That's right: Guinness Six Nations Fantasy Rugby 2024 is now live! Between now and that opening kick under the Friday night lights in Marseille, it is time to tinker to your heart's content and start building a fantasy team that will guarantee victory against your friends, family, teammates, work colleagues, and the many other experts taking part from all over the globe!
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In this guide, we will be giving you all the details to help you get your head around the 2024 game. Whether you are new to Fantasy Rugby or an old hand, a Six Nations novice or a battle-hardened veteran, there are some important changes to flag, so even if you know the game, make sure you read on to get up to speed with all of the changes!
A quick overview of the core rules of the game: You have a budget of 240 stars to build a squad of 15 starters and 1 player on your bench. You can select any player named in the Guinness Six Nations squads; however, each player has a different price (based on the player's reputation and likely performance in the game), so you need to manage your budget wisely and work to identify value players. Your team must consist of 3 back-three players, 2 centers, 1 fly-half, 1 scrum-half, 3 back rows, 2 second-rows, 2 props, and 1 hooker; while your bench player can be from any position. It is important to note that you can only select a maximum of 4 players from the same country. You can also use the auto-pick function if you want to quickly select your team before you do any tinkering.
In addition, for each round, you will have two bonus chips you can assign to your selection. These are the Captain and the Supersub. These will be familiar to those who have played the game before, but for the uninitiated, the player you select as Captain will have their points doubled, while the player you select as Supersub will have their points TREBLED. There is a wrinkle with the Supersub rules, however; you must select a player who is beginning the match on the bench. If you select a starter in the Supersub position, you will only get half their points. There are strategies to the Supersub selection, but more on that later!
Points are awarded for a variety of Attacking actions and Defensive actions. From an attacking perspective, points are awarded for Tries (10 pts), Try assists (4 pts), Try conversion (2 pts), Penalty kick (3 pts), Drop goal (5 pts), Defenders beaten (2 pts), Carried meters (1 pt per 10m made), and 50-22 kicks (7 pts). While on the defensive side, points are awarded for Tackles (1 pt), Breakdown steals (5 pts), and Lineout steals (7 pts). You will also need to be careful if you have players prone to disciplinary issues, as there are points deductions in place for conceded penalties (-1 pt), yellow cards (-3 pts), and red cards (-6 pts). Finally, there is a massive 15 points on offer for the Official Player of the Match, so choose carefully!
Two important changes to note from the 2023 game are that, firstly, you will now only have one substitute on your bench, as opposed to the three substitutes previously available for selection. Secondly, when it comes to scoring, there have been some slight alterations, the biggest being the removal of what was known in previous years as ‘team’ points for the team's victories and draws; these no longer apply so outstanding performers on losing teams will now score on an even level compared to their victorious counterparts.
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One of the best parts of Fantasy sport is the social aspect, and as before, you can play with your friends to add even more spice to the competition. You can do this by setting up your league (go to the 'Leagues' tab to create a league) and inviting your friends or joining an existing league. Your team in the general league and in your private league will be the same, so there is no need to create 2 different teams. However, if you want to mix things up, you can also create private leagues “For Fun,” with a personalized budget and a maximum number of players per team of your choice. However, please note that the "for fun" leagues are not eligible for prizes, and you’ll need to create another team compared to the one used in the general league.
Some great prizes are on offer for the best players in each round and in the overall ranking by the end of the tournament, so it's crucial that you make a good start. So with this in mind, here are five initial tips to help build your team to give you the best shot from the start!
Firstly, above all, it's key that you hold off finalising your team until all the starting lineups are announced. It's definitely a good thing to build some drafts before the tournament to familiarize yourself with the player pool and the prices, but don't finalize your team until you know everyone playing. You will know if a player is selected to start or be on the bench for each round, as an icon next to the player will indicate if the player is a starter, a substitute, or not called-up in the matches. In addition, occasionally a player will suffer an injury between the announcement and kick-off, for example, like Jamison Gibson-Park for Ireland in their opening game against Wales last year and will have a late replacement, so keep a close eye on the team news and be ready for any switches needed.
Next up, don't feel bound to make a limited number of transfers. Unlike other games, Guinness Six Nations Fantasy Rugby 2024 allows you to completely tear up your team for no points penalty in between rounds. This means you can load your team fully optimized for each round. If you need to make 15+ changes, then don’t hold back. Just do it!
