The second in a series of game overviews to give you the ins and outs of the available games in place for this year’s 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 game that is quickly gaining popularity with all fantasy rugby players, it’s The Rugby Magazine, check it out here.
THE PREMISE
A salary cap style fantasy rugby game with a nod to Fantasy Premier League but with a few new and innovative tweaks for rugby.
You are given squad space to build a squad of a minimum of 28 players and a maximum of 35 players, and from these 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 squad and limited transfers wisely (you get one free transfer each week).
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 Kurtley Beale, for example, is assigned as a Full Back, Fly Half 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 tournament 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. You are limited to 3 players per country (this allocation goes up to 5 players per country in the Quarter Finals and 10 per country in the Semi Finals and Final).
New to the game for the Rugby World Cup are the ability to appoint a vice captain in case your captain does not play (particularly helpful as some of the later matches in the Gameweeks won’t have their starting XV’s named until after the gameweek lock) and some tweaks to the auto subs procedure, where the game’s engine will determine how to best utilise the players on your bench to fill those positions vacated by injury or selection, ensuring you receive maximum points. It will fill any holes in your team that have been left through players dropping out and you will receive a notification to your inbox in the event of any automatic game week substitutions. Should neither your captain or vice-captain play over the course of the gameweek, the highest reputation player determined by the engine (who has registered points for the weekend) will be chosen instead, and in the event that your kicker is not chosen to play, the player playing 10 in your team will be chosen in their place.
THE KEY POINTS
- Site: https://ru.gbymag.com/f/wc/fc684
- 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 country: 3 (5 per country in the Quarters and 10 per country in the Semis and Final)
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 and injuries this is always a challenge. Given that you are charged per player released from your squad (after your first free transfer), our FRG recommendation is that you start the Rugby World Cup with a squad of 28 in case you need to add more than one player.
Keep a close eye on teams with Byes
Matches in the Rugby World Cup are unevenly spread throughout the tournament, so there are some weeks where certain teams will have “blanks”, drastically hindering your points potential. For TRM, below are the doubles and blanks, take advantage of these where you can!
- Gameweek 1 (20th-23rd September) – Uruguay, Samoa, USA & Canada
- Gameweek 2 (24th-29th September*) – Australia, France, New Zealand, Scotland & Wales (Doubles: Uruguay play twice in Gameweek 2)
- Gameweek 3 (29th September*-5th October**) – Japan, Namibia, Tonga & Uruguay
- Gameweek 4 (5th October**-9th October) – England, Georgia, Ireland & Italy
- Gameweek 5 (11th October-13th October) – Argentina, Fiji, Russia & South Africa
*On the 29th September, Georgia v Uruguay is considered Gameweek 2 and Australia v Wales is considered Gameweek 3
**On the 5th October, England v Argentina is considered Gameweek 3 and Australia v Uruguay and Japan v Samoa is considered Gameweek 4
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.
Top of the Props
With a point on offer for every metre gained by props, you must bring in props who have a history of ball carrying for metres. This is gold dust, so unearth those props known to break the tackle and make a good scurry in the loose. The likes of Mako Vunipola, Taniela Tupou, Tadhg Furlong and Kyle Sinckler are essentials this game and are also solid captain choices. Crunch the stats and hunt down the carrying kings!
Lock In
As with Props, Locks tend to do well in the game, with a point on offer for every two metres gained, and a point on offer for every two passes/offloads. Locks all round are regular high scorers in the game and Locks with strong carrying, tackling, passing and lineout games will put in some hige scores. The likes of Leone Nakawara, Brodie Retallick, Guido Petti, James Ryan and Maro Itoje should be some of the first names in your team.
Discipline wins Championships
Ill discipline is punished heavily in The Rugby Magazine with some stern points deductions – Penalty Conceded (-2 points), Yellow Card (-3 points) and Red Card (-10 points) – so tread carefully when it comes to serial sinners.
Mismatches
The Rugby World Cup provides a rare opportunity for the minnows of the Rugby World to face up against the very top of the elite, and with this provides the prospect of some considerable mismatches and some large points hauls. The biggest mismatch on paper is on Sunday the 6th October when the might of the All Blacks (World Ranking #1) take on Namibia (World Ranking #23). In addition to this, there are several matchups with potential for some absolutely huge points hauls and when a big side lines up against the likes of Uruguay, Russia, Namibia and Canada, then that is the time to load up.
Fan of The Rugby Magazine? Have a read of our interview with Edward Kerr, founder of The Rugby Magazine, here…
Want to know what it takes to finish the tournament in The Rugby Magazine as #1 in the world? Read an interview with a previous Champion here…
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…
- 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.
- The Daily Telegraph – Salary cap game with a £5000 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…
- Play fantasy rugby to help England deaf Rugby International Ben Lawniczak go on tour to South Africa
- Pool A Preview
- Pool B Preview
- Pool C Preview
- Pool D Preview
- Finalised Rugby World Cup 2019 Squads
- Game Reviews: SuperBru
- Game Reviews: The Daily Telegraph
- Game Reviews: PlayOn
- Game Reviews: The Irish Times
- Rugby World Cup Likely Kickers
- Notable Fantasy Rugby World Cup Mini Leagues
- Pre-tournament interview with the Fantasy Rugby Yanks Podcast
- 100 of the Best Fantasy Rugby Team Names
- Fantasy Rugby World Cup 2019 Strategies and Pitfalls
- Fantasy Rugby Geek’s 2019 Rugby World Cup Stash Watch
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!