France fly-half Camille Lopez delivered the goods if he was your fantasy kicker this weekend © Scrum.com

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Chances are your fantasy rugby team suffered a serious shortage of tries on opening weekend. The good news is you're far from alone!

Six Nations opening weekends, on average, yield 12.8 tries. This year's total for the first three games was just six - the lowest return since 2005. Kickers were therefore prominent in our fantasy game. When goals win matches, kickers often pick up the additional five-point fantasy tariff for being named man-of-the-match.

The "Obvious" XV

• The most selected players in ESPNscrum's fantasy rugby game for Week 1, by position (ownership percentages in brackets):
• Outside backs: Leigh Halfpenny (59%), George North (50%), Tommy Bowe (36%)
• Centres: Wesley Fofana (68%), Jamie Roberts (28%)
• Fly-half: George Ford (35%)
• Scrum-half: Conor Murray (33%)
• Front row: Rory Best (42%), Richard Hibbard (31%), Martin Castrogiovanni (31%)
• Second row: Paul O'Connell (47%), Richie Gray (37%)
• Back row:Sergio Parisse (47%), Thierry Dusautoir (36%), Sam Warburton (34%)

France beat Scotland without scoring a try and their fly-half, Camille Lopez, topped the fantasy leaders board.

His man-of-the-match performance with five successful kicks from six attempts earned him 13 fantasy points in an 80-minute shift in Paris, pipping his England counterpart George Ford (four goals from six) by a point.

Incredibly, just 5% of ESPNscrum fantasy teams had Lopez as their kicker, compared to 47% of teams who chose Leigh Halfpenny.

Rome's man of the match was Ireland's Conor Murray, who joined Ford on 12 fantasy points with the best scrum-half performance of the weekend.

The Perfect XV

• Top scorers, by position, in Week 1
• Outside backs: Anthony Watson (8 pts), Mike Brown (6), Dougie Fife (6)
• Centres: Jonathan Joseph (8), Wesley Fofana (3)
• Fly-half: Camille Lopez (13)
• Scrum-half: Conor Murray (12)
• Front row: Euan Murray (5), Richard Hibbard (3), Dan Cole (2)
• Second row: Dave Attwood (3), Yoann Maestri (3)
• Back row: Tommy O'Donnell (8), Taulupe Faletau (6), Billy Vunipola (3)
• Total points: 89

The two Ians, Keatley (5/5) and Madigan (1/1), who partnered Murray are the only kickers with 100% records. But with Jonny Sexton likely to be fit to face France next weekend, their opportunity to add fantasy points might be limited.

After a shaky opening in Cardiff, England's three-quarters sharpened their game to bring Anthony Watson and Jonathan Joseph tries that pushed them to the fore in their respective groups (outside backs and centres).

Tommy O'Donnell was the surprise star in the pack, in more ways than one. Not only was he an 11th hour Irish call-up when Sean O'Brien withdrew due to injury in the warm-up, he took full advantage of his opportunity. He played the full match and was the only forward to score a try this weekend, making him the most valuable forward to have had in your team with eight points. If you saw that coming, you deserve every single point.

Toby Faletau and Euan Murray, who gave Rhys Webb and Dougie Fife try-scoring passes, were the next best forwards with six and five points.

What we've learned

That past performance is no guide to future returns

The financial health warning also holds in fantasy rugby.

The best XV based on last year's stats was detailed by Charlie Boss last week. Yet only two members of that eclectic side - Lopez and England's Mike Brown - feature among the top 16 players, who have five or more fantasy points.

That Warren Gatland is the head coach least likely to throw substitutes on

For some time it has been noticeable that Gatland is more reluctant to empty his bench than most.

He only used four straight replacements (excluding the cameo by Liam Williams while George North underwent the concussion protocol).

Stuart Lancaster used six and the other coaches used seven or all of their replacements.