European Challenge Cup Gets TV Boost : Irish Rugby

The European Challenge Cup will break new ground this season when the 12th tournament has two live televised games on each of the six weekends of pool matches as well as increased live coverage of the knock-out stages.

ERC, organisers of the European Challenge Cup and Heineken Cup tournaments, released details of the new broadcast platform with the fixtures for the 2007/08 European Challenge Cup.

A minimum of 17 live European Challenge Cup games will be broadcast by France Televisions, Sky Sports and Eurosport France, the latter becoming ERCâ00s newest broadcast partner.

The tournament will also see three European fixtures played on Thursday evenings with Sale Sharks hosting two Thursday fixtures and one at Newcastle Falcons in the opening four rounds.

The match that will launch the tournament will be televised by Sky Sports and France 4 when Sale Sharks meet Montpellier at Edgeley Park on Thursday, November 8 (kick-off 7.45pm) while Eurosport France will show Auch against Bath Rugby in Pool 1 on the Saturday (8.45pm).

The addition of televised pool stage matches is set to provide a massive boost to the competition and further enhance its stature across Europe.

"This is fantastic news for everyone involved in European club rugby and especially for the players and fans of the 20 teams competing for the European Challenge Cup title," said ERC chairman Jean-Pierre Lux.

"The tournament has previously enjoyed televised matches at the knock-out stages but the profile of the European Challenge Cup will be considerably heightened right from the first day of the tournament in early November.

â00The increased interest from broadcasters reflects the growing quality of European rugby action on offer in the tournament with players such as Carl Hayman, Luke McAllister, Butch James, Rico Gear, Jonny Wilkinson, Sebastian Chabal and many, many more set to compete for European club glory.

â00The standard and intensity of the matches reaches new heights each season and I am sure we are in for another outstanding competition."

2007/08 EUROPEAN CHALLENGE CUP POOLS:

POOL 1: Bath Rugby, Albi, Overmach Rugby Parma, Auch

POOL 2: Montauban, Worcester Warriors, Gran Parma, Bucuresti

POOL 3: CONNACHT, Brive, Newcastle Falcons, Cetransa El Salvador

POOL 4: Bayonne, Sale Sharks, Petrarca Rugby, Montpellier

POOL 5: Rugby Calvisano, Castres Olympique, Leeds Carnegie, Dax

Felix Jones, who is the visiting coach in Ireland camp this week, spoke to Irish Rugby TV about how 'interesting' and 'valuable' his time in Tokyo has been, and also what the transition from player to coach is like. He retired in October 2015 and is now Munster's back-line and attack coach.

Speaking ahead of Saturday's second Test against Japan, Ireland tour captain Rhys Ruddock said: "We've been happy with the results so far, and there's been bits of the performances we've been really happy with and some bits that we're looking to improve on. Tomorrow marks the last opportunity to go out and do that, so we're all really excited about getting out there now."