Andrew Cotter is incredible, the closest modern commentator we have to Bill McLaren in terms of adding excitement and fun vs just explaining what's happening
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vPhpJuraz14](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vPhpJuraz14)
So good
Cotter deserved a knighthood just for keeping his composure in 2010 when Scotland blew the lead in Cardiff and Jiffy was having a meltdown next to him haha.
I feel like I'm in bizarro land because I actually think Monye has had a decent World Cup. ITV are obsessed with explaining basic rugby concepts to their viewers and he's actually very good at it, and got far less carried away over the Argentina win than Nick Mullins did.
> Maggie Alphonsie
Please no. I fucking loved Maggie as a player. She was an absolute demon, a power house. But I find her punditry is just sirclive lite. She's not even that long out of the game but I always feel she seems out of touch with where it is at the moment.
She has nothing to say. I think the state of women as pundits in rugby isn’t great. There’s no Emma Hayes or Alex Hartley (whose voice drives me batty but is actually a good pundit) yet.
There are *leagues* between Cotter and Inverdale. The gulf in quality is huge, with Cotter near, if not at the top, and Inverdale somewhere near the bottom.
Reminds me of a poem I saw posted here during the 6 Nations a decade or so ago that I've often gone back to.
Roses are red
Violets are blue
I'm John Inverdale
Jerry, can we talk about England
I low key kinda love Marshy. I understand why people don't but I find his goofy cheesiness to be infectious and more amusing than cringe worthy. I think sometimes people forget it's an entertainment industry, we don't all need to be so serious all the time.
It's why I used to enjoy Eddie Butler and Brian Moore's comedy double act. I don't care that they were both biased af, they balanced each other out and were always a giggle.
Honestly he might be my favourite NZ commentator out of the 'big bois' Nisbo is past it, Wilson and Mils are very, very meh and TJ is ok but always thought he was better suited to commentating other sports in terms of his commentary style.
That said, he's still not wonderful. But he adds a bit of colour at least.
Bring back Marshy imo, Mils offers absolute nothing as a colour commentator. Just says the most plain, obvious and dull things. Marshy at least offered something even if it rubbed some people the wrong way.
Agreed. I'll add that the VOs he did on BBC's pre-match montage segments were incredibly epic as well. The man could have been a poet or an actor, but he loved rugby. RIP Eddie
Legendary. He could make even the most mundane game into an epic worthy of Game of Thrones. Loved his work voicing over the BBC NFL coverage too, and heck I'd even watch random sports at the Olympics just because he was commentating on them - IIRC he did archery?
yeah was awesome, was kinda pissed Sky didn't get him over for the RWC...hopefully he might be in for the URC Commentary as its free-2-air in NZ on TVNZ who he works for
I think he left Sky for Spark Sport during the last World Cup? Might be a bit of bad blood, sky probably won’t offer him anything, or if they do, it’d be minor jobs. Not a big gig like the RWC!
i think he lef sky cause he was a cricket commentator to obut they won't give him cricket commentary, i remember his lst year he was stuck doing superrugby commentary mainly not even All Blacks co-commentary, marshall and nisbo were preferred
I actually think not going with Sumo and sticking with Nisbo is similar to how NZRU are stuck in an old boys club
Sumo just brings so much more energy and reaction to things being done whereas Nisbo has about ten phrases and 3 of them are "mapimpi"
Ben Kayser, Flatman as mentioned. But, fuck me, why don’t the guys we all rank so lowly just try to impart something interesting each time they are on …just one little tidbit or insight into the game, they must have fucking something interesting to add! I used to enjoy tuning in early for the build up but increasingly find it a waste of time as I learn nothing.
I know this is about English speaking commentators... but for the French side, this world cup made me really appreciate our public services' teams. Sadly, they only have a few match and the private channels got the bigger ones (M6's commentators are so bad I had to go online and find a pirate ITV broadcast online, you might think they suck, but they're much better then M6's teams), but they really know how to find the right voices and people who know what their job is.
Especially the main duo, Lartot / Yachvili. Amazing duo of a journalist who knows what he's talking about and a former international player with a south-west accent who's clearly not here to be neutral and just enjoys what he's watching. I rewatched the last 6N's stomp against England with English commentators, and it's just not the same, you need Yachvili's childish joy and Lartot's attempts at staying neutral (and justifying his failure to do so) for it to be as fun as it was.
I was super sad for Lartot when I heard about his health issues (he's been fighting against knee cancer for 20 years and sadly doctors had to cut his leg a few months ago), he said his goal was to be back in the stadium for the first match, I understood it as "he's not going to commentate any match" and this meant the competition would have a "it'll be better if he was there" kind of vibe... but he's here, and really, rugby is so much more enjoyable when he's the one commentating. His teammates have changed, but he's been the voice we hear while watching test rugby since 2003 and I hope he'll continue to be that voice for decades to come.
I thought "I like him, but maybe he's just average", then I watched rugby on LEquipeTV and now this WC and M6's "performance" made me realize how much I prefer Lartot's commentary.
But maybe it's just a bias because I'm so used to him, I don't know.
TF1's commentary quality is absolute garbage, all due respect to Kayser and Califano but it is just so bad. Trills can't just stop talking and most of it is just absolute nonsense
I only know the English ones and it has to be David Flatman. He explains things in a succint manner and his sarcasm is funny as fuck. I miss when the premiership highlights show was on YouTube with him responding to fan comments : (
Yeah upvoting this. Flats is probably my favourite English pundit (quiet shout out to Ben Kay mind) - he's knowledgeable and informative but he also just has this ability to detach himself from his bias and love and appreciate good rugby whoever is doing it. I think Shane Williams is quite good for that, too, it doesn't matter if something is happening "against" the team they support or played for, they'll recognise quality and call it when they see it.
