Firstly, taking a look at the top performers in Round 2, there were 6 players who crushed the fantasy scores, racking up over 40 points each. Topping the list was Italy’s Player of the Match against Italy, Vittoria Vecchini, with a huge 67 points, courtesy of a performance that included 2 tries, a breakdown steal, 18 tackles, 51m carried and 3 defenders beaten.
Also impressing was England’s second row Rosie Galligan. She totalled 57 points in a game that she scored a try, made 2 lineout steals, made 18 tackles and took the overall Player of the Match award. Another Player of the Match recipient, Romane Menager of France, was close behind with a 50-point haul in a performance that included 14 tackles, 117m carried and 6 defenders beaten.
Hot on the heels of Menager was Valeria Fedrighi of Italy with 47 points. Fedrighi gained her haul by virtue of her 23 tackles (the highest of any player this week), 2 lineout steals and a try. Also topping the 40 point mark were Italy's Alyssa D’Incà and Ireland's Aoife Wafer, both of whom put in all-action performances with breakdown steals, big metres carried, defenders beaten and plenty of tackles to their names.
Now with 2 rounds down, we’re starting to see some top performers coming to the fore. A few outliers to flag, starting with the overall top scorers in the game. When considering players who have appeared in both rounds, topping the average score with two games under her belt is Ellie Kildunne: an average of 56.5 fantasy points per game; the overall top try-scorer with 4 tries; the top carrier with 317 metres carried; and 8 defenders beaten). Following Kildunne closely is the aforementioned Romane Menager, averaging 39.5 fantasy points per game, with the equal highest number of defenders beaten (10). Just behind Menager is Wafer (average points per game of 37.5), who has been hugely impressive both in defence and attack, and has the third highest number of breakdown steals over the tournament so far.
There are a number other players bubbling under with excellent stats who should be considered from a fantasy perspective. Neve Jones of Ireland is one standout as the top tackler, with 35 in total. Jones’ teammate Beibhinn Parsons has the equal-highest number of defenders beaten (10). When it comes to lineout steals, there are 5 players leading the ranks with 2 each, all of whom are worth considering from a fantasy perspective: Rosie Galligan, Zoe Aldcroft, Valeria Fedrighi, Louise McMillan and Isabella Locatelli. Finally, with breakdown steals being worth 5 points each, the top pilferers are Evie Gallagher on 5 and Kelsey Clifford on 4.
With two rounds of data in place now, we are also starting to see trends in terms of the highest scoring positions in the Guinness Women’s Six Nations. They are the back row, second row and back three positions. The back row players benefit from greater opportunities for points-scoring areas in tackle counts, metres carried and breakdown steals. Players like Romane Menager, Aoife Wafer, Alex Callender and Evie Gallagher have benefited from these to convert to high fantasy scores.
The second row is also reaping the rewards of high tackles and breakdown steals, but they also are gaining points from lineout steals, resulting in high scores for the likes of Rosie Galligan, Sam Monaghan and Zoe Aldcroft. Finally, when it comes to the back three, obviously tries play a big part here, but so do metres carried and defenders beaten. On the flip side, surprisingly it is in the fly-half position where the lowest scores are found. Fly-half is the only position not found in the list of the 25 highest average scoring players. These are all important considerations when looking at potential captain and Supersub options.
When it comes to the Supersub, it remains challenging to pick some high scorers; however, as in Round 1, the top Supersub options can be found in the forwards. The highest-scoring Supersub options in Round 2 were Connie Powell (26 points), Émeline Gros (22 points), Keira Bevan (19 points), Alisha Butchers (14 points) and Kelsey Clifford (14 points). As in Round 1, only 1 out of the Top 5 scoring substitutes was a back. This should help guide your Supersub choices in the next rounds.
So there are more lessons learned now with two rounds worth of data to dig into. We now have a bye weekend before Round 3 comes around, but stay tuned for more fantasy content throughout this period in the lead up to the next round!
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