Get all your news in one place.
100’s of premium titles.
One app.
Start reading
Wales Online
Wales Online
Sport
Ben James

Six Nations star-studded pundits line-ups revealed as ITV get twice as many games as BBC

The Six Nations kicks off this weekend - with every single minute of action available to view on free-to-air TV.

Despite the prospect of the broadcast rights being sold off to pay-per-view, ITV and BBC struck a deal to keep the tournament on terrestrial television.

For the next four years, ITV will broadcast two-thirds of the tournament's matches - holding the rights to home games for England, Ireland, France and Italy.

Meanwhile, the BBC will broadcast Wales and Scotland's home matches.

Having jointly broadcast the tournament since 2016, the BBC had previously held the rights for matches in Paris until the current deal - meaning ITV will now be showing two matches per week to the BBC's one.

As part of that deal, the BBC also have the broadcasting rights to the the standalone women's tournament.

Welsh language broadcasters S4C also have a deal for the next four years to show every Wales match.

And here are the faces you'll be seeing across those three channels in the coming weeks.

BBC

Starting with the BBC's punditry line-up, there's a fair bit of change. As reported elsewhere, there'll be no Jeremy Guscott this year - joining former presenter John Inverdale in stepping away.

Gabby Logan replaces Inverdale as host for the BBC's reduced coverage - with the channel only broadcasting one game per week in the tournament.

However, the Beeb will welcome back Rugby Special, fronted by former England winger Ugo Monye, to offer highlights from each round of the tournament at 6pm on a Sunday.

The stable of pundits and co-commentators is fairly familiar - with former Wales captain Sam Warburton remaining the channel's big draw on that front.

Former England skipper and coach Martin Johnson, John Barclay and Dylan Hartley are some of the other big names involved.

Jonathan 'Jiffy' Davies, Chris Paterson, Brian Moore, Andy Nicol and Dylan Hartley will also feature alongside commentators Eddie Butler, Andrew Cotter and Sara Orchard.

And Sonja McLaughlan and Lee McKenzie complete the line-up as touchline reports.

ITV

ITV's line-up has a very familiar feel, with a host of established pundits returning to roles they've previously held with the channel.

Presenting duties will be split between Mark Pougatch and Jill Douglas. This weekend, Pougatch will be fronting the coverage of Wales' trip to Ireland, while Douglas will present France's clash with Italy.

As for pundits, Brian O'Driscoll, Rory Best and Gareth Thomas will be on hand for the tournament opener in Dublin, with commentary provided by Miles Harrison, Shane Williams and Gordon D'Arcy.

On Sunday, it will be Benjamin Kayser, Maggie Alphonsi and former Wales fly-half James Hook providing analysis in the studio. Nick Mullins, Ben Kay and Danielle Waterman will be the trio in the commentary box.

Later in the tournament, Sir Clive Woodward, Jonny Wilkinson and Lawrence Dallaglio will be the big guns ITV turn to for England matches, while Sir Ian McGeechan will also feature .

Nick Mullins and Miles Harrison are the channel's commentators, supported by Ben Kay, David Flatman, Shane Williams, Gordan D'Arcy, Scott Hastings and Danielle Waterman.

S4C

As for S4C's coverage, Sarra Elgan will be presenting Clwb Rygbi Rhyngwladol each week.

As the only place to watch every Wales game during this year’s championship, with the channel available in HD, S4C have pulled out the stops with some big names such as Wales and Lions hooker Ken Owens, top referee Nigel Owens and current Wales women's captain Siwan Lillicrap.

They will also be joined by Rhys Patchell, Sioned Harries, Andrew Coombs and Nicky Robinson.

Cennydd Davies will provide commentary on each match alongside former Wales captain Gwyn Jones, while Jonathan 'Jiffy' Davies, as well as his duties for the BBC, will also be providing commentary on select S4C matches during the tournament.

Full Six Nations fixtures and TV channels

ROUND ONE

Ireland v Wales - Saturday February 5 - 2.15pm, ITV and S4C

Scotland v England - Saturday February 5 - 4.45pm, BBC

France v Italy - Sunday February 6 - 3pm, ITV

ROUND TWO

Wales v Scotland - Saturday February 12 - 2.15pm, BBC and S4C

France v Ireland - Saturday February 12 - 4.45pm, ITV

Italy v England - Sunday February 13 - 3pm , ITV

ROUND THREE

Scotland v France - Saturday February 26 - 2.15pm, BBC

England v Wales - Saturday February 26 - 4.45pm, ITV and S4C

Ireland v Italy - Sunday February 27 - 3pm, ITV

ROUND FOUR

Wales v France - Friday March 11 - 8pm, BBC and S4C

Italy v Scotland - Saturday March 12 - 2.15pm, ITV

England v Ireland - Saturday March 12 - 4.45pm, ITV

ROUND FIVE

Wales v Italy - Saturday March 19 - 2.15pm, BBC and S4C

Ireland v Scotland - Saturday March 19 - 4.45pm, ITV

France v England - Saturday March 19 - 8pm, ITV

Want the latest Welsh rugby news sent straight to you? Look no further.

Sign up to read this article
Read news from 100’s of titles, curated specifically for you.
Already a member? Sign in here
Related Stories
Top stories on inkl right now
One subscription that gives you access to news from hundreds of sites
Already a member? Sign in here
Our Picks
Fourteen days free
Download the app
One app. One membership.
100+ trusted global sources.