If you’re trying to use the Watch NRL app in NZ and Australia, you’ll notice that you cannot make an account with the service. This is because Watch NRL does not have the rights to broadcast any of its content in NZ and Australia.
This can be frustrating however, there is a simple fix. You need a reliable VPN that is compatible with Watch NRL and has servers outside of Australia and NZ.
This article will explain how you can use the Watch NRL app in NZ and Australia with a reliable VPN.
See also:
- How to watch Kayo outside Australia
- How to watch 9Now in NZ
- How to watch Hulu in Australia
- How to Watch Spark Sport abroad: Stream Spark Sport Outside NZ
Countries where Watch NRL isn’t available
- Australia
- New Zealand
- Fiji
- Samoa
- Tonga
- The Cook Islands
- East Timor
- Solomon Islands
- Niue
- Nauru
- Vanuatu
- Kiribati
- Northern Marianas
- Tokelau
- Tahiti
- Tuvalu
- New Caledonia
- American Samoa
- Marshall Islands
- Palau
- Federated States of Micronesia
- Papua New Guinea
- Wallis and Futuna
- Iles esparses
- Polynese-Francaise
How to use the Watch NRL app in NZ and Australia: Quick Guide
To use the Watch NRL app in NZ and Australia, you need to make the app think you’re in a country where the service is available. To do this, you need to use a VPN like ExpressVPN ($6.67/month)
These VPNs will provide you with an anonymous internet connection and will allow you to trick the Watch NRL app into thinking you are inside its broadcast zone. Allowing you to use the Watch NRL app in Australia and NZ.
To use the Watch NRL app in NZ and Australia, all you need to do is follow these simple steps:
Total Time: 3 minutes
Create a new account with ExpressVPN ($6.67/month)
Download and install the new VPN app
Select a server that isn’t based in one of the countries listed above
Use the Watch NRL app wherever you are
What is the Watch NRL app?
Watch NRL is available on the Google Play and Apple App store. It’s designed for customers outside NZ, Australia, and the Pacific Islands. It provides live and on-demand NRL matches, highlights packages, State of Origin, and 24/7 Fox NRL news.
Why can’t I use the Watch NRL app in NZ and Australia?
Watch NRL is a location-based service. Due to content licensing agreements, the Watch NRL app’s content is not available in Australia, NZ, and some Pacific Island nations.
This app is designed to be used by customers outside of NZ and Australia. It doesn’t have the broadcast rights to show its content in these nations, it only has the rights to broadcast the content internationally.
To protect itself from potential copyright and licensing issues, the Watch NRL app blocks users inside Australia, NZ, and certain Pacific Island nations from using its service.
How does the app know I am in NZ or Australia?
The Watch NRL app is able to figure out your location by scanning your IP address.
Whenever you connect to the internet, your device is allocated a specific IP address. Just like the area code on a landline phone, this IP contains information that specifies where you are when you connect to the internet.
When you connect to the Watch NRL app, your IP is sent to its servers. The app scans your IP and determines whether you are in its broadcast zone or not. If you connect from within NZ or Australia, the Watch NRL app knows that you are outside its broadcast zone, and it blocks you from accessing any of the content.
How can I get around these blocks?
The simple solution is you need to make the Watch NRL app think you’re connecting to the internet from within its broadcast zone. Fortunately, this is easy to do. All you need is a VPN like ExpressVPN ($6.67/month) or Private Internet Access ($2.03/month)
These VPNs allow you to surf the internet from a virtual location of your choice. They reroute your internet data through their own servers and then send your data to an IP address in that location.
To use the Watch NRL app in NZ or Australia, all you need to do is connect to the VPN and select a server inside its broadcast zone, such as the USA. This will provide you with an anonymous internet connection, and it will fool the Watch NRL app into thinking you’re connecting to its service from outside NZ and Australia, and the content will now be available for you to watch.
VPNs that work with the Watch NRL app
To reliably use the Watch NRL app in NZ or Australia, you need to use a VPN that stays one step ahead of the app, like ExpressVPN ($6.67/month) or Private Internet Access ($2.03/month)
Watch NRL attempts to blacklist IP addresses that VPNs provide. Lesser VPNs don’t have measures to get around Watch NRL’s blacklisting, and they aren’t compatible with the service.
Good VPN providers like ExpressVPN ($6.67/month) or Private Internet Access ($2.03/month) do have measures in place to ensure you can reliably use the Watch NRL app in NZ and Australia.
These VPNs play a game of cat and mouse with the app. When Watch NRL blacklists an IP address, ExpressVPN ($6.67/month) or Private Internet Access ($2.03/month) close that IP address and open a new one. This keeps the VPN one step ahead of Watch NRL, and it enables you to use the Watch NRL app in NZ and Australia reliably.
