Fantasy Rugby Games Overview – The Daily Telegraph Fantasy Rugby World Cup Game

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The third of a series of game overviews to give you the ins and outs of the available games in place for the 2019 Rugby World Cup. If any new games pop up, please let us know at fantasyrugbygeek@gmail.com or @frugbygeek on Twitter. Next under the microscope is a UK-based game for The Daily Telegraph Fantasy Rugby game, check it out here.

THE PREMISE

A salary cap style fantasy game, you have a budget of £100m to fill your team of 15 with players. You have no limit on players from any one country and you must pick 1 Hooker, 2 Props, 2 Second Rows, 3 Back Rows, 1 Scrum Half, 1 Fly Half, 2 Centres and 3 Outside Backs

Once the tournament gets underway, you can make several transfers throughout the tournament (40 to be exact in the pool stage and another 15 in the knockout stage), and you can shift your captain around reguarly too (15 captain changes in the pool stage and 3 in the knockout stage).

It looks a like a good option for the casual player and some great prizes are on offer for the winners.

THE KEY POINTS

  • Site: https://fantasyrugby.telegraph.co.uk
  • Squad Size: 15
  • Team size: 15
  • Double scoring captain?: Yes, you can change it 15 times in the pool stage and 3 times in the knockout stage
  • Designated Kicker?: No
  • Transfers: 40 transfers in the pool stage and 15 transfers in the knockout stage
  • Max players from one team: Unlimited

THE EDGE

Choose your captain wisely

There are double points for a captain, so choose your skipper wisely. You can play it safe with a kicker, or consult the anytime tryscorer odds to see if any player in particular is expected to fill their boots with tries. You also have 15 captain picks in the pool stage, so make sure you use these well, and plan in advance for the real mismatches so you get the most bang for your buck.

Use your transfers strategically

You have 40 transfers in the pool stage and as there are no overlapping matches you can transfer players before each game, so with this knowledge, use your transfers carefully. Load up for all the big mismatches, and make sure you get the kickers and likely tryscorers in for these games. Also check the calendar; your player has a short turnaround between two matches? Keep them in! A long period of days between games? Ship them out and bring them back in when their next game comes along. 

Check out this chart from the legend that is Russ Petty for a breakdown of gaps between matches…

Don’t be too frugal with your budget

You have a budget of £100m for 15 players, which gives you £6.6m per player. A generous budget which should allow you to fill your squad with strength throughout. There are potential bargains to be had however, including the likes of Sinckler, Tupou, Folau Fainga’a, Itoje (4.4m!!), Mafi, Ardie Savea (another steal, surely a mistake in pricing at 5.4m), Takulua, Mo’unga, Kerevi, Radradra, Bridge, Minozzi and Koroibete, all worth a look in, but if you can afford a premium star, then go for it!

Plan ahead

Keep an eye on the fixture list when making your transfers to ensure that you get the best bang for your buck and that the players in teams with favourable runs of fixtures are in your side

Double check your players are starting

It’s obvious but with so much rotation at the RWC, make sure that all your players are starting

Out-of-position players are worth their weight in gold

Keep an eye on players who are classified in one position but end up playing in another position that may well provide greater returns (think a winger classified as a centre, a loose forward classified as a lock, etc).

Load up with kickers

There is no limit on the amount of kickers you can select and kicks are guaranteed points, so while you are restricted to one fly half, if there are kickers playing in other positions (scrum half and full back for example…) then sign them up.

 

Other Fantasy Rugby Games for Rugby World Cup

A summary of the top games that you can play fantasy rugby for the Rugby World Cup…

  • The Rugby Magazine – Stats rich salary cap style game – Check out our review here
  • PlayOn – Daily Fantasy for Rugby – Sign up today here to receive a free $22 entry with a first-time deposit – Check out a previous review here (Rugby World Cup review coming…).
  • SuperBru – An old favourite with salary cap fantasy rugby among other games and sports – Check out our review here.
  • The Irish Times – Salary cap game with a €3000 top prize – Check out our review here.

Pre-tournament articles

In case you missed any of our other pre-World Cup articles, make sure you check out the following to help guide your pre-tournament preparations…

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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If you back your Fantasy Rugby skills to lead you to Fantasy Rugby World Cup 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 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!

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