Welcome to our latest instalment of our weekly pre-match updates 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. Make sure you come back every weekend before finalising your lineups!
A reminder that this season we have two games running for Prem this season, Fantasy Rugby Draft and Fantasy Rugby World, so sign up and get picking.
Potential mismatches
Here are the projected lines courtesy of Paddy Power…
- Saracens to beat Newcastle by 10 points
- Gloucester to beat Bath by 8 points
- Leicester to beat Sale by 6 points
- Exeter to beat Bristol by 2 points
- Wasps to beat Northampton by 2 points
Premiership Bye Situation
In order to help you plan your transfers, here’s a quick overview of the upcoming byes.
Due to the suspension of Worcester, there will now be two teams on a bye each week for the forseeable future.
This week London Irish and Harlequins are on a bye.
Upcoming bye weeks…
- Round 6: None (Would have been a Worcester bye week)
- Round 7: Newcastle and Bristol
- Round 8: Leicester and Bath
- Round 9: Harlequins and Leicester
- Round 10: Bristol and Sale
- Round 11: Bath and Northampton
- Round 12: Exeter and Saracens
- Round 13: Northampton and Wasps
- Round 14: Gloucester and London Irish
- Round 15: Sale and Exeter
- Round 16: Bristol and Leicester
- Round 17: Saracens and Sale
- Round 18: Harlequins and Wasps
- Round 19: London Irish and Northampton
- Round 20: Wasps and Harlequins
- Round 21: Newcastle and Saracens
- Round 22: Northampton and Gloucester
- Round 23: None (Would have been a Worcester bye week)
- Round 24: Bath and Newcastle
- Round 25: Leicester and Bristol
- Round 26: Exeter and Bath
Expected to go well on Fantasy Rugby Draft and Fantasy Rugby World
*Players who are starting favourably out of position (i.e. Hooker in back row, Centre on wing, etc.)
FRONT ROW
- Val Rapava Ruskin (Gloucester)
- Ellis Genge (Bristol)
- Mako Vunipola (Saracens)
- Bevan Rodd (Sale)
- Akker van der Merwe (Sale)
- George McGuigan (Newcastle)
- Tom Dunn (Bath)
LOCKS
- Christ Tshiunza (Exeter)*
- Chris Vui (Bristol)*
- Jean-Luc Du Preez (Sale)*
- Sean Robinson (Newcastle)
- Jonny Gray (Exeter)
BACK ROW
- Billy Vunipola (Saracens)
- Tom Willis (Wasps)
- Albert Tuisue (Gloucester)
- Ben Earl (Saracens)
- Magnus Bradbury (Bristol)
- Jack Willis (Wasps)
- Theo Mcfarland (Saracens)
SCRUM-HALF
- Harry Randall (Bristol)
- Dan Robson (Wasps)
- Alex Mitchell (Northampton)
FLY HALF
- Adam Hastings (Gloucester)
- Callum Sheedy (Bristol)
- Owen Farrell (Saracens)
CENTRES
- Nick Tompkins (Saracens)
- Piers O’Connor (Bristol)
- Ollie Lawrence (Bath)
- Fraser Dingwall (Northampton)
- Tom Roebuck (Sale)*
OUTSIDE BACKS
- Elliot Daly (Saracens)
- Paolo Odogwu (Wasps)
- Louis Rees-Zammitt (Gloucester)
- Tom O’Flaherty (Sale)
- Olly Woodburn (Exeter)
- Adam Radwan (Newcastle)
- Max Malins (Saracens)
Value Fantasy Rugby Draft Free Agent Pick-ups
Please note that not all of these players may be available as free agents in your leagues, but if they are, then move quickly!
- Kapeli Pifeleti – H – Saracens
- Ryan Mills – M – Wasps
- Ben Meehan – HB – Gloucester
- Piers Francis – M – Bath
- Nahum Merigan – LF – Bath
- Connor Collett – LF – Newcastle
- Sam Stuart – HB – Newcastle
FRG Partners
Check out our selected partners at Canterbury and LooseHeadz for all your stash needs…
Buy me a Coffee!
If you’ve been enjoying the FRG tips over the years, please consider supporting the blog and donating a coffee, all donators will receive a name drop on the next weekly tips, and your donations will help with the running of the blog (and keeping me fuelled to do so!) >>> https://www.buymeacoffee.com/FRugbyGeek
A huge thank you to Justin Vermeulen, @Sinaloa_Cowboys, John Chumps, @AFCBeer and the one and only Sneaky Blinder for buying me coffees in recent weeks. Your support as always is hugely appreciated!
Looking for more Fantasy Rugby insight and Resources?
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! Looking for more Fantasy Rugby news, tips and advice? Follow @frugbygeek on Twitter, Like us on Facebook or sign up to the newsletter below to get fantasy rugby news delivered straight to you!