A Brighton-based digital media company is scrumming down online to give rugby fans the chance to play out their fantasies.

Communicopia has been commissioned to produce and manage an official Zurich Championship fantasy game on the internet.

Fans wishing to take part can log on at www.rfu.com.

The game follows the familiar format in which players select their "dream XV"

from the top eight squads in the Zurich championship.

The better the rugby stars perform in reality, the more fantasy points a player scores.

Prizes include two new home jerseys from the player's favourite Premiership club, a pair of hospitality tickets for an Investec Challenge game of your choice (England versus New Zealand, Australia or South Africa) and a signed England rugby shirt.

There will be weekly spot prizes of tickets to the Zurich Championship final at Twickenham on Saturday June 8.

The prizes will go to the player with the highest score at the end of the three rounds of the competition.

Communicopia said it was in discussions to provide a further fantasy rugby game for next season's Premiership.

This should be available on the RFU web site and through links from other UK rugby clubs by the start of the next season in September.

Communicopia's business development director Nick Stephenson said: "It is the first official RFU fantasy game and we hope to develop other game options for them."

The game uses the Dreamsquad fantasy game engine, which Communicopia developed for a football game of the same name.

Dreamsquad is available on the web and digital interactive TV through NTL.

Despite an initial lack of publicity, 39,000 football teams took part by the end of the season.

www.communicopia.co.uk
www.rfu.com