TV3 has confirmed the details of its terrestrial coverage of the Rugby World Cup matches, including Ireland’s matches. It comes after Setanta had secured the exclusive rights to the competition from the International Rugby Board, but the Irish games are part of the Broadcasting Act’s list of protected events that must be made free-to-air. It’s a huge deal for TV3, which has targeted sport as a way of chipping away at RTÉ. It also means that RTÉ has lost out on another major rugby tournament, now that the European Cup is shown live only on Sky Sports. It had originally negotiated with Setanta in 2006, but it seems that it considered the price too high.

Viewers will be without McGuirk, Pope and Hook (as well as Ciaran Fitzgerald and the excellent Conor O’Shea). On the brighter side, it means we don’t have to put up with Ryle Nugent’s commentary. If there’s been a substitution that he hasn’t described as a player being “called ashore” then I haven’t heard it.

However, TV3’s Champion’s League coverage has often proven itself capable of sucking the life out of even the most wonderous of matches. The set looks like it’s broadcast from inside a glacier. Its hosts lack the insight of an O’Herlihy, and its pundits the fire of Brady, Giles and Dunphy. John Toshack’s voices sounds as if it’s rolling words off a cliff.

It hasn’t claimed a sport yet: in the way that soccer still belongs to RTÉ; in the way that the All-Ireland would be unthinkable anywhere else. And just as rugby has never seemed right on ITV, TV3 is going to have to work very hard to convince both the general viewer and rugby’s hardcore allicadoos that the sport belongs there. If it is going to use sport as a weapon with which to beat RTÉ, then it would be good if it started doing it justice at some point soon.

At least its World Cup coverage will have a decent line-up, including Matt Cooper, Paul Wallace and Jim Glennon - so there is hope. The commentator is Conor McNamara, who (and this may be apocryphal) in the first live soccer game broadcast on TV3 famously mentioned the Irish centre back “Cunny Kenningham”.