2018-2019 Champions Cup

Eod100

icdg wrote: »

I’m not sure why TV3 agreed to that deal. They’ve litterally been saddled with taking someone else’s picks and two games with Irish involvement on one side. That’s a terrible deal for them.

When it was announced I was under impression they would show 1 province each round

Buer

Eod100 wrote: »

When it was announced I was under impression they would show 1 province each round

I think that's the impression many had. It would be similar to the early days of the HEC when RTE had a big match on every weekend in the pool stages which really helped grow the tournament here.

This is silly. It's not even away games either; one Munster home game and one Leinster home game which will have a chunk of supporters actually in attendance (which would only be a very small part of the target audience but part regardless).

slingerz

Buer wrote: »

So TV3 are actually sharing their televised game with other free to air stations and will only have two games featuring the provinces (round 2 and 5). They're going to have shag all people tuning in to watch the likes of Bath vs Toulouse, Cardiff vs Saracens or Gloucester vs Exeter.

Why would no one tune in? I'm pretty sure rugby fans will tune in and pubs will be happy to show them

Rigor Mortis

You dont know what they are paying. It may be a great deal. Clearly BT cant afford to give up too much if they want to build a subscriber base.

Buer

slingerz wrote: »

Why would no one tune in? I'm pretty sure rugby fans will tune in and pubs will be happy to show them

Hardcore rugby fans will watch. Others won't bother. You can see any year from this forum that the interest in games outside the provinces is patchy at best.

Cardiff against Saracens holds next to no interest for even some of the most dedicated rugby supporters. The other two at least feature teams that will be in Munster's and Leinster's respective pools. But even then, I wouldn't expect big viewing numbers.

They've also been given the 1pm slot on Saturday for all of their games (which is a crap slot at the best of times). It's almost guaranteed to clash with big Premiership football matches which will affect numbers too along with pubs putting the game on.

molloyjh

Buer wrote: »

Hardcore rugby fans will watch. Others won't bother. You can see any year from this forum that the interest in games outside the provinces is patchy at best.

Cardiff against Saracens holds next to no interest for even some of the most dedicated rugby supporters. The other two at least feature teams that will be in Munster's and Leinster's respective pools. But even then, I wouldn't expect big viewing numbers.

They've also been given the 1pm slot on Saturday for all of their games (which is a crap slot at the best of times). It's almost guaranteed to clash with big Premiership football matches which will affect numbers too along with pubs putting the game on.

Yeah, I'd be fairly hardcore relatively speaking and I'd generally try and watch those games. But if something else came up I wouldn't think twice about missing them. I can't see TV3 being able to get a big draw at all outside of the 2 provincial games they are showing.

thomond2006

I'm very confused by this. How many people are going to watch Cardiff vs Sarseholes?
I'm going to assume TV3 paid a bargain price to get this coverage.

Riskymove

thomond2006 wrote: »

I'm very confused by this. How many people are going to watch Cardiff vs Sarseholes?
I'm going to assume TV3 paid a bargain price to get this coverage.

indeed

basically TV3 and C4 get thrown one game each round by BT

I would hope that its part of terms and conditions for the tender and that it cost little or no money to TV3 or C4

kooga

I would of thought tv3 and ch 4 would of been treated the same as fr2 who always have a Sunday afternoon fixture with a French team

And bein sport in France like bt sport would be trying to build up a subscriber base / its amazing that the French terrestrial broadcasters have always kept their pick which includes a challenge cup game on fr4 on Saturday evenings at 8.

Tv3 as said early arejust showing somebody else's picks

Digifriendly

Buer wrote: »

Hardcore rugby fans will watch. Others won't bother. You can see any year from this forum that the interest in games outside the provinces is patchy at best.

Cardiff against Saracens holds next to no interest for even some of the most dedicated rugby supporters. The other two at least feature teams that will be in Munster's and Leinster's respective pools. But even then, I wouldn't expect big viewing numbers.

They've also been given the 1pm slot on Saturday for all of their games (which is a crap slot at the best of times). It's almost guaranteed to clash with big Premiership football matches which will affect numbers too along with pubs putting the game on.

Excellent post and totally agree. TV3 up here in NI. is Saorview only and therefore SD and not HD but at least we can watch FTA coverage on Channel 4 HD here. Nevertheless I think is a poor deal terrestrially speaking. Lunchtime Saturday may not be the graveyard slot but will garner nowhere near a Friday night or later Saturday KO slot would.
Notice no Irish or UK channel is listed to cover any Challenge Cup games live.

OldRio

Well TV3 in SD only on saorview means it will not be watched in this household.

icdg

I’m not sure Channel 4 picked them either, mind you, because I don’t think they’d have picked Leinster v Tolouse. If I was to have a guess I’d say EPCR are making the picks.

Meanwhile, I hadn’t picked up on the fact that the European Challenge Cup, as if it hadn’t died enough of a slow death; no longer gets any U.K. TV coverage, at least up to the end of the pool stages. Probably a consequence of the fact that BT now have to squeeze more Heineken Cup games in. The Thursday night slot didn’t help because some of the rounds seem to inevitably clash with Europa League fixtures.

kooga

icdg wrote: »

I’m not sure Channel 4 picked them either, mind you, because I don’t think they’d have picked Leinster v Tolouse. If I was to have a guess I’d say EPCR are making the picks.