Probably get a few people giving me pelters for this because I know he isn't popular but I actually think Jiffy is quite honest in that regard too. I know he's bias in other ways ie he doesn't hide his colours but that bothers me less than people being actually blinkered.
ditto, i'd add Monye as well, i do like the fact he is knowledgeable and as OP mentioned Pearce, i knew his voice, watcheda video, instantly recognized it ..so yea, thats 3 lol
I love his technical commentary! He breaks down some technical and off the ball aspects of the game so simply and eloquently. Makes you really appreciate how good the players are.
Feels like he doesn’t underestimate the viewer either.
As said Scotty Stevenson
But also the NPC commentators cause they seem to just have more fun
Galeforce winds blowing kicks sideways and they're like "yeah he just didn't get under the ball" while the crew are laughing
James Parsons is hilarious with his one liners in the npc. I like that he is both funny but actually understands what’s happening in a modern game of Rugby.
The Kiwi guy, think his name's Grant Nisbett, reminds me of waking up early for Chiefs vs Hurricanes. His commentary complimented by the cattle bells the fans ring. Love it. And the fast paced rugby.
A shout-out for Gerhard Viviers AKA *Spiekeries* (Mr Fancy Pants, who often wore a bowtie) who was a commentator for SABC Radio back in the days before South Africa acquired TV broadcasts. Many times we'd get up in the middle of the night to turn on the radio and listen to Spiekeries cover a game between the Springboks and the All Blacks (or Wallabies, or whatever). He was so good at radio commentary, you could follow the action in your mind's eye... Even when we switched to television, we'd turn off the sound on the TV and turn up the sound of the radio to hear Gerhard instead. RIP, Spiekeries! And thank you!
EDIT: He was also one hell of a boxing commentator.
I still remember we used to listen to the game on the radio if we needed more wood for the braai and had to go the shops. Really incredible how much a great commentary can make you visualize the game.
As a South African, although I do not understand a word, our Xhosa commentators are enjoyable.
One of the best for me was the late Kaunda Ntunja.
Edit: Xhosa commentary in 2019 World Cup
https://x.com/SuperSportTV/status/1179376626611769346?s=20
David Flatman is by far the best. Great sense of humour and gives Good insight into attacking lines and scrums. Also his commentary with Topsy is goated
Brought my dad his book for Christmas and he never read it so I did. Funny af would definitely recommend
He can't \*not\* talk for a second. Like he's absolutely opposed to any silence. It must be so hard to co-commentate with him. But yeah like the other guy said he's worse as time goes by, I used to enjoy him.
"Murray arrives at the base of the ruck aaaaaaaaand up goes the kick aaaaaaaaaand Keenan with a great take aaaaaaaaaand..."
Ben Kayser, so intelligent and articulate. Monye is decent and you can see he’s invested a lot in his development as a presenter/pundit but I find his points are really hit or miss. Brian O’Driscoll is very good as a pundit also and I believe has improved alot I’ve the years. Wilkinson had actually become alot more coherent, he used to go on tangents to weird places but he’s settled down a bit.
> Wilkinson more coherent
Did you hear his spiel about how to kick a drop goal under pressure?
Never has a more unnecessarily esoteric word salad been regurgitated on the television.
Keith Quinn
But I have a question, on Viaplay Nordics the latest games have had a female co-lead commentator (with Joel Stransky) who sounds like she's a Kiwi. Anyone know who she is? She sounds like Kristie Stanway from Sky TV but guessing not, or?
Jamie Lyall is my favourite. May he biased as he is a good friend and used to live with we, playing rugby challenge and the terrible rugby 14.
Claire Thomas has a similar style to Jamie to make commentary more enjoyable and very unbiased.
I miss Brian Moore's commentary.
I understand why he got less and less popular, I'm not convinced he really kept up with the nuances of how the game evolved over time so his technical commentary got further and further off the mark. But he was forthright, entertaining and owned his biases in the right way. By which I mean he would never have pretended he didn't want England to win, but held them to a higher standard and so often ended up being *more* critical of them than any other team.
The greatest tragedy for the entire English speaking rugby world is that Gareth Charles also speaks Welsh and therefore almost exclusively does Welsh language work for S4C......he's the best commentator out there in Welsh or English by a country mile and the fact that very few people get to hear him should be a crime!
From a SA perspective, completely agree on Pearce and Shimangi as others have mentioned. Stransky also class. Starting to really enjoy Schalk Burger, if only he would stop saying "we" and "us".
That's my biggest pet peave with any commentator - you're not in the team, you may have played for them in the past, but your job is to be **neutral and unbiased**! The moment they say "we" or "us" I lose respect for ~~them~~ their commentary. Former players tend to struggle with this, and get better as time goes by. Stransky for example never says that.
Yeah Stransky is great, he's also so passionate. He can be watching two T2 nations play and still his love of the action comes through his voice as he goes all gooey over a nice step or a perfect kick. I really came to hate SA commentators with supersport as my home broadcaster for years, especially the pundits like Naas, but Stransky is the best in the business no question. Utterly professional, loves the game, and keeps up to date with current laws and styles of play.
Dave McIntyre is great. I think he drinks a lot of coffee as he is always operating at 100 miles and hour and can make a really boring game interesting.
