Who is your least favourite "pundit" and why?

This conversation was just starting on another thread, so thought we should give it some air...
Personally it's Jiffy. His voice irritates me beyond belief. He doesn't add anything to the commentary, as he appears to know very little - despite having been a phenomenal player himself.

Who are your least favourites? Healey (probably never returning to the BBC now - the plank)
Moore? Guscott?

Keith wood. Ireland are always unlucky if they lose, incredible when they win. Irish version of Jiffy in effect. Inverdale also annoys me also.

I used to like Moore. But i just find him annoying now. He's just got a very negative attitude and complains all the time. I'd like some of the Aussie commentators to have a go at the 6 nations at least they bring some life into the game!

Guscott is a smug git, Inverdale is annoying and Jiffy for the most part is ok, Keith Wood is ok too.

Brian Moore is by far my favourite. He has a moan but normally always makes sense. Butler is ok but gets people mixed up. His French Grammar is highly questionable too.

Outside of the 6 nations my least favourite of all is probably one of the Kiwis that does Super rugby and NZ internationals (can't think of the name).

Andy Nicol is far and away my least favourite (though Moore and Butler's married couple act grates).

Something traumatic must have happened while he was at Bath as his hatred of England is so blatent and informs every comment he makes.

All the pundits and commentators tend to be rather one-eyed in their views. (Ian Robertson on R5 excepted)

Used to be Jonathan Davies but John Inverdale on the weekend showed he is by far the worst. He said something in particular I will never forgive him for.

John Inverdale knows very little about rugby. Gets a lot of things wrong. Doesn't seem to switch his brain on.

Jonathan Davies is in my opinion an one eyed Welshman but at least he's passionate,has played the game and has some knowledge too.

My favourite is Brian Moore. I think he's a comical genius. Him and Eddie Butler are a good comedy act too.

On the beeb, Moore has got to be the best of a pretty bad lot. I dont mind Butler or Keith Wood either but Jiffy (one eyed and irritating) and Guscott (just a Muppet) are terrible.
Inverdale is utterly useless as a host, often cringeworthy.

On Sky, Barnes and Morris are pretty irritating but Quinnell and Greenwood are good. The latter two tend to be more positive, and IMO realistic, in their outlook. I prefer commentary with a bit of passion rather than the bleak "it was better in my day" tripe we hear from so many retired internationals.

Jiffy, Gusgutt and the gravel gargling Nicol (IMPOSSIBLE to lip read) are all a pretty bad bunch.

Collectively they should be all put to pasture.

damage_13 wrote:Jiffy, Gusgutt and the gravel gargling Nicol (IMPOSSIBLE to lip read) are all a pretty bad bunch.

Collectively they should be all put to pasture.

+1

serge betsen has been a faily hilarious pundit over the last few weeks. how he has such a poor standard of english after spending 2+ years in wasps is puzzling. even more puzzling is why the bbc keep inviting him back, clearly no one has a clue what he's saying

Jiffy can't help his voice but should try to take off his blinkers and then he could become a good pundit albeit with an annoying voice.

I don't like Guscoot one bit. As said above about Jiffy, it's amazing that such a good player can get things so wrong and he doesn't have any consistency but continually contradicts himself.

Worst: Jiffy/Guscott
Best: Matthews/Greenwood

kunu wrote:serge betsen... even more puzzling is why the bbc keep inviting him back, clearly no one has a clue what he's saying

Which he is kinda grateful for, because neither does he.

I think Raphaël Ibañez would've been goot

It would have to be Andrew Cotter for me, i have absolutely no idea who he is or where he came from but i wish he would go back. He has absolutely no idea of what is happening in the game or the players playing. The others may be irritating but at least they know there stuff reasonably well, the Andrew Cotter hasnt got a clue.

It was great to see Tommy C as a pundit yesterday, love that guy and he always comes out with some classics. "dont try to understand what any French team are doing, we dont know either" Thats class

gowales wrote:Outside of the 6 nations my least favourite of all is probably one of the Kiwis that does Super rugby and NZ internationals (can't think of the name).

