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.
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
It was a pleasure to watch those guys playing with such confidence. That trio can all be infuriating for different reasons and I can see why Jones might have decided against them. No way to justify leaving Ikitau out though. Jorgensen and him were both scheduled to return at the same time. Only one of them plays for Randwick and has a dad who is great mates with the national coach though.
53 Go to commentsBrayden Iose and Peter Lakai are very exciting Super Rugby players but are too short and too light to ever be a Test 8 vs South Africa, France, Ireland, and England, Lakai could potentially be a Test player at 7 if he is allowed to focus on 7 for Hurricanes.
5 Go to commentsPencils “Thomas du Toit” into possible 2027 Bok squad.
1 Go to commentsDon’t see why Harrison makes the bench. Jones can play at 10 if needed, and there is a good case for starting her there to begin with if testing combinations. That would leave room for Sing on the bench
1 Go to commentsWhat a load of old bull!
1 Go to commentsOf the rugby I’ve born witness to in my lifetime - 1990 to date - I recognize great players throughout those years. But I have no doubt the game and the players are on average better today. So I doubt going back further is going to prove me wrong. The technical components of the game, set pieces, scrums, kicks, kicks at goal. And in general tactics employed are far more efficient, accurate and polished. Professional athletes that have invested countless hours on being accurate. There is one nation though that may be fairly competitive in any era - and that for me is the all blacks. And New Zealand players in general. NZ produces startling athletes who have fantastic ball skills. And then the odd phenomenon like Brooke. Lomu. Mcaw. Carter. Better than comparing players and teams across eras - I’ve often had this thought - that it would be very interesting to have a version of the game that is closer to its original form. What would the game look like today if the rules were rolled back. Not rules that promote safety obviously - but rules like: - a try being worth 1 point and conversion 2 points. Hence the term “try”. Earning a try at goals. Would we see more attacking play? - no lifting in the lineouts. - rucks and break down laws in general. They looked like wrestling matches in bygone eras. I wonder what a game applying 1995 rules would look like with modern players. It may be a daft exercise, but it would make for an interesting spectacle celebrating “purer” forms of the game that roll back the rules dramatically by a few versions. Would we come to learn that some of the rules/combinations of the rules we see today have actually made the game less attractive? I’d love to see an exhibition match like that.
29 Go to commentsIrish Rugby CEO be texting Andy Farrell “Andy, i found our next Kiwi Irishman”
5 Go to commentsI certainly don’t miss drinking beers at 8am in the morning watching rugby games being played in NZ.
1 Go to commentsThis looks like a damage limitation exercise for Wales, keeping back some of their more effective players for the last 20/25 minutes to try and counter England’s fresh legs so the Red Roses don’t rack up a big score.
1 Go to commentsVery unlikely the Bulls will beat Leinster in Dublin. It would be different in Pretoria.
1 Go to commentsI think it is a dangerous path to go down to ban a player for the same period that a player they injured takes to recover. Players would be afraid to tackle anyone. I once tackled my best friend at school in a practice match and sprained his ankle. I paid for it by having to play fly-half instead of full-back for the rest of that season’s fixtures.
5 Go to commentsJust such a genuine good bloke…and probably the best all round player in his generation. Good guys do come first sometimes and he handled the W.Cup loss with great attitude.
2 Go to commentsWord in France is that he’s on the radar of a few Top14 clubs.
5 Go to commentsGet blocking Travis, this guy has styles and he’s gonna make a swift impact…!
1 Go to commentsWhat remorse? She claimed that her dangerous tackle wasn’t worthy of a red! She should be compensating the injured player for loss of earnings at the minimum. Her ban should include the recovery time of the injured player as well as the paltry 3 match ban.
5 Go to commentsArdie is a legend. Finished and klaar. Two things: “Yeah, yeah, I have had a few conversations with Razor just around feedback on my game and what I am doing well, what I need to improve on or work-ons. It’s kind of been minimal, mate, but it’s all that I need over here in terms of how to be better, how to get better and what I am doing well.” I hope he’s downplaying it - and that it’s not that “minimal”. The amount of communication and behind the scenes preparation the Bok coaches put into players - Rassie and co would be all over Ardie and being clear on what is expected of him. This stands out for me as something teams should really be looking at in terms of the boks success from a coaching point of view. And was surprised by the comment - “minimal”. In terms of the “debate” around Ireland and South Africa. Nice one Ardie. Indeed. There’s no debate.
2 Go to commentsThere’s a bit of depth there but realistically Australian players have a long way to go to now catch up. The game is moving on fast and Australia are falling behind. Australian sides still don’t priories the breakdown like they should, it’s a non-negotiable if you want to compete on the international stage. That goes for forwards and backs. The Australian team could have a back row that could make a difference but the problem is they don’t have a tight five that can do the business. Tupou is limited in defence, overweight and unfit and the locks are a long way from international standard. Frost is soft and Salakai-Loto is too small so that means they need a Valentini at 8 who has to do the hard graft so limits the effectiveness of the backrow. Schmidt really needs to get a hard working, tough tight 5 if he wants to get this team firing.
3 Go to commentsSorry Morgan you must have been the “go to for a quote” ex player this week. Its rnd 6 and there is plenty of time to cement a starting 15 and finishing 8 so I have no such concerns.
2 Go to commentsGreat read. I wish you had done this article on the ROAR.
2 Go to commentsThe current AB coaching team is basically the Crusaders so it smacks of wanting their familiar leaders around. This is not a good look for the future of the ABs or the younger players in Super working their way up the player ladder. Razor is touted as innovative, forward looking but his early moves look like insecurity and insular, provincial thinking. He is the AB's coach not the Golden Oldies.
10 Go to comments