Become a Creator today!Start creating today - Share your story with the world!
Start for free
00:00:00
00:00:01
The Fantasy Rugby Yanks- Episode 3: Premiership Round 6
26 Plays7 years ago
It's episode 3! It was a wild week in the Premiership and this time next week we'll be talking about round 1 in European play. Those that are curious, 3PG=Pound per point per game.
Rugby Magazine Premiership Team Name: Wyle-E Coyotes
Champions Cup Team Name: StrengthOfTheWolf
Use code YFN6VAYWPL to challenge me in Daily Champions Cup Fantasy
E-mail questions and comments to fantasyrugbypodcast@gmail.com
Music provided by Royalty Free Music: http://www.soundotcom.com
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction and Podcast Setup
00:00:02
Speaker
What's up and welcome. This is the fantasy rugby on podcast. Again, my name is Jared Dyke. I am recording from just outside Boston, Massachusetts.
Premiership Round 6 Review and Champions Cup Preview
00:00:12
Speaker
We are reviewing round six of the Premiership and we will be previewing round one of the Champions Cup. Yes, they make fantasy rugby for that too. I found it. We're going to do it. Maybe not as in depth.
00:00:30
Speaker
But we're going to do it. We're going to make it happen.
Listener Appreciation and Previous Episode Recap
00:00:33
Speaker
This is episode three. For those that are still sticking with me, man, you must be crazy. But thank you for doing so. And for those that are just coming in for the first time, thanks for stopping by. Happy to have you along.
00:00:47
Speaker
Okay, so let's clean up last week's episode a little bit. I know it was a little long and discombobulated. If you weathered the storm and you listened to the whole thing, thank you very much. And good for you, you might have too much time on your hands, but that's okay. So I butchered the now backup Scrum half for the New Castle Falcon's name, and I included an L that was not there.
00:01:17
Speaker
So Suntani Takalua, sorry buddy, did not mean to kill your name. So that's the bit of, so a note on injuries.
Injuries and Fantasy Strategy
00:01:29
Speaker
I will go through some of the more significant injuries as I do the games. There were plenty to go around, unfortunately. Injuries are always pretty tough to see, but we do need to go through them because they are a part of the game and they will affect your team.
00:01:47
Speaker
But a note on injuries, when you have a player that's injured for a month or two, there will be a price drop in them. So if you want to sacrifice one spot on your team, I probably wouldn't do more than one. Then maybe you go and look at the new price for that person. Maybe they've dropped, they dropped pretty good, a good 20 to 30 pounds easily. So when you see a significant player
00:02:17
Speaker
Go down and you maybe want to Find the way to get them into your team for the foreseeable future once they're back go see if they've had a price drop since their injury That would be that'd be a thought for it I am not sure I want to hold an injured player in my lineup I try and keep as many in there that are gonna start or play at the very least So that's okay
00:02:45
Speaker
But
Top Performers in Dream 15 and Fantasy Scoring
00:02:46
Speaker
first, let's do the Dream 15 from this past weekend. So players 1 through 15 that fit in a player lineup. I don't know if this is on budget as well, but you can probably presume so because there's some funny names here. But that doesn't mean they're not worth it. Jan Thomas from Bristol with 34. Rob Hibbert.
00:03:07
Speaker
Rob Weber at hooker from sale with 40. Kyle Sinclair from Harlequins with 25. Brent Evans from sale with 49, the second row. Gerbrand Grubler, the other second row in this team, from Gloucester, 38. Mark Omama from Worcester, big win for Worcester this past weekend. We'll talk about it. Mark Omama got 50, flanker from Worcester. Tom Curry, the flanker from sale. The England incumbent, not his twin brother.
00:03:36
Speaker
had 41, G.J. Van Velsa, again Worcester had a nice day, 40, Francois Huguard, Scrum half from Worcester, 46, Danny Sabriani, the Gloucester 10, he had 42, Jonah Holmes, Jonah Holmes had a great game standing in, at Leicester at Twickenham for the Rob Horn game, he had 43 on the wing, back three we'll call it, I don't think he played wing, I'm pretty sure he played fallback,
00:04:07
Speaker
Back three. Ryan Mills from Worcester, the center, 42. Francois Venter, the other center from Worcester, 37. Josh Adams, the other wing, also from Worcester, had 43 in this team.
Fantasy Rugby Challenges and Leagues
00:04:19
Speaker
And the fullback, Freddie Burns, who actually played fullback for back. Let's go through the top point scores currently in fantasy for the fantasy rugby magazine website.
00:04:37
Speaker
Also, just I want to note, if anybody wants to play against me, challenge me, and you're out there, please send me an email in the emails and the show notes, I'll give it at the end of the episode as well. So if you want to play against me in there and want to get into a private group with myself or another person, we can make it a party. So just feel free to shoot me a message. Okay, so your top point scorers right now,
Bath vs. Exeter Game Analysis
00:05:06
Speaker
George Ford's still up top, 273. Maro Atoje, 227, still the leading forward, but he's getting company very quickly here. Bryn Evans, 197. Couple of huge gains for Bryn Evans over the last couple weeks for sale, second row. Mark Wilson, the back grower for Newcastle with 193. As I said, Maro's got some company up there.
00:05:33
Speaker
Dan Robson, the scrum half for WASP, 192. Unfortunately, he's probably gonna stay at 192 for a little while, at least for a couple weeks. We'll see if he's healthy by the time the premier ship kicks back up. Charlie Sharples with 191. Danny Kehr with 190. Will Cliff, 184. Unfortunately for Will Cliff, five to Clark has come back. So that, again, that's another one that may not be shooting up too fast anytime soon.
00:05:59
Speaker
Danny Cipriani with 182 and Francois Huguard with 182 as well, round out the top 10. And just outside that, about, I'd say three or four players within eight points. So the good ones are really starting to separate themselves. The not so good ones are starting to get found out very quickly.
