Welcome to Day 25 of the FRG RWC Diary and the first of the knockout stage! This is a daily post during the World Cup in which I will be previewing the upcoming games, looking back at the previous matches and sharing the progress, trials and tribulations of all my teams across the 4 games live for the World Cup. This will be the last post for a few days but I’ll be back again on Thursday with the Quarter-Final picks and then the Diary posts will start again on Friday (along with the Premiership Round 1 picks!)…
Match Day 21 Review
First up in Oita, England showed their class with a convincing 40-16 victory over Australia. There were heroes all over the park for England, with big fantasy points scores coming in for Jonny May, Anthony Watson, Owen Farrell, Kyle Sinckler and Tom Curry. Honourable mention goes to Marika Koroibete who continued his scintillating World Cup form with another lethal performance.
In the second match, New Zealand breezed past Ireland with a huge 46-14 victory. It was an attacking masterclass with standout performances from Beauden Barrett, Aaron Smith, Sevu Reece, George Bridge and Codie Taylor. Next Saturday’s Semi-Final between England and New Zealand is shaping up to be a truly monumental clash.
Match Day 22 Preview
Tomorrow sees the final two quarter-finals…
First up is probably the toughest quarter-final to call, with Wales taking on France. Wales have impressed so far, and France have flattered to decieve, however you just never know which France will turn up and this could be the day. Either way it will be a highly entertaining match and from a fantasy perspective, eyes should be on Josh Adams, George North, Gareth Davies, Dan Biggar, Justin Tipuric, Damian Penaud, Antoine Dupont and Gregory Alldritt.
The last match of the weekend is the one that carries a huge amount of hype and promises to be the biggest game in the hosts history, Japan v South Africa. Japan have been magnificent so far, but the Boks may be just one step too far. South Africa will not want a repeat of Brighton 2015 so will be going all out from the off. You’d be recommended to load up with South Africa players, including Cheslin Kolbe, Makazole Mapimpi, Handre Pollard, Faf De Klerk, Lukhanyo Am, Duane Vermeulen and Bongi Mbonambi. That said, don’t rule out Japanese players entirely, in their form, the likes of Kenki Fukuoka, Kotaro Matsushima, Shota Horie and Kizuki Himeno are all capable of racking up the points.
FRG’s Teams
The Rugby Magazine – Points: 2409 – Ranking: 37
A solid start to the Quarters for my Rugby Mag team, captain Itoje delivered and there were 20+ points performances from Tupou, Savea, Billy V, Mo’unga, Jonny May, Jamie George, James Ryan and Beaden Barrett. Tomorrow I have Bongi, Lood, Gareth Davies, Josh Adams, Kolbe, PSDT and Handre Pollard in action. Would love to break the Top 25 by the end of the weekend.
SuperBru – Points: 1,023 – Ranking: 145
A solid if unspectacular day today with the majority of my forwards in action, Ardie Savea in particular was excellent and Richie Mo’unga scored well. Tomorrow I have Captain Kolbe playing, as well as Josh Adams, Mapimpi, J Davies, G Davies, Vermeulen, Koch and Horie so expecting a better day.
The Daily Telegraph – Points: 1860 – Ranking: 24
200+ points but still fallen a couple of places, this is getting very hard! I had some great performances today in Jonny May and co, but it wasn’t enough to progress farther. Onwards to tomorrow, will have a couple of Welsh players and will also load up with plenty of Boks.
The Irish Times – Points: 1595 – Ranking: 24
Down a few spots but only 97 points off the lead with 7 players to go, including captain Kolbe. I’m feeling confident for tomorrow and hoping to end the weekend back in the Top 10.
Playing Premiership Fantasy Rugby? Come and join the FRG league!
If you back your Fantasy Rugby skills to lead you to Fantasy Premiership glory and win you some goodies while you are at it, then join our public fantasy league on The Rugby Magazine fantasy game, where a Fantasy Rugby Geek Trucker Hat, and a signed paperback copy of the Fantasy Rugby Handbook 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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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!