The Scotsman newspaper has launched an online rugby TV programme.
The first ‘Scotsman Rugby Show’ went out last week with the second edition posted today. Lasting around ten minutes, it comprises highlights from club rugby matches plus interviews from the professional teams, Glasgow and Edinburgh.
Stuart Cameron of Borders Rugby TV provides the technical expertise behind the programme, working with David Ferguson, The Scotsman’s chief rugby writer, who presents, and so far it has met – says Ferguson – with much positive feedback.
Ferguson explained: “With the pressures on newspapers currently, space is at a premium for sport, but rugby remains hugely important to The Scotsman so we have been looking at how we can use the internet more to broaden our coverage.
“We have podcasts every week, but I felt we needed more to pull people in and to provide something that wasn’t already out there. Club rugby has struggled for coverage as the SRU inevitably push the pro game more and more, so we have focused on providing coverage of club matches and the players and coaches at club level. But we plan to feature everything from schools and youth rugby to clubs, pro and international teams.
“Last week, we interviewed Andy Irvine, this week we have the new Glasgow and Scotland defence coach, Matt Taylor, and Munster’s Paul O’Connell, as well as the coaches and captains of Edinburgh and Glasgow.
“So far, the feedback has been tremendous with lots of clubs in touch to offer footage. We want to keep it at a good, professional level so we can’t run dodgy clips from hand-held cameras, but we’re working with clubs to tighten that up to get as much as we can on in future weeks. We’re also going to kick off a feature interviewing Scottish legends next week, where they tell us about their childhood heroes, first caps, favourite games, toughest opponents, etc.
“There is a lot of scope online to improve coverage and we’re hopeful that it will become very popular as the weeks go on.”
It is understood The Scotsman is in talks with potential sponsors and advertisers.
