PETER JACKSON

THREE years ago PRO12 rugby chose to disconnect a multitude of viewers by wiping their matches off live BBC screens in Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales. They gave exclusive rights instead to the payper-view channel Premier Sports.
The organisers proclaimed the financial clout of the deal but they said nothing about losing freeto-air viewers by the thousand.
PRO12 chief executive Martin Anayi refused to disclose how many, or more pertinently how few, were paying to watch the live coverage.
Now that the PRO12 in its new guise as United Rugby Championship has reconnected...