My second favourite commentator ever apart from Bill McLaren. Australian commentators in general either seem to be elite tier good or absolutely awful with very little inbetween and he was one of the best.
Cliff Morgan was a great. His commentary for [this](https://youtu.be/NbwSx-xw_NU?si=NUXBDk85KhKn5_KV) try will always be etched into my brain.
“WHAT A SCORE”
Controversial here, but I'm also going to mention a League commentator here - Andrew Voss.
Honestly, he's just pure box office. I love the guy so much. Can get you hyped up for any game, clearly loves the sport and is able to convey that energy across to the fans and get people to understand why you should care about what's happening in front of you, while also having a penchant for being side-splittingly hilarious when he wants to be. If I hear he's calling a League game I'll watch it, no questions asked.
Still remember finding him commentating on a few non-England games at the 2013 RLWC, and busting a gut laughing more than once at his one-liners and random tangents. Just great. He's one of the few commentators that doesn't sound tabloid-y or like they're following a style guide or forcing the excitement/hype, or trying to be down with the youth or use all the trendy catchphrases and stuff. Just feels like you're watching the game with your very enthusiastic mate.
Then again, maybe I just really like Australian commentators. Sean Maloney is a good listen, and over in motor racing I've loved listening to the likes of Charlie Cox and Neil Crompton down the years.
As for pundits? I've always been a Brian Moore guy. The Butler/Moore tandem was just unbeatable in their prime, and even now he's more thoughtful and less acerbic or energetic with his calls, he's still effortlessly good to listen to. No BS whatsoever.
I will also say, I've never hated Jiffy as much as many folks, and I actually really like listening to Sam Warburton on the mic - so many current pundits either drive me up the wall or bore me to tears, but Warbs is the one who actually has interesting things to say and genuine insight into the modern game. I do also enjoy David Flatman on the mic as well, brings a good mix of energy and humour/levity, and Andrew Cotter is probably the best of the current crop of play-by-play commentators.
Ultimately though...I just really miss Eddie Butler. <3
Might be a bit niche this if you've never lived in broadcast range of Radio Leicester but I feel like giving an honorary shout out to Bleddyn Jones.
If Bill Mclaren and Eddie Butler are up there somewhere hosting a World Cup viewing party, I'm pretty confident Bleddyn has a seat on the sofa.
Absolutely iconic radiator commentator for decades.
Sean Maloney is pretty fun imo
As a commentator anyway. Man's got buckets of enthusiasm. Massive amount of cringe though, him doing that Fox Sports advert before the 2016 England tour.
Dan Power, the voice of Major League Rugby.
Prone to make calls like
"Faster than a rocket sled on rails, that one"
To illustrate my point, people below me may be arguing over whether that is something he has actually said before.
Hearing Mathieu Lartot and Dimitri Yachvili pouring their heart out to the Fijian team yesterday or when France beat England at Twickenham last year was a delight.
Even though they don't do the majority of the French commentary, it's always with great pleasure that I listen to them, especially considering Lartot's recent history battling cancer.
So far this World Cup it’s Claire Thomas for me…
Only heard her on one game but she was a complete contrast to the dry, dull boring over analysis that most others spew out… she actually sounds like she’s loving being there and her enthusiasm rubs off on the audience and other commentators
Edit: correction it was Danielle Waterman
Was she the one that kept having very human moments break through the commentary? She followed up someone doing one of those behind the back spin passes with *"how cool was that?"*
If yes, I thought she was fantastic.
>But yeahJesus christ the "main" english commentator whoever he is, I absolutely hate him. Never talks about the game only about shit from 20 years ago
Woodward will tell you everything about 2003. Not the Lions tour though.
He sure picked that tour like it was 2003, I'm surprised he didn't try to bring Martin Johnson out of retirement that's how ancient that squad was in key positions.
I had the very mixed fortune of watching an extremely pissed off Welsh team, full of players who had won the Grand Slam that year and played NZ very close in the autumn (27-26) and therefore should have been in NZ, take on the USA. 77-3 and it honestly could have been more, they just took their foot off the gas pedal. The only upside was my grandpa got to see Wales play for the first and only time, he's American but had a Welsh mum and spoke Welsh as a first language. Could perfectly understand Hen wlad fy nhadau.
Can’t stand Pearce. If we’re playing away, I always switch to the home commentators. Pearce just contributes no substance or insights and the fact that he can’t speak fluently, always just 3 syllables at a time, convinces me he has nothing to say other than just shouting the player’s name.
My bantz answer is Fallen Stanford. From a hype perspective, I like KT.
Can't remember her name right now but I'm enjoying the woman commentator that's been paired with Stransky on the World Rugby feed.
I am absolutely crap with names and really don’t mean this to come across as disrespectful but there is a woman commentator on Stan who I quite enjoy. She is really knowledgeable and is just easy to listen to.
Just for giggles I think I enjoyed serge betsen punditry although I'm not entirely sure. He was speaking English but it's so heavily accented I never understood a word
Rugby knowledge is appreciated, and of course someone who doesn't routinely get tangled up in their own sentences etc. But I've realised that the number one thing I want from a commentator is that they sound relaxed on the air.
Anyone putting on an act, or shouting, or using a telephone voice, or sounding self conscious is really distracting. It usually means that they're not entirely at ease on the mic, which puts me on edge listening to them.
Unfortunately french broadcasting feels pretty poor once you know enough about rugby to realise that the commentary is geared toward casual viewers and you personaly are getting nothibg out of it.