Found the smugg P*$k - Tony Johnson. Seriously one of the worst/biased commentator and pundit in the world imo

Andy Nicol is as biased as they come regarding Scotland. Inverdale cannot help putting in an England reference during a game which doesn't feature England. Guscott seems to smug for me. Jiffy tries his best to be level but does go ott sometimes ( V Scotland 2010, I thought he was going to join the players on the pitch!) Some of the pundits on BBC Radio Wales are shocking.

I don't mind Serge Betsen. Thomas Castaignede was great yesterday I thought, articulate and witty and usually spot on in what he was saying.

The worst pundit on the BBC is Colin Charvis. Very little insight and dull as ditchwater to boot.

Jiffy is too one eyed and annoying.. ditto Andy Nicol..
Guscott is a smug git as someone has already stated.... The french guy in the BBC studio for Sunday's match was just a court jester but quite good..
Inverdale and the lady who does the interviews after matches just lack knowledge and are irritating....
Barnes and Dewi Morris seem to have lost the plot and are becoming more like Stephen Jones every week..

I like Greenwood, Dean Ryan, Michael Lynne, Fitzpatrick who are all interesting and very knowledgable.... Scot Quinnell, Ieuan Evans. Wallace and Dally are all OK..

I also enjoy the commentaries by the Moore and Butler....

If you take on board with Jiffy that he's commenting from a Welshman's perspective, I think he has a lot of insight. I can see why he'd grate for fans of other countries.

I quite like Brian Moore, he calls it as he sees it. I remember him giving Rob Sidoli man of the match for a very good line-out performance when England beat us comfortably at Cardiff - not exactly the act of a one-eyed Englishman.

The best pundit in terms of insight and balance I've come across is Robert Jones on Scrum V. Gwyn Jones is best of all at the analysis, but definitely wears his heart on his sleeve.

Austin Healy - complete pr*** as a pundit and as a human being and that's being very kind.

Inverdale used to annoy the hell out of me with his smug biased outlook, especially when England are doing well. Now not so much, I'm wondering if he's improved at least slightly.

While I like Jiffy, I'd have to concede that he can be biased beyond belief, when he's excited can switch to Welsh cheerleader mode and when he's riled can turn mouthy and beside the point (the Clancy and Bergamasco rants on Saturday). If I wasn't Welsh I'd probably find him just as annoying as everyone else.

Standout candidate for me now would have to be Healey, the reasons too obvious to be cited.

Brian Moore cracks me up, him and Eddie Butler are sublime together imo. Was I the only one who wondered whether they were going to start a violent argument/fight on Sunday when the commentary turned to scrum resetting and interpretation?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jTQWT-B0EBw

With Brian Moore, I do enjoy his sparring with Butler and he's generally pretty well-informed. However, his constant comments regarding the mess of the scrum and inconsistent referring decisions is starting to get on my wick a bit. I can understand that as a former hooker (in simpler times!) it's probably doing his head in but it's beginning to grate a bit now. He needs some new material. Maybe he's missing Balshaw being in the England side

Does Sonia McClaughlin count? she is my least favorite, most hateful thing about BBC coverage.

Otherwise I dont mind Jiffy but then his bias is my bias. Love Butler and Moore together.

Cant stand Inverdale.

Always liked Inverdale, and I don't care if he likes his own country more than the others It keeps coming back to that one - pundits/presenters who show and admit bias verses the more professional, sober ones who try to keep the old po face going for the duration.

I love Brian Moore because of his huge bias, he is unashamedly English and fair play to him.

Don't understand why Jiffy is hated for being Welsh though...

Also like the fact that When Inverdale was talking about the grande finale in Twickers next week, Jiffy had to pipe in 'grande finale for the plate that is'

SecretFly wrote:Always liked Inverdale, and I don't care if he likes his own country more than the others It keeps coming back to that one - pundits/presenters who show and admit bias verses the more professional, sober ones who try to keep the old po face going for the duration.

No its more down to the smug yet blank look on his face when people talk rugby in front of him, as he fixes his grin as if in an alcoholic haze of incomprehension. I like Moore regardless of his English bias simple because he knows the game inside out and is intelligent enough to make his jingoism amusing.

