With a whirlwind Round 0 behind us, and with some Fantasy teams flying high (mostly thanks to Darcy Graham!) and others in tatters, it’s time to pick ourselves up and focus on Round 1.
This is the first full round of the 2024 Autumn Nations Series with 6 top-class matches, so there are a lot of details to look at before settling on your fantasy team.
Before we dig into the players to focus on in Round 1, there are some important aspects to flag. Firstly, a reminder that in this year’s fantasy game you will only be able to select players from the Six Nations (England, France, Ireland, Italy, Scotland and Wales). Although the Six Nations sides will be playing against teams such as New Zealand, South Africa, Australia and Fiji, the only players scoring points in this fantasy game are those from the Six Nations.
In addition, if you missed Round 0 or got off to a slow start, no need to worry. All teams entered by the kick-off of Ireland v New Zealand will be entered into the ANS Fresh Start Fantasy League! If you are the highest-scoring player in the global league between the 8th November and the end of the Autumn Nations Series, you will receive a £100 voucher to spend at fanatics.com.
So with nothing to lose, and everything to gain, it’s time to look at which players to back in Round 1.
Round 1 kicks off on Friday night with Ireland v New Zealand. This is followed by 3 matches on Saturday; England v Australia, Italy v Argentina and France v Japan. Round 1 then wraps up on Sunday with Wales v Fiji and Scotland v South Africa.
Running through the likely fantasy candidates from each match, starting with Friday night’s Round 1 curtain raiser. This will undoubtedly be one of the games of the series, a replay of the 2023 Rugby World Cup Quarter-Final between the current number 1 ranked team in the world, Ireland, and the world number 3, New Zealand. After their RWC exit at the hands of the All Blacks, Ireland will be looking to start the series off with a statement win, and from a fantasy perspective, the Irish team is stacked with talent.
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Ireland v New Zealand
With two closely matched teams like Ireland and New Zealand, the boot will inevitably play a key role, and in Jack Crowley, Ireland have a top class kicker who can rack up the kicking points. Crowley was one of the highest scoring fantasy players in the 2024 Six Nations, averaging 27.6 points per game. Moving into the pack and Ireland also have the highest fantasy scoring second row from the 2024 Six Nations, Tadhg Beirne. Beirne averaged 28.8 points per game, outscoring his closest challenger in the Second Row, Dafydd Jenkins by over 10 points per game.
Beirne ranked number 1 amongst second rows for metres carried (159m), lineout steals (3), breakdown steals (2) and tries (2), as well as 2nd for defenders beaten (6). Against New Zealand, he is also starting in the Back Row, which only adds to his value. Ireland count in their ranks the highest-scoring Centre from the Six Nations, Bundee Aki. Aki was the top Centre in terms of Metres Carried and Breakdown steals and this led to him averaging 30.3 per match in the Six Nations. Elsewhere Ireland have traditional fantasy high scorers playing including James Lowe, Jamison Gibson-Park, Mack Hansen, Caelan Doris, Hugo Keenan and Josh Van Der Flier.
England v Australia
Next the action moves to London, where Australia take on England after a disappointing Rugby Championship campaign that ended up with the Wallabies ending dead last with just 1 win in 6 (which included a historic 67-27 defeat to Argentina).
England will be looking to bounce back after closely fought defeat against New Zealand and have named an unchanged starting XV, albeit with shift of position in the Centres. Moving out to 13 will be Ollie Lawrence, who will be a feature in many Fantasy teams. Lawrence was one of the top scoring Centres in the 2024 Six Nations fantasy game, averaging 26.7 points per match, and while he was limited in his carrying game against New Zealand (only carrying for 13 metres) he was sensational in defence, making a huge 22 tackles. He is expected to have more attacking opportunities against Australia, and is well worth investing your fantasy stars in.
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Across all 5 Rounds of the 2024 Six Nations, the overall highest average scorer, by quite some margin, was England’s Ben Earl, with an average score of 41.8. Earl recorded the 2nd highest number of defenders beaten in the entire tournament (24) and the 3rd highest metres carried (417m) which is a phenomenal achievement for a forward. He starts against Australia and is an essential pick.
Also impressing against New Zealand were Immanuel Feyi-Waboso (36 points) and Marcus Smith (48 points), and many expect their form to continue against Australia. England also have some strong supersub options in Luke Cowan-Dickie and Ollie Sleightholme. Sleightholme was the top tryscorer in the Premiership last season, but tread carefully as in recent times England have often brought their back 3 subs on very late in the game.
Italy v Argentina
Argentina will be kicking off their Autumn Nations Series campaign with a visit to Udine to face Italy. The Azzurri are on a high after a positive Six Nations that included 2 wins against Wales and Scotland, a draw against France and a narrow defeat by England. With two strong and evenly matched teams named, this should be a tight contest.
From a fantasy perspective, Italy have plenty of talents worth consideration. Starting at 10 against Los Pumas will be Paolo Garbisi, who was Italy’s highest scoring player in the 2024 Six Nations, averaging 29.4 points per game. They also have two start performers in the Centres with Juan Ignacio Brex and Tommaso Menoncello. Brex was one of the highest average scorers in the Six Nations, with 25.2 points averaged per match.
Their back 3 is packed with creative attacking threats in Ange Capuozzo, Monty Ioane and Louis Lynagh, while in the pack they have plenty of hard carrying talent, especially with Lorenzo Cannone and Sebastian Negri.
