July 2025: rojadirecta is working (scroll down to that section for the link). Click the screen to get the unmute button.
I tested seven free rugby streaming sites in July 2025 to watch the Lions Series.
- One site had working streams of the match that were easy to find
- Two had working streams but used tactics like timers or had some links to dodgy websites
- Three listed the match I wanted but all the links led to dodgy websites.
Only one of these sites had a stream with excellent video quality that was easy to find.
So, which site was the best? And which dodgy sites should you avoid like the plague? Read on…
Things To Know Before You Try Streaming Sites
Live free streaming sites are notorious for being cesspools filled with scammers and fraudsters.
I’m going to make some recommendations for which to avoid and which to try out. But before you even try my recommendations, read these cautionary tips.
Good sites can turn bad
Last year, I was recommending CricFree as my top choice. But it became super spammy and difficult to find a working stream.
Instead, buffstreams was my preference. But now I found its streams don’t work and CricFree has greatly improved.
So, you should still approach the site I recommend here with caution. I suspect that these sites sometimes get purchased and the new owners switch to a scammer model.
Use an ad blocker
I tested these sites while using a free ad blocker. Even the best of these sites would be unpleasant to use without one.
This sometimes leaves a small x on the video screen. What’s going on there is that the blocker has stopped an ad from showing but the close button (the x) of the pop-up is still visible.
Some sites ask you to disable your ad blocker in order to use the stream. I bail every time and go elsewhere.
If you’re wondering, I use a popular free Chrome extension called “AdBlock”.
Many sites use fake links and buttons to show spammy adverts
A classic trick for the spammier sites is to display what seems to be the video you want but it’s covered by an “advert” with a big X button.
In the picture below, my ad blocker is ensuring that whatever is in that black central window isn’t shown to me. But I still see the “click close” link.
The other give-away is that the obscured pitch doesn’t have rugby markings!
Unfortunately, these buttons and “helpful” links often take you to gambling websites or more explicit content.
However, there are several sites that do have the stream and will show it when you click on the dodgy link or button a second time. That may seem fair enough – you get one advert and then you get to see the content.
But in my experience, the streams on these sites tend to “fail” at some point and ask you to refresh the screen. This takes you back to the original interface where you have to make two clicks again.
None of my top picks behaved like this when I tested them.
Why You Probably Can’t Avoid All Unwanted Spammy Content
All these sites make their money through advertising revenue from sports-betting websites and casinos.
Even the better streaming sites show so many ads that the video content can be obscured. That’s why I advise you to use an ad blocker to make the sites usable.
But that doesn’t mean that you will completely avoid gambling content.
The worst of these streaming sites pretend to have rugby streams but don’t. When you click on a link, you are taken to a gambling site. I’ll point these scammers out in my review.
Russian roulette
The okay-ish sites operate on a Russian roulette basis. They present six links that claim to have the match stream. One or two have a genuine stream. The rest lead to gambling sites.
Yes, this is kinda scammy.
My tip is to right-click on the links and review the new tab. Otherwise, you may find that getting back to the page with alternative links can take more clicks than should be needed.
Watch for new tabs and browser windows
Your ad blocker should stop annoying pop-up adverts with gambling content.
But my blocker didn’t prevent some sites from opening new tabs in my browser and even new browser windows.
The least-worst of these had gambling content. It’s not a big deal to have to go and close these. However, that’s not the most questionable content they throw at you.
Explicit content
Some, but not all, of these sites also make their money by pushing explicit content at you.
During my testing phase, some sites launched multiple browser windows filled with the kind of content that would get you arrested if you were watching it in a public place.
Once again, you simply have to close the tabs and windows. But beware – some of the separate browser windows are launched in a minimized state.
The easiest way to get rid of them all is to close all browser windows at once. You can do this with Chrome on Windows by right-clicking the browser icon and choose “close all windows”.
Top Streaming Sites For Rugby Matches
This website made it easy to find the rugby match that I was looking for and didn’t make me jump through hoops to get to the stream.
Top Pick: RojaDirect
URL: http:// rojadirecta.eu
This one is currently providing quality streams. The first one I picked had a bit of buffering so I tried a second which was perfect.
It still uses the scammy “double click” technique. When you click on a link that should show your options, it takes you to a gambling page with the first click. The second click expands the options.
No sound? Click a few times on the screen and you’ll get the unmute button at the top right or left.
Next Pick: StrikeOut
Find the rugby section on the main page and you’ll get a list of matches for the day.
Expand the match and you’ll get a choice of streams.
This one had a timer that didn’t actually work, in other words I clicked on the play button and got the stream.
Sites That No Longer Work
BuffStreams – used to be great, now not so much
URL: https:// buffstreams .sx
The menu on this site is a little confusing because the icon for rugby looks like it may be exclusively for Rugby League.
But when you choose this category, you are presented with both Union and League matches for that day.
You will probably have to click links and buttons twice to activate them. The first click will open a spam tab in your browser but you can x out of that and click the link or button again to get what you want.
When you use an ad blocker, this site applies the penalty of a 30-second countdown timer before you can access the video stream.
This picture shows it a few seconds down.
Even Welsh captain Alun-Wyn Jones is amazed at this imposition!
When the countdown gets to one second, it freezes and shows a link to “click here to close play”. I was a little worried that this was a scammy link but it enabled the video to show a fine stream.
You may have to click the link twice and the play button twice.
Sites Where All Links Were Dodgy
CricFree used to be the go-to site for many rugby fans. FirstRowSports is another site that was often recommended.
Maybe I got them on a bad day, but every link I tested was spam or scam.
FirstRowSports
URL: firstrowsportș. eu
It was easy enough to find the match page that I wanted, and it offered me five links.
Four led to a sports betting page. Bizarrely, one actually led to a working stream. But it was showing a soccer match instead!
Stream2Watch
URL: live. istream2watch. com
Avoid this site at all costs. I couldn’t even get to a listing of matches.
When I clicked on the “rugby” category on the main page, it took me straight to a dodgy website with explicit content.