Celtic rugby union enters a fresh new era for the 2014/15 season as the Guinness Pro12 kicks off with live matches on BBC TV, S4C and, for the first time, on Sky Sports.
Kicking off on September 5-7, the new Pro12 campaign promises to be the most exciting season yet with Leinster aiming for a third title in a row, though they face some fierce challenges from the likes of Munster, Cardiff Blues and Glasgow.
Teams from Wales, Scotland, Ireland and Italy are all vying for the Pro 12 crown and Sky Sports subscribers can enjoy live action for at least the next four seasons, while regional free-to-air coverage has been maintained on BBC Wales and S4C, BBC Northern Ireland and BBC Alba, with games also airing regularly on BBC Two Scotland for the first time too.
With places in next season’s European Champions Cup and European Challenge Cup all up for grabs, every game is crucial as the stakes have been raised even higher thanks to the foundation of the new-look European competitions, following many months of negotiations inside and between the unions over the future direction of the sport.
Live games for the first 13 of the 24 regular season rounds have been confirmed by the Pro12’s three broadcasters – Sky Sports, BBC TV and S4C, with additional matches and schedule confirmation to follow.
Sky Sports has a four-year deal to cover Pro12 matches, kicking in from the start of the 2014/15 season, marking the first time that the pay-TV broadcaster has covered the league.
The pay-TV broadcaster will show 30 live matches throughout each season, mainly on Saturday evenings, plus the semi-finals and the final, with the latter in conjunction with the territorial broadcaster where those games take place.
The deal will mean Pro12 games will broadcast all across the UK for the first time on a linear TV channel and ensures that 125 of the 135 games in the 2014/15 season will be shown live on TV.
Welsh side Scarlets play host to Ulster at Parc y Scarlets in the first of Sky Sports’ live match picks on September 5.
Ulster lost to Leinster in the semi-final of last season’s competition and will be looking to improve on that showing this time round, but they will have to do it without their long-standing captain, Johann Muller, who has now retired from all forms of rugby.
Both teams have key players for the future of their respective nations. In Jake Ball, the Scarlets have a young lock who has made a big impact in his short time with Wales, and Ulster possess one of the most exciting young fly-halves in Europe in the form of Paddy Jackson.
Both players will want to get their campaigns off to a win to show the coaches they have the mental maturaity to influence big games in these major tournaments.
The second game from the opening weekend is a replay of last season’s final. In May a determined Glasgow side made the trip to the RDS Arena to face a Leinster team brimming with international stars.
Though Glasgow remained within two points of the Irishmen with just 20 minutes remaining in the game, the occasion proved too much for the ambitious Scottish side who ended up on the wrong side of a convincing 34-12 defeat.
This season they have an immediate opportunity to exact revenge on the defending champions when they host them at Scotstoun Stadium.
Leinster will want to ensure that their form from last season is carried into the opening exchanges of the 2013-14 tournament, with this their first season without Brian O’Driscoll, but the squad still boasts the likes of Rob Kearney, Jamie Heaslip, and Cian Healy – all of whom will be eager to prove that they are more than just a one-man club.
Also in September, Sky Sports will screen Leinster against Scarlets, and Glasgow travel to Newport to take on the Dragons, while October sees old foes and local rivals Leinster and Munster go head to head at the RDS arena, a match-up which has produced some of the best matches in Europe over the course of history and this year stands to be no different.
Edinburgh also take on the Dragons at Murrayfield before Ulster wrap up Sky’s October coverage with a highly anticipated showdown with Glasgow Warriors.
Alongside Sky Sports’ offering of 30 live games, all of the Pro12’s previous free-to-air broadcasters have signed new deals to cover matches in their respective territories.
BBC Wales and S4Cwill broadcast live Pro12 matches featuring the Welsh regions this season and at least for the next four years.
BBC Two Wales continue to show Friday night matches under the floodlights via its Scrum V Live programme, with highlights of all the weekend’s matches featuring the Welsh regions and beyond airing in Scrum V on Sundays.
Welsh-language channel S4C will now revert to covering Sunday afternoon fixtures via its Clwb Rygbi strand, having previously screened Saturday evening games, with English commentary available via its red button/audio select option and English subtitles are also be available on the live coverage.
BBC Wales and S4C will each broadcast one game per round throughout the regular season, from round 1 in September to round 22 in May, and if Welsh teams qualify for the semi-finals and final, the rights to those matches will be shared between the broadcasters.
Edinburgh’s trip to Munster in the opening round of the new-look Guinness Pro12 will be covered live onBBC Alba, the BBC’s Gaelic service, in early September.
This will be the first of 16 matches, all featuring the two Scottish Pro12 sides, to shown on either BBC Alba or BBC Two Scotland between now and early January 2015.
BBC Alba’s continued coverage of Scotland’s two premier sides will see them show coverage of 12 live matches in the first 13 rounds of the Pro12, while this season for the first time, BBC Two Scotland will also show a number of matches live, including the New Year derby match between Edinburgh and Glasgow on Friday, January 2.
BBC Two Scotland’s regular coverage is expected to start next month with the Ospreys v Edinburgh match on Sunday, September 21, with Glasgow’s visit to Treviso on October 5 also on the cards.
Coverage will continue across the BBC channels in Scotland right through the season, including the live play-offs, should either of the Scottish teams reach that stage of the tournament.
In addition to those live matches on BBC Two Scotland, English language viewers will also be provided with a red button option on BBC Alba, which will offer English commentaries for the BBC Alba matches, while Gaelic viewers will also have a red button option for BBC Scotland matches.
BBC Northern Ireland will screen live free-to-air coverage of selected Ulster matches in the Guinness Pro12 this season and for the next four years.
BBC Two NI will screen every Ulster home and away match that is not scheduled for live broadcast on Sky Sports, with the new TV deal also including live coverage of any match involving Ulster in the end-of-season play-off stages, including the final itself.
BBC NI’s face of sport Stephen Watson returns to present live TV coverage on BBC Two NI, with match commentary being led by Jim Neilly, while expert analysis and co-commentary will come from a range of ex-players, including Ryan Constable, Bryn Cunningham, Andy Ward, Tony McWhirter and Maurice Field.
Matches being broadcast live on BBC NI Television will be streamed online via the BBC Sport NI website, with video highlights of all matches also going up on the website, while all BBC NI Pro12 broadcasts will be available to watch again via BBC iPlayer.
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