France v Japan
Saturday night in Paris sees the match that has generated the most interest from a fantasy points perspective, France v Japan. This is the match with the largest difference in world rankings out of the entire Autumn Nations Series schedule, with France ranked 4th and Japan ranked 14th.
Japan will be no pushovers, but in any case, many fantasy players will be loading up on Les Bleus, especially with Antoine Dupont returning to international action. Prior to taking his international break, Dupont had been the world leading player at international level (in records since the 2019 Rugby World Cup) in a number fantasy points scoring areas including try assists (25) and offloads (53) as well as also scoring 9 tries since the 2019 RWC. Throughout this time Dupont has been outstanding at club level for Stade Toulousain and at one stage this season he had recorded a try or try assist every 23 minutes he was on the field in the Top 14 this season. He’s coming into the Autumn Nations Series hot, and you can expect him to deliver from the off.
The French squad is blessed with talent throughout, and in addition to Dupont, a genuine triple threat for tries, attacking metrics and goals kicked is Thomas Ramos. A world class goal kicker, Ramos topped the points scored at the 2023 and 2024 Six Nations (63 in 2024, 84 in 2023) and scored the highest number of conversions at the 2023 Rugby World Cup. He’s also a threat with ball in hand, carrying for 274m with 17 defenders beaten, 23 tackles and 4 offloads (now worth 2 points in the Autumn Nations Series fantasy game).
Elsewhere, France have named Leo Barre at full back. Barre was the highest fantasy scoring player in the final round of the 2024 Six Nations, where he carried for 117m, beat 7 defenders and gained a try and an assist.
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For the visit of the Brave Blossoms, France have named a very strong side and from a fantasy perspective (in addition to the aforementioned three), Peato Mauvaka, Thibaud Flament, Emmanuel Meafou, Alexandre Roumat, Gregory Alldritt, Louis Bielle-Biarrey, Damian Penaud and Emilien Gailleton could all deliver huge scores. In addition, coming off the bench, Julian Marchand, Paul Boudehent, Matthieu Jalibert and Gael Fickou are all strong supersub options.
Wales v Fiji
Moving to Sunday and in a rematch of an epic 2023 Rugby World Cup Pool RWC pool stage rerun, Wales welcome Fiji to the Principality.
Wales have named an exciting side for Fiji; full of form players pushing to bring Wales’s recent streak of losses to an end. One name that stands out is the star of the Wales’s Six Nations campaign, Tommy Reffell. For the 2024 Six Nations, Reffell averaged 29 fantasy points a game. This score was heavily down to his incredible breakdown steal stats, with 8 steals over the tournament (double of his nearest challenger, Sam Underhill on 4).
Elsewhere, the Wales side has plenty of young talents, especially in their Back 3 and midfield. Shaping up on the Wing (and categorised as a Centre) is Mason Grady. Although he only has 1 try to his name at club level so far this season, he’s shown plenty of threat with 239 metres carried, 11 defenders beaten and 2 offloads. Another Welsh Centre option, and even cheaper at 10 stars is Max Llewellyn. Llewellyn has been one of the standout performers in the Premiership this season for Gloucester, having scored 5 tries (equal 1st in the league), beating 26 defenders (2nd in the league) and carrying for 315 metres (6th in the league).
Elsewhere in the backline, Ben Thomas, Blair Murray and Cam Winnett have all shown brilliant form in the URC this season, while Tomas Williams has been on fire since moving to Gloucester. In the forwards Wales have great depth of talent in the back row alongside Reffell with Aaron Wainwright and Taine Plumtree, both of whom are capable of a big fantasy points hauls.
Scotland v South Africa
In the final match of the round, the Springboks open their Autumn tour against Scotland at Murrayfield in a repeat of a Rugby World Cup pool stage match that saw South Africa emerge victorious. Scotland were in rampant form in their 57-17 Round 0 victory over Fij, but South Africa are likely to provide a much sterner test. Scotland are also without their star performer from Round 0, Darcy Graham. Nonetheless, they still have several strong fantasy options.
Duhan Van Der Merwe is always a fantasy threat and he will be looking to extend his Scotland try-scoring record. Against Fiji he was in typical form with a try, 176 metres carried, 7 defenders beaten and an offload for good measure. Scotland also have one of the most consistent fantasy scoring props in Pierre Schoeman, some ever reliable Back Row fantasy points scorers in Rory Darge and Jack Dempsey, and plenty of magic in the back line with Finn Russell, Blair Kinghorn, Huw Jones and Sione Tuipulotu.
Good luck, and make sure you don’t miss the first match deadline on Friday night!
Fantasy Rugby Geek's top picks for Round 1
Back Three: Damian Penaud (France), Immanuel Feyi-Waboso (England), Thomas Ramos (France), Louis Bielle-Biarrey (France)
Centre: Leo Barre (France), Ollie Lawrence (England), Mason Grady (Wales)
Fly-half: Marcus Smith (England), Jack Crowley (Ireland)
Scrum half: Antoine Dupont (France), Tomos Williams (Wales)
Back-row: Ben Earl (England), Gregory Alldritt (France), Tommy Reffell (Wales), Alexandre Roumat (France)
Second row: Thibaud Flament (France), Tadhg Beirne (Ireland), Lorenzo Cannone (Italy)
Prop: Tevita Tatafu (France), Elis Genge (England), Gareth Thomas (Wales)
Hooker: Dewi Lake (Wales), Peato Mauvaka (France)
Supersub: Matthieu Jalibert (France), Julian Marchand (France)
Captain Pick: Damian Penaud (France)
Please note that the above selections are based on the positions that players are categorised as in the game
