I didn't hear the commentary, but as a general point I have to disagree with you about John Taylor. He's been fantastic on the various build-up programmes, he's very knowledgeable and has a great broadcasting voice. I'm looking forward to hearing him commentate.

It's particularly harsh to knock JT specifically for doing regular "reads" about how commentary is exclusive to talkSPORT. If you've listened to their football coverage you'll know that this is something that is prevalent there so will be something the station's management expects from their commentators. It's a staple of commercial radio I'm afraid, and even if you listen to a commentary on their national competitor you can't fail to notice that you are regularly reminded that you're listening to "5 Live from the BBC". I guess the school of thought is that people are tuning in all the time, some of whom might not be regular listeners (which will especially be the case here), so the idea is to inform them of what they're listening to and what's on offer both then and in the future so that they'll keep listening and tune in again. It's not the best for those of us who are regular listeners or who are planning to listen to an extended period anyway but I get why they do this.

What I've heard of talkSPORT's coverage has been really good so far, that they are devoting so much of their schedule to rugby coverage including during their core weekday programmes that are predominantly football-based shows how committed they are to covering the tournament.

Having heard a lot of the coverage this morning from RWC, I have to say that in the main TS were excellent. Saggers was a good anchor, there were some local flavour pieces and the programme was not cut off shortly after the match to shift to football! It will be interesting to see whether this ethos prevails for weekend matches

The only real disappointment was the commentary itself: JT obviously thought that the audience could see the game as he spent hardly any time detailing whereabouts on the field play was situated, or whether the ball was being moved left to right, or vica-versa. DC's modus operandi was to merely say that Tonga have to do the basics properly and NZ lacked cutting edge in the second half.

I think TS missed a trick with not having a former AB as co-commentator at the very least, if not a whole New Zealand radio team! Maybe with further practice / experience over the next few days for JT and DC will show in future improved performances?

I am hoping for better for my next listens which will be Scotland v Georgia and NZ v Japan next week, as I am then off on hols for 10 days, returning in time for the knock-out stages, and weekend TV coverage rather than midweek radio at work.

Interesting comments about Rupert Bell; in a way he's very similar to Clare Balding (someone whose predominantly associated with horse racing with a family member having trained a winner of the Derby, plus horses owned by HM The Queen, but can diversify into broadcasting other sports to good effect).

Russell Hargreaves & Michael Owen are commentating on talksport.co.uk on France v Japan. As far as I can make out ITV don't have a co-commentator for the game.

Dropped off last night listening to Rupert commentating on Scotland v Romania this morning and thought he did put in a good shift during the first half, he struck up an immediate rapport with Jeff Probyn. Listening online to the France v Japan game at the moment, Russell Hargreaves and Michael Owen are doing well too.

Saturday 10th September - talkSPORT

Mike Bovill presented Rugby World Cup Exclusive from Dunedin (1-6.30am), followed by the Rugby World Cup Sports Breakfast with Mark Saggers from the Otago Stadium, Dunedin and Micky Quinn from London (6.30-12noon - Quinn finishing at 9am)

Rugby World Cup 2011 Pool B
Scotland v Romania - Rupert Bell and Jeff Probyn (2am commentary), with Stuart Cameron reporting
Argentina v England - John Taylor and Brian Moore (9.30am commentary), with Andrew McKenna reporting

Rugby World Cup 2011 Pool D
Fiji v Namibia - John Anderson and Chris Sheasby (4.30am commentary)

Rugby World Cup 2011 Pool A
France v Japan - Russell Hargreaves and Michael Owen (7am commentary on talkSPORT.co.uk, updates on AM and DAB)

RH is definitely Roger Hughes, eh RealWales?

I am normally a 5 live listener but I have been tuning into Talksport's coverage. I think they are doing okay.

One thing to remember is that though the station has a Rugby Show, TS does not have experience of commentary on big Rugby Internationals. Ian Robertson on 5 live is a very hard act to follow.

John Taylor is an excellent TV Commentator but like Bill McLaren before him has found some difficulty in switching from TV to Radio. Elsewhere poor JT in the first half kept saying "you are watching." Clearly someone had a word wth him at half time.

It's early days and I would hope these blemishes will be ironed out.

One thing though. This World Cup has been useful to TS because the kick offs have been either through the night or mid morning. Future Rugby Internationals are likely to kick off Saturday and Sunday Afternoons which may antagonise listeners who tune into around the Grounds.

It's my understanding that tomorrow's commentary teams will be:

Australia v Italy - Rupert Bell and Jeff Probyn
Ireland v USA - Andrew McKenna and David Campese
South Africa v Wales - John Taylor and Brian Moore

I don't think it's an accident that talkSPORT tried to and successfully purchase broadcast rights for a tournament that wouldn't have a great deal of impact upon their Premier League coverage.

With the 2015 World Cup taking place in England (and Wales), it would't surprise me if talkSPORT aren't as forthcoming in trying to acquire exclusive rights (I could be very wrong though!). Given that games would kick-off during the afternoon, especially at weekends, it would impact on talkSPORT's Premier League coverage - should they have the same or similar packages of rights they do now.

