Free Sports, BBC and Scottish Rugby are to broadcast every stage of the FOSROC Super6 Sprint Series live across the world.
Scottish Rugby today confirmed that all 21 matches in the FOSROC Super6 Sprint Series will be broadcast live to a global audience.
Every Friday night game in the Sprint Series will be broadcast live on television by broadcast partner FreeSports. Both Saturday games will be available on the BBC Sport website, BBC iPlayer and the Scottish Rugby website.
FreeSports will also make each Friday night fixture available to view on their FreeSports Player within the UK and Ireland. Those outwith those territories will be able to watch the games on the Scottish Rugby website.
Last summer, they first partnered with Scottish Rugby to deliver every Sunday fixture and the grand final in the 2021 FOSROC Super6 and are the only free-to-air sports channel in the UK and Ireland. Formed in 2017, FreeSports are the sister channel of Premier Sports, which broadcasts the United Rugby Championship and French Rugby's Top 14 competitions.
The tournament's broadcasting will be produced by Glasgow-based production company QTV who were integral to the broadcasting of the inaugural FOSROC Super6 tournament in 2019.
Bringing the action to life will be the experienced commentary team of Stuart McFarlane, Paul Mitchell, Hugh Dan MacLennan, Jamie Lyall, Dale Clancy and Bruce Millar, who weekly guest co-commentators will join.
The FOSROC Super6 Sprint Series will commence next month, with all six participating teams playing each other once. The league will then be split with the teams who finished in the top half playing the teams who finished in the bottom half over three weekends of playoffs to determine the final placings.
Scottish Rugby Head of Performance Programmes, Grant McKelvey said: "We're delighted that FreeSports will be continuing as broadcast partners of the FOSROC Super6, it's fantastic that we will be able to broadcast all 21 matches to a worldwide audience.
"Although the FOSROC Super6 Championship in the summer will be our main competition, the FOSROC Super6 Sprint Series will play a crucial part in building towards the first full season of Championship fixtures.
"With cross-border opportunities on hold for this season due to the ongoing impact of the pandemic, we're focused on delivering a quality season of rugby at this important level. The FOSROC Super6 Sprint Series allows all players and teams to showcase themselves with the expansive brand of rugby we saw in the last edition, played in better, hopefully, warmer weather.
"Once all Super6 clubs have managed to reset after the sprint, we move into the block of 10 intensive fixtures for the FOSROC Super6 Championship, which culminates with the semi-final playoffs for the top four placed teams in the league, followed by the grand final at the end of October."
Watsonian FC president Euan Kennedy spoke about how the broadcast deal will help Watsonian FC reach new levels "This is such an exciting time for Watsonian FC, being able to bring our game, our history and our culture to a global audience is a big part of what FOSROC Super6 rugby is about."
The President added "We have known for a long time how good Watsonian FC is, and now we get to bring that to fans across the world, with support from Free Sports and BBC Iplayer”
Sprint Series action will kick off on Friday 15th April with Ayrshire Bulls hosting Boroughmuir Bears in the first match of the tournament broadcast live on FreeSports. The next day Watsonians Rugby will host Stirling County, whilst Heriot's Rugby will welcome Southern Knights to Goldenacre, with both games available to watch on the BBC iPlayer and Scottish Rugby website. (Full fixture list below)
With the league standings confirmed by the first five rounds of fixtures, the team that finishes in third place will travel to the team that finishes in second for a live broadcast game on Friday 27th May, followed by fifth-place will play host to sixth on Saturday.
The next weekend third place will host first place on Friday 3rd June, with fourth travelling to sixth the next day.
The winner of the league will be decided when the team who ends the five regular rounds of fixtures in first place hosts the second-place team on Friday 10th June, with fourth playing fifth on Saturday 11th June.
FreeSports can be found on Freeview HD channel 64, Sky HD channel 422, Virgin HD 553, TalkTalk 64, BT Vision channel 64 and on the online FreeSports Player.
FULL FOSROC Super6 Sprint Series Fixtures
Friday 15th April
Ayrshire Bulls v Boroughmuir Bears, 7:45pm – Live on FreeSports
Saturday 16th April
Watsonians Rugby v Stirling County, 2pm – Live on BBC iPlayer and Scottish Rugby website
Heriot's Rugby v Southern Knights, 4:30pm – Live on BBC iPlayer and Scottish Rugby website
Friday 22nd April
Boroughmuir Bears v Heriot's Rugby, 7:45pm – Live on FreeSports
Saturday 23rd April
Southern Knights v Watsonians Rugby, 2pm – Live on BBC iPlayer and Scottish Rugby website
Stirling County v Ayrshire Bulls, 4:30pm – Live on BBC iPlayer and Scottish Rugby website
Friday 29th April
Southern Knights v Stirling County, 7:45pm – Live on FreeSports
Saturday 30th April
Boroughmuir Bears v Watsonians Rugby, 2pm – Live on BBC iPlayer and Scottish Rugby website
Ayrshire Bulls v Heriot's Rugby, 4:30pm – Live on BBC iPlayer and Scottish Rugby website
Friday 6th May
Stirling County v Boroughmuir Bears, 7:45pm – Live on FreeSports
Saturday 7th May
Watsonians Rugby v Heriot's Rugby, 2pm – Live on BBC iPlayer and Scottish Rugby website
Southern Knights v Ayrshire Bulls, 4:30pm – Live on BBC iPlayer and Scottish Rugby website
Friday 20th May
Boroughmuir Bears v Southern Knights, 7:45pm – Live on FreeSports
Saturday 14th May
Ayrshire Bulls v Watsonians Rugby, 2pm – Live on BBC iPlayer and Scottish Rugby website
Stirling County v Heriot's Rugby, 4:30pm – Live on BBC iPlayer and Scottish Rugby website
Friday 27th May
2nd v 3rd, 7:45pm – Live on FreeSports
Saturday 28th May
5th v 6th, 2pm – Live on BBC iPlayer and Scottish Rugby website
Friday 3rd June
3rd v 1st, 7:45pm – Live on FreeSports
Saturday 4th June
6th v 4th, 2pm – Live on BBC iPlayer and Scottish Rugby website
Friday 10th June
1st v 2nd, 7:45pm – Live on FreeSports
Saturday 11th June
4th v 5th, 2pm – Live on BBC iPlayer and Scottish Rugby website
