GALLAGHER PREMIERSHIP 2018-19
They’re a bit like West Virginia, front rowers in rugby. Like the “Mountain State” is the state the inhabitants of all other states make fun of, front rowers always seem to be the butt of the joke in rugby. They don’t always look like a classic athlete, they generally don’t run very fast and aren’t known for their ball skills or smarts. And the thing they are usually good at, scrummaging, most people, including those who’ve spent a lifetime playing the sport, don’t really understand. But in the 2017-18 Aviva Premiership season front rowers had their greatest moment in the sun since Sean Maloney’s Top Five Fatmen Tries from Fox Sports Rugby HQ TV show and former Wallaby hooker Phil Kearns numerous humorous quips at his and his front row brethren’s expense in the commentary box [my all-time favourite: Greg Martin: “Jeez Kearnsy, these lineouts are turning into a dockyard brawl”. Kearnsy: “Yeah, isn’t it great”.] Despite an array of attacking talent in the premiership last season, it was the Saracens front row that was the highest points scorer in all of Fantasy Rugby Draft (FRD). That’s like the captain of the debate team taking the head cheerleader to prom! (quick aside, I fear I’ve just given someone an idea for a crappy Drew Barrymore movie).
Doubling up
Not only did they score almost twice as many points as the next highest scoring front row (Wasps, in case you were wondering. Who were the top scoring fatties the previous season and the first front row off the board in our league last year. Picked by muggins here in favour of the aforementioned Saracens), they also had the highest average points per game (PPG) of any player in the league. Ok, strictly speaking they averaged the same PPG as Sale flyhalf AJ MacGinty. But still, it was an incredible statistical feat and one that undoubtedly swayed many leagues, including our own.
The PPG point is a keen one because a front row doesn’t miss any games. Obviously personal within the front row will switch, but in terms of value for an FRD owner front rows are great because (in the Premiership at least) they’re out there in one form or other every week, a bit like Kim Kardashian’s unmentionables. With the nature of the Premiership season overlapping with the Autumn Internationals and Six Nations, a key part of drafting strategy is taking into account players who will be available throughout those periods and weighing up whether it’s worth drafting an international star knowing they will miss a lot of time. Not a problem for the front row, and because of that it would be understandable if they had the outright highest aggregate points total, but to be the highest average PPG as well is remarkable. Especially when you consider one supposed expert suggested in a Super Rugby Fantasy Rugby Draft column a few years back that a front row should be your absolute last pick. Perhaps even more shocking than that piece of advice being offered up as “expert insight” is the fact that the oracle who provided it has still been invited back to write the corresponding column every Super Rugby and Premiership season since. Having admitted to that, you’ll likely want to take what I say below with a Vincent Koch-sized fistful of salt.
The error of my judgement was made immediately apparent to me last season while sitting in the stands at Twickenham watching Saracens take Northampton apart in the first game of the Opening Weekend Double Header, our FRD league day out. Schalk Brits was stepping like Damian McKenzie and Mako Vunipola was offloading like Sonny Bill Williams. If that wasn’t bad enough, the aforementioned 125kg Koch got in on the act too on the way to a 60 plus point performance. Made all the more grating by having the player in our league who was clever enough to pick the Sarries front rakers sitting beside me cackling away at every try, offload, defender beaten and even run metre gained. It was a salad day for him as he also had Sean Maitland in his team (hat trick by half time) and wouldn’t you know it, when news came through that Dan Robson had scored four tries in Wasps opening game, he realised he had him in his team too. Funnily enough, a guy who was initially sceptical about Fantasy Rugby Draft became a big fan that day. Ironically the closest that bloke’s come to eating a salad in the past decade is when he used a salad fork to eat three helpings of wedding cake, but it turned out to be a salad season for him also, going on to ultimately win the title. Well played James.
As an aside, why is when something is going really well is it described as “salad days”? Surely if things are going so great they should be described as “steak days”. If you’re eating salad every day it doesn’t sound that great to me. Or perhaps I am just completely butchering the saying. Justin Marshall’s got nothing on me.
So presumably Saracens front row is the consensus first pick this Fantasy Rugby Draft season, right? Maybe not.
While the Premiership champions’ front rowers are all capable of scoring FRD points, the now retired Britz was really the straw that stirred their FRD drink. With him gone, I expect a significant drop off. Still the best front row in Fantasy Rugby Draft? Yes, I think so. But I do expect them to come back to the pack this year.
