Our latest instalment of our weekly pre-match updates where we analyse the weekend’s lineups, crunch the stats and see what the bookies are thinking to help you optimise your lineups for peak performance this weekend! By the time you finish this article you should have all the insight you need to score big fantasy points this weekend.
Make sure you come back every weekend before finalising your lineups!
Potential mismatches
The season now moves into the playoffs and the opportunities to move up the table are shrinking, so make sure that this week you take advantage of the unlimited transfers available in The Rugby Magazine. As far as the bookies are concerned, it’s a 2 horse race to take home the trophy with Saracens and Exeter both hot favourites this weekend. The expected results from the bookies are as follows…
- Saracens to beat Gloucester by 11 points
- Exeter to beat Northampton by 11 points
Expected to go well
*Players who are starting favourably out of position (i.e. Hooker in back row, Centre on wing, etc.)
Recommended captain pick in bold
Please note that these picks have been published before lineups were announced, so some of these picks may not be playing. Please double check the starting XV before you commit to your teams, or check back here at 1pm BST.
FRONT ROW
- Francois Van Wyk (Northampton)
- Harry Williams (Exeter)
- Vincent Koch (Sarcaens)
- Jack Yeandle (Exeter)
- Jamie George (Saracens)
LOCKS
- Franco Mostert (Gloucester)
- Will Skelton (Saracens)
- Ed Slater (Gloucester)
BACK ROW
- Ruan Ackermann (Gloucester)
- Billy Vunipola (Saracens)
- Maro Itoje (Saracens)
- Ben Morgan (Gloucester)
- Matt Kvesic (Exeter)
SCRUM-HALF
- Cobus Reinach (Northampton)
- Ben Spencer (Saracens)
FLY HALF
- Owen Farrell (Saracens)
- Dan Biggar (Northampton)
CENTRES
- Rory Hutchinson (Northampton)
- Henry Slade (Exeter)
- Alex Lozowski (Saracens)
OUTSIDE BACKS
- Liam Williams (Saracens)
- Jack Nowell (Exeter)
- Jason Woodward (Gloucester)
- Alex Goode (Saracens)
Premiership Rugby Injury News
Gaining reliable Injury news for the Premiership is extremely difficult, and while we don’t have a database of the latest injuries at Fantasy Rugby Geek, we would highly recommend The Rugby Magazine’s injuries page which remains the most exhaustive source of Premiership injury news that can be found. Details of this and many other useful Fantasy Rugby resources can be found at our Resources page.
Looking for more Fantasy Rugby insight and Resources?
New for the 2018/19 season, we are proud to present the The Fantasy Rugby Geek Guide to Fantasy Rugby. An exhaustive collection of wisdom and experience gained from over a decade of fantasy rugby playing. Primarily aimed at less experienced players but with enough nuggets of wisdom and insight for even the most grizzled fantasy rugby veteran. There is something here for all players. The eBook is available to download now for £3.99 on Gumroad as a PDF and on Amazon in Kindle format – check it out!
If you want some more sources to help you finalise your decisions, go to our resources page where you’ll find all this year’s Gallagher Premiership fantasy games, all the stats sources, injury news, team news, fantasy relevant rugby betting odds and tons of other useful information.
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