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
With so many players away at the Autumn Nations Cup and no club form to go off, it’s best to take the projected handicap lines with a pinch of salt. It’s Round 1 so anything can happen, but here are the projected lines…
- Bath to beat Newcastle by 13 points
- Sale to beat Northampton by 11 points
- Wasps to beat Bristol by 9 points
- Exeter to beat Harlequins by 5 points
- Leicester to beat Gloucester by 2 points
- Worcester to beat London Irish by 2 points
Expected to go well on Fantasy Rugby Draft and The Rugby Magazine
*Players who are starting favourably out of position (i.e. Hooker in back row, Centre on wing, etc.)
Recommended The Rugby Magazine captain pick in bold
FRONT ROW
- Akker Van Der Merwe (Sale)
- Tommy Taylor (Wasps)
- George McGuigan (Newcastle)
- Harry Williams (Exeter)
- Lewis Boyce (Bath)
- Coenie Oosthuizen (Sale)
- John Afoa (Bristol)
LOCKS
- Nick Isiekwe (Northampton)*
- Jean-Luc Du Preez (Sale)
- Jannes Kirsten (Exeter)*
- Chris Vui (Bristol)*
BACK ROW
- Zach Mercer (Bath)
- Jack Willis (Wasps)
- Sam Simmonds (Exeter)
- Thomas Young (Wasps)
- Alex Dombrandt (Harlequins)
- Dan Du Preez (Sale)
SCRUM-HALF
- Ben Spencer (Bath)
- Faf De Klerk (Sale)
- Ben Vellacott (Wasps)
FLY HALF
- Joe Simmonds (Exeter)
- AJ McGinty (Sale)
- Rhys Priestland (Bath)
CENTRES
- Rohan Janse Van Rensburg (Sale)
- Sam James (Sale)
- Jimmy Gopperth (Wasps)
- Billy Twelvetrees (Gloucester)
- Andre Esterhuizen (Harlequins)
OUTSIDE BACKS
- Ruaridh McConnochie (Bath)
- Luke James (Sale)
- Josh Bassett (Wasps)
- Joe Cokanisiga (Bath)
- Tom O’Flaherty (Exeter)
- Zach Kibirige (Wasps)
Value Fantasy Rugby Draft Free Agent Pick-ups
Please note that not all of these players may be available as free agents in your leagues, but if they are, then move quickly!
- Cadan Murley – OB – Harlequins
- Nick Isiekwe – L – Northampton
- Ian Whitten – M – Exeter
- Tom De Glanville – OB – Bath
- Henry Taylor – HB – Northampton
- Juan De Jongh – M – Wasps
- Harry Potter – OB – Leicester
- Freddie Steward – OB – Leicester
- Jordy Reid – LF – Gloucester
Fantasy Rugby Draft Premiership Pre-season Briefing…
With Draft season fully underway, don’t miss our guide to this year’s Sleepers and Busts to help you to select an unstoppable team for this unique and strange season. Also, for even more tips to give you the edge, make sure check out our interview with some previous top Fantasy Rugby Draft players, including Bryn Williams and Roy Robertson. Also, in case you missed it, your humble FRG editor appeared on the Fantasy Rugby Draft podcast on two episodes over the last two weeks alongside Sam Roberts and FRD Founder Bruce Wilkinson. In the first episode we ran the rule over the new season and in the second we looked at players and who will be this season’s sleepers, busts and breakouts. Give them a listen below or check it out on the usual Podcast platforms…
2020/21 Episode 1: Guide to the FRD Season Launch
2020/21 Episode 2: Guide to this season’s potential Sleepers and Busts
Also if you are new to the game, check out our guide to Fantasy Rugby Draft this season, with a few additional hints to help take your team to the next level.
Finally, if you are playing Fantasy Rugby Draft and are looking for a helping hand for your Fantasy Rugby Draft team, the good guys over at FRD have a hugely useful Manager Pro feature (what is Manager Pro you ask? Look no further…)
You can buy Manager PRO here for the Premiership for a bargain price of just NZ$24.95 (Roughly GBP £13), an absolute steal, so make sure you get on it; it’s a gamechanger.
In addition, if you are looking to take your league to the next level, I’d highly recommend you and your league mates all chipping in to get League Pro. League Pro allows you to configure your league’s draft order, configure the make up of your league’s pools and above all else let’s you crown the Wooden Spoon winner aka the winner of the Sacko Bracket, by having bracket for the worst performing teams in the league. It’s an awesome addition that really keeps all the players in your league fully committed for the whole season. League PRO is available for NZ$34.00, which works out as NZ$3.40 or GBP£1.75 per player in the league.
The Rugby Magazine Premiership Pre-season Briefing…
Must reads ahead of the 2020/21 season on FRG around The Rugby Magazine…
- Don’t miss our interview with the 2019/20 overall Premiership TRM champion, Alasdair Haines. In it he provides some excellent insights as to how he fought off the challenge of thousands of other players to end the season at the top of the pack!
- If you are new to The Rugby Magazine, don’t forget to check out our guide to the game for the 2020/21 season.
- Finally if you are looking to find the value amongst the player pool, then check out our guide to the Rugby Magazine Value Picks
This season, The Rugby Magazine have also announced an excellent initiative to support the RPA’s charity, Restart Rugby
🔴 𝗦𝗢𝗠𝗘𝗧𝗛𝗜𝗡𝗚 𝗙𝗢𝗥 𝗧𝗛𝗘𝗠 🔴 🚨 We’re delighted to announce we’ve teamed up with @RestartRugby, the official charity of the Rugby Players’ Association, and will donate 50% of every upgrade within our Premiership fantasy game. 👉 https://t.co/r00vCf0Bcs pic.twitter.com/Y7Ke5DPPn2
— The Rugby Magazine (@therugbymag) November 13, 2020
This season, the Rugby Magazine have teamed up with Restart, the official charity of the Rugby Players’ Association, and will donate 50% of every upgrade within their Premiership fantasy game. They are aiming to raise enough money to pay for their confidential counselling service for six months, but with the players of the Rugby Magazine’s help, the aim is to cover it for the full year. In this, we as Fantasy Rugby players have the chance to give back to those who give so much to us.
Furthermore, in an exciting new launch ahead of the 2020/21 season, The Rugby Magazine has now launched an iPhone app. The App is free to download in the App Store with Android coming soon…
Finally, if you back your Fantasy Rugby skills to lead you to Fantasy Premiership glory in The Rugby Magazine and win you some stash while you are at it, then join our public fantasy league on The Rugby Magazine fantasy game, where a Fantasy Rugby Geek Trucker Hat, and a signed paperback copy of the Fantasy Rugby Handbook will be on offer for the winner of the league. To join, Sign up to the game here & go to Leaderboards > Public Leagues and join “Fantasy Rugby Geek”. Good luck!
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.
Come and join the FRG league!
If you back your Fantasy Rugby skills to lead you to Fantasy Premiership glory and win you some stash while you are at it, then join our public fantasy league on The Rugby Magazine fantasy game, where a Fantasy Rugby Geek Trucker Hat, and a signed paperback copy of the Fantasy Rugby Handbook will be on offer for the winner of the league. To join, Sign up to the game here & go to Leaderboards > Public Leagues and join “Fantasy Rugby Geek”. Good luck!
Introducing The XV
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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! Looking for more Fantasy Rugby news, tips and advice? Follow @frugbygeek on Twitter, Like us on Facebook or sign up to the newsletter below to get fantasy rugby news delivered straight to you!