6 Nations Player Stats & Lions Selection - ESPN

Oh no, not another Lions thread!  

But wait, this one hopefully takes a slightly different approach.  I currently play the ESPN Fantasy 6 nations game along with a number of others from these boards.  With the arguments back and forth about Lions selection, who's in form and who's out, I thought it might be nice to get a slightly more objective take on the Lions contenders.  I've looked around elsewhere on sites such as Opta, etc. but can't find many in depth player stats.  In the ESPN game, however, players are ranked according to game points scored so far.  Points in the game are awarded for the following: full appearance, part appearance, try scored, try assist, conversion, penalty, drop kick, yellow card conceded, red card conceded, man of the match, making 10 tackles are more, making 50m or more and lineout stolen. This turns out some very interesting stats so thought I'd share them with you.  It's not a complete scoring system, but better than nothing I guess.

The game groups players by position: Front Row, back row, second row, scrum half, fly half, centre, outside backs and I've shown below the top performers in each group with an eye on Lions selection.  Therefore, I've listed according to a rough guess of the quantity of each 'group' that we'll take on tour, although I may be way out on these numbers: Top 7 front row, top 5 second row, top 8 back row, top 3 scrum halves, top 3 outside halves, top 5 centres, top 6 outside backs.  Obviously ESPN includes the French and Italians who make up some of the top positions but have been excluded for the purposes of this post.

Front Row - top 7 after week 3
Dan Cole
Zander Fagerson
Ken Owens
Ross Ford
Joe Marler
Fraser Brown
Tad Furlong

Second Row - top 5
Joe Launchbury
Maro Itoje
Johnny Gray
Devin Toner
Ian Henderson

Back Row - top 8
CJ Stander
Jamie Heaslip
Sam Warburton
Justin Tipuric
Ross Moriaty
Nathan Hughes
Ryan Wilson
Hamish Watson

Scrum Half - top 3
Connor Murray
Ben Youngs
Rhys Webb

Fly Half - top 3
Paddy Jackson
Finn Russell
Dan Biggar

Centre - top 5
Owen Farrell
Jonathan Davies
Ben T'eo
Huw Jones
Gary Ringrose

Outside backs - top 6
Stuart Hogg
Leigh Halfpenny
Liam Williams
Keith Earls
Elliot Daly
Tommy Seymour

Some interesting stuff there, I feel.  Make of it what you will.  Take some of it with a pinch of salt as obviously playing Italy vs not playing them might affect the metres made, points score, kicks made stats, etc.  Also, if you kick points you'll be high on the list, obviously.  But I think that has the makings of a good looking squad, with some notable names missing through lack of performance too.

If people want I can update this after the next too weeks of points too.

It is interesting to see what influence pure naked stats have on selection. It'll also be interesting to see how the final couple of weekends change things up too.

Just to add that unfortunately some players miss out because of some sort of weighting given, e.g. Tad Furlong is in 7th place on 6 points but there are about 5 other players on 6 points also.  He's not listed ahead of the others by alphabet (Rob Evans is below him on 6) so there must be some weighting that puts him ahead.  Not sure what that is.

They're counting Itoje as a lock then. Wonder where'd he be as a back row.

No 7&1/2 wrote:They're counting Itoje as a lock then. Wonder where'd he be as a back row.

I think he'd still score in the same way. He's on 13 ESPN points which would put him in between Heaslip and Warburton on the back row list and I guess then Watson would drop put of the list.

Sorry, just noticed an error in my second rows which I've no updated in the OP.

Its also skewed by injuries...Sextons played one game and everyone thinks he inveneted sliced bread, but doesnt get in because Jacksons played two. Of course Farrell doesnt get a look in at FH because hes played as a center...so you get a lions squad with 4 fly halves. And Ford doesnt get a look in because Farrells been missing all the kicks for him...ordinarly Russell wouldnt be getting points for those kicks and likely woudlnt be the primary kicker if he did get sleected for a Lions side. Conversly Halfpenny leapfrogs lots of players who have actaully been doing the primary roles of wings and fullbacks very well simply on the grounds that he has been taking most of Wales kicks...of course he might have even more points if hed listened to his captain.
The ESPN sats also focus highly on try scoring. Now Stander isnt controversial, but others might sneak into your list off the back of a try scoring 8 points...which massively outweighs what props actually get picked on.

All true Gooseberry, these stats should be overlaid with other stats and/or factors not accounted for in the ESPN game.