Isn't that what makes a commentator good?! It p*sses me off no end when Eddie and Stevo spend more time talking about an incident that happened 10 minutes ago than they do talking about the game in front of them (and are often wrong about said incident).

Commentators commentate. Analysers analyse. They aren't there to be controversial.


The only thing I don't like about Woods is that he doesn't sound like he's genuinely enthused by the game, he's just talking about it.
French just can't keep up anymore. It's embarrassing at times how bad he is. And they've given him the Catalans game, where no doubt well hear "Thomas Bosh" said 1000x, as well as the weight of the pack and the address of each players amateur club. Basically completely useless facts as filler.

Isn't being hypercritical what a true fan would do?

Quote ="JEAN CAPDOUZE"BBC will televise 2 Challenge Cup matches this weekend: Wigan vs St Helens Saturday at 14.15 on BBC One and Catalans vs Warrington Sunday at at 14.45 on BBC Two. The commentators on BBC One are the superb Dave Woods and the [itoujours stupide[/i Jonathan Davies. The commentators on BBC Two are [ile retraite [/iRay French and [iencore stupide[/i Jonathan Davies. www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01hpwrq So Wigan vs St Helens has the prestige coverage and Catalans vs Warrington fans are insulted twice. The match is on BBC Two, which is the second channel. And the match is commentated not by the number 1 rugby league commentator in Britain, Dave Woods, but by a very old and sometimes confused man named Ray French along with Davies. We have to ask: why is it happening like this? Is French being asked to work in Perpignan because his name is "French?" He can still give fair analysis after something has happened, but often he cannot follow the fast play, he is sometimes confused about the names of the players, and so he should be only in the post match commentary.'" And you wonder why people consider the French to have a chip on their shoulders...?

Quote ="JEAN CAPDOUZE"BBC will televise 2 Challenge Cup matches this weekend: Wigan vs St Helens Saturday at 14.15 on BBC One and Catalans vs Warrington Sunday at at 14.45 on BBC Two. The commentators on BBC One are the superb Dave Woods and the [itoujours stupide[/i Jonathan Davies. The commentators on BBC Two are [ile retraite [/iRay French and [iencore stupide[/i Jonathan Davies. www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01hpwrq So Wigan vs St Helens has the prestige coverage and Catalans vs Warrington fans are insulted twice. The match is on BBC Two, which is the second channel. And the match is commentated not by the number 1 rugby league commentator in Britain, Dave Woods, but by a very old and sometimes confused man named Ray French along with Davies. We have to ask: why is it happening like this? Is French being asked to work in Perpignan because his name is "French?" He can still give fair analysis after something has happened, but often he cannot follow the fast play, he is sometimes confused about the names of the players, and so he should be only in the post match commentary.'" And you wonder why people consider the French to have a chip on their shoulders...?

Ray French the former Cowley School modern languages teacher?

Some commentators are annoying - granted, but what really grinds my gears is the insistance of both Sky and the BBC to show replys of innocuous play of the balls or clips on the coachs whilst play is still on going. I've lost count the amount of times I've missed a piece of play because I'm looking at the 13th angle of the same knock on from 10 minutes ago.

You are so dumb.



You can't see that you are making my point for me.



Only 9 French born players out of 17 is a joke. The only SL team in France based in the RL heartland with several years in SL and they manage only 9 - with just 8 versus the Giants.

15 of 25 are french....wow! A few more Frenchmen get picked when Catalans play a championship side. Yet when the opposition is more challenging it drops to just 8.

No discernable increase in French players at Catalans over the last 5 years and the best French half back of thelast 10 years has been shoved out on the wing.



Possible a minority of french players in the 17 versus the Wolves. Great news for Ray French, les so for French rugby league.

Yes.

You can't criticise the Catalans when a certain English club in the so called heartlands fielded 11 overseas players against Wigan at the weekend (and had another one injured on the sidelines).

Nonsense. Of course I can. HKR or other clubs fielding 10 or so overseas players is very poor. It does not justify the catalan situation. They have a larger 'legal' cap than all other SL teams and they have virtually no SL competition for French players.

Furthermore they have had very few French players in the 1,6.7, 9 (and ball playing 13) slots. They have been preparing for SL since around 2004 under Steve Deakin.From a whole country how many 'top 6' French SL players aged 19 - 22 have they produced?

Try promoting RL in an area where RU is King and RL has been actively discriminated against for years. They are doing no better or worse than any other club, and they are now attracting 5 figure crowds, something that almost half the sides over here cannot do.

Why do you expect a team to sacrifice on-field success in favour of playing 'local' players? Are there any other Super League clubs that you have these expectations of?

Thanks to the success of Catalans, France's U16's team recently whitewashed England in a series. Last year, France U18's beat Australia, with the majority of the squad playing a year above their age group. There are numerous other young French players contracted to Catalans such as Barthau, Gossard, Pala, Bosquet, Maria, Marginet and others who are more than capable of being very good Super League players, but cannot currently get into a settled Catalans team which is challenging for the double. To expect Catalans to find a place for all these players each week simply because they are French is frankly ridiculous. Maybe if other Super League clubs such as your own were less insular and were willing to look further than your own back yard for talent then there wouldn't be an issue and Catalans could go on developing the sport in their own way, by creating a top-class team with a backbone of French players and world-class imports. To attempt to criticise them for wanting to be successful is absolute stupidity, especially when other clubs ignore the obvious benefits of tapping into the French talent surplus.

