The inaugural season of Fantasy Super Rugby Pacific might be over, but it truly came down to the wire for the inaugural champion.
Following the conclusion of Round 16 last weekend, the winner, “Cal7” - revealed to be Blues fan Callum Brown from Melbourne - held on to claim the victory by just 14 points - with the runner up “Colmtalksrugby”, also known as Colm Flaherty from Galway in Ireland, coming close to running the fan down in the final round.
Watch every game of SMARTECH Super Rugby Pacific live and on-demand via Stan Sport.
Super Rugby Fantasy has proven to be a resounding hit in it's inaugural season, with over 70,000 players and over 12,000 leagues created across the season.
Incredibly, Brown had led the competition since Round Five, and held an 80 point lead heading into the final week.
However, Tupou Vaa’i hattrick saw Colmtalksrugby cut the margin significantly, with Colm needing a score of 40 points or more from Harry Wilson to claim victory.
Unfortunately, with Wilson picking up an injury, it proved to be the difference in terms of the final result. "I was very nervous! I barely slept the Thursday leading into the final round!" Brown said.
"I expected it to be tough, but I didn’t expect second place to have Tupou Vaa’i who had a hat-trick, scoring 95 points. That completely changed how I played the final round."
Brown, after winning the title and $10,000 prize, openly admitted he started just to play with his brother - but once he took the lead of the overall competition it took him a while to believe he could win the prize.
"For the most part it was just my brother and I playing," said Brown.
"I did have a fair few family and friends who were invested in my team which was cool. The bragging rights will be very nice!
"Most of all it’s just a rather funny sense of gratification knowing that all of my rugby knowledge has finally paid off.
"I originally jumped into first place at round five and thought it would be a fun challenge to see how long I could hold onto that for. But, it truly wasn’t until round 13 that I genuinely started to believe.
"In the final round when it looked like I would come second, I decided to swing for the fences and play Mark Tele’a who scored a double. Honest, I think that was my most crucial pick all season."
Now with a title to his name, does Brown have any advice for how to look after your fantasy team?
"I could bore you to death with the thought process that I put into most of my weekly teams," Brown admitted.
"But at the end of the day, the goal was just to be ultra consistent, minimising “traps” and not chasing points.
"I made a lot of final selection calls within the last two minutes before kick offs, which might surprise people.
"Consistency is king. Just enjoy watching players from all teams, not just the teams that you might typically watch!"
Brown will now enjoy the rest of Super Rugby Pacific, with his side the Blues sneaking into finals following a 46-6 win over the Waratahs on the final night of the regular season.
"It was pretty surreal to be honest," Brown admitted.
"Unfortunately, I was actually sick on the night that I won so I had to celebrate by myself! Embarrassingly, I did run around my apartment fist pumping.
"I’ll definitely be having a few drinks with friends soon, it might even have to be my shout!"
