Are they worldfeeders or something? Why is it strange?

im glad bbc are using Guy McCrea hes a good commertator
does the davis cup for GB on LTA website...

Williams vs. Date-Krumm : Barry Davies & Sam Smith

They both got some stick on Twitter tonight for their what seemed at times to be patronising comments about Krumm and their obsession over talking about their age. Overall, I thought Sam was fantastic as usual and as soon as one of her comments was perceived to be condescending, her whole commentary was viewed in this way even though she was, as always, impeccably prepared having done research and dropping in the anecdotes about Kimiko which I enjoyed.

Saturday 6 July- GAA on TV3

Coverage of an All-Ireland Senior Football Championship round two match- Presented by Matt Cooper, with commentary by Mike Finnerty and Nicky English, analysis from Daithi Regan and Jamesie O'Connor, and pitchside reports from Kieran McSweeney

i hope Sam goes and works for BT tennis, BT need her

I'm relatively new to Sky Sports' rugby union coverage this summer - I only very loosely follow the Aviva Premiership (when I do it is through ITV4's highlights) and don't watch many European games - but from what I have seen from the earlier matches of the Lions tour and on their Test preview shows, basically his remit seems to be very similar to that of Sean Holley on his excellent The Breakdown and Stat Pad on Scrum V. If this is the case, then I guess they'd want him in an analysis truck/booth/video wall somewhere and perhaps that might be difficult to both arrange and incorporate into their coverage from grounds that will be new to them in Australia.

I have to say I have really enjoyed the Sky Sports Lions coverage. Alex Payne never made much of an impression on me as a Sky Sports News host but I think he has come into his own here as his low-key presenting style allows the spotlight to be put on the pundits. Sir Ian McGeechan is such an authority but very easy going with it, Will Greenwood seems to be light years better and more palatable than the co-commentator that annoyed me so much on ITV's 2007 Rugby World Cup coverage, but the star of their team has to be the super enthusiastic Scott Quinnell - his passion for the Lions leaps right out of the screen at you, you can tell how excited to be there he is and how much the Lions means to him as a former player. He's someone I'd love to hear a lot more of on the rugby coverage I regularly take in. Sky's use of Australian experts from Fox Sports has been welcome and I've even warmed to Stuart Barnes on co-commentary, for as much as he is quite Anglo-centric and I can see why he winds so many people up. I like how he's not afraid to stick his neck out, state his honest opinion of things positive or negative with both clarity and confidence, regardless of whether I agree with him or not.

It seems a real shame that Sky's rugby union team will only have nine weeks of European club rugby and the four England Autumn Internationals to work on after next weekend until next year's summer internationals. Sky have done a really good job of covering this Lions tour and I'm sure their team, particularly McGeechan and Quinnell, will bring a lot to their coverage of the Pro12 from 2014/15 onwards.

Stuart Barnes is another Scottish (or certainly Borders) non-fan favourite. I can tolerate Barnes more though, as he doesn't bang on as much as Moore.

I agree, Scott Quinnell is an absolute legend. I felt I was on that pitch yesterday thanks to Quinnell!! ( I probably had a better chance of getting on that pitch than any of the other Scot's thanks to Gatland being a 'migrated' homer)

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Tennis, Barry Davies sounds shot. I think he like Hugh Porter on the Cycling deserved to do commentary at London 2012, but he doesn't sound as good as he did a few years back I'm afraid.

Geech isn't a regular part of the coverage, he seems to have replace Ryan/Morris due to his Lions History. I wouldn't expect him to play any part of their Pro12 coverage.

The pundit who I like the most on Sky's Rugby coverage is Paul Wallace. I always seem to learn something on every match he's on! He brings fantastic attention to detail on the pieces of action "in the tight."

because, as i said in the post you replied to, the BBC have a stack of commentators already, why did they use a world feed ? Especially as this was the game on BBC2, not just online or red button. If the game was deemed that important you think they would use their own commentators

Why am I getting shot down for asking a simple question ?

Twitter is full of great insightful people. It's also full of idiotic clowns.

Sam Smith is one of the best tennis commentators out there. Barry Davies is Barry Davies. Great pairing.

As Date-Krumm is in her forties and the oldest ever player in the Open era, I think that was a factor worth touching on a lot.

Not shooting you down mate, I'm not glued fully on tennis so wasn't sure if they were world feeders or if there was another reason why you were highlighting them!

Ah, I didn't know that. I know he co-commentated on the Barbarians match in Hong Kong and has done regular guests slots on talkSPORT's radio coverage of the tour, so I am thinking that this is a case of both broadcasters capitalising on his availability given that seems to be primarily working for the Lions in an official capacity (indeed perhaps his involvement is partially down to the Lions committee being keen to have his voice heard in the media).


Yes, I forgot to mention him in my post yesterday. I agree with your thoughts on him, he's one of those pundits who reads and explains the game in a clear and detailed manner, meaning that more often than not you go away feeling much more informed than you did before he started speaking. All of the pundits Sky Sports have used on this tour bring different strengths to the table and their coverage has been all the better for it.


Sorry to move away from discussing commentators and coverage and onto the sport itself, but I have to take exception with the notion that Warren Gatland has displayed any homer-ism in his British & Irish Lions selections - the mere suggestion is a complete load of nonsense.

