The Rugby Magazine - Fantasy Rugby

[Scrumhead]

Just got knocked out I believe, rather annoying since I'm doing fairly well overall. Still can't get to the top of our league though!

Our league is ridiculous. A couple of weeks back, I went up 30 places overall and still went two places back in our league.

The overall leader has averaged 517 points per week which is really, really good work.

I think I’ve learnt some lessons I can apply to do better next season, but I still feel like there’s some trick I haven’t picked up to take me from scoring c440 points per week to 500+.

[Raggs]

I've not put as much effort in over the last couple of weeks, I suspect I could have eeked out a few more points, but not enough to change my league position.

517 a week is pretty exceptional.

[Mellsblue]

Just got knocked out I believe, rather annoying since I'm doing fairly well overall. Still can't get to the top of our league though!

The overall leader has averaged 517 points per week which is really, really good work.

Name and shame.

[Scrumhead]

The leader in our league is Sam Shark who has been very quiet recently. He’s averaging 507 points per week and is currently 4th overall.

Raggs is second in our league and 11th overall.

The strange thing with our league is that I don’t know who most of the teams belong to.

Aside from Sam Shark, Raggs, Puja, Bitts and Stom I don’t know the rest.

[Peej]

I'm the Platypodes, but I'm so far down the table you probably haven't noticed me!

[Mellsblue]

I'm the Platypodes, but I'm so far down the table you probably haven't noticed me!

Scrumhead doesn’t have time for Platytudes

[Scrumhead]

Who are you Mells?

[Bloggs]

I'm Bracher RFC in the league - went up to 6th for 1 day, back down to 7th where I haven't moved for months!

[Mellsblue]

Who are you Mells?

Not in it. Sounds far too onerous.

[Scrumhead]

I’ve been 9th or 10th pretty much constantly.

I was closer to climbing the table until I had a massive injury crisis and had to sacrifice 120 points over a couple of weeks to put a side out.

I’ve come to the conclusion that the next couple of players above me are too consistent for me to realistically catch-up on the 100 points or so that I’d need to leapfrog them.

The only way I can think of is a genius choice of captain that no-one else chooses to bump up my points total. I was hoping Mikey Haywood would do that for me this week and although he got a decent 54, I think a captain needs to be getting 70+ to be a real difference-maker.

[Scrumhead]

Anyway ... team of the week as follows:

1. Bateman (Leicester) - 51pts
2. Cooper (Newcastle) - 43pts
3. Ma’afu (Northampton) - 40pts
4. Kitchener (Leicester) - 55pts
5. Green (Newcastle) - 42pts
6. Mercer (Bath) - 41pts
7. Wallace (Harlequins) - 40pts
8. B. Curry (Sale) - 37pts
9. Arr (Worcester) - 49pts
10. Flood (Newcastle) - 46pts
11. Morris (Harlequins) - 39pts
12. Toomua (Leicester) - 41pts
13. Scott (Gloucester) - 37pts
14. Thompstone (Leicester) - 37pts
15. Shillcock (Worcester) - 40pts

Current Rugby Rebels Premiership table:

https://therugbymagazine.com/fantasy/pr ... remiership

[bitts]

Thought I was having a pretty good week. 496 points. 24th overall gameweek rank.

How many points did i gain on the frontrunner in our leage. 24. going to need something exceptional to make any real headway

My aim now is to somehow sneak into the top twenty overall.

Problem is, the only way to make any real headway with the leaders is to gamble and go after less fancied players you think may hit big.

[Puja]

I'm solidly 5th and seem to be in a position where the four in front of me consistently outscore me, but those below usually get outscored by me. I think I'm settled in for solid European qualification without troubling the play-offs.

I'm with scrumhead - I've learned a lot about what does and doesn't work with these rules and the initial squad selection, but our league is so ridiculous that I'm not confident of it make a big difference next year!

My one transfer in of the week? Bateman. That decision was the difference between me staying in the cup and going out.

Puja

[Puja]

Every time I sign someone, they either injure themselves that game or lose favour and are never heard of again. Apologies to Obano, Koch, Collins, Purdy, Wilson, Rowlands, Alo, Perenise, Yeandle, and Mapapalangi, all of whom have been dropped or injured shortly after me signing them and who are still lingering in my squad due to my inability to have a free week to start transferring out dead wood. Jack Willis is next on the chopping block as one of my signings this week, so sorry to anyone who had England hopes for him.

Oh FFS! This is ridiculous! I have both of these as relatively recent transfers! http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/rugby-union/43133412

Puja

[Scrumhead]

Maddening isn’t it

[Stom]

I've just been too busy to pay any attention for a while now, so I've completely dropped off the pace. If I do find the time, I'd love to take part next season and give it a real go, but the worry is that one week of inactivity kind of ruins the whole season, especially in such a competitive league.

I also now understand that, while there are a few players I really like, who perform really well IRL, they're not the best in this game. And in fact, other players who I don't particularly like are better bets.

[Scrumhead]

A lot of it is observing how points are scored and which players are good at racking them up versus those who aren’t.

That sounds obvious, but the team of the season based purely upon the stats/points in the game will be very different to the teams we’d all pick based upon our own impressions.

I think the quality of our league is giving us a slightly false impression anyway - the average score per week is usually in the 200s whereas most of us are scoring 350-450.

[Raggs]

How points are scored is very important. It's why I've tended to try to have Hougaard on the wing. Yes, if I picked Woodburn/Wade etc on a good day, I'd score more, but a starting 9 is a great bet for a solid 20-30 points every time, and with the potential to go much higher, whereas a wing on a bad day can easily end up with a 10 or less score.

[Scrumhead]

Yep. The only snag with that is that there aren’t that many 9s who can play in multiple positions.

[Raggs]

Yep. The only snag with that is that there aren’t that many 9s who can play in multiple positions.

Nope, but there's other options where you can get similar results, 9s are about the best though. I started off trying to stuff my team with wingers, now I try and go for reliability, rather than chancing the big score.

[Puja]

I'm very boring - I try and pick players in their main positions, even down to it making me twitch if I have to pick two looseheads. It's almost certainly not optimal, but it makes me feel better.

I still play wingers in the centres, of course - anyone can play centre in real life, so that's okay.

Puja

[Scrumhead]

I am the same. I have the same mental duel every time I select a team! I’ve had to overcome my OCD tendencies but if I can pick people in the right positions, I’ll make a point of doing it.

[Shiny]

I finally got my non working account here sorted. If you were wondering who the hell Team Bradford on fantasy rugby its me. Happily mediocre and sitting mid table which is where I started.

This season is my first bash at this and it seems to be going okay.

[Puja]

I have choices! Actual choices. I've left players out! I've transferred one of my injured dead wood out without needing to transfer two in to make a XXIII!

Puja

[Raggs]

I have food poisoning! Really didn't think hard about my selection and don't care to change it!

Thought i saw something about only having 4 more (free?) transfers this season when i fired someone but skipped the page so quick i could be wrong. Is that a thing?