I must witness the choking firsthand

September 4, 2011 9:05 PM

Where online can I watch the Rugby World Cup (from Australia)?

I live in Australia and desperately want to watch as much of the RWC as possible. However, without connecting to a ridiculously-expensive (and untenably-long) pay television contract, I will not be able to see ANY¹ of it.

I'm happy to pay some amount to see it. I've consulted the Googes, and there are innumerable sites which will take my money in exchange for installing "Not At All Dodgy File.exe" to (allegedly) allow me to stream the games. I'm almost considering signing-up to one (and running it in a sacrificial read-only virtual machine) if only I knew that in return I would actually get to see the rugby.

Surely there must be, somewhere, a pay television company which has actually entered the 21st century and will stream me (preferably live! and uninterrupted!) the Game they play in Heaven?

Help me, Hive Mind. You're my only hope.


¹Except, maybe, the wobblies games? Anyone know if they're FTA in Aus?

posted by coriolisdave to health & fitness (10 answers total)

I don't know rugby but I have recently become a EPL fan and reddit's /r/soccer/ has been invaluable. I bet you'll find an answer over on /r/rugbyunion/. Looks like they have a sidebarred link called "Where can I watch live rugby online?" which leads to this site, apparently run by a Comic Sans fan.
posted by Edogy at 9:22 PM on September 4, 2011 [1 favorite]

ITV will be streaming the games on-line, so you could use a VPN to gain a UK ip address to watch the matches.
posted by Harpocrates at 9:32 PM on September 4, 2011

Whilst roaming all over the world I joined Bet360.com in order to view Australias Football (Soccer) World Cup Fiasco. Back then you just had to join, didn't have to pay or bet anything, and the quality was OK (though stuttered sometimes at agonisingly crucial moments).

I am watching this thread with interest, as I am in the Philippines and would like to watch the games as well. You could always do what I'm planning on doing and go the pub? :)
posted by Admira at 10:00 PM on September 4, 2011

I think you can assume that the usual collection of not-at-all-authorised rebroadcasters will have streams announced at short notice (hint hint), and taken down by the relevant broadcaster(s) at even shorter notice.

Given that Foxtel wants you to cough up for a TV contract, and thus will not take your money for a streaming package, the most stable way to watch will be with a highish-bandwidth VPN to a country whose official broadcaster streams in an otherwise unrestricted way. (Not the US: NBCUniversal has a $150 paywall in place.)

Except, maybe, the wobblies games? Anyone know if they're FTA in Aus?

Channel Nine has the Wallabies' pool matches and the knockout stages FTA. (Full TV schedule.)
posted by holgate at 10:00 PM on September 4, 2011

Thanks for that, holgate. Looks like some (all?) of those streams require some sort of software - although as the main website is currently down, DNS and all, I can't find out what the software is, whether it's legit (i.e. not malware) and/or whether it requires Windows (boo) or OSX clients are available (whee!)¹.

Can you enlighten?


¹ Best-yet would be Linux, but I figure the chances of that are fairly similar to that of England spreading the ball wide and running its way to the WC.
posted by coriolisdave at 11:08 PM on September 4, 2011

I often watch Rugby League games using the vipbox.tv site mentioned by Edogy. As furriners, they can't actually distinguish between League & Union, so I've noticed that Union games are also listed for viewing. Generally works OK, sometimes a bit glitchy. Note that they just embed video links from other providers somehow, often with multiple different links, so if the one you're watching doesn't work well, you can switch to another. I seem to watch quite a bit of live footy via Ireland, judging by the ads at halftime.

When in Indonesia, I forked out a $10 deposit at bet365.com, which gave me access to decent Setanta sports feeds, on the basis that maybe I'd start betting. Back home, the live Rugby League is blocked though. No idea if the RWC would be hosted or not, but you might find info there. AFAIK I can get my $10 back whenever I want, or I could take a punt. Melbourne Demons to win the 2012 AFL flag?
posted by UbuRoivas at 12:05 AM on September 5, 2011

SteamTorrent is the go-to non-web protocol for Wiziwig (the former myp2p.eu), and that's Windows-only, though supposedly has been made to work in WINE. The web-based formats generally use a variety of services, but they're more likely to receive takedown notices.
posted by holgate at 8:18 AM on September 5, 2011

Dave, I am pretty much 100 percent sure that every wobblies game will be on channel 9/Gem. And all the rest will be on FOX. I strongly suggest that your best bet is to find a decent pub and settle in for the entire cup.
posted by wilful at 8:43 PM on September 5, 2011

Yeah, wilful, looks like the Wobblies are fine for 9, but.. I want to see others! NZ getting done by Tonga! England being all whingy when Johnny finally misses that crucial kick! Unfortunately, fulltime Daddy duties preclude camping at the local (and anyway, this is Mackay.. they tend to only do League).

Thanks though, folks - at least now I've got some options!
posted by coriolisdave at 3:11 PM on September 6, 2011

Even the kiwis are laughing at us now: http://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/rugby/teams/australia/5585744/Aussie-TV-prefers-Friends-over-All-Blacks
posted by wilful at 8:00 PM on September 7, 2011