SA commentating quality

Is it just me or has our commentators go from bad to worse? Man it irritates the crap out of me

We have :

1) Bob Skinstad - In his eyes the Stormers are very unlucky when they knock on or make mistakes and the opponents should've done better when they knock on etc. WTF???

2) Joel Stransky - Can't say anything good about the Bulls or Lions. But yet he commentates on every game they play

3) Gary Boshoff (Afr) - Same as Bob but only difference is he says that about the Sharks.

Then we have the boots and all panel who can't even work the bloody touchscreen etc.

I really think Supersport should invest in some quality sport presenters and commentators

 Our commentators inlcuding Bladen are boring. For the past to season old bladen keeps saying haow surprised he s at the Bulel pack being outweighed. I hope after seeing the packslae the Sharks gave the wee bulle he realsies the current bulle pack is a tad above average. Justin Marshall dispite being a kiwi is very good.

The two guys I like listening to are Mallet (The best there is) and John Mitchell - who clearly knows his stuff  - again dispite the handicap of being a kiwi.

Mallet had the guts to be critical where called for and is always making interesting observations. 

"The problem with Supersport is they tend to go for guys based purely on their rugby credentials, but overlook their ability to communicate."

They also do the opposite. Andy Capostagno and Matthew Pearce are examples of commentators who are reasonably eloquent but who haven't got the first clue about rugby.

Hugh Bladen and Gavin Cowley are both excellent rugby commentators but both are getting a little long in the tooth . . . and both are just lacking that little bit of wit and humour we get from the likes of Phil Kearns and the other Aussie commentators . . . but they are far and away the best we've got.

This has alot to do with the Supersport viewpoint that a rugby commentator needs to be an expert opnionist. In reality tis should not be the case.

Commentating in itself is an eloquent thing and yes our two "younger" commantators Andy Cap and Pearce are the best we have at the moment. Take into account I said commentator, not Technical Specialist. The thing to do for a good commentating team is to have a technical specialist as well as a commentator in one team commentating together. Ons brings the technical knowhow, and one does the commentating. No need for humour etc. every commentator has their own style that they should develop and not everyone will like a specific commentator's style. 

A good training ground for a commentator is to first go to radio and commentate on games there, this will teach them to verbalise the flow of the game as well as learn to give the technical specialist his chance to speak.

Compared to say Tennis or Golf rugby in general the commentating worldwide is not up to scratch. They need to make a plan. to get this done well. Labeling someone like Bobby Skinstadt a commentator is a disgrace to commentators to be honest. the man does not have the words to be labeled as such. The whole move by supersport to appoint ex players as commentators only fills the technical specialist role, in reality though ex coaches make far better technical specialists than ex players. So from that point of view we aren't even up to scratch so yes we have to unfortunately put up with a lot in rugby.

@Ek, I understand what you mean when you talk about a technical specialist to the commentator. The best, IMO, is Will Greenwood and Justin Marshall. Will's big mate Scott Quinell is not too bad either. Jeremy Guscott is another. In SA, Gavin Cowley is probably not as exciting as many of the others but he is totally unbiased and knows his shit. The rest....... I don't want to even go there. The commentators are all poor with Stransky rpobably the most irritating of the lot of them. I also do not agree on Andy Cappistagnio. His understanding of the laws is at times shocking. I don not hear the Afrikaans commentators but from what I can remember there is only one real good one and that is Christo Olivier. He has a calm way of commentating without the shouting into the mike that Cobus Wiese has. The other very good Afrikaans commentator was the guy who was killed in a car crash some years back. I cannot remember his name right now.

Stransky not as bad? Asseblief tog. He is probably the worst of the lot. His comprehension of the laws is pathetic. He wil be the first one, when they have review to see if a try is scored, to say: "Now, lets see if there was downward pressure...................". Does he still not know that downward pressure is not a requiremen? That is just one tiny example, and many of the gullible viewers believe the crap the he talks.