No, I too think it's a mistake and think the kick-off time has been massively influenced by the BBC. How much you betting the coverage ends promptly bank on 4.30 so we can watch final score.

You get an added excitement for the night time game, build it up all day. This just feels like wake up, go to game, watch good game and it's all over by 5.

Really disappointed. Also wondering how residents in the Southern Hemisphere feel about this.

6pm Saturday would have been better.

I don't think it makes much difference really. Hopefully having it in the daytime it will make it easier for people to get home from the game if they have to get public transport to and from the game.
I admit I do like to go to night games when it's a big event but at the end of the day its a world cup final. You can't get much bigger so I will be excited just to be going to it whatever time it's on.

As much as I like Old Trafford under the floodlights I think it is a wise decision. People can get back to other parts of the country at a reasonable time, the idiots haven't been on the pop as long and perhaps most importantly the game isn't competing with that god awful programme the X Factor which would knock a lot off the viewing audience if the two were head to head.

Absolutely. I'm delighted with the ko times. Lots has been said about how RL players had a higher national profile when we used to have international matches on BBC on Saturday afternoons. People have other things to do on Saturday evenings as mentioned above. Plus - I love the atmosphere on Challenge Cup Final day but find the Grand Final a very different experience, quite intimidating in parts. Afternoon games are about a fun day out whearas evening ones seem to be more about lads on the pop who can't hold their drink.

Afternoons much better from a player's perspective - long waits for a night kick off for such an important game does not do wonders for the nerves!
From my own point of view being a fan of Tests since the First Ashes Test of 1990 - you can't beat Saturday afternoon!

Much better having these KO times. The atmosphere in the grounds is happier, and less aggressive with afternoon games IMO. I'd prefer to have the GF played in the afternoon as ive witnessed some awful incidents at many of them, but not so many on Challenge Cup day.

Totally agree.

I think the kick off times generally are great.

Absolutely. If Saturday evenings were better the Premiership would have moved to it years ago.

By my maths it means a 2330 kick off for viewers in the southern hemisphere, they are more than used to watching games late at night. Every year we hear Aussies talk about memories of staying up as kids to watch the Kangaroos or cup finals, this will be no different.

Happy that there isn't going to be a massive time break between the double header games (as was being rumoured).

Can happily book my tickets now.

There won't be many Ozzies or Kiwis staying up late to watch an England v Wales final though will there?



the best day of my year every year is Challenge cup final day! this year i have 2!

The World Cup final on a Saturday afternoon and broadcast live on BBC1... nothing to complain about from me

Please god the BBC promote the f**k out of this tournament,because SKY generally ignore 1005 anything they don't cover.......

Great news

The other thing about afternoon kick offs is they maximise press coverage, especially after Saturday games. The sunday papers' major print runs go off stone at about 10pm, so with Sky's evening kick offs we'd never get decent coverage from press even if they were inclined to give it - automatically relegated to the late change pages, usually mono and 5th or 7th page in. Now if England wins a major game like a quarter final we might actually get a sports cover, or heaven forbid even an earpiece on the front cover. Finally!

That was my first thought. I don't have to book a hotel or worry about rushing for a train home after the game.

Yeah, it's pretty frustrating listening to Eddie and Stevo talking about players putting themselves into England contention "for the upcoming Exiles game". You can bet that they wouldn't have shut up about the World Cup during tonight's match if they had the tournament rights, especially when McGoldrick, Mauro and Fages scored tries. What a missed opportunity.

Good to see the afternoon kick off times back after suffering skys awful 6pm kick offs over the last few seasons.

It is SKY management, rather than Eddie and Stevo. It is exactly the same with other things that they don't cover, you never used to hear about F1 on SSN before they won the rights to it. You don't have to listen to them talk about England long to realise how passionate they are.

Saturday November 30th 2013 at 2.30 pm GST is, I believe, 2.30am Sunday Morning here, 12.30am in Sydney and 10.30pm Saturday night in Perth.
The Semi-finals will be shown at 1am/3.30am, 11pm/1.30am and 8pm/11.30pm.
The probable NZ QF will be on here at 8am.....Aussies at 11pm sydney/9pm Perth.
2 aussie group games outside the DH 6am and 4am, 3 Kiwi games 6am, 8am, 8am.

Not sure how much SKY TV here in NZ or their counterparts in Aussie will be paying for the rights to show graveyard shift games...or if we may have to scurry around looking for internet feeds.

Hope it all goes well in the UK and the crowds do turn up, but I suspect the tournament will get little exposure over here

Thought this may actually be a thread no one has a pop at someone/a governing body on. Think how well the 6 Nations games do on the BBC at similar timed kick-offs. Lots of people at home before doing something on Saturday night and generally a better standard game. Can't wait.

Here's how it looks over there. The dates are for the uk kick offs so past midnight add a day on!

