Sky to broadcast fewer College games in 8th season

Sky Television’s Rugby Channel has nearly halved its coverage of 1st XV rugby matches this year but the main rivalries will still be broadcast.

In its eighth season covering school and college matches from around the country lead by Ken Laban, Willie Lose and Karl Te Nana, only 26 matches will be televised by the pay-to-view network compared to 49 from last year.

The likely reason for the decrease in coverage could be due to the Lions series in June and July which will put a strain on resources.

However, most of New Zealand’s famous 1st XV rivalries will still be covered, when coverage begins on 29 April.

The first major traditional between Southland Boys’ High School and Otago Boys’ High School will be played in Invercargill on Wednesday May 24.

A week later the annual clash between Christchurch Boys’ High School and Christs College will be played on Thursday 1 June.

Later in June, the Auckland Grammar classic against Kings College will be held on Saturday 17. The Auckland A1 competition will see most of the airtime with five matches televised.

The only Wellington game will be played between Wellington College and Palmerston North Boys’ High School on May 20, a Transit Festival match, which is a curtain raiser at Westpac Stadium.

Traditional matches between Palmerston North and Napier Boys’ High School (Polson Banner), Francis Douglas Memorial College and New Plymouth Boys’ High School, St Patrick’s battle between Town and Silverstream won’t be covered in 2017.

The schedule will also feature other University of Canterbury Championship matches, one Central North Island competition game, two Super 8 matches, along with the Chiefs Cup, Super 8, Auckland A1 and WellTech finals and regional play-offs and the coverage will conclude with the national semi-finals and finals in Palmerston North on 8 and 10 September.

The coverage begins on Saturday April 29 when Tamaki College host Otahuhu College in Auckland.

Breakdown of coverage per competition (excluding finals):

Auckland A1 5
UC Championship (Canterbury) 2
Cannon 1A 1
Transit Festival 1
Traditional 2
Super 8 2
Central North Island 1
Other 2

View the full draw here