The International Rugby Board ( IRB ) and MediaZone have announced that fans will be able to view all the matches from Rugby World Cup 2007 (RWC) online through an exciting official broadband video service, RWCPlus. The product, which will go LIVE on July 31, will be streamed through the official Tournament website www.rugbyworldcup.com.


RWCPlus will offer fans an RWC Pass that includes 24-hour delayed coverage of all 48 matches from the 2007 IRB Rugby World Cup, as well as LIVE audio feeds, match previews, halftime and fulltime highlights, interviews, and archived Rugby World Cup content for US$49.99. Individual matches are also available on a pay-per-view basis.


Existing MediaZone Rugby All Access Pass customers in eligible territories can purchase the package at a discounted rate of $39.99. Fans interested in purchasing both the RWC Pass and the MediaZone Rugby All Access Pass can buy a combined package for $139.98.


RWCPlus is produced in association with MediaZone Rugby, the world’s top provider of online Rugby video, with coverage of more than 250 live matches per year and a wide variety of additional content from highlights and previews to viewer participation forums. Together, the IRB and MediaZone will offer the most comprehensive and far-reaching coverage of Rugby’s showpiece tournament.


“Rugby World Cup 2007 promises to be the most successful Rugby World Cup to date. Ticket sales are on course to reach record levels, while the global TV audience looks set to reach the 4 billion mark. The provision of a dedicated official online video service where all 48 Tournament matches can be viewed further enhances global coverage and will ensure that more Rugby fans than ever before will be able to watch all the action," said Head of Rugby World Cup Department, Kit McConnell.


“In addition to providing online coverage of premier events like Wimbledon, the Indianapolis 500 and the New York City Marathon, MediaZone is the worldwide leader for access to Rugby online, so it is a perfect fit for us to partner with IRB to deliver the world’s biggest sporting event in 2007,” said Patrick Guthrie, MediaZone’s Director of Rugby. “We are absolutely thrilled to provide this affordable option so rugby fans worldwide can see every single scrum, lineout, ruck, maul and try while they support their favorite teams throughout the Finals Tournament.”



About the International Rugby Board


The International Rugby Board ( IRB ) is Rugby Union’s governing body. There are currently 120 Unions in membership of the IRB within six Regional Associations. The IRB funds and runs major International Rugby tournament’s all over the world including its most prestigious event, Rugby World Cup (RWC), which is held every four years. RWC is now the world’s third largest sporting event and this year’s tournament in France is widely anticipated to be the most successful in the tournament’s 20-year history. Over 2 million fans are expected to attend one or more of the 48 matches while a worldwide audience of over 4 billion will watch RWC on TV. RWC plays an important part in the global development of the Game with funds generated pumped into the Game at every level in the form of high performance, union infrastructure and tournament initiatives designed at increasing the overall competitiveness of the Game.



If you want to watch the matches live on your computer then click here

The Sport of Rugby Union as defined on Wikipedia. Do you know what a prolate spheroid is?


Rugby union football (often referred to as simply rugby or union) is an outdoor sport played by teams of 15 players with a prolate spheroid-shaped ball. It is one of the two main forms of full-team rugby, the other being rugby league. There is also a quicker seven-a-side sport called rugby sevens, which exists in both rugby union- and rugby league-derived forms.


The game was developed from the rules used to play an early form of football at Rugby School in England, hence the name. The crucial differences from association football (soccer) are that in rugby the ball is a prolate spheroid instead of a sphere and the players are allowed to pick the ball up and run with it. The players may kick the ball, and also are allowed to throw (pass) the ball from player to player, but unlike in American football they may not throw it forward; i.e. the ball must only go backwards or laterally when thrown or passed.

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I'm all angry about these modern day so-called rugby players, I know why they have gone all soft - It's because of poncy names. That's what it is.

Remember in the old days, when players chucked round a ball made out of ten pound of clay stitched inside a steel-reinforced leather shell with laces made out of piano wire?


Well, in them days players could only survive the rigors of the game because they were called things like Albert, Arthur, Bert, Gareth, Bill, Dai, Ken, Jack and Tommy. Tough names for tough men, them was.


And what do we have now? Jonah, Oliver, Rory, Gavin, Jamie, Johnny. Tarts' names, they are. Great big puffs. No wonder the ball's like a balloon and socks are made of silk. And pads! In the old days you never saw a Carwyn James or a Tony O’Reilly with puffy little tampons on their shoulders. Shoulder pads in them days was made out of library books, and socks was made of flour bags.


Same with the jerseys. Bloody shirts with holes in now so they can breathe.
Yes, so that little Jody's hairless chest can breathe and doesn't get a chill. Piss off. Ken Jones used to jink round New Zealand's finest wearing a circus tent and shorts cobbled together from the jacket of his de-mob suit. Aye, he did. No wonder players fall over all the time whenever an opponent comes anywhere near them.

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