How To Watch Super Rugby in the UK and Ireland

22 Feb 2021

Update:

RugbyPass have now announced they'll be showing Super Rugby Aotearoa in UK, Ireland, Europe, Asia and ME, full annoucement here. However, they are not showing Super Rugby AU, so this article shows a very good, if not better alternative. As well as vital for those who are outside of the RugbyPass supported regions, e.g. Canada, USA.

So far Super Rugby AU and Super Rugby Aotearoa are not being shown on TV in the UK and Ireland, as well as many other major rugby watching nations including the USA and Canada.

However, there is a way to still get your fix of Southern Hemisphere Rugby, using an online service in Australia, called Stan Sport which have recently acquired the rights to Super Rugby and the Rugby Championship. Potentially even more excitingly, they’ll also be showing some matches from the Japanese Top League.

It’s available with a 30 day free trial, which can be cancelled at anytime.

Stan Sports

They’ll be showing all the Super Rugby AU and Aotearoa matches, as well as all the Rugby Championship, Bledisloe Cup, Shute Shield, Hospital Challenge Cup, SuperW, Wallaroos, Currie Cup and New Zealand's National Provincial Championship. There’s also an insane back catalogue on there, including replays of all the Super Rugby finals, and all the Australian internationals going back decades.

How it Works

In order to access Stan, you’ll need to use a VPN. For those not up to speed, it’s a “Virtual Private Network” that then shows your network as if you’re anywhere in the world, so in this case, set it to Australia and you can access Stan like any Australian can.

Not all VPNs are created equally though, and some are unable to get behind the geoblock. For example, trying with VPN Unlimited this morning allowed me to sign up to Stan, but then wouldn’t actually let me watch the content.

I then used NordVPN and it worked perfectly, it’s available for only a few quid a month depending on your plan. You can take a look here.

How much does it cost?

Stan Sport is an add-on to a Stan plan. The basic plan starts at $10 AUD a month, allowing you to watch on one screen at a time in standard definition. $14 AUD gets your 3 screens at a time and HD. Then on top of this you need to add the sport package, which is fixed at $10 AUD a month, regardless of Stan plan.

So the minimum cost for Stan Sport is $20 AUD, which is around £11 a month, very reasonable compared to Sky Sports, and offers much more rugby. Sky currently aren’t showing any rugby, so I suspect a lot of people will be looking to cancel their subscriptions, especially if the Lions Tour is postponed. Regardless, cancelling Sky Sports and using NOW TV sports packages for the Lions matches looks like a better bet.

Step by Step Guide:

  • Get a VPN, I recommend NordVPN as I know from first-hand experience it works for Stan and some others don’t.
  • Create an account on Stan, you just need some standard details and a random Australian post code, I used this to help!
  • Use your VPN to access from a server in Australia
  • Watch the content on your computer, on install your VPN on your phone, tablet etc and cast to your TV.

Let me know how you all get on!