Re: 2011 & 2015 Rugby World Cups to be Broadcast on NBC/Universal Sports Details: http://www.universalsports.com/rugby/events/event=US0100727/viewers-guide/index.html
Re: 2011 & 2015 Rugby World Cups to be Broadcast on NBC/Universal Sports Maybe for team sports, but overall, they're pretty far down. 1. Football 2. Baseball 3. Basketball 4. Golf 5. Hockey 6. NASCAR 7. Tennis 8. Soccer After that, it's pretty much a mishmash of Lacrosse, Rugby, Cycling, Track & Field, Indy Car, etc..
Re: 2011 & 2015 Rugby World Cups to be Broadcast on NBC/Universal Sports $125 to watch the entire tournament online? $25 for a single match? They showed the Olympics for free. How many people are they really expecting to pay for this?
Re: 2011 & 2015 Rugby World Cups to be Broadcast on NBC/Universal Sports It's even more of a joke when you consider that: full-blown MLB.TV (home and away broadcasts, super hi-def, etc.) is $6 CHEAPER for 2,130 games 2003 and 2007 RWC website had a streaming service with live radio and instant highlights with games 12 hours later - for $39.95, IIRC. Total ripoff. I feel bad for my American homies.
Re: 2011 & 2015 Rugby World Cups to be Broadcast on NBC/Universal Sports It's just as well. The US Men's rugby team is going to be losing all their games by at least 40 points, so there won't be much of a bandwagon for NBC to take advantage of. If, of course, the US manages to do the opposite, then that would be great.
Re: 2011 & 2015 Rugby World Cups to be Broadcast on NBC/Universal Sports I wonder how many people are watching the infomercials on NBC Universal at 4 AM as well.
Re: 2011 & 2015 Rugby World Cups to be Broadcast on NBC/Universal Sports So you think we'll lose to Russia by 40 points? Anyway you don't promote rugby by not allowing anybody but the most hardcore rugby fan to watch. I directly got into rugby because Fox Sports World showed every game in 1999 (though on a 3 day delay). My interested was piqued in the pool stages and by the end of the tournament I was playing for a club.
Re: 2011 & 2015 Rugby World Cups to be Broadcast on NBC/Universal Sports Looks like I have to DVR the 4:00am showing of USA vs Russia on Universal Sports since my local NBC is showing baseball. I can't wait for rugby in blob-o-vision.
Re: 2011 & 2015 Rugby World Cups to be Broadcast on NBC/Universal Sports If I remember right, in 2007, Setanta Sports in the US showed the majority of the games, but now in 2011, there's only 7 being televised?? That is nuts. I mean seriously???? There's no way, I'll DVR the Eagles games for sure (even though the only games they have a legitimate shot in winning are against Russia and Italy) but still - only 7 games. Or you can pay 125 pounds(?) to watch it online. That's nuts. I was really excited to watch this, but now forget it, I'm thoroughly disappointed now that I realize how little is being shown.
Re: 2011 & 2015 Rugby World Cups to be Broadcast on NBC/Universal Sports Seriously. NBC has about 15 different channels, the games are shown from 9pm to 4:30am and they can't figure out a way to get ALL of the games on TV?
Re: 2011 & 2015 Rugby World Cups to be Broadcast on NBC/Universal Sports I was in Auckland for the opening ceremony and the All Blacks - Tonga game last night. Great atmosphere in the city. Its like one big party. Thousands of people at the water front watching in the fan zones and Eden Park area was just swamped. It was crazy. So many Tongans. They had taken over the city it seemed and everywhere you went they were dancing and yelling and then the game began. All of them went deathly quiet in the first half when their team was being demolished by the All Blacks. Party went on till 3AM. Great fun.
Re: 2011 & 2015 Rugby World Cups to be Broadcast on NBC/Universal Sports Gave in and ordered US vs Ireland on PPV. Spoiler (Move your mouse to the spoiler area to reveal the content) Show Spoiler Hide Spoiler 3-0 Ireland 28 minutes in. US defense has done pretty well. It's of the "bend but don't break" variety, to be honest, but it's working. They are definitely struggling to do much with their possessions, though. They've probably lost more ground than they've been able to gain.
Re: 2011 & 2015 Rugby World Cups to be Broadcast on NBC/Universal Sports Ireland won 22-10. The US got their try on the very last play of the game.
Re: 2011 & 2015 Rugby World Cups to be Broadcast on NBC/Universal Sports Apart from the fact our scrum and maul defense was horrible although that's expected by this point, I'm altogether pleased with the game. Our greatest strength if we have one is our backline 11 thru 15 and the weather conditions effectively neutralized that. Wish Wyles had been available, I think him and Emerick together in the centers would be nice. The defense held itself up admirably apart from a couple mistakes. I thought Petri played a fantastic game at scrum half. That said, I don't think it was the greatest advertisement for the game on a national broadcast network. The Irish played poorly and came down to play at our level. Although at least the U.S. were competitive.
