only really be saved by a Herculean performances from my Wasps and Exeter players.

I had to play a couple of 0s, had a couple of late drop-outs and and lost Smith (my kicker) without him scoring me any points. What makes that worse is that I meant to change my kicker to Gopperth but forgot after I moved him from 10-12.

[Peej]

Thought about bringing Goode in, but went for Foden. Thought about Blamahan, but went for Matt Smith.

I can see why I'm not a coach

[Scrumhead]

Very underwhelming week for me, not helped by FOUR players dropping out late and two players scoring 1 point each.

I managed to climb the table, but with a few better selections I could/should have done a good deal better.

Latest league standings as follows: https://therugbymagazine.com/fantasy/le ... remiership

Team of the week:

1. E. Waller (Worcester)
2. Johnson (Wasps)
3. A. Waller (Northampton)
4. Thrush (Gloucester)
5. Stooke (Bath)
6. Wilson (Newcastle)
7. Lewis (Gloucester)
8. Grant (Bath)
9. Heinz (Gloucester)
10. Mills (Worcester)
11. Adams (Worcester)
12. Purdy (Gloucester)
13. Tapuai (Bath)
14. Cheeseman (Harlequins)
15. Goode (Saracens)

[Raggs]

Still final updates to scoring to be done, I've lost lots of points before due to it, I'm not going to assume anything yet.

Managed to get to 2nd place, but lost distance on 1st place.

[Scrumhead]

I think the updates are done? The team of the week etc. isn’t normally on the dashboard until the points are all in.

[Raggs]

Nope, things have definitely changed a bit now, think I got a few more points, but the person now below me is closer than they were.

[Peej]

At last, I actually moved up a few places.

Though my idea that Sarries would have a big reaction with their England players back proved false, and Goode as captain didnt work. Interestingly, Goode's value has gone down - the only player I've seen do that.

At the outset I'd picked Holmes, but dropped him when it didn't look like Tigers would play him

[Scrumhead]

I finally managed to climb the table a little! This week was a good one for me but it could have been so much better if I had picked Billy Burns instead of Marcus Smith!

Latest table as follows: https://therugbymagazine.com/fantasy/le ... remiership

Team of the week:

1. A. Waller
2. George
3. M. Vunipola
4. Evans
5. Gaskell
6. Polledri
7. Skinner
8. Grant
9. Care
10. B. Burns
11. Short
12. Twelvetrees
13. Joseph
14. Sinoti
15. Pennell

[bitts]

Still think it's actually fairly close dispite the lack of movement. Most are still one or two big weeks away from challenging.

I just can't pick a captain to save my life. Genge let me down this week. Why I didn't stick with Armand I don't know. Would have climbed the overall leaderboard instead of staying the same.

[Scrumhead]

A good choice of captain makes a huge difference. On a good week, a captain can be worth about 80-100 points and up to about 20% of total points.

I’ve not quite mastered it ... apart from week two when Sam Simmonds got me a whopping 128 points, generally the player I choose as captain has had an uncharacteristically poor week when I pick them.

I’m averaging 39 points from my captain, but if you take that massive week from Simmonds out, it’s more like 30. I reckon you need 50+ from your captain to make up for the short fall from last minute drop outs and the odd single digit performance.

The overall leader has 5300 points (482 per week). By my reckoning to win this game you’d need to consistently score an average of 25 points from your starters (plus an addition 25 for your captain’s double points) and 10 each from your subs. That takes some doing.

[bitts]

Anyone else find that they have been screwed by Europe? have got 5/6 players either rested or injured at the moment. Just glad Armand is the ultimate workhorse.

[Scrumhead]

I’ve lost Genge, Waller and Gopperth and I was already without Horwill, Marchant, Rapava-Ruskin, Woodward and Collins.

I’ve managed to get a decent 23 out and had enough money to draft in a couple of cheap but solid replacements in Harrison and Skinner.

My dilemma is whether to hold on to my injured players or transfer them out, take the hit on points and buy new ones. I figure, I’m better off riding it out as long as I can get a 23 together.

[fivepointer]

A bit screwed, er, yep. I cannot put out a team of fit players. I only have 2 backs who are playing this weekend!

