Moore is my favourite commentator. I think some people need to recognise the difference the roles of main and co-commentator fulfils to see why Moore is so great. The main commentator provides the "play-by-play" descriptive commentary; the co-commentator interjects with analysis, stats, anecdotes, finer details. As a result, the main commentator is usually more "factual" and the co-commentator usually more "opinionated". There's no way Moore has of getting around having an opinion, it's pretty much his job.
The difficulty Moore faces in international rugby is the partisanship of nationality. A Welshman, for example, is more likely to let a criticism of the Welsh team slide when coming from another Welshman, than from an Englishman. When Moore criticises Wales, you can argue he's biased, which you wouldn't be able to do with Jonathan Davies, even if it's the same piece of criticism. I feel that Moore sidesteps this quite well by choosing his battles with his criticism of other nations. He gets animated when criticising the state of the game and England, but his criticism of other nations is quite tempered IMO. Similarly, when England play well, I feel he tempers any positive feelings quite well. You rarely hear him get excited tbh. And for the most part, I think most non-Englishmen quite respect him for that.
Every commentator is somewhat biased. Even if not from a nation playing, everyone has their own preferences. (I prefer Wales to France for instance.) But I feel that Moore is quite good at keeping those emotions in check.
FWIW, I really like Butler as well, mainly cuz I think he has a great voice for main commentator. Butler/Moore dream team.