Having said that, it's a major sports tournament in THIS country and you'd want to be associated with it - as would the BBC I'd imagine!

Future rugby internationals are unlikely to be on TS, although if the station has a significant amount listeners for the RWC, then a bid for a future down under Lions tour cannot be ruled out.

Having not heard any of today's TS coverage, can anyone say whether today's commentary was better suited to the radio listener than yesterday's?

Rugby World Magazine October 2011 page 106 (In an article about Brian Moore/David Campese on talkSPORT)

"...with kick offs ranging from from 1am to 9.30am for UK listeners, many people will listen to the station comatose in bed. If England reach the final, we know not that many will listen to it on talkSPORT because they'll watch it on TV. But in the lead-up and post match there will be no one better qualified than us - that's why the IRB chose us. I'd love to think we might do the Six Nations at one point".

tallkSPORT could split their AM & digital services to accommodate extra sports, as it's their stated policy to keep AM radio going as long as they can (probably 2020 at least). They could also use extra capacity on Digital One.

It's a shame that the price wasn't right for 1215AM because that would have been ideal as a newstalk station that could also carry sports commentaries when required.

I'd love to think England could simultaneously hold the World Cups in football, rugby and cricket - but that doesn't mean it is going to happen

Seriously though, TS would need a radical policy overall to accommodate anything other than football on winter weekend afternoons. Why anyone would want serious international sport when you could have Mickey Quinn's take on Wigan v Wolves is beyond me

I don't think the Six Nations or the Autumn Internationals for that matter would be a particularly good fit for talkSPORT. The majority of these games take place on Saturday and Sunday afternoons during the football season, so will clash with talkSPORT's live Premier League commentaries and their associated programmes such as Matchday Live.

As SouthCity says they could split their frequencies to accommodate both football and rugby union coverage, but to me that seems like they'd be going to an awful lot of trouble for something that would perhaps not bring in the greatest of returns seeing as most of these matches are available on free-to-air TV at a very reasonable weekend hour.

However, there are other international rugby union events available that would seem to be a much better fit for talkSPORT. The next two British & Irish Lions tours, against Australia and New Zealand in 2013 and 2017 respectively, will be taking place in similar morning timeslots to this Rugby World Cup during summers that are quiet sports-wise. Television coverage will most probably be live on Sky Sports, at times when many people will be at work and/or before pub opening hours, meaning they'd have a captive audience. Should their coverage of this year's Rugby World Cup be a success, these Lions tours would appear to be perfect for talkSPORT.

In 1999, talkSPORT struck a two-tour deal with the Lions to broadcast their Antipodean tours in 2001 and 2005, although these were full shared rights which they held jointly with Radio 5 Live. However, should they win rights next time around they could use them more fully by airing the midweek tour games on AM and DAB (which they didn't during those past tours), which is something 5 Live won't be able to do in all likelihood, due to the station's remit that only permits a certain amount of live sports content during its weekday daytime schedule.

They could also look to pick up the home nations, or at least England's, summer internationals in the Southern Hemisphere. That the majority of these games are on Sky Sports and the ones in Australia and New Zealand take place during breakfast time/late morning timeslots would presumably be an attractive prospect for talkSPORT, as would matches in South Africa during summers without a major international football tournament.

Sunday 11th September - talkSPORT

Mike Bovill presented Rugby World Cup Exclusive from the Wellington Regional Stadium (4-6.30am), followed by the Rugby World Cup Sports Breakfast with Mark Saggers from Dunedin (6.30-12noon)

Rugby World Cup 2011 Pool C
Australia v Italy - Rupert Bell and Jeff Probyn (4.30am commentary)
Ireland v USA - Andrew McKenna and David Campese with Paul Wallace (7am commentary), with David Brady reporting

Rugby World Cup 2011 Pool D
South Africa v Wales - John Taylor and Brian Moore with Scott Quinnell (9.30am commentary), with Roger Hughes reporting

During the Ireland game Paul Wallace has been providing in-game analysis at regular intervals whenever the ball is dead, in a similar manner to the pitchside punditry you hear during Six Nations and Autumn International games on BBC TV. Scott Quinnell will be in this role during the upcoming Wales match.

From the other thread:

From Charles Sale in the Daily Mail:

Does anyone know who ITV used for Ireland v USA?

Simon Ward and Alan Quinlan were their commentators.

Staying on topic, Ward is also reporting for various radio stations from New Zealand through the Talking Rugby agency along with Russell Hargreaves and Nick Heath.

Ta, they were awful.

I heard some of the two games with JT/BM. I do worry whether the timbre of Taylor's voice is suited to medium wave. seems to talk at the same frequency as the atmospherics

John Anderson commentating on Champions League for Sky tonight, so his Rugby World Cup commentaries must be off-tube.

As are Russell Hargreaves' commentaries it seems. He was reporting at QPR v Newcastle for IRN the other night.

Talksport would be foolish to be sending commentators out to games which have very little interest to their listeners, and are in the middle of the night anyway. Just like they did at many games at the FIFA World Cup last year.

As long as the commentators are at the ground for the important games, it's not a massive issue, unless they are claiming to be in the ground.