Rainbow Cup 2021

thomond2006

icdg wrote: »

Oh absolutely, but it’s rare for a broadcaster to openly show such disdain for a tournament they are covering - but given the “on borrowed time” message sent out with regard eir Sport, and the fact that they are losing the Pro14 contract at the end of the Rainbow Cup anyway, they are probably going through the motions at this stage.

Plus (whisper it) the game turned out to be quite good!

RTÉ did it with the Pro14 too.

OldRio

icdg wrote: »

Oh absolutely, but it’s rare for a broadcaster to openly show such disdain for a tournament they are covering - but given the “on borrowed time” message sent out with regard eir Sport, and the fact that they are losing the Pro14 contract at the end of the Rainbow Cup anyway, they are probably going through the motions at this stage.

Plus (whisper it) the game turned out to be quite good!

I take it you didn't watch RTEs coverage of the Pro12. The hostility to the competition was on a different level.

hold my beer

Do we know who has the rights next year?

hold my beer

Great try by Benetton from a lineout a minute ago. Lovely stuff

thomond2006

That is an amazing scoreline. I had a look at the Glasgow lineup. The pack is good on paper, the backline is a bit light on experience.

sydthebeat

Glasgow obviously don't give two sh!ts about this comp

PMC83

hold my beer wrote: »

Do we know who has the rights next year?

I read somewhere that sky were out? Would love if Virgin sports picked it up, or RTE

Digifriendly

PMC83 wrote: »

I read somewhere that sky were out? Would love if Virgin sports picked it up, or RTE

Not Virgin as they are not HD on Saorview.

thomond2006

George North was helped off the field with a knee injury.

Ospreys leading 24-0 over Cardiff.

Dubinusa

How about Benetton! Great to see. Glasgow are in a bad run of form. I would love to see Benetton really compete for this .

PTH2009

The South African clubs could be a level above all the NH clubs

Caranica

PTH2009 wrote: »

The South African clubs could be a level above all the NH clubs

If they'd played any rugby.

Thrashssacre

PTH2009 wrote: »

The South African clubs could be a level above all the NH clubs

They aren't.

thomond2006

I hope at least 2 of the sides can compete at the top level of the league. That would transform the competition.

Dave_The_Sheep

So...

icdg

PMC83 wrote: »

I read somewhere that sky were out? Would love if Virgin sports picked it up, or RTE

Throwaway line in an article that is not otherwise about rugby in today’s Sunday Times that RTE have won the Pro14 rights but I’d be surprised if they won them on their own despite the way it is phrased.

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/defining-broadcast-dilemma-tests-gaa-wfqrjwh7l

Bar the Lions, Sky are out of rugby full stop at the moment.

Eod100

1st 3 rounds of SA fixtures were released on Friday. Dont seem to be updated on the Pro14 site.

PRO14 RAINBOW CUP SA FIXUTRES: R1 - SATURDAY, MAY 1

DHL Stormers v Cell C Sharks

Kick-off: 13:00 UK / 14:00 SA (Cape Town Stadium, Cape Town)

Vodacom Bulls v Emirates Lions

Kick-off: 18:00 UK / 19:00 SA (Loftus Versfeld, Pretoria)

R2 - SATURDAY, MAY 8

Cell C Sharks v Emirates Lions

Kick-off: 15:00 UK / 16:00 SA (Jonsson Kings Park, Durban)

DHL Stormers v Vodacom Bulls

Kick-off: 17:15 UK / 18:15 SA (Cape Town Stadium, Cape Town)

R3 - SATURDAY, MAY 15

Emirates Lions v DHL Stormers

Kick-off: TBC (Emirates Airline Park, Johannesburg)

**Vodacom Bulls v Cell C Sharks **

Kick-off: 17:15 UK / 18:15 SA (Loftus Versfeld, Pretoria)

https://www.pro14.rugby/latest/news/revised-pro14-rainbow-cup-sa-schedule-confirmed

Digifriendly

Dragons vs Scarlets looked like a pre season match yesterday as did Ospreys vs Cardiff the evening before. Hard to take this competition seriously.

thomond2006

Digifriendly wrote: »

Dragons vs Scarlets looked like a pre season match yesterday as did Ospreys vs Cardiff the evening before. Hard to take this competition seriously.

