1
Premiership Fantasy League: 3 lessons we've learnt over the Cup break
The Gallagher Premiership has taken a break to go backpacking around Europe and find itself, before giving the kids a chance with the newly formed Premiership Cup developmental competition. Despite the fact that the domestic league won’t return until next week, there are still plenty of lessons to be learnt ahead of the next round of Fantasy League action: who is on fire and who should you fire? Read on for our three top takeaways from the cup break.
ADVERTISEMENT
Ban-Tastic
The courts have been working overtime of late, sentencing a vast array of Premiership stars to the naughty step. Danny Cipriani, Alex Lozowski and Nathan Hughes, all of whom have been starring members of the Fantasy League so far this season, have been handed suspensions for a variety of infringements in recent weeks. Cipriani was the recipient of a fairly controversial red card in Gloucester’s Champions Cup defeat by Munster. Hughes’ infringement actually came during a Premiership game, but it was his subsequent Twittering that led to the England star’s lengthy suspension, and pretty much nobody knows what’s going on with Lozowski after his double deviation during Saracen’s clash with Glasgow Warriors.
Cipriani and Lozowski should be eligible to return to action this week but Hughes will have to sit on the sidelines until November 20th at the earliest, and even then may be more likely to be pulling on the white jersey of England rather than the black and yellow of Wasps. When it comes to picking your Fantasy League team for the next round of the Premiership, momentum and match fitness are all important considerations. Whilst these three players most likely wouldn’t have featured in the Premiership Cup, a few weeks on the chain gang can affect players in different ways. Consider whether they’re the type to hit the ground running upon their return, or whether you should switch them out for a couple of weeks while they shake off the rust.
The kids are alright
The jury is still out on whether the Premiership Cup is the high profile developmental competition it bills itself as, ready to unearth the next great stars of English rugby, or whether it’s just a watered-down version of the Premiership featuring players nobody’s heard of. Nonetheless, the first round of the tournament at the weekend showed that the future of the Premiership is bright indeed, even if fans aren’t fully sold on the competition yet. Saracens continued their unbeaten run this season with their ninth straight win in all competitions. A resurgent Worcester Warriors took Sale Sharks to pieces, with their promising run of form one of the most unexpected success stories of this season (and the reason so many Warriors have made it into the Fantasy League team so often).
The big success from the weekend though was Northampton Saints, whose youthful side beat a comparatively experienced Bristol Bears in an impressive 51-24 victory. 12 academy graduates featured for the Saints, and seven debutants gained their first caps for the Black, Green & Gold at Franklin’s Gardens. England Under-20s star James Grayson in particular impressed at fly half, and with Dan Biggar likely to be missing on international duty for a large part of the season, the world cup winner’s son could be a valuable (and cheap) addition to your Fantasy League team.
Casualties and Career Changes
As seems to be all to common right now, the past few weeks have seen several Premiership stars ruled out for significant periods of time. We already knew that Fantasy League XV stalwart Sam Simmonds would be out for several months, and Courtney Lawes’ bizarre bedroom mishap may have put a dent in his England ambitions this autumn. Worcester’s Jono Lance has broken his back, Harry Mallinder is out for the rest of the season with a “significant knee injury”, Dan Robson needs surgery as does Joe Launchbury, both Billy and Mako Vunipola are out and Sale Sharks have had to bring in Robert Du Preez as cover for AJ MacGinty, who had been starring in the Fantasy League up until now.
With so many injuries (indeed, England alone are without 320 caps for the autumn internationals), some chopping and changing is definitely going to be necessary to keep your Fantasy League team performing at full capacity. This is all without even mentioning Christian Wade’s abrupt departure to join the NFL, with the Wasps winger giving up his rugby career in hope of success stateside. With only three changes permissible between rounds, if you’re unfortunate enough to have several of these names in your squad you’ll have to think carefully about who to jettison – this is where the strength of your bench truly comes in to play.
Comments on RugbyPass
Really hope Kuruvoli and his partner rock the Canes.
1 Go to commentsI wonder what impact Samson has had on their attack, as the team seems less prone to trundle it up the middle, take the tackle and then trundle it up again. I lost faith in the coach last year as the Rebelss looked like a 2nd/3rd rate South African team. I also disliked Gordon standing back, often ignored as the forward battle went on and on. Maybe its our Aussie way of not getting off our A***’s until the enemy is at the gate.
83 Go to commentsThanks for the write up. Great to see the Rebs winning, I am a little interested in how they will go against the remaining kiwi teams, I think they’ve only played Hurricanes and Highlanders but how great to see these players performing!! I also see Parling has a job beyond June 30! A good move by RA? Also how do you fix the Rebels previously scratchy defence?
83 Go to commentsbe smart - go black
13 Go to commentsNext week the Crusaders hopefully have Scott Barrett back. Will be great to have the captain back. Hopefully he will be the All Black captain as well.
12 Go to commentsExciting place to be for the young fella. I expected he was French Polynesian when I saw him included in the France 6N squad (after seeing him in NZs), and therefor be strong grounds we might loose him to rugby down here. Good, in that he is good enough to warrant such a profile, and from a journalism’s fan interaction aspect, to finally get a back ground story on the fella. Hope he has settled into NZ OK and that at least one rugby country will fit with him to help his development, which, if so, he should surely continue for a few years, and then that he can experience France to it’s fullest with a bit more maturity and less reliance on family than you would have at his current age. A good 3 or 4 years before he would be ready for International duty if he wanted to wait. Of course he already sounds good enough to accept a call up, and to cap himself, in the more immediate future (he’d have to be very very good in the case of the ABs), and he’ll get a great taste of that being with the Canes who have a bunch who are just a few years further into their career and looking likely Internationals themselves.
