RBS 6 Nations Live - BBC One & BBC One HD
Presenter: John Inverdale
With: Jeremy Guscott, Keith Wood & Thomas Castaignede
Commentators: Alistair Eykyn & Jonathan Davies
Pitchside: Jill Douglas & Marco Bartolami

RBS 6 Nations Live - RTE Two & RTE Two HD
Presenter: Tom McGurk
With: Donal Lenihan, Brent Pope & Shane Horgan
Commentators: George Hamilton & Ralph Keyes

Back to the 2 men commentary today for BBC but it was always going to happen for a Italy v France match. I expect 3 men teams next week for France v Wales and Ireland v England

Back to the Marco Bartolami snippets every 20 minutes... Davies was a bit more 'neutral' today - for a change. I was so glad he wasn't in the comm box yesterday or we would of heard nowt of Phillip Matthews.

Coverage finished today barely as the Italians where lifting their trophy. I know they where off to the red button, but with a 2.20 start they could of afforded another 10-15 mins on the main channel.

Enjoying the forum. Inverdale and co sitting pitchside with the 'emergency chairs' out in force

Would that have been such a bad thing? We heard enough of him as it was!

I'm not going to accuse Phillip Matthews' of being at fault here for dominating the commentary, as it may have been a conscious decision by the editors, but was it just me or did we hear considerably less of Martyn Williams during the match than we heard of Matthews? He only seemed to come infrequently, usually during breaks in play - but I found this OK because I took more of an interest in his occasional views than the constant opinions of Matthews. I suspect this may have been the plan given that a) Martyn is still relatively new to punditry, although is showing more promise as an analyst and b) they already had a former Welsh international in the box in Eddie Butler.

And Callum, I really don't get what your problem is with Jonathan Davies. I think he is excellent, one of the best rugby pundits around. All told I think Scrum V has a very strong line-up of experts, it is a few of the pundits/co-commentators from the three other home nations that I'm not massively keen on.

Sunday 3rd February - BBC Two

NFL Super Bowl XLVII Live: Baltimore Ravens v San Francisco 49ers

Mark Chapman presented from the Mercedes-Benz Superdome alongside Mike Carlson and Willie McGinest

Commentators: Jim Nantz and Phil Simms (as CBS)

Reporters: Steve Tasker and Solomon Wilcots (as CBS)

Red button commentators: Darren Fletcher and Rocky Boiman (as BBC Radio 5 Live and Radio 5 Live Sports Extra)

Trophy presentation: Jim Nantz (as CBS)

The BBC brought in Mark Hunter (a silver medal winning rower from Team GB at London 2012) and Martin Johnson (former England rugby union captain and manager) as guests during the first half. During the power outage, they took CBS' coverage which included some presentation from their pitchside team of James Brown, Bill Cowher, Boomer Esiason, Dan Marino and Shannon Sharpe.

NFL Super Bowl XLVII-Baltimore v San Francisco (Sky Sports)
Presenter: Kevin Cadle with Neil Reynolds and Cecil Martin, plus Vernon Kay at half time
Commentators (CBS): Jim Nantz and Phil Simms
Reporters (CBS): Steve Tasker, Solomon Wilcots and Tracy Wolfson

The CBS presentation team of James Brown, Dan Marino, Bill Cowher and Shannon Sharpe filled in during the blackout when Sky lost power.

International feed commentary was by Bob Papa and Joe Theismann.

Saturday 9 February on RTE Two

Scotland v Italy and France v Wales- Tom McGurk is joined by Shane Horgan, Brent Pope and George Hook to present. George Hamilton and Tony Ward commentate on the opening meeting, and Hugh Cahill and Ralph Keyes cover the second fixture

Sunday 10 February on RTE Two

Ireland v England- Tom McGurk presents, with analysis from Conor O'Shea, Brent Pope and George Hook, and commentary by Ryle Nugent and Donal Lenihan

Friday 15 February on BBC2 Regions

Newport-Gwent Dragons v Glasgow Warriors- Ross Harries is joined by Martyn Williams to present. Commentary by Gareth Charles, with analysis from Sean Holley and touchline reports from Phil Steele.

Ulster v Zebre- Stephen Watson presents. Commentary by Jim Neilly.

And all next week on BBC 2 Wales

Welsh Open Snooker- Jason Mohammad presents, with commentary and analysis from Dominic Dale, Terry Griffiths, Darren Morgan and Willie Thorne.

I'm not sure whether it was editorial or just the inexperience but it was the same for a fair bit of the England/Scotland game with Brian Moore taking much of the lead while Chris Paterson was fairly quiet until he became more comfortable.

I slightly see where Callum is coming from, I think Jonathan Davies does a good job, but I find he is much better on games where Wales aren't playing. When he's on a neutral game he focuses on being knowledgable, but loses that in favour of being partizan on Wales games.


The situation with Boomer is an interesting one when CBS cover the Superbowl as he also does radio coverage of the game.

