TV3 wins rights over Rugby World Cup

TV3 has secured full broadcasting rights for all 48 matches of the 2015 Rugby World Cup.

It is good news for the broadcaster just days after it lost the rights to cover a number of live GAA championship matches.

TV3 said all of the Ireland rugby team’s matches and the final stages of the tournament will be shown free-to-air.

The broadcaster said 20 matches will be broadcast on TV3 and the remainder on 3e.

However, it added that it had not ruled out some sub-licenses to other Irish broadcasters. It also said announcements regarding studio, commentary, and touchline broadcast teams will be made in due course.

The tournament takes place in England and Wales from September 18 to October 31, 2015. This will be the second time TV3 has won the rights to the tournament, having shown it in 2007.

The station’s group director of broadcasting, Niall Cogley, said there had been an auction process for the rights here and TV3 had won. He said one of the attractions was that, unlike last year’s tournament which was on in New Zealand, the 2015 games in Britain will be in the same time-zone for Irish fans.

“If Ireland can beat Canada, Romania, and Italy in the opening games, we’ll play France in Cardiff on October 11 for the privilege of avoiding New Zealand in the quarter-final,” he said. “With Joe Schmidt’s now legendary attention to detail, we like to imagine that Ireland’s first ever involvement in a Rugby World Cup semi-final is a real possibility next year.”

RTÉ group head of sport, Ryle Nugent, said the TV3 coup was “very disappointing news for RTÉ Sport and proof once again of the extremely competitive sports rights market in which we operate”.

Meanwhile, Rugby World Cup Limited chairman Bernard Lapasset described Ireland as “a strong and passionate rugby market” and said they were “delighted to be appointing a broadcaster that shares our passion for sport and our showcase event”.