How to watch the British and Irish Lions Tour on TV and online
The British & Irish Lions have a big few weeks coming up. The rugby squad have one pre-tour match this Saturday before heading out to South Africa to play eight matches across three different cities in the country.
If you’d like to tune into the matches as they air, then we have everything you need to know. We also have similar articles forEuro 2020, andThe Olympics.
When does the British & Irish Lions South Africa tour start?
Before the Lions kick off the tour, they will have a pre-tour match onSaturday 26 June 2021 at 3pm BST, in which they will face Japan. The first official match will kick off onSaturday 3 July at 5pm BSTagainst Emirates Lions.
What dates do the Lions play?
Warren Gatland’s squad will be playing eight matches on the tour, as well as a pre-tour warm-up match. Here’s who their opponents will be, the kick-off times and the locations.
How to watch the British & Irish Lions Tour in the UK
Each match in the fixture list will be shown on Sky Sports and Sky Sports HD, as well as on theSky Go app.
The only exception to this is the pre-tour warm-up match, which will air on Channel 4.
For The British & Irish Lions Vs Japan, you can either watch Channel 4 on your TV – it’s available on all standard TV packages. Alternatively, you can create a free account online and watch viaAll 4.
If you don’t have Sky Sports then you can sign up in a few different ways to catch the action.
The best way to see the Lions play without subscribing to Sky is by getting a Now Sports membership. You can buy a day membership (£9.98) or a month membership (£33.99) to Sky Sports to watch on your TV, phone and tablet.You can buy these passes from the Now website.
You can joinSky Sports from as little as £27 per month.If you’re an existing Sky customer, you may be able to get this channel for cheaper. Virgin also offers bundles withSky Sports included.
How to watch if you’re not in the UK
For viewers based in the US, you can tune into the test matches viaNBC Peacock. Plans start from $4.99 per month, and the service even has a seven-day free trial for all new customers.
The other way to watch the Lions tour from outside of the UK is by using a VPN. This is a software you can download to your phone, tablet or laptop to browse the internet as if you’re from another country.
Our top recommendation isNord VPN, but you can also check out our round-up of thebest VPNsfor more. Once you’ve downloaded your VPN, connect to a UK server and then open your website of choice. For the sake of ease, we recommend creating an account before you leave the UK – as all you need to do then is sign in and watch as normal via your VPN.
All 4 is free to use, but Now will require UK bank details for payment. If you need more information, take a look at our pieces onhow to watch All 4 from abroad, andhow to watch Now from abroad.
Author: Hannah Cowton-Barnes, Entertainment Editor, Tech Advisor
As Tech Advisor’s Entertainment Editor, Hannah is the resident expert in all things streaming, film and TV. Before joining Tech Advisor in 2019, she studied Theatre and Performance at the University of Leeds and created a website dedicated to geek culture and lifestyle. She’s also reviewed a whole range of gadgets including flagship smartphones, wearables and styling tools. Outside of Foundry, she’s written freelance pieces for Polygon, Metro and Den of Geek, and is proud to be a Women Techmakers Ambassador for Google.
