Hartpury University’s grip on the Women’s National League title continued as they defeated Loughborough 34-22 in a gripping final at the StoneX Stadium.

Hartpury have been the unrivalled queens of women's university rugby and Loughborough are next in line to try and knock them off their perch.

It will be a repeat of last year's final in BUCS Super Rugby while Loughborough crushed Exeter's dreams to set up a showdown with the irrepressible Hartpury in the Women's National League.

The 20-year-old winger is thriving at Premiership league leaders Gloucester-Hartpury as well as in the university set-up, where silverware is very much the currency of success in both environments.

With Exeter losing their unbeaten record and Edinburgh closing the gap to Cardiff Met, both BUCS Super Rugby and the Women's National League showcased its famed unpredictability.

History beckons for one of Gloucester-Hartpury or Exeter Chiefs in the Allianz Premier 15s final but the overlap of their university rugby programmes certainly adds an extra dimension to Saturday's big dance.

Natasha Hunt's Hartpury retained their Women's National League Championship crown by beating the University of Exeter 45-12 at Saracens' StoneX Stadium.

Starting his professional career in the Premiership off the back of two years playing university rugby, Hartpury’s head coach Dan Murphy spoke to TRU about the Hartpury ‘pathway’.

On a blustery Wednesday night in Gloucester at Kingsholm, Cardiff Met picked up an invaluable win 26-25 over home team Hartpury to boost themselves up the BUCS Super Rugby table following two back-to-back losses.

Following the England Students’ 16-15 win over France Universities at Kingston Park last Friday, TRU’s Joe Harvey spoke to coaches and members of the playing squad about their week and how the team rallied to beat the French.

Hartpury lifted the BUCS Women’s National League National Championship for the first time on Wednesday afternoon by beating the University of Edinburgh 36-22 at Sixways, with a hat-trick of tries coming from hooker, Amy Dale.

Stratford, who is back plying his trade at Hartpury RFC, spoke to TRU’s Joe Harvey about the club’s player pathway.

With Toulon making the trip to Sixways this weekend, Worcester Warriors lock Joe Batley, spoke to TRU’s Joe Harvey about the club’s season so far, growing up, his personality and the 25-year-old’s hopes for the future.

On the week he was announced as a core player for England Sevens, Chinnor RFC flanker Max Clementson spoke to TRU’s Joe Harvey + he gave his thoughts ahead of the club's National One clash with Rams RFC.

Combining her role with captaining Gloucester-Hartpury in the Allianz Premier 15s and coaching the university side in the BUCS National League, Natasha Hunt exclusively spoke to TRU about the pathway the club are providing.

Hartpury University have announced that seven players from Gloucester Rugby will be joining the Championship side.

Hartpury's season ended with the club grabbing the headlines amid a Covid outbreak and TRU's Callum Wood chatted to Mark Cornwell.

Saracens are looking to challenge the decision of the Championship disputes committee over their ruling in the cancelled fixture against Hartpury.

Having been one of the stars of the Six Nations so far, the rise of Louis Rees-Zammit will be the talk of Cardiff on Saturday afternoon when Wales take on England.

After his acrobatic efforts against Italy last weekend, Jonny May’s attention now turns to the Principality Stadium and Wales where he is likely to come up against Gloucester teammate Louis Rees-Zammit.