It’s time! If you are new to Fantasy Rugby Geek, then welcome to our first instalment of our weekly pre-match updates for the Natwest Six Nations 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…
Round 1 offers up some truly fascinating fixtures, and in the eyes of the bookies, there is one stand out fixture of Round 1 in terms of potentially high fantasy returns and two tight looking fixtures that could potentially go either way.
In the bookies eyes (and in the eyes of most people, including Conor O’Shea) the biggest mismatch occurs in Rome, where 500-1 tournament outsiders welcome champions England to the Stadio Olimpico. Paddy Power have given England a 20 point handicap, suggesting Jones’ men will run riot against an inexperienced looking Italian side. Elsewhere, Ireland visit Paris, where Jaques Brunel’s first French selection includes 19 year old wonderkid Mathieu Jalibert. Joe Schmidt has named an extremely strong looking side, and they should have enough quality to see off France (despite France’s enviable record in post-Lions years). The bookies agree, giving Ireland a 6 point handicap. The closest game to call is at the Principality Stadium where an injury-ravaged Wales take on a resurgent Scotland in high spririts after a highly promising series of Autumn Internationals. The bookies are giving Wales a 2-point win, however with two highly potent backlines on show and the roof closed, expect plenty of high scoring action form both sides.
Top 10 most likely to score (Odds via Paddy Power)
- 1 Jonny May (England) – Anytime tryscorer odds: 1.72
- 2 Anthony Watson (England) – Anytime tryscorer odds: 1.83
- 3 Sam Simmonds (England) – Anytime tryscorer odds: 2.2
- 4= Stuart Hogg (Scotland) – Anytime tryscorer odds: 2.4
- 4= Tommy Seymour (Scotland) – Anytime tryscorer odds: 2.4
- 6= Keith Earls (Ireland) – Anytime tryscorer odds: 2.5
- 6= Josh Adams (Wales) – Anytime tryscorer odds: 2.5
- 6= Steff Evans (Wales) – Anytime tryscorer odds: 2.5
- 9 Jacob Stockdale (Ireland) – Anytime tryscorer odds: 2.7
- 10 Ben Te’o (England) – Anytime tryscorer odds: 2.7
Expected to go well
*Players who are starting favourably out of position (i.e. Hooker in back row, Centre on wing, etc.)
FRONT ROW
Dylan Hartley (England)
Rory Best (Ireland)
Mako Vunipola (England)
Cian Healy (Ireland)
Rob Evans (Wales)
LOCKS
Maro Itoje (England)
Rob Henderson (Ireland)
Jonny Gray (Scotland)
BACK ROW
Sam Simmonds (England)
CJ Stander (Ireland)
Ross Moriarty (Wales)
Josh Van Der Flier (Ireland)
SCRUM-HALF
Conor Murray (Ireland)
Gareth Davies (Wales)
FLY HALF
Finn Russell (Scotland)
Jonny Sexton (Ireland)
CENTRES
Owen Farrell (England)
Keith Earls* (Ireland)
Huw Jones (Scotland)
OUTSIDE BACKS
Jonny May (England)
Anthony Watson (England)
Stuart Hogg (Scotland)
Tommy Seymour (Scotland)
Likely Kickers
Maxime Machenaud (France)
Finn Russell (Scotland)
Jonny Sexton (Ireland)
Owen Farrell (England)
Leigh Halfpenny (Wales)
Tommaso Allan (Italy)
Under-the-radar pick
Gareth Davies – The unfortunate injury to Rhys Webb has provided the opportunity for an extended run in the Wales first team for the explosive Gareth Davies. Davies has been a consistently prolific tryscorer at club and international level, scoring 9 tries in 27 international appearances and 10 tries at club level this season. He’s in-form and has a great nose for the tryline, and while many will go for the tried and tested option at 9 such as Conor Murray or Ben Youngs, you will be well rewarded by picking up Gareth Davies.
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 Natwest Six Nations fantasy games, all the stats sources, injury news, team news, fantasy relevant rugby betting odds and tons of other useful information.
If you back your Fantasy Rugby skills to lead you to Fantasy Six Nations glory and win you some of this stash while you are at it, then join our Natwest Six Nations leagues on ESPN Scrum, where a Fantasy Rugby Geek Trucker Hat will be on offer for the winners of each league. To join the ESPN Scrum league, simply go here, create your team, go to Leagues, select ‘Join League’ and enter the league League Password: 1304606-52973 Good luck!
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