Is the BBC's Six Nations coverage worthy of it's "crown jewel" status?

[Mrs. Peter Quinn]

Easy now.

Jbobo: I have looked back at my post and I realise it wasn't clear at all that after the first line I was no longer purely talking about the England Wales fixture but about BBC commentary through the whole calendar of fixtures - in the context of the Wales England rivalry your post makes sense - in the context of the BBC commentary generally which is what I had started talking about it seemed like point scoring to mention the lack of tries! Apologies for any offence.

I meant to say that I think that J Guscott is very vocal about liking Wales and articulates it in all available forms - such as bbc blogs, interviews etc. I take your point and naturally if Wales are shafting England it's natural to be praising Wales! Therefore I see the point you were making about Wales beating England repeatedly. Purely in terms of the BBC now, I'd like them to balance the match commentators a bit more rather than having 2 scottish, or 3 welsh at a time.

Going beyond that stuff, I still believe that whilst a record against one country is to be taken seriously, an overall picture of results matters more. England will know how much better they will need to be to have a chance against Wales but won't fixate on the tries issue. 2012 was a very tight game which could have gone either way ,and the one before that was a warm up under different coaches. 2013 will be the game Lancaster and co study the most.

 

[Robespierre]

Jonathan Davies get's on my nerves

 

[iINDOMINUSxx]

Jonathan Davies get's on my nerves

ahh another scottish user haha welcome please may you post regularly i'd love to have other opinions of matches instead off just me

btw yeah i hate Jonathan Davies he is so bias its unreal and its so annoying

 

[ScrummyRugby]

It was perfectly adequate, but kind of annoying.. It made it into my peeves of the 2014 Six Nations tournament http://scrummyrugbyviews.blogspot.co.uk/2014/03/six-nations-2014-peeves_18.html

 

[conorsinnott]

Get rid of Guscott, most boring man on TV and no matter what the game is, he will only be talking about England

THANKYOU! That is literally my thoughts exactly! Ireland vs Wales match Guscott couldn't stop talking bout England. Yes its an English broadcaster but please just talk about the game your showing!

 

[welshglory]

I'd like them to get rid of Guscott, Davies, Nicols, Moore (although some people like him), Butler. They anger me.

 

[SimonG]

Jonathan Davies get's on my nerves

Mute button used everytime. He should be limited to BBC Wales.

For me the best commentator is John Taylor. The ITV RWC coverage was enhanced greatly by him and it's a waste not to have him on the BBC.

Sky seem to have better pundits (Greenwood, Fitzpatrick, Lynagh..even Quinnell is pretty good). Whether its the less informal format of Sky or just that they are better personalities i dont know. The only one I'd keep at the BBC is Brian Moore. As an Irish legend i love Keith Wood, but the man belongs in a morgue. Guscott is lacking in personality also. I'd like to see more Kiwis provide analysis as they arent as stuffy/formal as the public school boy Brits and they also come from a culture of higher standard onfield performance so there's more gravitas to what they are sayin.

The Irish coverage is pretty good as we get George Hook (poor mans Dunphy) and the very likeable/knowledgable kiwi Brent Pope.

 

[ratsapprentice]

The best British rugby coverage I have seen is Sky's Super League stuff.
They have a big team, who are all knowlegable and they share screen-time in a way that prevents overexposure.
So you never really get irritated by someone because they're talking for too long.

The BBC's coverage is pretty good, if a little dour.

The trouble is (and this goes for all the broadcasters) that because the game is still new to a lot of people - the pundits feel the need to over simplify their analysis; and often end up resorting to hyperbole to puff it up for casual/new fans.
There are also a number of patently biased/contrary pundits which can be very grating.

You do feel that you could make a really good team of pundits from those across the BBC, Sky and BT.

 

[McTallshort]

All I ask for in TV coverage is good commentary which is something we dont get on any of the TV channels. The best commentary to any rugby game is on South African TV where they tend to know what they are talking about and actually commentate on the game not have a conversation about it.

That said I did find Andy Robinson an excellent support commentator who did seem to know his stuff.

As for the BBC, Nicol, Wood and Woodward are too biased. Guscott adds nothing but I do like Jiffy.

 

[UlsterRugby2012]

Am I the only one who actually quite likes Nicol?

 

[McTallshort]

nothing against him but he is very one-eyed but so are Wood and Woodward and he does seem to be a better annalist than the other 2