The first of a series of game overviews to give you the ins and outs of the available games in place for this season’s Aviva Premiership. If any new games pop up, please let us know at fantasyrugbygeek@gmail.com or @frugbygeek on Twitter. First under the microscope is a new game for this season by the good folks at The Rugby Magazine, check it out here.
THE PREMISE
A salary cap style game with a nod to Fantasy Premier League but with a few new and innovative tweaks for rugby.
You have a budget of £7m to build a squad of a minimum of 28 players, from these 28 you must pick a match day 23, all of whom will score for you (your bench getting you half points). As your entire match day 23 scores points, it crucial that you use your limited transfers wisely. Similarly to FPL, the players’ value increases and decreases over the course of the season, so as the season goes on you can build your team’s value.
A really nice touch is the allowance of players to play in multiple positions, reflecting the real life scenario that someone may be a bit of a utility player popping up in multiple positions over the course of the season. So Eliot Daly, for example, is assigned as a Full Back, Wing and Centre. This will allow a bit more flexibility when it comes to building your match day 23.
The transfer system is slightly complicated. Once the season is up and running, you are limited to releasing 5 players per week – only 1 of these are free though, the remainder will each incur a 20 point transfer penalty. There is no limit on how many players you can bring into your squad, other than the remaining budget in your salary cap.
It’s a new game this season, and it will be exciting to see how it goes. It’s certainly a great looking mobile-friendly site with some highly intuitive UX, and fills the salary cap game-style gap left by last season’s promising but slightly buggy Fantasy Rugby UK, which it seems has bitten the dust.
THE KEY POINTS
- Squad Size: A minimum of 28
- Team size: 23 – The 8 on your bench will earn half points
- Double scoring captain?: Yes
- Designated Kicker?: Yes
- Transfers: 1 free transfer (player release) per gameweek, up to 4 more releases allowed at a cost of 20 points per release
- Max players from one club: 6
THE EDGE
Use your squad well
It seems the most crucial observation is that you must use your squad well, it is critical that you have a match day 23 of players who should always be involved. 23 starters, even better, but what with squad rotation this is always a challenge.
Dodge the internationals
Although it’s tempting to load up with big names, your limited transfers will be better used on guaranteed starters each week of the season so that you don’t find yourself having to make costly multiple transfers when it comes to the Autumn Internationals and Six Nations.
Multiposition players are worth their weight in gold
Given the transfer restrictions and the squad size, by filling your squad with players who can play in multiple positions, you will provide your team with a lot more flexibility in case of injury, resting and rotation.
Players who like to run with the ball have the potential to score big
You will be well rewarded with players who run the ball in from deep and can take on and beat players, so load your team up with fullbacks and wings who like to run with the ball. The likes of Christian Wade and Semesa Rokoduguni are obvious choices here, but the likes of Olly Woodburn, Tim Visser and Vereniki Goneva would have also scored very highly last season.
Friday afternoons will never be the same
You have a small window of time between the Saturday and Sunday squads being announced at midday and the Friday night game kicking off, so make sure you log on in this time to make sure your proposed 23 is actually playing. Keep an eye on the team announcements on the Fantasy Rugby Geek Aviva Premiership Twitter List to catch the team announcements as they come in.
Plan ahead
Keep an eye on the fixture list when making your transfers to ensure that you get the best bang for your buck. If a certain team has a good run of games coming up bring them in. Conversely a side could have an attractive fixture that week but follows up with some tough games against the top dogs, it could be worth reconsidering!
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