13 Go to commentsI remember towards the end of the original broadcasting deal for Super rugby with Newscorp that there was talk about the competition expanding to improve negotiations for more money - more content, more cash. Professional rugby was still in its infancy then and I held an opposing view that if Super rugby was a truly valuable competition then it should attract more broadcasters to bid for the rights, thereby increasing the value without needing to add more teams and games. Unfortunately since the game turned professional, the tension between club, talent and country has only grown further. I would argue we’re already at a point in time where the present is the future. The only international competitions that matter are 6N, RC and RWC. The inter-hemisphere tours are only developmental for those competitions. The games that increasingly matter more to fans, sponsors and broadcasters are between the clubs. Particularly for European fans, there are multiple competitions to follow your teams fortunes every week. SA is not Europe but competes in a single continental competition, so the travel component will always be an impediment. It was worse in the bloated days of Super rugby when teams traversed between four continents - Africa, America, Asia and Australia. The percentage of players who represent their country is less than 5% of the professional player base, so the sense of sacrifice isn’t as strong a motivation for the rest who are more focused on playing professional rugby and earning as much from their body as they can. Rugby like cricket created the conundrum it’s constantly fighting a losing battle with.
4 Go to commentsOh wow… “But as La Rochelle proved in winning in Cape Town this season, a cross-continental away assignment need not spell the end of days.” La Rochelle actually proved quite the opposite. After traveling to Cape town and back they (back-to-back and current champs) got mercilessly thumped the next week. If travel is not the reason, why else would a full-strength powerhouse like La Rochelle get dumped on their @r$e$ one week later?
26 Go to commentsYou know he can land a winning conversion after the full time siren is up. (Even if it takes two attempts.)
5 Go to commentsA very insightful article from Jake. I would love to know how South African’s feel about their move to Europe. Do you prefer playing in Europe or want to go back to Super Rugby?
4 Go to commentspure fire
1 Go to commentsA very well thought out summary of all the relevant complications…agree with your ”refer the Cricket Test versus 20/20 comparison”. More also definitely doesn't necessarily mean better!
4 Go to commentsMust be something when you are only 19 y.o and both NZ and France want you. Btw he wasn’t the only new caledonian in french U20 as Robin Couly also lived in Noumea until 17. Hope he’s successful wherever he chooses to play.
13 Go to comments“Several key players in the Stade Rochelais squad are in their thirties” South Africans are going to hate the implications of that comment!
5 Go to commentsI know Leinster did a job on La Roche but shortly after HT Leinster were 30-13 ahead of them and at a similar time Toulouse were trailing Exeter. At 60 mins Leinster were 27 ahead but after 67 mins Toulouse were only 19 ahead before Exeter collapsed. That’s heavier scoring by Leinster against the Champions. I think people are looking at Toulouses total a little too much. I also think Northhampton are in with a real chance, albeit I’d put Leinster as favourites. If Leinster make the final I expect them to win by more than ten and with control.
5 Go to commentsHey Nick, your match analysis is decent but the top and tail not so much, a bit more random. For a start there’s a seismic difference in regenerating any club side over a test team. EJ pretty much had to urinate with the appendage he’d been given at test level whereas club success is impacted hugely by the budget. Look no further than Boudjellal’s Toulon project for a perfect example. The set ups at La Rochelle and Leinster are like chalk and cheese and you are correct that Leinster are ahead. Leinster are not just slightly ahead though, they are light years ahead on their plans, with the next gen champions cup team already blooded, seasoned and developing at speed from their time manning the fort in the URC while the cream play CC and tests. They have engineered a strong talent conveyor belt into their system, supported by private money funnelled into a couple of Leinster private schools. The really smart move from Leinster and the IRFU however is maximising the Irish Revenue tax breaks (tax relief on the best 10 years earnings refunded at retirement) to help keep all of their stars in Ireland and happy, while simultaneously funding marquee players consistently. And of course Barrett is the latest example. But in no way is he a “replacement for Henshaw”, he’s only there for one season!!! As for Rob Baxter, the best advice you can give him is to start lobbying Parliament and HMRC for a similar state subsidy, but don’t hold your breath… One thing Cullen has been very smart with is his coaching team. Very quickly he realised his need to supplement his skills, there was talk of him exiting after his first couple of years but he was extremely shrewd bringing in Lancaster and now Nienaber. That has worked superbly and added a layer that really has made a tangible difference. Apart from that you were bang on the money… 😉😂
5 Go to commentsNot sure exactly what went wrong for him at Glasgow but it’s pretty clear he ain’t Franco’s cup of tea. Suspect he would have been better served heading out of Scotland around the same time as Finn, Hoggy and Jonny!
1 Go to commentsBulls disrespected the Northampton supporters and the competition. Decide quickly, fully in or out.
26 Go to commentsI wonder if Parling was ever on England’s radar as a coach? Obviously Borthwick is a great lineout coach, but I do worry he might be taking on too much as both head coach and forwards coach.
1 Go to commentsJason Jenkins has one cap. When Etzebeth was his age he had over 80 caps. Experience matters. He will never amount to what Etzebeth has because he hasn’t been developed as an international player.
2 Go to comments