The best VPNs for the Watch NRL app in NZ and Australia
1. ExpressVPN 🥇
Why You Should Use ExpressVPN? It’s the fastest and MOST reliable VPN of 2022
Pros
- ✅ Fast servers
- ✅ Thousands of IP addresses
- ✅ 10-simultaneous connections
- ✅ 24/7 Live Chat
- ✅ Easy-to-use app
- ✅ 30-day money-back guarantee
Cons
- ❌ Expensive
Special Offer for you!
Get 3 extra months free when you sign up for a 12-month ExpressVPN plan. That’s 15 months in total for the price of 12.
Number of servers: 3,000+ | Speed: >80% | Bandwidth: Unlimited | IP locations: 160 in 94 countries | Devices supported: 5 | Live chat: Yes | 30-day money-back guarantee: Yes
- $6.66/month for 15 months
- $9.99/month for 6 months
- $12.95/month for 1 month
ExpressVPN ($6.66/month) is still the best VPN. And importantly, it ALWAYS has servers that are open with major streaming sites such as Netflix, BBC iPlayer, Hulu, Disney+, HBO Max, Paramount+, Amazon Prime Video, etc.
ExpressVPN is usually very good at playing Cat and Mouse with online streaming sites. Meaning, whenever one of its servers is blacklisted it creates a new one – giving its users a constant stream of servers that aren’t blocked. Needless to say, this is a valuable attribute if you’re looking for a VPN to unblock streaming sites.
Its app is easy-to-use and free to download on pretty much any device you can think of. Mac, Windows, iOS, Android, FireStick, Android TV, Roku, PS4, Xbox, Linux, even Apple TV (with a workaround). It’s got it all covered.
The app is another main reason this VPN is so good at unblocking TV streaming sites (that claim they block VPNs) is that its software takes a pragmatic approach to user management. While other VPNs tempt customers by promising them access to hundreds/thousands of servers in multiple countries, ExpressVPN does things differently.
With ExpressVPN you only have a handful of server locations to choose from. Once you select your location the app takes care of the rest. Assigning you to the fastest available server that’s not oversubscribed. This simple technique is so important, as it keeps ExpressVPN’s servers operating at lightning-fast speeds and prevents its IPs from getting blacklisted for “abnormal” usage in the first place.
Check out our full ExpressVPN review.
Special Offer for you
(30-day money-back guarantee)
2. Private Internet Access 🥈
The BEST low-cost VPN for streaming!
Pros
- ✅ Fast and reliable servers
- ✅ Thousands of IP addresses
- ✅ 10-simultaneous connections
- ✅ 24/7 Live Chat
- ✅ 30-day money-back guarantee
Cons
- ❌ Only 48 server locations
Special Offer for you!
Sign up for a 3-year plan with Private Internet Access and save 83% + 3 months free. That works out at $2.03/month.
Number of servers: 25,000+ | Speed: >75% | Bandwidth: Unlimited | IP locations: 70 in 74 countries | Devices supported: 10 | Live chat: Yes | 30-day money-back guarantee: Yes
- $2.03/month for 3 years
- $7.50/month for 6 months
- $11.99/month for 1 month
Private Internet Access is one of the leading no-log VPN services with over 1-million paying customers.
This VPN is one of the best in the industry at beating streaming sites’ VPN bans. It provides reliable connections with US Netflix, BBC iPlayer, Hulu, HBO Max, Disney+ Amazon Prime Video, etc. It also allows 10 simultaneous devices to be connected to its servers at the same time, so you can share the account with your close friends.
If – for whatever reason – you’re not happy with Private Internet Access, there’s a 24/7 live chat support available to assist you with your problem. PIA also offers the industry-standard 30-day money-back guarantee.
From my tests (from New Zealand) I was able to get download speeds of 70 Mbps while connected to a UK server using the Private Internet Access VPN (my non-VPN speed is 100 Mbps).
Special Offer – Save 83%
(30-day money-back guarantee)
3. NordVPN 🥉
A very quick and trustworthy VPN
Pros
- ✅ Fast servers
- ✅ No logs
- ✅ Thousands of IP addresses
- ✅ 6-simultaneous connections
- ✅ 30-day money-back guarantee
- ✅ Easy-to-use app
Cons
- ❌ No refunds for purchases from iTunes/App store
Special Offer for you!
Sign up for a 3-year plan with Private Internet Access and save 83% + 3 months free. That works out at $2.03/month.
Number of servers: 5,000+ | Speeds: >80% | Bandwidth: Unlimited | IP locations: 62 countries | Devices supported: 6 | Live chat: Yes | 30-day money-back guarantee: Yes
- $3.49/month for 2 years
- $6.99/month for 1 year
- $11.95/month for 1 month
NordVPN is the most widely-used VPN in the world. And it’s easy to see why. It’s a polished app that delivers fast connections (more on this later) to a massive network of VPN servers.
