Welcome to our next (albeit slightly shortened while FRG is on holiday…) instalment of our pre-match updates for the Guinness Six Nations. 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…
What will go down…
With just two rounds left, this year’s tournament remains wide open. While Wales are the only team who can achieve a Grand Slam, England and Ireland can still win the whole thing, so there is still everything to play for in Round 4, and in the eyes of the bookies, there are a couple of stand out fixtures in Round 4 in terms of potentially high fantasy returns…
In the bookies eyes (and in the eyes of most people) the biggest mismatch occurs at Twickenham. England will be looking to make an immediate return to winning ways at HQ against the wooden spooners-elect Italy. The bookies have put a huge 32 point handicap on England so load up on England pointscorers
Elsewhere, Ireland are also expected to comfortably dispatch France at home. France looked good in Round 3 and remain reliably unpredictable, but Ireland will want to bounce back after an uncharacteristically lacklustre performance in Rome in Round 3. The bookies have given Ireland a 14 point handicap.
Finally, Grand Slam hopefuls Wales travel up to Murrayfield looking to continue their record-breaking winning streak. The bookies are expecting a tough match for Wales and have only given them a 3 point handicap.
Top 10 most likely to score (Odds via Paddy Power)
- 1 Jonny May (England) – Anytime tryscorer odds: 1.22
- 2 Joe Cokanasiga (England) – Anytime tryscorer odds: 1.33
- 3 Elliot Daly (England) – Anytime tryscorer odds: 1.44
- 4 Jamie George (England) – Anytime tryscorer odds: 1.83
- 5 Jacob Stockdale (Ireland) – Anytime tryscorer odds: 1.88
- 6= Keith Earls (Ireland) – Anytime tryscorer odds: 2
- 6= Billy Vunipola (England) – Anytime tryscorer odds: 2
- 8 Manu Tuilagi (England) – Anytime tryscorer odds: 2.33
- 10= Josh Adams (Wales) – Anytime tryscorer odds: 2.6
- 10= George North (Wales) – Anytime tryscorer odds: 2.6
Expected to go well
*Players who are starting favourably out of position (i.e. Hooker in back row, Centre on wing, etc.)
HOOKERS
- Jamie George (England)
- Rory Best (Ireland)
PROPS
- Kyle Sinckler (England)
- Ellis Genge (England)
- Demba Bamba (France)
LOCKS
- Joe Launchbury (England)
- James Ryan (Ireland)
- Iain Henderson (Ireland)
BACK ROW
- Josh Van Der Flier (Ireland)
- CJ Stander (Ireland)
- Billy Vunipola (England)
- Tom Curry (England)
SCRUM-HALF
- Conor Murray (Ireland)
- Antoine Dupont (France)
FLY HALF
- Owen Farrell (England) – *In some games as Centre
- Jonny Sexton (Ireland)
CENTRES
- Garry Ringrose (Ireland)
- Damian Penaud (France)*
- Manu Tuilagi (England)
OUTSIDE BACKS
- Jonny May (England)
- Joe Cokanisiga (England)
- Jacob Stockdale (Ireland)
- Elliot Daly (England)
Likely Kickers
- Thomas Ramos (France)
- Finn Russell (Scotland)
- Jonny Sexton (Ireland)
- Owen Farrell (England)
- Gareth Anscombe (Wales)
- Tommaso Allan (Italy)
The Games
- ESPN Scrum
- The Rugby Magazine
- SuperBru
- The Official Guinness Six Nations game
- The Daily Telegraph
- PlayOn (Daily Fantasy)
If you back your Fantasy Rugby skills to lead you to Fantasy Six Nations 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 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!
Looking for more Fantasy Rugby insight and Resources?
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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 Six Nations 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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