Shaunagh Brown, Adam Radwan and Plymouth Albion star in Rugby Journal 15

From Netherlands to Nottingham, Tonga to Lichfield and back to 1991, there’s a big grassroots feel to the latest issue of our coffee-table print journal, but with a smattering of stars including Freddie Burns, Adam Radwan, Shaunagh Brown and Rachel Taylor

Rugby Journal breaks new ground again. After our iconic ‘Mud Only’ Chinnor RFC wheelie bin cover, we’ve now celebrated a return to the changing rooms for grassroots rugby with a picture of a changing room, specifically that of Plymouth Albion, including the standard, solitary left-behind wire coat hanger. 

We tell the National One club’s epic story from the dockyards of Plymouth in the 1800s to facing the All Blacks and playing at rugby’s top table to the Graham Dawe era and battling Exeter for Devon bragging rights to modern-day and fighting their way back with Damian Welch and Ryan Lamb as coaches.

On the back cover, we have an icon of the game, Shaunagh Brown, our lead feature, who talks about winning the Premiership, getting fixed up in a boxing match and inspiring the next generation of players.

We’ve also got England’s hat-trick hero and Newcastle Falcons’ flier Adam Radwan, for his first proper sit-down interview; Rachel Taylor in her first interview since leaving the Wales set-up; Freddie Burns explaining why he ‘doesn’t give a shit’ anymore – in a good way;  and Simon Middleton taking us through his playing days and coaching ambitions.

There’s also Mark Bingham’s closest friend Amanda Mark telling the story of their final moments together and his legacy through the Bingham Cup; we look at the societal problems facing Tonga; discover how a chicken farmer from Botswana helped grow Netherlands Rugby; and we meet Lichfield Ladies to discover how they coped with the bombshell of being kicked out of rugby’s top flight.

For those longing for the good ol’ days of rugby, we also look back to the 1991 Rugby World Cup where half-time bands were proper and hookers threw one-handed. And we’ve got columns from Squidge (choosing the world’s best No.8), Rusty looking at a world without DoRs, and Vicky Fleetwood and Rocky Clark putting the women’s rugby world to rights.

The Rugby Journal is a quarterly print rugby magazine, published by Sporting Eric. Issue 15 is available now to buy via therugbyjournal.com/subscribe.