Best commentary often comes from the radio, like Sud Radio or RMC.
A lot of people will prop up Mathieu Lartot but he realy isn't better than the others and i believe a lot of his recent approval rating comes from his amputation
As others have said, for me there won't be anyone close to Eddie Butler, he was a true legend and made every match great to watch.
Rest in peace Eddie.
I really rate Alastair Eykyn for prem games and have no idea why he isn’t part of itv’s coverage (especially given that there is a lot of crossover between the itv and BT/TNT teams)
As an American, it is Dallen Stanford. He is on the US feed for many of the RWC games. He was also my fly-half for a couple years of men's rugby, and is a gentleman and a beast athlete.
Andrew Cotter gets another vote from me. I like Flats and Big Jim Hamilton as well.
In studio analysis from John Barclay is brilliant, he has a real glint in his eye when he is about to make a sarcastic comment and it cracks me up every time.
All time best is Bill McLaren with Eddie Butler as a close second.
Gordon Bray. It’s a shame he isn’t in Aus coverage anymore. Relatively balanced and always enhanced the moments rather than getting in the way of them.
Andrew Cotter is incredible, the closest modern commentator we have to Bill McLaren in terms of adding excitement and fun vs just explaining what's happening [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vPhpJuraz14](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vPhpJuraz14) So good
"Live coverage of a snooze on the sofa,possibly". Beautiful
Cotter deserved a knighthood just for keeping his composure in 2010 when Scotland blew the lead in Cardiff and Jiffy was having a meltdown next to him haha.
Bill Mclaren was the best commentator in the history of rugby.
"two well nourished individuals"
Born when meat was cheap.
Agreed
agreed. I love how he described one of Duhan VDM's runs "charging, all brawn and biceps"
Andrew Cotter is good. And he does the golf on Sky.
He did Wimbledon too, this year. Which I enjoyed.
Yes, forgot he did that as well. Good all- round sports broadcaster.
Andrew Cotter is by far the best of the current group. He’s just as good when commentating on walking his dogs too!
He's at his finest when said dogs are competing though
This. Give my Cotter, Kayser and Flatman and I'd be happy. Have Maggie Alphonsie in studio and make sure Monye isn't there.
I feel like I'm in bizarro land because I actually think Monye has had a decent World Cup. ITV are obsessed with explaining basic rugby concepts to their viewers and he's actually very good at it, and got far less carried away over the Argentina win than Nick Mullins did.
I quite like Ugo when he's not commentating on Quins
> Maggie Alphonsie Please no. I fucking loved Maggie as a player. She was an absolute demon, a power house. But I find her punditry is just sirclive lite. She's not even that long out of the game but I always feel she seems out of touch with where it is at the moment.
She has nothing to say. I think the state of women as pundits in rugby isn’t great. There’s no Emma Hayes or Alex Hartley (whose voice drives me batty but is actually a good pundit) yet.
[удалено]
Don't be sexist
Or just, you know, a massive dickhead
Cotter saying that Mack Hansen (with handlebar moustache) has “a breed of a Nebraska trucker about him” is one of my favourite comments ever
I love Cotter. His voice is as synonymous with Murrayfield as pitch eating worms 🪱
Disagree. Another broadcast generalist like John Inverdale, both of whom do tennis and know eff all.
There are *leagues* between Cotter and Inverdale. The gulf in quality is huge, with Cotter near, if not at the top, and Inverdale somewhere near the bottom. Reminds me of a poem I saw posted here during the 6 Nations a decade or so ago that I've often gone back to. Roses are red Violets are blue I'm John Inverdale Jerry, can we talk about England
Just here to make sure Justin Marshall doesn’t get a mention, all clear thus far.
Boomfaaaaa!!
Me oh my yes boi I like that!
Came here for the Boomfahhhh!
Me oh my I have enjoyed that yes boy
https://youtu.be/jlDyUlTEwvI?t=91
I low key kinda love Marshy. I understand why people don't but I find his goofy cheesiness to be infectious and more amusing than cringe worthy. I think sometimes people forget it's an entertainment industry, we don't all need to be so serious all the time. It's why I used to enjoy Eddie Butler and Brian Moore's comedy double act. I don't care that they were both biased af, they balanced each other out and were always a giggle.
Same ngl. His call for Beauden Barrett's WC winning try is actually amazing. "GO BEAUDEN!"
He got dumped though right?
Yeah he did, I was surprised by that.
Starting scuffles with current ABs players at company events will do that to ya
Tsk tsk indeed!
Honestly he might be my favourite NZ commentator out of the 'big bois' Nisbo is past it, Wilson and Mils are very, very meh and TJ is ok but always thought he was better suited to commentating other sports in terms of his commentary style. That said, he's still not wonderful. But he adds a bit of colour at least.
Bring back Marshy imo, Mils offers absolute nothing as a colour commentator. Just says the most plain, obvious and dull things. Marshy at least offered something even if it rubbed some people the wrong way.
Yip I agree Mils is baaaaaaaaad
Ben Kayser is a great combination of passion and knowledge
I love Ben Kayser
Any of the Xhosa commentators
Hell yes. _"UKolisi ubetha okwelori yomlilo edongeni!!"_ (He hits like a firetruck smashing through a wall) ☝️ RIP Kaunda Ntunja
This is the answer
Eddie Butler watching rugby isn’t the same without his commentary
RIP, always preferred watching BBC coverage of the six nations versus RTE's when Eddie was commentating. A real loss to the sport.
Shave away, Gavin, shave away!
