The Rugby Broadcast Report Issue 12: Rugby TV Guide 18-19 July
Never miss a game
Welcome to the Rugby Broadcast Report, a weekly newsletter covering the weekend’s rugby action and the latest developments in rugby media rights.
Can France claim a win in their third and final test match of their summer tour when Fabien Galthié’s French side take on the All Blacks at 8:05am on Saturday morning (Sky Sports Main Event & Lions / NOW)?
The eagerly anticipated first Test match of the Lions tour kicks off on Saturday morning at 11am (Sky Sports Main Event & Lions / NOW) as Joe Schmidt’s Australia host the Lions at a sold-out Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane.
In other notable fixtures, South Africa host a Georgia (Sky Sports Lions / NOW) side that will be eager to put in a strong performance after a disappointing loss to the Cheetahs last weekend.
Felipe Contepomi’s Pumas side will be hoping to bounce back from back-to-back losses against England when they take on Uruguay on Saturday at 8:40pm. England take on the USA on Saturday at 10:05pm, with free coverage on both RugbyPass TV and YouTube.
The Rugby Africa Cup Final between Namibia v Zimbabwe takes place on Saturday with a spot in the 2027 Rugby World Cup up for grabs (2:00pm, RugbyPass TV / YouTube).
If that isn’t enough rugby for you, there’s also U20s Championship rugby and a number of other internationals to look forward to.
Irish and UK kick-off times and broadcast details for all games are listed below.
Fixture of the weekend (admittedly biased)
Lions Tour: Australia v Lions
Kick-off: Saturday, 11:00am IST & BST / 8pm local time
TV: Sky Sports Lions & Main Event / NOW
Venue: Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane
Ref: Ben O’Keeffe (NZR)
ARs: Nika Amashukeli (GRU), Andrea Piardi (FIR)
TMO: Richard Kelly (NZR)
After a four year build up (which has felt like a very long four years) the first Test of 2025 Lions tour is finally upon us.
While the pre-tour fixture against the Pumas in Dublin was a brilliant occasion, the midweek games against Australia's Super Rugby sides and an AUNZ invitational side have been underwhelming.
Eight Irish players have made the Lions’ starting XV, with Tom Curry getting the nod ahead of Jac Morgan and Josh van der Flier at 7. Marcus Smith has made the bench and will cover 10 and 15, with Owen Farrell not selected in the 23.
Joe Schmidt’s Wallabies side have suffered a number of injury blows, with Will Skelton, Rob Valetini, Langi Gleeson and out-half Noah Lolesio all ruled out. Inexperienced 22-year-old out-half Tom Lynagh gets the nod at 10.
It’s been a long build up and let’s hope the opening Test lives up to the hype.
Australia: 15 Tom Wright, 14 Max Jorgensen, 13 Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii, 12 Len Ikitau, 11 Harry Potter, 10 Tom Lynagh, 9 Jake Gordon, 8 Harry Wilson (c), 7 Fraser McReight, 6 Nick Champion de Crespigny, 5 Jeremy Williams, 4 Nick Frost, 3 Allan Alaalatoa, 2 Matt Faessler, 1 James Slipper. Replacements: 16 Billy Pollard, 17 Angus Bell, 18 Tom Robertson, 19 Tom Hooper, 20 Carlo Tizzano, 21 Tate McDermott, 22 Ben Donaldson, 23 Andrew Kellaway
Lions: 15 Hugo Keenan, 14 Tommy Freeman, 13 Huw Jones, 12 Sione Tuipulotu, 11 James Lowe, 10 Finn Russell, 9 Jamison Gibson-Park, 8 Jack Conan, 7 Tom Curry, 6 Tadhg Beirne, 5 Joe McCarthy, 4 Maro Itoje (c), 3 Tadhg Furlong, 2 Dan Sheehan, 1 Ellis Genge. Replacements: 16 Ronan Kelleher, 17 Andrew Porter, 18 Will Stuart, 19 Ollie Chessum, 20 Ben Earl, 21 Alex Mitchell, 22 Marcus Smith, 23 Bundee Aki.
Verdict: Lions by 8
Quote of the week
Free-to-air broadcasters have no choice but to either collaborate with each other as a final resort or partner with a streamer. It is a win-win for all parties. For free-to-air broadcasters, it gives them a new lease of life, for Netflix a broad range of programming and for users it reduces fragmentation by having more in one place. – Paolo Pescatore
Media analyst Paolo Pescatore spoke to TVBEurope recently about French free-to-air provider TF1’s recent partnership with Netflix. Under the new agreement, Netflix will broadcast TF1’s linear channel and on-demand content from summer 2026 in France.
