Fantasy Rugby Tips, Picks and Pre-match Thoughts – Heineken Champions Cup 2019/20 Round 1

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

The bookies are expecting big wins this week for Leinster and Montpellier so load up. The general expectations for the match results from the bookies are as follows…

Mismatches expected

  • Leinster to beat Bennetton by 24 points

Comfortable wins expected

  • Clermont to beat Harlequins by 13 points
  • Munster to beat Ospreys by 12 points

Close matches expected

  • Northampton to beat Lyon by 6 points
  • Racing to beat Saracens by 6 points
  • Glasgow to beat Sale by 3 points
  • Bath to beat Ulster by 2 points
  • Exeter to beat La Rochelle by 2 points
  • Toulouse to beat Gloucester by 2 points
  • Montpellier to beat Connacht by 1 point

Expected to go well on Fantasy Rugby Draft and Superbru

*Players who are starting favourably out of position (i.e. Hooker in back row, Centre on wing, etc.)

Recommended Superbru captain pick in bold

FRONT ROW

  • Cian Healy (Leinster)
  • Jack McGrath (Ulster)
  • Alec Hepburn (Exeter)
  • Demba Bamba (Lyon) – TBC
  • Alex Waller (Northampton)
  • Julian Marchand (Toulouse)
  • Ronan Kelleher (Leinster)
  • Niall Scannell (Munster)

LOCKS

  • James Ryan (Leinster)
  • Joe Tekori (Toulouse)
  • Paul Willemse (Montpellier)
  • Gerbrandt Grobler (Gloucester)
  • Iain Henderson (Ulster)

BACK ROW

  • CJ Stander (Munster)
  • Zach Mercer (Bath)
  • Marcell Coetzee (Ulster)
  • Ben Earl (Saracens)
  • Sam Simmonds (Exeter)
  • Peceli Yato (Clermont)

SCRUM-HALF

  • John Cooney (Ulster)
  • Conor Murray (Munster)
  • Morgan Parra (Clermont)

FLY HALF

  • Johnny Sexton (Leinster)
  • Joe Simmonds (Exeter)
  • Romain Ntamack (Toulouse)*

CENTRES

  • Garry Ringrose (Leinster)
  • Keith Earls (Munster)*
  • Nick Tompkins (Saracens)
  • Rory Scannell (Munster)
  • Chris Farrell (Munster)

OUTSIDE BACKS

  • Jacob Stockdale (Ulster)
  • Thomas Ramos (Toulouse)
  • James Lowe (Leinster)
  • Jordan Larmour (Leinster)
  • Stuart Hogg (Exeter)
  • Taqele Naiyaravoro (Northampton)
  • Alivereti Raka (Clermont)

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!

  • Dan Biggar – FH – Northampton
  • Jonathan Joseph – M – Bath
  • Santiago Garcia Botta – P – Harlequins
  • Caelan Doris – LF – Leinster
  • Nick Grigg – M – Glasgow
  • Fritz Lee – LF – Clermont
  • Andrew Porter – P – Leinster
  • Dave Kearney – OB – Leinster
  • Andrew Porter – OB – Ospreys
  • Levani Botia – M – La Rochelle
  • Rory Scannell – M – Munster
  • Geoffrey Doumayrou – M – La Rochelle

Come and join the FRG league!

Join our public fantasy league on the SuperBru Champions Cup Fantasy Game. Sign up to the game here. a signed paperback copy of the Fantasy Rugby Handbook will be on offer for the winner of the league.

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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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