Another (albeit slightly truncated as the Fantasy Rugby Geek is on “day job duties”) 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!
Potential mismatches
Round 9 offers up some fairly tight looking matches with no matches immediately jumping out as a significant mismatch. London Irish host a resurgent Wasps side that is playing full of confidence after last weeks demolition of Newcastle and in the eyes of the bookies they are the team to back in fantasy terms this week. Elsewhere, Welford Road is proving to be a difficult place to visit in recent times, and Worcester are expected to have a tough day on the road despite last week’s convincing victory against Northampton.
In Paddy Power’s eyes the most nailed on games this weekend with a projected winning margin greater than 10 is…
- Wasps to beat London Irish with a margin of 12 points
- Leicester to beat Worcester with a margin of 11 points
Elsewhere, there are expected to be 2 relatively comfortable home wins for Bath against Quins and for Sale against Northampton. While Newcastle and Gloucester are expected to battle out a close affair, and the top of the table clash at Allianz Park between an under-strength Saracens and and in-form Exeter Chiefs is too close to call.
Expected to go well
Please note that at the time of publication, lineups aren’t known so please double check that these players are in the match day 23 before adding to your team
*Players who are starting favourably out of position (i.e. Hooker in back row, Centre on wing, etc.)
Recommended captain pick in bold
FRONT ROW
Alex Waller (Northampton)
Ross Harrison (Sale)
Ashley Johnson (Wasps)
John Afoa (Gloucester)
Tom Cruse (Wasps)
Schalk Brits (Saracens)
Greg Bateman (Leicester)
LOCKS
Don Armand* (Exeter)
Valentino Mapapalangi* (Leicester)
George Kruis (Saracens)
Dom Barrow (Leicester)
Will Rowlands (Wasps)
Ed Slater (Gloucester)
BACK ROW
Jackson Wray (Saracens)
Zach Mercer (Bath)
Tom Young (Wasps)
Mark Wilson (Newcastle)
SCRUM-HALF
Dan Robson (Wasps)
Willi Heinz (Gloucester)
Faf de Klerk (Sale)
Sam Harrison (Leicester)
FLY HALF
Freddie Burns (Bath)
Joe Ford (Leicester)
Alex Lozowski (Saracens)
CENTRES
Henry Trinder (Gloucester)
Joe Marchant (Harlequins)
Kyle Eastmond (Wasps)
Jimmy Gopperth* (Wasps)
Matt Smith (Leicester)
OUTSIDE BACKS
Olly Woodburn (Exeter)
Telusa Veainu (Leicester)
Denny Solomona (Sale)
Josh Bassett (Wasps)
Christian Wade (Wasps)
If you want some more sources to help you finalise your decisions, go to our resources page where you’ll find all this year’s Aviva Premiership 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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