[Puja]

I managed to get XXII starters and one benched with only a 20 point hit. Subbed out Genge and Veainu to bring in Williams, Woodburn, and Walker.

I swear, each week, I swap out an expensive name for 2-3 cheaper options and I think, "Okay, well that's diluted things down, but at least I have a big enough squad now to not have to do this next week," and then next week, I'm struggling again to make a full XV.

Puja

[Raggs]

23, with 3 on the bench that are benched. It was a struggle though, and sold off one long term injury, got another one lined up for next week, and hopefully some of those guys that are rested will be brought back in. Gopperth is a pain.

[Scrumhead]

I managed to get XXII starters and one benched with only a 20 point hit. Subbed out Genge and Veainu to bring in Williams, Woodburn, and Walker.

I swear, each week, I swap out an expensive name for 2-3 cheaper options and I think, "Okay, well that's diluted things down, but at least I have a big enough squad now to not have to do this next week," and then next week, I'm struggling again to make a full XV.

Puja

Every damn week ... this game really is a tricky beast

[Puja]

I'm a bit disappointed that the pricing hasn't varied as significantly as I'd expected. I picked up Josh Adams at the start of his scoring run as an obvious bargain and have been patting myself on the back ever since. However, he's still only £97k, so I would imagine everyone in the entire league has him now. It'd have been fairer if prices went up and down depending on how many people signed or released players, so the early adopters got Adams at sub-£100k and those late to the party got him for the £250kish that he's probably now worth. Same with Simmonds and Isiekwe.

The game already knows what %age of the playerbase selects a player, so it could maybe be worked out as 'For every 1% extra of the playerbase who selects a player after the initial squads are finalised, his value goes up 5% of his original value.' And vice versa for players released.

Puja

[Scrumhead]

Yeah - I agree with this.

I’ve had Adams and Simmonds from the outset but they should definitely be more expensive to acquire now.

Essentially, I feel like there should have been more of an advantage for players who successfully picked out the bargains.

[Scrumhead]

I had a look at the stats and if the England team was picked on the basis of the game we’d have:

1. Waller
2. Singleton
3. Cooper-Woolley
4. Lawes
5. Spencer
6. Wilson
7. Gibson
8. Armand
9. Heinz*
10. Ford
11. Woodburn
12. Mallinder
13. Twelvetrees
14. Lewington
15. Goode

16. Dunn
17. M. Vunipola
18. Alo
19. Green
20. Welch
21. Care
22. J. Marshall*
23. Yarde

*Heinz and Marshall are England-qualified

Good job it’s not picked solely on stats!

[Scrumhead]

I’ve just about managed to get out a reasonable 23 this week with 19 of those starting after making one transfer.

I’m still holding off of taking the 20 point fines on some of my injured players as I’m not wholly convinced the replacements I’d be signing would score me enough points to justify it.

Right now I’m carrying Waller and Genge but I already have the other props that are close to them for points right now, so as long as I can out a decent side out, I’m keeping them. I’ve already been stung by a couple of players I took a fine for who then promptly scored single-digits and then got injured, leaving me at a net loss.

I’m regretting letting Woodward go last week though. I hadn’t realised how close he was to fitness and his versatility would have been a real bonus.

[Peej]

It was a bit weird, I wanted to sign LCD but he wasnt on the list!

Took another 20 point hit today to get more players in. But too many players on my bench are benched.

Does anyone know how this cup thing works? Is it a straight knock out?

[Scrumhead]

No idea re. the cup. There wasn’t really any explanation?

Presumably it’s just a series of head-to-heads based upon the points total for whatever rounds it matches up with?

Cowan-Dickie is definitely there. I toyed with the idea of buying him myself.

[Raggs]

Just now realised i forgot to set a captain after removing my original due to selection. Risks of working on a phone whilst trying to be sociable.

[Scrumhead]

The scores are still to be finalised, but I lost my cup game by about 25 points. Unfortunately, I got drawn against the guy who's currently 26th overall which was a little annoying considering there were 6,500+ other players I could have faced!

The current leader is on 6,246 points which equates to just over 520 a week or 23 points per player, per week. That's incredibly good.