Guinness Six Nations Fantasy Rugby 2024 is a salary cap game, so how you allocate your budget is key. One key point to note is that players' values go up and down throughout the tournament based on their popularity, so you can build your team's maximum value throughout the tournament. This can be of enormous value come the closing couple of rounds of the tournament, so make your transfers wisely, and if you have any players in your side who may lose value (they could be injured or out of favour with the coaches), then ship them out ASAP! Play the market - each player's value will evolve, increasing or decreasing, according to their real performance. This means you'll make a profit - or a loss - after each round if you decide to sell a player.
Another top tip is around kickers. Very often in fantasy rugby games, you are obliged to select one kicker to gain points from conversions, penalties, drop goals, etc. Not here, so if you can find kickers who play outside of the fly-half position (for example, Thomas Ramos), then they are well worth picking up, as they are guaranteed kicking points.
Finally, have a strategy for your Supersub, which when played well, can be an absolute game-changer. There is often luck involved, for example, if one of the starting XV needs to go off in the early stages of the game, but likewise, you could be at the mercy of a coach who decides to leave his backs on the bench for the entire 80 minutes, so you have to play the percentages and consider the risks.
For me, there are three key areas to consider in a Supersub. Firstly, will they come on, and will they play a significant period of time? For this, we see Props, Hookers, and Scrum-Halves tend to come on typically between the 45-60 minute point, so they usually get some good game time (and often hookers find themselves on the end of a driving maul and so bring an added try threat). With Locks and Loose Forwards, it is not rare to see a starting Lock or Loose Forward play the full 80. That said, Locks and Back Rowers are not typically left on the bench either. Fly Halves are a bit more unpredictable; they could come on early if the game plan is not working, but likewise, sometimes a change is too disruptive and can be left late, and in some cases not at all. Centres and Back 3 are also a bit of a lottery.
Next up, take a look at previous games to see if there are any trends in how the team operates their replacements. In some cases, past matches can provide a pretty educated insight into how a team will play their bench.
Finally, is your prospective Supersub the only option on the bench in their position? If a team is playing a 6-2 split on the bench, for example, then that is probably a good time to select a utility back as they are far more likely to come on in time to make a decent impact.
Good luck, with triple points on offer, a successful Supersub pick can propel you to the very top!
Skimming through the player prices, there are some notable players to flag. From the reigning champions, it’s hard to look past the form man of the Rugby World Cup, Bundee Aki (17 stars). Aki bagged 5 tries in France, along with 30 defenders beaten and will like to be continuing this form into the Six Nations. Keep an eye out too for James Ryan (17 stars) who ended the 2023 Six Nations with the highest number of lineout steals and turnovers won.
Looking to challenge Ireland once again will be France. They may be Dupont-less, but they are still blessed with attacking talent everywhere, and none more so than the 2023 Six Nations Top Tryscorer, Damian Penaud (20 stars), and the 2023 Six Nations Top Points Scorer, Thomas Ramos (18 stars).
Scotland will have a point to prove and once again Duhan Van Der Merwe (18 stars) will surely be at the cutting edge of the Scotland attack. Van Der Merwe beat more defenders than any other player in the 2023 Championship (35 in total) and few would expect him not to make a similar impact in 2024. Elsewhere, Matt Fagerson (15 stars) is a shrewd pick up, a threat in attack but also last year’s tournament’s top tackler with 83 successful tackles.
England will be looking to build on their semi-final finish at the Rugby World Cup. Their form player in France was undeniably Ben Earl (17 stars), who, like Matt Fagerson is also a huge attacking and defending double threat. One player looking to bring his hot domestic form to the Six Nations stage is Ollie Lawrence (15 stars); could this be the year he truly breaks through at international level?
Wales will want to get off to a flying start, but again there have been a number of injuries to key players as well as retirements. One player looking to continue his good form from the Autumn will be Louis Rees-Zammit (18 stars), while Will Rowlands (12 stars) will be looking to bring his outstanding tackling performance from the Rugby World Cup to the Six Nations.
Finally, Italy will be hopeful of making some positive strides in this year’s Championship, and in their back row, they have the two forwards with the most metres carried in the 2023 Six Nations, Lorenzo Cannone (15 stars) and Sebastian Negri (15 stars).
In the lead-up and throughout the tournament, the Fantasy Rugby Geek will be providing tips and insights to help you grow your fantasy scores throughout the tournament and hopefully your bragging rights with your mates, so keep an eye on the Guinness Six Nations website throughout for more news!
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