Fantasy Rugby

For the first time I have broken my two cardinal rules in Fantasy Rugby. They’re my only two rules, and the reason I have been able to stay at the top of any fantasy rugby league I have been in since I started playing in 2002. Each rule has been broken only once this season, but I have now slipped from third location to thirteenth place in my Super 14 Fantasy Rugby league. I am certain my neighbours on the table are not even participating.

Rule Number One: Constantly have a valid team.

This isn’t rocket science. If you don’t have a team valid you get no points for the entire round. What I have now learned is that you must not even alter your team close to the deadline. I made an arbitrary change in my fantasy rugby team, and just as I was about to replace the player my personal computer froze and I couldn’t find a way to replace him. As I tried to locate a way to get on the internet I watched the time tick away until eventually the cut off time was reached and my carefully crafted team was invalidated for the whole round; all simply because I tried to alter the team too close to the cut off date.

Rule Number Two: Make certain your whole team is supposed to take the field.

It seems basic, but this should be a priority. Several hours before kick off scan the news for any late withdrawals. I normally scan through my team and compare with the newest team lists to ensure everybody is playing. The week after I had an invalid team I backed this up by making the terrible fantasy rugby mistake of having a player who was ruled out mid-week remain in my team for the weekend. To make it worse, the player was Dan Carter. As everybody else sold him my team value went down $400,000 and 1 of the premium spots on any fantasy rugby team, the inside backs, was worthless.

These rules might seem straightforward, but they are fairly simple to break if you’re not careful. The repercussions of breaking either, specially rule number 1, can break your entire rugby season, and send you towards the bottom of your fantasy rugby league. This is what has happened to me. There are additional benefits of paying attention to rule number two though. If you are fast with selling any injured players you get to sell them at the most effective price and everyone who sells them after you’ll get a progressively worse price.

You’ll not be guaranteed to win by abiding by these rules, but if you break them you will not stand a chance. I have had some excellent point scoring rounds since I broke the two rules, but I never recovered from the round where I had an incomplete team. Financially I have also struggled since I lost all that dollars on Dan Carter.

So with these two suggestions in mind, great luck with the coming season.

For more information on Fantasy Rugby, including fantasy rugby tips and advice, the latest team announcements and player injury updates, check out my Rugby Blog, Rugby Fix - your resource for all things Fantasy Rugby!