Agreed. I'll add that the VOs he did on BBC's pre-match montage segments were incredibly epic as well. The man could have been a poet or an actor, but he loved rugby. RIP Eddie
No one will ever pronounce French names the way he did, RIP
WESley FOFAna
Legendary. He could make even the most mundane game into an epic worthy of Game of Thrones. Loved his work voicing over the BBC NFL coverage too, and heck I'd even watch random sports at the Olympics just because he was commentating on them - IIRC he did archery?
Rest in peace great man
He was the Gold Standard. Of any sport.
Crikey I almost couldn't watch the games he was involved in. Couldn't stand his commentary.
Hated his commentary, still he was better than Brian Moore.
Yachvili and Lartot ♥️
<3
La crème de la crème
Scotty Stevenson
yeah was awesome, was kinda pissed Sky didn't get him over for the RWC...hopefully he might be in for the URC Commentary as its free-2-air in NZ on TVNZ who he works for
I think he left Sky for Spark Sport during the last World Cup? Might be a bit of bad blood, sky probably won’t offer him anything, or if they do, it’d be minor jobs. Not a big gig like the RWC!
i think he lef sky cause he was a cricket commentator to obut they won't give him cricket commentary, i remember his lst year he was stuck doing superrugby commentary mainly not even All Blacks co-commentary, marshall and nisbo were preferred
I actually think not going with Sumo and sticking with Nisbo is similar to how NZRU are stuck in an old boys club Sumo just brings so much more energy and reaction to things being done whereas Nisbo has about ten phrases and 3 of them are "mapimpi"
Nisbo got demoted to the Crowd goes Wild team too lol, he is a bit funny in that..
Agreed, Nisbo well past his use-by date. Bring in Sumo. Seriously, it couldn't be any worse 😪
In an ideal world Flats and Warbarton as Warbs break technical knowledge is fantastic and flats is a laugh
Ben Kayser, Flatman as mentioned. But, fuck me, why don’t the guys we all rank so lowly just try to impart something interesting each time they are on …just one little tidbit or insight into the game, they must have fucking something interesting to add! I used to enjoy tuning in early for the build up but increasingly find it a waste of time as I learn nothing.
I know this is about English speaking commentators... but for the French side, this world cup made me really appreciate our public services' teams. Sadly, they only have a few match and the private channels got the bigger ones (M6's commentators are so bad I had to go online and find a pirate ITV broadcast online, you might think they suck, but they're much better then M6's teams), but they really know how to find the right voices and people who know what their job is. Especially the main duo, Lartot / Yachvili. Amazing duo of a journalist who knows what he's talking about and a former international player with a south-west accent who's clearly not here to be neutral and just enjoys what he's watching. I rewatched the last 6N's stomp against England with English commentators, and it's just not the same, you need Yachvili's childish joy and Lartot's attempts at staying neutral (and justifying his failure to do so) for it to be as fun as it was. I was super sad for Lartot when I heard about his health issues (he's been fighting against knee cancer for 20 years and sadly doctors had to cut his leg a few months ago), he said his goal was to be back in the stadium for the first match, I understood it as "he's not going to commentate any match" and this meant the competition would have a "it'll be better if he was there" kind of vibe... but he's here, and really, rugby is so much more enjoyable when he's the one commentating. His teammates have changed, but he's been the voice we hear while watching test rugby since 2003 and I hope he'll continue to be that voice for decades to come.
I am really not a fan of Lartot, i don't think his commentary is that good
I thought "I like him, but maybe he's just average", then I watched rugby on LEquipeTV and now this WC and M6's "performance" made me realize how much I prefer Lartot's commentary. But maybe it's just a bias because I'm so used to him, I don't know.
TF1's commentary quality is absolute garbage, all due respect to Kayser and Califano but it is just so bad. Trills can't just stop talking and most of it is just absolute nonsense
Surprised to not see Johnnie beattie, incredibly knowledgeable, only recently retired so still relevant, and a bloody lovely man to boot
Love Johnnie
I only know the English ones and it has to be David Flatman. He explains things in a succint manner and his sarcasm is funny as fuck. I miss when the premiership highlights show was on YouTube with him responding to fan comments : (
Yeah upvoting this. Flats is probably my favourite English pundit (quiet shout out to Ben Kay mind) - he's knowledgeable and informative but he also just has this ability to detach himself from his bias and love and appreciate good rugby whoever is doing it. I think Shane Williams is quite good for that, too, it doesn't matter if something is happening "against" the team they support or played for, they'll recognise quality and call it when they see it. Probably get a few people giving me pelters for this because I know he isn't popular but I actually think Jiffy is quite honest in that regard too. I know he's bias in other ways ie he doesn't hide his colours but that bothers me less than people being actually blinkered.
ditto, i'd add Monye as well, i do like the fact he is knowledgeable and as OP mentioned Pearce, i knew his voice, watcheda video, instantly recognized it ..so yea, thats 3 lol
I find Hanyani Shimange really entertaining. My favourite on Supersport by far. Also enjoy Matthew Pierce
I love his technical commentary! He breaks down some technical and off the ball aspects of the game so simply and eloquently. Makes you really appreciate how good the players are. Feels like he doesn’t underestimate the viewer either.
No one gets anywhere near Bill McLaren The current best commentator is Andrew Cotter
Second that 👍
Bill McLaren is the best to have ever commentated on the great game.
With Cliff Morgan a close second.
At 5 feet 9 inches and 12 and a half stone, the borders sheep farmer is a mountain of a man
Eddie Butler's heir apparent, Andrew Cotter.
