Connacht Vs Leinster 19.35 Sat 26th March

[LeRouxIsPHat]

As I said, I think his recent form has been poor, not arguing that but was only commenting on last night.

I’ll leave it at this but I’ve seen a lot of praise here and on the coverage for Ross, Frawley (MOTM), and Hawkshaw (who Frawley himself said should have been MOTM) and I don’t think any of that happens if the scrumhalf playing inside them has a mare.

[wixfjord]

As I said, I think his recent form has been poor, not arguing that but was only commenting on last night.

I’ll leave it at this but I’ve seen a lot of praise here and on the coverage for Ross, Frawley (MOTM), and Hawkshaw (who Frawley himself said should have been MOTM) and I don’t think any of that happens if the scrumhalf playing inside them has a mare.

My commentary on Luke's performance last night was mainly down to the nonsense after the game that he should be in the Ireland reckoning.

He had a better game then he has had for a while, and still made quite a few errors with ropey passing as usual.

He's just not at the level of a top 9 in the nuts and bolts. Often, he compensates for this with defence, leadership and breaking. But the bad parts of his game are disproportionately impacting his performances for the last while.

[LeRouxIsPHat]

As I said, I think his recent form has been poor, not arguing that but was only commenting on last night.

I’ll leave it at this but I’ve seen a lot of praise here and on the coverage for Ross, Frawley (MOTM), and Hawkshaw (who Frawley himself said should have been MOTM) and I don’t think any of that happens if the scrumhalf playing inside them has a mare.

My commentary on Luke's performance last night was mainly down to the nonsense after the game that he should be in the Ireland reckoning.

As someone who thought he had a good game I thought that was nonsense as well, more so from Heaslip who seemed to think he 1) had a GREAT game and 2) that that’s been his standard all season.

Flannery was more balanced and I don’t think he’d have mentioned Ireland if Heaslip hadn’t steered the conversation that way.

[Oldschool]

Hugh Cahill drove be bonkers describing every Connacht offload, even if it didn't go to hand as "brilliant".

Maybe it's just me, but since the Saffer teams have joined our league, I've been impressed with and enjoy the South African TV commentary. Dunno what the guys names are, but they seem to be the same fellas do the URC and the Rugby Championship and they're always very knowledgeable, enthusiastic and fair in the sense of not just bigging up the Boks or the RSA clubs teams. At this stage I'd rather listen to them than any of the Scottish, Welsh and most of the Irish commentators.

The South African guys are very polished and professional. Hugh Bladen set a very high standard for rugby broadcasting in South Africa over his long career and it seems to me that that's the direction that they've followed and the standard that they are continually trying to meet.

Obviously rugby is a very big sport in SA and has been for years, and their broadcasts have always been well-resourced [financially] and gone out to a big audience. I find lots of parallels between their broadcasts and NFL broadcasts: a play-by-play commentator with a 'golden voice' who is a professional broadcaster and who leads the commentary, and a very polished, highly-regarded ex-pro as colour commentator. Typically there is a third broadcaster with a clearly discernible different voice on the sideline who is used for variety.

The two main commentators treat the game respectfully and neutrally – they don't favour either team, they're big on the values of the game, they don't spend a lot of time talking about the referee, they don't make a lot of jokes, and they don't go off on uneven jags, with one of them speaking for long, uninterrupted periods on a pet topic. Their focus is on the match in front of them, not the overall state of rugby.

The English version that came in with BT is far too chummy and matey for my tastes, but they've got very good play-by-play commentators. Some of their colour guys are excellent as well, and really shine when removed from the matey-chummy environment ... Ben Kay, Jim Hamilton and David Flatman are all excellent when the banter level is reduced to occasional.

I don't share the same level of opprobrium about Hugh Cahill on a personal level as many others on the board [he's a nice guy] but I think his general commentary style is pretty terrible – far too opinionated, too loose and too banter-y and practically unprofessional. When he commentated on the women's internationals at the end of last year he was far better, because he was very obviously concentrating on not saying something loose that somebody would get offended by [or choose to get offended by].

On a complete tangent but I’m lucky to be old enough to remember the golden age of sports commentary: Murray Walker, Bill McLaren, Micheal O’Muircheathaig, Peter Aliss and even our own beloved Fred Cogley!

Kent Walton - Remember him?

[Oldschool]

As I said, I think his recent form has been poor, not arguing that but was only commenting on last night.

I’ll leave it at this but I’ve seen a lot of praise here and on the coverage for Ross, Frawley (MOTM), and Hawkshaw (who Frawley himself said should have been MOTM) and I don’t think any of that happens if the scrumhalf playing inside them has a mare.

My commentary on Luke's performance last night was mainly down to the nonsense after the game that he should be in the Ireland reckoning.

As someone who thought he had a good game I thought that was nonsense as well, more so from Heaslip who seemed to think he 1) had a GREAT game and 2) that that’s been his standard all season.

Flannery was more balanced and I don’t think he’d have mentioned Ireland if Heaslip hadn’t steered the conversation that way.

Jackie threw him a curved ball.
What did you expect him to say.
Flannery had the advantage of having time to think of something to say whereas Jamie was plunged straight into it.

[Hornet]

Kent Walton - Remember him?

OMG! The WWE for Grannies.

