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RugbyPass TV to show live Allianz PWR matches in the 2023/24 season

EXETER, ENGLAND - JUNE 11: Hope Rogers of Exeter Chiefs is tackled by Marlie Packer of Saracens during the Women's Allianz Premier 15s Semi Final match between Exeter Chiefs and Saracens at Sandy Park on June 11, 2023 in Exeter, England. (Photo by Ryan Hiscott - RFU/The RFU Collection via Getty Images)

With the 2023/24 Premiership Women’s Rugby (PWR) season underway, World Rugby has announced it will be live broadcasting one match per round on RugbyPass TV.

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Despite the conclusion of WXV, with the PWR league boasting some of the most well-known and promising talents from England, the Home Nations and further afield in Australia, Canada and the USA, fans do not have to look far to enjoy world class women’s rugby on their screens every weekend.

World Rugby’s Chief Marketing and Content Officer James Rothwell was delighted to share the news, with the focus very much on providing a platform to showcase women’s rugby to more fans, but also giving supporters access to original content away from the pitch, which profiles the amazing characters and personalities inside the women’s game.

‘PWR is such an incredible league, you’ve got 50% of the athletes that participated in the Rugby World Cup 2021 playing domestically in England so it is an incredible competition that we want to continue driving access for,’ said Rothwell.

‘Working with PWR, we’ve been able to make a marquee match of each of the 21 round available to watch live on RPTV. PWR feels like an excellent way of continuing to build our foundations in becoming that central home for women’s rugby and hopefully we can play a part in promoting the league with the reach we have around the world.

‘To have 21 match weekends, spanning five months of competition, and so many stars playing in this market is incredible and this is a part of our live programming strategy where we are managing to create stars in all of the nations represented in the competition.’

 

All WXV matches were shown live on RugbyPass TV throughout October and November, with Rothwell determined to keep this momentum building for the platform and the sport ahead of the Women’s World Cup in England in 2025.

‘We were delighted to make every game of WXV 1, 2 and 3 available to watch live on RPTV. We had fans from 135 countries from around the world watching WXV live and over the next two years on the road to Women’s Rugby World Cup 2025, we really want to position RPTV as the global home of women’s rugby.

‘We’re entering a seminal two year period for women’s rugby, particularly in the UK. We really believe Women’s Rugby World Cup England 2025 is going to smash all records in becoming the biggest Women’s Rugby World Cup of all time.

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‘We’re putting significant investment into our broadcast product, our promotion of the tournament and it’s the first World Cup to carry the new master brand. We’re coming off the back of a brilliant WXV and PWR is the vehicle to bring all of that together.

‘We want to work with PWR to drive momentum and excitement towards the World Cup, and make it as easy as possible to access our game. Because of the consolidation of rights, it means whether you’ve joined RPTV for whatever reason, you’ll be met with a much broader slate of content to consume. Making it as easy as possible to find rugby content is absolutely critical for the growth of the sport.’

Ultimately, showing PWR plays into a larger role at World Rugby of increasing exposure of fans to live rugby, but also the people behind the players we see on the pitch.

Rothwell adds: ‘You can’t fall in love with something you can see or watch, we have an incredible product in rugby, an incredibly loyal fan base, but moments like the men’s Rugby World Cup France 2023 demonstrate how many casual fans there are to waiting to enter that sport and fall in love with it.

‘We also want to be the ultimate champions and promotional vehicle for the game as well. Building access is key, building relevance and storytelling is really important for rugby, and we’re continuing to innovate with our digital products. We want to make sport unmissable and want to make sure we’re winning that attention battle against other sports.

‘If rugby works together and continues to create central platforms for fans to watch, I have no doubt we will be able to double or triple the size of the rugby fan base over the next couple of years and have no doubt that by Rugby World Cup 2025 is going to feel like a major global sporting moment with full stadiums, a real broadcast product and real stars that we’ve managed to build over the last couple of years.’

RugbyPass TV is available to download on mobile and tablet app and watch through Smart TV and Chromecast.

Live PWR matches being shown on RPTV in 2023:
Sunday 26 November – Exeter Chiefs v Bristol Bears
Sunday 3 December – Leicester Tigers v Loughborough Lightning
Saturday 9 December – Harlequins v Exeter Chiefs
Saturday 16 December – Exeter Chiefs v Gloucester-Hartpury
*Excluding the UK, Ireland, USA and Canada

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Comments

3 Comments
c
clive 353 days ago

Oooh, download the app! We don’t all have 10 grand TVs! I don’t want to watch it on my laptop or ‘phone. So that’s blown it. I’ve long enjoyed women’s rugby but now I’ll only get to see the 6 nations until the greedy gin soaked old farts sell that out

c
clive 353 days ago

How do we get rugbypass tv? This is a backward step by the old farts at RFU. Money always comes first with them. When it was on BBC we could all watch and it was promoting the game this is a joke!

M
Malcolm 363 days ago

Today is 30th Nov. Too late to see any games.

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18 debutants but Australia's core looking ‘more settled than ever’

Not so many when you compare it to the squad of 50 plus players used by SA. Four main problems with the team and Schmidt shows he is a good technician but poor international coach by not selecting the best players and rotating and developing key positions.


First, the scrum is woeful if Bell and Thor don’t play. AAA and Nongoor in particular are poor. Talea may be good but is not good enough. Schmidt should select Sio, Ainsley and Latu as the bench front row. All playing well in Europe. He should also be doing better with Pone and perhaps getting him over to France to work on his scrummaging. Pone is our best running prop but poor coaching has killed him. Needs better coaching OS provided eg Skelton and Meafou. Secondly, 9 and 10 combo. McDermott is a confidence player and is terrible on a bad day. He takes several steps before passing which kills the speed of ball and results in turnovers. Better off with Kerr Barlow who is playing well with La Rochelle and making McDermott work on his skills. Edmed probably does need a run too. Thirdly, centre and fullback. Perese is our best defender at centre and should be in the squad. The outside back defence is poor without Joe and needs to be shored up. Wright is also a confidence player and has poor defence. When he is off like he was last week better to replace him with someone like Reece Hodge who has a great boot and good D. Fourthly, lack of ball runners who break tackles outside of Bobby V and Skelton. Wilson is not up to international standard and dosent break tackles nor does McReight. Replace him with Gleeson and Leota on the bench if fit. Would also be better playing Pone than Nongoor as Pone at least has a good running game. Latu also makes ground. Amatesero is also a better player than Williams. Frost has been the standout fine. Finally, player rotation. Schmidt is grinding key players like Bell and Bobby V into dust. He needs to give them breaks by utilising OS players more and developing youngsters. The loss of Meafou to France and the guy who captained Scotland exemplifies the poor coaching and development in Aus.

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