They made a very special point to provide a friendly link for US and Canada residents to watch us so yes, I'd expect them to say it isn't free in those countries. Like I said, it's a scummy slimy thing to do.
I used a VPN, I watched it all no problem. I was very annoyed to find that the US fans had to pay an outrageous amount for a channel/site I'd never heard of before. But if they want to charge for it and rip their NA customers off that's their right to do so, I'll never fault the Albion for...