It’s the most reliable at unblocking popular streaming services too – US Netflix, Hulu, Disney+, BBC iPlayer, HBO Max, Amazon Prime Video, etc. This is because NordVPN hired a full-time technical team (that’s responsible for monitoring its servers’ connections with popular TV streaming services) and has been aggressively investing in its network of IP addresses in key locations.
Another interesting thing to note is that NordVPN is an industry leader in its development of Nordlynx technology. Nordlynx is built using the WireGuard, a new VPN tunneling protocol designed to outperform current standards (OpenVPN and IPSec). The benefits, according to NordVPN, are dramatically faster transfer speeds while connected to a VPN. My tests – New Zealand to London – confirm that Nordlynx is currently the fastest VPN on the market. However, the difference isn’t dramatic, a few Mbps is all.
SPECIAL OFFER – SAVE 70%!
(30-day money-back guarantee)
4. Ivacy
A very quick and trustworthy VPN
Pros
- ✅ Fast servers
- ✅ Thousands of IP addresses
- ✅ Dedicated streaming servers
- ✅ 5-simultaneous connections
- ✅ 30-day money-back guarantee
- ✅ 24/7 Live Chat
Cons
- ❌ Only 5 devices
- ❌ Sometimes runs slow
- ❌ Occasionally block by streaming sites for several days
Special Offer for you!
Sign up for Ivacy and enjoy a 7-day trial with no strings attached
Number of servers: 1,000+ | Speed: >65% | Bandwidth: Unlimited | IP locations: 275 in 100 countries | Devices supported: 5 | Live chat: Yes | 30-day money-back guarantee: Yes
- $1.16/month for 5 years
- $3.50/month for 1 year
- $9.99/month for 1 month
If you’re looking for an excellent VPN, with an even better price tag, Ivacy ($1.16/month) is a great option.
This VPN has all the features you need to stream BBC iPlayer, in HD, from any country in the world. I’ve been testing the app recently on Mac, PC, Android, iOS and FireStick and the results have been impressive – unlocking BBC iPlayer, US Netflix, Hulu, Disney+, HBO Max, Amazon Prime Video, etc. with ease.
The Ivacy app is a little different in regards to its UX (user experience). Instead of just selecting a UK server, you need to select the specific BBC iPlayer server. Don’t worry, this isn’t a bad thing – by connecting to a dedicated BBC iPlayer server, it simply means that you’re connecting to an IP address that Ivacy knows works with BBC iPlayer.
For an extra $1.99/month (£1.74) you can add-on a dedicated IP. This will buy you sole access to an IP address in a country of your choice, meaning you won’t have to share your IP (and speeds) with any other use. I don’t recommend this though, using the regular Ivacy servers is enough 95 per cent of the time.
Special Offer – 7-day FREE trial!
(30-day money-back guarantee)
5. CyberGhost
A very quick and trustworthy VPN
Pros
- ✅ 1-day free trial
- ✅ Reliable servers
- ✅ Thousands of IP addresses
- ✅ 7-simultaneous connections
- ✅ 30-day money-back guarantee
- ✅ Easy-to-use app
Cons
- ❌ Expensive
- ❌ Average speed scores
SPECIAL OFFER – 1-DAY FREE TRIAL
Take advantage of CyberGhost’s 1-day FREE TRIAL!
Number of servers: 1,000+ | Speed: >65% | Bandwidth: Unlimited | IP locations: 275 in 100 countries | Devices supported: 5 | Live chat: Yes | 30-day money-back guarantee: Yes
- $2.75/month for 3 years
- $3.69/month for 2 years
- $5.99/month for 1 year
- $12.99/month for 1 month
CyberGhost is one of the more established VPNs on the market. It has a well-established, and well-tested global network of servers that perform well.
From my tests over the past several months, CyberGhost has no trouble at unblocking major streaming services – US Netflix, BBC iPlayer, Hulu, Disney+, Amazon Prime Video, HBO Max etc. This VPN performed well at maintaining download speeds, well above 65 per cent of my regular (non VPN) ISP speed.
That said, there’s nothing really unique about the service. Which forces you to look at its price-point. And there’s nothing special here. Its short-term $12.99/month price tag puts is well above the industry average of $10.10/month. Similarly, its long-term $2.75/month for 3 years deal isn’t much of a “deal” either.
Oddly, CyberGhost’s most unique feature is its a 1-day, no obligations, free trial. This is an appealing offer to customers who are new to VPNs. However, it’s important to remember that most reputable VPNs will offer customers a 30-day money-back guarantee, so try not to be too seduced by the offer.
SPECIAL OFFER – 1-DAY FREE TRIAL
(30-day money-back guarantee)