Sat 26 Oct - England v Australia - 2:30pm UK, 2:30am NZ, 0:30am Sydney, 11:30pm Brisbane, 9:30pm Perth
Sat 26 Oct - Wales v Italy - 4:30pm UK, 4:30am NZ, 2:30am Sydney, 1:30am Brisbane, 11:30pm Perth
Sun 27 Oct - PNG v France - 4:00pm UK, 5:00am NZ, 3:00am Sydney, 2:00am Brisbane, Midnight Perth
Sun 27 Oct - NZ v Samoa - 6:00pm UK, 7:00am NZ, 5:00am Sydney, 4:00am Brisbane, 2:00am Perth
Mon 28 Oct - Fiji v Ireland - 8:00pm UK, 9:00am NZ, 7:00am Sydney, 6:00am Brisbane, 4:00am Perth
Tue 29 Oct - Tonga v Scotland - 8:00pm UK, 9:00am NZ, 7:00am Sydney, 6:00am Brisbane, 4:00am Perth
Wed 30 Oct - USA v Cook Islands - 8:00pm UK, 9:00am NZ, 7:00am Sydney, 6:00am Brisbane, 4:00am Perth
Fri 1 Nov - New Zealand v France - 7:00pm UK, 8:00am NZ, 6:00am Sydney, 5:00am Brisbane, 3:00am Perth (8pm Local)
Sat 2 Nov - England v Ireland - 2:30pm UK, 3:30am NZ, 1:30am Sydney, 0:30am Brisbane, 10:30pm Perth
Sat 2 Nov - Australia v Fiji - 8:00pm UK, 9:00am NZ, 7:00am Sydney, 6:00am Brisbane, 4:00am Perth
Sun 3 Nov - Wales v USA - 2:00pm UK, 3:00am NZ, 1:00am Sydney, Midnight Brisbane, 10:00pm Perth
Sun 3 Nov - Scotland v Italy - 4:00pm UK, 5:00am NZ, 3:00am Sydney, 2:00am Brisbane, Midnight Perth
Mon 4 Nov - PNG v Samoa - 8:00pm UK, 9:00am NZ, 7:00am Sydney, 6:00am Brisbane, 4:00am Perth
Tue 5 Nov - Tonga v Cook Islands - 8:00pm UK, 9:00am NZ, 7:00am Sydney, 6:00am Brisbane, 4:00am Perth
Thu 7 Nov - Scotland v USA - 8:00pm UK, 9:00am NZ, 7:00am Sydney, 6:00am Brisbane, 4:00am Perth
Fri 8 Nov - NZ v PNG - 8:00pm UK, 9:00am NZ, 7:00am Sydney, 6:00am Brisbane, 4:00am Perth
Sat 9 Nov - England v Fiji - 2:30pm UK, 3:30am NZ, 1:30am Sydney, 0:30am Brisbane, 10:30pm Perth
Sat 9 Nov - Australia v Ireland - 8:00pm UK, 9:00am NZ, 7:00am Sydney, 6:00am Brisbane, 4:00am Perth
Sun 10 Nov - Wales v Cook Islands - 2:00pm UK, 3:00am NZ, 1:00am Sydney, Midnight Brisbane, 10:00pm Perth
Sun 10 Nov - Tonga v Italy - 4:00pm UK, 5:00am NZ, 3:00am Sydney, 2:00am Brisbane, Midnight Perth
Mon 11 Nov - France v Samoa - 7:00pm UK, 8:00am NZ, 6:00am Sydney, 5:00am Brisbane, 3:00am Perth (8pm Local)

Fri 16 Nov - Quarter Final (Leeds) - 8:00pm UK, 9:00am NZ, 7:00am Sydney, 6:00am Brisbane, 4:00am Perth
Sat 17 Nov - Quarter Final (Wrexham) - 1:00pm UK, 2:00am NZ, Midnight Sydney, 11:00pm Brisbane, 9:00pm Perth
Sat 17 Nov - Quarter Final (Wigan) - 8:00pm UK, 9:00am NZ, 7:00am Sydney, 6:00am Brisbane, 4:00am Perth
Sun 18 Nov - Quarter Final (Warrington) - 3:00pm UK, 4:00am NZ, 2:00am Sydney, 1:00am Brisbane, 11:00pm Perth

Sat 23 Nov - Semi Final 1 - 1:00pm UK, 2:00am NZ, Midnight Sydney, 11:00pm Brisbane, 9:00pm Perth
Sat 23 Nov - Semi Final 2 - 3:30pm UK, 4:30am NZ, 2:30am Sydney, 1:30am Brisbane, 11:30pm Perth

Sat 30 Nov - Final - 2:30pm UK, 3:30am NZ, 1:30am Sydney, 0:30am Brisbane, 10:30pm Perth



=#FFFFFFlllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll

I would have preferred it to be later. I would rather watch the games early in the morning than in the middle of the night.

Is this a World Cup for TV audiences overseas or one for paying spectators and broadcasters in the host nations?

Any successful tournament needs both. Do you want us to not even know its going on down on Aus??? How would that be good for the international game???

Hmmm....let's hope the fans turn out in decent numbers then.