What irish paper is best for rugby? / Your favourite rugby writer?

MikeHoncho

I read the Irish Times for Thornley and would usually pick up the Tribune on a Sunday to have a good laugh at whatever codswallop Frano is on about. Is there any better coverage out there? Am I missing a trick or is Gerry all you need?

damnyanks

Can't stand Gerry, reminds me of a UCD Arts student for some reason (The sterotypical nom ones)

Luckycharm

Times , Examiner and Sunday times are good. Indo is pretty rubbish.
Favs
Thornley
Peter O'Reilly
Brendan Fanning is Ok

Idiots
Hook
Franno
Dave Kelly (clueless stick to soccer)
Ward at times.
Stephen Jones

MikeHoncho

damnyanks wrote: »

Can't stand Gerry, reminds me of a UCD Arts student for some reason (The sterotypical nom ones)

I know he doesnt come accross great on TV but I think he is by far the best rugby writer we have. He really knows his stuff and I always find his articles interesting.

raven136

he is great on the radio as well,does excellent stuff for off the ball.O reilly in the sunday times is excellent.

whats people's opinions on Ciaran Cronin in the tribune,he certainly doesnt like eos

moe_sizlak

gerry thrornley is good as long as you dont have to look at him , i buy the sindo so and read hooky but then again i love the hookster at anything he does

wixfjord

Neil Francis is the equivelant of ian o doherty. Its all sensationalist tripe.

toomevara

Dont know about specific papers, When it comes to rugby I read certain writers, and will often buy papers I wouldn't ordinarily wipe me hole with,i.e. the Sindo, The Daily Telegraph, if a good rugby pundit is on the books...

The guys who really know their rugby are, imo (and in no particular order):

Tony Ward (Indo)
Nigel Melville (The Guardian)
Eddie Butler (The Guardian)
Neil Francis (Trib)
Stuart Barnes (The Times, I think)
Shaun Edwards (The Guardian)
Kevin Mitchell (The Observer)

and to amply fill my hump of hatred I read:

Paul (the voice of rugby, ho ho! how we laughed) Ackford (Telegraph)
George (mad as a bag of badgers) Hook (anyone who'll have him)
Stephen (don't know me arse from me elbow) Jones (Sunday Times)

Sandwich

Much of a muchness between Irish Times and Irish Independent, and both pretty good.

Franno beats them all the individual writers tho and his contribution alone is worth the price of Trib every week.

Santa Claus

Over the years I've met Tony Ward and Gerry Thornley at AIL games and Wardy was a bit up his own arse whereas Thornley was very sound and enjoyable to chat to (which is the opposite of what I would have assumed...and no I'm not a southsider or former ucd orts type).

I like Hooky. He's like the slight mad uncle who has an opinion on everything and comes out with ridiculous statements but makes you laugh. Also he's always predicting munster defeat which as a leinster supporter is very reassuring to hear

Suprised no-ones mentioned Matt Dawsons brilliant but brief Journalism career during the lions australian tour

Stev_o

Santa Claus wrote: »

Suprised no-ones mentioned Matt Dawsons brilliant but brief Journalism career during the lions australian tour

He still does it for the Irish Mail or something remembering reading it should really stick to teaching Reddan then putting pen to paper

Snickers Man

Thornley is excellent. Don't know what it is about his looks or his accent that gets up people's noses. There are uglier men and WAY stupider sounding accents in this country.

Also, Francis is a bit up his own arse but I think he's very astute and normally very accurate in his predictions for how games are going to pan out. OK so he sometimes gets the results wrong but who doesn't. I rate him as a knowledgeable guy.

I also have a soft spot for Hook, although he's daft as a brush.

Stuart Barnes I want to shoot but I fear it would be a waste of lead.

Also, any Australian journalist who writes on the game is, so far as I can see, a waste of oxygen.

