How bad is ITV's rugby coverage??

Following on from the debacle of ITV's world cup coverage (Horrendous co commentators, so many ad breaks and cutting to said ad breaks after the final so we missed the live interviews and the victory haka) ITV has kept up the standards with their Heineken cup "highlights" show last night.

I say "highlights" because they showed 5 out of the 16 games - 5!!

Yes I wouldn't expect in depth analysis of all 16 games but at the very least the tries. They spent 15 minutes prancing around Thomond Park - could that not have been used to show some more games??

I really didn't like ITV after the world cup and they aint doing much to persuade me that they can provide good rugby coverage.

I really hope the BBC gets the next world cup.

AFAIK, they only have rights to the English games. Like TG4 and S4C have the rights to the Irish and Welsh highlights.

They showed Ulster V Clermont?

Oh right, I didn't see the coverage. SKY do a highlights programme on Sundays( follow the links) and I think ther ERC website has highlights.

ITV will always get the Rugby World Cup over the Beeb or anyone else for one reason, and that is advertising.

They sell the advertising space in the ad breaks for big bucks and the IRB get a cut on the promise of getting the event next time as well. Simples.

I think all channels use the same highlights programme, but taylor it to their own audience to be honest. S4C focus on the Welsh sides games, and then do brief reports on the more significant and/or relevant other matches.

The Sky highlights programme was also rubbish, but nothing could prepare me for the Craig Doyle sponsored nonsense on ITV last night. If you can't have a proper highlights programme then just don't have one.

Craig Doyle is a smug cretin, and having a highlights show that doesn't actually show half the matches is completely pointless.

Nothing to do with rights over the English sides either. I specifically recorded it for the Edinburgh (versus London Irish - an English side) highlights (Sky showed about 30 seconds of this game in their highlights programme) and that was summarised by Doyle as "a bit of a shock result". Thanks Craig.

Why on earth Sky can't do a proper 2-3 hour round-up programme on a Sunday night (like they used to) is beyond me. Have you seen some of the nonsense they show on a Sunday night??

At my first HC final in Cardiff this year, I got a bit excited and said "Oooh! There's Craig Doyle!!" when I saw him. He gave me a stinking look, so he's not my friend anymore.

RDW, I watched highlights of Saturday's matches on S4C and I'm pretty sure they showed all the tries from that day's matches. No Craig Doyle, either!

Im sure all 6 Scottish rugby fans were up in arms about this.

It should be 1 1/2-2 hours long.

It was poor in fairness, ITV coverage.

Craig Doyle - a former sexiest man in Ireland winner.

Pah.

Peter Seabiscuit Wheeler wrote:Im sure all 6 Scottish rugby fans were up in arms about this.

Point in this comment is?

westisbest wrote:Craig Doyle - a former sexiest man in Ireland winner.

Pah.

Slim pickings, clearly!

RDW_Scotland wrote:

Peter Seabiscuit Wheeler wrote:Im sure all 6 Scottish rugby fans were up in arms about this.

Point in this comment is?

Don't worry, when the Welsh can afford TVs they'll find Craig Doyle immensely annoying as well.

funnyExiledScot wrote:

RDW_Scotland wrote:

Peter Seabiscuit Wheeler wrote:Im sure all 6 Scottish rugby fans were up in arms about this.

Point in this comment is?

Don't worry, when the Welsh can afford TVs they'll find Craig Doyle immensely annoying as well.

Why the dig at the Welsh after a post from an Englishman?

+1 from OP. And like FES I recorded it for Burgh (and Warriors) ... at least I got 1 out of 2.

I would have expected a highlights programme for such a competition to have basically no fluff and literally be a look at the pools before the round, all of the match highlights followed by a look at the pools after the round. That'll take an hour and I'd be delighted.

They don't even need a presenter. It's not like his banter is particularly witty or scintillating.

As you say, a table followed by decent length highlights would suffice.

Griff - apologies for my insult. I should merely have pointed out to Mr Wheeler that ITV failed to cover a number of French, English and Welsh sides as well, so it's not just a Scottish issue, a point he failed to grasp.

I have to say I was quite impressed with Sky's coverage - seemed better than usual - though Dewi Morris and Barns need to be put out to farm.

FES

They obviously didnt head out west for the competition.

That seabiscuit gnob is a complete idiot. I would ignore the ignoramus!

I was thinking this when i watched it. Why did almost everything seem to revolve around Munster? I mean, whilst I'd disagree with it, I wouldn't be surprised or confused if they referenced Leinster a fair bit in the show, but that's simply because they're actually the European champions. Terribly dull and boring, not a fair representation of rugby and the competition as a whole.