Fantasy Rugby World Cup 2019 Preview – Pool B

Fantasy Rugby Geekon

With Friday 20th September fast approaching, it’s time to delve a bit deeper into the potential fantasy Rugby World Cup stars. So over the next two weeks FRG is providing a quick preview of all the teams from a fantasy perspective. Next up we look at Pool B, featuring New Zealand, South Africa, Italy, Namibia and Canada. 

New Zealand

In a nutshell

Ranked 1st in the world for over nine years and comfortable favourites again this time around, New Zealand are the team to beat. While there are questions over their quality when compared to the classes of 2011 and 2015, their depth of quality is unrivalled and if they are fully firing, they will be more than a match for anyone, with world class individuals all over the pitch. No clearer is this strength visible than at 10, where the former World Player of the Year, Beauden Barrett will battle it out with the sensational Richie Mo’unfa for the starting berth. There will be selection battles all over the team so expect plenty of rotation during the Group Stage.
 

Odds on winning RWC 2019

11/10

Best previous RWC performance

Winners (1987, 2011, 2015)

Most likely to make a fantasy impact

Beauden Barrett (Fly Half – Blues)

Key players to consider

Dane Coles (Hooker – Hurricanes),  Codie Taylor (Hooker – Crusaders), Scott Barrett (Lock – Crusaders), Brodie Retallick (Lock – Chiefs), Ardie Savea (Loose Forward – Hurricanes), Aaron Smith (Scrum Half – Highlanders), TJ Perenara (Scrum Half – Hurricanes), Beauden Barrett (Fly Half – Blues), Richie Mo’unga (Fly Half – Crusaders), Anton Lienert-Brown (Centre – Chiefs), Rieko Ioane (Outside Back – Blues), Sevu Reece (Outside Back – Crusaders), Jordie Barrett (Outside Back – Hurricanes)

Matches with best potential for points returns

Oct 02 – New Zealand v Canada – Oita Stadium, Oita
Oct 06 – New Zealand v Namibia – Tokyo Stadium, Tokyo
Oct 12 – New Zealand v Italy – Toyota Stadium, Toyota

South Africa

In a nutshell

The second true Rugby powerhouse in Pool B, like New Zealand, South Africa have enviable strength in depth as their showings in the 2019 Rugby Championship have shown, and they have shown promising progress in recent years under the stewardship of Rassie Erasmus. South Africa also have a tremendous pedigree in the Rugby World Cup and anything less than a top two finish in Pool B would be considered a national disaster. The Boks have world class players all over the park, with the half back combo of Faf De Klerk and Handre Pollard possibly being the finest 9/10 combo in the competition.
 

Odds on winning RWC 2019

7/1

Best previous RWC performance

Winners (1995, 2007)

Most likely to make a fantasy impact

Malcolm Marx (Hooker – Lions)

Key players to consider

Malcolm Marx (Hooker – Lions), Steven Kitshoff (Prop – Stormers), RG Snyman (Lock – Bulls), Siya Kolisi (Loose Forward – Stormers), Faf de Klerk (Scrum Half – Sale Sharks), Cobus Reinach (Scrum Half – Northampton Saints), Handré Pollard (Fly Half – Bulls), Jesse Kriel (Centre – Bulls), Cheslin Kolbe (Outside Back – Toulouse), Makazole Mapimpi (Outside Back – Sharks)

Matches with best potential for points returns

Sep 28 – South Africa v Namibia – Toyota Stadium, Toyota
Oct 4 – South Africa v Italy – Shizuoka Stadium, Shizuoka
Oct 8 – South Africa v Canada – Noevir Stadium, Kobe

Italy

In a nutshell

The best of the “other three” making up this toughest of Pools to get out of is Italy. For so many years they have been the whipping boys of the Six Nations and in recent years progress has stagnated (although there are signs of optimism in the progress being made at club level by Bennetton and Zebre…). This will be the final tournament for Italy’s talisman for so many years, Sergio Parisse, and his team mates will want to see such a legendary servant to Italian Rugby go out on a high. They should score well against Canada and Namibia, but they will also struggle to make much of an impact against New Zealand and South Africa (despite their shock victory over the latter in Florence in 2016…).
 

Odds on winning RWC 2019

500/1

Best previous RWC performance

Group Stage (1987, 1991, 1995, 1999, 2003, 2007, 2011, 2015)

Most likely to make a fantasy impact

Jake Polledri (Loose Forward – Gloucester)

Key players to consider

Sergio Parisse (Loose Forward – Toulon), Jake Polledri (Loose Forward – Gloucester), Tommaso Allan (Fly Half – Benetton), Michele Campagnaro (Centre – Harlequins), Matteo Minozzi (Outside Back – Wasps)

Matches with best potential for points returns

Sept 22 – Italy v Namibia – Hanazono Rugby Stadium, Osaka
Sept 26 – Italy v Canada – Hakatanomori Stadium, Fukuoka

Namibia

In a nutshell

Despite being veterans of five previous Rugby World Cups, Namibia are rank outsiders in this year’s tournament, being the lowest ranked team in the tournament. Their biggest hope will be to defeat Canada, although the odds aren’t in their favour. The Welwitschias have lost 19 out of 19 Rugby World Cup games and they also hold the record for defeat by the largest margin in RWC history, a 142-0 loss against Australia in 2003. They will be up against it in Japan and fantasy rugby players would be recommended to steer clear.
 

Odds on winning RWC 2019

500/1

Best previous RWC performance

Group Stage (1999, 2003, 2007, 2011, 2015)

Most likely to make a fantasy impact

The opposition!

Key players to consider

Best to keep clear…

Matches with best potential for points returns

Oct 13 – Namibia v Canada – Recovery Memorial Stadium, Kamaishi

Canada

In a nutshell

One of a handful of teams who have been ever-present in every Rugby World Cup, Canada are approaching Japan in poor form, and despite being a proud Rugby nation, their only likely victory will come against Namibia (although they ran Italy close in 2015 and will want to do the same this time round). 
 

Odds on winning RWC 2019

500/1

Best previous RWC performance

Quarter-Final (1991)

Most likely to make a fantasy impact

DTH van der Merwe (Outside Back – Glasgow Warriors)

Key players to consider

Tyler Ardron (Lock – Chiefs), DTH van der Merwe (Outside Back – Glasgow Warriors)

Matches with best potential for points returns

Oct 13 – Namibia v Canada – Recovery Memorial Stadium, Kamaishi

POOL B PREDICTIONS…

  1. New Zealand
  2. South Africa
  3. Italy
  4. Canada
  5. Namibia

If you want to learn more about the other Pools, check out our overview of Pool A here, Pool C here and Pool D here.

 

Fantasy Rugby Games for Rugby World Cup

A summary of the top games that you can play fantasy rugby for the Rugby World Cup…

  • The Rugby Magazine – Stats rich salary cap style game – Check out our review here
  • PlayOn – Daily Fantasy for Rugby – Sign up today here to receive a free $22 entry with a first-time deposit – Check out a previous review here (Rugby World Cup review coming…).
  • SuperBru – An old favourite with salary cap fantasy rugby among other games and sports – Check out our review here.
  • The Irish Times – Salary cap game with a €3000 top prize – Check out our review here.
  • The Daily Telegraph – Salary cap game with a £5000 top prize – Check out our review here.

Pre-tournament articles

In case you missed any of our other pre-World Cup articles, make sure you check out the following to help guide your pre-tournament preparations…

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 Rugby World Cup 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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