The action will be part of ITV Sport’s exclusive coverage of the tournament which will feature every match – from the opening game on September 9 through to the Rugby World Cup Final on October 23. All of the Home Nations’ matches will be broadcast on ITV1 and ITV1 HD.
Each of Wales’ Pool D matches will be shown in full on ITV1 Wales – the coverage start times are as follows:
• September 11: Wales v South Africa (09.10hrs)
• September 18: Wales v Samoa (04.15hrs)
• September 26: Wales v Namibia (07.00hrs)
• October 2: Wales v Fiji (05.30hrs)
Frances Donovan will be anchoring the coverage from Cardiff and will be joined in the studio by former Welsh internationals and expert pundits Mike Hall, Andy Moore and Mark Jones. There’ll also be live reports from local rugby clubs to soak up the big match atmosphere in Wales.
Bob Symonds, one of the best known voices in Welsh sport, will be commentating on the matches while ITV Wales sports correspondent Richard Morgan will be based with the Wales camp in New Zealand and meeting travelling fans. He will also be providing regular news reports for Wales Tonight on ITV1 Wales each weekday as well as blogging and tweeting the latest updates.
There’ll also be two special half-hour behind-the-scenes documentaries with the Welsh squad on ITV1 Wales. The first will follow the team as they spend the summer preparing for the competition; the second will come from their camp in New Zealand as they battle through their group matches.
ITV’s Rugby World Cup 2011 plans were announced today at launch events in London and Cardiff.
Speaking at the Cardiff launch, Phil Henfrey, Head of News & Programmes, said: “ITV1 Wales will be the place to be for Welsh rugby fans as we provide extensive and comprehensive coverage of all of Wales’ games in New Zealand at the Pool stages – and hopefully beyond.
“There’ll be action, excitement and surprises aplenty and ITV Sport will be covering the tournament every step of the way up to the Final in Auckland on 23 October.”
At the London launch earlier in the day, ITV Controller of Sport, Niall Sloane said: “The Rugby World Cup is the biggest sporting event of the year and it’s live and exclusive on ITV. We’ve got a great team of experts and World Cup winners and look forward to bringing the whole tournament to viewers this Autumn.“
Ex-Wales captain Gareth Thomas will be among ITV Network’s team of star rugby pundits alongside Lawrence Dallaglio, Michael Lynagh, Sean Fitzpatrick and others.
ITV will broadcast a comprehensive one-hour highlights programme on every tournament match day on both ITV4 and ITV1.
In addition to the live match coverage and highlights from ITV Sport, ITV4 has commissioned a new six-part series, Dallaglio’s World Cups, in which Lawrence Dallaglio looks at the key moments in Rugby World Cups over the past 24 years.
