Fantasy Rugby World Cup 2019 Strategies and Pitfalls

Fantasy Rugby Geekon

With the Rugby World Cup just around the corner and new games now starting to pop up, it’s never too early to start planning ahead for your team and strategy ahead of the world’s biggest Rugby tournament. When drafting your initial team, the temptation is to load up your team with the biggest of names, however the Rugby World Cup is a unique beast, with various perils that the seasoned fantasy manager should consider before finalising their team. At Fantasy Rugby Geek we’re here to help, and to guide you to Rugby World Cup success, so here’s 5 tips to consider when creating your Rugby World Cup team…

Double Game Weeks (and blanks!)

One of the key aspects of excelling in Fantasy Rugby at the Rugby World Cup is to understand the schedule, and optimise your team around it. The matches are unevenly spread throughout the tournament, so there are opportunities in some fantasy games to have one team potentially play twice in the same “Gameweek”. Likewise, it is also equally possible that if one team plays twice in 7 days, then they may have a blank in an other game week, drastically hindering your points potential. So before you do anything when setting up your team, go to the rules section, check out the dates within each “gameweek” or “selection window”, then study the fixtures and load up with players playing in the doubles and avoid any team with blanks.

Mismatches

The Rugby World Cup provides a unique opportunity for the minnows of the Rugby World to face up against the very top of the elite. Even with the best will in the world, you will very rarely see an upset with such a magnitude of difference between the two teams (the “Miracle in Brighton” in 2015 when Japan upset the Springboks being the ‘exception that makes the rule’). The biggest mismatch on paper is on Sunday the 6th October when the might of the All Blacks (World Ranking #1) take on Namibia (World Ranking #23). In addition to this, there are several matchups with potential for some absolutely huge points hauls and here are 5 matches we’ll definitely be loading up on to captalise on some potentially massive returns for the favourites…

  • South Africa v Namibia – Saturday 28th September, Aichi
  • New Zealand v Canada – Wednesday 2nd October, Oita
  • Ireland v Russia – Thursday 3rd October, Kobe
  • Australia v Uruguay – Saturday 5th October, Oita
  • New Zealand v Namibia – Sunday 6th October, Tokyo

Squad Rotation

Tempering the excitement of the points bonanzas when the big guns face the minnows, always be wary of the prospect of squad rotation. The Rugby World Cup is a long tournament and with recovery being so important, many teams will look to ensure that their squad is fully utilised. The coaches of the top nations will more than likely be eyeing up the games against lower-ranked sides as good chances to rest the big names, so tread very carefully, keep a close eye on news sources regarding any rotation risks, and always wait until teams are announced before making any transfers into your team.

Get familiar with your game’s scoring model

A golden rule of Fantasy Rugby that bears repeating… thoroughly understanding where the points will be scored in each game is key. Every game is different; some games only award points for tries, assists and winning, while other games, such as The Rugby Magazine, are far more granular in awarding points for tackles made, lineouts won, metres gained, defenders beaten, scrums won etc. In the Rugby Magazine, you’ll need to look at way more than just those likely to score tries (e.g. in The Rugby Mag a Lock who carries well, wins his lineouts and puts in plenty of tackles will always outscore a winger scoring tries from a few metres out). Look at the points available and pick your team accordingly. For example, if lots of points are on offer for metres gained (which can often be a goldmine) then check out the stats to understand who the big ball carriers and gainers are in each position, and load your team up. Likewise, games often penalise you heavily for penalties conceded, yellow cards and red cards, so keep an eye of those players with a reputation and history of ill-discipline and don’t let them near your side!

Team limits and Transfers

Another key rule to familarise yourself with in the games you choose to play, are team limits (how many players you can choose from one team) and how many transfers you are allowed.

With regards team limits, some games are very strict in how many players you can choose from one nation, so don’t expect to load your team up with only players showing up against the likes of Russia, Uruguay and Namibia. Choose carefully and if the team has one truly outstanding player in a position, then try to select them; try to resist the temptation to pick up an average winger from a big team in the hope that they will get some big scores in one or two games when they have a world class prop or lock elsewhere. Over the course of the tournament, having a good depth of quality in all positions is crucial.

When it comes to transfers, again, planning is key. Some games will give you a tournament-wide allowance (in which case plan ahead, and avoid using them all up in the first couple of weeks) while others give you a per-gameweek allowance (in which case bring in players with a good selection of matches over the next 2-3 gameweeks so that you don’t have to transfer them out straight after transferring them in).

So there’s 5 tips to follow, and that’s just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to strategies for playing Fantasy Rugby for the RWC. Stay tuned to FantasyRugbyGeek.com throughout the build up to and during the Rugby World Cup to see team previews, weekly tips and plenty of other advice ahead of the greatest tournament in Rugby! 

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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If you back your Fantasy Rugby skills to lead you to Fantasy Rugby World Cup 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!

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