Dream Team International Rugby: Round One Preview

Patrick Lambie will start at first five for the Springboks against Japan on Sunday morning and is one of Dr Stats' suggestions for your team captain. Photo / Getty Images.

If you feel like you're flying blind into the opening round of our International Rugby games, then fret not, for Dr Stats is here with his key tips ahead of all the action kicking off this weekend.

You can certainly be forgiven for feeling a sense of confusion ahead of Saturday morning's opening fixture - there's a wealth of options for your fantasy squad and teams like Georgia and Fiji are rarely seen on television here in New Zealand, so tipping them is a difficult proposition.

However, I'm here to provide you with some game-centric common sense that will help you get your bearings and be competitive this weekend.

We'll start things off with our fantasy game. In order to get underway, you'll need to pick a squad of 22 players. Only 15 of those players will earn you points this round, so the other seven you can use to act as emergency substitutes or plan ahead for Round 2.

So, the first part of that equation involves picking the best possible starting XV and choosing a captain who will have their score doubled for the round.

Analysing the fixtures in a round will always be a key part of finding your best starting XV. For example, in Round 1, Australia doesn't play at all while England, South Africa, Samoa, Ireland and Wales have favourable match-ups.

Selecting key members from those five teams will likely earn you some big points; while holding off on choosing expensive Australian players for this round may be a wise decision - you can use your precious cash elsewhere.

Your captain will often be a difference-maker in our fantasy games. Their points are doubled and, again, match-ups are often the best guide to source them.

As a result, look within those five teams playing against the minnows for your captain. My top picks would include Patrick Lambie, Jesse Kriel, George Ford and Alesana Tuilagi.

Your squad's substitutes will also be very important this round as some team lists may only be announced after the round has begun. Remember that you can make transfers right up until the listed kickoff of any fixture; so leaving one or two spare transfers to account for rested stars or last-minute injuries could make or break you.

You could also choose to stack your substitutes with Australian or Scottish players, as they will play twice in Round 2 and so will have more opportunity for points.

As far as our Tipping game goes, one great place to look for advice is our Expert Panel.

For Round 1, none of our experts are tipping any upset results, so margins of victory could be the key separator for you and your mates.

With that in mind, five of our seven experts are predicting Samoa to beat the USA by a 13+ margin while just 36% of our users currently agree.

Likewise, four experts are tipping Tonga to beat Georgia by a 1-12 margin while three are backing Fiji to keep it similarly tight against England on Saturday morning.