The Ruck

Stephen Jones welcomes Alex Lowe of The Times, Adam Hathaway from various tabloids and Duncan Bech from PA.

The panel bring you incisive royal wedding analysis, before focusing on the strange timing of Paul Gustard's move to Harlequins, with England 15 months out from a World Cup what does it say about morale, does it reveal a vote of no confidence, and who should replace him?

There's also a full review of the Premiership/Pro 14 and preview of the finals.

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Stephen Jones welcomes Owen Slot, Alan Dymock and Peter O'Reilly. 

The panel review the Champions Cup final, discuss Danny Cipriani's move to Gloucester, preview of the semi-finals of the Pro 14 and Premiership before trying to make sense of Eddie Jones' England squad. 

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Owen Slot welcomes Adam Hathaway and Alex Lowe.

Who will Eddie Jones pick as the tour attack coach, who makes Alex Lowe's Premiership team of the season and who will take home a coveted Ruck award?

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Stephen Jones welcomes three titans from Women's rugby for a special extended episode: England's leading cap holder Rochelle Clark, Wasps Ladies coach, Giselle Mather and former England international, Catherine Spencer.

They pay tribute to the retiring Danielle Waterman and assess her record for England. Then the impact of the Tyrrell's Premier 15's is debated as well as a full review of the final, also why it's time not money the game needs to progress to the next level and why referees need to be picked on merit alone. The panel finish the podcast by selecting the highs and lows of their careers.   

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Owen Slot welcomes Sunday Times writer Chris Jones and former Harlequins, Saracens and Melbourne Storm boss, Mark Evans to discuss the week in rugby. 

They debate: Has the quality of the European club game decreased this season, are we seeing a French resurgence, is time finally up for Dylan Hartley and who should England take to South Africa?

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Owen Slot welcomes The Observer's Michael Aylwin and Rugby World's Alan Dymock.  

The panel discuss: the top fifty young players to watch, the rules suiting rugby's image over safety. The 'boiling frog' problem with struggling Northampton and Harlequins and are English coaches struggling to take the step up to Director of Rugby?

There's also a comprehensive preview for the European semi-finals.

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Stephen Jones is Joined by Al DImmock (Rugby World), Nick Cain (The Rugby Paper) and Adam Hathaway (The People, everywhere).

We hear about Saracens, Fly-half targeting, the European Challenge Cup, the economics of the premiership, and ring fencing - are teams trying to pull the drawbridge up behind them? Should cities that are awarded major sporting events be prohibited from profiteering? 

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Stephen Jones is joined by Adam Hathaway, Sam Peters and Alex Lowe to discuss which players England should take to South Africa and who will progress from the European quarter finals.

In the final section (26:11) the panel discuss the latest injury findings and whether rugby is shying away from a crisis. 

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Owen Slot welcomes Alex Lowe, Stuart Barnes and Al Dymock to answer who made the greatest step forward in the six nations, why Ireland will improve further and why Wales should be delighted by second place. 

Finally Al Dymock tries to explain the shambolic scenes at Belgium vs Spain as World Cup qualifying descended into farce.

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