00:06:29
Speaker
to to do Okay to the games Bath and Exeter this was a pretty good one Bath definitely rocked up a lot better in this game than they did last week against Saracens They came to play and they certainly gave Exeter a heck of a time Exeter still came away with a semi lopsided win 39 24, but it it was a good atmosphere I watched the game and you could feel the energy it was a
00:06:59
Speaker
a pretty good game to watch. Certainly watchable through the first half at the very least. Okay, so let's go through the scoring and then we'll get into fantasy and all the implications there. Reece Priestling got the scoring going about midway through the half or the tri scoring going with a tri on 22 minutes. Stu Townsend, the returning Stu Townsend got
00:07:25
Speaker
The reply for Exeter, about 28. Don Armon got one again with 35 gone in the half. That was all the try scoring on the first half. Second half, Matt Kovesick got it going with about 20 minutes gone on the 61st minute. Ian Whitten got one at 65. Jack Noll, good looking try for Jack Noll, just mostly effort, really just
00:07:51
Speaker
He was everywhere. He was everywhere on that try. He was on the wing. He came inside. He went back out. He deserved that try. He put all the effort into it. And then Chris Cook got one late for Bath. And Ian Whitten got yellow card. Semisa Rockendouni got a yellow card. That was pretty much the notable action in terms of those events.
00:08:16
Speaker
For the fantasy implications, we'll look at the home squad first. Toby Falatow had 13. He left with a wrist injury. That's what they're calling it, or a wrist or a hand injury. Nothing else has come out that I've seen. That doesn't mean there hasn't been something by the time you listen to this. Just keep an eye on that if you have Toby Falatow. Personally, Toby Falatow is one of the more expensive players in the game. I believe his price point is somewhere near
00:08:45
Speaker
That's not good for 41. And we talked about, I talk about the three PG and how much, how many pounds is it costing you per game for that player? It's not, it's not pretty for Toby foul towel. It's about 20 pounds per game that that's costing you. So I, uh, I wouldn't want Toby foul towel on my team personally, at least in terms of this, I'm not saying he's a bad player. He's a very good player.
00:09:14
Speaker
Saracen's almost got him and I'm not sure what the heck they would have done with him because they have Billy, but I was, uh, I was at least a little excited to hear his name getting thrown around. And to give you a idea, 16.5 is the average three PG for players that have played more than two games. That's the standard I kind of set because two games, two or one game doesn't really tell you a lot, but at least somebody that's played for about half the season would, would be a notable.
00:09:44
Speaker
So, yep, Valetal out. I would suspect if he's healthy, he'll go in Europe, but I don't know what his health status will be for this weekend, so keep an eye on that if you're going to go for him in Europe. Samisa Rocker-Dungunni also 13, had a yellow card, did not help his cause.
00:10:09
Speaker
Just not a great game overall. Yellow cards are what? Like, minus eight or something like that in the game? Not something you want to be able to, you want to have to pick up, you know? Yellow cards are minus three. Yellow cards, so yellow cards are minus three, which is not great. So even with the minus three, you're also not talking about just the minus three. You're talking about the opportunity to get carries and to make tackles and to make plays that all matter in this format. So that's,
00:10:38
Speaker
That's something that needs to be noted when you get a yellow card. It's not just the minus three that that hurts you It's the opportunity lost for points. So would he have had more than 16? I'd be willing to wager it. He's a
00:10:50
Speaker
damn good player. I'd say he would do way more damage than 16, given the full 80. Jamie Roberts did not play, still dealing with a nurse cheekbone. Come on, man. Just put a plate in it and play. Kidding. That's, for those that don't know, that's a reference to Brad Barrett playing with a plate in his cheek last year when he heard it for Saracens. Francois Lowe was away on duty with Springboks.
00:11:15
Speaker
I'm sure Bath will be excited to get any of their South African and Australian contingent back this coming week with Europe impending. Freddie Burns had 34, played a great game. I don't know if Freddie Burns has ever started a game at fullback. Maybe he's subbed in as a fullback, but I don't think he's ever won the 15-shirt, at least not at a professional level. So good for Freddie Burns for stepping in and doing what his team needed to do.
00:11:40
Speaker
The team was kind enough to give him the kicking tee and he certainly made what he could of it. I think he missed one or two, but man, he had a lot of kicks that went over as well. So good for Freddie Burns. Dave Atwood with 23. A fairly expensive player for a player that's not... He's not doing a ton in my eyes, but maybe that's just me.
00:12:04
Speaker
He's not super expensive, but still three P three PGs down 11.2. So, but he's only played four games. So, and I know I said that three is the minimum and so I'm not disqualifying him from it, but just something to keep in mind. Uh, 23 he's, he had 23 Zach Mercer with 32 Zach Mercer is probably going to see duty with England once this is done. So, um, expect him to not be available in your squad coming up here.
00:12:33
Speaker
Tom Dum with 19 and Henry Thomas with 19 as well. Usually a hooker score is indicative of whether or not they got over the line or whether or not their line out was going well. Exeter has a pretty good line out and line out defense.
00:12:51
Speaker
That's probably indicative of how that went. Reece Priestland had 26. Good day for him coming from the fly half, not bad. Again, he's another player that's a little bit up there in price, but he's probably not bad if you need a 10 that plays 10 more often than not. He's in the mid 2. He's 265.
00:13:18
Speaker
Uh, his three PGs 12.2. So could do worse. Uh, Cooper Vuna filled in at center for bath and with all their injuries and got 21. Then he ended up leaving with an ankle injury. He tough it out for a good, I don't know, 20 minutes, probably even longer than that.
00:13:39
Speaker
probably closer to 30, and came off with about 15 minutes gone in half time. So not much to really poo-poo on Vuna, but he did leave with an ankle injury, so that leaves Bath a little desperate to get some bodies back in. Jack Willison, his center partner, also at 21. Another notable Bath player, Joe Cockner, single with 14. Not fantastic.
00:14:07
Speaker
Didn't quite get to that threshold of 20, we really hope for in a player every week. 20's what I consider a good mark and would probably get you a decent haul on points, you know, 20 to 5 times 15 is what? 300? Okay. So that's, and that's about what you're looking for for an average score each week. I don't think I've scored less than 300 in the weeks I've played this so far.