Sonia and Invers just grate because they dont have that understanding of the game and are just media creations.

thebluesmancometh wrote:
Also like the fact that When Inverdale was talking about the grande finale in Twickers next week, Jiffy had to pipe in 'grande finale for the plate that is'

Now that's the stuff. That's why I hang around after games..to hear stuff like that. Classic TV that was cut short pretty quickly by the BEEB. "Get that little basteraud off quick! He'll ruin Inverdales smug hairdo!"

thebluesmancometh wrote:
Don't understand why Jiffy is hated for being Welsh though...

I think it's because he's Jiffy rather than because he's Welsh. I think it's his voice to an extent. He's got that whiney, nasal tone. Nigel Davies is the same. He's a fine ref generally but his voice is really, really annoying.

Scott Quinnell on the other hand I enjoy listening to. Good, knowledgable bloke with a proper voice

TycroesOsprey wrote:
Sonia and Invers just grate because they dont have that understanding of the game and are just media creations.

Inverdale did play rugby. It might have been Mickey Mouse rugby but he did play the game. I can see the love of the sport in him, always have. And that's good enough for me. As I've said before, I don't watch the chatters to learn anything, I watch them for entertainment in between the main event - the game.

Someone who looks and sounds like an absolute top bloke closeup is Castrogiovanni. Quite possibly the most pleasant sounding person I've seen hired by the beeb. I hope they call him back up once he retires. Last Saturday me and my mate were watching and my mate even went so far as to comment on how dreamy his eyes look

All the French pundits the beeb have had over time also seem to be very knowledgeable and pleasant personalities.

SecretFly wrote:

TycroesOsprey wrote:
Sonia and Invers just grate because they dont have that understanding of the game and are just media creations.

Inverdale did play rugby. It might have been Mickey Mouse rugby but he did play the game. I can see the love of the sport in him, always have. And that's good enough for me. As I've said before, I don't watch the chatters to learn anything, I watch them for entertainment in between the main event - the game.

I believe it was more Minnie. He has a better grasp of Tennis than rugby despite his love of the game I would rather see knowledgeable and amusing presenters and find him to be neither. Sonia I find both annoying and offensively stupid about the game which makes her paticularly objectionable. However tastes are different, I mean I totally get why Jiffys Gwendraeth twang winds people up.

I can understand why people get annoyed at Jiffy, he repeats numbers out wide 10 times a game, and then look forwards in the backline over and over. Would like to hear his thoughts on something else every now and then!

Same with Moore though, ref this, scrum that etc...

Knowsit17 wrote:Someone who looks and sounds like an absolute top bloke closeup is Castrogiovanni. Quite possibly the most pleasant sounding person I've seen hired by the beeb.

Yeah. There was a lovely little moment in the Wales/Italy game when the commentator was going over to him and asked, "Castro?" and he replied "Hello, yes I'm here" in a gentle little voice and it just made me smile Seems like one of the nicest chaps in rugby (unless you're an opposition loosehead!).

gabby logan just because she is gorgeous

TycroesOsprey wrote: I would rather see knowledgeable and amusing presenters and find him to be neither.

I laugh...do all you big guys still really need the knowledgable chat at this stage. Surely, you're all making your own conclusions by now. Some of you sem to suggest you need the spinning circles and arrows to work out what you just saw. Oh well. So be it.

i cant stand dillaglio and barnes they are so one eyed its unreal, they talk as if england have a god given right to be top of the rugby world

SecretFly wrote:Some of you sem to suggest you need the spinning circles and arrows to work out what you just saw. Oh well. So be it.

I've just had a flashback to the world cup with Pienaar and Dallaglio explaining the niceties of the Irish backline (while ineffectually prodding buttons and pulling levers) as mugshots of grizzled Italian forwards stare back from the big screen

Guscott is a Grade A prat who shows no insight to the game. Nicol is also a prat as he still backs bigger prat Robinson like a tw**. Really like Brian Moore as he is honest and nearly always correct.

beshocked wrote:Used to be Jonathan Davies but John Inverdale on the weekend showed he is by far the worst. He said something in particular I will never forgive him for.

