Martin Gillingham has lost his voice according to Twitter.

Rugby World Cup 2015 - Friday 30 October (ITV)

Third-Place Playoff - South Africa v Argentina

Craig Doyle at the Olympic Stadium with Lawrence Dallaglio, Jason Robinson and Gareth Thomas.

Commentators: Miles Harrison, David Flatman & Scott Hastings

Reports: Jill Douglas


Rugby World Cup 2015 - Saturday 31 October (ITV)

Final - New Zealand v Australia

John Inverdale at Twickenham with Michael Lynagh, Sean Fitzpatrick and Jonny Wilkinson. Martin Bayfield pitchside with Francois Pienaar, Sir Clive Woodward and Brian O'Driscoll.

Commentators: Nick Mullins, Ben Kay & Lawrence Dallaglio

Reports: Gabriel Clarke

RWC world feeds

Fri 30 Oct

South Africa v Argentina
Simon Ward and Alan Quinlan

Sat 31 Oct

Final - New Zealand v Australia
Miles Harrison and Andy Gomarsall

Alan Quinlan also did the final with Harrison and Gomersall

I did wonder if maybe they'd have a third man, but I only grabbed the information off the online try clips.

Losing your voice during a World Cup. A commentators nightmare.

Sky's #1 commentator is a decent option to step in though.

As stated before, I've not particularly enjoyed Mullins on tennis, but I think he has been excellent on world cup, deserved to call final.

Very impressed with itv coverage.

Personally I'd drop inverdale for Doyle. Co com's been excellent too

Murphy and Hastings less so, it was disappointing Alan Quinlan only came in for the knockouts (and only hung around for a week as Ireland went out).

If they could get Quinlan and Chris Paterson, who did the world feed, in for the Six Nations they'd be in a great place.

A team of Nick Mullins, Alan Quinlan and Shane Williams would be excellent for their opening game (Ireland-Wales).

I think Inverdale will probably stick with the Beeb for the 6 Nations with Logan as #2. Doyle I'd guess would lead ITV with Durden-Smith as back up. I can't see too much changing BBC team wise moving or what have you. I'd think it is more likely ITV will use freelancers and/or Sky/BT loanees.

BBC - pretty much as is.
Pres: Inverdale & Logan
Comms: Butler, Cotter
Pundits/Co-Comms: Moore, Jiffy, Paterson, Matthews, Nicol, Martyn & Shane Williams + usual French/Italian pundits like Del Fava etc.
Reporters: Sonja McLaughlin & Jill Douglas

ITV
Pres: Doyle & Durden Smith
Comms: Mullins & Gillingham/Ward. Think Harrison might be stretch.
Pundits/Co-comms: Kay, Dallaglio, Flatman, Hastings, Quinlan/Murphy + Welsh pundit & foregin reps.
Reporters: Martin Bayfield & Gabriel Clarke.

Wouldn't surprise me if maybe Shane Williams jumped to ITV with a Welsh heavy BBC pundits list. If a lot of those names feature for both sides we have a strong 6 Nations.

Aviva Premiership Rugby - Sunday 1 November (BT Sport 1)

Craig Doyle in the studio with Lawrence Dallaglio and Mike Tindall.

Round 3 - Newcastle Falcons v Exeter Chiefs

Commentators: Alastair Eykyn & Rob Vickerman

Reports: Sarra Elgan

Round 3 - Leicester Tigers v Wasps

Commentators: Nick Mullins, Ben Kay & Austin Healey

Reports: Martin Bayfield

2015 First Utility International Series - England v New Zealand (BBC Two)

Mark Chapman presenting from KC Stadium with Brian Noble,Robbie Hunter Paul and Jon Wilkin. Tanya Arnold and Eorl Crabtree are pitchside.

Commentators: Dave Woods,Jonathan Davies and John Kear.

And me sitting just below them

Two names you rarely see crop up, but get through a ton of work and are brilliant and very knowledgeable commentators are Patrick Winterton and Barry Shepley.

It did make me wonder whether the BBC actually have any 2nd choice rugby league people, were they to have two games in one day or something. I have no idea if Dave Woods has a backup at all, nor do they ever seem to have a great variety of pundits whenever I watch.

With all the retirements this season, you will likely see some of those from next season, albeit there are no more than ten BBC RL matches a season .

