There are 48 matches in this year’s Rugby World Cup hosted in Japan and all of these will be broadcast on UK television. The majority of them and certainly all the high-profile ones will be shown live on the ITV platform. For most games you’ll need to get access to ITV 1 which is the primary channel for the ITV network. Some of the games will also be broadcast on ITV 4, though it’s likely that these will be some of the games with potentially smaller audiences.
For those in different time zones or who can’t watch them live then there’s another option – the ITV Hub.
This is the ITV’s streaming and archive service which allows access on a variety of different platforms from smart phones to tablets. All the games should be available during the tournament after they have been broadcast although it’s not quite clear how long these will be available afterwards.
The other channel from the UK with an online presence where you can watch the Rugby is on the Welsh language channel S4C. They have obtained rights to broadcast nine games during the tournament. These will include an opening group match; all four Welsh group matches and one fixture from the quarters and semi-final matches. S4C will also broadcast their own coverage of the finals and the play off matches.
Welsh-language channel S4C will also air nine games throughout the tournament including an opening group match, all four Wales group matches plus one fixture per round in the quarter and semi-finals, the third-place play-off and the final. Of course, remember that the commentary will be in Welsh!
You can also listen to full commentary of the matches on BBC Radio 5 Live, which has obtained exclusive radio rights in the United Kingdom. There has been no schedule published as yet but most of the matches are anticipated to be covered. All these channels, both the TV and radio are free to air if you’re in the United Kingdom but unfortunately are not accessible outside. There is a way to access them from outside the UK though, see further down this article.
There are other options for watching Rugby in other countries which may be more suitable –
- Argentina: ESPN
- Australia: Fox Sports and Network 10
- France: TF1
- Ireland: RTÉ and Eir Sport
- Japan: Nippon TV, NHK and J Sports
- New Zealand: TVNZ and Spark
- South Africa: SuperSport
- United States: NBC Sports and Univision
- Uruguay: ESPN
Most of these are available from terrestrial TV broadcasts or online. However, you’ll need to be located in those countries to access or use a VPN like the example below.
How to Watch the Rugby World Cup UK TV Coverage Anywhere
Just about every media company who broadcasts online both live and their archived programmes limits access based on your location. For example, to watch the Rugby on TF1 you will need to be located in France, to enjoy it on RTÉ you’ll need to be in Ireland (not Northern Ireland though). Unfortunately, exactly the same situation occurs with all the British TV stations like the BBC and ITV, which is a bit of a blow to the non-UK resident rugby fan who wants to enjoy the UK based commentary.
Fortunately, there is a solution which doesn’t involve flying back to the United Kingdom for six weeks! Yes, you can enjoy UK TV from Portugal, France, or anywhere in Europe all online. All you have to do is a little bit of digital relocation, moving your connection back to the UK by using something called a Virtual Private Network (VPN). Millions of people use VPNs to both secure their internet connections and to bypass all these filters which prevent us watching what we like online.
Here’s an example of our favorite VPN program in action, here it’s being used on a computer to access ITV from outside the United Kingdom.
There are loads of VPNs to choosing one can be quite difficult if you’ve never tried them. You can also watch British Television without a VPN by using something called Smart DNS. Don’t be concerned that the websites don’t mention the specific TV channels you need, that is definitely a good thing. The reality is that any VPN which starts advertising its ability to bypass the blocks for a specific channel will ultimately end up getting blocked by them. Many media sites are quite aggressive in stopping these VPN services from working. The key factor is that the service has servers in the country that the channel is based in – so you’ll need a UK server for example to access the BBC, ITV and all the other UK based stations.
Here’s the one I use and the one demonstrated in the video above –
10 Day Trial of Identity Cloaker
Identity Cloaker’s web site may look a little dated but the reason I use it is because the owners focus on maintaining the servers and their access to these many media sites. In particular it works better than almost any VPN service to watch ITV or BBC without blocks and buffering. The BBC is much more active than most other UK TV stations in preventing these services working to you need to try them out properly. Fortunately, most have trial accounts or money back guarantees.
Probably the main disadvantage with Identity Cloaker is that it doesn’t have apps for different devices like Smart Phones and tablets. You can get it working on these, but you have to set up the connections manually, it’s not difficult though and only takes a few minutes. If you’d prefer a VPN service which has a wide range of apps to install and control the software – try this other software called Nord VPN.
Nord VPN Special Offers
Works well with ITV and most of the UK TV stations too, not quite as fast as Identity Cloaker in my experience but when you select the right server it works perfectly. There are usually some great deals on if you buy a longer deal too.