00:14:36
Speaker
nothing to note for bath off the bench so let's go on to Exeter Exeter had Exeter played a pretty good game they did what they usually do they looked a little prettier than they did last week against Worcester I don't know if they ever got out of second gear last week but this one they had to because bath definitely brought it so let's have a look at the scores Jack Knoll as I said he had a nice
00:15:06
Speaker
try where he started inside and he went outside after and called for the cross kick or after the cross kick was was hit and scooped it up and put it on the line so that was a heck of a heck of a try for Jack Knoll so he had thirty one Henry Slade with twenty four obviously trying to put his hand up for that England team this November Santiago Cordero fourteen not a great day for him he had a good day last week so it's hard to really
00:15:36
Speaker
put him down too hard and don armand thirty three don armand did get over the line as well so that certainly helps luke alan dickey who got eight in his return disappointing for me i played luke alan dickey and it's you know it's rare that you see the other the team's line out do so well but the hooker did not score as much i'm guessing there was just a number of times where he was infringing or
00:16:04
Speaker
missed tackles, you know, there's various ways to lose it. If you're penalized a bunch, you get, you get my points. It's, it's all, it all adds up. So he got eight and it's probably what he deserved. Sam Simmons did not play. He will be out six to nine months with an ACL.
00:16:21
Speaker
Sorry Sam Simmons, it's really, really heartbreaking for the guy. He plays so well when he wears an Exeter shirt and played pretty well for England when he got the chance last year. So it's really, really disappointing to see him have to sit out for the next six to nine months. Unfortunately, I think he is going to try and rush back.
00:16:42
Speaker
because he wants to obviously be a part of the upcoming World Cup squad. So I hope he does the smart thing. He's young, he will have World Cups in him, and if he continues to do what he does at Exeter, he will get a chance. Also, it's probably worth noting for him, there's two eight men in front of him in terms of the pecking order, that being Billy Bonapola and Nathan Hughes.
00:17:11
Speaker
Not saying he's not worth it. Zack Mercer has thrown himself into the mix as well. So to say that they are not uncedable is wrong, but he would have a lot of work in front of him to unseat these guys. He's young, he'll get his chance.
00:17:30
Speaker
Other notable scores for our Exeter, Dave Dennis had 32, Sam Skinner had 33, MacCavecic had 27. Again, forwards, all involved in the lineup. You'd think Luke Cowan Dickey's score would be more indicative of it, but just not to be. Still didn't stop these guys from having a good day.
00:17:51
Speaker
Stu Townsend had 32, he got over the line in his return. Jack Munner did get onto the bench though, so good for the kid for not going away yet.
00:18:03
Speaker
Gary Steenson had 21. He was kicking from the tee, so that's probably where a good majority of his came from. Ian Whitten did get 16 despite the yellow card that he got at the end. He did score a try and didn't really miss out on opportunities to score points because he got the yellow card right near the end.
Lester vs. Northampton Highlights
00:18:23
Speaker
That's more or less why he got 16. He only got the yellow card with five minutes to go, so he didn't miss a ton out, miss out on a ton.
00:18:30
Speaker
to Twickenham we go this was the big fixture on Saturday one of two big fixtures but really it was the the keynote fixture the second match of the day that was broadcast over here in the States really was secondary to me for this one this is a good cause for Rob Horn and it was a great match so I hope everybody watched and I hope everybody enjoyed if if you
00:19:01
Speaker
could hold back the tears when horn brought the ball out to the center circle. Then I questioned whether or not you are dead on the inside something. Cause man, I couldn't hold him back. It wasn't, I had a couple of tears coming down. It was a very emotional moment to watch. Uh, so, uh, I'm glad they did this for him. I hope he recovers quickly. Well, not quickly, but I hope he recovers in due time.
00:19:32
Speaker
All right, let's get to the game. We'll talk about the try scoring and then we'll talk about the fantasy aspect and the result, obviously. Let's talk about the result first. Lester 23, Northampton 15, no bonus point try for Hampton. Northampton, no losing bonus point for Northampton. So let's get to the try scoring. There were five tries scored.
00:19:57
Speaker
here split, actually split three tries to Northampton and two to Lester, despite the fact that Lester came out on top. So the kicking team made a difference in this one. Uh, Jamie Gibson got it going about 14 on the 14th minute for Northampton. Ben Young's responded about 16 minutes later in the 30th minute for Lester.
00:20:20
Speaker
Jordan Aloha fella got one two minutes later for Lester David ribbons got one right at the half for Northampton and Mikey Haywood gets his second in two games for Northampton but again not enough in the tank for Northampton there they don't they can't even salvage a losing bonus point like I said so tough luck for them they really wanted to make this a special day for Rob Horne but
00:20:48
Speaker
They don't give sympathy points out in rugby, unfortunately. So let's get to the fantasy side of the thing. First, for the host, the technical host, even though this was at Twickenham, Northampton. James Haskell did not play again. Once again, he's still working his way back from that ankle injury, also probably having an eye towards both Europe and the autumn tours, the November tests.
00:21:15
Speaker
Dan bigger had 19 a slightly disappointing day for him. Kicking made a difference in this game and he didn't really have it. Courtney laws didn't play. He pulled out very late with a back spasm so late that I think the person they brought onto the bench who was Tom Wood. Good to see him back. Didn't even have a number on his back. So that's how late that decision was made. So if you had laws in your lineup, tough luck. That's why you have the subs there. Dylan Hartley had 23.
00:21:46
Speaker
as I, as I said, indicative of how his lineup, lineup went, it went pretty well. Uh, he was a decent ball carrier as well. Heinrich Broussault was still dealing with a noggin and I think also a calf now as well, if I read that right. So I think he was about ready to return to training or he returned to training and then he had a calf pop up. So he'll be, he'll be probably at least another week or two, unfortunately for them.
00:22:09
Speaker
Other notables for Northampton, David ribbons, the big man, David ribbons. He is certainly stepping up and playing a huge role, especially while Courtney laws kind of figures out what's going on with injuries. This was a back spasm. I think laws missed one more game earlier in the, in the season. David ribbons has done a great job in stepping in there as far as what's his price.
00:22:33
Speaker
David ribbons actually fairly cheap. He's 187. He's got one two three three games over 30 points And his his 3pg is at 7.5. That's pretty darn low Like I said, you're probably looking at average of 16 ish in the 3pg Category, so he is giving you
00:22:56
Speaker
everything for your money, averaging 25 points a game. So if you're in need of a cheap lock that's playing a lot, David Ribbons is probably your guy. Unfortunately, you're going to have to wait about six weeks until you can use him again. We'll talk about that in a little bit. Jamie Gibson, 29, great day for him as well. Harry Malander, 18 in the back, played fullback for his team.