[Hippo]

Unfounded and harsh. Both good commentators IMO.

You might not agree with me and that's fine, but unfounded is a bit much. FG in particular was always miles behind the play and guessing. Anyhow, Cahill is definitely worse than the two put together

[Oldschool]

Kent Walton - Remember him?

OMG! The WWE for Grannies.

Well done, that man! One half Nelson and he'd have Cahill screaming "Submission"

[ronk]

As I said, I think his recent form has been poor, not arguing that but was only commenting on last night.

I’ll leave it at this but I’ve seen a lot of praise here and on the coverage for Ross, Frawley (MOTM), and Hawkshaw (who Frawley himself said should have been MOTM) and I don’t think any of that happens if the scrumhalf playing inside them has a mare.

My commentary on Luke's performance last night was mainly down to the nonsense after the game that he should be in the Ireland reckoning.

As someone who thought he had a good game I thought that was nonsense as well, more so from Heaslip who seemed to think he 1) had a GREAT game and 2) that that’s been his standard all season.

Flannery was more balanced and I don’t think he’d have mentioned Ireland if Heaslip hadn’t steered the conversation that way.

I think the suggestion was that Casey has been picked ahead of McGrath based on his age more than his form.

[Hornet]

Kent Walton - Remember him?

OMG! The WWE for Grannies.

Well done, that man! One half Nelson and he'd have Cahill screaming "Submission"

Or a Kendo Nagasaki Kebab!

[the spoofer]

Unfounded and harsh. Both good commentators IMO.

You might not agree with me and that's fine, but unfounded is a bit much. FG in particular was always miles behind the play and guessing. Anyhow, Cahill is definitely worse than the two put together

Fred wasn’t known as Cog Fredley for no reason!

[ronk]

37 minutes Connacht went for an attacking scrum about 7m out. But with a man down they don't have attacking moves.

They went through the phases and scored but I thought it was a mistake.

Similarly with time up we didn't go for a contestable restart. Not smart.

[enby]

RTE had George Hamilton doing rugby commentary for a while. I seem to recall him on the mic for the win in Twickenham in 94 when Geoghegan got that cracking try in the left corner.

[ronk]

Interview with Cosgrave after his debut. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-KmV_bCBG_A

[TMC]

Unfounded and harsh. Both good commentators IMO.

You might not agree with me and that's fine, but unfounded is a bit much. FG in particular was always miles behind the play and guessing. Anyhow, Cahill is definitely worse than the two put together

I have very fond memories of Cogley, for me his voice will always be the soundtrack to success in the 80's.
He was probably looking at the game on his own with no back up or stats man, maybe technology extended to a set of binoculars. The game in the 70/80s was so much more of a lottery than it is today. The put in to the lineout for instance was a double edged sword, it was genuinely competitive, you had strikes against the head, even the ball was cr@p compared to modern balls, play was just so unstructured; 90% of the players didn’t have a clue what was going to happen next, never mind the commentators. I'd be a bit more forgiving I suppose.

[Dave Cahill]

maybe technology extended to a set of binoculars.

The technology RTE used for sports broadcasting was of the higest standard (due in part to the speed of hurling and the new 'fast' cameras) available. RTE needed other uses for the equipment to offset their huge expense. At the same time, in another part of RTE, the station was looking to make a rural soap to complement the urban Tolka Row, but considered impossible due to the difficulty of filming 'rural' scenes on soundstages in the city, with all the accompanying background sound of a city. At some point the two ideas came together and RTE became the first television station in the world to make a continuing drama (The Riordans) on location (on a farm in Dunboyne) using the high quality Outside Broadcast Units normally used for sports.

[riocard911]

maybe technology extended to a set of binoculars.

The technology RTE used for sports broadcasting was of the higest standard (due in part to the speed of hurling and the new 'fast' cameras) available. RTE needed other uses for the equipment to offset their huge expense. At the same time, in another part of RTE, the station was looking to make a rural soap to complement the urban Tolka Row, but considered impossible due to the difficulty of filming 'rural' scenes on soundstages in the city, with all the accompanying background sound of a city. At some point the two ideas came together and RTE became the first television station in the world to make a continuing drama (The Riordans) on location (on a farm in Dunboyne) using the high quality Outside Broadcast Units normally used for sports.

Interesting. Didn't know that. But why in ainm Dé did they have to get rid of "Glenroe"? Haven't gotten over that yet!!! Tears pouring emoji....

[ronk]

It was running for 18 years and was getting long in the tooth. I think there was a feeling that something more modern was needed for the early Celtic Tiger boom.

Glenroe itself became a suburb rather than a rural area.

[Dave Cahill]

It was running for 18 years and was getting long in the tooth. I think there was a feeling that something more modern was needed for the early Celtic Tiger boom.

Glenroe itself became a suburb rather than a rural area.

Yep, and with the cast pivoting younger and the area and stories becoming more suburban than rural, it was losing out to Fair City.

RTE replaced it with On Home Ground, set around a rural GAA Club and its community staring Sean McGinley, but it only lasted two series. It did however launch the careers of Amy Huberman and Dominique McElligot

[LeRouxIsPHat]

RTE replaced it with On Home Ground, but it only lasted two series. It did however launch the career of Amy Huberman

So even his wife refuses to play away games.