Minus many top players, France's Top 14 kicks off this weekend.
Defending champions Toulouse were brought down to earth when they were beaten 18-13 at Bayonne in the first round of the new Top 14 French championship season on Friday.
Western Province took control early and never looked back as they picked up their fourth win of the Currie Cup season with a 24-13 victory over the Pumas in Witbank on Friday night.
The Blue Bulls managed to register a 28-20 victory over the Leopards in Rustenburg on Friday night, but fell short in their efforts to secure a bonus point in a scrappy affair.
Hendre Fourie is on standby to start for England against Ireland - just five days after being omitted from Martin Johnson's World Cup squad.
rugby365.com columnist Tom Dawson-Squibb takes a look at what makes a good team-talk and whether a motivational speech really does have an impact on how players perform on the pitch.
Making the final group of 30 Springbok players for next month's World Cup in New Zealand has left Gio Aplon on cloud nine, the Springbok speedster said this week.
Lions captain Joshua Strauss has been ruled out of Saturday's Currie Cup match against the Sharks as a precaution, the team's coach John Mitchell confirmed on Friday.
When Manu Samoa swept aside Australia less than two months from the start of the World Cup they sent a clear message - to Wales in particular - they will be serious contenders come tournament time.
Sporting history is littered with tales of great teams and individuals who did not know when to quit and suffered humiliating exits.
Wales head to the World Cup with the omens against them, drawn in a so-called "group of death" alongside defending champions South Africa and potential South Seas banana skins Fiji and Samoa.
Although the Flying Fijians have slipped outside the top ten in the IRB rankings they are confident of rattling a few reputations at the World Cup.
Namibia, the lowest ranked 2011 World Cup participants, are targeting Group D rivals Fiji in the hope of achieving their first-ever victory at the tournament.
After a successful spring highlighted by taking the title at the USA Sevens Collegiate Rugby Championship (CRC), Dartmouth Rugby will return its focus to the 15-man version of the game Labor Day weekend as part of the annual Dartmouth Rugby Classic presented by Rockwood and Royall Lyme.
Scotland depart for Australia's Gold Coast on Saturday to begin final preparations for the Rugby World Cup in New Zealand.
