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ASX Fantasy Rugby: The best pick-ups in Round 4 of the Super Rugby Pacific season
By RugbyPass
ASX Sports Fantasy Rugby is up and running in the Southern Hemisphere with two Kiwi and two Australian derbies from Round 4 of Super Rugby Pacific available for investing.
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The Blues will host the Highlanders and the Rebels will host the Brumbies on Friday night while on Saturday, the Crusaders will play the Chiefs in Christchurch and the Reds will take on the Drua in Queensland.
Users in ASX Sports earn points (called ‘dividends’) for how well their players perform, but the big money comes from buying and selling players at the right time, whether that’s offloading them when their value is plummeting downwards, or bringing them on board when you know they’re about to contribute in a big way on the field.
Who might be some of the best picks for Round 4 of Super Rugby Pacific?
Blues v Highlanders
The Highlanders will roll out the same front row for the fourth week in succession, with Ethan De Groot, Liam Coltman and Jermaine Ainsley performing admirably in their games to date. Coltman could be the pick of the bunch with the former All Black hitting his lineout targets time after time last weekend and nabbing plenty of points in the process.
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Perhaps the best pick-up might be Highlanders flanker Shannon Frizell, however, who is notorious for dotting down for five-pointers at Eden Park.
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In the backs, the Blues may have lost Roger Tuivasa-Sheck but his replacement, Bryce Heem, is no slouch. His combination with Rieko Ioane could prove decisive in the match and that midfield pairing will be expected to do some damage against their opposites. Don’t be surprised if it’s Highlanders inside centre Thomas Umaga-Jensen who runs away with the most dividends, however, after seemingly breaking tackles at will against the Hurricanes last weekend.
Then there’s returning man Beauden Barrett, who perhaps wasn’t up to his usual standards off the bench last weekend but that’s no surprise when you’re on the mend from concussion. While Barrett will have a big influence on how the Blues perform, there’s a very good chance that Steven Perofeta will retain goal-kicking duties after nailing a sideline conversion last weekend to effectively win the Blues their match against the Chiefs.
Crusaders v Chiefs
Expect a battle of attrition in Christchurch on Saturday night in a rematch of last year’s Super Rugby Aotearoa final.
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With rain forecast for the weekend, the ball is likely to be kept in close to the breakdown which means any players who are fond of putting in tackles will likely reap huge dividends. That means Sam Cane and Tom Christie, two of the busiest exponents of the game, should rake in the points.
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With kicking likely to feature heavily, expect a significant number of lineouts too – which could pave the way for All Blacks hookers Codie Taylor and Samisoni Taukei’aho to be asked to deliver plenty of balls into the set-piece.
And while expansive play may not be on the menu, one man that’s always worth investing in is Crusaders fullback Will Jordan, who has been at his elusive best throughout the season to date. His outside backs partner, Leicester Fainga’anuku, tends to fluctuate between quiet and spectacular but could be worth a punt while the Chiefs midfielder Anton Lienert-Brown will make his first start of the season and will be looking to kick things off with a bang.
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