The Rugby Magazine - Fantasy Rugby

[Stom]

The Burns brothers managed to screw me over royally this weekend!

Freddie scored 0 and Billy didn't even play which is infuriating considering that I only signed him to have an actual 10 starting. In hindsight, I wish I'd just played James at 10. He got me 16 points as a sub but had I put him at 10, I would have got 32 and I could have put another player on the bench to get me something at least.

If it makes you feel any better, I picked Yeandle as my starting hooker and Youngs on the bench. They scored a grand total of -1 between them. I'm not even sure how Yeandle managed to score 0 given how dominant Exeter apparently were!? No doubt my third and unused hooker, Dave Ward, will score a hat-trick tomorrow.

Puja

:p

Pleased with Genge's points haul from today. Veanu not so much.

Been hit and miss a bit since that first week, but with Simmonds, Genge and Solomona all scoring heavily, I'd expect to have a good week.

Still got a lot of players to score. I expect a lot of points from George, Sinckler, Launch, Itoje, Takalua, Smith and Wade.

[Scrumhead]

What's your team name Stom? Ours must be very similar and would have been even more so if I'd had the extra £3k I needed for Smith instead of Billy Burns!

I still have 8 starters and 2 subs playing in the remaining two games so I'm hopeful of a few more points.

[Stom]

What's your team name Stom? Ours must be very similar and would have been even more so if I'd had the extra £3k I needed for Smith instead of Billy Burns!

I still have 8 starters and 2 subs playing in the remaining two games so I'm hopeful of a few more points.

Daft Serious RFC.

[Raggs]

Anyone with Symons in their 2nd row will be disappointed, out with illness.

[Mellsblue]

Are these players and coaches not aware of your league?!?!? It's down right rude for them to drop players/drop out with injury at the last minute.

[Scrumhead]

FFS! That's two last minute drop outs for me this week!

Two starters and a kicker that kicked 0 goals as well, so I've realistically missed-out on a decent amount of points and about 3 places in the league.

I had James on the bench, but I could having played him at 10 (saving myself £148k on Billy Burns) and getting 14 more points. I could also have played Rhodes at lock and got an extra 10 points.

As it is, I'm hoping Sinckler, Horwill, Marchant and Wade come through for me today.

Round 3 isn't even over and I feel like mid-table mediocrity is the best I can expect! My only hope is that my strategy of playing a long-game with few stars/test players will help me during the AIs and 6N.

[bitts]

FFS! That's two last minute drop outs for me this week!

Two starters and a kicker that kicked 0 goals as well, so I've realistically missed-out on a decent amount of points and about 3 places in the league.

I had James on the bench, but I could having played him at 10 (saving myself £148k on Billy Burns) and getting 14 more points. I could also have played Rhodes at lock and got an extra 10 points.

As it is, I'm hoping Sinckler, Horwill, Marchant and Wade come through for me today.

Round 3 isn't even over and I feel like mid-table mediocrity is the best I can expect! My only hope is that my strategy of playing a long-game with few stars/test players will help me during the AIs and 6N.

It's a little early for that. Most, if not all, will have a few awful weeks over the season.

Mixed week for myself so far.

Think I'll be loosing a little ground on the top spots, which isn't ideal as I need to restructure my squad a little for the AIs, but should still be in touch. Could do with a few big weeks.


Kicking myself about Ribbans though. I'm getting too good at leaving players out of the side who then lost big scores.

[Scrumhead]

Yeah - one thing I hadn't factored in is the quality of our league relative to the overall table. We have the current number 1 and number 3 in our league and I'm 288th, so that means that I'm (and anyone above me) in the top 5% of players.

[Raggs]

Our league seems pretty good. You also have to remember that this week isn't over though. In theory someone could still have 12 starters, their captain and a kicker yet to play. I've only got 2 starters and 2 bench yet to play, so I'm easily in a position to lose ground.

[Peej]

I've had a shocker. Early injuries and guys like Yeandle doing nothing has scuppered me (along with my own poor choices of course!)

[Scrumhead]

I made 2 or 3 bad decisions this week that cost me a decent amount of points. Some of those were caused by players who were supposed to be starting but didn't, but on the other hand, two players who did play - Freddie Burns and Sinckler got me 0 and -1 respectively. If only I'd gotten over my OCD and played James at 10!

[bitts]

It does look like this is going to be a tough league. But it is still very early doors and a lot can happen in a week.

Have a feeling the squad Eddie goes with in the AIs could have a big impact. If he does a U-turn on players like Wade, Clifford, Robson and decides to try out Simmonds I could be in trouble.

[Scrumhead]

Latest league table:

1. Dr. Foster's Gloucesters - 1699
2. Arya Shark - 1636
3. Neanderthals - 1541
4. Bracher RFC - 1532
5. Bitts 15 - 1492
6. The Pujover Tries - 1454
7. Guwuffle's Galumphers - 1387
8. Daft Serious RFC - 1378
9. Dirty Eskimos - 1374
10. Scrum of the Earth - 1369
11. Royal Oak Wanderers - 1361
12. London Platypodes - 1314
13. Switches Selection - 1248
14. Olde Hulmetonians 3rd XV - 1232
15. The Bolted Horse - 1226
16. Moorey's Mauling Marauders - 1224
17. Chouly Madly Deeply - 1216
18. Team Bradford - 1194
19. El Tigres - 1181
20. Sad Ken the 3 Legged Wonderhorse - 1168
21. Black and Gold - 1162
22. Cable Street Particulars - 1089
23. Roos - 968
24. The Mean 15 - 926
25. Banahan's Bananamen - 868

Highest points this week: Dr Foster's Gloucesters - 572

Highest climber: Guwuffle's Galumphers - +7 places

Team of the week:

1. Genge
2. Kruse
3. Tarus
4. Itoje
5. Ribbans
6. Lawes
7. Curry
8. Simmonds
9. Youngs
10. MacGinty
11. Woodburn
12. Jennings
13. Marchant
14. Solomona
15. Woodward

[Peej]

I think Simmonds and Woodburn are the only players so far to be in every team of the week!

