Rugby USA tv schedule

[Zachary Norman]

I am new to rugby and caught the 7's on NBC. I am completely hooked and can't seem to find a tv schedule for showings in the USA. If anyone knows a link or website with the tv schedule please let me know.

 

[rusty_lock]

In the US your best bet is NBC Universal. Here is a link to their website.

http://universalsports.com/category/rugby/

Setanta has also been known to carry it but primarily on a pay per view basis

Also here is a website that legally streams some six nations games.

http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/21169393

Welcome to Rugby

 

[RuggerUA]

Hi Zachary and welcome the forum.
There is no unified "rugby TV schedule" since bits of rugby are shown on different channels. In general, the situation with rugby broadcasts has been slowly improving over the past few years, but rugby is still far from being a "mainstream" sport, unfortunately, and because of that its TV time is limited.
Your options for viewing rugby are as follows:

NBC - shows rugby a few times per year, mainly sevens, such as the Las Vegas tournament and the Philly collegiate sevens tournament. NBC also showed several RWC matches last year. The next time rugby will be on NBC is June 2 - the collegiate sevens.

NBC Sports - this is a sports channel owned by NBC, formerly known as Versus. It also shows sevens primarily, but at least they show 2 hours of every leg of the Sevens World Series.

Universal Sports - another channel owned by NBC, shows primarily Olympic sports, complements rugby coverage from NBC Sports, their website has a good selection of video highlights. Many cable providers do not offer this channel.

DirecTV Channel 490 - has live Super Rugby (southern hemisphere club competition). Good if you have DirecTV.
http://www.directv.com/DTVAPP/content/sports/super_rugby_schedule

Fox Soccer Plus -they took over from Setanta. As the name suggests, this is primarily a soccer channel, but they fill about 20% of airtime with rugby, mostly European club competitions like Heineken Cup and Pro12. You have to order this channel separately from your cable provider, it costs $15 per month.
http://www.foxsoccerplus.com/

BBC America - shows 6 Nations Championship in February-March, but no rugby during the rest of the year.

ESPN3 - the online streaming service of ESPN - they show French Top 14 club competition, excellent quality. The main ESPN TV channels used to show some college rugby in the past, but this year they are not showing it unfortunately.
http://espn.go.com/watchespn/index/_/channel/espn3#sport/rugby/

For online viewing, I also highly recommend Rugbydump for highlights clips.
http://www.rugbydump.com/

You can also see some highlights of college rugby matches on RugbyMag website.
http://www.rugbymag.com/

I hope this helps, please feel free to ask more questions, and I hope you stick with it and become a lifelong member of the rugby fan community.

 

[Nielsch]

Fox Soccer Plus will broadcast the Aviva Premiership semi final between Harlequins vs. Northampton Saints.

 

[ORothlain]

Zach...so, RuggerUA's recontamination is the most thorough. We don't get it all, but we get a lot more than we used to. If you can spare the $15 extra a month, I'd get FOX Soccer Plus. They show a good variety of games (delayed mostly, some live). While 7's is cool and is what the NBC networks are showing due to our Olympic inclusion, watch some real rugby (15's I guess we'll call it). What part of America are you in?

 

[Aedaphon]

firstrowsports.eu streams all sports but I've definitely caught the 7s on there before.

That said it's hardly HD so I've just gotta hope my college has some of these sports channels next year...

 

[berivals]

I am new user rugby game and 7th NBC. Rugby game schedule working proper..........

 

[Nielsch]

Zach...so, RuggerUA's recontamination is the most thorough. We don't get it all, but we get a lot more than we used to. If you can spare the $15 extra a month, I'd get FOX Soccer Plus. They show a good variety of games (delayed mostly, some live). While 7's is cool and is what the NBC networks are showing due to our Olympic inclusion, watch some real rugby (15's I guess we'll call it). What part of America are you in?

You definitely get more than we in the Netherlands do, even though we are located close to England and France!

 

[RuggerUA]

National highschool and college championships are on webcast this weekend.
Streaming available here: http://www.deseretnews.com/article/...-championships-Utah-high-school-and-club.html

The D1-A final of BYU vs. ASU will be on ESPN3 live on Saturday, and also will be shown on tape delay on ESPNU on Tuesday.

 

[MauleDriver]

Please Please get new announcers!!!!

I cringed while watching the All Blacks vs the USA Eagles. The announcers were abysmal!!!

I watch Southern Hemisphere Rugby Union matches, primarily Super Rugby and Rugby Championship series as well as Six Nations. The announcers obviously know the game, laws, and take time to learn the players. The play by play and color guy in the AB vs Eagles match had no clue on the laws and if I had not known the game would have been mystified as to what the heck was going on.

If we have any hope of Rugby taking hold in the USA, we should use the feed from the major broadcasters during the World Cup and find someone who knows their butt from third base. I know that the color guy played the game but obviously did not learn the laws and the tactics of the All Blacks were beyond his knowledge level.

If you know anyone connected w/ the USA Eagles, please do the sport a favor and pass this up the line.