Surely, in order to get paid to do any job at all, a basic expectation would be that you are in some way capable to perform said job? That being the case, I am at a complete loss to understand how the hell Warren Brosnihan is regularly (I assume) given a pay-cheque to be a Supersport commentator.
He’s been getting my back up more and more with every subsequent piss-poor display during this year’s Currie Cup and I’m afraid I’ve now got to breaking point – I can’t take this idiocy any longer. A mate of mine has a wonderful story about Bill McLaren, the late great “voice of rugby” – and the standard to which all commentators must surely aspire. He witnessed McLaren running up and down the touchlines at a Springbok training session in Edinburgh, running through the players’ names and commentating on the moves as they were practised, all to make sure that he would know all the names (and how to pronounce them) and be able to reel them off on demand during the upcoming test match.
Compare that to some of Brosnihan’s pearlers on Friday evening, which prove without a doubt that he does not know the very simplest thing about any of the players he is commentating on – their names! The “Keegan Daniels” error is now so commonplace that I hardly notice it any more (and Owen Nkumane did exactly the same all game long), but it was some of the others that really got my hackles up. “Lwazi Amovo” was pathetic. This young man is THE form winger in the Currie Cup, Brosnihan. LEARN HIS NAME! “Eugene van Staten” is one that can perhaps just be put down to poor pronunciation, but again shows a virtually criminal lack of preparation.
The mistakes weren’t limited to the Sharks, though. I found it particularly interesting that Os van der Walt at one stage morphed into Os du Randt, whereas the player whose last name actually IS Durandt, replacement flyhalf Clayton, had to be content to become Clayton Dumond. Dumond was playing for the other team, of course. Not that Brosnihan noticed, or cared.
Simply not good enough, Bros. Raise your game.

Feeling better now mate?
Let it all out..
I have to agree with you though.. I listen to the afrikaans commentary if he is on..
@Richard Ferguson (Comment 1) : sometimes a good rant is what is needed to clear the pipes on a Monday morning 🙂
Joel Stransky…. 👿
Well Uli Schmitt and bross should commentate for SABC I say…lol
Agree he drives me nuts, but nothing can compare to the dros that was dished up the week before (or somewhere) with Chester Williams. He was terrible.
Surely, in order to get paid to do any job at all, a basic expectation would be that you are in some way capable to perform said job?
Are you SURE you’re South African??? 😯 😯 😯 😯 😯 😯 😯
i have to add, a guy who you can listen to lately is Ashwin Willemse. whats worse? being a warren brosnihan or a one-eyed Aussie commentator?
you tell ’em Rob 😉
Hey be careful Supersport may get upset and tell us we aren’t allowed to use their content in future as we are taking to much traffic away from their site.
Oh wait.
They’ve already done that. 😕
@molly (Comment 5) :
hehehe
Ever heard Craig Marais?? OMW he is useless!! 🙄
@molly (Comment 5) : Yoh yoh yoh yoh, Chester was the absolute worst ❗
I agree Rob…..It was hugely irritating that BOTH commentators kept referring to Daniels. I heard the reference to Os du Randt and thought it strange but I didn’t know the Leopards team well enough to know whether it’s right or not.
I’m also no fan of Bob, I can’t believe he brought up the “poor reffing” in the Trinations during the Bulls-WP match.
@klempie (Comment 6) : WAHAHAHAHA!! Brilliant 😈 😈
@klempie (Comment 6) : He’s been on the muddy island too long…. 😆 😆
@Pokkel (Comment 15) : i’m intentionally ignoring all of you, just in case you were wondering 😈
Bros aint the smartest. I couldn’t stop laughing when talked about players “confrontating” each other, and had to be corrected by Capostagno.
@molly (Comment 13) :
What?? 😯
Did he actually do that??
Matthew Pearce is quite good.
On a different note. This Marshalls banner on every SW page . . . I`m not comfortable with having a bull welcoming me to our site. Can`t they get a pic of a Shark rather, or can`t they afford one? Of course a flasher girl should draw even more attention 😈
@Original Pierre (Comment 19) : Sharks wouldn’t let Marshalls keep the pic of Kanko.
I lilke Matthew Pierce too. Hahah Rob, I actually had quite the same to say when Bros called him Daniels….mine was something alon the lines of “it’s DANIEL, jou p**hol, NOT DANIELS!!” 😆
@Original Pierre (Comment 14) : Thank you, thank you. I managed to bend the rules VERY nicely there. 😎
@wpw (Comment 10) : Cricket? Dude. TOTALLY agree. When I worked for Hawk-Eye, we used to have a Commentatorwatch in our van, and kept tabs on the commentators (especially regarding cliche’s, etc). CM was ALWAYS top of the lot.
Bladen has made a career out of the kinds of mistakes that Bros makes. It was only a couple of years ago he referred to Sir William Currie (presenter of the Currie Cup to South Africa) twice in one match, and nobody bothered to point out that it is Sir Donald Currie, not William. Not sure why Bros gets to you so much when Bladen does the same and he is considered the top commentator in SA Rugby. Sad really.
