The big scores keep rolling in! In earlier FR competitions a weekly score of 350+ was good enough to put you in contention for a T-shirt for best score of the round, not so in this competition! At the moment the top 16 teams are averaging 350+!

Big congrats to the Kingz of Fantasy Rugby conference, you guys are certainly living up to your (very bold) name!

As usual you can't go far wrong by picking your team based on the top performers in each position but there are a few interesting options that are worth a closer look.

The first one is Craig Newby (NH). Newby is listed as an outside back but has been a regular on the side of the scrum for Harbour since round 3. By now you should know that tackles are the staple diet of all the fantasy studs and Loose Forwards are the big performers in this category. It's not rocket science to see that being able to slot another Loose Forward into your squad at the expense of an (often fickle) outside back is a no-brainer. Especially when Newby is worth less that $1 million at the moment!

One danger of just picking your squad from the top performers overall list is that the list is based on average score per round and therefore doesn't do justice to the guys who haven't played in every round. This obviously affects all the All Black players. For instance Norm 'Mad Max' Maxwell (Cant) has only played in the last 3 rounds and is averaging 48 points over that period, which makes him a top option at Tight Forward but because his total fantasy points are divided by the number of rounds he's not on the top 10 tight forward list. For this reason you need to keep a close eye on the top performers from last round as well and pounce on the guys who are picking up their games.

Looking at the matchups for this weekend the only game that has real potential to be one-sided is the Wellington vs Southland, and that's not a certainty the way Wellington have been blowing hot and cold. All other matches will be pretty tight, with goal kickers and tacklers likely to be the big producers rather than try scorers. Look for some huge defensive performances from the Canterbury vs Otago game, the first shield challenge of the new era with an out-of-sorts Otago team (full of ABs) desperate to impress the selectors and restore some faith in their rabid fans, it should be a great one.