Rugby World Cup 2023: European rights holders reveal presentation and analysis plans ahead of big kick off
From 4K output and augmented reality studios to local language coverage, the rights-holding broadcasters (RHBs) are pulling out all the stops for the 2023 Rugby World Cup in France which starts today (8 September) with the hosts taking on New Zealand in Paris.
Ahead of the first match, SVG Europe looks at how the broadcasters in four of the top European nations are planning to cover the 20-team tournament.
Italy
Rai and Sky Sport will broadcast all of the 48 Rugby World Cup 2023 matches between them with 19 live and free-to-air on Rai, including all Italy matches. The rest will be shown on Sky Sport.
Sky has assembled a crack team of analysts for its output including Diego Dominguez, the top Italian points scorer of all time and one of the seven players to have scored more than 1000 points at international level, Andrea De Rossi who captained Italy at the 2004 Six Nations, and Alessandro Moscardi who was 19 times captain of the national team.
The commentators will be Francesco Pierantozzi , Moreno Molla , Paolo Malpezzi and Nicola Roggero.
Over on Rai, the match commentators will be Andrea Fusco and Armando Palanza with technical analysis from Andrea Gritti. In the studio in Rome will be presenter Cristina Caruso alongside the former Italian players Leonardo Ghiraldini and Gianluca Guidi.
Ireland
RTÉ and Virgin Media Television (VMT) will show all 48 matches live and free-to-air in Ireland. Games are split equally until the latter stages of the tournament. At that point, VMT will show Ireland’s quarter-final should they reach the last eight, along with the other game that day. RTÉ will show the other two quarter-finals. RTÉ will then show Ireland’s semi-final should they reach the last four. VMT will show the other semi-final.
Jacqui Hurley will present coverage of all the live games on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player with Hugh Cahill, Des Curran and Connor Morris as commentators.
RTÉ analysts and co-commentators will include Jamie Heaslip, Simon Zebo, Jerry Flannery, Stephen Ferris, Fiona Coghlan, Bernard Jackman, Hannah Tyrrell, Donal, Lenihan and Darren Cave.
Virgin Media’s coverage will be presented by Joe Molloy, he’ll be joined by pundits Rob Kearney, Matt Williams, Andrew Trimble, Fiona Hayes, Grace Davitt, Eimear Considine and Ian Madigan
In the commentary booth will be Dave McIntyre accompanied by co-commentator Alan Quinlan.
UK
ITV Sport will show coverage of all 48 games live on ITV1 and ITV4 with content and match highlights also available on the ITVX streaming channel.
Presenter Mark Pougatch leads the on-screen team alongside Jill Douglas, who will host coverage from France. She will be joined by David Flatman and Hugh Woozencroft.
Analysis will be provided by Jonny Wilkinson, Maggie Alphonsi, Sam Warburton, Jamie Roberts, Brian O’Driscoll, Greig Laidlaw, Philippa Tuttiett, Bryan Habana, Sir Clive Woodward, Rory Best, John Barclay, Sergio Parisse, Gareth Thomas, George Gregan, Sir Ian McGeechan, Lawrence Dallaglio, and Sean Fitzpatrick.
ITV will use its new interactive mixed reality studio [https://www.svgeurope.org/blog/headlines/setting-the-standard-the-story-behind-itv-sports-new-virtual-presentation-hub/] as the hub of the coverage in the UK. This will allow the pundits to demonstrate physical analysis and provide unique insights.
For pres, the augmented reality set will also feature a balcony area overlooking traditional Parisian scenes. Former referee JP Doyle will be on standby to help with analysis of match official decisions and rule changes.
Whisper will produce S4C’s Rugby World Cup coverage, which will be in the Welsh language. This includes all Wales matches, as well as the first game of the tournament between France and New Zealand, the third-place play-offs, the semi-final and the final. The team will also deliver digital content and a tournament preview with exclusive access to the Welsh camp.
Carys Owens and Siôn Jones will lead the production team in France as Executive Producers, with Ceri Jenkins as Producer. Whisper’s onsite presentation team will be led by Sarra Elgan and Jason Mohammed. Pundits will include Mike Philips, Siwan Lillicrap and Robin McBryde. The team will have two presentation positions in France, with one being pitch-side.
France
Following a sub-licensing agreement, TF1 will show 20 matches, France Televisions 10 and M6 the remaining 18. The 20 fixtures to be shown by TF1 include three of France’s Pool A games, two quarter-finals, both semi-finals, the third-place playoff, and the final. France Television has the fourth Pool A France fixture, a game vs Namibia.
TF1 and M6 channels will broadcast 38 of the matches in 4K.
To view the full list of European rights holders go to: https://www.rugbyworldcup.com/2023/where-to-watch-and-broadcast-partners/europe
The Rugby World Cup 2023 starts on Friday 8 September and continues until the final on 28 October.