It was the French who caught the eye in round one with six of their eight teams winning, including Stade Rochelais and Toulon away from home.
Three matches are scheduled for Stellenbosch: Ireland vs Georgia (kick-off 2pm local), France vs New Zealand (4:30pm) and South Africa vs Argentina (7pm). Over in Athlone, Wales vs Spain is the opening match (2pm) followed by England vs Fiji (4:30pm) and Australia vs Italy (7pm).
With the August 28 deadline now passed for the final submission by all 20 teams of their 33-strong squads travelling to France, the names of the 660 players who will be involved at Rugby World Cup 2023 have been confirmed.
The SRU have followed their Irish counterparts in retrospectively awarding caps to Scotland players who played in international matches that didn’t carry Test cap status.
Scarlets finished top in Pool B of the Heineken Challenge Cup with an impressive 20-7 victory over Bayonne.
The Crusaders have announced that former All Blacks George Bridge has played his final game in the red and black jersey and will soon take up a contract with French club Montpellier.
With Montpellier now crowned Top 14 champions, attention turns to the players each side has brought in to better their chances of winning the trophy next season. Newcomers Bayonne have been the busiest in the transfer market, releasing players...
Leicester and Montpellier have named their teams for Friday night's Challenge Cup final at Twickenham which will have 10,000 fans present.
Sale have opted to stick by their Champions Cup starting XV from last Sunday but the more rested La Rochelle make a half-dozen changes.
