ITV4 will broadcast live coverage of the 2019 Varsity rugby union matches between Oxford and Cambridge on Thursday, 12 December.
The free-to-air channel will show both the men’s and women’s matches live from Twickenham, starting with the 33rd Women’s Varsity Match at 11.30am, followed by the 138th Men’s Varsity Match, kicking off at 3pm.
The new deal brings the rugby union version of the Varsity contests to ITV screens for the first time. They were previously televised by Sky Sports, before the BBC took over the rights under its England highlights deal with the RFU from 2015 to 2018.
One of the oldest and most prestigious fixtures in the rugby calendar, the ‘Battle of the Blues’ between Oxford and Cambridge has in the past been the breeding ground of many World Cup players and the American lock Nate Brakeley, a Cambridge blue in 2012, carried on the tradition during the 2019 edition in Japan.
The first Varsity Match to be broadcast on TV was in 1938, when the 63rd clash between the two University rivals became the first football or rugby match to be televised from start to finish. On that occasion the England full back Hubert Freakes led Oxford to a 17-4 victory in front of King George VI.
For the 2019 men’s edition, Oxford warmed-up for the defence of their title by playing in the World University Rugby Invitation Tournament in Japan, finishing fourth, while Cambridge have added two former international second rows to their squad in former Australia and Harlequins captain James Horwill and Springbok giant Flip van der Merwe.
This year’s Women’s Varsity Match will be the fifth to be played at the home of English rugby, as well as the first to be shown live on a mainstream free-to-air TV channel. For the last four years, the women’s match was broadcast via the BBC’s Red Button service, while the men’s match was shown on BBC Two.
ITV4’s broadcast of the 2019 Varsity Matches follows on from ITV Sport’s recent live coverage of the 2019 Rugby World Cup in Japan, in which a peak audience of 12.8 million tuned in to watch England’s defeat to South Africa in the final.
The channel’s on-air team at Twickenham for the Varsity double-bill will see former England World Cup winners Emily Scarratt and Natasha Hunt provide match analysis, alongside lead commentator Nick Heath.
Commenting on its deal with ITV, David Searle, CEO of the Varsity Match Company, said:
“The World Cup coverage by ITV in Japan was fantastic and we hope the millions of rugby union fans who followed England’s journey to become World Cup finalists will tune in to watch what promises to be two highly competitive fixtures between the Light and Dark Blues.
“The new deal also means that at last both the men’s and women’s Varsity matches will be shown on ITV.”
The Varsity Matches kick off on Thursday, 12 December, with the women’s match at 11.30am, followed by the men’s match at 3pm, with both games live on ITV4 and online via the ITV Hub – itv.com/itv4.
For a full list of all forthcoming major rugby union matches on the box, visit SOTB’s dedicated rugby union TV listings page.
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THURSDAY 12th DECEMBER
Oxford v Cambridge
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11:30 |
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Oxford v Cambridge
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15:00 |
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