ITV Presenter Mark Pougatch talks sharing Six Nations coverage with the BBC

Six Nations rugby will be better than ever this year, says ITV presenter Mark Pougatch, thanks to its innovative new scoring system: score more tries, win more points.

“Kids don’t have to leave their bedrooms to get amazing entertainment, so any changes that make a product more exciting and get people talking, good on the organisers,” says Mark, 49, who fronts ITV’s coverage of the annual rugby union tournament.

“If you’ve got a system in place that encourages people to score tries and not lose by too much, it’s got to be a good thing.”

Here’s the detail: a team that wins a match will score four points, plus a bonus point for four or more tries.

The losing team will score zero points but could get a bonus point for scoring four or more tries, and another bonus point for losing by fewer than seven points.

Draw and you get two points each; win all five games, and you get three extra points.

The first match Mark will bring to the masses is England versus France at Twickenham, one of his favourite rugby venues.

“It’s great because of the history,” he says.

“It’s a very special place to play sport. The din they make in Cardiff at the Millennium Stadium with the roof down is incredible, and that’s a terrific place too, but the BBC has matches from there so I won’t get to go there this year. ITV have Twickenham, Rome and Dublin.”

Mark tips England flanker Maro Itoje as one of the tournament’s players to watch.

“This guy has become a superstar in 12 months and he’s playing in a different position now,” he explains.

“I don’t know if he lost a game of rugby last year, he was incredible.”

For Wales fans, full-back Liam Williams, who recently left Welsh team Scarlets to join north Londoners Saracens, is another special talent that could set the tournament alight.

“He’s incredibly exciting to watch,” enthuses Mark. “He’s just great running with the ball.”

As for Mark’s most eagerly anticipated match, we’ll have to wait until the final day of the competition on Saturday 18 March.

“Ireland versus England stands out – England with their brilliant 2016 season and Ireland having beaten the All Blacks [New Zealand] for the first time ever,” he says.

“The bookies have those two as favourites for the Six Nations. It looks like the important match – but, of course, sport has spent centuries making fools of us all.”

With the BBC and ITV again sharing coverage, Mark admits there is a rivalry, but a friendly one.

“John Inverdale’s a good friend,” he reveals of the BBC presenter.

“Rivalry is good for the viewers – we all want to do the best job we can. And it’s fantastic that the Six Nations is still on terrestrial telly, the viewing figures will be big.”

It’s a busy few weeks for Mark, who will also front Champions League football and boxing.

“It’s going to be great,” he smiles. “Adrenaline is the best drug of all. If you make a mistake it’s not the end of the world, you just say sorry. If you make mistake after mistake, that’s irritating.

“I always listen to the pundits. Rugby, more than any other sport, gets complicated. You need people to tell you what’s going on.”

However, despite years of presenting experience, Mark isn’t immune to criticism.

“I watched one of my shows with my mum and my two sisters and within 15 seconds it was: ‘What’s wrong with your hair? What’s wrong with your left hand?’” he laughs.

“They took me apart. I’m not doing that again. It was the most frightening thing I’ve ever done!”

LIVE! Six Nations Saturday & Sunday Times vary BBC1 & ITV

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