Santa Claus

Slight off topic but Best rugby pundit of the world cup coverage for me was Andy Robinson. He and Matt Williams did some analysis before the france game and the quality of the pre match video reviews etc was brilliant !

Diamondmaker

A special metion I feel must go to Will Greenwood, I love his absolute exhuberance school boy like excitement for the game and as a world cup winner you can take a lot of what he says seriously having played with and against all the main guys at this years tournanmet.

He seem good craic too, sort of guy that would chat with a Joe Bloggs fan in the pub.

il gatto

I like Gerry Thornley. I think he has a real passion for the game and comments on more than just tactics and selections etc.
I like George Hook because he's mad and says really innapropriate things and still makes some very good points.
I also like Neil Francis, because even though he can be negative and jaundiced, he says what he thinks, and knows his stuff, rather than some pundits who seem to have been watching different games when you read their match reports. I especially liked it on the Last Word the Monday after the WC final, when Matt Cooper was asking Paul Wallace what he thought of the WC in general. Wallace said he thought it was very competitive and exciting. When Franno was asked, he said "well,sorry for my turn of phrase, but, I thought it was a crock of sh1te!". Briiliant:D

mc23

Stephen Jones is the reason I stopped buying the Sunday Times. I could not support any paper which pays him a wage.
I really enjoyed Satanta's world cup coverage. Not sure if anyone has mentioned him yet but Liam Toland was always worth listening to.

Stev_o

mc23 wrote: »

Stephen Jones is the reason I stopped buying the Sunday Times. I could not support any paper which pays him a wage.
.

Amen to that you'd think after getting everything he's every said wrong he'd shut up but nooooooooo.

Personally i tend to buy Rugby World Magazine, id generally read the Hearald rugby coverage on Fridays out of sheer boredom even if it is the most biased piece of crap you'll ever read.

SIndo well you end up reading about five articles of the exact same argument to the point where you have to read Hooks article to read a rant about his grudge about everything in Rugby these days.

RuggieBear

gerry thornley is hands down the best Irish writer on rugby. Even if he was overly sympathetic to Brennan.

Ward is terrible.

Kelly is as bad.

franno is entertaining but clueless.

cronin is improving....dunno why but he is growing on me.

hook is a buffoon.

Luckycharm

As for Pundits have to say I am a big fan of Emmet byrne he has really surprised me - very technical and being such a recent player gives you a very good insight.

Like Will greenwood as well except during the second RWC semi when he was probally still drunk from englands win.:D

I do like the Rugby club on sky and don't mind Stuart Barnes and Dewi morris. Met them on the piss after the 1st test in Oz - Stuart barnes is tiny in real life and up his own arse but Dewi was a great laugh.

Main presenters Mcguirk and the Setanta guy are muppets though.

Sangre

You've gotta love Stephen 'Gavin Henson is the best player in Europe' Jones.

Stev_o

Sangre wrote: »

You've gotta love Stephen 'Gavin Henson is the best player in Europe' Jones.

The only annoying thing is that he got the whole "ROG and Stringer are sh1te" right and now wont give up his predictions cause he managed to get one thing right

toomevara

Diamondmaker wrote: »

A special metion I feel must go to Will Greenwood

I take it then that you didn't watch ITV's coverage of the SA V Argentina semi? Greenwood was promoted from his usual role as touchline nodding-dog/ unthinking cheerleader for all things English, to actual co-commentator.

What followed was the most nauseating and spectacularly jingoistic commentary I've ever had the displeasure to hear. (Please bear in mind that I supported England all through the competition). The match in question was totally ignored by the rampantly boorish Greenwood who essentially offered us a commentary on the previous nights English game while completely ignoring the actual on field goings-on. Even his co-commentator attempted, fruitlessly, and on a number of occasions to silence the guy.

I was so incensed, that at half time, and I've never, ever done this, I decided to register my dismay on the ITV boards only to find that about five hundred people had beaten me too it, many of them English. By the following day many more had posted.

