
The Rugby Football League (RFL) have agreed a broadcast deal with the BBC for live coverage of all four matches of the 2012 Autumn International Series.
Featuring England, France and Wales, the series provides an opportunity for all three competing nations to hone their preparations for Rugby League World Cup 2013 and will feature the best Rugby League players from the domestic competitions of Europe and Australia.
With the Four Nations tournament being rested until after the 2013 World Cup, the BBC have stepped in to secure the TV rights to this one-off triangular series after Sky reportedly declined to cover it.
Each nation will host one match in the series which culminates in the final at Salford City Stadium on Sunday, November 11.
All three teams will use the tournament to prepare for the 2013 Rugby League World Cup to be staged in the UK, with NRL stars such as Gareth Ellis, Sam Burgess and James Graham expected to compete for England.
The tournament will kick off in Lens when France host Wales on Saturday, October 20.
England will open their account away to Wales in Wrexham before hosting the French at MS3 Craven Park.
Every match from the Autumn Series will be screened live on either BBC One or BBC Two, and coverage will also be streamed online via the BBC Sport website and programmes available on BBC iPlayer for up to seven days after transmission.
Mark Chapman will front live coverage of all four games, with commentary from Dave Woods and Ian Millward, plus expert analysis from Brian Noble.
High-definition coverage of each match will be shown on BBC One HD or BBC HD.
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THE FINAL – ENGLAND v FRANCE
Both teams secured their passage into this showpiece match before facing each other in the concluding encounter of the round-robin stage last week, having both defeated Wales, and England beat France 44-6 in last week’s fixture.
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