Fantasy Rugby Review – The Final Countdown

There wasn’t much at stake for Ireland at the weekend, but there were plenty of points, pride and placings up for grabs in the final round of The Irish Times Fantasy Rugby League.

If there were points awarded for ridiculously unfortunate injuries suffered then the Irish players would be a long way ahead at the top of the points standings but unfortunately for us, Peter O’Mahony doesn’t receive any extra points for playing on the wing, nor does Ian Madigan for filling in the centre or Paul Marshall for coming on as a substitute for a man a foot taller than him, Donnacha Ryan.

Only Paddy Jackson (8 points if you had him as kicker) made any impression from an Irish perspective, while for the Italians, out-half Luciano Orquera and try-scorer Giovanbattista Venditti posted the same total, as did man of the match Alessandro Zanni.

You would have got very long odds on France being the recipients of the wooden spoon at the start of the tournament but at least they managed to win a game this weekend thanks to tries from Maxime Medard, who scored eight points and Wesley Fofana, who supplemented his try with the man of the match award for 13 points.

For the Scots, meanwhile, Tim Visser crossed the whitewash for eight points, while Greig Laidlaw’s five-point haul meant that he finished as the top-scoring out-half in the competition with 42 points over five games.

Finally to Championship winners Wales, who blew Grand Slam contenders England out of the water at the Millennium Stadium on Saturday and reaped a whole load of Fantasy Rugby points while they were at it.

Unsurprisingly, scorer of two tries, Alex Cuthbert featured prominently with 13 points, man of the match Justin Tipuric was the highest-scoring forward of the round with 11 points and the ever-reliable Leigh Halfpenny chipped in with seven points to cement his status as the highest-scorer in the competition overall with 55 points, 13 points ahead of nearest challenger, the aforementioned Greig Laidlaw.

Jerry vs. Mal

There might have been only 35 points between them in the final standings, but that’s an awful lot of points as far as Fantasy Rugby and the JOE League are concerned, with Mal finishing a whopping 143 places ahead of Jerry in the final standings.

Mal’s relatively lofty perch was thanks to an excellent 64 points in the final round, with three members of his potent backline – Alex Cuthbert, Wesley Fofana and Maxime Medard – all contributing at least one try apiece, with Cuthbert adding an extra try and Fofana the man of the match award for good measure.

Jerry’s forfeit will be the topic of more discussion on the resumption of the Heineken Cup Hard Yards Podcast in a couple of weeks, but provisionally at least, we recommend a similar stunt to the one below, except this time down Grafton Street or on a particularly busy hour in Dundrum Shopping Centre...

The JOE League

Unlike the Six Nations itself, there was no shifting the leaders at the top of the JOE League as Justin Gouldsbury’s justtheone held off the challenge of the chasing pack to win the JOE League by a margin of five points from runners-up, Mick Murray’s L’Equipe de Muque.

Darragh O’Connor’s Heaslip's Hairdressers were a point further back in third place, while James McGoldrick’s Tommy Boooooooooowe and Cian Ryan’s The Beans also deserve honourable mentions for their efforts in what was an incredibly competitive league overall.

Thanks to all of you for entering and be sure to return next year when the league will no doubt be bigger and better than ever... and hopefully Jerry and Mal will have better crack at it next time around.

The JOE League Top 5:

1. Justin Gouldsbury – justtheone: 341 points
2. Mick Murray – L’Equipe de Muque: 337 points
3. Darragh O’Connor – Heaslip’s Hairdressers: 336 points
4. James McGoldrick – Tommy Boooooooooowe: 335 points
5. Cian Ryan – The Beans: 333 points

186. Malcolm O’Kelly – Fafafinas: 285 points

329. Jerry Flannery – Fla’s Fantastic Moist Makers: 250 points