This opening block has been glorious, and - bonus - educational. For those interested, here’s a little of what I’ve learned.
Samu Kerevi is now 31, without a Test cap for 13 months, plying his trade out of the spotlight in Japan and surely a bit rusty after playing just one match since May.
A day after representing the Australian U18 rugby union side, schoolboy star winger Heamasi Makasini announced his future deal with the NRL club Wests Tigers.
The All Blacks have secured the Bledisloe Cup for a 23rd straight year after denying the gallant Wallabies 31-28 in the opening trans-Tasman Test in Sydney.
Maddie Feaunati will take the next step on her increasingly meteoric entrance to Test rugby at Kingsholm on Saturday when she starts an England match for the first time.
Former Wallabies halfback Nick Phipps has weighed in on what made last weekend’s 30-12 loss to the world champion Springboks “hard to watch.”
Hunter Paisami is reportedly set to miss the rest of The Rugby Championship after suffering a knee injury.
The key tenets of a Joe Schmidt team have been sorely absent from Australia's early Rugby Championship performances.
Australia and Reds centre Hunter Paisami is in the middle of a tug-fo-war between Rugby Australia and the Gallagher Premiership's Exeter Chiefs, according to Australian outlet The Roar.
Having had their five-game winning run ended by Scotland last Sunday, the Wallabies have named their Autumn Nations team to face England.