Scottish Rugby on TV

Below you will find a guide to the various channels where you can see Scottish teams and Scottish players in rugby action from around Europe and beyond. This list applies mostly to the UK. If you have information on overseas contributions or channels where they show European rugby please drop us an e-mail so we can make this list comprehensive. For example Rugby on TV in the US, Canada, New Zealand etc.

BBC 1, BBC 2
Where to find it: Sky 101, 102 / Freeview 1, 2 / Freesat 101, 102 / Virgin TV 101, 102
What it shows: Six Nations, EDF Cup, Autumn Internationals.
Pundits: Our “mate” Andrew Cotter, Andy Nicol, Keith Wood, Nick Mullins, Jill Douglas plus the voice of archery Eddie Butler and the love ‘em or hate ‘em selection of Brian Moore, Jeremy Guscott, Jonathan Davies and John Inverdale.

BBC Alba
Where to find it: Sky Channel 168, Freesat 110
What it shows: Scottish BT Premiership, the odd low level International (Scotland A vs Georgia games). Coverage is in Gaelic. Hopefully they may follow the model of S4C and eventually offer an English language commentary option.
Pundits: unknown. The touchline interviewing girls were all right, though.

BBC Scotland
Where to find it: Sky Channel 101, 102 in Scotland,  in the 990s for viewers elsewhere
What it shows: the Melrose Sevens, as well as occasional alternative coverage of Scotland internationals (usually just the Calcutta Cup) that could best be described as fairly parochial in nature.
Pundits: John Beattie, Gary Parker, Doddie Weir, Doddie Weir’s trousers.

BBC Wales, S4C
Where to find it: Sky Channel 991, 134 – S4C only available on Sky outside Wales
What they show: Magners League, EDF Energy Cup. S4C coverage is in Welsh but now provides English commentary via the Red Button. S4C also seems willing to stump up for Lions highlights too.
Pundits: Jonathan Davies and some other Welsh types. Ieuan Evans, Phil Davies from time to time. And some guy called Rick O’Shea who looks like he might indeed bounce off the walls given half a chance.

ITV1, ITV4
Where to find it: Sky Channel 103, 120 / Freeview 3, 28 / Freesat 103, 117 / VirginTV 103, 117
What it shows: Guinness Premiership Highlights (ITV4, 6.30pm Sundays), Rugby World Cups, IRB Sevens.
Pundits: Craig Doyle and Martin Bayfield alongside a rotating cast of injured players for the odd comment.  Borrowed Barnes, Harrison and um, Will Greenwood from Sky for the RWC. This generosity may only last until Sky can get their hands on the rights.

STV (new for 09/10 season)
Where to find it: Sky Channel 103 / Freeview 3, 28 / Freesat 103, 117 / VirginTV 103, 117 in Scotland, not sure if it is available outside Scotland
What it shows: Weekly highlights of Edinburgh and Glasgow’s Magners League matches, live coverage of the 1872 Cup derbies over the festive period.
Pundits: Andy Nicol and Scott Hastings plus the usual off duty players and coaches.

Sky Sports 1, 2, 3, Xtra
Where to find it: Sky Channel 401, 402, 403, 404 (requires subscription) / VirginTV 511, 512, 513, 516 (requires subscription), also in HD
What it shows: Guinness Premiership, Heineken Cup, European Challenge Cup, British and Irish Lions Tours, Summer Tours, England’s Autumn Internationals, Super 14, the Varsity Match, IRB Total Rugby.
Pundits: Stuart Barnes and Miles Harrison are the top commentary team, with Simon “George” Lazenby hosting, plus a raft of former players such as Dewi Morris, Will Greenwood, Scott Hastings, Ieuan Evans, Sean Fitzpatrick, Michael Lynagh but sadly no longer Bobby Skinstaad.

EurosportUK, Eurosport2 UK
Where to find it: Sky Channel 410, 411  (requires subscription) / VirginTV 521, 525 (requires subscription)
What it shows: IRB Nations Cup, IRB U20s World Championships.
Pundits: Commentary mostly from former BBC man Nigel Starmer-Smith, John Taylor.

ESPN (new for 09/10 season)
Where to find it: Sky Channel 417 (requires subscription), also in HD, BT Vision 34 (requires subscription)
What it shows: French Top 14 club matches both live and in a half-hour weekly highlights show
Pundits: unknown

Setanta Sports Ireland
Where to find it: no longer available in the UK
What it shows: Irish provinces Magners League matches.
Pundits: Unknown, but I bet they are Irish

Radio and Online

BBC Radio Scotland
Where to find it: 810MW, Friday nights from 8pm
What it shows: nothing. But you can usually listen to live coverage of at least one of Edinburgh or Glasgow’s games (whoever is at home). If you’re lucky, you get both simultaneously, with the commentators interrupting each other when something interesting happens.
Pundits: John Beattie, Bill Johnstone, Gary Parker, Peter “Teapot” Wright.

Match Day Live
Where to find it: www.magnersleague.com, www.ercrugby.com and www.guinnesspremiership.com
What it shows: live updated text scores from matches as they happen, along with streamed audio commentary (usually taken from BBC regional coverage). Requires Real Player for best results.

Mediazone
Where to find it: www.rugbyzone.com
What it shows: Heineken Cup, Super 14, Summer Tours, Tri-Nations (online pay-per-view streaming available only in certain countries).
Pundits: Unknown. This was the only place you could view Scotland’s recent tour to Argentina. They have a lot of geographical restrictions based presumably on existing broadcast agreements between the various competitions and the likes of Sky. They do show the Celtic nations Autumn Internationals to the USA and Canada, for example. If it’s not on anywhere in the UK or you are in a non-rugby country, then it might be worth a look.

Other sources
There are other ways of finding streaming sports channels without subscription, but we do not necessarily condone such things and the quality can be pretty ropey.