Here we go, the final weekend of the 2017 Six Nations. England are within touching distance of consecutive Grand Slam titiles with a raucous St Patricks Day crowd in Dublin standing between them and glory.
However, the most important factor this weekend is making sure you finish the Fantasy Six Nations in fine form – so here are some top tips for Super Saturday.
Murray misery – With the exclusion of Ireland scrum half Conor Murray due to injury, many of you will be tosing a coin between Ben Youngs and Rhys Webb. Is the stage set in Dublin for Youngs to run the show against an inexperienced Kieran Marmion, or will Webb get the try he so desperately deserves? To be honest both are reliable options at half back with strong probabilities for points.
Finn’s finale – The recuring theme for picking your fantasy team is to target the country playing against Italy. The Italians are struggling for any kind of form this tournament and this means that Scotland are likely to score a lot of points on Saturday.
Finn Russell has impressed at fly half this Six Nations and may be a solid choice for kicker, but let’s not forget Stuart Hogg and Tim Visser who are both pushing for places on the Lions tour this Summer.
Chariots of gas – Despite Ireland’s impressive pack, their backline has been heavily compensated with injuries. This means England’s backs have 61 more caps than Ireland’s and the manner in which Jonathan Joseph, Owen Farrell and George Ford sliced through Scotland’s defence last weekend makes it a priority to have atleast a couple of England backs in your fantasy team.
Notorious North? – George North hit back at his critics in style with two tries against Ireland last weekend. However the 6ft 4ins and 107Kg wing has missed a staggering seven tackles and completed just nine throughout the entire tournament.
And this worrying defensive record is going up against France’s powerhouse Virimi Vakatawa, who in just 64 minutes against Italy made four clean linebreaks, made 126 meters, beat eight defenders and scored a try. So think twice about choosing North against France.
Wild Card – It’s important to include at least one wild card in your team to try and gain points where nobody else will, and one option for this weekend could be Scottish back row Hamish Watson who has been immense for the Scots this tournament. His intense and energetic style of play could cause Italy problems on Saturday and put him in favourable positions to score a try.
FINAL ROUND FIXTURES – Saturday 18 March 2017
12:30 (GMT) – Scotland vs Italy
14:45 (GMT) – France vs Wales
17:00 (GMT) – Ireland vs England
Sign In