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Who to buy in ASX Sports' first Super Rugby IPO
ASX Sports fantasy rugby has arrived in the Southern Hemisphere ahead of the third round of Super Rugby Pacific with two games available for action this weekend: the Blues hosting the Chiefs at Eden Park, and the Hurricanes and Highlanders squaring off in Wellington.
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Like many fantasy sport competitions, users in ASX Sports earn points (called ‘dividends’) for how well their players perform, but the big money comes from buying and selling players at the right time, whether that’s offloading them when their value is plummeting downwards, or bringing them on board when you know they’re about contribute in a big way on the field.
As will be the case every round, there are cash prizes up for grabs this weekend – so get in quick and grab a deal while you still can.
Who might be some of the best picks heading into Round 3 of Super Rugby Pacific?
Blues vs Chiefs
Players earn dividends for all the usual on-field accomplishments, such as scoring tries, kicking goals, hitting line-out targets and monstering the opposition in the scrum. Focussing on that last category for the moment, the Blues will field two All Blacks props against the Chiefs this week, Alex Hodgman and Nepo Laulala. Given how well the scrum performed last week against the Hurricanes, those two players could both be smart bets this week but perhaps it’s bench man Ofa Tuungafasi who will give you the most bang for your buck. When Tuungafasi enters the fray, he will come up against the likes of the relatively inexperienced Ollie Norris as well as Angus Ta’avao, who is still on the return from injury and slightly undercooked, which may give Tuungafasi a big advantage late in the game.
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The Chiefs, on the other hand, will field three All Blacks locks in their starting pack and with another test representative delivering the pill at the set-piece in the form of Samisoni Taukei’aho, you would expect the lineout to operate relatively smoothly throughout the game. Taukei’aho will also be making his first start this year after coming off the pine in the opening round, and he’s one of the best players at busting tackles in the game.
In the loose forwards, captains Dalton Papalii and Sam Cane are both well known for their back-to-back efforts on defence and with every tackle netting you some easy dividends (and dominant tackles are even better rewarded), they’re both worthwhile buys this weekend.
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They always say to bet with your head and not your heart but halfback Brad Weber will line up for his 100th match in Chiefs colours on Saturday and given the quick-footed No 9 has a good nose for the try-line on a regular day, who’s to say the extra emotion of the match won’t catapult him forwards to net a valuable 5-pointer against the Blues?
There’s more to racking up dividends than simply scoring tries but when Blues outside backs Caleb Clarke and Mark Telea looked so dangerous against the Hurricanes last weekend, there are far worse ways to invest your money than buying a few cheeky shares in the two wingers.
Beauden Barrett could add some second-half impetus to the Blues but note that the All Blacks pivot isn’t a certainty to make the match-day squad, despite being named in the 23. That doesn’t mean he’s not worth investing in – but be ready to unload your shares on the eve of the Saturday afternoon kick-off just in case.
Hurricanes vs Highlanders
Like his Chiefs counterpart, hooker Asafo Aumua is a wrecking ball on the park and could clock up some easy metres against the Highlanders this weekend. Keep in mind, however, that the Hurricanes will be fielding a relatively short lineout which could count against Aumua if the Highlanders are able to disrupt.
Both Ethan de Groot and Jermain Ainsley have stood out at scrum time in the Highlanders’ opening two matches but it’s their work around the field that could make them solid buys this weekend. De Groot put in a thunderous hit or two against the Chiefs while Ainsley found himself in the right spots to take advantage of some dog-legs in the defence. Front-rowers gain triple as many points as other players for ball carries and passes so a prop that’s good with his hands is always a worthwhile investment.
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One man who’s always worth a punt is Hurricanes captain Ardie Savea. The All Blacks loose forward was in impressive form last weekend, both on defence and attack, and if he can manage another try against the Highlanders, any shares in Savea will be worth their weight in gold.
With Aaron Smith on the bench this week, the Highlanders will run Folau Fakatava at halfback – and the Tongan-born No 9 is a proven game-breaker. Don’t be surprised if Fakatava is the last man to throw a pass before the Highlanders touch down for a try this weekend or, better yet, the man who actually gets the ball over the line. While the Highlanders have only scored two tries this year to date, the Hurricanes have shipped nine, so a try-fest is very much on the cards.
Further out, Hurricanes midfielder Bailyn Sullivan has been rewarded for a strong performance in last week’s match with another start in the No 13 jersey. Although Sullivan had a few tackle-misses to his name last week (you can thank Roger Tuivasa-Sheck for that), he got his own back on attack, setting up two tries for the Hurricanes. Another big performance could be on the cards against the Highlanders.
Finally, it’s hard to look past last weekend’s hat-trick hero Salasi Rayasi. At the end of the day, if you can put your money on a sure thing, then why would you look elsewhere?
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Comments on RugbyPass
‘Salads don’t win scrums’ 😂 I love that.
