RTÉ deal ‘good for league’s exposure’

LIVE provincial rugby will return to free-to-air TV screens for the first time in four years on Friday evening when RTÉ broadcasts the first of its proposed 35 to 40 Magners League games this season.

Leinster’s trip to face the Glasgow Warriors will be the opening gambit for the broadcaster which takes over from Setanta having struck a deal with Celtic Rugby alongside five other public service broadcasters.

“It is something of a ground- breaking deal in the way it is structured,” said RTÉ Group Head of Sport Ryle Nugent.