Welcome to this week’s pre-match tips! 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.
Make sure you come back every weekend before finalising your lineups!
Potential mismatches
And the show goes on, moving into Round 15 we are beginning to see something that will be a key factor in the remainder of the season, squad rotation. With 3 Rounds of rugby set to be completed over the next 10 days, a lot of teams will be naming some lesser-known names in their squads so at this point, from a fantasy perspective, squad depth is key.
Another crucial point to be aware of on Fantasy Rugby Draft is that some of the upcoming Premiership games will not be counting towards the FRD scores. No matches from Round 16 will count, and the 2 matches being played on Monday 31st August in Round 17 (London Irish v Saracens and Bath v Wasps) will also not count. So plan carefully, especially as we are now entering the final 2 weeks of the FRD Regular Season, before play-offs commence.
With a low scoring Round 14 just gone, with many teams shaking off the rust from lockdown, and some unfamiliar looking sides taking the field in Round 15 (Wasps v Worcester in particular looks to be “The Battle of the B-teams”), it is very hard to consider form when evaluating the match-ups, but nonetheless, here are the expected results from the bookies this week…
- Wasps to beat Worcester by 15 points
- Saracens to beat Harlequins by 7 points
- Bath to beat Leicester by 6 points
- Northampton to beat London Irish by 6 points
- Exeter to beat Sale by 3 points
- Gloucester to beat Bristol by 1 point
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
- Tom Cruse (Wasps)
- Akker Van Der Merwe (Sale)
- Harry Thacker (Bristol)
- Val Rapava Ruskin (Gloucester)
- Kyle Sinckler (Bristol)
- Vincent Koch (Saracens)
LOCKS
- Chris Vui (Bristol)
- Jonny Gray (Exeter)
- Lood De Jager (Sale)
- Albert Tuisue (London Irish)*
- Maro Itoje (Saracens)
BACK ROW
- Sam Simmonds (Exeter)
- Ben Earl (Bristol)
- Jake Polledri (Gloucester)
- Nathan Hughes (Bristol)
- Billy Vunipola (Saracens)
- Alex Dombrandt (Harlequins)
- Taulupe Faletau (Bath)
SCRUM-HALF
- Ben Vellacott (Wasps)
- Faf De Klerk (Sale)
- Joe Simpson (Gloucester)
FLY HALF
- Joe Simmonds (Exeter)
- Lima Sopoaga (Wasps)
- Owen Farrell (Saracens)
CENTRES
- Henry Purdy (Bristol)*
- Semi Radradra (Bristol)
- Rory Hutchison (Northampton)
- Ryan Mills (Wasps)
- Jonathan Joseph (Bath)
- Joe Marchant (Harlequins)
OUTSIDE BACKS
- Stuart Hogg (Exeter)
- Marcus Watson (Wasps)
- Louis Rees-Zammit (Gloucester)
- Anthony Watson (Bath)
- Ollie Thorley (Gloucester)
- Alex Lewington (Saracens)
- George Furbank (Northampton)
- Jonny May (Gloucester)
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!
- Johnny McPhillips – HF – Leicester
- Ryan Olowofela – OB – Northampton
- Jamie Gibson – LF – Northampton
- Chris Pennell – OB – Worcester
- Harry Potter – OB – Leicester
- Ian Whitten – M – Exeter
- Dominic Morris – M – Saracens
- Nick Isiekwe – L – Northampton
- Paolo Odogwu – OB – Wasps
- Rob Miller – OB – Wasps
- Dave Ewers – LF – Exeter
- Andy Uren – HB – Bristol
- Nick Phipps – HB – London Irish
- Stephan Lewies – L – Harlequins
- Ben Vellacott – HB – Wasps
- Michael Le Bourgois – M – Wasps
- Taulupe Faletau – LF – Bath
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!
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