Several people have mentioned in passing that they almost missed the red card against Sam Warburton in the Wales – France semi final, because of poor camera work.
“Now I don’t know if I was distracted by a conversation but when I looked up after the tackle and expecting to see a yellow card I saw Warburton on the bench, then to my amazement down the bottom of the screen were the words, sent off.”
“It was interesting to see that you looked up and saw the captain on the bench — I thought it was just me, but it was another example of lousy coverage from Channel Nine (maybe it was the feed they received).”
I have been told that Channel Nine have done an atrocious job of televising the Rugby World Cup in Australia, but in this case it wasnt their fault, it was the feed they were recieving.
In South America we got exactly the same vision. Bad tackle…ref stopped game…players standing around for a minute…then suddenly we saw Warburton sitting on the bench with the words “sent off” on the screen.
Next we see a slow motion replay, almost of the ref giving the red card, although most of the red card is actually out of the camera shot.
How in earth did the people controlling the cameras miss the moment when Warburton was given the red card?
It was a moment that changed the match, and anyone who knew about rugby would have known that a card was coming, which begs the question: who is actually controlling the cameras at the Rugby World Cup?
Is it a New Zealand station? Have they called in cameramen from other parts of the globe, without rugby knowledge?
The latter seems to be true, because some of the camerawork and vision mixing has been terrible.
Im not sure if anyone else watched the All Blacks Argentina quarter final .. but the camerawork was dismal.
Every time the ball was kicked we would lose sight of it for a few seconds, and several other times the ball was passed and we we were seeing coverage of everything but the player with the ball.
Yet again the IRB and the Rugby World Cup organising committee need to pull their socks up.
Get in people to do camerawork for the games who know the game, and can provide the best coverage worldwide!
C.K
Guest
"Next time employ the camera crews from rugby league games so that we have all angles of the game covered". Now you had to bring that in. Couldn't help yourself,could you?
C.K
Guest
Yeah that was very annoying. They really messed up with the camera angle for the haka.
soapit
Guest
as i said below i didnt know who it was but he wasnt even describing the game correctly, saying there were clean breaks when there weren't. i said to the missus if you were listening to this on radio you'd get a very different picture to what was actually happening on the field.
soapit
Guest
i didnt realise it was ray hadlee, that explains a lot. at the time i had no idea who it was but was ready to turn on the radio. going on and on about how amazing the all blacks were after 10 minutes saying they should have been another 20 points up by then (in addition to the 8 points they'd already scored). little clue about the rules and who the players were, confusing lookalikes (mcabe/pocock/elsom) use the numbers on the backs Ray.
mersey
Guest
The coverage comes from the Host Broadcaster which, in this case, was Sky Sports. Agreed that the director's choice of shot was not up to the standard expected of a Rugby World Cup. Not only did we miss seeing the red card in the Wales v France game but in the Wallabies match every time someone kicked they cut to a tight shot, rather than a wide shot where we could see the result of the kick. As for Hadley's commentary, it was lamentable. "The flyhalf passes to the wing three-quarter..." If you don't know the names you shouldn't be calling. He's a League called who has worked on radio, rarely TV, and it showed. He stated the obvious, talking too much and barely allowing his experts, Gregan and Slack, opportunities to analyse the play. Did anyone enjoy Nine's coverage of this tournament? I doubt it. Memo to ARU - next time give the rights to a network who will do the right thing by the code.
Cattledog
Roar Guru
As a great sporting nation, Australia does have excellent cameramen, rarely missing a cricket ball travelling 10 times the speed of a rugby ball. Such intricate camera work has honed their skills immensely. The rugby league and union played in Australia always has exceptional camera work and well orchestrated by the camera director. Perhaps we should have more cameramen in the Wallabies ;)
RedsNut
Guest
The Ch9 feed in Aus was diabolical - chunks of play missed because of ads and replays, zooming out during the Argie's game (so that AB illegal play couldn't be seen?), weird camera angles at times. I did like the overhead camera at scrum time tho. Waaaay too few pool matches broadcast. Hadley was, imo, diabolical. As someone else has said, as if he was calling for radio. Didn't know when to shut up. Ch9 shouldn't be allowed anywhere near rugby in the future, imo
Jaceman
Guest
By camera work I assume you mean the directors choice of camera shot. They probably expected Rolland to take his time but he was quick draw. Hadley wasnt as bad as I thought although he called as if on radio and he sledged Cooper inmercifully whearas a Rugby commentator may have been a bit more polite. Thank God Australia lost so we wont see anymore of that prat Fitzsimons although undoubtedly he will smooch up to th French this week.
Amorita Maharaj
Guest
I agree. The camera work at the RWC games are always focusing elsewhere then in the moment on field action!
chrisc101
Guest
The overall camera work for the world cup is shameful. The red card is just another example of it. With the exception of the sky camera (which was only used for the big games) why don't they ever show the correct angle for a kick at goal?? Is it that hard for a cameraman to stand behind the goal posts?
Mike
Guest
Looked pretty good camera work to me .... Red card was given while replays we being shown of the tackle itself...
Hanzo
Guest
I think you guya are being overly harsh. NZ is renowned for its work when presenting live rugby feeds. You give me the example of the red card but what else has been so bad in over 3600 minutes of live rugby action? Ive enjoyed the overhead camera, it gets you right in behind the kicker when he is taking his shot at goal. It also gets you right over the top of the scrum as its being packed. I think the coverage has been fantastic, most of the commentary just as good (Marshall the best by far) and the international experts brought in (on the NZ coverage at least) good as well. I also like the seeing the whole team linked shoulder to shoulder as the anthem is being played. You still get the zoom in on individuals as its being played. However there is one thing that i have found absolutely a disgrace and that is the local advertising between the anthems/haka and kickoff (again in the NZ feed). I know one thing I'm never using the 3 main advertisers again, Bunnings, Telecom and Heineken....ok maybe still heineken but you get my point!
Patonga
Guest
The worst camera work i have ever watched.. also the replays were never played unless it was a serious penalty How many times did we not know where the ball was kicked to???? The Camera from above was a total joke what were they thinking???? looking at the tops of people heads made no sense at all... Also channel nine SHOULD NEVER BE ALLOWED THE RIGHTS TO A WORLD CUP.. Each break had an ad and during the game half the field was taken up in an advert for one of there programs... I think people would be turning off in droves after this ,, Next time employ the camera crews from rugby league games so that we have all angles of the game covered,.
Ray
Guest
very dissapointed when the national anthems and the hhaka were on and the cameras were above and far away you couldnt see anything. bloody useless.