As we move past the halfway point of the 2024 Championship, a compelling weekend of action has thrown up some big fantasy stories.
Last weekend saw some huge performances with five standout performers, all of whom scored over 50 points. Topping this list was Aoife Wafer, who scored a massive 67 points. Ireland's Player of the Match accrued these points through 150 metres carried, 10 defenders beaten, a try and an assist.
Not far behind Wafer was France prop Assia Khalfaoui, who made 11 tackles, carried 52 metres, and made one lineout steal, two breakdown steals and scored a try as well as registering an assist, which - along with her Player of the Match award) gave her 64 points.
Lining up against Khalfaoui’s France on Sunday was Alyssa D’Incà of Italy. The wing put in a breathtaking solo display, scoring two tries and making two breakdown steals, as well as carrying for 95 metres and beating seven defenders to earn 57 points.
Ellie Kildunne put in yet another Player of the Match performance at fullback for England, scoring two tries to bring her tournament tally up to six. Kildunne ended up with 51 points, and right behind her was her back three teammate Jess Breach with two tries, one assist and 50 points scored.
As mentioned, Kildunne seems to be running away with the overall top try-scorer accolade in the tournament with her six, but there are 10 other players in joint-second place who have been racking up the tries and will be looking to add to their haul tally in rounds four and five.
In the back three this includes D’Inca, Abby Dow, Jess Breach and Katie Corrigan. In the back row, Wafer and Marlie Packer have both scored twice; likewise hookers Vittoria Vecchini and Neve Jones . Also on two tries each are Hannah Botterman and Madoussou Fall. All of these are great options in round four if you are looking to bump up your fantasy team's try count.
Supersub has been barren ground in many cases this season. However, round three saw a notable number of players deliver some excellent returns from the bench. Top performers included Gwennan Hopkins (24 points), Alexandra Chambon (18 points), Ambre Mwayembe (18 points), Elliann Clarke (18 points), Teani Feleu (15 points) and Francesca Granzotto (14 points). This should fill managers with confidence going into the weekend, and for the first time we are seeing a bit more of a spread of backs and forwards scoring well as supersubs (despte not yet seeing any big back three supersub points hauls).
Finally, with three rounds of data it is now a good time to look at the outlying players in each position in terms of average score per match (based on players with two or more appearances). Who are the players standing clear in each position? From the back three, the top average scorers are Ellie Kildunne (54.7 per match), Alyssa D’Incà (38) and Abby Dow (28.7).
In the centres, Eve Higgins (33.5) stands clear, with Gabrielle Vernier (21.7), Meg Jones (21.3) and Beatrice Rigoni (20 per match) close behind. At fly-half, there are only two players averaging over 15 points per match: Helen Nelson (20) and Emma Stevanin (19.3). At scrum-half, a typically low-scoring fantasy position, Pauline Bourdon Sansus has the highest average score per match (17.3), with Keira Bevan closest (14).
In the back row there are eight players averaging over 20 points, with Aoife Wafer (47.3), Alex Callender (33.3) and Romane Menager (31.3) leading the way. In the second row, we have another high scoring fantasy position, with eight players averaging over 20, including the top three of Zoe Aldcroft (32), Rosie Galligan (31) and Madoussou Fall (28.7). At hooker, the top three are Vittoria Vecchini (36.5), Neve Jones (28) and Connie Powell (20 points). Powell is particularly impressive considering she is yet to start a game.
Finally at prop, Khalfaoui is the highest scoring (30.7) with Linda Djougang (24), Hannah Botterman (23) and Maud Muir (20.7) all also scoring well.
Plenty of food for thought as we head straight into round four this weekend!
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