What did he say

George Hook. Predictable as the day is long. Ryle Nugent for being ...we Ryle Nugent.

Tom "bloke" McGurk who makes you actually yearn for Nigel Starmer Smith's dulcet tones.

Craig Doyle's producer because he/she thought it would be a good idea for him to front a rugby programme.

SafeAsMilk wrote:

Knowsit17 wrote:Someone who looks and sounds like an absolute top bloke closeup is Castrogiovanni. Quite possibly the most pleasant sounding person I've seen hired by the beeb.

Yeah. There was a lovely little moment in the Wales/Italy game when the commentator was going over to him and asked, "Castro?" and he replied "Hello, yes I'm here" in a gentle little voice and it just made me smile Seems like one of the nicest chaps in rugby (unless you're an opposition loosehead!).

I find him and Adam jones very similar... Seperated at birth?

When Nigel Owens and JD1 speak in welsh they're an octive lower. How weird's that?

( I exaggerate of course)

SafeAsMilk wrote:

SecretFly wrote:Some of you sem to suggest you need the spinning circles and arrows to work out what you just saw. Oh well. So be it.

I've just had a flashback to the world cup with Pienaar and Dallaglio explaining the niceties of the Irish backline (while ineffectually prodding buttons and pulling levers) as mugshots of grizzled Italian forwards stare back from the big screen

That sure was fun. I loved/dreaded when the two boys would rise from their chairs to do the buttons and levers gig. Dear God, you need a lot of money coming your way to degrade yourself to that extreme. But it was still fun - I loved cringing. Maybe I'm just masochistic.

HATE: Austin Healy. He is borderline racist. Doesn't even try to mask it by showing any knowledge of the game what so ever.

Dislike: Eddie Butler, his over pronounciation of French players names is very annoying.

Love: Jiffy and Moore, both completely one eye'd but in a passionate and funny way. Can both sound like complete idiots at times but I'd like to think they both know their stuff deep down.

I find Jonathan Davies fine during the internationals (surprise, surprise I'm welsh), but he's much better commentating in pro 12 games. Here, her really comes to life as a bit of a comedian! It's like an old boys club with his mates 'Stu' and Phil Steele down on the touchline. He spends most of the game taking the p*ss, but I suppose he's not given as much freedom during the 6N as it's that much more 'serious'. I can understand why people outside Wales don't like him, but I always thought the whole point was that they got ex players to represent the nation and therefore being a bit one eyed is expected. If they didn't want that they'd get in Michael Lynagh or similar.

For me the worst is Inversale because for me, unlike the pundits who are there to represent their nation, he should be the neutral one but on far too many occasions he does not play the neutral that his role demands.

I like all the BBC crowd. None of them annoy me. They're all supposed to be a bit biased towards their own nation. That's what makes it fun to watch. I'd say I like Nicol and Charvis the least because they're so dull and boring.

I like the way Guscott is so biased towards England, but also completely biased towards one style of play that he was good at. His answer to every problem any team has is to play more like Guscott. All he needs to do is to start referring to himself in the third person and he'll be my favourite pundit ever.

Wood and Inverdale seem to get the most emotional based on how their team played. You can see the grief written all over their faces when their team loses. Jiffy loves when Wales win but he seems to take defeat quite well. And he also shouts "NUMBERS!" every single time there's an overlap on, which wakes me up and makes me pay attention. Very helpful.

I take the point that Inverdale should be neutral, but he's English so he's not. But he's also supposed to be the "clueless" one who asks questions, for the expert pro's to answer. That's his role, so people shouldn't really be criticizing his lack of knowlege.

CurlyOsp wrote:Dislike: Eddie Butler, his over pronounciation of French players names is very annoying.

It's not over-pronunciation, it's correct pronunciation.

The only BBC pundit who doesn't send me to sleep is Johnathan Davies - he jsut annoys me.

As always RTE for the pundity and BBC for the match.

Hook is funny and Pope and O'Shea are very good.

doctornickolas wrote:Austin Healy - complete pr*** as a pundit and as a human being and that's being very kind.

Even Healy's pr*** thinks he's a pr***