In a similar vein and as noted in Issue 10 of the Rugby Broadcast Report, fellow free-to-air broadcaster France Télévisions recently announced that its linear channels have been launched on Prime Video in France. As such, the 2026 Men’s Six Nations and the Top 14 final will be available on Amazon in France next year.
Further, Disney and ITV recently announced a new partnership that involves both entertainment companies distributing each other’s content in the UK. Sky has been bundling Netflix with its TV products for years.
Each of these agreements demonstrate how some traditional broadcasters are adapting – rather than competing with streamers, they’re choosing to cooperate. For fans, it means fewer logins, less fragmentation, and potentially broader access.
Such agreements provide an insight into what the future of free-to-air TV could look like: less fragmentation, with content from free-to-air, streaming, and traditional broadcasters all available on the same platform.
Perhaps Sky was ahead of the trend when the broadcaster made a conscious decision to become an aggregator of content from rivals and streamers alike. The broadcaster has embedded its own content as well as its rivals’ content in the UI for Sky Q, Sky Glass and Sky Stream.
RugbyPass TV’s “exclusive” coverage of USA v England
Last month, RugbyPass announced that it had secured exclusive rights to USA v England, which takes place this Saturday. However, the game is also being shown on England’s YouTube channel and RugbyPass TV isn’t mentioned in England Rugby’s tweet below. Could this be due to the technical issues that occurred during RugbyPass TV’s broadcast of England XV v France XV in June?
Rugby media rights news
According to the South Africa’s Media Online news outlet, Nielsen data has revealed that the 2024-2025 URC season drew exceptionally strong viewership figures in South Africa. The total unique URC audience in South Africa jumped from 1.53 million in 2023/24 to over 2.4 million in 2024/25, an increase of 57%. In addition, the total number of minutes watched grew from 18.5 million to nearly 24.8 million, which is a 34% increase. Live consumption increased 32%, while viewing on secondary platforms increased by 42%.
The fixtures for the 2025-2026 Champions Cup and Challenge Cup seasons have been released. RTE will no longer broadcast Champions Cup games involving the Irish provinces and the final. Premier Sports holds exclusive rights to the top-tier tournament in both Ireland and the UK. S4C’s coverage of selected Challenge Cup fixtures involving Welsh sides will continue next season. You can find the full fixtures here.
The Irish Independent is hosting a watch-along live stream for the first Australia v Lions Test on Saturday on the Indo Sport YouTube channel. Will Slattery will be joined by Bernard Jackman and Cian Tracey.
As mentioned above, England’s fixture against the USA will now be shown on YouTube as well as RugbyPass TV.
Sky Sports Action has been temporarily rebranded Sky Sports Lions.
The National Rugby League (LNR) in France has released an extensive report into the 2024-2025 Top 14 and Pro D2 seasons, which includes viewing and attendance figures. Keep an eye on rugbybroadcast.com and my social media channels over the coming days – I will be publishing an article on the report soon.
Here’s your full TV guide for this weekend’s action:
Friday 18 July
8:35am – Samoa v Scotland (International) – BBC Sport website / BBC iPlayer / Premier Sports 2 / NOW
Saturday 19 July
2:00am – Canada v Spain (International) – RugbyPass TV
8:00am – Côte d’Ivoire v Uganda (Rugby Africa Cup) – RugbyPass TV / YouTube
8:05am – New Zealand v France (International) – Sky Sports Main Event & Lions / NOW
10:00am – Senegal v Morocco (Rugby Africa Cup) – RugbyPass TV / YouTube
11:00am – Australia v British & Irish Lions (British & Irish Lions Tour) – Sky Sports Main Event & Lions / NOW
12:00pm – Algeria v Kenya (Rugby Africa Cup) – RugbyPass TV / YouTube
2:00pm – Namibia v Zimbabwe (Rugby Africa Cup) – RugbyPass TV / YouTube
2:30pm – Italy U20 v Wales U20 (U20s Championship) – RugbyPass TV
2:30pm – Spain U20 v Ireland U20 (U20s Championship) – RugbyPass TV
4:10pm – South Africa v Georgia (International) – Sky Sports Lions / NOW
5:00pm – France U20 v Argentina U20 (U20s Championship) – RugbyPass TV
5:00pm – Australia U20 v England U20 (U20s Championship) – RugbyPass TV
7:05pm – USA Women v Fiji Women (International) – RugbyPass TV
7:30pm – Georgia U20 v Scotland U20 (U20s Championship) – RugbyPass TV
7:30pm – New Zealand U20 v South Africa U20 (U20s Championship) – RugbyPass TV
8:40pm – Argentina v Uruguay (International) – Sky Sports Lions / NOW
10:05pm – USA v England (International) – RugbyPass TV / YouTube
Useful links (all free)
Final thoughts
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