It was easily the worst piece of TV rugby commentary I've ever heard, and was rather like sitting next to a loud, pissed-up one-eyed, overly opinionated pub-boor. Absolutely shockingly awful...I sincerely hope the guy never,ever gets near a microphone again...

wixfjord

Yep your right about greenwood being a crap co commentator alrite. The way he went on about the England France game during the second semi was sickening. I find him good on shows like the Rrugby Club on sky tho he seems to know his stuff and not just about english rugby. Makes a change from the utter sh!te Barnes and Morris talk most of the time.

toomevara

wixfjord wrote: »

Yep your right about greenwood being a crap co commentator alrite. The way he went on about the England France game during the second semi was sickening. I find him good on shows like the Rrugby Club on sky tho he seems to know his stuff and not just about english rugby. Makes a change from the utter sh!te Barnes and Morris talk most of the time.

Yep, i'd agree..he's alright in very small doses, a sort of pub-idiot cameo role, but totally lacks the ability/talent/gravitas to carry off a main commentating gig

RuggieBear

toomevara wrote: »

I take it then that you didn't watch ITV's coverage of the SA V Argentina semi? Greenwood was promoted from his usual role as touchline nodding-dog/ unthinking cheerleader for all things English, to actual co-commentator.

What followed was the most nauseating and spectacularly jingoistic commentary I've ever had the displeasure to hear. (Please bear in mind that I supported England all through the competition). The match in question was totally ignored by the rampantly boorish Greenwood who essentially offered us a commentary on the previous nights English game while completely ignoring the actual on field goings-on. Even his co-commentator attempted, fruitlessly, and on a number of occasions to silence the guy.

I was so incensed, that at half time, and I've never, ever done this, I decided to register my dismay on the ITV boards only to find that about five hundred people had beaten me too it, many of them English. By the following day many more had posted.

It was easily the worst piece of TV rugby commentary I've ever heard, and was rather like sitting next to a loud, pissed-up one-eyed, overly opinionated pub-boor. Absolutely shockingly awful...I sincerely hope the guy never,ever gets near a microphone again...

Yep totally agree. He was appalling that night.

I've met him and he's a decent bloke in real life but he was spouting some cringe inducing ****e on ITV

GreenHell

Think Hugh Farrelly is an excellent rugby writer. Think he is with the Tribune now. Fanning outside of that.

High&Low

I think Thornley is the best Irish rugby writer, he is pretty unbiased and honest when players are performing poorly. Have very little time for the Indo, in particular Tony Ward.

Stephen Jones is a joke, so anti-Irish you can almost see him writing with gritted teeth when we perform well, he loved this world cup. His attitude to Henson being the best player in the world is laughable. The other Sunday Times rugby correspondents are ok and while I dislike Barnes on the tv I don't hate him as much in print.

Sangre

Sangre wrote: »

You've gotta love Stephen 'Gavin Henson is the best player in Europe' Jones.

What baffles me about him is how he still has a job

phog

I like the following but in no particular order:
- Gerry Thornley
- Eddie Butler
- Donal Lenihan
- Ned Van Esbeck (retired or does he write for Emerald rugby?)
- Brent Pope

Cats111

I find it really hard to believe that someone who has played and watched as much top class rugby as Tony Ward can write the complete sh1te that he does. It's drivel from start to finish and his head is up his ass.
Liam Toland is another plank who hasnt a clue.

EdgarAllenPoo

Just because he played rugby doesn't automatically mean he can write intelligibly on the subject. Likewise I'm sure there are a good few journalists who right rugby columns who've never even seen a rugby ball up close.

Pride Fighter

Sangre wrote: »

You've gotta love Stephen 'Gavin Henson is the best player in Europe' Jones.

You mean Stephen ' the Welshman who wants to be English' Jones.

DirkVoodoo

I like Neil Francis.

I thought himself, fitzy and matt williams formed a really good pundit partnership on setanta.