00:23:25
Speaker
Again, the kid is just doing his business and not and he's he's trying to put last year behind him so good for him for chugging on ten Kelly and I are Voro with 14 a Pretty disappointing day for the big guy didn't see a lot of the ball from what I remember I think the few times he did see it He tried to do damage but only can do so much when you see so little of the ball off the bench Mikey Heywood got 21 after his second try in two games and
00:23:52
Speaker
Not sure he's worth the value of putting into your fantasy team, but considering that the November internationals are coming up and Dylan Hartley is likely to be with England, maybe consider that as a replacement hooker. For Lester, George Ford had 32. He had another great day off the tee. He continues to be the top point scorer in fantasy, and his 3PG is actually 8.9, so he's worth the money that he costs. You just have to find the budget itself, which is...
00:24:19
Speaker
Pretty hefty. It's in the high twos. Give me a second here. He, uh, the high twos. I said the high twos George Ford is four Oh five. So he, if you can find that in your budget, he is, he's carrying his weight for sure. He averages 45 points a game right now. Uh, Grant, that's with a 70 a 50 and a 50 in there, but still he's got the only time he scored less than 30 was week one.
00:24:44
Speaker
Dan Cole was 17 disappointing day for Dan Cole too much money for the very little production that Dan Cole has provided in This format so I would steer clear of Dan if you can Ben Young's with 33 Continues to do as Ben Young's does I just I like watching Ben Young's because you see so many passers of the ball that
00:25:09
Speaker
Take too long to get rid of it. And case in point, a couple of the stairs and scrum halves. We'll talk about that in a minute. And, you know, it's in. Ben Young's gets it and it's gone. It's out of his hand in a flash. So it's just impressive to watch him. He is three hundred eighty three. His three PG is right on the average of sixteen. Sixteen and a half. He's sixteen point seven.
00:25:37
Speaker
Yeah, if you can afford it, it's not a bad idea. Johnny May with eight left with an injured shoulder, they put his, they pinned up his jersey right away. He looks like he's in for a long spell off, more than likely missing the test duties coming up. Manu Tulangi returned with a six, little ooh on that one. Tom Young's 22.
00:26:06
Speaker
Turns out a decent performance to list if I honor did not play. I think he picked up a knock in training. Other notables for Lester Harry Wells with 30. Guy Thompson with 27 and Greg Bateman with 22. So if you need a prop, and it needs to be a lesser tiger because you're
00:26:29
Speaker
A lesser tiger fan, or you're just trying to get away from other teams. Guy Thompson's probably worth your time. Greg Bateman's probably worth your time more than Dan Cole. And you will not pay nearly as much as you will for Coley. Good to see Harry Wells doing good in there. For the backs for Lester, Jonah Holmes did a great job filling in for Talisa Vayano.
00:26:54
Speaker
It was a wet day and he cleaned up pretty much all the trouble that came at him when he was in his own 22.
00:27:03
Speaker
So good for him, 43, great day for him. If he turns that out over and over again, I'd consider popping him into my team when the internationals come along. You never know. Kyle Eastman also at 29. It was a fun matchup to watch between Eastman and Tua Langi going against Burrell and Kellaway.
00:27:25
Speaker
Burrell didn't score a thing. Callaway got eight. Eastman got 29. Twitling got six. Yeah, Twitling got six. I might have said eight before. He got six. So, you know, granted only one of them performed well, but which team won? And did you at least have one player, one of them score well? Yeah.
00:27:45
Speaker
So advantage to Lester centers for sure. Uh, Jordan, all a fellow off the bench with 26 came in for Johnny May very early, had loads of opportunity, did well with the one opportunity he got after a nice counter and got over the line in the corner. So good on him. This kid, he looks good. He's young and he is rate. He is chomping at the bit to get into the lesser team more and more. I'm sure he will make plenty of his opportunity when he gets it with the absence of Johnny May while he is out.
00:28:15
Speaker
Okay to the Danny Sapriani revenge game at the Rica wasping Gloucester Really really good game Gloucester take home the all five points 35 21 really just put it right to him lots of energy being thrown around for Gloucester not that lost in but I'd say Gloucester definitely just were the more motivated group and They looked really good It was a
Wasps vs. Gloucester Match Breakdown
00:28:44
Speaker
It was a try fest. That's for sure. This is a, this is one of the games that scored a lot of tries and had a lot of good, good scores come out of it. Dan Robson with a try, uh, two minutes in real, just really good hustle effort. More on him in a minute though. Ben Velikot, another one for this one for Gloucester effort, effort, effort, Charlie Sharpe. The dude is the little engine that could, and he could be the leader in scoring for premier ship rugby. I believe he is actually.
00:29:13
Speaker
Shortly after halftime Elliot daily got one over he he had gone down looked like he had Might have hurt himself pretty good. I actually thought Elliot daily was Dan Robson and he was the one that was really in trouble and it turns out Dan Robson really was we'll talk about Dan Robson I promise in just a second So he so I like daily got over
00:29:36
Speaker
46 minute. Juan de Young gets over after a good effort. Never gave up on the play. He almost got taken out instead. I think La Bourgeois got taken out and got just enough on it to put it down after a long kick chase and it counts. Charlie Sharples again, the little engine that could gets another one speeds home after breaking the line and finding the gap. Lewis Ludlow gets the final try of the match.
00:30:03
Speaker
at 73 minutes and Woss never really had a shot after that. So let's go to the aspect of the fantasy and we'll look at the home boys Woss. Billy LaRue, South African Springbok duty, so he did not play. A lot was made about
00:30:25
Speaker
maybe the wasp did not think that he was going to be away as long as he was, and he actually turned out to be away for a while. And that's okay in my book. As much as I dislike Dye Young sometimes, I think he made the right call and said, listen, we had a conversation with him. And, you know, I wasn't happy with it, but at the same time, I know he's trying to resurrect his springbok career. So
00:30:48
Speaker
You know, I didn't have a problem with it. Do I believe him in that aspect? Yeah, I do. He's actually a... Dye Young's an honest guy. He's just... Sometimes he's too honest and he needs to keep his lip button, but that's a different story for a different day. Elliot Daly with 30, got over the line, like I said, went down for a bit, looked like it was pretty scary, but turned out to be okay. Christian Wade with 19, a guy that's not getting enough points for the price point, he is costing you for sure.
