Did a good job on the beeb.
Is Claire B now persona non grata as she's with another channel for horse racing?

He did well I thought, Claire B sounds wrong doing it but she was alright too. i liked his sign off after the final.

Chapman has done a brilliant job this year, I feared coverage would take a backwards step when Clare Balding had to stop working on the game.

CB's genuine enthusiasm was infectious and as a huge TV personality she did a great job of pulling in casual viewers. Chapman has carried that on and whilst there is still some way to go, the days of having to change channels at half time and the screen beind dominated by soccer scores seem to have been consigned to history.

Dave Woods has grown on me as a commentator, not quite sure why but he is much better covering the Championship than he is on the BBC, perhaps because then he does not have to cater to as wide an audience. The sooner Jiffy stops covering RL the better, you can just tell he isn't interested.

I'm not so sure GO I think he adds quite a lot of cross code credance given that he's been there done that and bought the proverbial Tee shirt twice.

Admittedly one of the best games for years, but, he and Noble on the England V NZ semi couldn't have been more enthused. Perhaps if the usual fare on offer was of more interest...

33 years on Sunday since Mark Chapman shot John Lennon!

That is a fair point, it seems to be the Challenge Cup when he comes across badly, but then we see some poor CC games on the telly lately. I wish they would be a little more adventurous when selecting games, for example Sky got themselves two great games last year in Fev v Cas and Fev v Wigan.

Firstly on Jiffy I admit bias because he is the best Warrington player I have ever seen and is my all time favourite rugby league player.

However I think the criticisms of his commentary are unfair. He has quite high standards and expectations and when the play is mediocre he doesn't say its great just for the sake of it. He sometimes comes across negative because he will pick up on things that would have irritated him if he was a player...."there's no pressure on the kicker there....their kick chase is non existent at the moment". But when play is good he gets enthusiastic. He is the same in the union commentaries.

I accept he's maybe not the best with words, what he says can be a bit repetitive, eg when there's a try, "look at the replay here....there's two dummy runners....sees the gap....hits the line....second man, comes in, BANG! straight through the line! simple try....just simple rugby league.". What you need is a good and articulate commentator alongside him describing the play and then let Davies come in with his observations.

Brian Noble is really good on TV these days IMO. He talks well about the game and is positive and enthusiastic.

Can't disagree with any of that. I just hope George Riley doesn't replace French. Awful commentator from the snippets I have heard and is filled with his own self importance.

Chapman has done alright. Been impressed with him. Thought with him coming from a football background he would sneer when he was presenting and acted like he didn't really care......much like Steve Rider used to do (******* hate that ******* ******), but I've been surprised how much he's taken to it.

Be interesting to see who replaces French though.

I agree with most of what has been said.

I have really enjoyed Mark Chapman's presentation, done a really good job.

My one niggling reservation is, he isn't a RL man.

We already have the clown Hemmings on Sky who know's nothing about the game except endless statistics from yesteryear. I thing Chapman is much better than Hemmings but, still the little niggle.

Just thank your stars it's not either of the sneering horrible pair of Inverdale/Logan.

On Sky I'd love a Vossy/Carney duo

BBC Woods and....hmmm Noble or Kear, Deighton on BBC radio is another good shout.

Mark Chapman did a great job - the fact that he isn't a RL man is fine by me because he doesn't have any baggage and sees it for what it is, and at face value i.e:- a great product, full of skill and drama.

Ray French, Steve & Eddie are all RL men but they send most people groping for the mute button so that argument doesn't really compute for me.

Brian Noble was also great this WC, really talked the game up and also has credibility to the audience given he is a current SL coach. I also thought Wilkin did well in the studio summary role; articulate, knowledgeable and not bad on the eye for the ladies.

Yeah I wouldn't say being a 'RL man' is particularly an advantage for a presenter. Surely if you want to attract a wider audience its better having someone that a non RL audience is familiar with in a different context, it looks more exclusive if we just have RL men all the time.

I get the feeling that to be classed as a RL man you have to be northern and cliched, eg Alex Murphy, Gary Schofield etc

Chapman presented MOTD2 on the Sunday following Englands defeat to Zew Zealand.

In the analysis following the first game, in which there had been some robust (for football) play, Chapman and Robbie Savage both made references along the lines of "it was like the rugby league yesterday".

It was obvious that Chapman and Savage had been discussing the events of 24 hours earlier and were hugely impressed by them - a comparrison drawn to RL during the BBC's flagship football programme is, I would imagine, previously unheard of.

Chapman for me is doing a fantastic job, and given his reaction to the defeat against NZ (he appeared to be genuinely gutted), if he isn't an RL man already, he soon will be.

Don't forget that he narrated(the rather excellent)"Rugby League Raw" show that was on a few years ago which followed the National League Play-Offs.

I noticed during half time at Cardiff, he said something to Ray French about when he first met him outside the truck as a young lad, so he must have some kind of background within the sport. Personally I think the smitten outsider image which started with Balding does wonders for the sport. It is one thing hearing how great it is from a northerner with a thick accent, but hearing it from a respected voice in sport carries a lot more weight.

Although Chapmans has a northern accent it is (thank god) not in the Eddie Wareing or even Ray French mould.

Woods / Noble and Jiffy are fine for me and Hunter-Paul and Peacock are good too as guests.

Not sure about the 'roving camera in your face' and 'instant half time comment from the players' works though.

Just a shame it'll be months before we see them on the box doing RL again.

Player interviews at half time...bin that no need.

Chapman has been pretty good, not claire balding wide eyed amazement good but stilll very good, i've liked the pre match stuff where he's played off peacock, Crabtree and Noble and RHP. Some good little talk, hyping the game, and a few little jokes, just the right balance.

I have to disagree on Jiffy, calling it straight or not, wire legend or not, it's just very very apparent that he doesn't watch Superleague, and he's not up to speed with the current product, and even less so with the NRL.

Commentators need to evolve with the product, he hasn't and he's now very early on in the stages that people have complained about French for ages in that, he's old product, he's pre superleague.

This isn't just bore from this current tournament,(it was evident though) but from Challenge cup games over the past couple of years.


(please note, try and read the last couple of paragraphs in jiffy's welsh accent and speech patterns, it's very very easy to do)

I suppose the BBC have to justify paying Jiffy though because apart from a handful of Challenge Cup games & Six Nations he doesn't do anything else unless he is on BBC Wales. Some of the other presenters are on week in week out.

God bless

I wish he'd've done it a decade earlier, so we don't have to put up with "Happy Christmas, War Is Over" every December

I always thought it was "Happy Xmas, War Is Over"

He never sung Xmas in the "song"

Your both correct! "Lets hope its a good one".