Internet Rugby?

[rossjj]

Hey Newbie checking in,

Just wanated some input from you guys concerning wathcing matches online. As a Floridian from the south in the U.S. rugby is about as foreign as a Pakistani Cricket Match. Rugby is almost nonexistant on american TV; ESPN would rather show the World Seris of Poker(that never ends ) or Pro Bowling :%#%#: . With our American Football winding down( I know most of yous guys hate that ****); I would like to expand my horizens into the world of rugby which seems to share alot of similarites to out football without all the stopages. I've been studying Rugby for Dummies(actually pretty well written) and Ea Sports Rugby 2006 for x-box. The sport sounds great.

What broadband conections do you guys recommend for a newbie yank(or reb)?
The two that I have found are:

Setanta: Pros- Guieness Primere League, Managers League, Heineken Cup. Are these some of the best european leagues?? $150/year, $15/month. Cons- Soccer programing; nothing wrong with it, I am just more interested in Rugby.

Mediazone-RugbyTV: Looks like alot of tournements; but not alot of league action. $99/year.

Both look pretty cool; I'm kind of leaning toward Setanta- but I don't want to get stuck with alot of soccer.

What do you guys recommend to a newbie who is interested tin the sport of Rugby??

Thanks, Jason (sorry about the spelling and grammer; have few beers in me)

 

[melon]

Unfortunately the best rugby viewing you will get is Setanta. I say infortunately because Setanta very rarely, if ever, shows their matches live. But that doesn't worry everyone.

And yes, Guieness Primere League, Managers League, Heineken Cup are the best european rugby union club competitions

 

[Brainpowerd]

I've been subscribing to Setanta Broadband for a few years now and have been impressed with the amount of rugby they've kept posted. The early rounds of the Heineken aren't usually live unless there's no Premiership or Championship games available; that's the case with this season but not so much last season. The selection of Rugby League and Rugby Union games is impressive nonetheless and the fact that I can watch them on-demand is a plus. As the Heineken Cup gets into the quarters, semis, and finals, you will see a lot more live matches as Setanta will feed the games to their second broadband channel (which is usually only active on Saturday).

I haven't had the opportunity to watch much other offerings online and to their fault, most of the subscription broadband services have been very hard to find. To date, I have never had an issue with Setanta either as a monthly or annual subscriber and have recommended the service to a number of associates. The warnings I give is that it can be costly if you are on a tight budget ($15 per month / $150 per year) and also that you will get a lot of soccer and GAA (Irish football and hurling) included with either level of subscription. There is usually a lot of Rugby to watch on-demand, however, and very rarely are there PPV / Annual subscriber only Rugby issues from this service although I was rather disappointed with how the Rugby World Cup was handled in that regard (PPV and live with unscheduled off-time replays shown a few days later).

All told, however, I can't complain about the service; it's been top-notch and accessible any time I've logged in. I spend about 4-6 hours of live viewing per day on the service (I watch everything) and about the same amount per day of their on-demand programming rewatching the stuff I couldn't pay close attention to at work. Oh, and I've never seen the site down or devoid of content for any reason. :cheers:

 

[melon]

They must be better than what I have heard and though.
Thank you very much

Well there we go rossjj, Setanta seems the way to go!

 

[rossjj]

^^^thanks for the responces, Setanta it is.

 

[Prestwick]

Setanta host exceedingly good broadband services in all of the nations they operate in. In the UK, I can get most of the Magners League matches on here as well as some French league matches and if I wanted to bore myself silly, I can watch Australian NRL Rugby lite too!

 

[melon]

Setanta host exceedingly good broadband services in all of the nations they operate in. In the UK, I can get most of the Magners League matches on here as well as some French league matches and if I wanted to bore myself silly, I can watch Australian NRL Rugby lite too! [/b]

What is this so called NRL Rugby "lite"?

 

[Prestwick]

Its a sport like Rugby, except that everything always has to be ten yards apart and people spend all day running straight at one another. Its all horribly over-produced in a way that would make even ESPN or FOX America blush.

Its pretty good, you should watch it some time.

 

[melon]

Oh you mean Rugby League. Awesome game that one.

 

[Prestwick]

No, no no no, Rugby lite.

 

[Vambo]

Oh you mean Rugby League. Awesome game that one.
[/b]

The Greatest Game :cheers:

 

[rossjj]

Finally got the Setanta online. Lots of matches to choose from. Man, this is really my first introduction to really watching rugby; its alot faster than i thought it would be. American football gives you ample time to take in whats going on; rugby gamplay is very continious, even with the scums, rucks and line outs. I'll defiantly have too keep reading up and pay close attention. Very cool though :cheers: .

The only problem with the setanta is the field of view is very small on my monitor; not quite the sports viewing experience that I have on my 61" HDTV. Not sure how too make it full srceen; probably be too pixilated anyway.

Do any of you guys conect your internet to the TV for a larger viewing area(not even sure if it would help)?

Can you download the matches; then transfer to a dvd for a larger viewing area?