In this week’s Rugby Paper – available on Sunday

Though it might seem this has been something of a quiet week for rugby with the new season yet to get underway, there’s plenty still to talk about about the game both in this country and around the world.

And who better to talk about the world game than Neil de Kock, who is back as a guest columnist giving his take on the first two rounds of The Rugby Championship.

He will be joined by our usual columnists, with Shane Williams, Jeremy Guscott, Nick Cain, Peter Jackson, Brendan Gallagher, James Harrington, Chris Hewett, and Jeff Probyn all weighing in with their opinions on the game’s biggest talking points.

Guest Columnist and 137-capped former England international Rocky Clark shares her thoughts on the situation at DMP Durham Sharks and some of the big summer signings ahead of the new Premier 15s season.

In our Women’s Game in Focus column, Ben Jaycock speaks to Wasps and England 7s star Celia Quansah who gives us an insight into her strong relationship with her teammate and housemate Meg Jones.

Neil Fissler has a particularly tasty Blindside column with some major transfer gossip, although you’ll have to wait till Sunday to find some of the big rumours he’s found.

And Michael Le Bourgeois speaks about how he hopes to be able to follow the ageless Jimmy Gopperth and continue playing well into his 30s.

Looking back to this week’s podcast, we explore some of the candid comments Christian Wade made about former teammates, England players and their coaching staff.

And last but not least, Ealing Trailfinders‘ Gabe Jones is our Young Gun, former Chinnor, Birmingham Moseley and Coventry fly-half Caolan Ryan pick his Dream Team and former Birmingham Moseley and Cornish Pirates fly-half/full-back Ollie Thomas takes us on a journey through his eventful rugby career in My Life in Rugby.

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