[RhysJR]

Saw a comment about all matches being shown on the main channel. One of the media packs for the tournament says that ITV will still show 10 matches on ITV4 with seven of them being an 8pm match.

www.itvmedia.co.uk 

Breaking down the fixtures...

The extra week given to the pool stages means that there are now less matches on weekdays. All home nations matches are on weekends, with plenty of those at 8pm. Breaking the fixtures down by day, 11 matches take place on weekdays, including the opening game.

Monday: 0 games
Tuesday: 0 games
Wednesday: 2 games
Thursday: 4 games
Friday: 5 games
Saturday: 16 games
Sunday: 13 games

These are the 8pm kick-offs not involving a B&I side or the opening game - so the reported seven 8pm kick-offs on ITV 4 will be from these nine. I think it is all but certain that Japan v Samoa and Fiji v Portugal will be two of those seven, which means five matches involving a 'favourite' (NZ, France, SA) will be on ITV 4. (France & NZ v Italy on Friday nights would be the two other ITV 1 games if I had to predict). There are three games that kick-off at 16:45 on weekday evenings which brings us to the figure of 10 on ITV 4.

Thu 14/9 France v Uruguay
Fri 15/9 New Zealand v Namibia
Fri 21/9 France v Namibia
Thu 28/9 Japan v Samoa
Fri 29/9 New Zealand v Italy
Sun 1/10 South Africa v Tonga
Thu 5/10 New Zealand v Uruguay
Fri 6/10 France v Italy
Sun 8/10 Fiji v Portugal

---

Comparing with the France 2007 tournament (the best like-for-like comparison as the last tournament to take place in a European timezone but not hosted wholly in the UK), ITV's scheduling looks like it will be a lot better. Per this schedule, in 2007 there was 21 pool games out of 40 on ITV 4 or ITV 3, including seven games featuring Ireland, Scotland or Wales (those matches were simulcasted on UTV/STV/ITV 1 Wales IIRC?).

www.rugbynetwork.net