By Tim Cronin

Australia should have a fantastic front row.

It’s no secret they are a sports mad nation, and the volume of their population who take part in sport obviously contributes to the fantastic global success they experience in any number of events. And it’s no wonder that people love to get outside and run around – the environment is simply conducive to playing sport.

So, with high participation levels and a country which is used to competing, and indeed achieving excellence, I can’t figure out why the Wallabies struggle year after year to get a decent front row together.

By Tom Dowler

Tom Dowler from the Crouch Touch Engage rugby blog gives his predictions for the new Aviva Premiership season and previews every teams chances this season.

By Rowan Birch

On Saturday the 25th August 2012 the All Blacks, the Waikato Chiefs and international rugby lost a legend - but only temporarily.

Earlier this year Sonny Bill Williams announced that he would take a few years sabbatical from New Zealand and eventually union before returning to Aotearoa for the 2015 World Cup.

Canterbury, the world's premium rugby brand, have just launched a new range of casual footwear.

Famous for their hard-wearing, high-quality kit on the pitch, the footwear extends Canterbury’s off-field range, combining style and comfort whilst staying true to Canterbury’s brand heritage.

The styles are all named after towns in New Zealand: the Rotorua, Hamilton and Dunedin styles all feature the classic 'CCC' logo, as well as other traditional Canterbury touches such as the incorporation of the unique ‘Uglies’ colours.

Rain was a constant concern as clouds loomed over Chosen Hill Rugby Club in Gloucester at a charity rugby match raising money for the Multiple Sclerosis Society but #rugbyunited’s hardy faithful weren’t troubled by the weather worries. Trevor Large, #rugbyunited’s founder, doesn’t normally do interviews but made a one-off exception for Scrum Five, a dedicated supporter of #rugbyunited.

Since the foundations were laid for #rugbyunited way back in December 2011, it has steadily become one of the most well-known and widely used online communities for rugby union fans. Scrum Five has been a supporter and partner of #rugbyunited throughout the time it has been active and we were granted exclusive access to the world of #rugbyunited by chatting to the founder Trevor Large and #RUTeam member Rich Church-Keen.

Credit: Rugby Media/Nick Heath

Harlequins boss Conor O'Shea talks to Russell Hargreaves of Talking Rugby at the Aviva Premiership launch.

By David Boyle

David Boyle in training

David Boyle is a level 3 Master Coach and board member with the Australian Strength & Conditioning Association. David has also worked with the Wallabies (national Rugby Union team) and Kangaroos (national Rugby League side), and is one of the best Rugby Union trainers in the world.

In Rugby Union training, resistance training is often synonymous with strength training and, indeed, we do lift weights to get stronger. However, we also lift weights to become powerful. Do you know the difference? What do you imagine of when you think of a strong person, and what do you imagine when you think of a powerful person? If it's the same for both then you may want to read further to learn the difference between strength and power and how to achieve both.

Ex-British and Irish Lions boss, Sir Ian McGeechan is set to join  former UK Sport performance director Peter Keen to lead a review into elite rugby in England.

The pair will report to RFU chief executive Ian Ritchie, who hopes to have built a strong base from which to build towards the Rugby World Cup in 2015.

By Rowan Birch

The Wallabies had on the whole a 'decent' year in 2012. The Queensland Reds won the Super Rugby championship plus the Wallabies won the Tri Nations and collected a bronze medal at the World Cup. The year was topped off with a win against Wales at the Millennium stadium. The Aussies successful year was graced with fantastic form from Scott Higginbotham, the brilliant David Pocock and Radike 'Afro' Samo.

However, there was also a sour taste left in the mouth of the Australians. Not only did they lose in the semi-final of the World Cup to 'the Enemy' but they also got well beat by Ireland in the group stage. Even worse though, the form of some of the Wallabies top players dropped significantly heading into the world cup, which led to doubt over their position in the team.

In the last decade, social networking sites have gone viral. By using online sites such as Facebook, Twitter and Linkedin, users are able to communicate with friends, family, celebrities, employers and even brands from all over the world.

Social networking allows you to communicate with whomever you want (or whatever you want), whenever you want and the advantage of this type of communication is endless.

New social networking site, Sportesk, has really found a niche in the social media marketplace. The site, as the name may suggest, is targeted towards sports fanatics, and offers the opportunity for anybody involved in sport – players, coaches, refs, teams, agents, sponsors etc. – to connect with each other from anywhere in the world!

By Tim Cronin

The expanded southern hemisphere international rugby season is about to kick off for the first time, with the Investec Rugby Championship and I felt it was worth taking a close look at how the sides stack up at this stage in the season,

The three former Tri-nations teams Australian, South Africa, and New Zealand will be easy enough to get a gauge on based on the Super XV tournament, but the newly implemented Pumas of Argentina might be harder to get a handle on.

Firstly, South Africa and New Zealand look like good shape coming off the Super XV. In fairness the Australians shouldn't have had, and didn't deserve a home semi-final as the Reds only got in the top three because of the charity setup that SANZAR decided to use, which allows every conference winner a home final, regardless of where they finished on the competition ladder.