Australia

The draw for the 2015 Rugby World Cup has been made

Rugby in the northern hemisphere is power based. Fear of defeat outweighs ambition. This has been starkly proved in the Autumn Series.

HSBC Ambassador George Gregan has picked his Wallaby starting line-up for the first test against The Lions in Brisbane on 22nd June 2013.

Here is my Autumn International Test Rugby Review following the weekend, from a New Zealand perspective.

The Rugby Championship 2012 is pretty much decided with the All Blacks hot favourites to win

For the last few months rumours have been circulating that next year the All Blacks, South Africa and Australia could come together to create a SANZAR team.

The June International Matches leaves me wondering if there should be a Northern vs Southern Hemisphere rugby series at the end of the year, so some players who are injured now would still be available.

New Zealand, Australia and South Africa each recorded their second wins of the summer against northern hemisphere tourists.

Here is my June International Rugby tests Team of Week One.

The June International test matches between Southern and Northern Hemisphere teams looks set to be closer than expected in 2012.

When the NSW Waratahs forwards packed down for their first scrum of the 2012 Super Rugby season against the Queensland Reds, they were missing a significant amount of the intellectual property and experience they have had at their disposal in recent years.

The 2012 Super Rugby season has quietly popped up without many people apart from the players and coaches really noticing it - but yes indeed it does start this weekend and for many rugby fans it's just as well given it comes at the end of one of the longer off-seasons in recent times.

When I last wrote a Blog I was still in New Zealand enjoying what I can only describe as the best World Cup to have ever been played out!

England are set to face South Africa four times in 2012 with confirmation that the Springboks will visit Twickenham in November.

Adam Ashley-Cooper scored a wonderful second half hat-trick as the Wallabies withheld some early pressure to win comfortably against the USA.

The Wallabies have rung the changes with David Pocock still out and Drew Mitchell replacing James O'Connor with Adam Ashley Cooper switching from left to right wing.

In what is one of the greatest results for Irish rugby, the men in green ground out a well deserved victory against Australia. The Wallabies were outplayed, out-muscled and out-scored by the men from the Emerald Isle.

Ireland and Australia go into their second pool C game on the back of wins as Australia were rampant against a sorry Italy while the Irish staggered past a resilient USA.

The match kicked off in driving rain in the North Harbour stadium as The Wallabies looked to assert their dominance over the underdogs Italy

Australia will be looking to start their World Cup Campaign off with a bang against the favoured underdogs Italy at the North Harbour stadium tomorrow morning