So he can get to the CBS set for things like the halftime show he commentates on the move for the final couple of minutes of the half while he makes his way down from the radio booth. That's why you didn't see him during coverage from the CBS set during the power outage as he was still in the radio booth

I think both BBC matches with the 3 man commenatary team seemed to have a structure in the commentary box, it seemed to be Butler as number 1, Matthews as 2 and Williams as 3 and the same on the England match like they are a 3rd man like on Sky Cricket etc. It will be interesting to see next sunday as Ireland are playing England so will it be both Brian Moore and Phillip Matthews with Eddie Butler or Andrew Cotter and to see if the two experienced men in Moore and Matthews have equal commentary or if Matthews chips in every so often.

Also I must say I like Jonathan Davies in the studio and on commentary but not on Welsh matches


Obviously giving him some Snooker experience live on the TV before he becomes Snooker Number 2 for the Crucible.
A couple of questions - did he ever host snooker for BBC Wales before? and will this be on the freeview red button on 301?

Jonathan Davies and Brian Moore are shocking, especially on their own team. I understand their passion... Davies was tolerable on the Italian game, however both are blinkered on their own games... Guscott is pro-England quite often too.

Don't know if it is a Scottish thing because most of the Scot's feel the same way as I do. It is true enough though. Listen to Andy Nicol, Chris Paterson or Phillip Matthews and they are level headed and neutral throughout. I can understand if it's England v Italy, when there is a 'pro home nation' stance, however there is that and cheerleading the side. All to many times Moore and Davies have been cut off or can be heard in the background for cheerleading their side (even against another home nation).

Jim Telford, as per was OTT, about the 'arrogance thing' I don't think English teams in the past or now are 'arrogant'... However, as always It's the English media... Fairplay England kept level head after the NZ win, and favourites for the Six Nations... However the Media hyping them up as world beaters after the win. Hey I'm opening another can of worms...

That is my opinion...

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On the third man commentary - I think on purpose it was that the 'third person' would chip a bit more infrequently, however we weren't waiting for a "Let's go to _________ for more analysis". They just came in automatically.

Phillip Matthews "level headed and neutral throughout"? Are you kidding me here?

I only tend to hear him on Wales v Ireland games, and from recent games involving those nations I have found him to be far more partisan than any of the other BBC co-commentators. Last year he sounded particularly bad-tempered, when funnily enough Ireland were on the wrong end of the scoreline. He was more tolerable this year but I find him to over-opinionated and to be quite blatant in how he is looking at things from Ireland's perspective.

I am wondering if this is because you are looking at it from a Scottish angle (I like how you have spoken on behalf of the Scottish nation there ) and I'm looking at things from an Anglo-Welsh one. I have no problem whatsoever with Jonathan Davies, while he is very confident and a touch blunt in his opinions I've always found him to be fair minded, and while Brian Moore is a bit pugnacious, I don't find him to show favouritism or mince his words/opinions - if anything he is quicker to point out English faults than those of the other nations. Andy Nicol is nice and safe but I find him a little dull if I'm honest. Matthews is really the only BBC co-commentator I don't enjoy listening to.


Thanks for pointing this out Alex - since posting BBC Two's details I have learned that while Boomer was involved in CBS' pre-game show from the field, he was co-commentating on the Super Bowl itself with Kevin Harlan for Dial Global Sports (the US national radio commentary on the game) and so wouldn't have been involved in their pitchside presentation during the game.

From memory, there were only three pundits alongside James Brown at their table during the few minutes we saw on BBC Two - of those, Shannon Sharpe was the only one who spoke during the time they spent with it.


Yes, I think it was quite predictable that Jason Mohammad would be named as BBC Two Wales' host of the Welsh Open ahead of his debut as a World Snooker Championship presenter for the network.

As for whether he has presented snooker on BBC Wales before, I think the answer is no, certainly not as BBC Wales' lead presenter. Throughout the 2000s, Oliver Hides (the man who Jason succeeded as Match of the Day Wales presenter) hosted their coverage of the Welsh Open, with Ashleigh Crowter (a Wales Today sports presenter and reporter) taking over from Oli to host the 2011 and 2012 tournaments.

Sunday 3rd February - BBC Two Wales

Scrum V: Six Nations Special

Jason Mohammad presented alongside Gwyn Jones, Phil Bennett, Shane Byrne and Martyn Williams, with Lisa Rogers and Gareth Llewellyn in the audience and Sean Holley in the "Stat Pad"

Wales v Ireland - Eddie Butler and Philip Matthews, with Sonja McLaughlan conducting post-match interviews
England v Scotland - Andrew Cotter and Brian Moore, with Rick O'Shea in the England camp
Italy v France - Alastair Eykyn and Jonathan Davies

Wales Under-20s v Ireland Under-20s - Gareth Charles and Robert Jones, with the edit introduced by Non Evans
Wales Women v Ireland Women - Non Evans (reporting)

The Lions Den - Phil Bennett picked his Lions XV, with his choices being voiced by Phil Steele

"The Stat Pad" is actually just the normal Scrum V studio that is used for the majority of the Sunday programmes that recap Autumn International/Pro 12 weekends, with Sean Holley doing his normal detailed analysis in front of a studio monitor in there, as opposed to the studio that is styled as if it is a rugby club that BBC Wales have been using for their Six Nations/Rugby World Cup specials for a few years now.

