Rugby is my passion.
I love watching it, I love talking about it, I love writing about it. Hopefully that shines through in my work for Sky and the Telegraph. But as much as I enjoy the banter, there are some hard and fast rules to commentating.
First up, do your research. I watch every single Premiership game every season, as well as 95% of European Champions Cup games, all the internationals – without fail and often twice – and as many of the Southern Hemisphere games I can
squeeze in without the wife threatening to leave me. Stats feed insight and you need everything at your fingertips.
Secondly, you have to be honest and you can’t pull your punches.
Finally, and most importantly, you can never, ever forget the Mum Equation. Before I write or say anything, I try to imagine the player’s mother sitting next to me. Would I say it to her face, could I live with her reaction? If I wouldn’t, it gets canned. Passion with control. That’s what it’s all about.
