Fantasy Rugby Preview – Week Five

It will be very hard to think of anything but Paris this weekend, but as far as The Irish Fantasy Rugby League is concerned, it might be prudent to focus your attention elsewhere.

Why? Well, purely as a distraction for a start. If you’re as nervous as the folk in JOE Towers you’ll be spending until six o’clock on Saturday nervously biting your nails and avoiding any talk of Ireland’s abysmal record in Paris of all costs. If your Fantasy Rugby team has a predominant England and Wales focus, then you can spend the hours before the match seeing how the members of your Fantasy team are faring in what could be the difference between you winning and losing the private league you have set up with your mates. The destiny of the Six Nations title is in Ireland’s hands but we expect England to make them work hard for it. Stuart Lancaster’s men have been in superb form of late, have momentum behind them and if they can quieten the crowd in Rome early doors then they could put up a big score, ala Ireland in Rome in 2007 when they were ultimately denied on points difference by France. As far as individuals are concerned, it’s usual suspects Courtney Lawes, Danny Care, Luther Burrell and Mike Brown that we would be looking towards and with Leigh Halfpenny out of the picture for Wales, we would recommend the selection of Owen Farrell as your kicker if you can get him in. England's Courtney Lawes was immense against Wales last weekend England haven’t been conceding many tries of late and if we’re honest, we don’t expect them to this weekend either. If they do, on the evidence of what we’ve seen to date, the try-scorer against Ireland, Leonardo Sarto is the one most likely to cross the whitewash. Last weekend might suggest otherwise about what’s to come, but despite Wales being poor in defeat to England and Scotland being unlucky in defeat to France, we expect the home side to reassert their superiority over the Scots in Cardiff on Saturday afternoon. With Leigh Halfpenny out, Dan Biggar could be worth a shot as kicker and, type of guy that he is, Mike Phillips will have a point to prove having been restored to the starting line-up in place of the injured Rhys Webb. Outside of that, George North and Alex Cuthbert will be the Welsh danger men as always and captain Sam Warburton could deliver a huge performance with his manager Warren Gatland taking some serious flak in the Welsh media this week. Scotland, meanwhile, have really been struggling for points but if we had to pick one or two – and Fantasy Rugby rules oblige that you must – we’d opt for the likes of David Denton, Alex Dunbar or Stuart Hogg. Finally, finally, finally, down to the big one in Par-ee on Saturday night. The temptation is to look upon this one with caution – we are Irish, after all - but it’s actually refreshing to look at this game logically and not worry about what the French might come up with or our terrible record in the French capital. Ireland have scored the most points (110), conceded the least points (29), scored the most tries (13) and conceded the least tries (2) in the tournament to date and as Jerry Flannery pointed out in his excellent column today, you can nearly guarantee at least a 7/10 performance such has been the consistency under Joe Schmidt to date. Of course, Brian O’Driscoll will be the focus of huge attention in his last ever game in green and he illustrated last weekend that he provides huge scope for points, whether it be through assists, a man of the match display or the try that has thus far proved elusive in this season’s competition. In his new backyard, Jonathan Sexton will be determined to make an impact and he looked at, or at least very close to, his best last weekend while Peter O’Mahony could cement his claim as a Player of the Tournament contender with a man of the match display in the Stade de France. Philippe Saint Andre may have rung the changes to his French side, but Yoann Huget remains probably their biggest threat behind the scrum, while centre Gael Fickou has been talking the talk and Louis Picamoles will be looking for redemption of sorts after being dropped for disciplinary issues last time out. Fantasy Rugby shouldn’t really matter on this weekend of all weekends, but whether it provides consolation after a gut-wrenching defeat, or acts as a bonus in the wake of a glorious victory, it still matters nonetheless. But hey, screw impartiality, come on Ireland!