Newcomer Setanta shows potential to be serious player

TV View: Where are all those new-found show-jumping aficionados discoursing at length on Cian O'Connor's achievement in claiming a gold medal for Ireland in the Athens Olympics, discussing the merits of a big oxer or analysing Waterford Crystal's six-stride approach to the combination?

It was a question that struck this column on Saturday as the remote control accidentally fell to the floor and alighted on the CNBC channel. We were looking for Setanta Sports and their inaugural weekend of live Celtic League rugby coverage.

There it was: the Samsung Nations Cup in Bratislava, a show-jumping extravaganza but without a green-jacketed rider in sight. And so with the promise that after the break we'd get to witness the second riders from Austria, Hungary and Germany, this column took flight, fickle to the core.

Curiosity meant getting out of bed early for the "full, delayed, live transmission", on oxymoron in reference to the showing of Munster's game against the Neath/Swansea Ospreys. The game had actually taken place on Friday night in Wales.

It was typical early-season fare: a plethora of errors as both teams tried to bed in new players and cope with the absence of sundry others. In this respect Munster suffered to a greater extent, short about 10 first-choice players.

Quite apart from the game, though, was the interest in seeing how Setanta would package their rugby coverage. They managed with extreme competence. They took not alone the feed from BBC Wales but also the commentary, producing a kind of 'lilty of the valleys' effect.

Former Welsh legend Jonathan Davies provided sharp analysis, albeit from a singular perspective.

The Ospreys had enough ball to win three matches but drifting into injury time they found themselves just 20-10 ahead, a fact that grated with Davies, who was more than a little miffed by the home team's profligacy.

In the end though the Ospreys came through 34-17, racking up a bonus point with a fourth try in injury time.

As far as this column could discern, there was no studio analysis either before or after the game, and the programme was none the poorer for that.

The second rugby transmission on the Saturday was a bone fide live clash, this time Ulster's visit to Murrayfield and a clash with Edinburgh.

Once again Setanta deferred to the local broadcaster but there was a little pre-match banter, this time between commentator Jim Hay and the former Lions centre from Scotland Scott Hastings. The analysis and commentary were again easy on the ear.

If there is one gripe it's that Setanta will be at the mercy of the host broadcaster in terms of cameras and the angles they provide. Sky have pretty much taken the goalposts and moved them to a different stratosphere when it comes to producing blanket coverage of any incident be it in soccer or rugby.

There were one or two moments at Murrayfield on Saturday when the commentary team would have wished for a better view. But this is a relatively minor quibble.

Many punters are happy to do without the pre- and post-game studio dissertation, preferring to simply enjoy the game with their own eyes. While Setanta adopted a minimalist approach in terms of the rugby, the same cannot be said of their soccer coverage.

While Republic of Ireland boss Brian Kerr and his charges were seeing off Cyprus by a three-goal margin at Lansdowne Road, Setanta viewers were able to assess Ireland's other opponents in the World Cup qualifying campaign, starting with Switzerland's 6-0 romp against the Faroe Islands (note to all young footballers: the danger of wearing a tea cosy for a hat cannot be over emphasised. For further evidence see the Faroe Islands goalkeeper).

This was followed by the France-Israel clash from Stade de France, so the pub discussions on the merits of Ireland's upcoming opponents are going to be a great deal more informed.

Ensconced behind the Formica for the day were former Republic of Ireland internationals Ronnie Whelan and Kevin Sheedy, who sifted through the two matches: nothing earth-shattering in terms of analysis but at least there wasn't overkill in terms of panel time.

For the purists there was a National League game between St Patrick's Athletic and Shamrock Rovers in between the two World Cup qualifiers.

In couch-potato terms, it was a deep-crease day and one that suggests Setanta can become serious players in the sports broadcasting battle.