Agree or disagree with the various individual selections, I think the vast majority of people following this tour would agree that the 30 or so players in contention for a place in the Test match squads are all there on merit and nothing else. As for the Scottish players who have missed out, IMHO Richie Gray has been the fifth best of five very good locks on this tour. Would you really start Maitland ahead of North, Cuthbert or Bowe or start Hogg either out of position or ahead of Halfpenny? Yes, Ryan Grant should have probably come on for Mako Vunipola earlier than he did during Saturday's Test match (although given their comparative performances earlier on in the tour I thought Mako justified his Second Test start given the injuries), but that wasn't a case of Gats favouring a player he's worked with at club or international level before this tour. Of the Scottish players who didn't make the squad, I felt Tim Visser was unlucky but I'd have taken him ahead of his international team-mate Sean Maitland rather than one of the Welsh, Irish and English players - the vast majority of whom were obvious call-ups.

It's a shame that Scotland hasn't had any Test match starters but it's absolutely ridiculous to claim that this is because Gatland is biased towards certain players simply because of their nationality.

Finally caught up with C4 racing from Saturday. Was just wondering if this was first time the new set-up has not used their own commentator? Ian Bartlett at Newcastle and Stuart Machin at Newmarket were on the on course commentators and both used. I have seen all bar 2 weeks of their coverage and think they have always used either Holt or Hollis as their own. One of the weeks I missed was the Lockinge from Newbury so imagine Holt was used?

He was due to take a break from commentating from late April until the Tour missing out the Giro but said he would be back in the box for the Tour.

He then disappered off Twitter around mid May and his business partner confirmed on her Twitter account recently that David is suffering from depression and is unfit to travel.

I admit I wasn't looking forward to Carlton's commentary but so far I think it is better than expected and I haven't been tempted to switch away from Eurosport to ITV4.

I think it might be yes.

PS - its Hoyles not Hollis by the way

Ah, I see. Thanks for the information. That's a huge shame about Harmon, whose commentaries I always enjoy. I hope he gets well very soon.

From what I've seen so far, Kirby has been fine. I don't mind Sean Kelly, but he's incredibly monotone, and never sounds like he's actually enjoying his job. I'm sure that's not true, but a bit of light and shade in his tone would be nice!

Sunday 7 July on RTE Two

Kerry v Cork and Galway v Dublin or Kilkenny- With commentary by Darragh Maloney and Marty Morrissey

It's Hoiles not Hoyles by the way

https://twitter.com/RichardHoiles

MAGIC MONDAY (DAY 7)

Williams vs. Lisicki : David Mercer & Tracy Austin
Youzhny vs. Murray : Simon Reed, Tim Henman & John McEnroe
Seppi vs. Del Potro : Mark Petchey & John Lloyd
Djokovic vs. Haas : Andrew Cotter & Boris Becker

Robson v Kanepi - Chris Bradnam + Lindsay Davenport
Berdych v Tomic - Andrew Castle + Peter Fleming
Ferrer v Dodig - Nick Mullins + Mark Cox
Radwanska v Pironkova - Matt Chilton + Liz Smylie
Kvitova v Suarez Navarro - Jason Goodall + Sam Smith
Li Na v Vinci - Ronald McIntosh + Anne Keothavong
Verdasco v De Schepper - Andrew Cotter + Mark Cox
Janowicz v Melzer - Barry Davies + Peter Fleming
Bartoli v Knapp - Karthi Gnanasegaram + Jo Durie
Mannarino v Kubot - James Burridge + Paul Hand
Flipkens v Pennetta - Guy McCrea + Louise Pleming

I speaking tongue and cheek! (Although Ryan Grant should of came on, Vunipola was an embarrassment)

Sorry, as there was nothing in your post to indicate you were being tongue in cheek I thought you'd turned into the most myopic of Scottish rugby fans! It can be difficult to convey this kind of thing on social media though, I can see how Darren took your post at the top of the page in a way you didn't intend it as well.

Although I think it is harsh to call Vunipola an embarrassment - I agree with those people who have said he showed great character to hang in there and raise his game as the match progressed after getting off to a difficult start. He would probably have benefitted from playing with Richard Hibbard at hooker, as the two of them and Adam Jones looked a really strong combination early on in the tour, but then for me Tom Youngs was one of the standout players in the First Test and I can understand his selection based on their worries about the lineout. Be interesting to see where they go on the Youngs/Hibbard call on Thursday.

Apologies all round for my lack of 'emotions' to differentiate opinion and 'mild' jokes.

I like Hibbard, best hooker for me in past couple of weeks. Despite the odd poor line out. Can see why he is preferred as an 'impact' hooker though from the bench.

Ladies Quarter Finals

Li Na V Agnieszka Radwanska – Chris Bradnam, John McEnroe and Lindsay Davenport
Sabine Lisicki V Kaia Lanepi – Barry Davies and Martina Navratilova
Sloane Stephens V Marion Bartoli – David Mercer and Tracy Austin
Petra Kvitova V Kristen Flipkens – Jason Goodall and Sam Smith

I am wondering if any of those 4 will do a semi final in the ladies now. I am guessing, and it is guess work, that Mark Petchey will do the ladies final so I would guess the semi final main comms will be Simon Reed and either Nick Mullins or Andrew Castle

I think broadly you are correct, the only wildcard being the possibility they want to give Andrew Cotter a big match, especially since he has covered so much tennis for BBC TV pre-Wimbledon.

My men's quarter's predictions would be Castle, Petchey, Cotter and Mullins.