Aviva Premiership

The penultimate qualifying round of the Singha 7s sees the competition move north from Gloucester to Coventry, as the Ricoh Arena welcomes Harlequins, Northampton Saints, Saracens and hometown team Wasps.

Harlequins have announced the appointment of England scrum-half Danny Care as their club captain.

The Singha 7s competition advances to its second leg on Thursday when Kingsholm will play host to Gloucester, Bath, Exeter Chiefs and London Irish, as all four clubs bid to make the tournament’s showpiece final at the Twickenham Stoop.

Newcastle Falcons are delighted to announce England international lock forward Mouritz Botha has signed for the club on from Super 15 side the Sharks.

International rugby took centre stage this past weekend as The Rugby Championship came to a thrilling conclusion in Sydney, whilst the Rugby World Cup warmup matches in the northern hemisphere began in earnest with Wales taking on Ireland in Cardiff.

Gloucester's new hooker Tom Lindsay says he is already feeling at home at Kingsholm after recently signing for the club from Wasps.

Harlequins' former England centre Jordan Turner-Hall has retired from rugby at the age of 27 due to injury.

The upcoming Rugby World Cup may be the focus of the rugby world right now, but that doesn’t mean we can’t have one eye already on the 2015/16 Aviva Premiership season.

Bath centre Ben Williams has been forced to retire from rugby due to a shoulder injury.

Former Great Britain international Paul Deacon is to leave his job as assistant coach of Wigan and switch codes with Premiership club Sale Sharks.

Up and down the country, preseason training has already begun for the Aviva Premiership teams ahead of the 2015/16 season.

Newcastle have confirmed head coach John Wells will also lead the Aviva Premiership club's defence department following Graham Steadman's move to Cardiff Blues.

Worcester will make a high-profile return to the Aviva Premiership in October by featuring on a busy opening night against Sixways visitors Northampton.

Former Leicester defence coach Phil Blake described betting on Tigers matches as "something I will regret for the rest of my life" after becoming the first person to be hit with a Rugby Football Union ban for breaching anti-corruption and betting rules.

Wasps have signed back-row forward Alex Rieder from Rotherham Titans, taking their tally of new arrivals to 10 for next season.

Former England centre Anthony Allen has been forced to retire "at the peak of his career" aged just 28 after long-running knee problems.

Wasps scrum-half Joe Simpson remains hopeful of staking a claim to be in England's World Cup squad after recovering from a knee injury.

Given the promising position the club was in domestically and in Europe at the turn of the year, it’s fair to say Northampton Saints fans will be disappointed with how their 2014/15 campaign ended.

London Irish have appointed former Exiles player and Ireland international Bob Casey as the club's new chief executive as part of a senior management overhaul.

Wasps have signed Samoa prop James Johnston from Saracens.