Welcome to Day 13 of FRG’s Fantasy Rugby World Cup Diary! A daily post during the World Cup in which I will be previewing the upcoming games, looking back at the previous matches and sharing the progress, trials and tribulations of all my teams across the 4 games live for the World Cup…
Match Day 11 Review
A big day of RWC action, which included the biggest win of the tournament so far.
First up today we had France v USA, which saw a spirited US performance in the first half come unstuck after a strong second half showing from Les Bleus. Outstanding performers included Gael Fickou, Camile Lopez and Baptiste Serin.
Second up was the Barrett show in Oita with the All Blacks making their second appearance of the tournament against Canada. At one stage at the start of the second half it looked as if the AB’s were going to be pushing 80-90 points but in the end the score stayed at 63-0. As expected, there were big fantasy points scored across the park, and the big scorers included Beauden Barrett, Jordie Barrett, Scott Barrett, Brad Weber, Rieko Ioane, Shannon Frizell, Kieran Read, Richie Mo’unga and Sonny Bill Williams.
Match Day 12 Preview
Tomorrow sees two more games, first up is Georgia v Fiji, which should be fairly evenly matched, but Fiji will be looking to reclaim some pride after what has been an extremely disappointing tournament so far. Players to keep an eye on from a fantasy perspective include Josua Tuisova, Peceli Yato, Semi Radradra and Leone Nakarawa from Fiji, and Beka Gorgadze from Georgia.
Following that is a mouthwatering tie between Ireland and Russia. An Ireland team with a huge point to prove and bonus points to secure after their shock defeat to Japan against a waning and porous Russia side has potential for serious fantasy points, and so fantasy players should be aiming to have plenty of Ireland coverage. The likes of Garry Ringrose, Keith Earls, Andrew Conway, Bundee Aki, Jordi Murphy and Tadhg Beirne should all rack up points and Jonny Sexton should also get plenty of kicking practice.
FRG’s Teams
The Rugby Magazine – Points: 1108 – Ranking: 118
A very good day and now I’m teetering on the edge of the top 100. The highlight of the day was the captain performance of Beauden Barrett, who brought in 92 points. Elsewhere Jordie Barrett brought in 26 points, Joe Taufete’e 12 points on my bench and Ardie Savea just 5 points after his late appearance against Canada. Tomorrow I’ll have Leone Nakarawa, Tadhg Furlong (on the bench for Ireland) and on my bench I’ll get points contributions from Beka Gigashvili, Beka Gorgadze and Josua Tuisova. I’ll be watching the Ireland game with fingers over my eyes hoping that all the players that I don’t have score a truckload!
SuperBru – Points: 521.50 – Ranking: 369
My Superbru day kicked off with me kicking myself that I didn’t wait until the last minute until selecting my side, as an early Australia squad announcement showed that Samu Kerevi would be rested, so I’ve got a wasted Centre spot this round. Today I had Richie Mo’unga (K), TJ Perenara, Ardie Savea and Louis Picamoles, who combined brought in a respectable 59 points. Tomorrow I have appearances for Andrew Conway (C), Garry Ringrose, Tadhg Beirne and Leone Nakarawa so I’m hoping for a good day.
The Daily Telegraph – Points: 912 – Ranking: 105
A cracking day, I rolled the dice with my transfers, bringing in Alvareti Raka and Gael Fickou for the France game, both of whom got on the scoresheet, then brought in TJ Perenara, Beauden Barrett, Reiko Ioane (C) and Ben Smith. All of whom contributed to bring me right on the edge of the Top 100. I have 16 transfers left and will bring in an Irish winger tomorrow (will probably flip a coin to determine who out of Earls and Conway) for Reiko who I assume will be part of some squad changes for New Zealand’s next game.
The Irish Times – Points: 624 – Ranking: 1056
A relatively good day in the Irish Times too, with Richie Mo’unga getting me 46 points alone, and Ardie Savea supplementing my score. With Keith Earls (C), Garry Ringrose, Tadhg Furlong, Leone Nakarawa, Semi Radradra and Josua Tuisova all playing tomorrow may well be the day that I break the top 1000 in this hideously painful fantasy game!
Get free tickets to The Rugby Show
The Rugby Show is a two-day gathering at the Ricoh Arena, home of Wasps, in July 2020. The Rugby Show already has a fantastic range of phenomenal speakers from across the professional game. The likes of Lawrence Dallaglio, Maggie Alphonsi, current England World Cup duo, Joe Marler and George Kruis and World Cup winner Sarah Hunter will be talking about their own experiences, about coping with injury, maintaining fitness, nutrition, providing demonstrations on how to improve your skills as a player and more. The line-up also includes recent MMA convert James Haskell, Premiership regulars Jimmy Gopperth and Tommy Taylor to name a few. Registration has now gone live and as an ambassador of the Rugby Show, Fantasy Rugby Geek is offering you FREE ENTRY to the event (which usually costs £15 for an adult ticket). Click this link https://the-rugby-show-2020.reg.buzz/fantasy-rugby-geek and enter the following code TRS20GRASSROOTS to book your FREE tickets now!
Looking for more Fantasy Rugby insight and Resources?
New for the 2019/20 season, we are proud to present the The Fantasy Rugby Handbook. 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 just £3.99 on Gumroad as a PDF and on Amazon in Kindle format (Free on Kindle Unlimited) – 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 the 2019 Rugby World Cup 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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