That said, if you’re drafting in the middle to back end of the first round in your league and Saracens front row is still available when it’s your turn to make a selection, it’s a pretty safe one to go with. A no brainer even.
Taking a flyer
The second highest ranking player in the Fantasy Rugby Draft rankings this year is an equally unfancied name. Alan MacGinty, or AJ if you prefer, struggled initially when arriving at Sale from then-Pro12 team Connaught, but has now established himself as a pretty consistent performer for one of the Premierships more surprisingly impressive outfits in recent seasons. You can be sure Sale Sharks Director of Rugby Steve Diamond will have been putting the blame squarely on MacGinty when he wasn’t playing well but expect he is lavishing praise on himself now that MacGinty has turned it around. But can you really draft AJ MacGinty number one overall in your FRD draft? Like I say, he just isn’t a fancied name. Literally. When I hear the name AJ MacGinty I picture an awkward teenager not the saviour of my FRD team. There is a chance he will lose some time to James O’Connor throughout the season, but there is also every chance that O’Connor loses some time to Her Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service.
When it comes to flyhalves this season, there are very few sure things. Kind of like the opposite of the queue to audition for the next season of Love Island, which features exclusively very sure things. Owen Farrell and George Ford are both obviously class players, but each will lose significant time to international duty and probably not unrelated, Farrell was injured for large parts of last season also. Danny Cipriani is now the man at Gloucester and in early season action has been physical and looked to get his fend working early and often. Unfortunately it was on a female constable in the Jersey Police force. Will it affect his role at the cherry and whites? Unlikely. In fact if he gets booted from the England squad it will actually make him a more valuable FRD resource, but it doesn’t speak to a lot of smarts or sound decision making. Also, will he or Jason Woodward be kicking for goal? On the flipside, if Woodward is the man to kick for sticks (and his Fantasy Rugby Draft ranking of #8 suggests they think he is), then he becomes a very valuable commodity.
Joe Simmonds came on like wildfire last year, unseating Gareth Steenson, claiming the starting #10 Exeter Chiefs jumper all to himself and potentially costing me the chance to win my league. So bully for you Joe! But Chiefs Director of Rugby Rob Baxter likes to rotate his squad and Steenson likely isn’t completely done yet, so I can see Simmonds losing some starts to Exeter’s favourite son. Speaking of the Chiefs, the one thing they love more than players with terrible haircuts at Exeter is squad depth. Take a look through the team – it is unreal some of the resources they have acquired. Not necessarily a good thing for a FRD team manager though. Olly Woodburn is ranked #3 in the Fantasy Rugby Draft rankings after pulling down an impressive 21 PPG last year. He is undoubtedly a very handy player, seldom misses games and a consistent performer. But have a look at the other options at Chiefs – Santiago Cordero, Alex Cuthbert, Phil Dollman, Jack Nowell, James Short and some bloke called Tom O’Flaherty who I’ve never heard of. Sounds like Tom Cruise’s character from that terrible Irish immigrant movie Far & Away. But going on Rob Baxter’s recruitment record, it wouldn’t surprise me if O’Flaherty turned out to be the second coming of Jason Robinson. I just worry that Woodburn is going to lose some playing time this year.
However, the flyhalf I want to target in the draft is Marcus Smith of Harlequins. Some may say I am a fool who has not learned my lesson of two seasons ago when I took then Quins flyhalf Nick Evans with my number one pick. Turned out it was one season too many for Evans and my Fantasy Rugby Draft season was down the crapper from the get go. But, I legitimately think Smith could finish the season as the highest ranked #10 this year.
For one thing, he was pretty good last year and will presumably get better. Not so good that he’s picked for the England team, which ticks another box for me in him not being away for the internationals – more on that below. He kicks goals and his competition is Demetri Catrakilis and Tim Swiel. Both handy players, but not about to make the world forget about Beauden Barrett anytime soon. So he should get plenty of game time. I was surprised to see he averaged 16.5 PPG last year – I thought he might have been higher. But he plays more or less every week, so you can count on that, rather than Farrell scoring 22 PPG when he plays, but playing significantly less. You still have to win game weeks when Farrell is playing for England.
