Welcome to our latest instalment of our weekly pre-match updates for this year’s United Rugby Championship. This is 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!
The United Rugby Championship is only available on one Fantasy Rugby platform this season, and that’s SuperBru.
Please note that for Round 8 there will be 4 matches played on the 22nd and 23rd December and 3 more games on the 26th (and also Sharks and Lions are on a bye). Lineups for the games on the 26th will be announced after the gameweek lock on the 22nd, so choose cautiously for the players on the 26th.
Potential mismatches
Here are the projected lines courtesy of Paddy Power…
- Ulster to beat Connacht by 10 points
- Benetton to beat Zebre by 10 points
- Cardiff to beat Dragons by 9 points
- Glasgow to beat Edinburgh by 5 points
- Leinster to beat Munster by 3 points
- Stormers to beat Bulls by 1 point
- Scarlets to beat Ospreys by 1 point
Lions and Sharks are on a bye in Round 8
Expected to go well on Superbru
*Players who are starting favourably out of position (i.e. Hooker in back row, Centre on wing, etc.)
PROPS
- Finlay Bealham (Connacht)
- Wilco Louw (Bulls)
- Andrew Porter (Leinster)
- Pierre Schoeman (Edinburgh)
- Thomas Gallo (Benetton)
HOOKERS
- Ewan Ashman (Edinburgh)
- Akker Van Der Merwe (Bulls)
- Ronan Kelleher (Leinster)
LOCKS
- Thomas Ahern (Munster)*
- Reinhardt Ludwig (Bulls)
- Edwin Edogbo (Munster)
- Glen Young (Edinburgh)
- Ruben van Heerden (Stormers)
BACK ROW
- Nick Timoney (Ulster)
- Sione Vailanu (Glasgow)
- Viliame Mata (Edinburgh)
- Rory Darge (Glasgow)
- Elrigh Louw (Bulls)
- Cameron Hanekom (Bulls)
SCRUM-HALF
- Caolin Blade (Connacht)
- John Cooney (Ulster)
- Jamison Gibson-Park (Leinster)
FLY HALF
- Ben Healy (Edinburgh)
- Tinus de Beer (Cardiff) – TBC
- Jacob Umaga (Benetton)
CENTRES
- Paolo Odogwu (Benetton)* – TBC
- Garry Ringrose (Leinster)
- Byron Ralston (Connacht)*
- James Hume (Ulster)
- Mason Grady (Cardiff) – TBC
- Huw Jones (Glasgow)*
OUTSIDE BACKS
- Jacob Stockdale (Ulster)
- Mack Hansen (Connacht)
- Duhan Van Der Merwe (Edinburgh)
- Rio Dyer (Dragons) – TBC
- Cam Winnett (Cardiff) – TBC
- Darcy Graham (Edinburgh)
- Robert Baloucoune (Ulster)
Bargain buys
The following players have been identified as potentially scoring well for their cost in the game and should be considered as good value enablers…
- Cam Winnett (Cardiff) – Outside Back – $3m – TBC
- Kyle Rowe (Glasgow) – Outside Back – $3m
- Onisi Ratave (Benetton) – Outside Back – $3m
- Ciaran Frawley (Leinster) – Centre – $3m
- Antoine Frisch (Munster) – Centre – $3m
- Mason Grady (Cardiff) – Centre* – $3m – TBC
- Tommaso Menoncello (Benetton) – $3m
- Jamie Osborne (Leinster) – Centre* – $3m
- James Hume (Ulster) – Centre – $3m
- Ross Thompson (Glasgow) – Fly Half – $4m
- Andy Uren (Benetton) – Scrum Half – $2m
- Cameron Hanekom (Bulls) – Loose Forward – $2m
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