I don't think the BBC sent Butler out there off their own back last year, ESPN had that commentary as their host English language feed (I remember them having him as Edward Butler on the graphics the Beeb took to our amusement)

They've done the same with the SA/Aus/NZ commentators during the Rugby Championship. I guess they take the (presumably only other) English feed as a host feed to save doing their own. IIRC Butler did the interviews pre- and post-match as well as a montage (obviously) for the BBC.

Thanks for the comments chaps! I should have stated "lead anchor" at a big ticket sporting occasion or a big event which took place during prime time, as Ade Adepitan was sidekick to Clare Balding's lead on C4's Paralympics coverage. And speaking of C4, I must admit, I forgot about Ortis Deley and his ill-fated presentation of the World Athletics Championships in 2011, but then again, everyone - be it black or white - is trying to forget that!

Of course I remember John Barnes' spell presenting football on Channel 5 and I've seen Ron McIntosh present boxing events.

I see Melanie Sykes has left BT Sport's Moto GP coverage. Looks like Craig Doyle will take over.

Quite possibly, now the rugby season's over. I think I saw a tweet about it.

Johnnie Hammond has just confirmed on Twitter that he'll be on the Championship Final tonight while I caught the end of Stuart Barnes on a feature for SSN earlier out in New Zealand so I presume, as expected, Miles Harrison will be out there too

Greene King Championship Rugby - Wednesday 3 June (Sky Sports 1)

Bristol v London Welsh - Playoff Final 2nd Leg

Alex Payne presenting from the Memorial Stadium alongside Rory Lawson and Lee Blackett.

Commentators: Johnnie Hammond, Dewi Morris & Pat Sanderson

Reporter: Bill Latham

International Rugby Union - Saturday 7 June (Sky Sports 1)

New Zealand v England - 1st Test

Alex Payne presenting from the studio alongside Will Greenwood, Sir Clive Woodward and Sean Fitzpatrick.

Commentators: Miles Harrison & Stuart Barnes

Reporter: Graham Simmonds

International Rugby Union - Saturday 7 June (Sky Sports 1)

Australia v France - 1st Test

Alex Payne presenting from the studio alongside Will Greenwood, Sir Clive Woodward and Michael Lynagh.

Commentators: Greg Clark, Nathan Sharpe, Tim Horan & Rod Kafer (as Fox Sports Australia)

Fox Sports living up to their reputation of as many former Wallabies as possible crammed into a commentary box.

Kafer to be fair was actually technically a 'touchline reporter' pitchside just pipping up now and again.

Out of all the Southern Hemisphere commentaries, Greg Clarke is top class for me. Far better than the dull Sky NZ team of Grant Nesbitt and co, and Supersport SA team are even more dull!

International Rugby Union - Saturday 7 June (Sky Sports 1)

South Africa v World XV

James Gemmell presenting from the studio alongside Ieuan Evans and Thinus Delport.

Commentators: Matthew Pearce & Joel Stransky (as SuperSport South Africa)

International Rugby Union - Saturday 7 June (Sky Sports 1)

Argentina v Ireland - 1st Test

Rupert Cox presenting from the studio alongside Paul Wallace and Alan Quinlan.

Commentators: Mark Robson & Shane Horgan

Presumably the commentary is on-site because Joe Schmidt was interviewed pre-match by somebody holding a Sky Sports microphone.

Seems to be an Australian sports broadcasting trait; Channel 9 do a similar thing with their coverage of Australia's Test and ODI matches.

International Rugby: USA v Scotland - Daily Record & Daily Mirror

Commentators: Bill Seward and Brian Hightower
Pitchside Reporter: NIck Gismondi

Basically, as I gather it's the NBC/Universal sport feed stream that Daily Record will be taking.

Been up since 8am to watch international rugby, need the matchsticks for my eyes for the main contest here!

http://www.itv.com/presscentre/press...8#.U5Q0HvldXnw

no bt sports rights here

French Open - Sunday 8 June (ITV/ITV 4)

Rafael Nadal v Novak Djokovic - Men's Final

Commentators: Nick Mullins & Jim Courier

Coverage of the final was on ITV before it was moved over to ITV 4 for the last few points to make room for the news.

Lucky that Discovery finally completed their takeover of Eurosport on June 1st then eh

Tuesday 10th June - Sky Sports 2

Live Rugby Union: Eastern Province Kings v Wales

James Gemmell presenting alongside Phil Davies and Thinus Delport

Commentators: Johnnie Hammond and Ieuan Evans

Ieuan Evans did some pitchside punditry pre-match and I think Johnnie Hammond conducted the pre-match interview with Warren Gatland. He should be on post-match interview duty too.

Good to see Sky Sports covering this match and the Crusaders v England match later this month. I remember when Wales toured Australia two years ago Sky Sports didn't cover their midweek game against the ACT Brumbies, so for them (and SuperSport who are providing the pictures) to be covering this game is a pleasant surprise.

Johnnie Hammond is an awful commentator IMO. I was impressed by Simon Ward on the Barbarians match and would prefer to listen to him in SA. (Gillingham or Cotter would probably be better too, but the former is in NZ doing JRWC I believe.)

Hammond works full-time for Sky though, doesn't he, and Ward is freelance?

I thought Johnnie Hammond was pretty good this afternoon, albeit it was strange to hear an English voice who to my knowledge doesn't cover Welsh rugby covering Wales. I enjoyed hearing Ieuan Evans for the first time in a while, with him and Scott Quinnell involved Sky's Pro12 coverage should be strong next season. Enjoyed their commentary and Sky Sports' coverage generally. One other thing to note from my previous post is that they took a post-match interview with Dan Lydiate conducted by SuperSport's pitchside reporter Hanyani Shimange.

As for Simon Ward, he is freelance and is one of the editors of the Talking Rugby media agency, which provides audio and live match reports for a large number of radio stations as well as things like podcasts for the RFU website. I know in previous summers Simon has travelled with the England team on their tours to gather interviews and provide reports and other audio for Talking Rugby, although I'm not sure if he's travelled with them this year (talkSPORT, one of the stations who most frequently take Talking Rugby audio, carried off-tube updates from Russell Hargreaves on the first New Zealand v England Test match at the weekend).

He's also England's stadium announcer.

I think Johnny Hammond is a solid/decent commentator. However the way he does come across at times that he is almost whispering.

BTW The summer tests do the home nations games such as Wales / Ireland come under the Rugby Championship/Super Rugby deal? Or do Sky have a deal with Welsh/Irish Rugby?

Last year when Scotland were in that South Africa tournament that Sky showed it was clearly a 'freebie' and they took the Supersport feed. I sense their lack of care for Scotland means the two games they are showing against Argentina/South Africa it's probably a freebie. Better at least have their own commentary this time around.

No excuse not to as this year they've got commentators in Argentina and SA covering Ireland and Wales games.

Some sad news, apparently Martin Gillingham suffered a heart attack in New Zealand at the weekend, thankfully he's recovering well!

http://www.sportsjournalists.co.uk/o...tor-collapsed/

Bit of the tennis info

BBC - Aegon Championships

Hosted by Sue Barker - Comms - Andrew Castle, Andrew Cotter, John Lloyd and Peter Fleming

BT Sport - WTA Aegon Classic

Hosted by Sam Smith with Martina Navratilova - Comms - Alastair Eykyn and Anne Keothavong. Maybe more commentators, guessing there are, but I only saw the start

I see ESPN are covering the Aegon Championships so will find out who they have later