The first in a series of game overviews to give you the ins and outs of the available games in place for this season’s Gallagher Premiership. If any new games pop up, please let us know at fantasyrugbygeek@gmail.com or @frugbygeek on Twitter.
First under the microscope is a game by the good folks at The Rugby Magazine, check it out here.
THE PREMISE
Now a well-established part of the Fantasy Rugby landscape, The Rugby Magazine is a salary cap style game with a nod to Fantasy Premier League but with several innovative tweaks for rugby.
You have a budget of £6m to build a squad of a minimum of 28 players, from these 28 you must pick a match day 23, all of whom will score for you (your bench getting you half points). As your entire match day 23 scores points, it crucial that you use your limited transfers wisely.
Similarly to FPL, the players’ value increases and decreases over the course of the season, so as the season goes on you can build your team’s value.
A really nice touch is the allowance of players to play in multiple positions, reflecting the real life scenario that someone may be a bit of a utility player popping up in multiple positions over the course of the season. So Eliott Daly, for example, is assigned as a Full Back, Winger and Centre. This will allow a bit more flexibility when it comes to building your match day 23.
The transfer system is slightly complicated. Once the season is up and running, you are limited to releasing 5 players per week – only 1 of these are free though, the remainder will each incur a hefty 20 point transfer penalty. There is no limit on how many players you can bring into your squad, other than the remaining budget in your salary cap.
For the 2021/22 season, the makers of The Rugby Magazine have made some tweaks. The first is a budget reduction, just as the salary cap has decreased for the Premiership this season, so too has the amount of budget you have available in the game. While the last few seasons have seen a cap of £7m, this season this has dropped to £6m. To combat, this a large number of the players values have also been adjusted. Nonetheless, this will require more skill from fantasy managers to ensure they pick the best value players. In addition, several player’s positions have been stripped back based on their predominant positions. To use an example by the makers of the game, Alex Dombrandt and Sam Simmonds for example, are now simply number eights, rather than carying extra positions in which they have not played for a considerable amount of time. The knock on effect of this (that ties into salary changes too), is that you are effectively now forced to choose between Dombrandt and Simmonds, as opposed to being able to carry both through the season. Factor this carefully into your planning. You can see a full overview of changes for this season here.
THE KEY POINTS
- Squad Size: A minimum of 28
- Team size: 23 – The 8 on your bench will earn half points
- Double scoring captain?: Yes
- Designated Kicker?: Yes
- Transfers: 2 free transfer (player release) per gameweek, up to 3 more releases allowed at a cost of 20 points per release
- Max players from one club: 6
THE EDGE
Use your squad well
The most crucial pointer is that you must use your squad well, it is critical that you have a match day 23 of players who should always be involved. 23 starters, even better, but what with squad rotation this is always a challenge. Avoid the temptation to load your starting XV with superstars, with your bench earning you half points, you are better served building a balanced squad of consistent performers rather than 15 superstars and a bench of low scorers.
Bye weeks
This season brings a new wrinkle to Prmiership fantasy rugby players, byes! While Super Rugby fantasy rugby players are well used to bye weeks, this is a new experience for Premiership managers. With no relegation last season and the return of Saracens increasing the league to 13 teams, this season, we are going to contend with byes.
So when are the bye weeks occuring? Here’s a summary…
The teams with longest gaps between bye weeks are Wasps (18 rounds), Harlequins (18 rounds) & Saracens (16 rounds), while the teams with shortest gaps between bye weeks, Bristol (8 rounds), Newcastle (9 rounds) and Gloucester (9 weeks). Take this into account with your planning if you are looking to shift players in and out for the byes.
Ultimately, with 13 teams in the league and only 1 team on a bye each week, it should all be quite manageable; however, just avoid putting all your eggs in one basket, and be cautious with any handcuff strategies (“Handcuff??? What?” – Check out our Fantasy Rugby Glossary here…).
Dodge the internationals
Although it’s tempting to load up with big names, your limited transfers will be better used on guaranteed starters each week of the season so that you don’t find yourself having to make costly multiple transfers when it comes to the stars that will miss big chunks of the season for the Autumn Internationals and Six Nations. In addition, those who were involved in the Lions Tour will need to be rested for a significant period of the season start (mooted 10 weeks for all Lions squad members).
Top of the Props
With a point on offer for every metre gained by props, you must bring in props who have a history of ball carrying for metres. The likes of Ellis Genge, Oli Hoskins, Kyle Sinckler, Beno Obano and Will Stuart are essentials this game and are also solid captain choices. Ball-carrying locks also tend to score big. Crunch the stats and hunt down the carrying kings!
Lock In
As with Props, Locks tend to do well in the game, with a point on offer for every two metres gained, and a point on offer for every two passes/offloads. Locks all round are regular high scorers in the game and Locks with strong carrying, tackling, passing and lineout games will put in some huge scores. The likes of Jonny Hill, Jonny Gray, Chris Vui, Jean-Luc Du Preez and Stephan Lewies should be some of the first names in your team.
Multiposition players are worth their weight in gold
Given the transfer restrictions and the squad size, by filling your squad with players who can play in multiple positions, you will provide your team with a lot more flexibility in case of injury, resting and rotation.
Players who like to run with the ball have the potential to score big
You will be well rewarded with players who run the ball in from deep and can take on and beat players, so load your team up with fullbacks and wings who like to run with the ball. The likes of Semi Radradra, Tyrone Green, Charles Piutau, Ruaridh McConnochie, Louis Rees-Zammit, Stuart Hogg and Max Malins are reliable performers in this respect.
Friday afternoons will never be the same
You have a small window of time between the Saturday and Sunday squads being announced at midday and the Friday night game kicking off, so make sure you log on in this time to make sure your proposed 23 is actually playing. Keep an eye on the team announcements on the Fantasy Rugby Geek Premiership Twitter List to catch the team announcements as they come in.
Plan ahead
Keep an eye on the fixture list when making your transfers to ensure that you get the best bang for your buck. If a certain team has a good run of games coming up bring them in. Conversely a side could have an attractive fixture that week but follows up with some tough games against the top dogs, it could be worth reconsidering!
In other The Rugby Magazine news…
Don’t miss our interview with previous overall Premiership TRM champion, Alasdair Haines. In it he provides some excellent insights as to how he fought off the challenge of thousands of other players to end the season at the top of the pack!
This season, The Rugby Magazine has introduced a Discord server. It’s already a buzzing hub of rugby knowledge with great fantasy insights. Sign up here.
Also, don’t forget that The Rugby Magazine has a mobile app. The Apps are free to download in the iOS and Android App Stores.
Come and join the FRG league for 2021/22!
If you back your Fantasy Rugby skills to lead you to Fantasy Premiership 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, 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!
A huge congratulations to our 20/21 Champion, James Froud!
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