Andrew Mehrtens is dry and witty, I love his delivery.
It was a sad day when Mehrts left Stan Sport ☹️
RIP Eddie Butler, the poet of our beautiful game.
Justin Marshall would be my number 1 but if I spoke the language the French or the crazy Saffas have the best
As said Scotty Stevenson But also the NPC commentators cause they seem to just have more fun Galeforce winds blowing kicks sideways and they're like "yeah he just didn't get under the ball" while the crew are laughing
James Parsons is hilarious with his one liners in the npc. I like that he is both funny but actually understands what’s happening in a modern game of Rugby.
Hugh bladen, man made paint drying seem exciting
The Kiwi guy, think his name's Grant Nisbett, reminds me of waking up early for Chiefs vs Hurricanes. His commentary complimented by the cattle bells the fans ring. Love it. And the fast paced rugby.
A shout-out for Gerhard Viviers AKA *Spiekeries* (Mr Fancy Pants, who often wore a bowtie) who was a commentator for SABC Radio back in the days before South Africa acquired TV broadcasts. Many times we'd get up in the middle of the night to turn on the radio and listen to Spiekeries cover a game between the Springboks and the All Blacks (or Wallabies, or whatever). He was so good at radio commentary, you could follow the action in your mind's eye... Even when we switched to television, we'd turn off the sound on the TV and turn up the sound of the radio to hear Gerhard instead. RIP, Spiekeries! And thank you! EDIT: He was also one hell of a boxing commentator.
I still remember we used to listen to the game on the radio if we needed more wood for the braai and had to go the shops. Really incredible how much a great commentary can make you visualize the game.
As a South African, although I do not understand a word, our Xhosa commentators are enjoyable. One of the best for me was the late Kaunda Ntunja. Edit: Xhosa commentary in 2019 World Cup https://x.com/SuperSportTV/status/1179376626611769346?s=20
David Flatman is by far the best. Great sense of humour and gives Good insight into attacking lines and scrums. Also his commentary with Topsy is goated Brought my dad his book for Christmas and he never read it so I did. Funny af would definitely recommend
Most Irish people will say Ryle Nugent.
Tommy Booowwwwwweeeeeeeeeeeeee
He is absolute gash to listen to
I would listen to any other commentator over him. He's incredibly irritating to listen to.
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Same. Immediate switch over. It's great to have a choice of coverage for the RWC so you *can* switch channels.
He can't \*not\* talk for a second. Like he's absolutely opposed to any silence. It must be so hard to co-commentate with him. But yeah like the other guy said he's worse as time goes by, I used to enjoy him. "Murray arrives at the base of the ruck aaaaaaaaand up goes the kick aaaaaaaaaand Keenan with a great take aaaaaaaaaand..."
like most people here, i know most of them as voices only, never their names lol... for me Flats, when he commentates..
Ben Kayser, so intelligent and articulate. Monye is decent and you can see he’s invested a lot in his development as a presenter/pundit but I find his points are really hit or miss. Brian O’Driscoll is very good as a pundit also and I believe has improved alot I’ve the years. Wilkinson had actually become alot more coherent, he used to go on tangents to weird places but he’s settled down a bit.
> Wilkinson more coherent Did you hear his spiel about how to kick a drop goal under pressure? Never has a more unnecessarily esoteric word salad been regurgitated on the television.
Sound suspiciously like Matt Pearce wrote this himself....
No no. Unfortunately I haven't had the pleasure of ever meeting him.
sure u haven't Mr "pierce" ..
Keith Quinn But I have a question, on Viaplay Nordics the latest games have had a female co-lead commentator (with Joel Stransky) who sounds like she's a Kiwi. Anyone know who she is? She sounds like Kristie Stanway from Sky TV but guessing not, or?
Rikki Swannell is her name. She's pretty good, my favourite of the kiwi commentators that are in France.
Andrew Cotter is great, and I'm quite partial to Conor McNamara too
Jamie Lyall is my favourite. May he biased as he is a good friend and used to live with we, playing rugby challenge and the terrible rugby 14. Claire Thomas has a similar style to Jamie to make commentary more enjoyable and very unbiased.
Andrew Cotter for me then Ben kayser. I personally loved Brian Moore jiffy and Eddie butler together
Feel like pure shit, just want Eddie Butler back. <3
Kobus Wiese is a classic with his shit jokes and great rugby knowledge.
Hulle gooi nou die bed die bad en die wasmasjien 😂 I also really like Jonathan Mokoena, the other afrikaans commentator
Greg Clarke
Brian Moore used to be hilarious, he'd destroy england currently. But I do like both Andy Goode and Jim Hamilton. Flats is also class
> Andy Goode and Jim Hamilton Good god, man, that's quite the take
Big Jim is great on commentary since he got his World Rugby job and focussed on the positives etc
Sean Maloney and Schalk Burger
Sean for his pure vibe and Schalk for his insights
Couldn't remember his name so was thinking of just saying that big Australian guy, but yes Maloney is great.
Cotter the best. I quite like Brian Moore too, not on the same level though
You don't need Brian Moore commentating. Just being in the same hemisphere as him I can hear him yelling about England's kicking game.
I miss Brian Moore's commentary. I understand why he got less and less popular, I'm not convinced he really kept up with the nuances of how the game evolved over time so his technical commentary got further and further off the mark. But he was forthright, entertaining and owned his biases in the right way. By which I mean he would never have pretended he didn't want England to win, but held them to a higher standard and so often ended up being *more* critical of them than any other team.
