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!
Potential mismatches
Here are the expected results from the bookies this week…
- Sale to beat London Irish by 14 points
- Saracens to beat Leicester by 14 points
- Exeter to beat Bath by 12 points
- Bristol to beat Harlequins by 7 points
- Wasps to beat Gloucester by 5 points
- Northampton to beat Worcester by 4 points
Expected to go well on Fantasy Rugby Draft and The Rugby Magazine
*Players who are starting favourably out of position (i.e. Hooker in back row, Centre on wing, etc.)
Recommended The Rugby Magazine captain pick in bold
FRONT ROW
- Franco Marais (Gloucester)
- Matt Moulds (Worcester)
- Tom Cruse (Wasps)
- John Afoa (Bristol)
- Ethan Waller (Worcester)
- Vincent Koch (Saracens)
- Coenie Oosthuizen (Sale)
LOCKS
- Chris Vui (Bristol)
- Nick Isiekwe (Saracens)*
- Will Skelton (Saracens)
- Albert Tuisue (London Irish)*
- Franco Mostert (Gloucester)
BACK ROW
- Sam Simmonds (Exeter)
- Zach Mercer (Bath)
- Jack Willis (Wasps)
- Alex Dombrandt (Harlequins)
- Jake Polledri (Gloucester)
- Nathan Hughes (Bristol)
SCRUM-HALF
- Cobus Reinach (Northampton)
- Harry Randall (Bristol)
- Dan Robson (Wasps)
FLY HALF
- Joe Simmonds (Exeter)
- Robert du Preez (Sale)
- Callum Sheedy (Bristol)
CENTRES
- Henry Purdy (Bristol)*
- Ollie Lawrence (Worcester)
- Rory Hutchison (Northampton)
- Malakai Fekitoa (Wasps)
- Sam James (Sale)
- Billy Twelvetrees (Gloucester)
OUTSIDE BACKS
- Charles Piutau (Bristol)
- Denny Solomona (Sale)
- Marland Yarde (Sale)
- Harry Mallinder (Northampton)
- Louis Rees-Zammit (Gloucester)
- Telusa Veainu (Leicester)
- Taqele Naiyaravoro (Northampton)
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!
- Luke Northmore – M – Harlequins
- Matt Gallagher – OB – Saracens
- Brett Herron – FH – Harlequins
- Sean O’Brien – LF – London Irish
- Matt Proctor – OB – Northampton
- Ian Whitten – M – Exeter
- Chris Pennell – OB – Worcester
- Harry Randall – HB – Bristol
- Lewis Ludlow – LF – Gloucester
Premiership Rugby Injury News
Gaining reliable Injury news for the Premiership is extremely difficult, and while we don’t have a database of the latest injuries at Fantasy Rugby Geek, we would highly recommend The Rugby Magazine’s injuries page which remains the most exhaustive source of Premiership injury news that can be found. Details of this and many other useful Fantasy Rugby resources can be found at our Resources page.
Come and join the FRG league!
If you back your Fantasy Rugby skills to lead you to Fantasy Premiership glory and win you some stash while you are at it, then join our public fantasy league on The Rugby Magazine fantasy game, where a Fantasy Rugby Geek Trucker Hat, and a signed paperback copy of the Fantasy Rugby Handbook will be on offer for the winner of the league. To join, Sign up to the game here & go to Leaderboards > Public Leagues and join “Fantasy Rugby Geek”. Good luck!
Buy me a Coffee!
If you’ve been enjoying the FRG tips over the years or during the RWC, 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 
Buy me a coffee A huge thank you to Ben Glauser of the Fantasy Rugby Yanks for his very kind coffee donation this week. Thank you sir!
Get free tickets to The Rugby Show
The Rugby Show is a two-day gathering at the Ricoh Arena, home of Wasps, in July 2020. The Rugby Show already has a fantastic range of phenomenal speakers from across the professional game. The likes of Lawrence Dallaglio, Maggie Alphonsi, current England World Cup duo, Joe Marler and George Kruis and World Cup winner Sarah Hunter will be talking about their own experiences, about coping with injury, maintaining fitness, nutrition, providing demonstrations on how to improve your skills as a player and more. The line-up also includes recent MMA convert James Haskell, Premiership regulars Jimmy Gopperth and Tommy Taylor to name a few. Registration has now gone live and as an ambassador of the Rugby Show, Fantasy Rugby Geek is offering you FREE ENTRY to the event (which usually costs £15 for an adult ticket). Click this link https://the-rugby-show-2020.reg.buzz/fantasy-rugby-geek and enter the following code TRS20GRASSROOTS to book your FREE tickets now!
Looking for more Fantasy Rugby insight and Resources?
New for the 2019/20 season, 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!
If you want some more sources to help you finalise your decisions, go to our resources page where you’ll find all the 2019/20 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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