How to watch The Rugby Championship from anywhere: Stream coverage from Sky Sports and 9NOW

Rugby Championship is currently airing on Sky Sports Action in the UK, with Argentina, Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa all vying for supremacy
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Fixtures usually begin 4 – 10pm in the UK
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Want to make sure you never miss a moment of the Rugby Championship? You're in luck. The international contest between Argentina, Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa, formerly known as the Tri Nations Series, will be broadcast in the UK and abroad.
Prices for English language coverage range from free-to-watch to £22 a month for Sky Sports.
Here in the UK, Sky Sports has the rights to the Rugby Championship 2025. Games will be shown live on Sky Sports Action, with most kicking off between 4pm – 10pm BST on Saturdays due to the time difference.
If you haven't already taken advantage of the best Sky Stream deals, then you can stream all of the action from Sky Sports Action via NOW, formerly NOW TV. This streamer offers contract-free access to Sky Sports.
But what happens if you're holidaying abroad, or on a business trip when the must-see match is taking place?
Due to strict broadcast rules, Sky Go — the mobile app that lets Sky TV subscribers watch live and on-demand television via an internet connection on the move — isn't able to stream live outside of the UK.
You can download content to the Sky Go app before you leave the country and then watch when you're abroad. While that works nicely for a boxset or blockbuster you've been hoping to catch up on, it doesn't really work for a live event, like a Rugby Championship match.
That's where ExpressVPN comes in.
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This clever bit of kit lets you access your usual UK streaming services from anywhere in the world, meaning you won't miss a single try or conversion. It does this by routing all of your online traffic via a VPN server in a country of your choice — spoofing your IP address, so that it appears as if you're located somewhere else.
With the tap of a button, it appears as if you've logged into your favourite streamer from a trip abroad.
Outside of the coverage on Sky Sports Action, ExpressVPN subscribers can also dip into free-to-watch English-speaking coverage from streamers like 9Now, which is based in Australia. This broadcaster has the rights to every Australia home game, as well as any matches against the All Blacks.
That means anyone based in Australia can watch every match from The Wallabies without paying a penny. Without a VPN, there's no way to access this streamer outside of Australia.
With ExpressVPN running on your device, you can manually change your IP address — spoofing your location to (almost) anywhere in the world — and unlocking new streaming options
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To see every single match in the Rugby Championship 2025 tournament, Australian fans will have to subscribe to Stan Sport. It costs $20 per month on top of a regular Stan subscription, which will set you back $12 per month.
ExpressVPN offers one of the best solutions to stream from anywhere on the planet, thanks to the dizzying number of VPN servers across 105 countries worldwide. The sheer number of VPN server locations means you'll always be able to access geoblocked content, no matter where you are.
It also boosts streaming speed, since ensuring that there's a VPN server close to your current location is a sure-fire way to avoid slowdowns.
You can connect to a VPN server location anywhere on the planet via ExpressVPN's apps available for Windows, Mac, Android, iOS, and smart TV platforms, including Android TV and Amazon Fire TV.
The service offers blazing-fast speeds with unlimited bandwidth, preventing buffering during crucial tournament moments. ExpressVPN's TrustedServer technology and strict no-logs policy ensure your streaming remains private and secure on public Wi-Fi networks whilst abroad.
ExpressVPN can unlock a wide range of streaming service. Just make sure to check the terms and conditions when combining a VPN with your subscription
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Installation takes just minutes — simply download the ExpressVPN app, connect to a VPN server based in the UK, then access BBC iPlayer or ITVX as normal. The service includes 8 simultaneous connections, allowing you to stream on multiple devices simultaneously. ExpressVPN offers a 30-day money-back guarantee and 24/7 customer support through live chat, ensuring you're covered throughout the tournament period.
For those who don't know, the Rugby Championship 2025 features four powerhouse nations – South Africa, New Zealand, Australia, and Argentina - battling it out from mid-August through early October. Each team plays the others twice in a home-and-away format, creating twelve matches of world-class rugby.
The Springboks remain the benchmark in the tournaments, but with the All Blacks, a revitalised Australia, and an established Argentina in the mix, the reigning champions face a stern test to retain their crown.
The tournament began on August 16 when the back-to-back World Cup winners, South Africa, were stunned at home by Australia. This latest Rugby Championship tournament has already been packed with thrills, seeing Australia become the first side to win at Ellis Park in Johannesburg since 1963.
Benefits of ExpressVPN
ExpressVPN is particularly well-suited for streaming as it boasts VPN server locations in 105 countries providing access to global coverage. It offers ultra-fast speeds on a 10-Gbps network, essential for high-quality streaming without buffering.
With military-grade encryption, a strict no-logs policy, and features like split tunneling and a kill switch, your online activity stays private.
Based in the British Virgin Islands — outside Five Eyes jurisdiction — it avoids mandatory data retention laws, which means that even if the company was collecting data (it's not), law enforcement from the UK and US would be unable to compel ExpressVPN to hand over any information about its subscribers.
ExpressVPN supports a wide range of devices, including smartphones, tablets, laptops, smart TVs, and routers. There's no limit on the number of ExpressVPN apps that you can download on your devices, and with a single subscription, you can connect to the VPN on eight gadgets at once.
Virtual Private Networks, like ExpressVPN, mask your real location by routing traffic through servers in different countries, tricking services into thinking you're elsewhere
| EXPRESSVPN PRESS OFFICEIt also has a dedicated team that optimises the service for major streaming platforms. Round-the-clock customer support is available if you encounter any issues during race weekend.
ExpressVPN isn't the cheapest VPN. However, its 30-day money-back guarantee makes it a risk-free choice for privacy-conscious users and frequent streamers.
It should also give new customers the confidence to subscribe to one of its longer contracts, which unlock the biggest discounts.
What is a VPN?
A Virtual Private Network (VPN) is software that protects and anonymises everything you do online. VPNs can conceal your online activities by routing traffic through an entrypted tunnel that connects to secure servers worldwide.
The most reliable VPNs employ the same encryption standard as governments in the United Kingdom and the United States, ensuring that even your Internet Service Provider (ISP) connected to Wi-Fi cannot record the websites you visit, the duration of your sessions on each site, or your current location. This protection extends to advertisers, trackers, and hackers, preventing them from monitoring your online behaviour.
Furthermore, personal information entered into online forms and sensitive data transmitted to and from your device will be safeguarded from hackers using strong encryption provided by a VPN.