The Rugby Magazine - Fantasy Rugby

[Peej]

Had Radrada as captain. Currently on zero

[switchskier]

Had Radrada as captain. Currently on zero

Signing Radrada, Piutau and Simmonds has brought me a grand total of 12 points so far.

[Puja]

Had Radrada as captain. Currently on zero

I was feeling very smug earlier, as I'd originally picked Dombrandt as captain, then made the decision to move to Simmonds right up until kickoff on Friday, when I made a last minute tweak to change to Radradra. "Good decision," I thought. "Bullet dodged to avoid having a captain scoring as low as 11 or 4!"

Thought Radradra was strikingly underpriced when I bought him. Not so sure now.

I'm ahead by 80-odd points in my cup match with someone who's 5th in the entire competition. I've got Willis and Mitchell (with Hayward, Umaga, and Kibirige on the bench) and he's got Willis, Robson, and Kibirige (with Taylor and Umaga on the bench).

Puja

[Shiny]

I’m glad I picked Sam Simmons as Captain as well. Currently leading my cup match by 4 points. I too have Willis, Mitchell yet to play and on the bench Ribbans, Furbank and Mills as well. All consistently reasonably good scorers.

[Scrumhead]

Woeful week for me. Before kick off on Friday I was confident of a big haul of points ... how wrong I was!

I never would have thought my big bets like Piutau, Radradra and Mako would score 20 points between them. Genuinely I was expecting 4x that.

Add in massive underperformance from players who are usually reliable like Simmonds and Dan du Preez and it’s a car crash.

I got rid of Thorley and Spencer and swapped Ted Hill out of my 23 at the last minute.

I need Willis and Robson to perform just to get me to 300 points!

Almost certainly out of the cup to. Not what I would have expected when I saw their team!

[Shiny]

Somehow, somewhere, god only knows how, I didn’t do too bad. Even despite having 6 starters scoring 11 points (my captain being one of them) or less and one dropout on match day I managed to scrape just shy of 400 points and also win my cup tie.

[Scrumhead]

Willis rescued me a bit, but still likely to be my worst game week of the entire season.

Bizarre considering it was the best side I’ve put out on paper.

[Shiny]

Blimey, I didnt expect that much squad rotation. I only have half a team. I don't want to sell players this week to buy them back next week but it looks like that is the road I have to go down just to get a team out.

[Puja]

Blimey, I didnt expect that much squad rotation. I only have half a team. I don't want to sell players this week to buy them back next week but it looks like that is the road I have to go down just to get a team out.

There's still half the league to put their teams out - have faith!

Puja

[Shiny]

Blimey, I didnt expect that much squad rotation. I only have half a team. I don't want to sell players this week to buy them back next week but it looks like that is the road I have to go down just to get a team out.

There's still half the league to put their teams out - have faith!

Puja

I already have gaps in the starting 15 so some buying and selling will be needed. Im waiting for the rest of the team announcements to see how much.

[Peej]

i'm struggling for backs currently. Bristol, but more importantly Sale and Exeter forgoing rotation has definitely helped me though

[Scrumhead]

I’ve managed to put a reasonable side together but basically have no money left and I know I’m going to be screwed by rotation coming up ... I need to score well this week too after a crappy return last week.

[Puja]

I had a squad of the minimum 28 last week. Now up to 34 and that's with using both my transfers out! Suspect I might need to sell one of my expensive players to get a side out in mid-week.

Having knocked out the team 5th in the whole league from the cup last weekend, my reward is to be drawn against a team ranked 18th in the whole league. Thanks random number generator! Gambling on one of the results being a blow-out this week - if one game doesn't go my way, then the whole week is ruined.

Puja

[Puja]

So, I dropped Simmonds to the bench today. Seems like a good call already.

Puja

[Peej]

Sold one player and bought a couple of outside backs in. And have just realised that virtually my entire team plays today

[Shiny]

So, I dropped Simmonds to the bench today. Seems like a good call already.

Puja

Glad I stuck with him as my captain. I figured he would a bad game twice on the trot.

[Scrumhead]

Same. If he’s playing, I pick him as captain more often than not. Rarely scores under 30.

[Peej]

Exeter's game suits him so well, and means he can do the stuff that racks up points.

Radrada looking more impressive tonight

[Puja]

Out of the cup by 4 goddamned points! Literally any of my selection or transfer quandries that I thought over would've made the difference If I'd gone the other way!

Puja

[Scrumhead]

Same for me last week. I got knocked out by someone literally hundreds of places below me.

I did well this weekend with one of my better rounds so far this season, but I think that could be undone by the rotation I’m expecting mid week.

[Puja]

Same for me last week. I got knocked out by someone literally hundreds of places below me.

I did well this weekend with one of my better rounds so far this season, but I think that could be undone by the rotation I’m expecting mid week.

My last three opponents were all in the top 20. Why can't I have had someone hundreds of places below me?!

Yeah, this first midweek fixture is going to be an absolute murder. When're the teams out?

Puja

[Scrumhead]

They were over 400 places below me but still beat me on a one-off weekend. It goes to show that overall position doesn’t really make a difference in the cup.

Teams will be named tomorrow and Tuesday.

Based upon the welfare regulations and teams selected so far, we should be looking at:

Tuesday:

Wasps (first XV) vs. Sale (2nd XV)
Bristol (mix of 1st/2nd XV) vs. Exeter (mostly 2nd XV)*

Wednesday:

Worcester (first XV) vs. Quins (2nd XV)
Saracens (mix of 1st/2nd XV) vs. Gloucester (2nd XV)
Tigers (first XV) vs. London Irish (2nd XV)
Saints (mix of 1st/2nd XV) vs. Bath (mix of 1st/2nd XV)

Personally I think the sides who’ve gone with the ‘mix and match’ approach with 50/50 first and 2nd teams should manage better than those who’ve gone all out with two feast or famine squads.

*This team will probably still feature plenty of internationals (Moon, Francis, Skinner, Nowell) and will have plenty of experience from the likes of Armand, Yeandle, Steenson and Dollman.

[Peej]

Out of the cup by 4 goddamned points! Literally any of my selection or transfer quandries that I thought over would've made the difference If I'd gone the other way!

Puja

I drew, and was knocked out

[Peej]

Just looking at how some of the rotations are going to play out, I am in deep shit for this round

[Puja]

Out of the cup by 4 goddamned points! Literally any of my selection or transfer quandries that I thought over would've made the difference If I'd gone the other way!

Puja

I drew, and was knocked out

Oh good, someone worse off than me! I'm currently torturing myself with what-ifs - if Haywood had grounded the ball for Saints instead of having it illegally knocked out of his hands causing a penalty try, I'd've won. Or if the ref had allowed Alex Mitchell grounding the ball after their scrum drove over, instead of resetting and then just giving the penalty try three scrum penalties and a yellow card later, I'd've won.

Bloody pernicious game!

Puja