The Rugby Magazine - Fantasy Rugby

[Scrumhead]

This game is damn tough. To really compete you have to get it right almost every week.

Fullback has been my kryptonite so far this year, I went for Goode over Piutau to begin with and then had to reinvest the money from selling Goode in different areas. Marcus Watson’s Cup form deceived me and then Rob du Preez chose the week I signed him to register a deeply average score ...

So far I’m tracking for another underwhelming game week.

[Shiny]

Looks like I finished the World Cup 5th in our little league. My best placing ever (could have been higher if my two props today scored more than 5 points between them).

[Scrumhead]

I think most of us had Mako and Sinckler. Amusing that Sinckler’s 2mins managed to outscore Mako’s 60. Kind of tells it’s own story.

I finished first, but it’s not much consolation. I need to give Puja a shout out for gifting me the win by steadfastly refusing to pick any South Africans. I was tempted to do the same, but I thought the Welsh would get pumped so put the SA players on my bench.

[Peej]

I've had an absolute stinker in the Prem league. It'll leave me so far behind I might as well give up now, it'll be virtually impossible to make up the ground

[Scrumhead]

A bit early to give up ... keep going.

[Scrumhead]

Team of the week: https://therugbymagazine.com/fantasy/pr ... gameweek/3

Rugby Rebels Premiership standings: https://therugbymagazine.com/fantasy/pr ... remiership

[Shiny]

I've had an absolute stinker in the Prem league. It'll leave me so far behind I might as well give up now, it'll be virtually impossible to make up the ground

You can’t give up. Look on the bright side you could be me.
Having said all that I wonder how the Saracens thing might affect the fantasy rugby.

[Scrumhead]

Why would it affect the fantasy league? The game is based upon the players’ individual scores so they’ll not be affected by the points deduction.

[Shiny]

Why would it affect the fantasy league? The game is based upon the players’ individual scores so they’ll not be affected by the points deduction.

Yes but if they get shovelled out to other teams quickly then how does that work with team quotas. So I have my maximum amount of players I can select from Northampton Saints. I also have a young Saracens player who gets sold to Saints to at a bargain price mid season. That puts me over my quota so am I forced to sell a player or is it counted as exceptional circumstances. Not saying Sarries will dismantle their squad mid season but it could be a possibility depending on how the cap is enforced for this season.

[Bloggs]

Through this game, am I allowed to invest in companies to get more than £7m...?

[Shiny]

Through this game, am I allowed to invest in companies to get more than £7m...?

Only if your team name begins with an “S”.

[switchskier]

Through this game, am I allowed to invest in companies to get more than £7m...?

Only if your team name begins with an “S”.

Works for me.

Somehow I have four scrum halves in my squad and not one of them is starting. Very annoying.

[Peej]

I have three, including the much vaunted Maunder and Uren. But none of them are starting either!

I'm having to waste transfers fixing my prop situation, desperately wanted to get Vailanu this week, but didn't want another 20 point hit

[Scrumhead]

The 20 point is rarely worth it. Basically you have to be confident that the player will score more than the 20 you are losing which is by no means a given. You can definitely make a case for it being worth it in the long run if it fixes a major problem, but as a short term fix it’s not a great solution.

I’d planned carefully to fundraise to make a big post RWC signing, but Beaumont’s injury tonight is likely to mean shelving that to sign a lock instead.

[Peej]

I'm going to raise some funds by ditching Cips, he's been shocking.

The last two weeks I've had to buy props who have then had shockers. Balmain this week got -2!

[Puja]

The last three weeks have been appalling. I've had choices in selection and transfers and every single occasion where I could make a decision, I've made the wrong one. Do I pick Naiyaravoro or Segun last week went wrong, so this week I go for Naiyaravoro as captain against a weak Bath side... who then promptly won. We'll make no mention of signing Ross Harrison for a -4 score or of dropping Dombrandt to the bench and starting Ted Hill who scored a mighty 5 points.

Puja

[Scrumhead]

It’s fiendishly difficult to get right. This week’s sh!t decision was to start Harrison over Obano.

As sad as this will sound, I do a weekly ‘squad efficiency’ analysis to see what the highest potential score I could have got from the players I have and compare that to what I actually scored. I tend to average 90%, so I’m getting most of the decisions right, but the choice of captain is always huge. For example, this week starting Obano instead of Harrison would have given me 18 more points (32 - 2 = 30 vs. -4 + 6 = 12), which would have been better, but not game-changing, whereas as a good choice of captain will get 80-100pts which is a massive difference.

[Shiny]

It’s fiendishly difficult to get right. This week’s sh!t decision was to start Harrison over Obano.

As sad as this will sound, I do a weekly ‘squad efficiency’ analysis to see what the highest potential score I could have got from the players I have and compare that to what I actually scored. I tend to average 90%, so I’m getting most of the decisions right, but the choice of captain is always huge. For example, this week starting Obano instead of Harrison would have given me 18 more points (32 - 2 = 30 vs. -4 + 6 = 12), which would have been better, but not game-changing, whereas as a good choice of captain will get 80-100pts which is a massive difference.

Thank god. I thought it was only me who did a weekly spreadsheet analysis. Not that it does me much good mind.......

[Scrumhead]

I have all sorts in there including a year on year comparison chart!

I think the analysis I did ahead of last season was definitely a factor in me going from 200 and something the previous year to 27th, but I’m not sure I can kick on from there to be honest. I seem to be able to do consistently well enough but I’m usually about 50pts per week off the leaders and I’m not sure what they’re doing that I’m not?

[Scrumhead]

Team of the week: https://therugbymagazine.com/fantasy/pr ... gameweek/4

Rugby Rebels Premiership standings: https://therugbymagazine.com/fantasy/pr ... remiership

[Peej]

I think I've only got the choice of captain right once or twice.

Loader looks like he might be a decent buy

[Scrumhead]

Loader looked great at the weekend. Definitely a good points to cost ratio, but if you look at it, he’s up and down with Irish’s performances. In the games where they’ve been good, he’s been very involved (Wasps and Tigers) but in the games they’ve struggled in (Saracens and Sale) he scored pretty poorly. I’d expect Irish to have a fair few games where they’re the weaker team, so it might be a case of being selective on when to play him.

The choice of captain is a killer. Get it right and it’ll make your week, get it wrong and it’s a massive missed opportunity. I’ve got it mostly right so far this season.

[Stom]

I've not been active as much as I would have liked.

Made Thacker captain and kept him as captain. He's done ok there.

Will try to pick up for this weekend, even though I've a mountain to climb. The fight is on for backrow slots, though. Simmonds is back to his best, and Dombrandt will just score points after points. Props do seem to be the issue. I think it's because so many of them went up drastically in price, so all the cheaper buys score poorly.

Will need to adapt some things, Cips has been a big disappointment.

[Scrumhead]

Props are a bit more of a lottery. Even reliable ones like Harrison or Balmain can have a shocker and score minus points if they’re on the wrong side of the ref at scrum time.

They’re not all pricey though - Hoskins and Stuart are two of the highest scoring but are among the cheapest regularly starting for their clubs. The expensive ones (£300k+) outside of Mako and Genge are rarely worth it IMO.

[Shiny]

Dear god this weekends team is difficult. I think every DOR has conspired to rest all my players. I've had to take a 20 point hit just to get a starting 15 out. Most of my bench is red as well. This may not be a vintage score.