Exclusively live coverage of the Magners League play-off final is among the highlights of S4C’s 2010 summer sports programming which includes international football and rugby, live Twenty20 cricket, top golf and dazzling motorsport action.
The Magners League play-off final showdown between Leinster and the Ospreys from the RDS Showground in Dublin is presented live by Y Clwb Rygbi team on Saturday 29 May at 18:10.
Highlights of the Wales squad’s summer tour of New Zealand – including the two tests on 19 June in Carisbrook, Dunedin and 26 June at the Waikato Stadium, Hamilton – and highlights of Ireland’s match on 12 June against the All Blacks in New Plymouth will also feature on the channel.
Y Clwb Rygbi’s Gareth Roberts and a team of experts presents live coverage of Wales’ international against South Africa at the Millennium Stadium on Saturday 5 June.
Coverage from the IRB Junior World Championship in Argentina will also be broadcast on the channel in June with live coverage of Wales’ key match against New Zealand in the pool stages of the competition.
Other rugby highlights include the best of the Blues’ Amlin Challenge Cup final against Toulon, the Heineken Cup final between Toulouse and Biarritz at Stade de France, Paris, and live coverage of the Principality Play-off final.
With Wales’ football manager John Toshack preparing for the Euro 2012 qualification campaign in September, his team head for Croatia to take on Slaven Bilić‘s side in a friendly match on Sunday, 23 May.
S4C will broadcast live and exclusive coverage of the Croatia v Wales friendly international in the Stadion Gradski Vrt (City Garden Stadium) in Osijek. Highlights of the match will also be televised on Sgorio on Monday, 24 May.
For the first time, S4C will broadcast live coverage of Glamorgan County Cricket Club matches in the Twenty20 Cup.
The first of five live Twenty20 matches from Cardiff’s Swalec Stadium will be Glamorgan v Gloucestershire on Friday 4 June. The four other matches shown live are against Hampshire, Sussex, Essex and Somerset.
Angharad Mair will be joined by regular cricket experts Robert Croft and Jeff Evans among others during the summer season. Huw Llywelyn Davies and John Hardy are the service’s commentators, with Alun Wyn Bevan providing an endless list of cricketing facts and figures.
Reporters include well-known BBC sports broadcaster Dot Davies and Con Passionate and Gavin and Stacey actor and cricket-mad fan Steffan Rhodri throughout the campaign.
Harness racing also returns in July with a new series of Rasus when Dai Jones, Ifan Jones Evans are joined this year by Dot Davies.
The series gets under starter’s orders with live coverage of the Rasus Ceredigion meeting from Tanycastell fields, Rhydyfelin near Aberystwyth on 4 July. S4C will also present extensive coverage from Rasus Tregaron on August 27 and 28.
Emyr Penlan, Lowri Morgan and the team will be back on screen in July with the motorsports series Ralio+. The series will include weekly highlights from the World Rally Championships, the Intercontinental Rally Challenge (IRC), British Rally Challenge (BRC), Rally Cross, Autograss and MotoCross.
Join the team throughout the latter stages of the current campaign as the season reaches its climax at the Wales Rally GB in November. Daily highlights packages of the action will be presented by the Ralio+ team from the event.
S4C’s golfing series Golffio returns in August and will bring all the build-up to the Ryder Cup, to be held at the Celtic Manor Resort, Newport on 1 – 3 October.
Golffio kicks off with daily highlights and live coverage from the final day of the S4C Wales Ladies Championship at Conwy Golf Club from 12 – 15 August.
The presentation team will also present weekly coverage from the PGA European Tour, the US PGA tour and the Ladies European Tour in August and September and daily coverage from the three-day Ryder Cup event.
S4C Content Editor, Sport, Geraint Rowlands, says: “Our extensive sports coverage for the summer shows our dedication to broadcasting a variety of sports in Wales on all levels. I’m also delighted to be able to add Glamorgan cricket matches to our provision as well as live coverage of Wales’ friendly football match against Croatia ahead of the 2012 European qualifiers, which kicks off in September.
“The inclusion of the Magners League and Principality Premiership Play-offs has added a new dimension to the end of the rugby season and we’re pleased to broadcast the two finals at the end of the month.
“With S4C also broadcasting coverage of Wales’ test matches against New Zealand as well as highlights of the Amlin and Heineken Cups, it will be a great summer of rugby – and sport in general – on the Channel.”
Beyond the extensive hours of sport programming throughout the summer, up-to-date information for all sports will be available on the website – s4c.co.uk/sport.