Re: 2011 & 2015 Rugby World Cups to be Broadcast on NBC/Universal Sports Sep 11, 2011 Australia 32 - 6 Italy Ireland 22 - 10 United States of America South Africa 17 - 16 Wales Sep 10, 2011 Romania 24 - 34 Scotland Fiji 49 - 25 Namibia France 47 - 21 Japan Argentina 9 - 13 England Sep 9, 2011 New Zealand 41 - 10 Tonga
Re: 2011 & 2015 Rugby World Cups to be Broadcast on NBC/Universal Sports Agreed, good defensive effort, but our scrum is a glaring weakness. I really liked Zee's effort. Now bring on Russia!
Re: 2011 & 2015 Rugby World Cups to be Broadcast on NBC/Universal Sports I was hoping for some electricity from Ngwenya. Either they didn't do a good job of getting it out to him or the Irish know he's very dangerous... probably both.
Re: 2011 & 2015 Rugby World Cups to be Broadcast on NBC/Universal Sports For the lurkers and those who may be interested: Code: [size=5][b]Pool Stage[/b][/size] [size=4]Pool A[/size] [b]Country MP W D L BP Pts[/b] New Zealand 1 1 0 0 1 5 France 1 1 0 0 1 5 Canada 0 0 0 0 0 0 Japan 1 0 0 1 0 0 Tonga 1 0 0 1 0 0 [size=4]Pool B[/size] [b]Country MP W D L BP Pts[/b] Scotland 1 1 0 0 1 5 England 1 1 0 0 0 4 Argentina 1 0 0 1 1 1 Georgia 0 0 0 0 0 0 Romania 1 0 0 1 0 0 [size=4]Pool C[/size] [b]Country MP W D L BP Pts[/b] Australia 1 1 0 0 1 5 Ireland 1 1 0 0 0 4 Russia 0 0 0 0 0 0 USA 1 0 0 1 0 0 Italy 1 0 0 1 0 0 [size=4]Pool D[/size] [b]Country MP W D L BP Pts[/b] Fiji 1 1 0 0 1 5 South Africa 1 1 0 0 0 4 Wales 1 0 0 1 1 1 Samoa 0 0 0 0 0 0 Namibia 1 0 0 1 0 0
Re: 2011 & 2015 Rugby World Cups to be Broadcast on NBC/Universal Sports I take it this thread is now the official 2011 Rugby world cup one? anyways Australia looked pretty good in 2nd half against Italy. New Zealand beat Tonga as expected but the only Northern Hemisphere team to look good so far is Wales who ran South Africa really close. Ireland were pretty poor against the USA, England were awful and lucky to beat Argentina, Romania gave Scotland good scare and France were mediocre against Japan (who look to be getting better by the looks of it) next round of fixtures 14 September: Samoa v Namibia, Rotorua International Stadium Tonga v Canada, Northland Events Centre, Whangarei Scotland v Georgia, Rugby Park Stadium, Invercargill 15 September: Russia v United States, Stadium Taranaki, New Plymouth 16 September: New Zealand v Japan, Waikato Stadium, Hamilton 17 September: Argentina v Romania, Rugby Park Stadium, Invercargill South Africa v Fiji, Wellington Regional Stadium Australia v Ireland, Eden Park, Auckland 18 September: Wales v Samoa, Waikato Stadium, Hamilton England v Georgia, Otago Stadium, Dunedin France v Canada, McLean Park, Napier
Re: 2011 & 2015 Rugby World Cups to be Broadcast on NBC/Universal Sports I just don't think we have the forward pack to set Zee up on the outside. If he does get a shout IMHO it will be on a counter attack, like in 2007. However on the whole I think he has developed into a more complete rugby player. His defensive effort versus Ireland was much improved on past Eagles games.
Re: 2011 & 2015 Rugby World Cups to be Broadcast on NBC/Universal Sports Do you think the James Hook penalty kick went through the up rights? When I first saw it on TV I thought it had. Apparently Wayne Barnes is taking a lot of heat for not going to T.M.O. Regardless Hook missed a couple other kicks that could have won them the game and Wales blew a chance to possibly come top of the group. Maybe the bitter loss will give them more motivation for the rest of the tournament.
