If you are new to Fantasy Rugby Geek, then welcome to our first instalment of our weekly pre-match updates for the Guinness 2026 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.
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Okay, back to the picks…
What will go down…
Into the second round of the 2026 Six Nations and we have 3 high fantasy potential matches to work from.
Round 2 gets underway on Saturday with Ireland hosting Italy in Dublin. Italy will go into this as outsiders, but they did push Ireland close last year, losing just 22–17, despite a sensational Dan Sheehan hat-trick. Despite being underdogs, Italy enter the game on a high after and excellent win over Scotland in Rome while Ireland enter after a tough loss in Paris. Despite this, the bookies are expecting Ireland to win by 18 points
Next up on Saturday is Scotland v England at Murrayfield. In recent years, Scotland have enjoyed this fixture — largely thanks to the brilliance of Duhan van der Merwe and Huw Jones, who both seem to save their best performances for England. That said, England’s run of hot form shows no sign of ending and the bookies are backing England to win by 7 points.
Round 2 concludes on Sunday the 15th of February with Wales hosting France. This fixture was brutally one-sided in 2025, with France running out 43–0 winners — the largest-ever home win for France over Wales. Sadly for Welsh fans, the signs don’t look much better this year. France are MASSIVE favourites with the bookies backing France to win by 31 points.
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)
- Luke Cowan-Dickie (England)
PROPS
- Ellis Genge (England)
- Zander Fagerson (Scotland)
- Danilo Fischetti (Italy)
LOCKS
- Cormac Izuchukwu (Ireland)*
- Mickael Guillard (France)
- Ollie Chessum (England)
BACK ROW
- Ben Earl (England)
- Jack Dempsey (Scotland)
- Jack Conan (Ireland)
- Caelan Doris (Ireland)
SCRUM-HALF
- Antoine Dupont (France)
- Jamie Dobie (Scotland)*
FLY HALF
- Mathieu Jalibert (France)
- George Ford (England)
CENTRES
- Tommaso Menoncello (Italy)
- Emilien Gailleton (France)
- Huw Jones (Scotland)
BACK 3
- Louis Bielle-Biarrey (France)
- Tommy Freeman (England)
- Thomas Ramos (France)
- Theo Attisogbe (France)
Recommended Captain Picks
This week I’d suggest the following as Captain Pick options…
- Louis Bielle-Biarrey (France)
- Thomas Ramos (France)
- Matthieu Jalibert (France)
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
Based on squads so far, the following will be in contention…
- Lenni Nouchi – BR – France
- Nick Timoney – BR – Ireland
- Henry Pollock – BR – England
- Noah Nene – C – France
Bargain buys on the Official game
The following players, valued at 11 stars or less, have been identified as potentially scoring well for their cost in the game and should be considered as good value enablers…
- Fabien Brau-Boirie (France) – Centre – 6.9 stars
- Emilien Gailleton (France) – Centre – 8.8 stars
- Jamie Dobie (Scotland) – Scrum Half* – 9.3 stars
- Tom Jordan (Scotland) – Centre* – 10.7 stars
- Gregor Borwn (Scotland) – Second Row – 8.6 stars
- Stuart McCloskey (Ireland) – Centre – 10.7 stars
- Freddie Steward (England) – Back Three – 9.5 stars
- Theo Attissogbe (France) – Back Three – 11 stars
- Tom Roebuck (England) – Back Three – 9.6 stars
- Josh MacLeod (Wales) – Back Row – 7.7 stars – TBC
- Anthony Jelonch (France) – Back Row – 10.9 stars
- Oscar Jegou (France) – Back Row – 10.3 stars
- Robert Baloucoune (Ireland) – Back Three – 7.9 stars
- Kyle Steyn (Scotland) – Back Three – 10 stars
- Cormac Izuchukwu (Ireland) – Second Row – 7.9 stars
- Simone Ferrari (Italy) – Prop – 9.6 stars
- Niccolo Cannone (Italy) – Second Row – 10.9 stars
Six Nations 2026 – Join the FRG 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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