The best Rugby World Cup fantasy team to pick for match week five

The Rugby World Cup is drawing closer to the knockout stages, with the final round of pool matches taking place this weekend.

The competition's very best teams are now filtering through to the quarter-finals, and there is one more round of potential mismatches for fantasy rugby players to pick apart. From the last eight onwards, it becomes very tricky to sift out the best picks with games becoming even more competitive and balanced.

On paper, there are a few mismatches this week. These include: Wales v Georgia, New Zealand v Uruguay and France v Italy. Therefore, players on the favoured sides dominate this week's fantasy lineup.

Those of you who captained, or even triple captained, Darcy Graham last week will be laughing at everyone else from the top of your respective fantasy leagues. To provide context for that, this writer got 700 points in the previous round, and a triple-captained Graham garnered 585!

In this article we'll provide all the reasoning for each pick for match week five.

P.S. - At the time of writing, not all lineups have been named. So there is no guarantee that the selected players in this article will definitely be playing. Please check lineups before adding your players in.

You can make changes and transfers to your team at anytime during the weekend's action, provided the selected player is not currently playing a game.

This article will be altered to feature starting players as the lineups are released. The first game takes place on Thursday and is New Zealand v Uruguay.

The backs

In the back three we've gone for France's Louis Bielle-Biarrey, New Zealand's Will Jordan and Wales' Louis Rees-Zammit. It's three wingers this week, and for good reason, too.

Twenty-year-old Bielle-Biarrey is a star in the making and has grabbed his opportunity by the scruff of the neck. He bagged two against Namibia two weeks ago, and also produced a sensational try-assist for Jonathan Danty in the same game.

The Bordeaux-Begles wing also scored against Uruguay in France's hard-fought encounter on match week two. Against unfancied Italy opposition this week, Bielle-Biarrey is a great pick.

Jordan needs no introduction, really. He's scored 25 tries in 27 games for New Zealand and is on track to become one of the Kiwi greats with his try-scoring exploits. The All Blacks have scored the most tries so far this tournament (27), so there's a very high chance Jordan bags a few on Thursday.

Rees-Zammit has pace to burn and will be keen to enhance his try tally of two so far. The Gloucester man will be integral in Wales' attack as Warren Gatland's team look to close out Pool C with an emphatic victory over Georgia, having named a very strong side.

In the midfield, we've gone for Tonga's Malakai Fekitoa and France's Jonathan Danty. Tonga will be fancied against a Romania side who have shipped 242 points to Scotland, Ireland and Scotland.

Therefore, as an ex-All Black World Cup-winner and formerly of Munster, Fekitoa will do some damage for the Tongans. Despite losing each game so far, they've stayed well in the fight, especially against South Africa last weekend where the 49-18 scoreline barely reflected the Test match that had just unfolded.

We had Danty in the team a few weeks ago when France played Namibia, and the big man picked up two tries in the 96-0 rout. He's a hard-carrying, surprisingly pacey 12 who will cause Italy major headaches on Friday night.

In the half-backs, we've gone for New Zealand's Cam Roigard and Richie Mo'unga. The All Black duo are facing up against Uruguay and are joined by a plethora of world-class talent in a very strong side, and their involvement is going to be huge.

In match week two, we stuck Roigard into the fantasy XV on his World Cup debut, and he did not disappoint. The 22-year-old scrum-half notched up 100 points with two tries in the opening seven minutes, along with a player-of-the-match performance.

Mo'unga scored 18 points last week against Italy - the most by any player in the game - with all points coming from conversions. He's reliable from the tee, hugely threatening in attack and can put in a try-saving tackle too - just ask Damian Penaud about round one.

The forwards

In the front-row, we've selected Fiji's Luke Tagi, Tonga's Paul Ngauamo and Fiji's Eroni Mawi. Fiji will be looking to quash any Australian hopes of qualification when they face Portugal this weekend, and they'll be leaning on their big boys to get over the line in Toulouse.

That's why we've gone for Mawi and Tagi in the props. Mawi averages 18 points a game, whereas Tagi picks up roughly 27 per game, great numbers for front-rowers.

Despite coming up against tough opposition, Tonga hooker Ngauamo has racked up 83 points so far and will be a tough nut for Romania to crack with 30 tackles and 18 metres carried in three games.

We've got Tonga's Sam Lousi and England's Maro Itoje in the locks. Scarlets fans will be familiar with Lousi, an incredibly talented utility forward with exceptional handling ability.

He'll always be looking for a last-minute offload and has legs too, should he make any line breaks. He's a great attacking option in the pack and can also put a hand in defence, with three turnovers so far.

Itoje also offers defensive capability, with 20 tackles in two games. England will be relying on their big, physical guys like Itoje to push past a tough Samoa side.

Completing our forward pack, we've gone for France's Gregory Alldritt, Wales' Tommy Reffell and Taulupe Faletau. These boys will ensure you rack up some decent points in the forward pack.

Alldritt has played one match so far and it was against New Zealand. He was colossal in defence and attack as the French defeated the All Blacks. The fierce ball-carrier made 71 metres against New Zealand, also completing 15 tackles, making three offloads and producing two turnovers. The big man is a no-brainer.

Talking of turnovers, you must get Reffell into that back-row. The Leicester Tigers man has managed just 20 minutes of World Cup action so far this tournament, coming against Fiji. However, during that time he completed a turnover and made 11 tackles. A game against Georgia could be an opportunity for the openside to really impose himself on the international stage and show he's worth the hype.

Rarely does Faletau put in a sub-par performance, the No.8 is an absolute machine in every department and offers a genuine try-scoring threat from the pack. As Portugal found out, Faletau picking the ball up from the back of the scrum and running full tilt at the defensive line is a nightmare for any team, so he'll complete that loose forward trio nicely.

The Rugby World Cup Fantasy team you should pick

You'd be wise to select Will Jordan as captain. If you haven't used your triple captain booster yet, stick that on the Crusaders man too. Remember to use up any boosters you haven't yet, as the booster feature will refresh for everyone in the knockout stages.

Fantasy XV: Louis Bielle-Biarrey, Will Jordan, Malakai Fekitoa, Jonathan Danty, Louis Rees-Zammit, Richie Mou'unga, Cam Roigard; Luke Tagi, Paul Ngauamo, Eroni Mawi, Sam Lousi, Maro Itoje, Gregory Alldritt, Tommy Reffell, Taulupe Faletau.