Fantasy Super Rugby: Week Four Preview

Richie McCaw, left, is out injured but Charles Piutau (47 points at $8,070,000) has performed well. Photo / Getty Images

We're now three rounds in to our Dream Team Fantasy Super Rugby competition and at a stage where we can see points-scoring trends beginning to appear.

So far, the Blues, Highlanders and Force are playing large roles in generating fantasy points both in a positive and negative fashion.

Both the Blues and Highlanders are scoring and giving away some of the most fantasy points of the game, while the Force are emerging as the team to exploit as far as weekly matchups are concerned.

Last week eight Brumbies players scored 15 or more fantasy points in their match-up against the Force, which was the same number of Waratahs players who reached the mark the week previously.

This week I'm expecting another flurry of fantasy points to be generated in Melbourne where the Rebels take on that Force side.

The Rebels began their Super Rugby campaign by generating the second highest fantasy points total of the season as a team. They were led by winger Tom English (39 points for $7,590,000) and captain Scott Higginbotham (35 points for $5,090,000), who can both be transferred in for these relatively low prices.

Despite sound beatings in their opening two games, the Force still have players who can contribute to your squad this week. Number 8 Ben McCalman ($4,100,000) and captain Matt Hodgson ($4,070,000), playing his 100th Super Rugby match, are solid buys while Kyle Godwin ($7,080,000) is racking up plenty of tackles in the midfield while listed as a five eighth in our game.

Be wary of tough matchups - Charles Piutau (47 points at $8,070,000), Frank Halai (43 at 8,550,000) and George Moala (43 at 8,050,000) have all performed well for the Blues in the opening two games but playing away in South Africa could hit their fantasy value.

There were two major injury announcements this week, both involving star back rowers. Richie McCaw will now miss up to eight weeks after undergoing surgery on a broken thumb, while Brumbies flanker David Pocock is out for the rest of the season.

This means that one of last year's fantasy stars, Matt Todd, receives a major boost in value while in the Brumbies, one of Jordan Smiler and Lachlan McCaffery are expected to make the starting XV against the Hurricanes.

Elsewhere, the Sharks, Crusaders and Reds look to have great matchups on paper and will provide plenty of great fill-ins for your players on a bye this week.

Bye weeks will play a huge part in your season as, for example, there are rounds like this where three popular teams all have a week off - the Chiefs, Waratahs and Highlanders.

Always take care to plan at least one week ahead with your transfer selections to avoid situations where you don't have 15 scoring players in your on-field squad.

Top picks:
Scott Higginbotham, Rebels
Matt Todd, Crusaders
Lwazi Mvovo, Sharks

Value pick:
Tom English, Rebels

Medical alert:
Richie McCaw, Crusaders (out 6-8 weeks)
David Pocock, Rebels (out for season)