Back in April when I first became aware of and immediately subscribed to the Rugby Channel on MediaZone my initial reaction was close to jubilation. Now I could finally do what I'd been wanting to for years; watch every single Super 12 match, all the SANZAR June internationals, the complete Lions Tour, the whole Tri Nations Series, and the entire slate of televised games from the Currie Cup and the NPC. The ability to pick and choose when and where I wanted to view all the action on my laptop was almost a dream come true, but still I was greedy and desired even more.

What I really wanted was to see those same matches on a TV, whether I was at home, visiting friends, hanging out at a rugby clubhouse, or out of town in a hotel room.

For the next few months my needs went unfulfilled, primarily because the farmhouse I was temporarily renting in Montana didn't have a TV. Upon return to Venice after an extended road trip, I ran out of patience with the small screen on my Compaq while watching the opening rounds of the Tri Nations and suddenly felt compelled to figure out how to watch the best rugby in the world on an actual television set.

From that moment on, it was as if I was on a mission from the rugby gods.

Keep in mind that while I probably wouldn't be described as totally techno-phobic, I am most definitely severely technologically challenged. Thus, I had to start with the absolute basics, which is exactly what I did. And now my intention is to pass along everything I learned to all of you who share my quest but lack the time or motivation to make it happen.

My first step was to pester a couple of really sharp computer guys with a bunch of beginner's questions so that I could then semi-intelligently query salespeople at all the major electronics stores in a ten-mile radius. I told the reps what I wanted, got a lot of good advice, (some of which I actually understood) and made a flurry of purchases at a CompUSA store.

Then the incredible happened. I took my new equipment home, hooked everything up and it worked without a hitch. Well, there was one minor issue to deal with but that was easily solved and only momentarily delayed my triumphant return to watching rugby on TV again!

As promised, here's what you need in order to watch the Rugby Channel on your TV.

1. Check out the back and sides of your TV for connection possibilities. Newer models will have a tip of your pinky sized round port that accepts four small wires and a tiny rectangular plastic piece. This is called S- Video and is usually marked as such.

2. Now look at the back and sides of your desktop PC or laptop. If you have an S-Video port there, then all you need to do is connect it to your TV with an S-Video cable, which costs about $25 at any place that sells computers and TVs. Buy the cable, connect it up and you're in business.

3. If you don't have S-Video ports then the next type to look for are RCA ports. These are the same ones used to hook up a VCR or DVD player to your TV and are almost always marked by one red and one white hole for audio and one yellow for video. If you have these three ports on both your TV and computer, again all you need is a single plug cable for the composite video and one dual plug for the Right and Left audio and you're good to go. These cables run about $20 each.

4. The above should cover about 95% of the people who want to utilize this service but if you're like me and have a re-conditioned laptop and an ancient TV, it gets a little more expensive and complicated. Let's look at the computer first. If all you have is a VGA output - a quadrilateral port about the width of a thumbnail with holes for 15 little wires - then you're going to need a PC-to-TV converter to get the signal to your television.

The one I bought is called AVerKey iMicro and it comes with everything you need to transfer the rugby games on your computer to your TV. It includes all the necessary video cables (VGA connector and both S-Video and composite), has simple installation instructions, its own power unit, and cost me $99. Because VGA only sends video though, you'll also need to buy an audio Y splitter cable for about $10 which plugs into where your headphones go on the computer and then into the red and white ports on the TV.

5. So what if your TV only has a single wire port for screwing in coaxial cable from the wall and nothing else? That's what I was faced with so I also picked up an RF modulator for $30. This is a common device that is primarily used to connect older TVs without ports to DVDs and VCRs. It plugs into an electrical outlet, has ports for right and left audio and composite video (which plugs into your converter), and requires a $10 coaxial cable to establish connection with the television set.

At the very end of the process of putting this all together I could hear audio but not see video, until I clicked on the graphics icon in my control panel, went to graphics options, and chose Dual Display, which finally let me see the games on my laptop and TV at the same time.

What's fantastic about the set-up I have now is that I'm totally mobile. I can hook it up anywhere on any type of TV and either watch downloaded games, or if I have an available wireless or broadband connection, stream them directly onto the television. Now that's living!

Remember, the only way to watch only rugby on any TV, whenever and wherever you want, is the Rugby Channel on MediaZone!