Another exciting sports weekend awaits, this time for the Rugby fans! The 2021 European Rugby Challenge Cup and the 2021 Heineken Champions Cup will be underway on the 21st and 22nd of May, 2021. The Twickenham venue will be hosting the upcoming 2021 Rugby weekend, as the first of the two European finals kick-off between the Leicester Tigers and Montpellier to decide the winner of the 2021 Challenge Cup. Montpellier is going in with high hopes for their second win, having won their first in 2016. As for Leicester, this is the first time for them to take part in the Challenge Cup final but they are far from inexperienced having won the Heineken Champions Cup consecutively in 2001 and 2002. It will be a tough battle as both teams are looking for victory. La Rochelle and Toulouse will be facing off on Saturday’s Heineken Cup.
As is with sports events, they are now more often subject to regional broadcast blockage whether you watch digital TV or via live streaming. This is the reason why using a VPN can really help get around these blockages, in both cases.
Where Will The 2021 European Rugby Weekend be Broadcast?
The 2021 Heineken Champions Cup and European Rugby Challenge Cup weekend will be officially broadcast live on several channels and streams;
- Channel 4 TV (UK)
- Virgin Media (Global Stream)
- beIN (UK, Ireland)
- BT Sport TV (UK, Ireland)
- beIN SPORTS – France, MENA, South East Asia, and Australia
- LiveNow (Global Stream)
- France Télévisions – France
- Sky Italia – Italy
- Telefonica – Spain and Andorra
- Sport TV – Portugal
- GO – Malta
- SuperSport – Sub-Saharan Africa and adjacent islands
- NBC – USA
- SportsMax – Caribbean
- EPCRugby.tv (Global Stream)
- BT Sport App available on multiple devices
How to Watch The 2021 European Rugby Weekend With a VPN
For the 2021 European Rugby Finals, high-quality free streams were unavailable (with one possible exception in the note in the next section), however, we found that the simplest way to catch the action in high-quality is to sign up with EPCRugby.tv’s ‘Finals Weekend Pass‘ to access both games on Friday and Saturday. The Finals Weekend Pass also offers a ‘discounted’ package price of 19.99 EUR (payment can be made via card or PayPal).
A VPN can help you subscribe to EPCRugby and watch the games if you are out of the region, which otherwise would not be possible. A VPN does this by cloaking your device’s IP address, and then placing it in a location that you desire making it seem that you are located there (thereby tricking the regional blocks). Let’s look at how to do this in several ways in the next sections.
Step-by-Step Guide to Watch The 2021 European Rugby Weekend Via Live Stream With a VPN
You are going to need a VPN if you are outside of the UK and want to catch the 2021 Rugby Weekend via the EPCRugby stream. With a VPN, you will be connecting to a UK server in this case and subscribing to an online service to watch the games.
Here is a step-by-step guide on how to do it;
- You need a VPN with proper unblocking ability. We’ve found that ExpressVPN works well in this case, and has a 30-day money-back guarantee to boot. Learn how to get a free trial of ExpressVPN.
- Please acquire an ExpressVPN subscription for your specific device by visiting their website.
- Download and install the VPN app. ExpressVPN’s website has simple steps on how to do this.
- Open your VPN app and connect to a server located in the UK.
- Make sure your browser is in ‘incognito’ or ‘private window’ mode before you go on to the next step.
- Access the Finals Weekend Pass subscription page at https://epcrpayments.streamamg.com/account/register/step1.
- Subscribe to the Finals Weekend Pass in the step above.
- You will now be able to watch the 2021 Rugby Weekend even if you are outside of the blocked regions.
Tip: Since the official EPCRugby website states that France’s FR2 and FR3 channels will be broadcasting the games, it may be worth subscribing to France.tv’s live stream by connecting to a server in France first with what you have learned from the steps above. Subscribing requires all the usual details, plus a postcode (where you can enter 75008 which is a French postal code). We have successfully accessed the French live-streamed channels with this method, which should be streaming the games live.
Watch The 2021 Rugby Weekend With LiveNow And a VPN
Alternatively, if the EPCRugby subscription seems a bit steep, we have another option for you. According to EPCRugby’s official information on their website, LiveNow is also offering both events. Making an account with LiveNow will allow you to purchase each event individually for a low price. Just like the steps above, you will need a VPN to connect to a server in any of the following territories where the broadcast isn’t blocked;
Croatia, Macedonia, Moldova, Romania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Monténégro, Serbia, Slovenia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, China, Mongolia, North Korea, South Korea, Taiwan, Belarus, Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Russia, Slovakia, Ukraine, Israël, Canada, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Japan, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Brunei, Myanmar, Vietnam, Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Cyprus, Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Italy, Germany, Greece, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Monaco, Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, Fiji, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Nauru, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu, Vanuatu
How to Watch The 2021 Rugby Weekend If You Have an Existing Subscription
Finally, for those that already have a digital TV or streaming subscription to the services in the broadcast list at the top of the article, simply using a VPN to connect to a server that corresponds with where your service is broadcasting will allow you to access live streams without blockages, no matter where you are in the world.
Schedule And Timings
Below are the venue, time, date, and matchup details for the upcoming Twickenham European Rugby Challenge, as well as the Twickenham Heineken Champions Cup. The times are in UK time;
| Time & Date | Matchup |
|---|---|
| Fri, 21 May, 2021, 20:00 | Leicester Tigers vs Montpellier |
| Sat, 22 May, 2021, 16:45 | La Rochelle vs Toulouse |
Note: For refunds, the EPCRugby website states the following: “Refunds can only be issued for those who have reported a technical issue during the game and it proves to be a fault of our providers and cannot be rectified”.
