If we were sitting on a little island away from the UK, we’d be considered outstanding in what we do
“THE very first commentary I did was in 1999 when the World Cup was here (in Ireland) and we had an obligation to produce a commentary for the world feed. It wasn’t live in Ireland but it was in Romania against Georgia. I thought I would never, ever get my head wrapped around it. I was petrified. Then my first ever live game was England against Fiji in the 1999 World Cup quarter-final (play-off) at Twickenham and they had Tikomaimakoga, Vunibaka and Raiwalui. This time around, when you get to the quarters, onwards I’ll hopefully just be dealing with the South Africans and New Zealanders. You see a lot of these guys week in week out in the Pro12, Heineken Cup or Super 15 anyway.”
“YOU get apprehensive and you get nervous. I still do to this day. The day I don’t is the day I get a little bit arrogant and a little bit cocky and you definitely don’t want to go there because live TV has a way of biting you on the ass for what lies ahead.
“Commentary is an interesting one because with the rest of broadcasting there is a certain amount of structure to it in that you know what you are going to do and what you are going to talk about. You have editorial points which everyone works on.
“The joy of this is you know you have an eight or 10-minute spell of business from when the players come out to when the match starts but after that it’s a case of ‘off you go’ and I really enjoy that. It’s an adrenalin rush and a privilege.”
“WE have exactly what we need. The fact it is on in the time zone it is makes that even more attractive from that point of view. You get the opening match, all of Ireland’s group games and then the business end of the tournament. Of course, that core, hardened addict will probably want more but in terms of a mixed genre channel offering it is a pretty comprehensive one, all considered.
“Although the national rugby team does comparable figures with the national soccer team — and in some cases better — in terms of the broader appeal for say France against Scotland in rugby or in, soccer’s case, South Korea against Japan, there is still that broader appeal for the soccer world cup than the rugby so I think we he have the balance right.”
“I will never ever sit here and be arrogant enough to assume that. We can’t afford to be doing that. What we have got to do is present a package that is compelling for the public for them to feel that we are looking at a world event through an Irish eye. That goes across everything we do and we also have to have the confidence to back ourselves.
“I think we produce programming that does have a connection with the audience and we are in an incredibly competitive industry and the fact is there is really no such thing as an exclusive sports event on TV anymore. The Champions League is also available on ITV and Sky, the soccer World Cup will be on BBC and ITV — as well as RTÉ.
“You name the event and there is a saturation of it. Some of the competition is from within this jurisdiction and some is from the spillover of UK channels so we have a big, big task. We try to engage a package that will engage with the audience and seem to be able to do that on a regular basis but if you don’t tweak or improve it you’ll make a mess of it.
“What we have done for the Rugby World Cup is we have had a little look around to see who would complement our three core analysts in George Hook, Brent Pope and Conor O’Shea and we have got some really good additions in Joe Schmidt who can bring the French and southern hemisphere perspective, Shane Horgan who can bring a player’s perspective and Ben Kay, a World Cup winner who can bring the English viewpoint which is always nice.”
“I don’t think there are any plus points for anybody on this side of the world. We have the ability to go live in the mornings and I think the Irish sporting audience does engage with that. Everybody is saying ‘oh no’ about the kick-off times but the Ireland games are predominantly at the weekends and I think people will get out of bed to watch them. I do.
“We also have highlights for the tournament so that will be there for the floating voter as those are on at primetime but let’s be straight about it: the significance and connection with the audience will build proportionately to the team performance.
“If Ireland don’t go so well and things are a bit doom and gloom there won’t be the same engagement as there was when Ireland were flying high with all those Triple Crowns and the Grand Slam so our audience and our connection will fluctuate depending on the success or otherwise of the team.”
“IT’S been extremely difficult and it will continue to be. You can’t lose the guts of €70m in commercial revenue since 2008 and another €20m in terms of licence fee contributions and for that not have an effect on your business and there have been significant efforts to get that balance right.
