This, while I'm not a huge fan of Union anymore, I did watch bits and pieces of the '11 RUWC and 9's treatment of it was absolutely abysmal. Even worse than their RL coverage, if that's possible. Hadley's RU calling was even worse than his RL calling, which I didn't think was possible- he had NFI what was going on.
I'm not a Union fan either, but occasionally will have a look at major matches (e.g. World Cup, Lions tour like last night's match etc.).
I agree with you that Ch9's coverage of rugby union - during their very short stint they had the coverage for, before offloading the rights to Ch10 this year because they couldn't be half-arsed covering the game anymore - was nothing short of D-grade. I remember all the union fans really giving it to Ch9 on their facebook page during the World Cup after Ch9 spruiked the tournament ad nauseum in the lead up to it saying how good the coverage was going to be etc., only to completely botch the telecasts. No wonder why Fox Sports got huge ratings for that tournament - nearly all the genuine union fans ditched Ch9.
And you're right. I did watch that semi-final and Raaaaaaaaay had absolutely no idea what was happening at times. Not to mention, he tried to call the match RL style which didn't work, and constantly referred to players as "No. 10, No.11 etc." not realising the players have something called a NAME.
On topic, this is good news (it bodes well for next rights battle too), although I really hope the whole tournament isn't stuck on 7mate- will NSW, ACT and QLD at least get the tournament on the main channel?
A few years ago, I would've never dreamed that a day that all matches would be televised on FTA could be possible. This announcement, as you said, bodes very well for the 2017 RLWC rights (Australia or New Zealand being the favourites to host the tournament) and gives me more hope that the international game is getting back to the level it was pre-SL war.
Regarding the tournament being confined to 7Mate, I don't think it matters that much since nearly all homes now have the digital channels (given lots of areas have already switched off their analogue signal) as well as the fact that all of the matches are in the early hours of the morning. I will be happy for this tournament to be exclusively on 7Mate if it means getting HD broadcasts in return and not Ch9's 20th century SD coverage (assuming that BBC or Premier Sports Network - the host broadcasters whom the other international countries will be taking the tv coverage from - are broadcasting in HD).
Another point: given the matches will be live nationwide, that means the sandgroppers out west will be getting the matches at a convenient time. The 12:30am AEDST start for the opening game means it will be 9:30pm in Perth. Hopefully this will give a lot of frustrated league supporters out there (frustrated in the sense of being neglected from watching RL on FTA at a decent time for many years) more incentive to tune in. I like the fact that the RFL have opted for more day games in this tournament, meaning not only a higher chance of attracting fans during late-October/late-November when the weather is pretty crap in the UK, but it is on at a decent time in Australia
