This is the first game overview we have to give you the ins and outs of the available games in place for this season’s Women’s Six Nations. The official Six Nations site has reopened their Fantasy game for the Women’s Six Nations and there is a huge amount of excitement at having a game finally in place for the tournament.
If any new games pop up, please let us know at fantasyrugbygeek@gmail.com or @frugbygeek on Twitter.
THE PREMISE
The Six Nations Fantasy Game is now a regular staple of the Men’s Six Nations and it has grown to be a popular and highly competitive game with a few interesting loopholes allowing those who know what they are doing to score big.
It’s a salary-cap style game, so you have a budget of 205 stars to build a squad of 15 players. The value of the players goes up and down based on their popularity, so you have the ability to build your squad value throughout the tournament.
The scoring is interesting, players are well rewarded in particular for tries (15 points) and Player of the Match performances (15 points), but as in previous years (albeit to a lesser extent), the biggest influencing factor is on offer for players on winning teams (“team points” – 12 points for a home win and 18 points for an away for the players on the field for the full 80 minutes + points for the margin of victory) , so study the pre-match predictions and if there are any runaway favourites, then load your team up.
You have unlimited transfers between each round so make sure you take advantage of that and field the best possible team you can for each round, no need to plan ahead.
Unlike the men’s game, there is no bench (so no worrying about the supersub) and you can select up to five players per team.
THE KEY POINTS
- Site: https://fantasy.sixnationsrugby.com/
- Squad Size: 15
- Double scoring captain?: Yes
- Designated Kicker?: No
- Transfers: Unlimited per round
- Max players from one team: 5
THE EDGE
Above all, pick players who will win
With 18 points available for players playing a full 80 on an away winning team (and 12 for a home win) and also for the margin of victory (+0.5 or -0.5 points per points difference, e.g if team wins by 50 points, the players on the winning team will get 25 points and the players on the losing team will get -25 points), your first port of call should be to load your team up with players playing for the favourites. If in doubt, check the handicap betting (a market where the bookies give the underdog a points advantage to level the match up) odds. Any team given a handicap of -10 or more you should have the full complement of 4 of their players in your team. Less than 5 and you are best spreading your team with 3 players of the marginal favourite and 2 players of the marginal underdog (or if you are feeling gung ho, go with you gut feeling and select 4 players from the team who you think will win). Also make sure that you select a player who will play a lot of minutes as the match result points are awarded based on how long the player is on the pitch for.
England
In the Women’s Six Nations, England are the huge favourites. The bookies have priced England 1/5 to win the tournament, with their closest rivals France at 5-1. England have class all over the park (The editor of FRG may be biased considering 3 of the current England squad came from the same club that he coaches the minis at. Cmon PRFC!) and the likes of Emily Scarratt, Sarah Bern, Abigail Dow, Vicky Fleetwood, Jess Breach and Poppy Cleall should gather plenty of points for their fantasy managers.
Tries, Tries, Tries
Tries are another route to big points in this game (Forwards – 18 points and Backs – 15 points) so go with tryscorers wherever possible. Tackles, runs and kicks are poorly rewarded in comparison, so primarily load up with those who are known to have a good international try scoring record.
Last year the following would have helped you hugely; Cyrielle Banet (France) – 4 tries, Abigail Dow (England) – 4 tries, Poppy Cleall (England) – 4 tries, Laure Sansus (France) – 4 tries, Jess Breach (England) – 3 tries and Vicky Fleetwood (England) – 3 tries.
Play the market
The Game is a salary cap game, so how you allocate your budget is key. One key point to note is that players values go up and down throughout the tournament based on their popularity, so you can build your teams maximum value throughout the tournament. This can be of enormous value come the closing couple of rounds of the tournament, so make your transfers wisely, and if you have any players in your side who may lose value (they could be injured or out of favour with the coaches, then ship them out ASAP!).
Double check your XV is starting before the round lock
Once the gameweek lock has passed, you cannot change your team. Lineups are usually all announced by Friday afternoon, so keep an eye on the lineups and make sure your XV are all starting.
Kickers not categorised as fly-halves
Often fantasy games force you to select one kicker to gain points from conversions, penalties, drop goals etc. Not here, so if you can find kickers who play outside of the fly-half position then they are well worth picking up, as they are guaranteed points (Another reason to pick Emily Scarratt who is categorised as a Centre…)
Make the most of the transfer allocation
Unlike other games, the Official Game allows you to completely tear up your team for no points penalty in between rounds. This means you can load your team fully optimised for each round. If you need to make 15 changes, then don’t hold back. Just do it!
Come and join the FRG league!
Join our public fantasy league on the SuperBru Champions Cup Fantasy Game. Sign up to the game here.
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FRG on the Fantasy Rugby Yanks podcast
ICYMI FRG had the honour of joining Jarrod and Ben, the Fantasy Rugby Yanks, on Episode 100 of #TRFY. We sank some beers and chatted All Time XV’s and the TFRY back story, give it a watch below or download it on all the usual Podcast spots…
Looking for more Fantasy Rugby insight and Resources?
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