The brand new Rugby World Cup advert from British broadcaster ITV dares to resurrect English hopes with a gently humorous dip into the occult.

ITV is the rights holder for the Rugby World Cup and has been for all ten tournaments courting again to 1987. It is going to broadcast all 48 matches from France on ITV1, ITV4 and streaming channel ITVX.

Associated: England Rugby World Cup squad

The advert for its Rugby World Cup protection sees a nervous England fan flip to a medium for reassurance concerning the 2003 champions’ probabilities on this yr’s match in France.

Associated: Rugby World Cup TV protection – what channel is it on?

However the psychic’s repeated turns of some rugby-related tarot playing cards reveal that the extent of the opposition implies that the competitors in France is simply too near name. 

Intriguingly, regardless of their latest kind, England’s card is called ‘The Resurrected”. The suggestion is that – even towards the strongest opposition, together with “The Champions”, “The Grand Slammers”, “The Legends”, “The Large Killers”, and “The Hosts” – Steve Borthwick’s facet have an opportunity. 

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Make of that – and the push by way of a number of different nations – what you’ll. 

This isn’t the primary time that broadcasters have turned to humour to attempt to promote a match. Again in 2012, the BBC axed an advert marketing campaign for the Six Nations that it feared was “anti-English”.

And, automobile maker Renault – which sponsors the France nationwide males’s facet – pulled this standard cheeky little advert out of mothballs in time for the 2023 match on dwelling soil.

It claims the credit score for a lot of trendy – and not-so trendy sports activities – on behalf of France. However it admits this yr’s host nation didn’t ‘invent rugby’. It does, nevertheless, insist they ‘reinvented’ it.

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