I’m not silly enough to not realise some of my faith in Smith is due to being a Quins supporter, but frankly in Fantasy Rugby Draft or fantasy sports of any description I expect, it’s more fun to like and pull for the guys you have on your team. Along the same lines, Lima Sopoaga might be a steal for someone. He has been a consistent performer in Super Rugby FRD; not a superstar, but solid enough. He also clearly will not miss time for internationals and will play most weeks at Wasps, so could be a nice get in the lower end of the first round or into the second round.
International men of mystery
Representing your country, travelling the world, staying in swanky hotels and making some nice bank. Yep, the life of the international rugby player is a pretty sweet deal. But to be honest, I don’t really want any of them on my team. Kind of like how some teams have a zero tolerance policy when it comes to ne’er do wells and want guys only of high character, on my team I’ll take most any dope, deviant or menace to society, but international players I steer clear of. As discussed, they can be a liability in Premiership FRD. Last year the only international players I drafted onto my team were Mike Brown and Danny Care. As it turned out, Byron McGuigan and Don Armand ended up playing some international rugby as well, but sporadically. I ended up losing Care despite good returns because I had to free up a roster spot one week and he was snapped up off the waiver wire. With all the will in the world, it is hard to carry international guys when you actually need live bodies in your team each week. But you can also build a pretty decent win/loss record by winning consistently and in some respects a guy who gives you 15 points week in, week out throughout the season is more value than a guy who gives you 20 every time he plays, but only plays 12 game weeks during the season.
One note of caution with this strategy is at the business end of the season when all the internationals are playing, it can leave you short of some superior firepower. I managed to comfortably finish atop of our regular season standings but had my pants pulled down pretty handily in the semifinals. Which I guess makes me like the guy who spends all night talking to the girl in the bar but can’t get her in a taxi. Ultimately, it’s all a bit for nothing.
However, I did run into some misfortune in that three quarters of the way through the season Alex Goode had played every minute of every game for Saracens, and then got injured. Ditto Mike Brown. Steenson, Harry Mallinder and McGuigan lost their starting spots and I was toast. The point being, if you pick a team of good performers who don’t play international rugby, it’s a good strategy to find yourself there or thereabouts when the music stops. If you can have an absolute world beater waiting in the wings also, well and good.
While you may not always be able to pick a world beater, you should be able to pick a lot of good players because looking through the rankings this year, the depth on a lot of the rosters is unbelievable. As usual the quality level is bolstered by another large migration of South Africans, headlined by Jaco Kriel, Rohan Janse van Rensburg and Francois Venter this year (I predict by 2023 there will be approximately seven rugby players left in South Africa). But while there might be more good players, there is still only 15 spots on the field at any one time so good players will invariably spend a lot of time on the sidelines. That’s where difference makers at their position like Kriel and the Saracens front row become so valuable.
But unfortunately the glory the Saracens front row have brought to all front rowers has a dark side. Just like Phil Kearns’ funny front row related quips have spawned an evil step-sister – halfback ‘humour’. Like many things commentary-related Justin Marshall is the worst for this. Once a game he’ll make a comment about halfbacks being shy and retiring or if a push and shove breaks out he’ll say something like “I’m sure halfback A will be keeping his opinions to himself on this”. Look, we get it, you were a halfback and halfbacks generally are small man disease-suffering, annoying little gobshites, but it’s about as predictable as it is not funny. It’s like when it starts raining and the commentators in the booth ask the sideline guy how he’s enjoying the rain. Seeing a joke coming a mile away doesn’t make it funnier, even when the joke concerned is right near the bottom of the humour scale to start with. Yet I digress. I suspect in many leagues the success of Saracens will see a run on front rows early on, meaning if anything they’ve become overvalued and drafting in Fantasy Rugby Draft is all about recognising value.
On that confusing note, I’ll wish you happy drafting.
SUPER RUGBY: DIARY OF A DRAFT DAY
I remember one of my first ever games of competitive cricket. I had played at home on the lawn
against my brother and cousin, at school against my friends and even older kids and usually handled
myself ok. I had even saved up my shekels and bought myself a Gunn & Moore (GM) ‘Skipper’ cricket
bat. Truth be told a Skipper was the bottom of the GM line, but Richard Hadlee used a GM, so I
thought it was pretty cool. But then in one of my first games, a kid in the opposition had a Duncan
Fearnley ‘Magnum’. Martin Crowe not only used a Duncan Fearnley, he used a Duncan Fearnley
Magnum. This dude had Martin Crowe’s cricket bat!