I didn't see the games but the Welsh were terrible during the league as well.

Caranica

thomond2006 wrote: »

I didn't see the games but the Welsh were terrible during the league as well.

I watched the Welsh derbies at Christmas so didn't inflict that match on myself yesterday. Once was bad enough!

PMC83

icdg wrote: »

Throwaway line in an article that is not otherwise about rugby in today’s Sunday Times that RTE have won the Pro14 rights but I’d be surprised if they won them on their own despite the way it is phrased.

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/defining-broadcast-dilemma-tests-gaa-wfqrjwh7l

Bar the Lions, Sky are out of rugby full stop at the moment.

Interesting stuff. I will miss throwing on the odd Zebra V Glasgow game (or whoever) when the kids are out. That was the great thing about Eir, they showed pretty much all of it.


With the SA teams more then likely playing next season there will be a few decent games for the neutral

thomond2006

https://www.sarugbymag.co.za/sa-sides-champions-cup-participation/

The 6m payment made by SA, despite having no cross-hemisphere Rainbow matches, makes a lot more sense now.

Eod100

thomond2006 wrote: »

https://www.sarugbymag.co.za/sa-sides-champions-cup-participation/

The 6m payment made by SA, despite having no cross-hemisphere Rainbow matches, makes a lot more sense now.

Think that was floated before. Wonder what sort of qualification would include them besides automatic qualification as no tournament between standard Pro12 clubs and SA side. Unless they wait until next season and let them qualify through Pro16. Seemed like Champions Cup were planning this long term alright.

thomond2006

Eod100 wrote: »

Think that was floated before. Wonder what sort of qualification would include them besides automatic qualification as no tournament between standard Pro12 clubs and SA side. Unless they wait until next season and let them qualify through Pro16. Seemed like Champions Cup were planning this long term alright.

Logistically it's going to be a challenge but it's made somewhat easier by the suggestion that the pool stage format will continue to be four games rather than six.

Eod100

thomond2006 wrote: »

Logistically it's going to be a challenge but it's made somewhat easier by the suggestion that the pool stage format will continue to be four games rather than six.

Makes sense. Think main stumbling block is deciding how SA teams qualify and managing teams who miss out. Guess unions ultimately make decision and the 6m might help but wonder how it will work.

mr_cochise

PMC83 wrote: »

Interesting stuff. I will miss throwing on the odd Zebra V Glasgow game (or whoever) when the kids are out. That was the great thing about Eir, they showed pretty much all of it.


With the SA teams more then likely playing next season there will be a few decent games for the neutral

I think EIR are largely responsible for killing the Pro14.

thomond2006

mr_cochise wrote: »

I think EIR are largely responsible for killing the Pro14.

Eir was a far better option than Sky to be honest, if you're like me and you don't want to subsidise the Premier League.

errlloyd

The Pro14 also happened to become a much worse product when Eir got involved.

But I do feel like we forget how good we have it. 7 televised games most weeks. For a large part of that time you could get it free on both Eir and Virgin (along with accompanying apps). So aside from a couple of edge cases actually watching the Pro14 was easy.

Just couldn't hype it. And they lacked the balls in the negotiation room to make the kind of demands sky probably would have made vis a vis quality etc.

Caranica

errlloyd wrote: »

But I do feel like we forget how good we have it. 7 televised games most weeks. For a large part of that time you could get it free on both Eir and Virgin (along with accompanying apps). So aside from a couple of edge cases actually watching the Pro14 was easy.

The one most people didn't realise was that Eir remained free on Vodafone TV.

Blut2

thomond2006 wrote: »

https://www.sarugbymag.co.za/sa-sides-champions-cup-participation/

The 6m payment made by SA, despite having no cross-hemisphere Rainbow matches, makes a lot more sense now.

One slight positive of corona devastating rugby's finances is moves like this happening very quickly because everyone is so desperate for cash. You'd imagine in normal times it would have taken years to negotiate and implement the Saffers joining.

It should really help expand the tv audience for the Champions Cup, and make it more competitively interesting, if they can get the travel logistics sorted. But if they have all summer to do so they really should be able to.