00:31:17
Speaker
Let's see Christian Wade is Christian Wade is costing you nearly nearly 400 pounds. His three PG is 31. That's double the double the average of anybody that's played more than two games. Not not a great value in your lineup. Get him out of there. Nathan Hughes 32. Good day for the big boy. He is definitely putting his hand back up for the England shirts as they're about to be handed out this coming
00:31:46
Speaker
near the end of this month. Joe Launchbury looked like he might be on the way back. He has a knee injury. He might need surgery. It's a question. If he makes it through training this week and can play in Europe, then it sounds like he'll be okay. But if not, then it sounds like they need to go in and clean it up a little bit, which is too bad for the big fella. Lima Sopuaga did not play. He picked up a neck injury in his last game.
00:32:12
Speaker
left the 10-shirt to Billy Searle. Brad Shields continues to miss time with the cheekbone. Come on, guys, with the cheeks, just put plates in it. It only hurts for a second, maybe.
00:32:24
Speaker
Dan Robson with 28 poor guy looked like it was it initially looked like it was really really bad I felt bad for the dude, but it looks like he'll avoid an Achilles injury But it's still a pretty high ankle sprain at the very least there might be a break in there as well I'm not sure have not seen anything on it since I last saw that it was not an Achilles injury at the very least so good for the guy and
00:32:49
Speaker
Ashley Johnson 15 again another guy that just cost you too much money and doesn't do enough for you There's three PG's a little bit above average but really in a for a position that has a plethora and I mean a plethora of good options and
00:33:04
Speaker
Ashley Johnson is not an option you want. Stay clear from him. He's only scored above 20 points twice so far. Not a good job so far. His average points per week is 16.5. You need at least that 20 threshold I'm telling you. OK.
Gloucester vs. Sale Insights
00:33:26
Speaker
Uh, other, other, other notable was players needs them car with 18. Not a, not a bad day, but you know, when you look at some of the score high scores for the forwards for lost her, you can tell it was definitely their day. James Gaskell continues to produce the dude does not complain. The dude does not light the world on fire, but the dude continues to produce and fantasy, um, uh,
00:33:55
Speaker
His James Diasco 3PG is 11. He's 228. He's low on that budget. You know, low twos is pretty low in my opinion. He's probably somebody that's going to be a good fill in when all these big and unlocks leave like a Toge and Cruz and Launchbury. So keep an eye on him if you need an option when the November internationals come up. Billy Serrell with 21. Decent day for the kid off the tee. So that helped him.
00:34:25
Speaker
And Chris Hampson came in for Dan Robson and got 22. So good for Hampson, came in, know Joe Simpson, and just Hampson didn't miss a beat. Kept the wasp in it for a while until Gloucester finally broke through for their last try, but the kid's not bad. So maybe a cheap option when the internationals come up. I'll say that phrase like 10 more times if that helps.
00:34:54
Speaker
cheap option when the internationals come up. Cipriani in his return had a heck of a game. They gave him the tee even though 12 trees was on the field and he scored 42. Good for him. Jason Woodward had to come off the bench. 14. Ben Morgan, man's a beast. 25. Matt Bannahan had a rough go of it. Nothing went right for Banners. 6.
00:35:16
Speaker
Repava Ruskin had a rib injury and a calf injury prop pop up as well. Yeah, they yeah galarza there they released him and or he got sold or whatever it was transferred. So
00:35:32
Speaker
glove grubler is the guy to go so there's that Lewis Ludlow with 35 and it's later with 33 so you can see why maybe the was contingent of forwards is not as good as you would hope because the Gloucester pack had a day I believe
00:35:55
Speaker
I believe Grubler got over the line last week and couldn't quite do it this time, but he was darn close. Uh, Ludlow did get over the line. So that was the big impact for his, his bottom line. Uh, Ben Velicott with 38 got, got himself over the line and was distributing quite well. Charlie Sharples continues to be the man for Gloucester. He's got, I think he's got eight or nine tries right now. He is a mad man.
00:36:19
Speaker
Yes, Charlie Sharples has eight tries. So good for him. Dude's a man. He is just playing out of his skin right now. He really is. How much is Charlie Sharples for those that want to know?
00:36:36
Speaker
269 not a ton. His 3pg is 8.5 He's averaging 31 points a game. He's obviously in the tries So go get go get him if you have him in your budget or you have somebody in your budget like a Marlin yard or Johnny May who just lost so sale versus Newcastle Not so pretty game, but somehow this is why fans she's so weird, you know, it wasn't a pretty game but there were a ton of
00:37:03
Speaker
big producers in this game. So I was very shocked looking through the scores at how many guys got big numbers, but it may have just been the case of lots of carries, lots of good work done by both teams, but just not a lot of end product. So sale won the match 20-7. The
00:37:27
Speaker
The Falcons got bit pretty hard by the yellow card bug. We'll talk about the yellow cards in a minute. We'll go through the try scoring that was. One, two, three, four. There were four. Four tries were scored. Split three to one. Will Welch got the first one for Newcastle and that's pretty much all they'd see. James Phillips got one in the second half. Will Welch got the only real score of the first half, I believe.
00:37:57
Speaker
Uh, yep. James Phillips got, got one of the line for, uh, sale. Burn Evans continues to have a big year. Gets one in there at 65. And y'all on Janssen Renn Redsberg, I told you, watch this guy's net. Watch this guy. He is a bowling ball. And somebody said that they call him van bowling ball or something like that at, uh, at training for the shark. So I thought that was pretty funny.
00:38:22
Speaker
But yeah, watch this guy. He, I don't think he's in favor with Razi Erasmus, so he's a little unfit, quote unquote, but at the same time, so is Matthew Bastoreau. Despite the fact that he's a goon in terms of his actions on the field, he's still a pretty good player. And he's a large human being. I'm not tackling that.
