Do hookers make the best rugby pundits?

Keith Wood, Sean FitzPatrick, Brian Moore.

I rest my case.

Sean Fitzpatrick talks some sense but Keith Wood talks so much nonsence that I'm starting to forget what an heroic player he was for us.

I used to loathe Brian Moore but I'm actually starting to warm to the guy...maybe just because Inverdale, Wood, Jiffy and Gusgott are so smug and annoying.

That Sonia lass, I rest my case.

Not keen on Keith Wood's punditry at all, but the other two are good.

Ibanez gets some work too.

Yes but not exclusively. I really enjoyed the brief period we had Francois Pienaar commenting and found him very realistic, even handed and inciteful. Great guy.

What I dislike is when they get guys like Betsen and then just stare at him and nod because noone has a clue whats hes saying even on the odd occassion that they can work out what the words are suppossed to be.
A real French accent is even worse than Eddie Buttlers officer Crabtree style pronounciations of French names.

Andy Nicol is best pundit on the BBC. It seems Scotsmen make the most impartial and knowledgable pundits.

The English are too arrogant, the Irish too smug, the Welsh too delusional and the SH pundits are too darnright (but understandably) patronising.

roddersm wrote:Andy Nicol is best pundit on the BBC. It seems Scotsmen make the most impartial and knowledgable pundits.

That is a joke right?

roddersm wrote:Andy Nicol is best pundit on the BBC. It seems Scotsmen make the most impartial and knowledgable pundits.

The English are too arrogant, the Irish too smug, the Welsh too delusional and the SH pundits are too darnright (but understandably) patronising.

Andy Nichol is the most biased fart bum that has ever been suffered to face a TV camera. Rubbish is too great a compliment.

Peter Seabiscuit Wheeler wrote:

roddersm wrote:Andy Nicol is best pundit on the BBC. It seems Scotsmen make the most impartial and knowledgable pundits.

That is a joke right?

Deadly serious

i find eddie buttlers and brian moore quite good, espicially butlers "hairy donkey" pronounciation(sp) jiffy is funny because of how biased he is

having been a hooker I can absolutely confirm that yes we do!

They've always got lots to say!

Dylan Hartley will make a good one in a few years time

BATH_BTGOG wrote:Dylan Hartley will make a good one in a few years time

A good Hooker?

I'd imagine they give a better insight into the sex industry.

Pundit

Frankie Sheehan is a pundit on RTE and he talks nonsence too.

Its clear the pundits in the next 10 years or so will be Moody, BOD (Unless he becomes a full time superhero) Jamie Roberts and possibly Kellock.

On the BBC it will just be former English players

Garin Jenkins is a pundit/commentator on Radio Wales sometimes. He's very good because he doesnt appear to give a monkey's. Used to hate Brian Moore as a commentator, but like him now, especially if England are playing badly as he gets so angry.

flankertye wrote:Its clear the pundits in the next 10 years or so will be Moody, BOD (Unless he becomes a full time superhero) Jamie Roberts and possibly Kellock.

Nope - BOD has said its the last thing he will do. He was asked if he was going to become a pundit when he retired and he really lost the rag about it. Had a right go at pundits and obviously has a very low opinion of them. Surprising for him as he is usually very diplomatic.

I'd say they are queuing up for ROG who would be good I think, though he might upset a few people

Don't know about hookers being the best, but there is one common theme to the worst - Bath RFC.

Guscott
Stuart Barnes

(Although it's a pity that Coochie Chilcott no longer appears on the TV - used to be so funny watching him quietly fume at Barnes).

Only problem with this logic is I can't for the life of me remember when Jonathon Davies played for Bath.

roddersm wrote:Andy Nicol is best pundit on the BBC.

Don't know whether to , or



Andy ' If Scotland could just something on the board here, they could be right back in this match' Nicol - when Scotland have been 3 - 35, or somthing like that, down with 13 minutes, or so, to go

How the hell are we supposed to know what she did before being a pundit?

Shane Williams will make a good pundit and maybe commentator.

roddersm wrote:Andy Nicol is best pundit on the BBC. It seems Scotsmen make the most impartial and knowledgable pundits.

Hopefully you are joking ? A few years ago Parisse was by a country mile the MOTM to anyone except Andy Nicholl who gave it to a Scottish player.

Conor O'Shea makes a good pundit. His comments tend to cut right through usually cliches and focus more on what a team is doing right or wrong and the reason behind it.

I think the pundits are too settled though. They should alternate it more rather than have the same people all the time.

AlynDavies wrote:

How the hell are we supposed to know what she did before being a pundit?

You are obsessed Alyn,

For me Pippa Middleton is body of the year.

Portnoy wrote:You are obsessed Alyn,

Yeah!

thebandwagonsociety wrote:Conor O'Shea makes a good pundit. His comments tend to cut right through usually cliches and focus more on what a team is doing right or wrong and the reason behind it.

I think the pundits are too settled though. They should alternate it more rather than have the same people all the time.

Talking in favour of the Beeb, you can't really really fault BBC England for not rotating the studio pundits compared with Sky.

Can't speak for BBCW or Scotland or RTE though.

Sky pundits are cringingly bad I seriously consider stopping my subscription each time I hear the complete crap Stuart Barnes spouts. The man is a complete Holly Wilaboobie.

