Firstly, it’s worth looking at the top performers so far to see who is in form and who is bringing home the points. As in Round 1, only 16 players scored 25 or more points, which definitely seems to be the benchmark of what can be considered a very good score. The top scorers in Round 2 were James Lowe with 50 points (1 try, 137m carried, 4 defenders beaten and a player of the match award), Ben Earl with 46 points (1 try, 8 tackles, 51m carried, 4 defenders beaten and a player of the match award), Gaël Fickou with 44 points (1 try, 71m carried, 3 defenders beaten, 8 tackles and a player of the match award) and Dan Sheehan with 37 points (2 tries, 1 try assist, 62m carried and 7 tackles).
With Round 2 points added, the top 5 scorers overall now are Finn Russell (71 points), Ben Earl (70 points), Aaron Wainwright (69 points), Dan Sheehan and Jack Crowley (65 points each). We are now starting to see certain players really flourish in the new scoring model, and in particular the all-action likes of Ben Earl and Tommy Reffell are starting to become essential picks.
With two rounds of data in place now, we are also starting to see some trends in terms of the highest scoring positions in the game. It now seems that the consistent highest scoring positions are seen in the Back Row, Back Three and in the Fly Half position. The Back Row players benefit from greater opportunities for points scoring areas in tackle counts, metres carried and turnovers won. Players like Earl, Grégory Alldritt and Reffell have benefited from these scoring areas to convert to high fantasy scores.
For those in the Fly-Half spot, the "sure thing” of penalty and conversion points are making a big impact, and this is also a valuable consideration for someone like Thomas Ramos, taking kicking duty from outside the Fly-Half position. Finally, when it comes to the Back Three, obviously tries play a big part here, but also metres carried and defenders beaten play a big part. On the flip side, it seems like Prop is consistently the lowest scoring position. These are all important considerations when looking at potential Captain and Supersub options.
When it comes to the Supersub, it’s been very hard to pick some high scorers (although it could have been very different if Jamison Gibson-Park had scored in that final Ireland attack on Sunday!). The highest scoring Supersub options in Round 2 were Alex Coles and Andy Christie on 12 points, with Gibson-Park next on 9 points. In Round, 1 the highest scorer off the bench was Alex Mann on 26 points. One big quandary that many managers found in selecting a Supersub was whether to have 4 starters in a game that they expected a big win in (i.e. Reigning champions Ireland at home to Italy) of going with 3 starters and a Supersub from the favourites. Based on what we have seen from the first 2 rounds, it seems that it could be a sensible strategy to invest primarily in your starters, and then find a Supersub from the remaining nation allocation you have left after having selected your starting XV.
Finally, one of the biggest factors towards fantasy success this week was the Player of the Match award. All three of the top scorers this week (Lowe, Earl and Fickou) had their score significantly bumped with the addition of 15 points for the Official Guinness Men's Six Nations Player of the Match award. This is a huge factor to consider, but is there any way of predicting it? Ultimately the Player of the Match award is a subjective decision from the experts, and more often than not, it will go to a player on the winning side.
However, looking at the six recipients of the award thus far (Lowe, Earl and Fickou in Round 2 and Joe McCarthy, Ethan Roots and Aaron Wainwright from Round 1), there are not many notable trends to be aware of. Ultimately, it’s a case of backing the players you believe will do a job, as per the standard approach in Fantasy Rugby, and hoping that your player’s performance will be of the suitable standard required to get the attention of the Player of the Match selectors.
So there are more lessons learned with two rounds' worth of data to dig into. We now have a fallow week before Round 3 comes around, but stay tuned for more Fantasy Rugby content throughout this period in the lead-up to the next round!
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