Eighty-five million Visa credits sounds enough to assemble a half decent fantasy rugby team, but is it? This is the conundrum facing rugby fans the world over for the next few weeks after the very first official Fantasy Rugby World Cup game was launched this week on rugbyworldcup.com, sponsored by Visa.
CLICK HERE TO PLAY THE GAME >>
Users pick a team from a list of every player involved in the Rugby World Cup. Each player has a value and users have a budget beyond which they can't stretch.
It all sounds easy until you try and pick more than two players from the same country - not allowed in the pool stages - or break the budget with Daniel Carter and Joe Rokocoko - the most expensive players at 10 million Visa credits each.
The concept is similar to other 'fantasy' style games. When players picked in a fictitious team (eg World XV) score points in the competition they also score points for their manager in the Fantasy Game. For rugby, however, the point scoring rules are slightly more complex.
More points, for example, are awarded for a try by a forward (8) than by a back (5); two points are scored when a kicker lands a penalty but each miss brings a minus point; clean line breaks earn points, as does being named the official man of the match, while more minus points are accrued for handling errors or the dreaded yellow and red cards.
Unlimited transfers are also allowed between tournament 'stages' so, should your big money signing get injured, you can replace him if the money adds up..
Competitive streak
Every web user that registers for the game - through rugbyworldcup.com - is automatically entered into the global league where they play against everyone else around the world and, like many other similar games, players are also able to create their own 'mini leagues' to then make available for friends, family or work colleagues to join.
As if the honour of being proved the world's greatest fantasy rugby mastermind was not enough, the overall winner will also walk away with an official RWC 07 match ball, signed by the five Visa legends - Martin Johnson, Francois Pienaar, John Eales, Joel Stransky and Philippe Sella - with the best in each stage of the game winning a Visa jersey, also signed by the legends.
Do you have what it takes as an international manager? Can you balance the books to the tune of 85 million?
Click HERE and register to play now !