Meanwhile, I hadn’t picked up on the fact that the European Challenge Cup, as if it hadn’t died enough of a slow death; no longer gets any U.K. TV coverage, at least up to the end of the pool stages. Probably a consequence of the fact that BT now have to squeeze more Heineken Cup games in. The Thursday night slot didn’t help because some of the rounds seem to inevitably clash with Europa League fixtures.

The Thursday night games in the challenge were on sky as as you mentioned bt had europa league

Having looked at the challenge cup fixtures the only game on tv is the sat 8pm on fr 4 and all the fixtures involve an Anglo France game so more than likely bt will pick that sat night fixture

Tigerandahalf

Didn't realise the Challenge Cup games weren't being televised. You would think TG4 would be glad to have the coverage of Connacht's games.

Are tv3/virgin not showing any?

The Lost Sheep

Tigerandahalf wrote: »

Didn't realise the Challenge Cup games weren't being televised. You would think TG4 would be glad to have the coverage of Connacht's games.

Are tv3/virgin not showing any?

only ever really was one a weekend here/uk wasnt there but doubt tg4 would have been given rights to show the games.

Shefwedfan

TV3 C4 would have never got an Irish team each round. Then BT would lose revenue because the standard Irish fan wouldn't buy BT sports ....they would just watch whichever province was on that weekend.....

To be honest if I didn't have BT I would sit and watch the games anyway. The main problem I see is the s**t times for the games. 1 on a Saturday...you wont get the standard sports fan looking for something to watch in the evening.....it's a pity....

TV3 will get 2 big pay days with the Munster and Leinster match......Leinster match probably a bigger contest

thomond2006

This is the new Heineken Champions Cup logo.



This is the Sarseholes logo.





I sense a CONSPIRACY!

Squidgy Black

thomond2006 wrote: »

This is the new Heineken Champions Cup logo.



This is the Sarseholes logo.





I sense a CONSPIRACY!

Both have a red star.

Red star is a communist symbol.

Eoin Farrell plays for Saracens.

Eddie Jones is Eoin Farrell's coach.

Therefore Eddie Jones is a communist. Confirmed.

Commanchie

Squidgy Black wrote: »

Both have a red star.

Red star is a communist symbol.

Eoin Farrell plays for Saracens.

Eddie Jones is Eoin Farrell's coach.

Therefore Eddie Jones is a communist. Confirmed.

That is some mighty fine conspiracy theorising.

Riskymove

Squidgy Black wrote: »

Eoin Farrell plays for Saracens.

er.....

Andy Farrell is Owen's Father
Andy Farrell coaches Ireland


IRELAND is communist!!

joseywhales

Squidgy Black wrote: »

thomond2006 wrote: »

This is the new Heineken Champions Cup logo.



This is the Sarseholes logo.





I sense a CONSPIRACY!

Both have a red star.

Red star is a communist symbol.

Eoin Farrell plays for Saracens.

Eddie Jones is Eoin Farrell's coach.

Therefore Eddie Jones is a communist. Confirmed.

All we need to do next is remove the word "champions"

Synode

I'm going back to calling it the Heineken Cup. The Champions bit just confuses it with the Champions League imo

The Lost Sheep

Synode wrote: »

I'm going back to calling it the Heineken Cup. The Champions bit just confuses it with the Champions League imo

Does it?
Champions cup if done right with multiple sponsors would have been much better but a lot of people are always going to call it heineken cup no matter what is format/sponsor

In other news the Challenge cup qualifier groups have been made
Pool A
RC Locomotive Tbilisi(Georgia)
Pataro Calvisano (Italy)
GS Fiamme Oro Rugby (Italy)
Pool B
Argos Rugby Petrarca (Italy)
Belgium Rugby Barbarians XV (Belgium)
Femi-CZ Rugby Rovigo Deltra (Italy)

The Lost Sheep

Refs for opening rounds named
In the Challenge Cup, Mike Adamson is in charge for Connacht against Bordeaux Begles and Ben Whitehouse refs the trip to Sale in the second round
Romain Poite refs Leinster against Wasps with Wayne Barnes in for the Toulouse game
Munster have Jerome Garces for Exeter and Alexander Ruiz for Gloucester
Pascal Gauzere refs Ulster against Leicester and Nigel Owens is in for the game in Paris against Racing

icdg

Marseille to host the 2020 Heineken Cup final:

https://www.epcrugby.com/2018/10/01/marseille-wins-bid-to-host-2020-european-club-finals/

pickarooney

icdg wrote: »

Marseille to host the 2020 Heineken Cup final:

https://www.epcrugby.com/2018/10/01/marseille-wins-bid-to-host-2020-european-club-finals/

Woohoo!

errlloyd

pickarooney wrote: »

Woohoo!

Marsellie has hosted before or am I wrong?

pickarooney

errlloyd wrote: »

Marsellie has hosted before or am I wrong?

No, just a couple of semis where Toulon were the home team.

Lyon and Paris have had finals. Maybe Bordeaux also.

Synode

pickarooney wrote: »

No, just a couple of semis where Toulon were the home team.

Lyon and Paris have had finals. Maybe Bordeaux also.

From the article

1998 Bath Rugby 19 Brive 18 – Stade Lescure, Bordeaux

icdg

Some details of Channel 4’s coverage - Nigel Owens joining. Also a pre game show called “The Big Tackle”.

https://www.epcrugby.com/2018/10/04/bath-v-toulouse-launches-heineken-champions-cup-on-channel-4/