It’s fair to ask the question in hindsight that what sort of parent spends that much money on a
cricket bat for an 11 year old, but anyway, the upshot was I immediately had an inferiority complex. I
mean, he had a Magnum! This guy must be the second coming of Viv Richards! Even if I knew I was
somewhat capable, I felt like there could only be one result in the game. I thought of that incident
when recalling the draft night for our current Fantasy Rugby Draft (FRD) Aviva Premiership season. I
turned up at the draft with my laptop, a couple of print outs, a fairly good idea of my strategy and
how I was going to build a competitive team, a reasonable level of knowledge about the league,
experience playing FRD and subsequently, no shortage of confidence. A few minutes after getting
there, Sophia, new to our league and trying her hand at FRD for the first time opened up her
computer to reveal a spreadsheet the likes of which I assume the designers of the new Trident
submarine might work from. It had tabs and filters and different colours and formulas and I heard
her say something about 1,200 data points. I immediately felt even more inferior that the 11 year
old kid almost too embarrassed to take my GM Skipper out of my cricket bag.
But I did something that 11 year old me never did. I shook it off. Comforted by the fact that a couple
of guys had turned up at the draft without so much as a sheet of paper. It helped that I also had
something the 11 year old me did not: beer.
Having managed to get a Thursday evening in the diary that most of our league could make, it
turned out to be one of the very few sunny late summer days in London. Which, if you’ve spent any
time in London you’ll know means every man and his dog heads to the pub. So instead of being able
to pull together a couple of tables to run our draft at our chosen venue, we were greeted by a
swarming mass of humanity and scarcely able to find one table open. We did manage to rustle up a
few chairs but ended up with eight chairs spaced around a table not much larger than a dinner plate
and us huddled around it like a bunch of homeless dudes hanging around a burning 44 gallon drum
in a Philadelphia winter. It’s not an ideal space to try to fit three laptops, a tablet or two and
numerous pieces of paper on. And that’s before we start to find room for glasses! It reminded me of
the time five mates and I had to squeeze into one of the lads’ two door Honda Civic to get to a party
one weekend.
On a personal note, the evening got off to a rougher start when my laptop wouldn’t come to life.
After about 10 minutes I looked and saw it was installing some updates, and was about 15% in at
that point. Sweet; best laid plans. Fortunately I had some print outs with me so my carefully
conceived strategy was not completely lost to the vagaries of technology.
Don’t be a hater. Actually, do
Pints sorted, the draft got under way. None of us in the draft talked about it openly, but particularly
those who had played in the draft last year certainly had one guy in the league in our crosshairs.
James won our league last year fair and square. But life is often neither fair nor square, and we were
out to knock James down a peg or two this year, especially as we felt like he’d lucked his way into
the title to some degree and seldom missed an opportunity to tweak our nipples about his all-conquering victory (as the rest of us would have done as well of course). It’s fair to say the anti-James feeling was fuelled as much by sour grapes as much as anything, like a couple of guys cursing
their bad luck when a bloke heads home with a young lass after spending the night putting himself
out there, chatting to and dancing with the ladies while the other two hang out like a couple of
miserable gits at the bar. James likes to say he’d heard that Gopperth was going to play midfield and
still kick goals, and thus picking the former Hurricanes and Blues flyhalf was sound drafting. Which it
was. But Gopperth was such an outstanding player in 2016/17 that he literally won every award
going: Premiership Player of the Year, the Rugby Players’ Association Player of the Year and Wasps
Player of the Year, on top of being the Premiership’s top scorer and, not for nothing, the top points
scorer in FRD. He proved to be the greatest draft pick since Michael Jordan and frankly, no one saw
that coming and we felt James mainly picked him simply because he’s a Wasps fan. So our draft was
unofficially billed as the Jimmy Gopperth sweepstakes and no surprises when Jimmy G was the first
name off the board. Almost didn’t even need to hear the name called, which is a good thing given
we couldn’t hear much amongst the din of the bar.
Picking fifth, I was hoping that one of the following would fall to me: Gopperth, Freddie Burns,
Telusa Veainu or Semesa Rokoduguni. My worry (as discussed in the previous drafting blog) was
there was so much uncertainty around the flyhalf position at a number of clubs, it was hard to know
who was a sure-fire, week to week starter. Sure enough, all four guys disappear off the board and I
am left with my laptop slowing installing updates and the decision I am most hoping to avoid. What I
wouldn’t give for 1,200 data points right now! In the end I took a leaf out of Winston Churchill’s
book and took a decent drink before making an important decision. The old FRD axiom “you can’t
win your FRD league in the first round, but you can certainly lose it” flashed through my head, and
went with what I considered the safest pick; Exeter flyhalf Gareth Steenson.