00:38:45
Speaker
Okay, so let's get to the fancy implications and what happened and all that good stuff for the sharks James O'Connor with 14 Marlin yard he
00:38:57
Speaker
He did not get over the line, and not only did he not get over the line, he came off with a pretty nasty-looking injury. If you didn't see it, it wasn't pretty. He had stepped to make an adjustment on a tackle, I believe, and his feet got a little too spread out, his legs got a little too extended, and somebody fell on him, I'm pretty sure.
00:39:19
Speaker
You can do the math from there. He'll be out for a while. Also for sale, Bryn Evans again, 49. Guy's being a beast. He's one of the highest point scorers in the competition right now. And he's also pretty cheap. Let me double check. 234, not bad.
00:39:38
Speaker
3pg of 7.1. Another guy. If you have the space, go get him. He's a Kiwi, so he's not playing for New Zealand. I think he's been capped by New Zealand, so yep. Go get him. Tom Curry with 41. Rob Weber with 40. James Phillips with 35. John Ross 34. Big numbers for the big
00:40:02
Speaker
Big Forward Unit in sale. I'm sure that will please Steve Diamond and the sale contingent for the time being at least.
00:40:14
Speaker
John Ross again continues, continues to find space in the back row. Josh Beaumont, uh, not Josh Beaumont. Josh Strauss started at eight for sale in this and still Ross was in the back row being productive. Good player to have in your team. He's very consistent. I might consider going to grab him while he's still semi-cheap. Um,
00:40:38
Speaker
Janssenvin Rensberg with 31. Like I said, keep an eye on him. You might need centers when these fall tests come up. Wilcliffe with 30. Unfortunately for Wilcliffe, bad news. 5-2 clerk is back from South Africa duty. He will probably be the 9, or at least he's going to have to share duty with Wilcliffe, but good for Wilcliffe for performing the way he has.
00:41:01
Speaker
Sam James with 28, and A.A.J. and McGinty, our boy from the USA, with 24. Yes, I know he's not actually from the USA, but he's an eagle, so we support him. Yeah, and A.J.'s mostly came off the tee, but that doesn't mean he didn't have a good game, obviously. A note, just an odd note on the Marlin Yard injury, it was so late in the game that, say it only had one sub left, they had to bring on a prop, and I'm pretty sure they bumped.
00:41:30
Speaker
one of their props to like second row or flanker and then they bumped one of their, and then they bumped one of their flankers out to the, out to the back line to try and just not let Newcastle carve them up too much. So yeah, a lot of high scores for sale on this match. Again, this is evidence that you don't need to have a gigantic day in order for your team. Your team does not need to have a gigantic day or your players team doesn't need to have a big one in order for them to produce.
00:41:56
Speaker
Newcastle. Newcastle had a rough go of this one.
Newcastle's Performance Overview
00:42:01
Speaker
Just never seemed to get anything going. Had a couple of injuries. Varanicki Ghanova left the game with zero. He had an HIA. Did not pass it. Did not come back. Mark Wilson with 14. Toby Flood with three. Toby Flood left with, I think he had a shoulder injury. Looked like somebody came down in a really
00:42:22
Speaker
and on his shoulder in a really awkward way, or his shoulder was positioned in an awkward way. And then I think he picked up something else in his leg. So he called it a day. And I think, I think Dean Richards might have saved him from, from himself. Other notables for Newcastle Byron McGuigan 26. Talk about affordable twos. Very good. Good. And this is indicative of what they had going for themselves.
00:42:50
Speaker
cover body with 29 and Callen green with 24 to his two second rows his two primary jumpers in his line out so Very indicative of what happens when you have good ones
00:43:02
Speaker
Sonati Sonati with 19 didn't do himself justice today. Um, yeah, it was just a rough day for Newcastle. It was a, it was a not so pretty game. Uh, neither team could finish even though they got themselves into the, in the line. Uh, Johnny Williams with 22 continues to just kind of protect Toby flood. And, um, I would presume Joel Hodgson now, uh, Mickey young returns with 37. Uh, sorry, Mickey. I'm still calling you Mickey.
00:43:32
Speaker
I, you came into this league as Mickey until I think that you're deserving of Michael. I know you're probably older than me. I don't care. I'm still calling you Mickey, Mickey young with 37. He did leave the field with a card and that was, I think it was a persistent infringement card or just one that, Oh, you know what it was? It was going to be a referee should have given the penalty try on this one. I remember this one quite clearly. Um, he high tackled.
00:44:03
Speaker
I don't remember the exact person that was on sale, but he high tackled the sale player and stopped a surefire try, and they said, oh, well, there was cover coming across. And honestly, if Mickey Allen doesn't high tackle that guy, he gets over. I just remember watching it being like, uh-uh, that's a yellow card and a penalty try. I'm pretty sure eventually sale got over the line.
00:44:29
Speaker
Not the point, they shouldn't have had to put in the extra effort to get over the line. Should have already been awarded the try. LagaMulipola also had a card. Continues to prove me right about why you should not have LagaMulipola on your team or in your squad because the guy costs too much money and continues to not do a darn thing in terms of fantasy wise.
00:44:51
Speaker
You know, his 3PG is 28. He averages 8.8 games. 8.8 points a game. He's not worth the 252. I know that's not a bad price, but still, not worth it. If you're only getting 8 points out of him per game, it's just not happening. Especially if he's leaving the field for 10 minutes at a time. Plus, he's a prop. If you get sent off for 10 minutes,
00:45:15
Speaker
You know, that cuts you down to at least 50, 40 minutes, unless your name's Mac over in a polo or John Marlar.
Sarries vs. Harlequins Recap
00:45:25
Speaker
Um, off the bench for Newcastle, Tom Penny had 25 and a good day for him, uh, filled in very, very, very admirably for Nicky Yanova. So Tom Penny is definitely a name to look out for, especially as we come into Europe last two games.
00:45:46
Speaker
Okay, this one had me going. Oof. Sari supporters were freaking out all over the country, all over the world, watching this one. Quinn's gave him a game. This was a crazy wild game. Saracen's come away with a win 20-25-20. The try scoring was 2-1 in favor of the Quinn's.
00:46:13
Speaker
Owen Farrell makes a huge difference when he's on your team, tell you that much right now. And that much is clear in a game like this. To the try scoring. So Danny Kerr got the team off, got the twins off to the races in the 34th minute with an intercept try. It's another intercept try on the Saracens. They probably need to figure out how to not have that happen. For the third week in a row, when they played Glasgow this week, just a thought.
