How I am picking my PREM Rugby Fantasy Squad 2026/27
The new PREM Rugby season kicks off on Friday, and we can see people spending more and more time on the Squad selection pages as the week goes on.
Selection is a little tougher this year, and we need to be a bit more careful with our money - here's how I think about building my squad, and where I prioritise my budget after doing some AI-assisted number crunching.
In other words, the price gap between a cheap and an expensive forward is rarely worth paying. The price gap between a cheap and an expensive back usually is. So my squad spends around 60% of the budget on the backs and 40% on the forwards, and it keeps about £21m of the £100m for the eight replacements. The bench is for cover, not for points.
Props are the cheapest position in the game, and the difference between a £1m prop and a £2.5m prop is only about two points per game. Go cheap and try to pick players who start every week.
👥 My picks: Bachuki Tchumbadze (Exeter, £1.0m), who played 19 games last season, George Kloska (Bristol, £2.0m), who played 15, and new signing Nika Abuladze (Exeter, £1.0m) on the bench.
Hookers (2 players): one mid-to-premium, one budget
Hookers score steadily across the price range, so this is a sensible place to pay a bit more for a regular starter, with a cheap back-up.
👥 My picks: Jamie Blamire (Leicester, £4.5m), who averaged 9.66 points per game over 19 games, with Charlie Clare (Leicester, £2.0m) on the bench.
Locks (3 players): two mid-price, one budget
Locks are where the mid-price band is at its best. Moving from a £2m lock to a £3m lock adds about 2.5 points per game, but moving up again to the premium locks adds only about one more. The £3m lock is the sweet spot, if you can find the right ones!
👥 My picks: Cameron Henderson (Leicester, £3.0m, 8.41 points per game) and Joe Owen (Bristol, £3.0m), who played 18 games last season, with Ross Molony (Bath, £2.0m) on the bench.
Back row (4 players): one premium, one bargain, two budget
The back row is the opposite of the locks. Mid-price back-rowers barely outscore the budget ones, but the premium players are in a different league. Either pay for the best or go cheap, and avoid the middle.
👥 My premium pick is Henry Pollock (Northampton, £9.0m), the top-scoring forward in the league last season at 17.86 points per game. My bargain is Fitz Harding (Bristol, £5.5m), who averaged 13.69 points per game over 16 games, premium output at a mid-range price. The budget spots go to Daniel du Preez (Bath, £3.0m) and James Chisholm (Harlequins, £3.0m) for now, but those are easy to adjust once team news is confirmed.
Scrum-half (2 players): one mid-price, one budget
Scrum-half prices only run from £2m to £4m, so there's not much money to save or spend here. Pick a regular starter who scores well and a cheap back-up.
👥 My picks: Raffi Quirke (Newcastle, £3.0m), who should start every week for the Red Bulls, with understudy Simon Benitez Cruz (Newcastle, £2.0m) on the bench.
Fly-half (2 players): one premium, one budget - and think about your kicker
Fly-halves score heavily because most of them kick the goals. But in this game, you nominate a kicker, and only your kicker's goals count. Last season's top points scorer in the league was a centre, Henry Slade, and most of his points came from the tee.
👥 If you own a kicking centre, you don't need to pay for an expensive fly-half as well. For Round 1 I'm starting Fin Smith (Northampton, £9.0m) as my kicker, because Northampton are at home to Newcastle, the side that conceded the most tries in the league last season. From Round 2 I plan to bring in Slade as kicker and use another transfer to swap Smith for a cheaper fly-half. My bench fly-half is new signing Zack Henry (Newcastle, £4.0m).
Centres (3 players): two premium, one budget
Centres behave like the back row. The middle of the market adds very little over the budget options, but the premium centres score over 40% more. Pay for two top centres and put a cheap one on the bench.
👥 My picks: Tom Litchfield (Northampton, £6.0m), who averaged 12.81 points per game over 16 games and gets Newcastle at home first up, and Kalaveti Ravouvou (Bristol, £7.0m), who scored 12 tries last season and was picked in almost every game. Reiketi Maasi-White (Sale, £3.0m), who played 15 games last season, is on the bench.
Outside backs (4 players): one premium, two mid-price, one budget
Outside backs give you more points with every step up in price, so it pays to spread your money across the price range. One premium, two mid-price players and a budget back-up is the balance I like.
👥 My premium pick is Tommy Freeman (Northampton, £9.0m), who averaged 23.27 points per game and scored 18 tries. My mid-price picks are Tom Roebuck (Sale, £7.5m, 15.46 points per game) and Paul Brown-Bampoe (Exeter, £6.5m, 12.62 points per game), who has a good opening run of games. Cameron Anderson (Harlequins, £4.0m) is on the bench for now, until I spot the cheap starting Outside Back options.
Here is my provisional starting XV, which will no doubt change a bit once lineups are out!
The obvious name missing is Noah Caluori. He scored 18 tries last season and is one of the best players in the game, but Saracens start away at Leicester. With four free transfers permitted every round, I'd rather bring him in when the fixtures turn, and there's time before Saracens host Newcastle in Round 5.
Think you can do better? Build your own PREM Rugby Fantasy squad on Superbru before Round 1 kicks off, and we'll look back at how my strategy is working after a few rounds.
Selection is a little tougher this year, and we need to be a bit more careful with our money - here's how I think about building my squad, and where I prioritise my budget after doing some AI-assisted number crunching.
