The verdict on Scotty and Beaver
The post-mortems came thick and fast once the All Blacks crashed out of the Rugby World Cup on Saturday night, as pundits picked over every little thing that happened in Yokohama.
But what of the Spark Sport presenters who were facing their own daunting task? It’s not every day you get to cover the All Blacks’ first World
Cup exit in 12 years, after all.
Once upon a time, we relied on Sky’s Grant Nisbett and his dulcet tones to guide and reassure us through these stressful play-off situations. This year, of course, that job fell to the combined Spark Sport/ TVNZ team, led by Scotty Stevenson in the commentary box and James Gemmell in the studio.
So with the dust finally settled on that torturous match and the RWC (basically) over, let’s cast a critical eye over their efforts.
The build-up
I was late to the pre-game coverage on Saturday night, largely because my children believe bedtime to be a social construct. But I needn’t have