The news that RTE will be taking a four-year break from broadcasting the Six Nations caused shock and consternation in the hearts of the Irish sports fan back in 2015 and their final montage after signing off on the 2017 Six Nations last night caused a few fans to shed tears.
Amazing! End Of An Era - RTÉ's Emotional Montage On Conclusion Of Their Six Nations Coverage https://t.co/n4evYLRhr4 via @ballsdotie
— Ste (@Steocon84) March 19, 2017
Here are the eight things we will miss most when the Six Nations kicks off on Range Rover TV3 next year.
1. Ryle
With all due respect to Conor McNamara, Hugh Cahill and Michael Corcoran, Ireland games do not feel like Ireland games unless Ryle is doing the commentary. It is dispiriting to imagine four years without Ryle saying "Craig Joubert" or "Tommy Bowe" or "Wesley Fofana".
So many great Irish rugby moments are also great moments of Ryle.
2. Eddie and his Eddieisms
Over the 2017 Six Nations, O'Sullivan established himself as the most insightful rugby voice in Ireland. O'Sullivan remains in the coaching wilderness, but this winter, people seemed to finally accept that Ireland most successful coach actually knows a thing or two about rugby - he, for instance, was spot on with the calls for Peter O'Mahony to start against England. But it's not just the analysis - it's the unexpected turns of phrases that accompany the analysis. He unfurled a few new ones during this Six Nations, our favourites being 'the full bag of chips', 'take them to woodshed' and this wonderful head/heart analogy:
'Keep the heart in the oven and the head in the fridge' is the secret of success, says Eddie O'Sullivan #RBS6Nations #IrevEng
— Tina Quinn (@Quinnt66) March 18, 2017
Eddie will be sorely missed.
3. The ROG & Shaggy Show
Your classic Irish tall-short combination. The emergence of this duo in the last few years has transformed RTE's rugby analysis from absurd theatre into something actually insightful and educational. Horgan, especially, has figured out a way to be critical without being needlessly provocative and self-indulgent. Dunphy and Brolly could learn a few things.
4. Montages
Arguably the only thing created by RTE deserving of a TV license fees, RTE's rugby montages provide the perfect apertif and digestif to the bloodsport of the Six Nations. They often featured Tom McGurk walking around Dublin 4, reciting poetry, paying tribute to Jack Kyle and provided a reminded that rugby wasn't invented in 1995. We can only hope these people will be redeployed across RTE's original programming department.
5. People complaining about RTE's Six Nations coverage
The amount of rugby broadcast by Ireland's national broadcaster has become a bugbear of many over the last few years, so much so that Nugent has had to take to social media and the print media to defend RTE Sport's track record. Giving out about RTE rugby coverage has replaced giving out about barstoolers as one of the main gripes of Irish sports fans. While we can certainly debate the merits of RTE's boxing or athletics coverage, the fact is, without the Six Nations, there'll be a massive gap in the sport output at the national broadcaster, and it's hard to know what will fill it.
Interesting stats in @sundaybusiness re sport on RTE. Friday night #LoI averages 50k viewers. Rugby u20s avg 155k in same slot. pic.twitter.com/pDlsHf6g5L
— Ross Cunningham (@radioross) March 5, 2017
6. George Hook being wrong about everything
George Hook, despite have no playing pedigree and arguable entertainment and analytical insight, endured as RTE's chief rugby pundit until Ireland's greatest generation of rugby players could take his place in the pundit chair. Generally disliked by all rugby players, his moments of wrongness were the gift that kept on giving
7. Complete nonsense
As straight-down-the-line as RTE's rugby coverage could be, producers showed great interest in doing completely daft things, such as this bonkers futuristic package on the eve of BOD's retirement set 40 years in the future, in an age where rugby is played by robots and men with northside accents worship O'Driscoll.
8. Weird moments of national unity
At its very best, RTE rugby took many of the amazing moments we'd witnessed on the pitch and reflected them against the country's national sporting tradition. It is certainly an illusion that rugby is the national sport of Ireland, but that illusion was built during those Six Nations games on RTE over the last fifteen years, when the entire country seemed to stop to watch Ireland win or lose.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kqu59Z-IKYw