Re: 2011 & 2015 Rugby World Cups to be Broadcast on NBC/Universal Sports http://www.rugbymag.com/index.php?o...fans&catid=82:2011-rugby-world-cup&Itemid=264 Tukapa Home Away from Home for US Fans The Tukapa Rugby Club is now officially part of the United States. Just a couple of minutes’ walk from Stadium Taranaki in New Plymouth, the club is the official home of USA rugby fans, and has put out the red carpet for the cranks from Yankdom. Honing in on its 125th anniversary, Tukapa is one of the most accomplished clubs in Taranaki, boasting a long series of union grand final appearances (and frustrating losses) before starting a run of championships a few years ago that continues to this day. Their run several age grades and adult grades. Their 4th grade is a social team; older players who get together for touch once a week and go play on a Saturday. “It’s supposed to be social,” said club VP Ian Morris with a tilt of the head. “But … well we keep winning, so I don’t know how social you can call it.” They have about 250 kids in their youth programs, and the kids show up every Saturday morning for a 9am assembly, often with a former All Black or current Taranaki provincial player there to speak. Whatever the agenda, the day always begins with the club song – the Ballad of the Cast Iron Chicken. The story of the Cast Iron Chicken goes back many years when, so says Morris, some Tukapa players stopped for a meal post-match. The chicken they ate was not the tenderest, and that evening they composed a song. A tradition was born, and a mascot created. One recent year Tukapa won championships in three of their four grades – it was The Year of the Chicken. Obviously, then, Tukapa doesn’t take itself overly seriously. They have enjoyed hosting the American fans in their impressive two-storey clubhouse. Post-match after the Ireland game the place was packed, with fans dressed as Wonder Woman, Captain American, and, of course, Elvis. Plenty of Irish were there too – they know a good time when they hear it. “The band’s going to be good,” boasted Morris. “I should know, I booked ‘em.” American fans were beside themselves. The hospitality offered them has been first-rate; New Zealand’s communities are proud to host their teams, and the USA could not have found a better place to call home.
Re: 2011 & 2015 Rugby World Cups to be Broadcast on NBC/Universal Sports http://www.rugbymag.com/index.php?o...=1929:the-minnows&catid=101:op-eds&Itemid=302 The Minnows As the tournament rolled into its first week one thought prevailed in the minds of organizers and fans alike. “Let there be no slaughter, no 60, 80 or 100 point blowouts”. If the first round is any indication they need not have worried. Men at War Consider Romania leading Scotland 24-21 with 14 minutes to play. Impossible! Yet their forwards, coached by former All Black Steve McDowall, played brilliantly to hold the Scots and bag two tries. Romania's backs faded in the last 10 minutes allowing two scores to Scottish winger Simon Danielli, but it hardly mattered. Romania, the last European qualifier, stood toe-to-toe with a Tier 1 nation without hint of a blowout. Then came Japan vs France. This had to be a demolition. Japan was winless in 14 World Cup games. France is ranked 5th and has the capacity to win this tournament. Coached by former All Black John Kirwan, the Japanese brought a ton of commitment and fearless determination. With 20 minutes to play they were four points adrift and on attack! By comparison, France was schizophrenic in a first-up performance frought with errors. With panic seeping though their ranks, the backs in particular, took some terrible options. In the final quarter Gallic grunt replaced French flair to secure the victory. It was not a display which would leave the All Blacks coaches quaking in their boots ahead of Pool A's grudge match. Finally there was the USA against Ireland. The Irish had lost all four tune-up matches but had also seriously beaten England last spring. Oozing backline experience with a ferocious pack, they're considered the 7th best team in the world. Yet after 40 minutes they led only 3-0. In first half injury time Ireland scored the try which broke American hearts but not the Eagles' spirit. They roared back into the game, punishing the Irish despite being dominated at scrum and maul. After the game you could hardly tell who won. The winning margin of 12 points (22-10) left a collective frown on Irish faces. In contrast, one player summed it up for the Americans, “We want to play Russia – tomorrow.” Who and Why? By definition, “minnows” are those nations without professional infrastructure. They may have a history in the game, but their top players must go elsewhere to earn a buck. This is true of the United States as well as Canada, Georgia and Namibia. Romania has history but very little finance. Russia possesses money, government support and a new 12-team professional league – but they are new to rugby, without history or tradition. The South Pacific nations of Fiji, Tonga and Samoa are not always considered “minnows” on the field but they suffer the same fate. Lack of funds and facilities at home means their best players are scattered to the four winds. Often they are not released by the clubs for national team duty. Draconian eligibility standards enforced by the IRB insures that the island unions, in particular, cannot recover players who have been momentarily tapped on the shoulder by their adoptive countries. With tiny home based populations, reversal of this policy is essential for their future in the game. For the moment though, the minnows are having their day. There is not a soul attending this tournament who does not wish them well. Many are hoping for a major upset – so long as their favorite team is not the victim. Australia, New Zealand and South Africa may trounce their lesser opposition, but somewhere in the field lies a minnow waiting to bushwhack one of the heavies.