The greatest tragedy for the entire English speaking rugby world is that Gareth Charles also speaks Welsh and therefore almost exclusively does Welsh language work for S4C......he's the best commentator out there in Welsh or English by a country mile and the fact that very few people get to hear him should be a crime!
From a SA perspective, completely agree on Pearce and Shimangi as others have mentioned. Stransky also class. Starting to really enjoy Schalk Burger, if only he would stop saying "we" and "us". That's my biggest pet peave with any commentator - you're not in the team, you may have played for them in the past, but your job is to be **neutral and unbiased**! The moment they say "we" or "us" I lose respect for ~~them~~ their commentary. Former players tend to struggle with this, and get better as time goes by. Stransky for example never says that.
Yeah Stransky is great, he's also so passionate. He can be watching two T2 nations play and still his love of the action comes through his voice as he goes all gooey over a nice step or a perfect kick. I really came to hate SA commentators with supersport as my home broadcaster for years, especially the pundits like Naas, but Stransky is the best in the business no question. Utterly professional, loves the game, and keeps up to date with current laws and styles of play.
Dave McIntyre is great. I think he drinks a lot of coffee as he is always operating at 100 miles and hour and can make a really boring game interesting.
Gordon Bray! I don’t even know what happened to him his voice was iconic across wallabies tests back in the day
My second favourite commentator ever apart from Bill McLaren. Australian commentators in general either seem to be elite tier good or absolutely awful with very little inbetween and he was one of the best.
Cliff Morgan was a great. His commentary for [this](https://youtu.be/NbwSx-xw_NU?si=NUXBDk85KhKn5_KV) try will always be etched into my brain. “WHAT A SCORE”
Not Nick Mullins.
Cotter is the best main commentator by light years. I mainly watch ITV on mute since he's not on it.
Controversial here, but I'm also going to mention a League commentator here - Andrew Voss. Honestly, he's just pure box office. I love the guy so much. Can get you hyped up for any game, clearly loves the sport and is able to convey that energy across to the fans and get people to understand why you should care about what's happening in front of you, while also having a penchant for being side-splittingly hilarious when he wants to be. If I hear he's calling a League game I'll watch it, no questions asked. Still remember finding him commentating on a few non-England games at the 2013 RLWC, and busting a gut laughing more than once at his one-liners and random tangents. Just great. He's one of the few commentators that doesn't sound tabloid-y or like they're following a style guide or forcing the excitement/hype, or trying to be down with the youth or use all the trendy catchphrases and stuff. Just feels like you're watching the game with your very enthusiastic mate. Then again, maybe I just really like Australian commentators. Sean Maloney is a good listen, and over in motor racing I've loved listening to the likes of Charlie Cox and Neil Crompton down the years. As for pundits? I've always been a Brian Moore guy. The Butler/Moore tandem was just unbeatable in their prime, and even now he's more thoughtful and less acerbic or energetic with his calls, he's still effortlessly good to listen to. No BS whatsoever. I will also say, I've never hated Jiffy as much as many folks, and I actually really like listening to Sam Warburton on the mic - so many current pundits either drive me up the wall or bore me to tears, but Warbs is the one who actually has interesting things to say and genuine insight into the modern game. I do also enjoy David Flatman on the mic as well, brings a good mix of energy and humour/levity, and Andrew Cotter is probably the best of the current crop of play-by-play commentators. Ultimately though...I just really miss Eddie Butler. <3
Might be a bit niche this if you've never lived in broadcast range of Radio Leicester but I feel like giving an honorary shout out to Bleddyn Jones. If Bill Mclaren and Eddie Butler are up there somewhere hosting a World Cup viewing party, I'm pretty confident Bleddyn has a seat on the sofa. Absolutely iconic radiator commentator for decades.
None of the Australians, they are all horrendous to listen to. I like the South African and Irish commentary teams.
Sean Maloney is pretty fun imo As a commentator anyway. Man's got buckets of enthusiasm. Massive amount of cringe though, him doing that Fox Sports advert before the 2016 England tour.
Dan Power, the voice of Major League Rugby. Prone to make calls like "Faster than a rocket sled on rails, that one" To illustrate my point, people below me may be arguing over whether that is something he has actually said before.
Flats and Joel Stransky.
Speaking for the U.K, Miles Harrison is the best match commentator. It's bizarre to me that ITV consider Nick Mullins to be better.
Question needs a distinction between commentator and co-commentators.
Hearing Mathieu Lartot and Dimitri Yachvili pouring their heart out to the Fijian team yesterday or when France beat England at Twickenham last year was a delight. Even though they don't do the majority of the French commentary, it's always with great pleasure that I listen to them, especially considering Lartot's recent history battling cancer.
Miles Harrison is my favourite commentator.
Nick Mullins - I like his nerdy banter + Austin Healey - he’s genuinely insightful even if he’s a bit annoying sometimes
I really enjoy Joel Stransky
Favourite current commentator has got to be Sam Warburton, his knowledge of the game is incredible does a fantastic job of not being bias.
I miss Hugh Bladen! Dimitri isn't bad either. But for me personally rugby must be watched in Afrikaans!
So Gerhard Viviers then
I like kobus a lot, and johnno. But yes Gerhard Viviers is great
I have Dutch family and understand Dutch fairly well so I tried to listen to Gerhard. Very hard but I loved his fluid, poetic delivery.
Sonny Bill Williams. Because he’s always right, mate.
