Rugby TV Shows

[mech4bg]

I think I'm going to be the lone voice of dissent here, but I actually find Kearnsy and Clarkie to be my favourite commentators. I like that they talk a bit of rubbish (especially Kearnsy) during the game, lots of dad jokes and inside jokes, e.g. Kearnsy's DVD of the 100 best scrums of all time.

I find Cannon and Horan to be very dry, and I do miss the dynamics of Clarkie, Kearnsy and Martin commentating together now that they seem to have split them up.

I really like having Kafe down on the sideline too, think he does a great job, his analysis is usually very good too.

I hate it when we don't have the aussie commentators... the Kiwi ones are fine, just dry and a bit boring. The SA ones are terrrrrrrrrrrrrribly biased, and one of them has a particularly annoying voice, I usually listen to something else when it's a Saffa commentating.

Rugby Club itself is pretty good - I think it's not as good as last year though, and I agree re: player interviews. So many of them have little to no media training and are just incredibly boring to listen to. They should pre-tape any interviews so they can edit them down.

They seem to be building up Drew Mitchell as a commentator too, no idea why? Maybe he'll be better in future but at the moment he seems way too nervous to offer much.

But yeah, and agreed about the segments - Call it like Clarkie has occasional moments of humour, but is usually pretty bad, same with "This or that".

But like I said, the analysis is good, the wrap ups are good and the "star performer" stuff is usually interesting, and I like the look ahead to what's coming up next weekend with the tips. And "Plays of the week" is always good value.

Just my 2c.

 

[Brisbok]

I think I'm going to be the lone voice of dissent here, but I actually find Kearnsy and Clarkie to be my favourite commentators. I like that they talk a bit of rubbish (especially Kearnsy) during the game, lots of dad jokes and inside jokes, e.g. Kearnsy's DVD of the 100 best scrums of all time.

I find Cannon and Horan to be very dry, and I do miss the dynamics of Clarkie, Kearnsy and Martin commentating together now that they seem to have split them up.

I really like having Kafe down on the sideline too, think he does a great job, his analysis is usually very good too.

I hate it when we don't have the aussie commentators... the Kiwi ones are fine, just dry and a bit boring. The SA ones are terrrrrrrrrrrrrribly biased, and one of them has a particularly annoying voice, I usually listen to something else when it's a Saffa commentating.

Rugby Club itself is pretty good - I think it's not as good as last year though, and I agree re: player interviews. So many of them have little to no media training and are just incredibly boring to listen to. They should pre-tape any interviews so they can edit them down.

They seem to be building up Drew Mitchell as a commentator too, no idea why? Maybe he'll be better in future but at the moment he seems way too nervous to offer much.

But yeah, and agreed about the segments - Call it like Clarkie has occasional moments of humour, but is usually pretty bad, same with "This or that".

But like I said, the analysis is good, the wrap ups are good and the "star performer" stuff is usually interesting, and I like the look ahead to what's coming up next weekend with the tips. And "Plays of the week" is always good value.

Just my 2c.

Very fair points. One question though - which one are you? Kearnsie or Marto?

 

[mech4bg]

Hahahahaha

 

[ellabroz]

Why can't Fox Sports produce an hour long show on rugby tactics? Show the trends and explain them without descending into 'footy show' bullshit.

There's enough rugby nuts out there to support it. Afterall, they show darts and baseball often enough.

 

[country rugby]

The show is called "The Rugby Club", not "the Super 15 Club". Why can't there be more about rugby as a whole in Australia, not just the superstars. Grassroots clubs, volunteers, exciting new talent, schoolboy stuff, Juniors, there is so much they could do to help promote rugby in Australia by including some of the other 'stuff' apart from super 15. You can't pack it all into one show each week, so maybe another show is needed to cover some of this and leave the 'Super 15 Club' on Thursday nights.

 

[Ruggo]

Total rugby which is on before the Rugby Club is the show to watch in my view. It has some fantastic content and covers the broader rugby spectrum well.

I don't mind Phil Kearns. He is what he is and doesn't try to hide it. I can handle his bias as to me it is just a reflection of passion. Marto on the other hand is just a fake who acts with the conviction of a vegitarian shark. He comes across like a bandwagon fool.

 

[p.Tah]

I love Total Rugby. It use to be on at horrific times each week, on different channels and different times. Now it's on a decent time each week it's brilliant. I don't mind the rugby club. Country rugby is right it'd be great to have some insights into rugby around the country outside of Super rugby. It could be a stand alone show, similar to the Total rugby format but with Australian content. We just need someone with the coin to produce it each week.

 

[Ruggo]

The rugby club could ditch the stupid gimics like that call it like Clarkie crap and replace it with a segment on a profile of a grass roots club every week. A profile and insight of the volunteers who keep it running, parents of its juniors and a tour of its facilities. Select clubs from compitions all over the country including rural and not traditionally strong rugby states. A 10 minute tour through a week in the life of the club from training nights through to game day on the weekend.

 

[AngrySeahorse]

Rugby League - almost all of them fall back into their "The Footy Show" behaviour at quieter moments in any game...

In yesterday's city vs country game, one of the commentators spent 5 minutes bringing up movies in which Tommy Lee Jones had chased someone/something.

Wasn't funny or entertaining. I wonder if they sort of look at the footy show and think that is what is needed/desired by the viewers? It's a shame if they do - the footy show is an abomination.

