If you are new to Fantasy Rugby Geek, then welcome to our first instalment of our weekly pre-match updates for the Guinness 2025 Six Nations. This where we analyse the weekend’s lineups, crunch the stats and see what the bookies are thinking to help you optimise your lineups for peak performance this weekend! By the time you finish this article you should have all the insight you need to score big fantasy points this weekend.
Before we get into the picks, a quick request! I’m starting to do more and more on the Fantasy Rugby Geek YouTube channel, like the Round 5 picks above ☝️. If this video is helpful and you’d like to see more, I’d be massively grateful if you could subscribe to my channel. It’s growing quickly and I’d love to hit 1000 subscribers by the end of the Six Nations. Thank you!
Now, back to the Round 5 picks…
What will go down…
Into the final round of the 2025 Six Nations and we have 3 huge matches to look forward to.
Second up, we have Wales v England. Defeat for Wales in Cardiff would consign them to their 17th consecutive international loss and potentially a second consecutive Six Nations wooden spoon. Wales again were improved against Scotland in Round 4 and they definitely will be giving England a real challenge in Round 5. England themselves have been quietly impressing. They are now 2nd in the table and only 1 point behind the leaders France. England need a bonus point win to have any hope of catching France, but it will not be easy by any stretch. Nonetheless, the bookies are backing England to win by 11 points.
Top 10 most likely to score (Odds via BoyleSports)
- 1= – James Lowe (Ireland) – Anytime tryscorer odds: 1.36
- 1= – Dan Sheehan (Ireland) – Anytime tryscorer odds: 1.36
- 3= – Louis Bielle-Biarrey (France) – Anytime tryscorer odds: 1.42
- 3= – Damian Penaud (France) – Anytime tryscorer odds: 1.42
- 5 – Mack Hansen (Ireland) – Anytime tryscorer odds: 1.59
- 6= – Tommy Freeman (England) – Anytime tryscorer odds: 1.83
- 6= – Tom Roebuck (England) – Anytime tryscorer odds: 1.83
- 8 – Peato Mauvaka (France) – Anytime tryscorer odds: 1.87
- 9= – Jamison Gibson-Park (Ireland) – Anytime tryscorer odds: 1.91
- 9= – Josh Van Der Flier (Ireland) – Anytime tryscorer odds: 1.91
Expected to go well
*Players who are starting favourably out of position (i.e. Hooker in back row, Centre on wing, etc.)
HOOKERS
- Dan Sheehan (Ireland)
- Peato Mauvaka (France)
PROPS
- Andrew Porter (Ireland)
- Ellis Genge (England)
- Pierre Schoeman (Scotland)
LOCKS
- Maro Itoje (England)
- Ollie Chessum (England)
- Dafydd Jenkins (Wales)
BACK ROW
- Jac Morgan (Wales)
- Ben Earl (England)
- Caelan Doris (Ireland)
- Gregory Alldritt (France)
SCRUM-HALF
- Jamison Gibson-Park (Ireland)
- Ben White (Scotland)
FLY HALF
- Jack Crowley (Ireland)
- Fin Smith (England)
CENTRES
- Gael Fickou (France)
- Tommaso Menoncello (Italy)
- Max Llewellyn (Wales)
BACK 3
- Louis Bielle-Biarrey (France)
- James Lowe (Ireland)
- Damian Penaud (France)
- Blair Kinghorn (Scotland)
Recommended Captain Picks
This week I’d suggest the following as Captain Pick options…
- Louis Bielle-Biarrey (France)
- James Lowe (Ireland)
- Damian Penaud (France)
Bargain buys on the Official game
The following players, valued at 12 stars or less, have been identified as potentially scoring well for their cost in the game and should be considered as good value enablers…
- Max Llewellyn (Wales) – Centre – 11.9 stars
- Tommaso Allan (Italy) – Fly Half – 11.8 stars – TBC
- Thibaud Flament (France) – Second Row – 11.4 stars
- Will Rowlands (Wales) – Second Row – 11.5 stars
- Maxime Lucu (France) – Scrum Half – 11.4 stars
- Ellis Mee (Wales) – Back 3 – 11.2 stars
- Mickaël Guillard (France) – Second Row – 10.9 stars
- Fraser Dingwall (England) – Centre – 10.4 stars
- Tom Roebuck (England) – Centre – 10.2 stars
- Dave Cherry (Scotland) – Hooker – 10.2 stars
Supersub Strategy
For those playing the Official Game, we look at potential options for the SuperSub role.
Ultimately SuperSub is a bit of a lottery. You could luck out if one of the starting XV needs to go off in the early stages of the game, but likewise you could be at the mercy of a coach who decides to leave his backs on the bench for the entire 80 minutes, so you have to play the percentages and consider the risks.
As covered in detail in a previous post, for me the key areas to consider in a SuperSub are…
- Will they come on, and will they play a significant period of time
- How the team has used their bench in previous games
- The split of subs on the bench
With this in mind, I will be looking to the following candidates to give the SuperSub selection to in Round 1…
- Tom Willis – BR – England
- Nolann Le Garrec – SH – France
- Julian Marchand – H – France
- Bundee Aki – C – Ireland
Coming soon – Women’s Six Nations 2025
This week the Women’s Six Nations Fantasy Game went live. As always, I will be covering the tournament in detail here on fantasyrugbygeek.com and the FRG YouTube channel. This week I published a Guide to the Game on the Women’s Six Nations website which you can access here.
The FRG league is now live, so to join, you can access it directly here.
Six Nations 2025 – Join the FRG Leagues!
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To join on the Official Game, simply join my league directly here.
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Looking for other prize leagues? Then check out the FRG overview of all the Six Nations Mini Leagues and Prize Leagues.
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If you want some more sources to help you finalise your decisions, go to our resources page where you’ll find all the Six Nations 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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