Week Seven: Andrew's Team

THE ORCADIANS - Facebook S14

*New buys in italics

FR John Smit (SAF) - $1,277,500
FR Saia Faingaa (AUS) - $657,500

LK Nathan Sharpe (AUS) - $1,200,000
LK Victor Matfield (SAF) - $1,195,000

LF David Pocock (AUS) - $1,032,500
LF Pierre Spies (SAF) - $1,195,000

HV Morne Steyn (NZL) - $1,245,000
HV Quade Cooper (AUS) - $1,270,000

CT Jean De Villiers (SAF) - $1,230,000
CT Matt Giteau (AUS) - $1,317,500

OB Drew Mitchell (AUS) - $1,110,000
OB James O'Connor (AUS) - $1,200,000

Team Value: $13,930,000
Cash in Bank: $2,363,350

My team last week was solid but unimpressive, rising a few spots in the world rankings to 37th but still 300 behind Pikey in the league, who is now 11th in the world. I badly need a surprise package in my team over one of these last few weeks to make a difference.

This week sees a lot of replacements for my culled All Blacks. In the front row, Faingaa seemed like the best choice, though I'll be annoyed if Moore comes on early - Deans' constant chopping at changing at hooker is very infuriating for us fantasy managers!

Nathan Sharpe's blinder in round 5 sees him slot into the locks over Dean Mumm, though I suspect there'll be little difference between their points in the end.

I brought David Pocock into the loosies, hoping that the Springboks lack of a fetcher will allow him to make merry at the breakdown. Against my better judgement, I'm sticking with Pierre Spies. It really seems like the testrugby scorers are watching a different game to me, since last week he got almost exactly the same as Smith, Burger and McCaw despite being completely invisible. There's clearly some bias going on (does someone have a man-crush on him?) and I'm counting on it continuing for another week.

In the halves, it really was a toss up between Genia and Cooper. Genia's been either sublime or ridiculous with his scoring thus far, while Cooper's single game was solid if unremarkable. Genia seemed like more of a gamble so I chose the flyhalf instead.

The open centre berth was between Giteau and the returning Fourie. Giteau's form has been better so he gets the nod. Plus, I feel certain that the Wallabies will be smelling Springbok blood and give a good scrap so going for an all-Bok centre pairing seemed foolish.

In the backs I just couldn't bring myself to pick any Boks... Habana's reasonable score last week is anomalous with his usual form, Pietersen's a downright liability (points wise) and Steyn will either score a gazillion or less than 50, there's just no telling. With safety first as my motto, I plumped for the Wallaby wings - O'Connor and Mitchell will score at least 250-300 apiece or I'll eat my hat...

Good luck everyone!