The nadir of Rugby commentary

I agree that Sean Maloney is the worst commentator I have ever heard. I find him so bad that I often have to mute the commentary. His objectionable tone combined with his inane running commentary detracts from the game. I disagree with the comments about Greg Martin. He has strong opinions and is not afraid to voice them.

The NRC has provided great rugby and enjoyable Foxtel coverage except for the following comments. 1.. The poor commentary by Mr Maloony which had been full of irrelevant hype and baffonary has reduced the enjoyment substantially. No balanced rugby game commentary from him just noise. In contrast watching the New Zealand ITM cup has been excellent with well informed and fair, balanced, rugby knowledgable commentators. 2.. Foxtel coverage has been much reduced relative to ITM cup where almost every game has been televised. More NRC PLEASE Foxtel.! 3... The semifinal last night at Ballymore was just about the end for me. They were obsessed with the baby Plover birds and parents which were on the pitch throughout the game. This caused almost continuous giggling and out of control laughter from the commentators. I would ask Foxtel to get these idiots under control for next weekends final vs Canberra Vikings.

What did we do to deserve Tim Horan as punishment? 'Gill was unnerneath, breeyant move by the Reds, maaarvellous, wonerfall play, pleny of numbers out wide, number tweny two, beehynd the breakdown' and all said in one breath. I'm still waiting for him to implode; 12th Man - Wired World of Sport style.

Not this year or any year I can remember they have'nt ......Best you prepare yourself for some good old cross dressing jokes ....not

Folau, Folau, ISRAEL FOLAU!!!!!

Phil Kearns favourite line is "that's an excellent bit of cheating by McCaw". I've been watching NZ v Aust replays and he seems to mention at least once every game.

Rugby HQ is so bad , I give up the TV to my wife to watch Masterchef and I can't cook....mine you I am learning something useful.My wife said if I watch to much Rugby HQ, I will be braindead like the presenters.

Nisbo can't tell the difference between players though.

You could be right: I'll try to put aside my anti-Marshall bias and have a fresh look ;-)

I've always viewed the lack of commentary as one of the bonuses of watching in the pub. The big disappointment for mine is that Fox doesn't offer the referees mic as a "red button" option. It must be eminently doable, even if it might need a language warning.

Worried into touch. My favourite Brayism.

Fair call Taylorman. The kids have left home I can do with a new project. Lesson 1, don't arc up at PeterK. Take a breath, make your point, and move on. There, I think we're getting somewhere already :)

Hi Birdy, How's like in the Old Dart? Did you vote for Cameron? Mate I think I called the aforementioned as 'better' minds not 'great'. I think Bill McLaren is the best rugby broadcaster I've ever heard. My recollection is Bill thought that Mike Gibson was the most complete rugby player he had ever seen. He got me to think about 'complete' not best. Spirio is a scribe that also evokes thought. I don't look to Spiro to have my rugby spoon fed to me. He evokes thought. I like that. I've often found my opinions opposed to Spiro's, but a good commentator does not lull the reader into 'Group Think Rugby.' A good scribe should invite debate, not shout you down. May I add in that I've never met Spiro, and I can only recall him replying to one comment so please don't think I'm a Spiri sycophant - I'm not, but I appreciate that he gets my rugby brain to tick. I'm not drawn to commentators who assume grassroot types, average fans and retired hacks like myself automatically have 'lesser' opinions than theirs. I think those types are void of the true spirit of rugby.

Yeah I quite like Marshall. His deliberate non biased stance comes from his NH experience. He was well aware of the NH, SH comparisons, tensions etc and spent a lot of time in NH rugby to get an appreciation of it all. On his return to NZ and commentating he definitely took a stance on defending NH rugby when it was 'attacked' in the usual SH, often ignorant way. He loved playing in the NH and saw it for what it was. I saw many interviews where he deliberately took the NH view 'simply because no one else did' and for no other reason. I think that has stayed with him and it's a credit to him that he can apply fairness as a commentator Ye still get excited for one side or another. Merts I like as a comments man because he's quick. He thinks outside the box and can communicate his knowledge clearly and succinctly. Grant Nisbett I know fairly well being a regular at our club when he's free. Very nice bloke and Ben around a long time. I don't tend to take the commentators too seriously as they see what I see and express a view. So I don't pay a lot of attention to overseas commentators in terms of their bias or consistency. For me they're there to pass on information and entertain. None stand out as particularly good or bad but I will make a note of how each operates over the next few weeks now there's an interest here.

"You can say that again." - George Gregan

Don't completely agree with you in this instance but point taken. Will give it a go. I'd of course like feedback in a week or two now that you've decided to 'sponsor' me. How's that for a deal? Could be fun...something new for me to do...

I wrote the following 'wall of text' last year after the second Bledisloe test in response to a comment lamenting the fact that the commentators weren't pumping up the Wallabies tyres when they were getting smashed. This thread looks like the right place for it. "I have the exact opposite feelings towards commentary. Commentators should strive to be neutral at every moment they can. If your team is poor then say they’re poor, if the other team is good then say the other team is good. The problem with the Fox Sports commentators is that they wear their green and gold blinkers far too often, Greg Martin and Phil Kearns are shockers during commentary but are usually pretty good for post match comments when they aren’t reacting in the heat of the moment. Greg Clarke can also be bad at times but not because of what he’s saying but how he’s saying it. Anything positive about the Wallabies and his energy levels are through the roof and he sounds like he’s jumping up and down and having a great time. If there’s anything negative about the Wallabies or positive about the opposition then every thing he says is sandwiched between groans and whinging with ever declining energy levels. Listen to him during the coverage of a Wallabies win and you’d wonder where this old man was storing all this pent up enthusiasm, then listen to him during a loss and the entire attitude changes to whinging. Greg Clarke can be very good when he doesn’t wear his feelings on his sleeves. The better present day commentators in my opinion are Grant Nisbitt, Rod Kafer, One british commentator who has been around for a while but I can’t for the life of me remember his name (I think it’s Alex or Jonathan…something. Not Stuart Barnes, that’s for damn sure), Scotty Stevenson is hilarious. But in my opinion the best commentator at the moment by far is Justin Marshall. He sounds so neutral that if you didn't know who he was then most of the time you’d assume he was subtly supporting the non Crusaders or non All Blacks sides, especially when the Crusaders are playing. That’s what you want from a commentator, little to no bias, extremely high knowledge of the ins and outs of the game and personal experience of the players psyche, the ability to adequately explain them to his audience and high energy through out – regardless of who’s winning or scoring. A great example is the Ellis Park test last year where his energy barely dropped during the whole game and was equally applauding and criticising both teams. If the All Blacks did something dumb then he called it out, If the Springboks did something dumb then he called it out, If either team did a miracle play and it paid off then he was gushing over all of them."

I've come across a lot of Kiwi's that think that about Marshall and I'd have to disagree. My theory is that most NZers just want to be told how great our team is and that the referee and the other team is cheating. Marshall tries very hard to be even handed.

Pfft! That Wallaby groupie!