So armed with this information and a suitable VPN you’ll be able to watch the rugby wherever you are. Remember both these two VPNs also have French, Australian and US servers included so you can watch the broadcasts from another station if you prefer. Just select the right country before visiting the appropriate web site and all should work perfectly.
Rugby World Cup UK TV Schedule
There are 20 teams playing in the Rugby World Cup this year:
POOL A
- Ireland
- Scotland
- Japan
- Russia
- Samoa
POOL B
- New Zealand
- South Africa
- Italy
- Namibia
- Canada
POOL C
- England
- France
- Argentina
- United States
- Tonga
POOL D
- Australia
- Wales
- Georgia
- Fiji
- Uruguay
Line up of Rugby World Cup 2019 Fixtures
All fixtures in UK time, the tournament is in Japan if you want to check your local time.
Match 1: Japan v Russia
Friday 20th September – 11:45am
Match 2: Australia v Fiji
Saturday 21st September – 5:45am
Match 3: France v Argentina
Saturday 21st September – 8:15am
Match 4: New Zealand v South Africa
Saturday 21st September – 10:45am
Match 5: Italy v Namibia
Sunday 22nd September – 6:15am
Match 6: Ireland v Scotland
Sunday 22nd September – 8:45am
Match 7: England v Tonga
Sunday 22nd September – 11:15am
Match 8: Wales v Georgia
Monday 23rd September – 11:15am
Match 9: Russia v Samoa
Tuesday 24th September – 11:15am
Match 10: Fiji v Uruguay
Wednesday 25th September – 6:15am
Match 11: Italy v Canada
Thursday 26th September – 8:45am
Match 12: England v USA
Thursday 26th September – 11:45am
Match 13: Argentina v Tonga
Saturday 28th September – 5:45am
Match 14: Japan v Ireland
Saturday 28th September – 8:15am
Match 15: South Africa v Namibia
Saturday 28th September – 10:45am
Match 16: Georgia v Uruguay
Sunday 29th September – 6:15am
Match 17: Australia v Wales
Sunday 29th September – 8:45am
Match 18: Scotland v Samoa
Monday 30th September – 11:15am
Match 19: France v USA
Wednesday 2nd October – 8:45am
Match 20: New Zealand v Canada
Wednesday 2nd October – 11:15am
Match 21: Georgia v Fiji
Thursday 3rd October – 6:15am
Match 22: Ireland v Russia
Thursday 3rd October – 11:15am
Match 23: South Africa v Italy
Friday 4th October – 10:45am
Match 24: Australia v Uruguay
Saturday 5th October – 6:15am
Match 25: England v Argentina
Saturday 5th October – 9:00am
Match 26: Japan v Samoa
Saturday 5th October – 11:30am
Match 27: New Zealand v Namibia
Sunday 6th October – 5:45am
Match 28: France v Tonga
Sunday 6th October – 8:45am
Match 29: South Africa v Canada
Tuesday 8th October – 11:15am
Match 30: Argentina v USA
Wednesday 9th October – 5:45am
Match 31: Scotland v Russia
Wednesday 9th October – 8:15am
Match 32: Wales v Fiji
Wednesday 9th October – 10:45am
Match 33: Australia v Georgia
Friday 11th October – 11:15am
Match 34: New Zealand v Italy
Saturday 12th October – 5:45am
Match 35: England v France
Saturday 12th October – 9:15am
Match 36: Ireland v Samoa
Saturday 12th October – 11:45am
Match 37: Namibia v Canada
Sunday 13th October – 4:15am
Match 38: USA v Tonga
Sunday 13th October – 6:45am
Match 39: Wales v Uruguay
Sunday 13th October – 9:15am
Match 40: Japan v Scotland
Sunday 13th October – 11:45am
QF1: Pool C winner v Pool D runner up
Saturday 19th October – 8:15am
QF2: Pool B winner v Pool A runner up
Saturday 19th October – 11:15am
QF3: Pool D winner v Pool C runner up
Sunday 20th October – 8:15am
QF4: Pool A winner v Pool B runner up
Sunday 20th October – 11:15am
SF1: QF1 winner v QF2 winner
Saturday 26th October – 9:00am
SF2: QF3 winner v QF4 winner
Sunday 27th October – 9:00am
Third-place playoff: SF1 loser v SF2 loser
Friday 1st November – 9:00am
Final: SF1 winner v SF2 winner
Saturday 2nd November – 9:00am