A long night of redemption or disappointment — perhaps a bit of both — is in store for sports fans as New South Wales hosts Queensland in the second match of rugby league’s State of Origin series before the Socceroos take on the Netherlands at the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil.

New South Wales is taking a hard-fought 1-0 series lead into this second match, having won the opening encounter at Suncorp Stadium 8-12 three weeks ago. Game 2 is being played at ANZ Stadium. Kick-off is at 8pm in Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, Tasmania and the Australian Capital Territory. That’s 7:30pm in South Australia and the Northern Territory and 6pm in Western Australia.

As has become traditional, if still inexplicable, Perth is the only region in Australia that gets to watch the match live in HD. The game is being broadcast by Channel Nine and affiliates in all regions, with SD only coverage in all other regions. Meanwhile, Channel Nine’s HD channel, GEM, will be showing RBT, Rapid Response and a repeat of RPA.

The first HD broadcast of the match for non-Perth residents will be on Fox Sports 1 (Foxtel Channel 501) at 10:30pm in the Eastern States and Territory and 10:00pm in the Central State and Territory.

With New South Wales widely tipped to finally recapture the State of Origin trophy after eight long years of hurt, ratings for the match are expected to be phenomenal. Keep an eye out for Harvey Norman sponsoring replays of the key moments. Although it is no longer the naming rights sponsor, the famous retailer has maintained a presence in the sport, sponsoring video referee decisions and man of the match awards.

Around four hours after the conclusion of this match, rugby league’s regional obscurity will be shown in stark contrast to the global adventure that is the Socceroos bounding into Porto Alegre to take on the Netherlands in Australia’s second match of the 2014 FIFA World Cup. Our brave boys in green and gold performed admirably if a little naively in their first round 3-1 reverse to Chile, while the Dutch were imperious in their near-faultless 1-5 dismantling of World and European Champions Spain.

This match kicks off at 2am in the Eastern States and Territory, 1:30am in South Australia and the Northern Territory and 12 midnight in Western Australia. SBS is the exclusive broadcast partner and will be showing the match in both SD and HD (Foxtel channel 228). SBS is also streaming every match of the World Cup on its website and through smartphone and tablet apps. This strategy of broad HD coverage is certainly a divergence from Channel Nine’s fenced-in SD strategy.

Sony is the official technology products partner of FIFA and has been receiving some decent brand coverage on the signage ringing the various stadia. Samsung, however, has arguably had greater cut-through with its media buy during SBS’ coverage. The focus of these advertisements has been Samsung’s new Galaxy S5 smarthone (read our special review of the Galaxy S5 here)

Patrick’s Tips (with a healthy dose of optimism)

New South Wales by 20 points
First Try: Josh Dugan
Man of the Match: Greg Bird

Australia by 2 goals
First Goal: Tim Cahill
Man of the Match: Tim Cahill