The Rugby Broadcast Report Issue 7: TV Guide June 6-9
Never miss a game
A short newsletter this week as I’m travelling at the moment.
This weekend features some brilliant match ups, including the BKT URC semi-finals, with the Bulls hosting the Sharks and Leinster facing current URC champions Glasgow. Both games are on Saturday.
In the Premiership, Bath face Bristol on Friday night at the Rec, while Michael Cheika’s Leicester play Sale on Saturday afternoon.
The Pro D2 final between Sam Davies’ Grenoble and Montauban is available to watch for free on Saturday on FR-UK’s YouTube channel.
In other fixtues, the Super Rugby Pacific quarter-finals are being held this weekend, as well as Oceania U20s action, Rugby Africa Women’s Cup, Top 14 and MLR.
You can find kick-off and broadcast information for each of these games below.
Fixture of the weekend (admittedly biased)
URC SF: Bulls v Sharks
Kick-off: Saturday 5:15pm / 6:15pm local
TV: Premier Sports 1 & Rugby, TG4, URC TV, SuperSport
Venue: Loftus Versfeld, Pretoria
Referee: Andrew Brace (IRFU)
ARs: Sam Grove-White (SRU) & Adam Jones (WRU)
TMO: Mike Adamson (SRU)
Quote of the week
"I think if we're looking at that mantra of bringing new fans into the sport, we need to be looking at the likes of YouTube as almost the free-to-air of the future. It's a burgeoning area for us to focus in on."
– URC CEO Martin Anayi speaking at a media round table this week
Rugby media rights news
Martin Anayi confirmed this week that talks with S4C are on-going for FTA rights to the URC from next season.
Anayi also said that the URC is working with Premier Sports “to see if there's a free-to-air angle, we might look around YouTube for example, that allows us to grow a younger audience without affecting the subscriber audience and will allow us to digitally drive a fanbase.”
At the same media round table this week, Anayi noted that URC viewership has exceeded 150 million since the opening round of the 2021-2022 season.
According to The Times "The (new) Nations Cup does not yet have a confirmed broadcast partner for the UK, but sources have said they are in “advanced discussions” with a potential television channel." TNT is likely to land the rights.
TV Guide June 6-9
Friday June 6
8:05am – Crusaders v Reds (Super Rugby Pacific) – Sky Sports Action / NOW
7:45pm – Bath v Bristol (Premiership) – TNT Sports 1 / Discovery+ / NOW
Saturday June 7
3:00am – Tonga U20s v Canada U20s (Oceania Rugby U20s) – RugbyPass TV
5:00am – Fiji U20s v Samoa U20s (Oceania Rugby U20s) – RugbyPass TV
8:05am – Chiefs v Blues (Super Rugby Pacific) – Sky Sports Action / NOW
10:35am – Brumbies v Hurricanes (Super Rugby Pacific) – Sky Sports Action / NOW
11:00am – South Africa W v Uganda Women (Rugby Africa Women’s Cup) – RugbyPass TV
1:00pm – Kenya W v Madagascar Women (Rugby Africa Women’s Cup) – RugbyPass TV
2:45pm – Leinster v Glasgow (URC) – RTÉ 2 / Premier Sports 1 / NOW / URC TV
3:30pm – Leicester Tigers v Sale (Premiership) – TNT Sports 2 / Discovery+ / NOW
4:30pm – Grenoble v Montauban (Pro D2) – YouTube
5:15pm – Bulls v Sharks (URC) – TG4 / Premier Sports 1 / NOW / URC TV
8:05pm – Bayonne v Toulon (Top 14) – Premier Sports 2 / Rugby / NOW
8:05pm – Stade Français v Castres (Top 14) – Premier Sports Online / TV5MONDE
8:05pm – Pau v La Rochelle (Top 14) – Premier Sports Online Only / Unavailable live in ROI
Sunday June 8
12:00am – NOLA v Free Jacks (MLR) – The Rugby Network
2:00am – Utah v RFC LA (MLR) – The Rugby Network
3:00am – SD Legion v Old Glory (MLR) – The Rugby Network
Monday June 9
1:00am – SaberCats v Anthem Rugby (MLR) – The Rugby Network
2:00am – Seawolves v Miami (MLR) – The Rugby Network