The so called rugby experts in the JOE office can rattle off as much advice for the Irish Times Fantasy Rugby League as they want and you might pay no heed, but when Jerry Flannery talks rugby, people tend to listen.
Thankfully, for all the budding Fantasy Rugby experts out there, he’s decided to put his knowledge to the test by putting forward his own selection for the Irish Times Fantasy Rugby League as well as providing a few tips while he’s at it.
Throughout the competition, Jerry’s team will be pitted against fellow Hard Yards podcast contributor Malcolm O’Kelly and with Jerry kicking Mal’s ass so far in terms of the Heineken Cup predictions, he’ll be eager to remain looking down, metaphorically at least, on a man who trumps him and most of us mere mortals in the height department.
We caught up with Jerry recently to ask him about his team and to see if he had any tips for the Fantasy Rugby novices out there.
“I shouldn’t really be saying this as a former resident of the front row myself, but it seems to me as if you’re better off picking as many back rows as you can, if not all back rows, in the forwards,” he told us.
“They’re more likely to score tries and get assists and will probably have a better chance of finishing the match than the other forwards.
“Similarly, apart from a kicker, it’s probably best to pick as many players who play in the back three as possible in the backs because they will be the ones scoring the tries.
Jerry’s selection. Think you can do better?
“With a maximum of three players per team, you kind of have to spread the love around so I’ll go with Tim Visser and Stuart Hogg from Scotland and Sergio Parisse from Italy – he’s class and nearly always wins the man of the match award.
“As far as the Irish lads go, I think Simon Zebo is a good choice because I think he has a big tournament in him and Jonathan Sexton has so much money now that he’s bound to be in good form.
“After that, Wesley Fofana is on a hot streak for Clermont and is scoring tries for fun and although he’s out this weekend, Manu Tuilagi is someone I will probably get in further down the line.”
If you haven’t yet entered your team for the Irish Times Fantasy Rugby League, all the info you need to know is here, while we’ve also provided a few tips and some advice on how the stats might help you pick a winning team. As Jerry has done, you’ll want to enter the JOE League and the code for that is 32182.
The days until the start of the tournament and the deadline for entry into the league are counting down quickly, so act fast.
Best of luck!
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