Welcome to Day 15 of FRG’s Fantasy Rugby World Cup Diary! 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…
Match Day 14 Review
Three games today on an action-packed Saturday!
First up Australia defeated a spirited but ultimately outclassed Uruguay in a convincing 45-10 victory with Australia scoring seven tries. There were two each for Dane Haylett-Petty and Tevita Kuridrani. Also racking up some good fantasy points were Jordan Petaia, who put in an excellent first half performance, Will Genia and James Slipper.
After a reckless Red Card incident involving Tomas Lavanini, England cruised to victory against Argentina. In amongst the points were George Ford, Jonny May, Luke Cowan-Dickie (again!!) and Ben Youngs, Elliot Daly and the returning Jack Nowell.
Japan found themselves back on top of Pool A after a comfortable victory of Samoa in Toyota, and all eyes will be on the final match of the pool stage, where the Brave Blossoms will qualify for the quarter-finals with a win over Scotland. There were some high scoring points performances by Timothy Lafaele, Kazuki Himeno, Lomano Lemeki, Kenki Fukuoka and Kotaro Matsushima.
Match Day 15 Preview
Two games on Sunday, both with big points potential.
First up, potentially the biggest mismatch of the tournament with reining champions New Zealand taking on the World 23rd ranked team, Namibia. There is potential for big scores all over the team, but wherever possible, try to get 2-3 of Sevu Reece, George Bridge, Codie Taylor, Ben Smith, Ardie Savea and Anton Lienart-Brown in your team. The bookies have set the handicap line at a huge 70 point wim for New Zealand. There will be tries, make sure your team will be a part of it.
Second up is France v Tonga. Tonga have disappointed so far, despite the welcome return to form of Telusa Veianu, and they may struggle again against a France side looking to cement their place in the Quarter-Finals. France have named a side full of class and players to consider in your teams in Aliverati Raka, Damian Penaud, Baptiste Serin, Gregory Alldritt and Virimi Vakatawa.
FRG’s Teams
The Rugby Magazine – Points: 1340 – Ranking: 190
Not the greatest day, some low scores by both my props, Michael Leitch and Tim Nanai-Williams, slightly better from Kotaro Matsushima and Chris Vui however. I’ll be hoping for some big performances tomorrow from Ardie Savea and Jordie Barrett.
SuperBru – Points: 658.50 – Ranking: 369
A very average day, with low scores for Vunipola, Ala’alatoa and Montoya. Got Savea and Perenara in action tomorrow to hopefully turn things around.
The Daily Telegraph – Points: 1052 – Ranking: 72
Another good day and another steady step up the rankings, although I’m still 174 points off the top, wish I could see how many transfers the top teams have left (for the record I have 10 left, and 8 capatin changes).
Today I had Jordan Petaia as captain, who I promptly transferred out for Kotaro Matsushima, also as captain, both of whom racked up some big points for me. I also had Itoje, Vunipola, Farrell and Tuilagi, all of whom contributed some okay additional scores.
Tomorrow I have Ben Smith, TJ Perenara and Ardie Savea and I’ll probably bring in Sevu Reece too. Also keeping a close eye on the Boks team announcement. If Mapimpi is rested, then Bridge is also coming in…
The Irish Times – Points: 931 – Ranking: 81
A quiet day today, fallen down a few places but still in the top 100. Had Ala’alatoa, Leitch and Inagaki. Tomorrow I have Penaud, Captain Reece and Ardie Savea, so hoping for a good rise…
Buy me a Coffee!
If you’ve been enjoying the FRG tips over the years or during the RWC, please consider supporting the blog and donating a coffee, all donators will receive a name drop on the next weekly tips, and your donations will help with the running of the blog (and keeping me fuelled to do so!) >>> https://www.buymeacoffee.com/FRugbyGeek
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.
Found this interesting or useful and looking for more Fantasy Rugby news, tips and advice? Follow @frugbygeek on Twitter, Like us on Facebook or sign up to the newsletter below to get fantasy rugby news delivered straight to you!
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!