Welcome to The Breakdown, the Guardian’s weekly (and free) rugby union newsletter. Here’s an extract from this week’s edition. To receive the full version every Tuesday, just pop your email in below:
Sometimes it is worth remembering how swiftly things can change, in club rugby as well as politics. This time a year ago, for example, fourth-placed Harlequins were still seen as distant long shots to win the Gallagher Premiership, only 10,000 could watch the final because of Covid-19 and the United Rugby Championship, containing South Africa’s top sides, had yet to be launched.