[Stom]

It's interesting, the pack is a lot easier to pick for than the backs. You get outliers, like Cruse's good performance or Sinckler's poor one, but in general you're going to find the same group of players in and around that pack, I think. And not many of them are going to go missing in November.

The backs, on the other hand... Woodburn looks a great bet, but he's not cheap. Otherwise, that seems to be where the most chopping and changing will happen.

I've got a decision to make at 10. If Burns doesn't start, I think I'll sell him and look around for another option. Who, though...The top 10s are very expensive, and the not top 10s play for bottom of the table sides or don't play...

I have a list of 7 players on my buy list. 3 of them are props, so only one of them will come in. Depends how much I spend elsewhere.

[Scrumhead]

I'm facing a similar quandary with Freddie Burns. I, along with most people, assumed he would be starting for Bath and as he's not currently in the England picture, I thought he'd be a reliable scorer I could play most weeks. Obviously that's not how it's panned out so far and unless he's starting for Bath soon, he's one of the players on my 'release list' ...

As I said earlier in the thread, I only bought Billy Burns in a panic on Friday when none of my regular 10s were starting but Saturday's late withdrawal aside, he's more likely to start than Freddie ATM.

I have a list of players I've earmarked as possibles to release and I have a list of players I want to sign. Some of it is injury driven and some of it is players not living up to my expectations so far ...

[Scrumhead]

I've probably gone for my most speculative 23 so far ... I'm either going to be very pleased with myself on Sunday night or kicking myself for trying to be clever ...

I've also entered a 2nd team (not in our league) just as a research exercise to see whether a different approach is actually beneficial or not for next season. In my original squad, I have a big squad but very few stars - it's mainly made up of solid, week-in, week-out performers, youngsters and gambles. The second squad is smaller and has a lot more established stars. In hindsight, I figure I can sell the big-name internationals when they're away for the AIs etc and replace them with the type of players I've got in my first squad.

[Stom]

Hard decisions this week. Sold Morgan. Replaced him with his replacement for England

So I'm hoping my backrow scores a shed load of points.

Dropped Denny, as it's Sarries, so it won't be easy for him. Brought back Gopperth, but kept Smith in case he does something against Tigers. Possible. SH is my only weak point, tbh.

Oh, and I'd get mullered IRL, 2 loose heads :p

[Scrumhead]

I sold Morgan this week too and replaced him with Ribbans and Ackermann. Hopefully a good 2 for 1 trade.

Looking at the fixtures, I'm expecting mainly home wins (except Irish vs. Saints) and I've picked my team to cater to that really. I'm kind of banking on Gloucester thumping Worcester tonight and Saints winning convincingly at London Irish.

I realised I have a lot of Wasps and Exeter players and I figure they may just cancel each other out this weekend, so I went light on both. Could be a mistake if it's a high-scoring game ...

[fivepointer]

i have 2 locks and 3 back rowers unavailable. of my sh's one is injured and 2 start from the bench this week. my rock solid 4th from bottom position might not be improved.

[switchskier]

So who's been the most dissapointing player that you've still got on your team? The player that you're holding out hope that they'll come good but has so far contributed pretty much nothing?

For me it's Tom Youngs. Captain, regular starter and ex-international. Yet so far he's scored just 24 points. He's getting one more week before changes are made.

[Puja]

Youngs went this week for me - that enabled me to buy Rapava-Ruskin and Singleton. I thought I was onto a winner with him - his lineout's usually good for Leicester and his carrying I thought would earn points, but he's done sweet FA. A bit of stuff going on in his personal life though, so it's understandable.

Puja

[bitts]

So who's been the most dissapointing player that you've still got on your team? The player that you're holding out hope that they'll come good but has so far contributed pretty much nothing?

For me it's Tom Youngs. Captain, regular starter and ex-international. Yet so far he's scored just 24 points. He's getting one more week before changes are made.

Kyle Sinclair - barely started - rubbish when has.

My last minute plan to loadup young players whose value would increase has also backfired. I've got around 500k locked up in people who aren't regular starters.

[bitts]

So who's been the most dissapointing player that you've still got on your team? The player that you're holding out hope that they'll come good but has so far contributed pretty much nothing?

For me it's Tom Youngs. Captain, regular starter and ex-international. Yet so far he's scored just 24 points. He's getting one more week before changes are made.

I was debating having Thacker, even though he rarely starts he's picking up a few points from the bench.

[Raggs]

Joe Taufete with no starts has been annoying. Fired Hepburn. Not sure if he's still injured, but I think he's just gone down the preferences. I've also brought in Ruskin, and also found that I had exactly enough left over for Collins, who i reckoned could be a good bet for Irish, so I've pushed Roko onto the bench (if he's not scoring tries, he's not scoring points).

EDIT - Debating Beaumont as well, he's really not much use, but offers flexibility. Might use next weeks firing slot for him, as long as there's no long term injuries.