Beat me to it gel! I watched that game & heard the "Tommy Lee Jones" conversation. Excruciating. Made Kearnsy & Martos' commentary sound like a couple of research academics discussing a thesis.

 

[waratahjesus]

The rugby club could ditch the stupid gimics like that call it like Clarkie crap and replace it with a segment on a profile of a grass roots club every week. A profile and insight of the volunteers who keep it running, parents of its juniors and a tour of its facilities. Select clubs from compitions all over the country including rural and not traditionally strong rugby states. A 10 minute tour through a week in the life of the club from training nights through to game day on the weekend.

I see it completely differently. Without the "stupid gimics" there would never be anytime to get players personalities across (nit that I believe the gimmics they have work) but if you hark back to the days of Del and Lote they often transcended port, they get put in comedy panel shows and news and kids shows. It's something league does very well, promote players as personalities which in turn helps promote the game across different platforms.

As much as watching ten minute segments on volunteers is once in a while or on a club side, all the time would be overkill and do nothing but preach to the already converted.

 

[mech4bg]

They do have segments on clubs and volunteers, I remember seeing a few last year. Are they meant to have that on every week?

 

[boyo]

The coverage in New Zealand is way better (from my visits when I was travelling there regularly for work). The midweek rugby show (Reunion?) was excellent and could be transferred across the ditch without too much effort. But then I could discuss Rugby intelligently with 80% of the men and 50% of the women in NZ. There is just a much better knowledge base there as I am sure there is in South Africa.

I think that FoxSports should show the programmes from NZ(Reunion) and SA(Boots'n'all?) seeing as FoxSports now has the Fox Footy Channel: surely there would be room in their programming schedule, considering all the crap they show now.

 

[rugbyskier]

The best thing about the Rugby Club is playing cliche bingo with the Green and Gold Rugby scorecard.

 

[Braveheart81]

I like The Rugby Club. I think the 'colour' segments like Call it Like Clarkie and Piggies vs Princesses are good because they provide something different and give more insight into some of the players' personalities.

Whilst having segments about club rugby and country rugby would be interesting, people have to remember that at the end of the day, The Rugby Club is there to help promote Super Rugby and test match rugby which Foxsports shows. Essentially it is advertising for their products.

I have to say that I like Kearnsy on The Rugby Club and as part of the commentary team. He provides the light hearted side and I think he is a genuinely funny guy. If you look across other sports at the people they have to provide some humour, Kearnsy does it far better than most.

Kafe provides technical analysis and Clarkie provides solid commentary.

Tim Horan and Marto are respectively a poor man's Kafer or Kearns.

Brendan Cannon is somewhere in between.

Nick McCardle is a decent host. I don't mind him at all.

 

[elementfreak]

I miss the segments where they spoke to the Kiwis and the Saffa boys. Drop "call it like Clarkie" and another 'filler' piece for those 2-3 minutes with each IMO.

 

[rugbyskier]

I have to say that I like Kearnsy on The Rugby Club and as part of the commentary team. He provides the light hearted side and I think he is a genuinely funny guy. If you look across other sports at the people they have to provide some humour, Kearnsy does it far better than most.

I have met him and his on-camera persona is a geniune extension of his personality. I took him and his wife for a ski lesson a couple of winters ago. It was funny because I didn't initially realise it was him because the whole group was rugged up with beanies or helmets and googles, and on a windy day I find it hard to hear with the wind whistling around the ear muffs on my helmet. I recall thinking Julie uses good technique and Phil uses brute strength to ski, and then I realised it was 'that' Phil.

I then met them in the lift line the next morning and had a couple of runs with the whole family before I took a class. He is a nice guy with a wicked sense of humour and his wife is lovely.

 

[Jnor]

I miss the segments where they spoke to the Kiwis and the Saffa boys. Drop "call it like Clarkie" and another 'filler' piece for those 2-3 minutes with each IMO.

Pretty sure Bryan Habana was on the last show, no?

 

[spectator]

I don't often watch the show but what I've seen has been fine. Most of the guys have played at a high level and are sometimes as parochial as many forum contributors but they do have a sense of humour and don't take themselves too seriously.

Must be hard to please everyone, particularly diehard rugby devotee's.

 

[ACT Crusader]

I disagree completely. Particularly in reference to commentating of games. Maybe the Rugby Club has the aim of being light-hearted in attempt to win over more fans that wouldn't usually watch rugby, but commentary of games should have a completely different aim. I cannot think of another sport that I have watched where the commentators think their role is a part-time comedy skit. They are employed (or should be) to comment on the game in front of them and to provide insight's on the players/tactics etc. They should also be instructed to comment on the game as a whole not what the Reds/Waratahs are doing well or poorly only.

Agree that it is almost impossible to eliminate bias from commentary completely, but those two are extreme examples IMO. Those two specifically should only commentate on games not involving the Reds (Marto) or Waratahs (Kearns).

You need to watch some NBA when the likes of Reggie Miller, Charles Barkley, Kenny Smith and Magic J mix "expert" comments with some Eddie Murphy level comedy.

Also listen to some of the radio commentary for some MLB and its quite hilarious. I admit it has to be given they sit around for hours watching paint dry...

I'd prefer the light hearted comments than the continual moaning about players getting away with stuff and sticking the boot into the guy with the whistle.

 

[Sully]

I've got to say I quite like the show. Although I think they could lose the ties.