00:46:42
Speaker
Joe Marchant with an amazing try and this is a Saracens fan just that was so bitter at the moment but my goodness what effort and just sheer you know awareness. Marcus Smith takes his pen doesn't get a lot of it doesn't get a lot on it and pushes it to the right and Joe Marchant has chased this penalty grabbed it right out of the air and fallen over the line.
00:47:12
Speaker
very, very poor awareness and defending from the series, but give the guy credit. It, that's a lot of effort and just, you know, that could have been a completely fruitless effort if he kept going and it had either gone over the dead ball line or over the 22 or whatever it was. And still he kept going. So good for, it was a great try for Joe Marchant. If you haven't seen it, go watch it. And then Billy Vunipolo got over the line in the 68th minute.
00:47:41
Speaker
don't get in Billy's way. That's all I know. Uh, Billy got the ball outside, uh, from Lizoski, Lizoski drew the defenders in. And then once you get 10 meters of space to a big guy, especially the man that is Billy of a Napola, I bet him almost every time, unless you have four or five bodies to stop him and they, and the, the Quinn's did not. So we got over the line. It was a great match. It was very intense. It was hard fought. There was a lot of chirping going on, Luke Pierce.
00:48:12
Speaker
again, not the I had a conversation with a friend. And it was not he's not a good ref. They were touting him so highly. And I have to say for the three or four times I've seen him in most recently and that includes the France and all blacks test he did this this past June doesn't he's not there. He's not there. He's not well class. He's not a he's not a great referee. So and I know
00:48:42
Speaker
It's easy to poop hoo on referees. So I'm not trying to just, you know, crap all over a referee, but just trying to provide my perspective compared to what they were saying on the broadcast, which was that he's one of the best in the premiership. I think you probably have at least three or four other ones besides him. Um, so let's go to the fancy aspect of this first.
00:49:09
Speaker
For the Quinns, for the home team, Danny Kerr, 40. Again, good scrum half with a decent offense. That's ticking and hitting his mark. It's going to happen. Plus, he had obviously the nice intercept try, which was not from a short distance out either. So good for him. Chris Robshaw, best game so far, I believe, 38. Joe Marlar with 19. Kyle Singler with 25. I have to say, he got 25, which is obviously a nice score. I don't think.
00:49:36
Speaker
Kyle Sinclair had that good of a game. Yes, he won a couple of pens, and I really, really questioned how good the scrum's were refereed, because he refused to bind hard. He just kind of loosely bind and then he would lose it.
00:49:53
Speaker
And, um, which would cause the Saracen's prop to go down. But because, and because the Saracen's prop would go down early before, before him, the penalty would go to them because, you know, he's full, he's obviously fooling the referee. So I guess in a way that's one of those things when you're a front row, learn how to fool the referee and make him think that it was the other guy that caused the infringement, not you. Enough of that Mike Brown with nine.
00:50:21
Speaker
They were putting pressure on him all day, so really tough day for him. The wind did not help at all for any kicking whatsoever. Did do well to take some high balls though. James Horwell with 21, starting to get it going for the big guy. Other notables for Quinn's, Max Crumpton with 37, and Joe Marchant with 32, who would that try, man? Great job, Nathan Earl with 19.
00:50:46
Speaker
Max Compton, you know, with Rob Shaw and Horwell to the better line-up targets for Quinn's scoring well, it makes sense that Compton did well as well. For the Sarries, for, wow, what a heartbeat, what a crazy one that was. Owen Farrell with 32, including his kicks off the tee. Mauro Itoje with 21 off that bench.
00:51:15
Speaker
That's how good he is. He gets 21 off the bench. Mac over to Napolo with 24, some good carries from the big guy. Billy over to Napolo with 33, got himself on the line. Alex Good comes crashing back down to earth after his huge week last week. He has 19. Jamie George with 28 helps to have a nice line out and four or five good targets to throw to, certainly. Liam Williams, he had
00:51:43
Speaker
He had his term on the bench this time, sat Alex Lozowski. He is a very underrated 13, not so underrated, obviously, because Eddie Jones continues to call him into the England camps. He had the try assist on the Billy Vinopoli try. So and he, he makes his tackles, especially for a guy his size. So keep an eye out on him.
00:52:09
Speaker
Brad Barrett did not play, faced Gash, and I think he probably had a slight concussion on top of it, so hopefully we'll see him this coming week at the start of Europe. George Cruz, 15, not great. I think Cruz is still trying to get it going. Will Skeleton, eight. He had a head knock as well. Had to get taped up, and then eventually they just pulled him. And Richard Wigglesworth comes off the bench with seven.
00:52:36
Speaker
But overall, you know, this is a lot of scoring in a game where it was, like I said last week, it was either going to be a real, real, real tough brawl and it was going to be close or the twins were going to go down in flames because the game opened up. The weather certainly helped, but at the same time, it was pretty good stuff from the, uh, from both teams. All
Worcester vs. Bristol Game Summary
00:53:02
Speaker
right. Last Matt last match of the weekend, Worcester and Bristol.
00:53:06
Speaker
Huge, huge, huge game for Worcester. Putting down Bristol with a giant score line of 52-7. So many good things for Worcester going on. Started hot for Bristol and then it was all downhill from there. We'll go through it right now. This was a huge 10-pointer in this thing. Bristol will probably need a hard reality check after getting rinsed pretty hard right here.
00:53:35
Speaker
Jan Thomas got it going. The commentary made a good comment about him. Like all good props, he gets back to his feet. I don't know too many props that are willing to get back to their feet very quickly. But because Jan Thomas did on this particular play, he was able to catch a nice offload and run in for an easy try. Good for the big fella. But that's all the good news that there was for Bristol after that second minute, really. GJ van Velsa gets one at 12.
00:54:03
Speaker
Ryan Mills gets another one at 25. Marco Mama dances his way over. Tight space. The dude looked like a winger, and he's a frickin' flanker. Well done from Marco Mama. He gets one at 33. Francois Venter with an easy intercept. Sorry, Jonofoa. You shouldn't be throwing the pass you were trying to throw. Francois Venter knew that. Picked it off. Ran it the other way. Chris Pinell, 42. Chris Pinell also hit a very long penalty to start this game off.
