ITV4 to screen French test

WALES’ opening autumn international against France will be broadcast on ITV4.

An official announcement is yet to be made on the English-language broadcaster for Wales’ clash against France in Paris next Saturday – with S4C already confirmed to have Welshlanguage rights.

But TV listings for next weekend have shown that ITV4 will screen the October 24 match – with those involved understood to be awaiting final confirmation on broadcast plans.

It follows the announcement that ITV4 will broadcast Scotland’s first autumn international against Georgia.

ITV4’S coverage of France v Wales will begin at 7.30pm ahead of the 8pm kick-off.

Mark Pougatch is listed as the presenter for the game, with analysis set to be provided by former Wales internationals Gareth Thomas and James Hook, and commentary by Martin Gillingham and Shane Williams.

This will be the fourth different English-language channel that Wales’ autumn matches will be broadcast on – and the third free-to-air.

Following the France match on ITV4, BBC will show the rearranged Six Nations clash with Scotland the following week.

Channel 4 have the rights for Wales’ opening Autumn Nations Cup fixture against Ireland on November 13.

The following Autumn Nations Cup matches will then be available on subscription service Amazon Prime.

All of the matches will be available as well on S4C. The match against France looks like it will go ahead despite a few sticking points threatening it in the past couple of weeks. French clubs were refusing to release their players, arguing the six-game international scheduled was unacceptable.

But L’equipe now reports a compromise will see France select two squads of 31 players for the six matches this autumn, with one group playing the first three matches and the other playing the second three.