Fantasy Rugby update: Week one

Hugh Pyle earned 30 points following the Rebels' victory over the Force. Photo / Getty Images

The Rebels are joint first on the Super Rugby winners' list after escaping with a 30-23 win over the Western Force in their season-opening clash.

Three tries and 15 points from the radar boot of star fullback James O'Connor helped the home team to victory and for fantasy managers O'Connor delivered the 5th best performance of the round with 23 points.

Three Rebels players, Ged Robinson, Hugh Pyle and Scott Fuglistaller hold the joint top spot after round one - each player earning their team managers 30 points in their winning opener against the Force. It goes to show, it's not always the expensive players that deliver the goods.

The Force were rocked in the second half when they had only 13 players for seven minutes with key flanker Chris Alcock (6 points) and then halfback Alby Mathewson (1 point) both yellow-carded for seemingly innocuous off-the-ball incidents.

Meanwhile, the David Pocock (14 points) effect has begun in Canberra, with the Wallabies flanker leading the Brumbies to an emphatic 24-6 Super Rugby win over Queensland.

Brumbies coach Jake White talked the talk in the pre-season, boasting that with Pocock in their side, the boys from the ACT can return to the glory days of old. Saturday night's two-tries-to-nothing victory proved they are certainly on the right path.

Jesse Mogg (25 points) scored both tries for the Brumbies, but it was their suffocating defence that shut down Quade Cooper (4 points) and the Reds.

Round 1:
On form players
Worst performers
Full player list, including fantasy points

Round 2
Looking to the week ahead, the Chiefs, Brumbies, Bulls, Hurricanes, Reds, Sharks and Kings are looking like the favourites to win, with the biggest whitewash tipped to be the Sharks over the Cheetahs.
Patrick Lambie, JP Pietersen and Jacques Botes scored the most points for the Sharks last season.

The challenge now for many team managers will be to transfer out some of the Australian players they front-loaded with for the first round.
Check out which Fantasy manager is leading after round 1 here and don't forget to make your selections/trades before 6pm each Friday.

It's not too late to get a fantasy team in for the Super Rugby season or to play our virtual Super Rugby tipping game. Find out more about it here.

- nzherald.co.nz