Phaidra Knight to Serve as Studio Analyst for NBC Sports Coverage of 2017 WOMEN'S RUGBY WORLD CUP

Three-time Women's Rugby World Cup participant and USA Rugby Player of the Decade Phaidra Knight will serve as a studio analyst for NBC Sports Group's coverage of the 2017 WOMEN'S RUGBY WORLD CUP. Knight was a 12-year member of the USA Rugby Women's Eagles with 33 international caps, and participated in three Women's Rugby World Cups (2002, 2006, and 2010). She won All-World Team honors in two World Cups, and was named USA Rugby Player of the Decade in 2010. Knight served as a coach for Princeton University's Women's Rugby program in 2016, and was named coach of the Women's Rugby program at Monroe College this year.

Knight will provide commentary throughout NBC Sports Group's coverage of the 2017 Women's Rugby World Cup, which will take place in Ireland this month. Coverage begins on Saturday, August 12, at 11:30 p.m. ET, with NBCSN's coverage of the USA Rugby Women's Eagles against Italy in Pool Play. Full details about NBC Sports Group's coverage of the 2017 Women's Rugby World Cup will be announced next week.

NBC Sports Group acquired the exclusive U.S. media rights to the Rugby World Cup through a seven-year partnership with World Rugby earlier this year. The agreement includes media rights on all platforms and in all languages to the Rugby World Cups in 2019 and 2023; the Women's Rugby World Cup in 2017 and 2021; the Rugby World Cup Sevens in 2018 and 2022; and the annual World Rugby U20 Championships from 2017-2023.

In addition, former Aviva Premiership Rugby and England international prop Alex Corbisiero will return as a studio analyst for NBC Sports Group's Premiership Rugby coverage, beginning in September. Corbisiero played seven-plus seasons split between London Irish and Northampton Saints, and was a member of the Saints cub that won the Premiership Rugby title in 2014.

NBC Sports Group's robust slate of rugby programming includes exclusive Olympic rugby coverage through 2032, Premiership Rugby, the RUGBY SEVENS World Series, the Penn Mutual Collegiate Rugby Championship, and the Penn Mutual Varsity Cup. NBC Sports Group has also provided coverage of the 2011 and 2015 Rugby World Cups, and exhibition matches in conjunction with USA Rugby that feature the USA Eagles, New Zealand All Blacks, and Qantas Wallabies.

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