Match 1 : South Africa won the first match 22-19. So who got their fantasy team right?
I did much better this time around. It's amazing what can happen when you google - best rugby players in the world.
posted by bperk at 11:19 AM on June 18, 2007
It is all about the research :)
posted by Fence at 02:17 PM on June 18, 2007
It wasn't easy since I knew nothing about rugby positions. Plus, there seems to be different names for each position. Then, this whole numbering system that correlates with each position. I'm still not exactly sure which side would be more defense than offense because it seems counterintuitive to me.
posted by bperk at 03:07 PM on June 18, 2007
I know nothing so I did the quick pick and boy was that a mistake. Next time I will research too!
posted by skydivemom at 07:59 PM on June 18, 2007
Essentially your forwards are there to provide the grunt. These are numbers 1 through 8. 1-3 are front rows, because that is where they are in the scrum. Then the second row, and then back row. The half-backs are number 9 and 10. The number ten is the one usually bossing the game. He should direct your team, whether that is through kicks and gaining territory or passing for a running game. Usually he'll also take penalties and conversions, though not all the time. The rest are the backs. They are the ones with the flash, who score the tries and run with the ball in hand. 2 in the centre, called the centres (12 and 13), and then another three. Fullback and wingers. Thats all generalisations of course. The forwards can be broken down more, props, tight and loose etc., but that doesn't matter for the fantasy game. The BBC have an interesting Outsider's Guide to the game
posted by Fence at 07:30 AM on June 19, 2007
Thanks, Fence. The props and flanker stuff was throwing me from seeing the big picture. I was kind of going on the fact that the OBs were scoring more points than the forwards during the last rugby fantasy game. I assumed that the better team was going to score significantly more points than the lesser team, which didn't seem to be the case with this last match. I kind of stacked my OBs with more NZ players than I would have had I been just choosing the best available player. I have no idea if that is going to work out. I thought the best available player information might be skewed anyway because it seems, based solely on my googling, that the Aussie media covers rugby a lot more than the other two countries.
posted by bperk at 09:04 AM on June 19, 2007
Well there isn't much to chose between Australia and South Africa, the aussies had a great defence, it was two drop goals that snuck the lead for the spingboks. I expect NZ to win this weekend.
posted by Fence at 01:07 PM on June 19, 2007
posted by Fence at 05:17 AM on June 18, 2007