You are right, it is not a justification. But it does put it into perspective and stops you being able to single them out.

?
They do? Not disputing this, but I haven't seen any evidence that they get exemptions on players that other clubs do not. Perhaps you could show us this? Or are you just assuming?



You keep saying "from a whole country" like it's some kind of valid argument. In reality, it's not "from a whole country". The number of players in France is tiny compared to the UK. They do not have the benefits of being able to get academy cast-offs from other fully professional clubs 10 minutes down the road. They have to produce all of their own full time pro players. Whilst there are a few players at French Elite clubs that could with a bit of work become decent SL players, they still need a few years investment.

Again, it not being a justification, but how many English players in the 1, 6, 7 and 9 positions have Hull KR produced? Or some of the other lower-end SL clubs? You can't just single them out, and basing it on a whole country is just a poor attempt at tipping the argument in your favour. In reality, they have a small region to work with just like any other SL club.

There is a huge amount of RL played in the South of France. They are doing worse than many clubs given their catchment area and the strong RL tradition in their region.

Show me where i said that? Even once. Or are you answering imaginary posts?

You have implied that they should be fielding more French players because they are the only Super League club in that region.

If there was one Super League club in the North of England, would you expect it to be made up of entirely English players? No, the likelihood is that it would be similar to a Wigan or Leeds, many of the better English players coupled with top-class imports. Catalans want to be the best they can be, expecting them to fill their team with French players simply because they are the only French club is stupid.

In addition, the 'South of France' is not a small region. For Catalans to sign a player from Toulouse is the equivalent of a player from Hull signing for Warrington. To sign a player from Avignon would involve an even greater distance, in a different direction. To expect Catalans to be responsible for the development of this entire region is completely unrealistic. Of the u18's squad that beat Australia last year, only four are contracted to the Catalans' feeder club, which is about what would be expected given the demographics of the region.

:38vopt24

Why should someone refering to HKR stop me pointing out the dearth of quality french players? only 8 French born players versus Huddersfield is poor IMO. And clubs like HKR / wakey having 10 at times does not change that.

If you want to check out the French salary cap as SLE for it. You will get it in Euros, it has been consistently a couple of hundred thousand pounds higher than UK clubs. HTH.

Where do I :38vopt24[u:38vopt24keep saying[/u:38vopt24.

If people think only 8/9 French players making the Dragons team is good for the french game so be it. I disagree.

i am pleased to hear that the Catalans cap is likely to be brought in line with other SL clubs and the pressure for clubs to limit their non fed trained players will be re intensified.

I have already pointed out a number of more than capable French players who are contracted to Catalans but are unable to find a regular place because of the strength and depth of the squad. Accusing them of not developing players is ignorant in the extreme.

You are seriously suggesting that signing top-class overseas imports is the same as signing juniors from outside a club's catchment area? In that case, why should the onus be on Catalans to develop these players more than any other Super League club? As I've already pointed out, Catalans already have a surplus of talent, and they have their own youth systems in which they bring through more than their share of local juniors. Like I said, only 4 of last year's victorious France U18's side are contracted to Catalans. There isn't enough room at a single club to properly develop so many young players and still be competitive. It's absolutely baffling to me that so many Super League clubs are ignorant and oblivious to this talent pool, or think that all French players should have to play for Catalans. Like you've said, it's an entire country. To expect one club in one region to be responsible for the entirety of that country is absurd.

Just out of interest, have you ever actually been to France and are you aware of how large the country is?

So tell us pray do, how many club trained players did Hudds have when they played Catalans?
Huddersfield failed to fulfil their U20s fixture last week v Wigan. That is the second season they have done that.
We'd all like more "local" players in our squad no doubt at Hudds too!
Catalans is a massive success story for RL.

Eh?

So you're insulted by the fact that the BBC actually wanted to show your game?

Of course you are on BBC2. That is because yours is the Sunday game and it's been that way for, well, years.

The Wigan-Saints game is the match of the round and there are reasons for that: firstly, it's one of if not the best derby game around and secondly, Wigan and Saints are the two biggest names in the Challenge Cup because Wigan have won the most Challenge Cups and Saints the second most Challenge Cups. So what did you expect exactly?

As for the commentators ... Dave Woods is ok but only ok. Really the only advantage he has over Ray French is that he can remember people's names, unlike Ray French. But I'm sure Ray will give it his best shot.

We need to teach Phil Clarke first.

The bigger question for our French friend is what tv channel are showing the game in France? None

Start your moaning with them before you start having a pop at our channels. Don't forget to pop a cheque in the post so you can pay the licence fee as well.

Paris half a dozen times. Perpignan 4 + Toulouse twice. HTH