World Rugby unveils WXV broadcasting plans

World Rugby has revealed its broadcasting plans for the international women’s rugby league, WXV, with matches to be shown across territories in Europe, Africa, Australia and Asia.

WXV gets underway on Friday, October 13  and runs for three weeks through to November 4. Matches in all three divisions – WXV 1, WXV 2 and WXV 3 – will be broadcast live, with RugbyPass TV offering free streaming of any matches outside of the relevant territories.

Digital TV Europe previously reported TF1 will broadcast all of France’s WXV matches. Sky New Zealand and Stan Sport in Australia will show all nine WXV 1 fixtures, with WXV 2 games to also air on Sky New Zealand.

Across the UK, ITV will show all three England and Wales matches in WXV 1 on ITVX, with the latter’s matches also available on the Welsh broadcaster S4C.

In South Africa, host broadcaster SuperSport will broadcast all WXV 2 nine matches from Stellenbosch and Cape Town. While, South-East Asian network BEIN has signed up for blanket coverage of all three divisions.

World Rugby chief of Women’s Rugby Sally Horrox said: “Visibility for the women’s game is key and fans around the world will now have more opportunities than ever to get closer to the game with our world-class streaming platform, RugbyPass TV showing all the WXV fixtures for free. This is an exciting step forward for the women’s game and it will undoubtably play a leading role in awareness, promotion and accessibility of this fantastic new tournament.”

World Rugby, chief commercial officer Ben Slack added: “Growing the reach and visibility of women’s rugby is central to our overall growth mission and we are delighted to be welcoming a strong line-up of broadcasters with proven rugby pedigree for WXV. The blend of free-to-air broadcast along with provision of free programming and content via RugbyPass TV for markets where a broadcast partner does exit, means that no matter where you are in the world you can watch all the action from WXV.”