Three rounds in, the draft starts to change. The big names are off the board and often times, leagues
are won by your middling players, so it’s key to pick up players that can get you points consistently.
Two of my first three picks last year were Nick Evans and Manu Tuilagi. Unfortunately in the
offseason prior Evans turned into an old man and Tuilagi played about 10mins all season due to
injuries. That’s like stalling on the starting grid in a Formula One race. Even if you get going
eventually you’re so far behind you’re as good as toast. So my middle round picks didn’t really
matter as it turned out. This year, after Steenson I picked up Alex Goode (Saracens, outside back)
and the Wasps Front Row, so was feeling pretty good about life when we decided to stop for a beer
and wings break.
Cups runneth over
The easy choice when it comes to the drinks to fuel your draft is to say beer, beer and more beer.
And really, you can’t go wrong whatever your preference in terms of brand or variety. It’s not the
only choice though; Sophia went for a gin ‘n’ tonic which I can sign off on. One thing I think you do
need to steer clear of is wine. A draft is a face-paced event. You think two minutes is a lifetime in
order to make your selections, but when the pressure is on that two minutes can disappear quicker
than your wallet on a night out in Barcelona. With my brain operating at a speed most accurately
described as somewhere between ‘resting’ and ‘stuck in molasses’ at the best of times, I feel like
sipping a nice sauvignon or lovely pinot noir would slow me down even more.
The key with the drinking though, is to find that happy place you ultimately want to reach when
you’re playing pool or darts. That is, tuned up enough to feel relaxed and confident, but not having
indulged to the point where you’re feeling cavalier. That’s when you outsmart yourself by being
dumb.
I’m not sure that makes sense but if you’ve been in that position before you’ll know what I mean.
Stick to the strategy
My first few picks reflected my overall strategy. For one thing, I wanted to avoid international
players, or nailed-on international players at least. My feeling is in the Aviva Premiership they just
miss too much time in November during the autumn internationals and then in February and March
for the Six Nations. The second part of my strategy was to get players who are difference makers in
their positions. Hence the Wasps Front Row pick; last year they scored on average better than 10
points more per week than the lower ranked front rows. That’s the sort of competitive advantage
Sonny Bill Williams enjoys over most people in, well, pretty much any athletic endeavour. Or life in
general really.
Winging it
When it comes to draft day food, wings are the obvious option, but that’s also because they’re the
best option. How does a cliché become a cliché… All things being equal, ribs are better than wings.
But you need to bear in mind that the quality of ribs varies greatly. A great plate of ribs really hits
the spot. An average one is just that, average. They’re a bit like an Adam Sandler movie. A good one
is pretty good, like Happy Gilmore or Billy Madison. But then there is Little Nicky, Jack and Jill and,
well, pretty much every movie since The Waterboy. Wings, however are like a Harrison Ford movie.
Some are better than others, and when they’re good they’re spectacular (I mean, the dude was Han
Solo AND Indiana Jones) but they’re always at least watchable. That’s wings. Even in some pretty
ordinary drinking holes, I’ve always had decent wings. That’s why they should be a go to for your
draft. Also, ribs are always messy to eat. Do you really want all that mess when you’re working on
your laptop (or in my case looking on forlornly as it continues installing updates), or potentially
slopping up pieces of paper you’ve spent hours mapping out your draft strategy on? Chips, fries,
wedges etc are all fine too. Pizza is a good option (to quote Stephen Baldwin’s character in the circa
1994 movie ‘Threesome’: “to me sex is like pizza. Even when it’s bad it’s still pretty good”). Burgers
are fine, but again, burgers vary in quality like Beauden Barrett’s efforts off the kicking tee.
The moment
Our FRD draft has yet to have its “Andy Dalton moment”. Kind of like an inside joke that people
remember for years, which I outline here. We came close last year, when throughout the middle
rounds when people went to pick, the name Nev Edwards was bandied around. Edwards is a largely
unmemorable winger for the Sale Sharks who, with all due respect to Nev, shouldn’t be going off
anyone’s draft board until the very last rounds. But as the drinks start flowing and the clock starts
ticking people become very open to suggestion and last year we managed to get a guy in our league
hook, line and sinker. Good ole Nev found himself on the waiver wire a couple of weeks later but
entered into pseudo legend status in the Hampstead Retirement Village Idiots FRD league.