00:54:33
Speaker
I think it was, it had to be 50 meters on the angle. When stuff like that's going well for a team, you know it could be a long day. Josh Adams with 46, with one at 46, pardon me. Good for him. And then Bryce Heem, Bryce Heem had a great game all day long. He finally got a try at the end and he deserved it. Bryce Heem's so invaluable to the Splister team.
00:55:00
Speaker
just so I'm glad he got his due there and got over the line. From the fantasy aspect, Francois Huguard, 46, using that Dream 15 like we talked about, Chris Pinell.
00:55:12
Speaker
26 big boot and just played it played out of the skin. He got himself over the line as well Marco mama with 50 big number for the big guy He was in the dream team. There were a lot of guys in this dream 15 This is the type of day that Worcester had and they really needed this to get kicked themselves on I think GJ van Velsa with 40 and Sam Lewis with 36 But the backs Josh Adams with 43 Ryan Mills with 42 and
00:55:42
Speaker
Uh, Fresno adventure with 37 and Bryce team with 35. It, it was just, it was a track meet. It was a track meet. And, um, there's a reason that when Bristol's tried to throw the ball around that they do poorly and they did that against Gloucester. I think it was, they didn't necessarily try and throw the ball around in this, but at the same time they got into a track meet with another team that was better than them. Clearly. Um, it's not Bristol's game and it, and it won't be for a little while at the very least.
00:56:11
Speaker
Even last week, the game was fairly open and yes, they scored a lot of points, but they lost. Can't just say, oh yeah, we scored a lot of points and lose. That's not going to be good enough in the Premier's Cup. I can tell you that much. That's going to get you relegated. For Bristol, Gianna Fola with 15, another prop, probably not worth the price.
00:56:32
Speaker
Steven Little to a 19, solid player, but again, not worth his price. Jim Joyce with 36. John Thomas with 34 after running one over. It was...
00:56:42
Speaker
He did have a good run prior to getting the ball as well. He got the run and then it got popped or picked from him and then passed out. And then he ran onto a pop off the ground and offload off the ground himself and got over the line. So he did a lot of work for that try. So good for him. Jack Lamb with 21, going to continue to be a slightly underrated asset only because he plays for Bristol.
00:57:10
Speaker
Might want to look at him coming up in November. Off the bench for the, or not off the bench, but in the back division for Bristol, Andy Uren, poor guy, last name's Uren. 28, decent scrum half, they were trying to do things, but obviously nothing came off. Alapate Layua, 21.
00:57:34
Speaker
Zane Kirchner gets 20 in his last game before he heads back to dragons unless Bristol has since extended that loan or dragons have agreed to it or whatever. But yeah Zane Kirchner the former springbok with 20. Nick Fenton-Wells off the bench with 21. Harry Thacker came off injured so that could be
00:57:58
Speaker
I think it was mostly just a blood issue that they couldn't stop. I don't know if it was his face or if it was his nose. It looked like it continued to be a blood issue. I didn't see anything else come up with Harry Thacker. So that is your Rutgers. A note about Europe.
European Champions Cup Fantasy Tips
00:58:18
Speaker
If you want to play the European Champions Cup fantasy, just go on to the
00:58:28
Speaker
EPC website. I think there's a game for both Challenge and Champions Cup. I'm only doing the Champions Cup. It's pretty straightforward. It's 100 million, I think, euros.
00:58:44
Speaker
100 million euros, 15 players. You get a double points week that you can choose to pick. You get a triple points week that you can choose to pick throughout the whole competition. You only get one throughout the whole competition from here until, what is it, May. So just keep that in mind.
00:59:05
Speaker
in terms of transfers so you get to transfer teams in and out your players in and out all the whole way right up until kickoff Friday night with Wasp and Leinster after that in the pool stages you get three transfers per round so and kind of like with the rugby mag Premiership fantasy don't make those changes and use those transfers until you know the lineups after this week between the pool stages
00:59:35
Speaker
You get to shift guys out and in freely because obviously some of those players that you have in your team won't be playing anymore because they eliminate a bunch of them. And then before the semifinals, you get five, and then before the final, you get five as well.
00:59:51
Speaker
So maybe save that wild card for somewhere in that neighborhood, or unless you're really desperate and get decimated by injuries. Like I said, captain and a kicker, they have a daily version where you can basically do kind of those familiar with daily fantasy sports like draft kinks.
01:00:18
Speaker
In this case, you're just picking seven players from the players playing that day. So match day one, you're looking at just players from Lenser and Wasp. And then obviously Saturday and Sunday that you're going to have a slightly larger array of players to pick from. Um, so yeah, I will leave my team name.
01:00:36
Speaker
the show notes and I will leave and I invite anybody that wants to play me in the daily to shoot me an email there's a code that they give you I think to challenge somebody please shoot me an email with that code I'd be happy to do it so next couple episodes I will continue to do this for Europe next week the following week will we will recap the second week of the Champions Cup
01:01:03
Speaker
And then after that, we are probably going to have a break because it's premiership cup. And I don't know if there's fantasy for that. And if there is, I don't care. And, um, so there'll be a probably at least a week break in there. I will probably have one episode, try and keep it short, um, between now, between the last round of Europe and the, uh, round seven.
01:01:29
Speaker
review of the premiership, which will be second week of November, I think so, lots of time to sit on your premiership teams and start thinking about your European teams and then once that's done you can go back and rearrange your European teams and wait on the news of players coming back, so on and so forth.
01:01:49
Speaker
email me at fancy rugby podcast at gmail.com follow me on twitter at jdike8man thank you very much for listening so so so much for listening to this I really appreciate everybody that is
01:02:06
Speaker
doing this and supporting me in this.
Closing Remarks and Listener Engagement
01:02:09
Speaker
It's fun, but it is a little bit of work. It is a little bit time consuming. So I do appreciate that everybody is continuing to say they're enjoying this or that they're listening to it. Continue to support me if you can. And if you get bored as hell, let me know. And I do appreciate all the feedback I'm getting.
01:02:32
Speaker
So just continue to listen and I promise I'll get somebody on here to bounce ideas off of and to have an actual conversation rather than me just talking into a mic. But until then, thank you very much. Enjoy the first round of European competition. Have a good one everybody. Be well. Cheers.