As a console user, I’m only able to comment on what I’m seeing via the likes of @MaD_Dragon_Rugby and @BearGamer etc whilst desperately waiting for the full release to get my hands on it.
The latest update seems really positive and fixed a lot of bugs - albeit sounds like you guys are still having plenty of crashes and other little glitches.
But from where things started with EA1 to now - I must say I’m being increasingly optimistic of what the end result is going to look like.
As a rugby fan and someone who has played the sport for over 20 years, I just wanted to share some things that I think may help with the overall enjoyment of gameplay:
Team and player ratings
Rugby is a pretty savage sport in that if you’re playing a team that is much better than you, then a common and likely outcome is a 50+ - 0 hammering. Maybe closer to the hundred mark if you’re talking the best teams in the world vs the likes of Russia, Spain, Uruguay etc.
Unlike football where on their day a League 2 team could turn over a Premier League team in a cup game, in rugby 99% of the time this just does not happen.
Whilst a 100-0 game doesn’t sound fun for anyone, I do think the stats and ratings should be more realistic. I’ve seen plenty of unknown players to me in the MLR with ratings on par with the likes of Antoine Dupont in the high 80’s. Even players on the bench with ratings of 87.
I think for the average gamer to really enjoy this, they should find matches against the top teams challenging (and obviously can control that level of challenge with the difficulty), but on the flip side - should also be able to absolutely destroy a lower ranked team as well. From what I’m seeing it seems like most teams and players are all ranked very generously at the moment and I fear that the game will feel very repetitive if every game is of a similar difficulty.
Dominant tackles
Virtually every tackle I see is a dominant one and stops the attacker in their tracks. If someone powerful is running at speed, then the odds of this happening is very unlikely. Hopefully player positions and stats could help with how realistic this is. But I would say at least half of tackles in a game will be a little more passive, where the attacker is able to get over the gain line - even if only by a yard or two.
I think this would make the forwards in a game more useful instead of just passing the ball from wing to wing to look for space to attack. If the pick and goes and passes to the forward pods actually achieved something and could make a bit of ground/tie players in, then you could vary your gameplay and get a more simulation feel to the game. I can’t help feeling that the longevity of the game will quickly wear off if you’re constantly getting hit backwards every single time you run with the ball and have to do the same attack with the backs to have any chance of making a line break.
Ruck steals
A lot of penalties are conceded in rugby by players infringing at the rucks, whether that be attackers holding and not releasing the ball or the defenders trying to jackal and steal it. If I recall correctly Rugby 08 had a button (possibly R3 on PlayStation) where you could intentionally hold on or put your hands in the ruck.
If you did this for too long or at the wrong time, then often you were penalised - exactly as you should be.
With rucks in the game, I don’t think people want an over complicated mini game where you have to mess about with various buttons/analogue sticks etc. Just the ability to try to steal the ball if you’re the first man there and no ruck formed, or the ability to throw men in and try to counter ruck if the opposition doesn’t have many men in there (simple button mash job for this).
I think BA are on track with this but just need some work on the animations as it seems like when you counter ruck and push over, someone then just walks in to the middle of the ruck to pick up the ball/teleports in to their hands. Maybe with the pushover animation, they should drive over the ball leaving it at the back of the ruck ready for the 9 to play it. I would like to see that option to infringe though, so that you don’t get just a button prompt to steal the ball when available, but more a timing thing where you will give away penalties if you get it wrong. With regards to holding on, likewise I would like the option to do this intentionally as well as if isolated with fullback and opposition able to turn over and score an easy try, then you would hold on to the ball and give away the penalty instead - but risking a yellow card of course.
It sounds like we’re pretty close to an announcement from Ross Symons comment on X and so probably too late in to Early Access now to implement any new mechanics or big changes, but I do think the above could be quite easily tweaked and improved on which would make the game feel much more authentic and help with the longevity.
Just gagging for a new road map or some further news now! 