@Pokkel (Comment 15) : 😈
@Dancing Bear (Comment 24) : Let’s not even Start on Bladen- I think Rob is trying to avoid a stroke and that is why he ignore Hugh’s commentary completely! Besides, Hugh has a bottle full of excuses for his blapses! 😈
The pearler of the weekend for me was Hugh Bladen though – “Looks like he has added another bow to his quiver” ❓ ❓ 😆 😆
@Ice (Comment 26) : 😆 😆 “bottle full of excuses” I love it…
@Greg (Comment 27) : I remember that. 😆 Wait a minute, the quiver holds the arrows….right….As far as I am concerned, Hugh gets the award every single week, and I am sure he not only gets a nice salary but a very nice retirement package as well. 😉
Stransky gets me going too with “put the muckers on him”, someone should really tell him one day the expression is “mockers”
@Dancing Bear (Comment 29) : Yeah, was in the Lions/cheetahs U21 game.
I agree, it’s irratating when they get Daniel wrong 👿
I also heard the Os du Randt comment and thought that he meant it as a joke or something 😈
Try Time! Ya old old bros is boring and monotonous. His voice kills me. Our comentators are pretty objective but bloody boring and dont seem 2 smart either!
@Dancing Bear (Comment 29) :
And free drinks in the commentary booth!!
Hugh is at least a character… he’s likeable.
Brosnihan just comes across as a turnip
@Clayton(PJLD) (Comment 11) : old chester is a DO!S he can’t do anything right poor old soul
@Greg (Comment 31) : while i’m here and your on great work done on saturday ur team got me a MP and BP was just one point out
@robdylan (Comment 2) : thats the way tell them and we will all stand by u 🙂 😉
The only SA commentators worth listening to are Matthew Pearce and Hugh Bladen, whose errors are at least comical.
The worst are by far Brosnihan, Kempson and Stransky,
I don’t care how biased the Kiwis or Aussies are. I love their humourous comments and banter when the commentate, especially Kearns is a favourite.
And you’ve got to love Mexted-isms:
“Andy Ellis – the 21 year old, who turned 22 a few weeks ago”
“He scored that try after only 22 seconds – totally against the run of play.”
“I would not say he (Rico Gear) is the best left winger in the Super 14, but there are none better.”
“Well, either side could win it, or it could be a draw.”
“Strangely, in slow motion replay, the ball seemed to hang in the air for even longer.”
“There’s a couple of Hore’s on display tonight” (the brothers Charlie Hore (Highlanders) and Andrew Hore (Hurricanes) playing on opposing teams)
“Everybody knows that I have been pumping Martin Leslie for a couple of seasons now.”
“You don’t like to see hookers going down on players like that.”
“This game is a white wash, but the All Blacks are black, these no white teams!”
“I haven’t had a knee operation on any other part of my body.”
“He’s looking for some meaningful penetration into the backline.”
“Spencer’s running across field calling out, ‘come inside me, come inside me.'”
“I can tell you it’s a magnificent sensation when the gap opens up like that and you just burst right through.”
“I don’t like this new law, because your first instinct when you see a man on the ground is to go down on him”
“Darryl Gibson has been quite magnificent coming inside Andrew Mehrtens, and I’m looking forward to seeing more of the same today.”
“There’s nothing that a tight forward likes more than a loosie right up his backside
Try listening to some of the AWEFUL stuff we get in the UK, especially Super 14 games where its Aussie / Kiwi commentators who can barely pronounce a single players name! Not only that but the level of bias from some of them is just laughable, to the point where on some occasions I have muted them, but enough said about that! 😯
@rhineshark (Comment 39) :
my favourite – sharks vs cheetahs – Andy Capostagno saying that bismarck du plessis came on as a replacement for the cheetahs when it was actually Skipper Badenhorst, I mean really. 🙁
@ruud21 (Comment 42) : ah yes… I’d forgotten about that one 🙂 Took me a few minutes to work out what the frick was going on 🙂
my personal fav is Bob Skinstad referring to the boks as “borks”
Go have a look here : http://www.btinternet.com/~homepage/ballsa.htm
😆
I much prefer the Aussie and Kiwi bias. They’re previous Aussie and Kiwi players of course they’re bias, it’s honest, if you don’t want bias commentators, then get commentators from another country. Like SA commentators for Aussie/Kiwi games, but that’s just boring. I enjoy it when commentators gets excited when “their team” scores a try.
I actually think they should have separate commentators based on which team they support. Eng/Sharks/com, Afr/Sharks/Com, Eng/WP/Com, Afr/WP/Com… it sounds stupid, but I don’t care. 😎
I’ve also wondered how an avid rugby supporter, with no commentating training, would do as a commentator for his teams game. Not as the guy who goes, McLeod to Lambie, but rather as the guy who goes…”Yes Hugh that was an absolutely crap move from Kockett, if he continues playing like this I will pack his bags personally.” 😀 …or “Well finally, he makes the break his been attempting to make for 68min, well deserved reward for trying every time he had possession.”
Who would like to hear me as a commentator???
I think it could be quite fun.
They’ve done it in NFL in USA. Only as an alternate to the usual, boring, professional crap!!