The second of a series of game overviews to give you the ins and outs of the available games in place for this season’s Heineken Champions Cup.
If any new games pop up, please let us know at fantasyrugbygeek@gmail.com or @frugbygeek on Twitter.
Next to look at is the return of the game brought to us by the official governing body of European Club Rugby, the EPCR. Check it out here (where they also have a game for the Challenge Cup and Daily Fantasy).
THE PREMISE
A salary cap style fantasy game, much in the mould of FPL. You have a budget of 100m and you have to pick a team of 15 players, no bench. You have to pick 2 Props, 1 Hooker, 2 Locks, 2 Flankers, 1 Number eight, 1 Scrum Half, 1 Fly Half, 2 Centres, 2 Wings and 1 Fullback. As in SuperBru, you are limited to three players per team (so again don’t bank on loading your team up on players playing against Benetton Treviso every week!). This limit increases when the knockout stage starts.
Once the season gets are underway, you can make a limited number of transfers each round (three per each group stage round and this increases once the game reaches the knockout stage to unlimited transfers between the pool stage and quarter finals, five before the semi-finals and five before the finals).
Some cool features, that may be familiar to that those who have played FPL before, are the “cards” (aka chips in FPL parlance). There are three cards that can be used once a season to boost your points tally, although note that you can only use one card per round (so you can’t load all three in the same week!)…
- Wildcard: The wildcard can be used to make unlimited transfers free of charge, but it can only be used once during the season.
- Player Triple Points card: Select one player from the squad whose points will be tripled. The points could be negative or positive depending on the players points for the Round. This card can also be used on captain. This card can only be used once during the season.
- Team Double Points card: This card once played, will double all the players points in the squad (negative & positive) for the Round it has been on. This card can only be used once during the season.
This is the second year of the game, and it should satisfy all fantasy rugby fans who are missing their weekly fix of Premiership action.
THE KEY POINTS
- Squad Size: 15
- Team size: 15
- Double scoring captain?: Yes
- Designated Kicker?: Yes (Although if it is your captain, you won’t get double points for the kicks)
- Transfers: Pool stage – 3 per round, Between pool stage and quarter finals – Unlimited, Before semi-finals – 5 per round, Before finals – 5
- Max players from one club: 3 for Group Stage, 5 for quarter-finals, 6 for semi-finals and 8 for the final
THE EDGE
Try scorers will dominate
Looking at the points available, big points are on show for scoring tries, with 7 for try-scoring forwards and 5 for try-scoring backs. With this in mind, go for players with a track record of crossing the whitewash. Compared to meagre points offerings for tackles made and metres gained, tries are definitely where the value is at in this game. To help you select players likely to score, keep an eye on the bookies anytime tryscorer odds to help you make your decisions.
Choose kickers wisely
The points for the kickers are generous, with 2 points a conversion, 3 points a drop goal and 3 points for a penalty kick, so make sure that you select a kicker on good form and who is like to get a lot of shots at goal (although please remember that if you select a kicker as captain, their kicked points won’t count towards your doubled captain points).
Load up against the outsiders
While this year there is no Italian side, which were a traditionally safe bet to get a big win against, there are still some outsiders. These include Edinburgh (Outright winner odds – 100-1), Cardiff Blues (100-1), Ulster (150-1) and Newcastle (150-1). In such a competitive tournament, you need to find your edge where you can, so get your full complement of three playing against these teams each week, to ensure that you are maximising the probability of high scores. This is also where your captain picks should be.
Plan ahead
Keep an eye on the fixture list when making your transfers and using your wildcard to ensure that you get the best bang for your buck.
Double check your XV is starting before the round lock
Once the first match of the round has started, 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.
Join our fantasy league on the official EPCR European Rugby Fantasy Game. Sign up for the game here and when you have created your team, go to LEAGUES > JOIN A LEAGUE and enter the code ATQJIML9
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 £4.99 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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