Spend on the Backs
This sounds obvious, but our analysis of last season's scoring shows how many points each extra £1m buys you in each position. Across the backs, spending an extra £1m on a player bought roughly 2.2 to 3.5 extra points per game. In the forwards, the same £1m bought only about 1.5 to 1.7.In other words, the price gap between a cheap and an expensive forward is rarely worth paying. The price gap between a cheap and an expensive back usually is. So my squad spends around 60% of the budget on the backs and 40% on the forwards, and it keeps about £21m of the £100m for the eight replacements. The bench is for cover, not for points.
Position by Position
Props (3 players): all budgetProps are the cheapest position in the game, and the difference between a £1m prop and a £2.5m prop is only about two points per game. Go cheap and try to pick players who start every week.
👥 My picks: Bachuki Tchumbadze (Exeter, £1.0m), who played 19 games last season, George Kloska (Bristol, £2.0m), who played 15, and new signing Nika Abuladze (Exeter, £1.0m) on the bench.
Hookers (2 players): one mid-to-premium, one budget
Hookers score steadily across the price range, so this is a sensible place to pay a bit more for a regular starter, with a cheap back-up.
👥 My picks: Jamie Blamire (Leicester, £4.5m), who averaged 9.66 points per game over 19 games, with Charlie Clare (Leicester, £2.0m) on the bench.
Locks (3 players): two mid-price, one budget
Locks are where the mid-price band is at its best. Moving from a £2m lock to a £3m lock adds about 2.5 points per game, but moving up again to the premium locks adds only about one more. The £3m lock is the sweet spot, if you can find the right ones!
👥 My picks: Cameron Henderson (Leicester, £3.0m, 8.41 points per game) and Joe Owen (Bristol, £3.0m), who played 18 games last season, with Ross Molony (Bath, £2.0m) on the bench.
Back row (4 players): one premium, one bargain, two budget
The back row is the opposite of the locks. Mid-price back-rowers barely outscore the budget ones, but the premium players are in a different league. Either pay for the best or go cheap, and avoid the middle.
👥 My premium pick is Henry Pollock (Northampton, £9.0m), the top-scoring forward in the league last season at 17.86 points per game. My bargain is Fitz Harding (Bristol, £5.5m), who averaged 13.69 points per game over 16 games, premium output at a mid-range price. The budget spots go to Daniel du Preez (Bath, £3.0m) and James Chisholm (Harlequins, £3.0m) for now, but those are easy to adjust once team news is confirmed.
Scrum-half (2 players): one mid-price, one budget
Scrum-half prices only run from £2m to £4m, so there's not much money to save or spend here. Pick a regular starter who scores well and a cheap back-up.
👥 My picks: Raffi Quirke (Newcastle, £3.0m), who should start every week for the Red Bulls, with understudy Simon Benitez Cruz (Newcastle, £2.0m) on the bench.
Fly-half (2 players): one premium, one budget - and think about your kicker
Fly-halves score heavily because most of them kick the goals. But in this game, you nominate a kicker, and only your kicker's goals count. Last season's top points scorer in the league was a centre, Henry Slade, and most of his points came from the tee.
👥 If you own a kicking centre, you don't need to pay for an expensive fly-half as well. For Round 1 I'm starting Fin Smith (Northampton, £9.0m) as my kicker, because Northampton are at home to Newcastle, the side that conceded the most tries in the league last season. From Round 2 I plan to bring in Slade as kicker and use another transfer to swap Smith for a cheaper fly-half. My bench fly-half is new signing Zack Henry (Newcastle, £4.0m).
Centres (3 players): two premium, one budget
Centres behave like the back row. The middle of the market adds very little over the budget options, but the premium centres score over 40% more. Pay for two top centres and put a cheap one on the bench.
👥 My picks: Tom Litchfield (Northampton, £6.0m), who averaged 12.81 points per game over 16 games and gets Newcastle at home first up, and Kalaveti Ravouvou (Bristol, £7.0m), who scored 12 tries last season and was picked in almost every game. Reiketi Maasi-White (Sale, £3.0m), who played 15 games last season, is on the bench.
Outside backs (4 players): one premium, two mid-price, one budget
Outside backs give you more points with every step up in price, so it pays to spread your money across the price range. One premium, two mid-price players and a budget back-up is the balance I like.
👥 My premium pick is Tommy Freeman (Northampton, £9.0m), who averaged 23.27 points per game and scored 18 tries. My mid-price picks are Tom Roebuck (Sale, £7.5m, 15.46 points per game) and Paul Brown-Bampoe (Exeter, £6.5m, 12.62 points per game), who has a good opening run of games. Cameron Anderson (Harlequins, £4.0m) is on the bench for now, until I spot the cheap starting Outside Back options.
Here is my provisional starting XV, which will no doubt change a bit once lineups are out!
Fixtures
Over the first five rounds, the easiest runs belong to Northampton, Exeter and Leicester, and I've leaned into Northampton in particular for their opening game at home to Newcastle. Bristol's run is tougher, but Harding and Ravouvou score well enough to keep regardless, and I've picked no-one from Gloucester, who have the hardest start of all.The obvious name missing is Noah Caluori. He scored 18 tries last season and is one of the best players in the game, but Saracens start away at Leicester. With four free transfers permitted every round, I'd rather bring him in when the fixtures turn, and there's time before Saracens host Newcastle in Round 5.
Think you can do better? Build your own PREM Rugby Fantasy squad on Superbru before Round 1 kicks off, and we'll look back at how my strategy is working after a few rounds.
Superbru on X
Then again Backs are generally higher scoring as long as the weather stays dry. Does Hutch check the weather forecasts? Anyway, great to see some ACTUAL number-crunching analysis on here for a change, AI or otherwise. Thanks Hutch.