Well Ray French still works for BBC Radio so they have him. Funnily enough he was there tonight but as a fan rather than working. Also they could use George Riley or Stuart Pyke who do commentary on 5 Live

Absolutely, and I much prefer Harrison's commentary. I was looking at it from Gillingham's perspective.

Variety by quality or number?

As there usual lineup is from Noble, Wilkin, Peacock, Crabtree, and Hunter-Paul, that is a pool of five regulars when they only ever use three.

They also have brought in a big name player as guest pundits. Sam Burgess joined them for the World Cup final, and they had Ashton Sims during a Challenge Cup match this summer.

But if necessary Kear and Davies can also double up pre- and post-match outside of commentary duties.

And when one of Johnson or Arnold is unavailable they use one of their pundits to work as a reporter, as Crabtree did yesterday. So they are not left struggling to find someone even without needing guests.

For the number of matches they show, and how spaced apart most of them are, there is no need having totally different presenting teams from one match to the next.

But I have no idea who the official second choice commentator is. Though I cannot remember the last time they had two games in a day other than the opening double header of the 2013 world cup, when Ray French called Wales vs Italy as his final match for BBC TV.

Ian Ramsdale was the third choice commentator during that World Cup, although he only appeared live on Premier Sports matches. He was, though, the rugby league commentator for BBC London.

Stuart Pyke is one of the commentators for BBC Five Live, and called the Leeds vs New Zealand match on Premier Sports so has TV experience.

George Riley is, with Woods, the other regular BBC Five Live commentator.

Andy Giddings of BBC Sheffield has been used to commentate on the highlights for The Super League Show.

So they could easily use any of those if required without even having to look at brining someone new in. I am not sure what Graham Beecroft is doing now, but as he no longer works on Sky Sport's rugby league coverage he could be a option too if they want someone with TV commentary experience in the sport.

I didn't realise Graham had left Sky, do you know why ?

No idea why, and only say that as he was not on the coverage at all this season.

Where he used to be the third choice reporter behind Bill Arthur and Rod Studd they had been using O'Conner and Powers. Which happened a lot towards the back end of the season with Bill being ill and Sky presumably making darts more of a priority for Rod.

And Ben Proe was back as commentator during the Magic Weekend, which Beecroft had been doing in recent years.

So they definitely had plenty of work for him if he was still part of their team.

He's doing the same thing he's been doing for the past 15 years or so, freelancing for talkSPORT as their regular Merseyside football correspondent, primarily reporting from Everton and Liverpool games for them.

I'm not sure why Sky Sports wouldn't want to call upon Beeky if they are in need of someone to fill a few gaps in their rugby league coverage team. Another long-standing talkSPORT football correspondent, their man in the West Midlands Nigel Pearson, has worked across Sky's darts coverage and talkSPORT's football coverage for many years now, with conflicts being avoided and things seemingly working out nicely for all three parties.

Given that Beeky's rugby league opportunities would be far less frequent than Nigel's darts commentaries are, with many games taking place on Friday nights when he'll not be needed on talkSPORT, I'm really not sure why he wouldn't be looked upon as a sensible choice of substitutes.

Maybe Sky have decided to use their staff more and less freelancers. Ben Proe, Angela Powers and Terry O'Connor seem to work on Sky Rugby League all season long, and not just the on air side, so they have probably being given precedence

Precisely, he did all that whilst part of Sky Sports' rugby league team. It says nothing about what he is doing now instead of working for them.

He could have taken on other commitments so is no longer available, or maybe Sky have simply cut back and, as Darren suggests, decided to use their regulars to fill in on other duties.

So whether he would be available for the BBC as a second commentator if required depends on what he is doing now instead of his work for Sky. Which is the point I was making.

As a freelance position though I do not see his commercial work being an impediment if he has the time. After all, Dave Woods was the main commentator for Premier Sports' Championship matches alongside being his BBC work.

And although the BBC are more relaxed with radio presenters*, George Riley now presents the Football League highlights on Channel 5, whilst Stuart Pyke covers darts for pretty much everyone.

* Although when Craig Murdock went into sports management, BBC Humberside dropped him as one of their rugby league commentators as they felt it represented a conflict of interests. Yet he now appears frequently as a co-commentator on the national BBC Five Live commentaries instead!

Saturday 14 November- Boxing on Channel 5

Nick Blackwell v Elliott Matthews- Mark Pougatch presents. With commentary by Dave Farrar, Andy Clarke and Richie Woodhall.