Scrum Five would like to wish all of its readers and followers a Happy New Year!

2012 has been busy as usual for the rugby community but 2013 should be even better with a highly-anticipated Lions tour on the horizon!

We'll see you all next year.

In Scrum Five's Christmas competition, you can get your hands on a variety of Eden Park products.

Enter our competition and you could win an Eden Park v-neck England jumper, an RFU scarf, an England polo shirt and an RFU cap!

Official ticket, travel and accommodation packages are available from Lions Rugby Travel starting from £2,199 and the three Test Tours start from £5,999 -- contact www.lionstour.com or call 0844 788 4070.

Check out Canterbury's 78 seconds of highlights from the Autumn International series in the video below...

With six months to go to the start of the 2013 British & Irish Lions Tour to Australia and now the Autumn Internationals involving the four home nations have ended, former dual-code Wales International Jonathan Davies has predicted his starting XV for the first Test of The British & Irish Lions Tour to Australia in 2013.

Now an experienced rugby pundit Jonathan has put pen to paper and jotted down his starting line-up to face the Australians on 22nd June 2013.

By Tim Cronin

We might be nearly three years out from the next Rugby World Cup, but the IRB’s announcement of the first three teams in each of the four pools has given us an early insight as to how the tournament might pan out.

To be honest, most of the groups appear relatively clear-cut. In Pool B South Africa are joined by Samoa and Scotland, and it’s hard to imagine anything less than a first place finish from the Springboks. Scotland have 1000 days to ponder an all-or-nothing game against Samoa for the other play-off berth, and much will hinge on their ability to play with accuracy and defend stoutly against the flair of the Pacific Islanders.

QBE, title sponsor of England's autumn international series, has caught up with some of England's rugby stars to film a series of technical 'How To' videos on the game's key skills.

Featuring detailed insight from forwards Dan Cole, Tom Youngs and Tom Wood, the videos break down the technicalities of these skills whilst also talking about the psychological elements and the importance to the wider game.



The rest of the series:
Lineout video with Tom Youngs: http://youtu.be/gD5cZ1OPccs
Scrummaging video with Dan Cole: http://youtu.be/bnwdAoQW39U

For more interviews, imagery, news and stories, visit: www.qberugby.com

By Rowan Birch

This autumn has thrown up a few surprises - from Tonga beating Scotland, Samoa beating Wales to England battering New Zealand.

Below I am going to give you my top XV players of these past few weeks, from both the southern and northern hemispheres...