... in an interesting, articulate and committed way. He brings out the skill and excitement of the game, second only to Nobby. Be careful what you wish for - if he were to go he'd be replaced by a rent-a-cliche sleep-inducing turn-off for the neutral watcher. I don't get this incessant carping at one of our best assets.

Never been a fan of French. In his prime he would do his utmost to mention each players connection to RU. It turned into a pet hate of mine, but I wish him well in his retirement.

He's not even fit to be a pundit though. Yesterday he made some shocking mistakes.

Jiffy had to explain to him what a forward pass was - and he wouldn't accept it. And Noble had to explain to him the 2 men in the tackle stripping rule - and he still denied there was 2 men in the tackle despite numerous slow-motion replays. Both gave up on trying to correct him. If you don't understand the rules of the game you shouldn't be involved in the game at a broadcasting level.

It's also a bit of a myth that knowing the background of a player if something only Ray can bring to the game. Andrew Voss, commentator for Premier Sports, knows as much about each player as Ray does and he knows the rules - and his commentary style compliments the sport of rugby league.

Objectively he's just not good enough for any broadcasting role in my view. Might be a great human being but if we want to the sport to move forward we have to support what's right for the game.

Or even better, "he can run this 'fooker' " referring to Widnes' hooker Mckenzie...classic French

Respect for RFs achievements in RL, however a poor poor commentator, I'm sorry but he started off as very average and never improved. Eddie Waring did okay as a commentato,he just ended up lampooning the game too much.

Dave Woods, does he still not even understand the sport properly, the guy is a muppet, he can't see the bleedin' obvious, actual commentary on the game itself is just about acceptable.
JD, great, great player, as a pundit he's okay, as a co-commentator he's fooking awful, in the Italy Wales game he stated "they're in" as Italy attacked out wide only for the guy to be comprehensivly tackled in a fairly textbook tackle that was pretty clear to see was going to happen, his whiny, nasally voice doesn't help & I think he is far too negative on the whole & doesn't see everything he should for someone of his level within the game..either that or he won't say what is plainly there to see.

There's only been one great RL commentator in my lifetime & that was Keith Macklin, a god amongst sports commentators, silky smooth delivery, how/why the Beeb gave the commentary to French over him in the early 80s was and remains to me a complete mystery, an absolute disgrace in fact.

As for other non RL types, Barry Davis would have done ok for me, Tony Gubba, Cliff Morgan if only for his enthusiasm & compassion..

Yes Keith Macklin was very, very good indeed - and I only heard him in the latter stages of his career.

Unfortunately he still seems to think a pass that goes forward is a forward pass and that a play the ball should actually be played with the foot!

No place for dinosaurs like that in the game!

He did an audience with night at belle vue one time and was very personable and funny, with a vast knowledge of the game.

Yes whilst some might find it delightful to hear what amateur club somebody played for for the 17th time during the match I'd rather hear the action called.....and correctly.
Yes he cares a lot about RL, but ain't no room for sentiment, all year people on here have been banging on about the presentation of RL on tv and other media (going as far as complaining about a picture of Nigel Wood on a website). He's a poor and often embarrassing commentator who hasn't helped the game he loves by coming up with cringe worthy commentary and making it sound like we are still in 1968.

I think Ray French has gone on commentating on TV for too long. I think the game is too fast for him these days.

But, he's always come across as a genuinely nice bloke and he deserves respect for, not only his history in the sport as both a player and commentator, but also for the kind of man he is.
Criticism of his commentating is probably warranted in this day and age, but isn't necessary or welcome on the day he retires.

As for Jonathan Davies, I quite like him. He'll have a bit of a laugh and a joke, has some insights and just as importantly is known to people and doesn't have a northern accent.

Eddie & Stevo - Eddie I think is a cracking commentator when he sticks to commentating. It's when he starts constantly adding his opinion that it gets annoying.
Stevo - sometimes I really like him, sometimes he's annoying. I'd probably like him a bit more if he left Eddie to the commentating a bit more instead of constantly jumping in. But, like French, Stevo deserves more respect than he's often shown by some people.

For the BBC, I like having Dave Woods as main commentator with Davies and Noble chipping in. I really like Mark Chapman introducing.

For Sky, have Eddie sticking to commentating, with a bit less of a vocal Stevo and one of either McDermott or Jon Wells chipping in. With Carney introducing the programme.