19 Go to commentsCan’t wait for the article that talks about misogyny in Ireland. Somehow.
12 Go to commentsI would like to see a rule change, when the attacking team is held up over the try line, by allowing the defensive team to restart a goal line drop out releases the pressure for the defensive team, but what if the attacking team had to restart a tap 5m out from the defensive team it gives the attacking team to apply more pressure, there are endless options for the attacking side and it will keep the fans in suspence.
2 Go to commentsLess modern South African males predictably triggered.
12 Go to commentsMy heart is with Quins, but the head is convinced Toulouse have too much. Ntamack is back, his timing and wisdom has been missed.
1 Go to commentsWow, what a starting line up for the Sharks) Tasty up front,kremer vs Tshituka or venter …fiery ,,Lavannini ,,will he knobble etzebeth? Biggest game for belleau?
1 Go to commentsIt was rubbish to watch, Blues weren’t even present. Did what they had to do, nothing more. Should be better next week against canes.
1 Go to commentsI’ve just noticed that this match has an all-French refereeing team. Surely a game like this ought to have a neutral ref? Although looking at the BBC preview of the Saints game, Raynal is also down as reffing that - so there may be some confusion about who is reffing what.
1 Go to commentsIf Havili can play anywhere in the back line, why not first 5. #10.
11 Go to commentsThe dressing room had already left for their summer break before they ran out in Dublin that year, and that’s on the coach. Franco Smith has undoubtedly made progress, particularly their maul, developing squad players and increasing squad depth. And against a very tight budget too. That said they were too lightweight last year and got found out against both Toulon and Munster in consecutive games. Better this season so far but they’ve developed something of a slow start habit occasionally, most notably losing at home to Northampton who played them at their own game. Play offs will ultimately show whether there has been tangible progress on last year, or not…!
2 Go to commentsAustralian Rugby has been a disaster, by not incorporating learning from previous successful campaigns. QLD Reds 2011 - Waratahs 2014. Players, coaches and administrators appoint there representatives for scheduled meetings, organisation’s agreement’s assessments and correspondence. This why a unified Rugby Union under one entity works. Every Rugby nation has taken that path. Was most difficult in the Northern hemisphere with over 100 years of club rugby before the game become professional. Took a lot of humility for those unions to eventually work together.
7 Go to commentsThough Wilson’s sacking was pretty brutal, it wasn’t just down to that Leinster game; Glasgow had a lot of 2nd half collapses that season, in the URC and Europe, and only just scraped into the playoffs. Franco Smith has definitely been an improvement, some players are delivering far more than they did under Wilson.
2 Go to commentsjesus - that front 5!
1 Go to commentsShould be an absolute cracker of a game! Will be great to see DuPont & Ntamack in tandem once again🔥
1 Go to commentsBest team ever…. To have played? These guys are still pressure chokers. Came nowhere when it counted. What a joke
81 Go to commentsMusk defends anonymous terrorism, fascism, threats against individuals and children etc etc But a Rugby club account….lock ‘em up!!!
2 Go to commentsActually the era defining moment came a few years earlier. February 2002 to be precise, when Michael D Higgins as finance minister at the time introduced his sports persons tax relief bill to the dial. As the politicians of the day stated “It seems to be another daft K Club frolic born in Kildare amongst the well-paid professional jockeys with whom the Minister plays golf” and that the scheme represented “a savage uncaring vision of Ireland and one that should be condemned”. The irfu and Leinster would be nowhere near the position they are in today without this key component of the finances.
5 Go to commentsIt is crystal clear that people who make such threats on line should be tried and imprisoned. Those with responsibility in social media companies who don’t facilitate this should be convicted. In real life, I have free speech to approach someone like Reinach and verbally threaten him. I am risking a conviction or a slap but I could do it. In the old days, If someone anonymously threatened someone by letter the police would ask and use evidence from the postal system. Unlike the Post, social media companies have complete instant and legal access to the content in social media. They make money from the data, billions. Yet, they turn a blind eye to terrorism, Nazi-ism and industrial levels of threats against individuals including their address and childrens schools being published online all from ananoymous accounts not real people. They claim free speech. Free speech for anonymous trolls/voilent thugs threatening people under false names? The fault is with the perps but also social media companies who think anonymous personas posting death threats constitutes free speech.
2 Go to commentsSo if this ain’t the best Irish team ever then who exactly is? I don’t remember any other Irish team being this good & winning a series in the Land of the Long White Cloud. Yes I may rip them often for 8 X QF RWC exits & twice not even making it to the QF, but they’re a damn good team who many think can only improve, including me!
81 Go to commentsNot a squeek out of Leinster for weeks about this match. So quiet. The first team have been quitely building for this encounter under Nienaber’s direction. All fresh, all highly motivated. They are expecting a season’s best performance from Northhampton. They will match that. They will be fresher and apparently they will have 80,000 out of the 83,000 shouting for them. I do expect Northhampton to turn up big time. Not to be missed. On a tangent it is evident how the loss of a few Premiership teams has in some respect helped other Premiership teams and England. More quality over less teams makes the teams better, which has a knock on effect on England. Not the only factor contributing to England’s rise but one of them.
5 Go to comments