His name is involved pretty frequently to this day when people are scratching around on the waiver
wire trying to pick up an outside back for the forthcoming game week. Sadly, on this draft night we
couldn’t convince anyone to pick him up, not even the newcomers to the league. I suppose 1,200
data points will help you negotiate your way a few eighth grade level wind-ups.
As the draft progressed, we feasted on more wings and chips and no shortage of beers, GnTs and
terrible Dad jokes to boot. For all my talk previously about wings being a safe bet for draft night, the
wings at this particular establishment had a little Reiko Ioane-X factor about them. The extra kick
wasn’t necessarily a hot sort of spicy, but they certainly had some extra zing. The additional zing in my fantasy team (remarkably I still have a few Dad jokes left unused from that night) was provided by picking up Byron McGuigan and Harry Mallinder as a midfield combo. I saw the pair (and so it has
transpired) as key difference makers because although listed as midfielders, McGuigan mostly plays
on the wing and Mallinder can play #10, #12 and #15. Plus his Dad is the coach, or was (Saints coach
Jim Mallinder was fired mid-season), so you know he’s getting a run out most weeks. Most
importantly, he often kicks goals. We’ve seen in the Aviva Premiership FRD that midfielders are not
as heavy scorers as midfielders in Super Rugby, but in McGuigan and Mallinder, I managed to select
the two top scoring midfielders in FRD as we head into the Six Nations. So good have they been
McGuigan has gone and gotten himself selected in the Scotland Six Nations squad; fingers crossed he
doesn’t make the match day squad and gets released back to Sale. I have an FRD league to win, I’m
not here to champion the careers of any players in my team.
Hang in there
As the draft winds its way into the lower rounds, those not too heavily sauced at that point can still
pick up a player or two that can really help them. One guy I targeted in the lower rounds was
another guy who mostly plays ‘out of position’. Exeter Chiefs loose forward Don Armand is listed as a
second row by Opta but is usually packing down on the side of the scrum. Besides being a hell of a
player who (happily for me) is almost inexplicably not in Eddie Jones’ England squad, playing as a
loose forward but notching up FRD points as a lock Big Don is a consistent points scorer who sits
atop of the FRD points scoring table for locks, ahead of Northampton’s Courtney Lawes who will be
away with England for most of the next two months. Trust me when I say I’ve given this anti-
internationals strategy some thought.
Super Rugby difference makers
So who are the Super Rugby versions of Don Armand? One thing to consider is that playing
internationals is almost no concern whatsoever in Super Rugby FRD, so my strategy is to go after
guys who are real difference makers in their positions, whatever the position. In saying that I am
hoping all evidence of my column from three years ago when I suggested taking a front row before
the last round of the draft was a total waste of time, has been destroyed. As I mention above I
drafted the Wasps Front Row in the early rounds and will be targeting the Lions or Hurricanes fatties
in the early rounds in Super Rugby this year. The highest scoring ‘player’ in Aviva Premiership FRD so
far this year? Saracens Front Row.
The more observant amongst you will note I did not draft them. I did have the pleasure, however, of
sitting next to the guy (another James) who did at the Aviva Premiership opening day London Double
Header at Twickenham a couple of days after our draft as the Sarries front rowers racked up 60.5 as
Saracens destroyed Northampton. He’d also drafted Saracens wing Sean Maitland who scored a hat
trick before halftime and flyhalf Alex Lozowski who scored a try and kicked conversions from all over
the park. If that wasn’t enough, we found out at half time that Wasps halfback Dan Robson had
scored four tries in their game against Sale. Who had Robson in their team? Yep, James, on his way
to a 257.9 point effort opening weekend. The cackling didn’t stop until he headed off home about
10pm that evening. Made all the more painful by Harlequins being turned over by newly promoted
London Irish in the late game.
Other Super Rugby players who can provide a competitive advantage in their positions include TJ
Perenara at halfback, Jaco Kriel and Ardie Savea at loose forward and Jordie Barrett at outside back.
Not that you would complain with an Israel Folau or Reiko Ioane either. Looking at it from a distance though, the end goal is to be the person in your FRD league that everyone else is pissed off at,
because that generally means you’ll be the one bragging come your draft day next year.
