The New Zealand Herald is reporting that one punter has placed a $6 million dollar bet on New Zealand to win the rugby world cup (via).

Lets not beat around the bush, the all blacks are awesome and really should win, however $6 million dollars. Even if I had that sort of money (which I don’t) I wouldn’t be risking it on such a bet. I’m not sure I could even bet that much on England failing to win the world cup, which is an cast iron dead cert.

Englands cup final is, in my opinion today (3:00 GMT) against Samoa. They must win this to save some face, and (hopefully) get through to the knockout stages, where I guess its fair to say, stranger things have happened.

England vs Samoa is being shown on ITV today.

All you rugby fans are in for a treat today as ITV are showing 3 games of live rugby. In fact my favourite quote from last nights opening game was

With this much live rugby, its hard to know when to go to the fridge.

Any way, today we have the first glimpse of New Zealand (vs Italy in Pool C), as they start their campaign. This is closely followed by what should be a very high points scoring game with Australia taking on Japan in Pool B. Finally we see England opening their defense of their crown with what should be an easy win over the USA in Pool A

Happy Watching…

08/09/07 New Zealand Italy C 12.45 ITV 1
08/09/07 Australia Japan B 14.45 ITV 1
08/09/07 England USA A 17.00 ITV 1

According to the Guardian the media boycott of the rugby world cup has escalated to include some major newspapers, including L’equipe.

The full story can be found on the Guardian website

You can of course still watch the live rugby on ITV.

Reuters is suspending all coverage of pre-tournament events and training sessions of the Rugby World Cup 2007, across text, pictures and TV.

This taken from the following press release on the reuters website.

Reuters say the would like to be able to offer coverage of the rugby…

However, freedom of the press and our editorial integrity are at the core of our business, and these must be respected.

You can of course watch all the live rugby games on ITV - and by following our handy television guide to the world cup.

The BBC are getting in on the act and have released a re-enactment of the moment almost 4 years ago when Johnny Wilkinson kicked England to the Rugby World Cup Final.

Personally I’m a bit disappointed that the BBC aren’t showing the games as I think they do rugby extremely well. However ITV seems to have lined up a decent list of pundits. It obviously won’t be the same without John Inverdale or Jonathan Davies, but they will be back in the Spring for the Six Nations, where we will obviously have the full six nations tv schedule for you.

So apart from ‘that drop goal’ what are your memories of the Final four years ago?

I was looking into getting tickets to watch Wales vs Japan in Pool B. I would have loved to have gone and watched Wales against Australia, but can’t really afford it.

Any way, luckily I looked into train tickets to get to Cardiff Central from London, before I purchased the ticket, since by the time the game has finished the train home would take 7 1/2 hours..

Well since you ask, the route they suggest is

Depart: 22:00 Cardiff Central (CDF)
Arrive: 23:00 Bristol Temple Meads (BRI)

Depart: 23:44 Bristol Temple Meads (BRI)
Arrive: 00:39 Taunton (TAU)

Depart: 02:47 Taunton (TAU)
Arrive: 05:24 London Paddington (PAD)

So it looks like I will have to watch the rugby on television like everyone else..

Watch Rugby on your PC

We have just teamed up with Live Sport on TV who can offer live Rugby Coverage streaming to your PC.

So if you are going to be stuck in the office during the world cup, ensure you lunch time isn’t wasted and start watching the Rugby World Cup on your PC.

Live Sport on TV also offer options including American football, Cricket, Football, Golf, Racing, Motor Sport, Rugby Union, Tennis and Wrestling.

So what’s stopping you, sign up now and watch streaming rugby on your PC.

Hi.

This blog has come out of wanting to find out how I could watch the games in the rugby world cup. I hadn’t seen anybody advertising the fact that they were showing the world cup and was worried that I would either have to miss the games or I would have to spend lots of my hard earned money on cable or satellite.

The good news is that a vast majority of the games are being shown on terrestrial television. This is the list of rugby games on ITV 1. For the other games you will need to be able to watch ITV 3 or ITV 4.

Watching Rugby on ITV3 or ITV4

In order to watch ITV3 or ITV4 you will either need Satellite, Cable or a freeview box. Freeview is the cheapest way (it requires no subscription), and you can pick up freeview boxes from Amazon from as little as £20