It was a knock-on by Cian Prendergast that cleared the way for a bit of broadcasting history.
After the Ireland flanker’s fluffed attempt to gather a loose ball in the 17th minute of his team’s defeat by France, ITV’s shot switched to a wide, high angle of the Stade de France, the screen split and the audio feed from the commentary gantry was replaced by a soundtrack of orchestral strings.
While the two forward packs prepared for a scrum on one side of the screen, an advert for a Samsung mobile phone, based around a group of friends watching an (advert-free) rugby match, played on the other.
It lasted 20 seconds. By the time it was finished, the set-piece hadn’t started. Referee Karl Dickson was still calling the two front rows together.
However, a boundary had been crossed.
While adverts have long bracketed sporting action on commercial television in the United Kingdom, it was the first time they had made a mid-match incursion into the viewing experience.
It is common practice in the United States, with the stop-start nature of American football, for example, giving the chance for broadcasters to create “sponsored moments”, as well as play in-vision adverts.
The reaction from some viewers on social media was, perhaps predictably, not positive.
The use of in-game adverts, which was repeated in the second half with a spot for airline Virgin Atlantic, was criticised as intrusive, disruptive to the flow of the game, and “American”.
