Who was the best player in the Rugby Championship Round 1?
The Rugby Championship Round 1 saw two high scoring matches with the All Blacks and Springboks emerging victorious. The Rugby Championship Team of Round 1 features no Pumas from the team that was thrashed by the Springboks. Who do you think was the best player in the Rugby Championship Round 1?
Ben Smith the All Blacks hat trick scoring winger was the top scoring player at www.testrugby.com, while Aaron Cruden and Morne Steyn benefited from being in high scoring matches and kicking plenty of goals.
Smith flourished on the wing opposite James O'Connor. It seems that the other wing which featured two more powerful large wingers in Julian Savea and Israel Folau was more quiet as both wingers were strong defensively.
There are challenges for all www.testrugby.com managers with no players in the Rugby Championship Round 1 Team of the Round costing under $1 million. This leaves managers having to decide if they will just sacrifice one really cheap player in order to get quality players in most other positions or if you want to just get a team of starters, even if some of them won't score very highly.
The absence of the inexpensive Pumas players also makes it difficult for managers as many decided to buy some bargain priced Argentinian Pumas, just to fit under the salary cap.
This last round was difficult for managers given that there were plenty of high scoring players in all positions making it painful in hindsight for most punters who had a bench warmer or prop in their team just to get a valid team.
The www.testrugby.com Rugby Championship Team of Round 1 featured four All Blacks, five Springboks and three Wallabies.
Before you go buying players, be aware that there are some injury concerns with All Blacks Steven Luatua, Aaron Cruden, Beauden Barrett and Luke Romano in doubt.
The Rugby Championship Round 1 - Team of the Round
Rank Player Name Pos Team Games Total Avg Price
1 Adriaan Strauss FR SAF 1 355 355 $1,175,000
2 Stephen Moore FR AUS 1 270 270 $1,170,000
1 Eben Etzebeth LK SAF 1 320 320 $1,147,500
2 James Horwill LK AUS 1 310 310 $1,112,500
1 Duane Vermeulen LF SAF 1 420 420 $1,105,000
2 Richie McCaw LF NZL 1 285 285 $1,180,000
1 Aaron Cruden HV NZL 1 510 510 $1,212,500
2 Morne Steyn HV SAF 1 435 435 $1,220,000
1 Conrad Smith CT NZL 1 430 430 $1,145,000
2 Christian Lealiifano CT AUS 1 425 425 $1,197,500
1 Ben Smith OB NZL 1 540 540 $1,137,500
2 Bryan Habana OB SAF 1 360 360 $1,145,000
|