Rick O'Shea will be reporting from the England camp during matchweeks for Scrum V throughout the Six Nations. Apparently finding him an adopted team to follow was chosen via random draw (why don't I nor Rick believe that?).

The Lions Den is a feature where one of the guest experts picks their British & Irish Lions starting XVs (although they don't go through it, Phil Steele just reads out the names they have picked as they appear on the usual BBC network team graphics), Phil Bennett being the second to choose his after Jeremy Guscott picked his team on last week's show. On that, Scrum V had a Six Nations preview show last Sunday despite it being an LV= Cup week (which I must confess I didn't know they were doing), which Ross Harries presented from their normal studio alongside Jonathan Davies, Jeremy Guscott and Martyn Williams.

Already posted on the Snooker thread but fits here as well: World Open on ITV 4- Hosted by Matt Smith, commentary from Clive Everton, Peter Drury and Neal Foulds.

I know apart from the big tournamnets sky take some other feed for the US Tour, think its golf channel or NBC? But for European tour do they do it on site, off tube or use a local feed? Just interested. Thanks

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Premier Sports has had live bowls on all week. It's on Freeview too. No idea who the female host is or the interviewer but they have used David Corkhill for commentary

For the European Tour Sky almost exclusively use their own feed.

Depending on the tournament and where it is they may have the commentators on site or off tube, but it is almost always their own feed as supposed to the European Tour Productions feed.

Friday 8th February - BBC Two Wales and BBCi

Scrum V Live: Ulster v Ospreys

Ross Harries presenting from the studio alongside Lyn Jones and Tom Shanklin

Commentators: Nick Webb and Stuart Davies

Red button commentators: Rick O'Shea, Jed Thian and Paul Williams with the RedZone; Gareth Rhys Owen and Rhodri Gomer Davies in Welsh

Reporter: Phil Steele

Great to have Jed Thian from the Alternative Rugby Commentary back on the RedZone. Also, a rare outing for Nick Webb (and Stuart Davies for that matter) in the main commentary box; obviously Charlo (and the two regular co-commentators) will be out in France.

World Open Snooker

Eurosport- David Hendon, Joe Johnson, Mike Hallett and Philip Studd
liveworldsnooker.tv- Phil Yates and Mark Johnston-Allen

For the first few minutes as well, they were also doing an on-air microphone check, as they could hear each other through their headphones, but not themselves!

RBS Six Nations
Scotland v Italy

John Inverdale with Chris Paterson and Chris Cusiter

Commentary: Alastair Eykyn, Andy Nicol and Lawrence Dallaglio
Reporter: Jill Douglas

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France v Wales

Gabby Logan with Sir Clive Woodward and Martyn Williams

Commentary: Andrew Cotter and Jonathan Davies
Pitchside: Jason Mohammad with Serge Betsen


I am surprised BBC haven't found a 'Thomas Castaignède/Serge Betsen' type representative for Italy. The token named/mother-born/Andy Townsend English pundit with little connection is very lazy. (I do like Dallaglio though, not another rant :P)

In other news Jonathan Davies in 40 minutes somes my points previous all up. Ok favour the home nation but he is telling wales what to do, where to go and so on. Giving nothing positive or 2-wayed about the French unless it's Michalak tirade.

I agree with you, today has summed him up perfectly. He is excellent at picking up all tactical elements and pointing them out, the problem is when he's on a Welsh game he only does it for them and how they play out in relation to them.

Saturday 16 February- GAA on TG4

St Brigid's v Crossmaglen Rangers and Dr Crokes v Ballymun Kickhams- Micheál Ó Domhnaill presents coverage of the All-Ireland Senior Club Football Championship. With commentary by Brian Tyers.

Rugby on RTE Two

Scarlets v Munster- Daire O'Brien is joined by Alan Quinlan and George Hook. Commentary by Hugh Cahill and Ralph Keyes

Friday 22 February- Rugby on BBC2 NI

Glasgow Warriors v Ulster- Stephen Watson presents. Commentary by Jim Neilly and Ryan Constable.

Rugby on BBC2 Wales

Italy Under-20s v Wales Under-20s- Ross Harries is joined by Sean Holley to present . With commentary by Gareth Charles, reports from Phil Steele and analysis by Dafydd Jones and Stuart Davies.

Presenter: Tom McGurk
With: George Hook, Brent Pope & Shane Horgan

Commentators:
Scotland v Italy - George Hamilton & Tony Ward
France v Wales - Hugh Cahill & Ralph Keyes

They used former Italy captain Marco Bortolami in that role for last weeks game, and I'm sure they've used him in previous years when he has been injured. He was listed in the BBC Media Centre release as one of the experts prior to the tournament as well.

Last year they used Martin Castrogiovanni for 2 matches during the 6 nations when he was injured. A few years ago they used Craig Gower who had played for Italy in Union before returning to Rugby League but I think the big Italian players like Dominguez and Troncon are on Italian TV and the BBC need to get English speakers and that may be a problem.