Then there's some rugby on ESPN and I remember why I pay to watch sport on the tv, an actual debate and some banter between former pros and a well informed commentator. Kay, Healey and Richards wipe the floor with the pathetic Sky lot, there's no gross exageration and there's pessimistic tirades. There is a lot of informed analysis and actually interesting build up and post match analysis. Sky rarely have post match analysis.

Fitzpatrick and Moore are both very good in my opinion.

The fact I played hooker in my social, as opposed to serious, rugby career has nothing to do with it

Conor O'Shea and Brent Pope are both excellent on RTE.
I think Andy Nicol is a useless waste of space.

My usual fare is listen to the Eddie and Brian show for the match commentary and turn over to them for the analysis - alongside the one man comedy show George Hook it is both insightful and entertaining.

formerly known as Sam wrote:Sky pundits are cringingly bad I seriously consider stopping my subscription each time I hear the complete crap Stuart Barnes spouts. The man is a complete Holly Wilaboobie.

Then there's some rugby on ESPN and I remember why I pay to watch sport on the tv, an actual debate and some banter between former pros and a well informed commentator. Kay, Healey and Richards wipe the floor with the pathetic Sky lot, there's no gross exageration and there's pessimistic tirades. There is a lot of informed analysis and actually interesting build up and post match analysis. Sky rarely have post match analysis.

Funny how everyone from Leicester rates the ESPN team
Bias aside I do prefer the general tone of ESPN and that the y fdo actually highlight genuine tactical elements of the game rather than just ocncentrating on hyped up superstar clashes and pre decided talking points. Healy was a loss to the BBC team, he genuinly cares aboiut the detail of the game. I tend to see ESPN coverage as better for the rugby nerds, whereas sky is pitched at the "whens the football on?" pub crowd.

Peter Seabiscuit Wheeler wrote:What I dislike is when they get guys like Betsen and then just stare at him and nod because noone has a clue whats hes saying even on the odd occassion that they can work out what the words are suppossed to be.
A real French accent is even worse than Eddie Buttlers officer Crabtree style pronounciations of French names.

Eddie Butler studied modern languages at Cambridge. I imagine his pronunciations are spot on.

I don't think Moore should commentate on England because he is too passionate, he can't be subjective or unbiased. I understand most of the audience will be English and you go with the majority but he can be annoying and one sided.
When he's on two neutral teams he is a good fair bloke, the commentry on the Wales V Ireland game in 2005 was great, when he was talking about the emotion of the Welsh crowd just before full time, who knew Wales had won their first grandslam since the 70's.
That was the first time I realised he was competent and good at his job, but as I stated he is too passionate with England.

Although to be fair Jonathan Davies commentating on Wales is probably annoying for the other teams fans too! When he's excited he loses his sense of balance and neutrality to, especially in the Wales V Scotland game of 2010, when we got that injury time try to win.

Alyn
"Although to be fair Jonathan Davies commentating on Wales is probably annoying for the other teams fans too! "

The phrase 'commentating on Wales' and word 'probably' should be deleted from the above to make it more accurate.
Jiffy only seems to have two comments - 'Go wide' or 'Numbers'

Peter Seabiscuit Wheeler wrote:That Sonia lass, I rest my case.

Was she a hooker too???? oo

dummy_half wrote:Jiffy only seems to have two comments - 'Go wide' or 'Numbers'

He does have some other comments, but they can only be picked up at the higher frequencies. At the end of the Wales/Scotland game in 2010 there were several instances of dogs running in circles and bats being thrown off course. An RSPCA order meant that for future transmissions Jiffy's mike was fitted with special sound baffles.

Jiffy used to say 'bang' a lot. Maybe he'll bring that back for the new season.

luckless_pedestrian wrote:Jiffy used to say 'bang' a lot. Maybe he'll bring that back for the new season.

"turn-oveh"

I saw Andrew Hore interviewed and he was both articulate and great value. He'd be a champion commentator.

As Jed Thien always says:

"You might have hooker.
But we've got a Hore".

SafeAsMilk wrote:

dummy_half wrote:Jiffy only seems to have two comments - 'Go wide' or 'Numbers'

He does have some other comments, but they can only be picked up at the higher frequencies. At the end of the Wales/Scotland game in 2010 there were several instances of dogs running in circles and bats being thrown off course. An RSPCA order meant that for future transmissions Jiffy's mike was fitted with special sound baffles.

roddersm wrote:Frankie Sheehan is a pundit on RTE and he talks nonsence too.

Frankie Sheahan will be a good pundit once all of his mates retire.

Really surprised about Bod flipping at being asked about being a pundit. Oh well, the big question is. Who makes the best pundits, forwards or backs?

rodders, what the hell are you talking about re. Andy Nicol? He's not at all unbiased

keithwood is a decent pundit

Keith Wood is nowhere near able to emotionally remove himself from the context of the game to deliver a fair, unbiased cool-headed analysis. He talks a fair amount of rubbish too boot. Don't like him at all as a pundit.

Brian Moore is a just incredibly annoying.

The title should be; Sean Fitzpatrick makes the best pundit.

Keith Wood hates Paddy Wallace,that's why Notch doesn't like him. Seriously,he is a bad pundit he is quite biased.

roddersm wrote:Andy Nicol is best pundit on the BBC. It seems Scotsmen make the most impartial and knowledgable pundits.

The English are too arrogant, the Irish too smug, the Welsh too delusional and the SH pundits are too darnright (but understandably) patronising.

I'd back that and I'm an englishman

I like Brian Moore, even for England games.

When they are playing badly he doesn't pull his punches and says it how it is