The best Fantasy Rugby team of the World Cup so far

We’re almost two weeks deep into The Rugby World Cup and along with all the epic egg-shaped action, many of us have been chipping away at the Fantasy game and trying to climb our respective leagues.

With hat-tricks from South Africa duo Makazole Mapimpi and Grant Williams, along with a stellar World Cup debut from New Zealand’s Cam Roigard, there has been ample opportunity to rack up your points tally after two rounds.

Going into week three, we take a look at the very best performers from the last fortnight, and we have also created ‘The Ultimate Dream Team’, a XV with no holds barred: no credit limits and no country limits, just the crème de la crème of the World Cup so far!

The best teams within budget

These are the best teams from both round one and two, within the 100 credit budget, and country limit. So these are the best teams fielded within the rules of the game.

User ‘Niji’ notched up the most points on opening weekend and therefore topped the leaderboard for matchday one. A masterstroke was sticking Ireland’s Bundee Aki as captain, which brought in a 339 point haul. ‘Siji’ racked up a hefty 807 points in round one.

ROUND ONE: Kotaro Matsushima (19 pts) Mark Telea (90 pts) Bundee Aki (339 pts, captained) Jesse Kriel (9 pts) Marika Koroibete (27 pts) Paolo Garbisi (54 pts) Yutaka Nagare (35 pts) Jac Morgan (23 pts) Juan Martin Gonzalez (20 pts) Dalton Papali’i (20 pts) Thibaud Flament (25 pts) Joe McCarthy (60 pts) Tadgh Furlong (17 pts) Shalva Mamukashvili (28 pts) Taniela Tupou (41 pts).

‘Francisco Santos’ bossed proceedings in round two, tallying up a whopping 994 points. An incredible call for many last weekend was captaining Mapimpi, which got you 357 points. That hat-trick from the Springbok caused this writer to be leap-frogged twice in his fantasy league! A great call.

Another cracking shout was sticking Grant Williams at scrum-half (his actual position) when he was actually starting on the wing against Romania for South Africa. He also bagged a trio of tries.

ROUND TWO: Makazole Mapimpi (357 pts) Mack Hansen (49 pts) Bundee Aki (82 pts) Andre Estherhuizen (14 pts) Caleb Clarke (88 pts) Damian McKenzie (87 pts) Grant Williams (71 pts) Luke Jacobson (24 pts) Anthony Jelonch (6 pts) Taulupe Faletau (42 pts) Nicolas Martins (65 pts) Rafael Simoes (36 pts) Luke Tagi (24 pts) Pierre Bourgarit (25 pts) Michael Alaalatoa (24 pts).

Dream Team (no budget + no team limit)

Within the rules of the game, you’re permitted 100 credits and a limit of three players per country.

But in this segment, we’ll be looking at the best possible team so far, with no rules in place, just the very best performers of the tournament so far.

Standout players are Bundee Aki, Cam Roigard and as previously mentioned: Mapimpi.

Remember, in Fantasy rugby, specialist positions do not matter. For example, you could put two tight-head props in the front-row, or two inside centres in the midfield. It does not matter.

Round One Dream Team:

Round Two Dream Team:

Now, taking the highest points tallies for both those teams, we can form, the Fantasy Rugby World Cup ULTIMATE DREAM TEAM.

Also, the best player points are taken from both round one and two to create this team. We could have actually put Aki in as both the centres, being the highest scoring midfielder in both rounds, but that wouldn’t be any fun now would it!?

THE ULTIMATE DREAM TEAM SO FAR: 15. Makazole Mapimpi (119 pts) 14. Mark Telea (88 pts) 13. David Havili (78 points), 12. Bundee Aki (113 pts), 11. Caleb Clarke (88 pts) 10. Damian McKenzie (87 pts), 9. Cam Roigard (100 pts); 1. Taniela Tupou (41 pts), 2. Sama Malolo (54 pts), 3. Beka Gigashvili (33 pts), 4. Nicolas Martins (65 pts), 5. Joe McCarthy (60 pts), 6. Courtney Lawes (57 pts), 7. Michael Leitch (51 pts) 8. Caelan Doris (55 pts).

With no players captained, and no boosters on any players, in the world of make-believe that would have got you 1,089 points.

There are five New Zealanders in there, after their demolition job on Namibia last week. Three Irish players are involved after a stellar start to their World Cup and the rest of the team features players from the likes of Portugal, Georgia and Samoa.

Despite some great Irish performances so far, we’d recommend that Fantasy players be wary this week, with a huge clash between Ireland and South Africa taking place on Saturday. That one could go either way, and there’s a high chance it’ll be a low scoring game dictated by points from the tee. Hopefully we haven’t jinxed that one now!

Make sure you get your teams in for round three by Wednesday evening, prior to the Italy v Uruguay game. If teams aren’t out for the weekend games by Thursday, not to worry.

You can make as many changes as you want over the course of the tournament and in between games. But if you choose a player, you can’t change that after that player has kicked off.

For example, if I stuck Ange Capuozzo in my team today, I wouldn’t be able to transfer a new player in once Italy v Uruguay has kicked off. However, if I stuck Tommy Reffell in today, I can change that as many times as I want until Wales kick off on Sunday.