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RugbyPass TV to show live Allianz PWR matches in the 2023/24 season
By Lucy Lomax
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.’
The rugby continues to deliver in the #PWR 🔥
Here’s how things stand after Round 2 👇@allianzuknews pic.twitter.com/9nAeCxsJ1p
ADVERTISEMENT— Premiership Women’s Rugby (@ThePWR) November 26, 2023
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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The writer here ignores the fact that, following on from not taking the penalty kick, the All Blacks did manage to score a try a few minutes later. Not directly from the penalty awarded, but it is speculation to say that had they opted to take the koi they would have won. Even if they kicked it, which was no guarantee, they would still be trailing and would have had to start again at half-way.
Go to commentsI would be surprised if Sales Opoku Fordjour and Northampton’s Tommy Freeman are not in the team, Anthony Watson is also one that could go on the wing. One thing I must say is that the front 3 will get destroyed against a team like South Africa.
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