“The staff have been remarkable in terms of the cuts taken and the ability to cut away some of the edges and there have been some major efforts to balance the books but the fact we are still in deficit in that time and it means that sport has to take its share of the responsibility.
“That means strategic positioning and it means some very difficult conversations with our partners but it isn’t an RTÉ-specific problem. There are an awful lot of people in difficult circumstances so it isn’t easy but we are trying to provide the best blend we can of national and international competitions for the licence-paying audiences.
“There are going to be times when we aren’t able to stretch to it but it won’t be through lack of effort or lack of foresight. It will purely be a financial constraint. You have to be realistic about it.”
“WE have a responsibility across the spectrum. Yes the national games are important to us. Yes the Six Nations is important to us. Yes the national soccer team is important to us because it is important to the public but equally important is the horse racing coverage that we do, the golf, greyhounds and, depending on coverage out in Azerbaijan, we will hopefully be involved for the quarter-finals onwards (of the World Boxing Championships) so we do have a responsibility there. We can’t just concentrate on the big three.
“Look into the next 12 months. You have Rugby World Cup, a soccer European Championships that Ireland might yet be involved in, an Olympics in London. That is three significant world events in addition to all the usual stuff. People forget RTÉ Sport is going up against arguably the best financed and best produced broadcasters in world sport in Sky Sports, BBC and ITV.
“If we were sitting on a little island on its own and away from the UK, I think we would be considered outstanding in what we do. We have to reach that bar all the time because the audience has all these options to choose from. Do we get everything right? We don’t but we’re there or thereabouts.”
RTÉ
Thirteen live TV games, including all of Ireland’s, opening fixture and quarter-finals onwards, plus all of Ireland’s games live on radio: The national broadcaster is back on board with the Rugby World Cup after losing out to TV3 in 2007 and will broadcast just over one quarter of the games to be played in New Zealand as well as a nightly highlights package. Just four personnel are being sent out to cover the event with the remainder of the team contributing from HQ in Dublin and RTÉ will hope their mix of old and new studio guests proves a crowd-puller for the games that matter most to viewers here.
Commentators: Hugh Cahill, Ryle Nugent, Michael Corcoran (radio).
Co-commentators: Donal Lenihan, Tony Ward, Ralph Ketes, Kurt McQuilkin (radio).
Pundits: George Hook, Brent Pope, Conor O’Shea, Joe Schmidt, Shane Horgan, Victor Costello, Frankie Sheahan, Ben Kay.
Presenters: Tom McGurk, Daire O’Brien.
ALL 48 games live between ITV1 and ITV4: ITV’s first three weeks of coverage will be broadcast from London before the team depart for New Zealand and set up base at Eden Park in Auckland for the knockout stages of the tournament.
All of the Home Nations’ matches will be broadcast live on ITV1 and ITV1HD. Coverage will be split between ITV1 and ITV4 with a nightly highlights programme going out on each channel every day.
Commentators: Nick Mullins, Simon Ward, Martin Gillingham, Bob Symonds.
Co-Commentators: Alan Quinlan, Scott Hastings, Phil Vickery, Andy Gomarsall.
Pundits: Sean Fitzpatrick, Michael Lynagh, Francois Pienaar, Lawrence Dallaglio, Gareth Thomas, Thom Evans.
Presenters: Steve Rider, Martin Bayfield, Craig Doyle.
All 48 games live: Four years ago, Setanta launched their RWC coverage which included input from current Scotland coach Andy Robinson, Liam Toland and presenter Daire O’Brien who has since been snapped up by RTÉ. Details of their output are sketchy at best this time and they may or may not utilise more bodies than those listed above. Will screen all 48 games live as well as a highlights show that will run some evenings but not on others.
Commentators: Connor Morris, John Forrest
Co-commentators: Ciaran Fitzgerald.
Pundits: Neil Francis.
Presenter: Matt Williams.
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