Fantasy Six Nations 2020 Preview – Ireland

Fantasy Rugby Geekon

With Saturday 1st February 2020 fast approaching, it’s time to delve a bit deeper into this year’s potential fantasy Six Nations stars. So over the next two weeks FRG is providing a quick preview of all the teams from a fantasy perspective. Today we look at Ireland…

Ireland

In a nutshell

2019 promised so much for Ireland with many tipping them as the most likely to challenge New Zealand’s seemingly irresistable grip on the Rugby World Cup. Despite briefly finding themselves at number 1 in the world rankings, 2019 ultimately delivered very little on such huge promise. The wheels of their Six Nations campaign fell off in Round 1 losing at home to England and then fully capitulated in a 25-7 battering in Cardiff in which the scoreline flattered Ireland. The summer saw Ireland’s record defeat to England as they lost 57-15 in a World Cup warm up match, and this was followed by a disappointing World Cup that saw a humiliating Group Stage defeat to Japan, and a comprehensive dismantling by New Zealand in the Quarter-Finals.
 
Ireland will be looking to put such a disappointing 2019 behind them at the 2020 Six Nations. While there are injury concerns around their talisman Johnny Sexton, they still have enormous strength in depth with some exceptional talents in the likes of Jordan Larmour, Garry Ringrose, James Ryan, Peter O’Mahony and Tadhg Furlong. The exceptional club form of John Cooney may also be enough to usurp Conor Murray as Irelands first choice 9. With three home games and a serious point to prove, don’t bet against the final game of the tournament, France v Ireland at Stade de France, being the overall tournament decider. 

Current World Ranking

5th (As of the 2nd December 2019)

Performance in the 2019 Six Nations

3rd

Odds on winning Six Nations 2020

4/1 (2nd)

Six Nations History (Since start of Six Nations in 2000)

Winners x 4 (including 2 Grand Slams)

Most likely to make a fantasy impact

Jacob Stockdale (Outside Back – Ulster)

Key players to consider

Tadhg Furlong (Prop – Leinster), Iain Henderson (Lock – Ulster), James Ryan (Lock – Leinster), CJ Stander (Loose Forward – Munster), Josh Van Der Flier (Loose Forward – Leinster), Conor Murray (Scrum Half – Munster), John Cooney (Scrum Half – Ulster), Johnny Sexton (Fly Half – Leinster), Bundee Aki (Centre – Connacht), Garry Ringrose (Centre – Leinster), Keith Earls (Centre/Outside Back – Munster), Jacob Stockdale (Outside Back – Ulster), Jordan Larmour (Outside Back – Leinster), Andrew Conway (Outside Back – Munster)

Top Performers in 2019 Six Nations

  • Most Points: Johnny Sexton (23 points)
  • Most Tries: Keith Earls (3 tries)
  • Most Assists: Conor Murray (3 assists)
  • Successful Kicks: Johnny Sexton (8 successful kicks)
  • Most Metres Carried: Jacob Stockdale (395m carried)
  • Most Defenders Beaten: Jacob Stockdale (18 defenders beaten)
  • Most Clean Breaks: Jacob Stockdale (7 clean breaks)
  • Most offloads: Jordan Larmour, Johnny Sexton and Tadhg Furlong (2 offloads each)
  • Most Successful tackles: James Ryan (49 tackles made)
  • Most Turnovers won: Peter O’Mahony (6 turnovers won)
  • Most successful lineout takes (and stolen lineouts): Peter O’Mahony (30 lineouts won and 2 stolen lineouts)
  • Players who played every minute of 2019 Campaign: Peter O’Mahony

Full squad

Forwards: Rob Herring (Ulster), Ronan Kelleher (Leinster), Dave Heffernan (Connacht), Cian Healy (Leinster), Dave Kilcoyne (Munster), Tadhg Furlong (Leinster), Andrew Porter (Leinster), Tom O’Toole (Ulster), Jack McGrath (Ulster), James Ryan (Leinster), Iain Henderson (Ulster), Devin Toner (Leinster), Ultan Dillane (Connacht), Peter O’Mahony (Munster), Josh van der Flier (Leinster), CJ Stander (Munster), Max Deegan (Leinster), Caelan Doris (Leinster), Jack O’Donoghue (Munster)

Backs: Conor Murray (Munster), John Cooney (Ulster), Luke McGrath (Leinster), Johnny Sexton (Leinster), Ross Byrne (Leinster), Billy Burns (Ulster), Bundee Aki (Connacht), Robbie Henshaw (Leinster), Garry Ringrose (Leinster), Chris Farrell (Munster), Jacob Stockdale (Ulster), Andrew Conway (Munster), Keith Earls (Munster), Dave Kearney (Leinster), Jordan Larmour (Leinster), Will Addison (Ulster)

Likely Kickers

Successful kicks from Ireland kickers since September 1st 2018…

 Kits

 

Ireland’s kit can be purchased here at Lovell Rugby (*Full disclosure, this is an affiliate link, so FRG will earn a small commission if kits are purchased through this link)

Full list of Matches

  • Round 1 – Saturday February 1st, 4:45pm GMT – Ireland v Scotland – Aviva Stadium
  • Round 2 – Saturday February 8th, 2:15pm GMT – Ireland v Wales – Aviva Stadium
  • Round 3 – Sunday February 23rd, 3pm GMT – England v Ireland – Twickenham
  • Round 4 – Saturday March 7th, 2:15pm GMT – Ireland v Italy – Aviva Stadium
  • Round 5 – Saturday March 14th, 8pm GMT – France v Ireland – Stade De France

 

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 signed paperback copy of the Fantasy Rugby Handbook and a Fantasy Rugby Geek Trucker Hat, will be on offer for the winner of the league. Join it here!

Other Fantasy Rugby Games for the 2020 Six Nations

A summary of the top games that you can play fantasy rugby for the 2020 Six Nations (some of these are currently unconfirmed so may not have 6 Nations games live)…

  • The Rugby Magazine – Stats rich salary cap style game – Check out our 2020 review here
  • PlayOn – Daily Fantasy for Rugby – Sign up today here to receive a free $22 entry with a first-time deposit – Check out our 2020 review here
  • ESPN – A classic and straightforward Six Nations fantasy game – Check out our 2020 review here
  • SuperBru – An old favourite with salary cap fantasy rugby among other games and sports – Check out our 2020 review here
  • The Irish Times – Salary cap game with a €3000 top prize – Check out our 2020 review here

Pre-tournament articles

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

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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 2020 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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