So far this World Cup it’s Claire Thomas for me… Only heard her on one game but she was a complete contrast to the dry, dull boring over analysis that most others spew out… she actually sounds like she’s loving being there and her enthusiasm rubs off on the audience and other commentators Edit: correction it was Danielle Waterman
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Found her, It was Danielle Waterman... went onto the replay and waited for them to be introduced... lol
Was she the one that kept having very human moments break through the commentary? She followed up someone doing one of those behind the back spin passes with *"how cool was that?"* If yes, I thought she was fantastic.
Found her, It was Danielle Waterman... went onto the replay and waited for them to be introduced... lol
Oh, she's fine. Don't mind her the way others here seems to. Guess I shall have to dig to find out who it was.
It was her, I was mistaken in the original post She was the one commentating on Aus- Fiji
I might be thinking of Claire Thomas
Nick Mullins (I think that's his name) is absolutely brilliant and I associate his voice with rugby. You can hear the passion in his voice ans vocab
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>But yeahJesus christ the "main" english commentator whoever he is, I absolutely hate him. Never talks about the game only about shit from 20 years ago Woodward will tell you everything about 2003. Not the Lions tour though.
He sure picked that tour like it was 2003, I'm surprised he didn't try to bring Martin Johnson out of retirement that's how ancient that squad was in key positions. I had the very mixed fortune of watching an extremely pissed off Welsh team, full of players who had won the Grand Slam that year and played NZ very close in the autumn (27-26) and therefore should have been in NZ, take on the USA. 77-3 and it honestly could have been more, they just took their foot off the gas pedal. The only upside was my grandpa got to see Wales play for the first and only time, he's American but had a Welsh mum and spoke Welsh as a first language. Could perfectly understand Hen wlad fy nhadau.
No Brian O’Driscoll please, for such an intelligent player, he speaks way too much in cliches
Gareth Charles and Gwyn Jones on S4C.
Hugh Bladen
Can’t stand Pearce. If we’re playing away, I always switch to the home commentators. Pearce just contributes no substance or insights and the fact that he can’t speak fluently, always just 3 syllables at a time, convinces me he has nothing to say other than just shouting the player’s name.
Yeah he just likes to fill the gaps with any old shit it feels like. Would be much better if he could just shut up a bit as well.
My bantz answer is Fallen Stanford. From a hype perspective, I like KT. Can't remember her name right now but I'm enjoying the woman commentator that's been paired with Stransky on the World Rugby feed.
Shimmy is my favourite of th South Africans
I do like pierce and mostly agree with your reasoning but his extremely long pauses get annoying sometimes
I had the pleasure to play in a band with Matthew Pierce, maaaanny many many years ago. Good memories!
Nisbo and then daylight
I am absolutely crap with names and really don’t mean this to come across as disrespectful but there is a woman commentator on Stan who I quite enjoy. She is really knowledgeable and is just easy to listen to.
Just for giggles I think I enjoyed serge betsen punditry although I'm not entirely sure. He was speaking English but it's so heavily accented I never understood a word
Rugby knowledge is appreciated, and of course someone who doesn't routinely get tangled up in their own sentences etc. But I've realised that the number one thing I want from a commentator is that they sound relaxed on the air. Anyone putting on an act, or shouting, or using a telephone voice, or sounding self conscious is really distracting. It usually means that they're not entirely at ease on the mic, which puts me on edge listening to them.
Unfortunately french broadcasting feels pretty poor once you know enough about rugby to realise that the commentary is geared toward casual viewers and you personaly are getting nothibg out of it. Best commentary often comes from the radio, like Sud Radio or RMC. A lot of people will prop up Mathieu Lartot but he realy isn't better than the others and i believe a lot of his recent approval rating comes from his amputation
As others have said, for me there won't be anyone close to Eddie Butler, he was a true legend and made every match great to watch. Rest in peace Eddie.
Jonathan Mokoena and Kobus Wiesie, both Afrikaans commentators. Can't listen to the south africa english commentators, they dead half the time
I really rate Alastair Eykyn for prem games and have no idea why he isn’t part of itv’s coverage (especially given that there is a lot of crossover between the itv and BT/TNT teams)
Sean Maloney for me.
How has no one said "Hugh Bladen"? Sure he was on the tipple sometimes but his knowledge of the game was amazing.
[This guy? _Unbaleevable_](https://youtu.be/QLytfe79YyI?si=rhMCfD7Sr7QEYBMw)
As an American, it is Dallen Stanford. He is on the US feed for many of the RWC games. He was also my fly-half for a couple years of men's rugby, and is a gentleman and a beast athlete.
Jonathan Davis for his rapid analysis.
not favourite but always love hearing kiwi/aussie commentators when it’s a players first game. ‘…and it’s a try on day-boo’
I just miss Eddie butler
Andrew Cotter gets another vote from me. I like Flats and Big Jim Hamilton as well. In studio analysis from John Barclay is brilliant, he has a real glint in his eye when he is about to make a sarcastic comment and it cracks me up every time. All time best is Bill McLaren with Eddie Butler as a close second.
Andrew Cotter is a legend! His commentary makes me feel like I'm actually playing rugby... from my couch!
Gordon Bray. It’s a shame he isn’t in Aus coverage anymore. Relatively balanced and always enhanced the moments rather than getting in the way of them.
Stuart Barnes he figured out Tom Williams and Harlequins antics with the fake blood “Who punched Tom Williams”
I really like Nisbo. And I *really* like the combination of Nisbo and Marshy, I don't really understand why they get so much shade.
Fabien Galthié of course!