Accenture has been unveiled as a new partner for RTÉ Sport bringing live coverage of Ireland’s tour to South Africa to RTÉ Radio One Listeners through June.
Beginning this Saturday 11 June in Cape Town, RTÉ Radio 1’s Saturday Sport will have live commentary from Michael Corcoran and Donal Lenihan of each of the tests as Ireland take on the Springboks in their own backyard.
The second test will be live from Johannesburg on Saturday 18 June and the final match of the series will come live from Port Elizabeth on Saturday 25 June.
Accenture will also sponsor a special South Africa Summer Tour news desk on both Today With Sean O’Rourke and Drivetime on Radio 1 as well as Michael Corcoran’s South African Tour podcasts.
Read about why RBS is ending its sponsorship of the Six Nations
There is an increasing spread across multiple media within RTÉ with online, radio, the Player and podcasting forming part of the multiple access approach which sports fans in particular are adopting with enthusiasm.
The three tests will also be televised live on Sky Sports.
Accenture’s involvement has been in the pipeline for some time, ever since they became official technology partners of the RBS Six Nations in 2013.
Since then there have been working sessions between Accenture analysts and RTÉ Rugby commentator Michael Corcoran exploring what kind of data is most relevant in real time to convey the detail behind the action that he is describing.
“In the midst of a packed summer of top class sporting action across RTÉ TV, radio, online and mobile, we are delighted to be able to partner with Accenture to bring listeners live coverage on RTÉ Radio 1 of all three of Ireland’s tests in South Africa,” said Dermot Rigley, Commercial Manager for RTÉ Sport.
“This is a partnership which is enriching our output and enhancing the engagement of rugby fans.”
“It is also allowing Accenture to put their expertise in explaining data to work in a very public and accessible way.”
“Accenture will use our unique data analytics capabilities to provide RTÉ Radio 1 commentator Michael Corcoran with exclusive ‘live’ match updates that will bring deeper insights to what is happening on the pitch in real time,” added Accenture Country Manager Alastair Blair.
Rugby is a key battleground among the major management consultancy firms. Accenture’s involvements are echoed on the other side of the River Liffey by PwC who are the official partners of the IRFU in terms of underage rugby and are currently active in support of the U20 team playing against New Zealand in the World Championship in Manchester this weekend. Deloitte are working with the IRFU on the bid for the Rugby World Cup.
The major firms also compete on the pitch with two members of the Accenture Rugby Club, David Kilgallen and Oonagh O’Brien also pictured above alongside Alastair Blair and RTÉ Group Head of Sport Ryle Nugent.
There will be specific streams on how analytics has impacted on sport in general as well as on Rugby in particular at Sports and Tech, the major new event bringing leaders in sport and technology together in Dublin in October. Find out more about the event and book your early bird ticket below before June 30th.
Image Credit: Dan Sheridan, Inpho.ie
