Wales’ Grand Slam winners - including the likes of Cory Hill, Ross Moriarty, Elliot Dee, Aaron Wainwright, Leon Brown and Hallam Amos - could be live on Channel 4 when they face England and Ireland at Cardiff’s Principality Stadium in the Under Armour Summer Series this August.
The reigning 2019 Guinness Six Nations title holders host both fellow Championship opponents in preparation for the Rugby World Cup in September, with the auld enemy in town on Saturday 17th August (14:15hrs) and the Irish arriving on Saturday 31st August (14:30hrs).
Channel 4 showed their first Welsh rugby international last June when Wales beat South Africa in Washington DC, followed by a successful two-Test tour of Argentina.
The partnership will be rekindled for Wales’ Under Armour Summer Series matches, with the England game to be simultaneously shown on Sky, and it has already been announced that Channel 4 will show the final match of the campaign, at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin, by virtue of their existing deal with the Irish Rugby Football Union.
“We will be delighted to welcome Channel 4 to Cardiff and join their portfolio of rugby programming this summer,” said WRU chief executive Martyn Phillips.
“Our experience working with them during last year’s summer tour in Argentina and for the game against South Africa in USA was hugely positive and, of course, their coverage of Heineken Champions Cup rugby is highly regarded.
“These two matches will not only be the last opportunity to see Wales at Principality Stadium before we leave for the World Cup in Japan, but they are also a final send off for our head coach Warren Gatland.
“We are expecting two incredible occasions, two huge crowds and a fitting spectacle for all those watching on TV screens around the world as we celebrate the most successful coach in the history of our game and send Wales to the World Cup in no doubt that an entire nation is behind them.”
Two away games top and tail the campaign, starting with a showdown at Twickenham on Sunday 11th August (itself shown on Sky) and culminating with a trip to Dublin on 7th September.
The two matches on home soil are a Cardiff curtain call for Gatland who will move on after Japan 2019, after serving 12 years at the helm.
Currently placed second in the World Rugby rankings, Wales will also be looking to extend a record 14-match unbeaten run during their four-game RWC warm-up campaign and Gatland will trim his squad, from 42 to the 31 who will make the plane, following Ireland’s visit to Cardiff.
The Grand Slam and Gatland-factor combined is expected to produce sell-out crowds for the summer after Wales completed a unique Championship-clean-sweep-hat-trick under his tenure, lifting the Guinness Six Nations Championship in 2019 to add to triumphs in 2008 and 2012.
“We’re delighted to be working with the Grand Slam winners once again and look forward to Warren Gatland’s men laying down markers against Ireland and England. It promises to be an intriguing summer of rugby for fans of all nations ahead of the Rugby World Cup,” added Joe Blake-Turner, Channel 4 Commissioning Editor, Sport.
Approaching 100,000 tickets have been snapped up for the UA Series already and both games are expected to sell-out the 73,931 capacity Principality Stadium ground – with remaining tickets priced from £40, (£10 U16s, available across more than half the seats in the ground) still available here www.wru.co.uk/tickets.
Wales’ 2019 Under Armour Summer Series fixtures:
Wales vs England: Principality Stadium, Saturday 17th August 2019 - Kick Off: 14:15hrs. £60 (£10 U16 concession available), *£40 (£10 U16 concession available) – lower and middle tier and AFZ sold-out
Wales vs Ireland: Principality Stadium, Saturday 31st August 2019 - Kick Off: 14:30hrs. £70, £60 (£10 U16 concession available), *£40 (£10 U16 concession available) – lower tier sold-out
*Alcohol Free Zone tickets are also in this category
These two matches will not only be the last opportunity to see Wales at Principality Stadium before we leave for the World Cup in Japan, but they are also a final send off for our head coach Warren Gatland...
