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British Tour of New Zealand on talkSPORT talkSPORT did the listeners proud in providing live coverage of the British & Irish Lions v New Zealand Tests in Christchuch, Wellington and Auckland and it would be easy to be harsh about the players at this point, but I won't be. talkSPORT managed to put together a team of intelligent and well respected members of the sports professions whether as presenters, commentators or pundits. We were entertained by John Taylor, Andrew McKenna, Ben Clarke, Gavin Hastings, Dick Best for the talkSPORT live commentary with The Rugby Show: Lions Preview hosted on Friday evenings by Rhodri Williams and Jeff Probyn. The quality of the preview shows were excellent with Rhodri as the host alongside Jeff but were a slightly inferior when Patrick Kinghorn stood in for Rhodri on the first preview show. I don't think Patrick's knowledge of rugby is as broad as Rhodri's who has hosted plenty of coverage on Sky Sports in the past. The commentary of the Tests was good and enhanced with the expertise of Ben Clarke, the ex-Bath and England flanker with 40 caps under his belt and Gavin Hastings, who served Scotland 61 times and held the post of captain 20 times, with excellent kicking skills, as well as captaining the Lions tour to New Zealand in 1993. There were some improvements to the coverage as talkSPORT became more experienced in delivering commentary on the Tests matches. At first it would have been difficult for the listener tuning in part way through the game to know what the score was. This was a little frustrating, however, that was rectified in coverage of the later matches. Also, sometimes this listener would be forgiven for wanting more details as to how the game was going. Commentary on the radio requires more details on the action happening on the field than for television coverage, and this is where more attention could be given for future rugby coverage. Post games phone-ins started a little slow with few contributions from the listeners after the first game. However the quality of those that made the effort to call in to offer their points were a joy to listen to. Even when some participants made comments that were perhaps a little over the top, and maybe the disappointment of the score had something to do with that, Andrew McKenna managed to provide sensible responses and was assertive. The other two phone-ins attracted more listeners, again providing a variety of thoughts, and obviously the loss by the Lions contributed to the disappointments expressed. It was a joy to listen to the phone in part of the show after the games compared to the usual standard of contributions from listeners on other shows on talkSPORT as the Lions coverage attracted a more intelligent listener. Also the input from the ex-players and ex-England coach in Dick Best, made for a thoroughly good review of performance of the Lions. It would have been easy for our hosts to become overly critical and Ben Clarke could have easily been tempted to vent anger on Sir Clive Woodward after his exclusion from England when he took charge. However, Ben maintained a sense of dignity and professionalism, as did his colleagues, and was objective in his views could have been better. Despite the Lions Tour results, the coverage from talkSPORT was needed as part of the scheduled programming to balance off the shows that report on the round ball game. Sometimes, the phrase Talk Football is used in reference to talkSPORT. Even the facility to register on talkSPORT web site requires to user to say which team they support out of a long list of football teams, with not one reference to Rugby Union. It is good to see that talkSPORT are showing more interest in the oval ball game. Rugby Union followers show a keen interest in the Lions Tours and these tours command a lot of respect as it is the best of the home nations and Irish players that get selected. During the coverage by talkSPORT, there were references to the large number of Lions supporters in the crowds. The Lions have a good following. Even after the disastrous results, no doubt followers will be looking forward to their trips away in four years time. Hopefully, talkSPORT will take note of this in the future, and look at the bigger picture. OK, the Lions let their game and followers down on this occasion; talkSPORT didn't and should remember there a lot of people who will listen to Rugby Union in the future. May: 23rd Argentina 25-25 (Millennium Stadium, Cardiff), June: 4th Bay of Plenty 20-34 (Rotorua International Stadium) 8th Taranaki 14-36 (Yarrow Stadium, New Plymouth), 11th Maori 19-13 (Waikato Stadium, Hamilton), 15th Wellington 6-26 (Westpac Stadium, Wellington), 18th Otago 19-30 (Carisbrook, Dunedin) 21st Southland 16-26 (Rugby Park, Ivercargill), 25th New Zealand 21-3 (Jade Stadium, Christchurch) 28th Manawatu 6-109 (Arena Manawatu, Palmerston North), July: 2nd New Zealand 48-18 (Westpac Stadium, Wellington, 5th Auckland 13-17 (Eden Park, Auckland), 9th New Zealand 38-19 (Eden Park, Auckland). British & Irish Lions Tour of New Zealand on talkSPORT By Jatinder Purewal July 2005 |
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