TG4 take set and match despite reaching mute point

TV View:A rout in sport is about as enticing as elevator music. It degenerates into a background distraction that only periodically reverts to sharp focus. On Saturday morning this column decided to check whether all the verbal hurt that poured from the French camp following their first-Test defeat by New Zealand would trigger a more resolute display in the second outing.

Sundry French players and their coach, Bernard Laporte, had railed against the disrespect shown by the New Zealand management and - perhaps more acerbically - by the local media; they would respond, we were told, on the pitch.

It should be pointed out here that this was largely a third-string French side, cobbled together to fulfil an IRB tour schedule. They were facing an All Blacks team that is comfortably the best on the planet, a status that may soon be confirmed in the Tri-Nations and later this year in the World Cup.

Saturday's annihilation wasn't a surprise, but neither was the pre-match television prattle that suggested a French backlash - albeit with the rider that New Zealand would win.

Viewers aren't sleepy-eyed enough to buy into this guff, Sky Sports trying to peddle a contest when none is likely. Picking through the hyperbole, it was difficult not to alight on the whole summer touring schedule by Northern Hemisphere teams and take it as a single entity.

Ireland, England, France and Wales had all had their chances of winning compromised by being significantly understrength. This rendered the television coverage strictly non-compulsory unless the viewer enjoyed watching glorified training sessions.

Contrast these mismatches with the gladiatorial splendour of yesterday's tennis final at Roland Garros, which pitted arguably the best male player ever to wield a racquet, Roger Federer, against the claycourt phenomenon Rafael Nadal.

This is the one surface on which Federer has never won a Grand Slam - the only blemish on an otherwise awesome CV.

Nadal is virtually unplayable on clay - as Federer had previously experienced first-hand in Paris - but since Federer had recently broken in tournament play the Spaniard's staggering run of success, his supporters were optimistic.

Clay is all about physical and mental durability and, crucially, patience. It's tennis's version of a chess match; moves have to be thought out three or four in advance; points are hewn through heavy labour rather than collected with a flick of the wrist or a booming serve.

The first 37 minutes of yesterday's final were a classic example, Federer's exquisite ground strokes and slight edge in the exchanges chiselling out five break points. But on each occasion Nadal's athleticism and unbending will saw him outlast his opponent through two of the Spaniard's service games.

TG4 perform a great service in covering the French Open and Wimbledon. It matter's not a whit whether you can speak Irish. They showed yesterday's final live, unlike the BBC, whose coverage did not start until 4pm, some two hours late.

In fact this column soon reached for the mute button - not a criticism of the commentary, more a recognition the pictures needed little embellishment. No soundtrack was required for a contest where enjoyment was derived simply from watching the exchanges: two brilliant athletes at work.

Four minutes changed the course of the first set, Nadal recovering from three break points down on serve to win the seventh game, the clenched-fist salute self-explanatory.

Mr Mo Mentum had changed jerseys, a fact illustrated in the next game when Federer's timing suffered several glitches. A close-up of the world number one's face again spoke volumes.

Nadal, whose bulging muscles readily inspire the term "force of nature", won the set, holding serve with ease. There was no need to verbally contextualise those three games; the pictures - and not just of the tennis exchanges - were worth a thousand sound-bites.

If tennis footage can be viewed in splendid isolation, the same cannot be said of hurling.

During yesterday's Munster hurling clash between Limerick and Tipperary, Marty Morrissey's breathless backing track, allied to the incisive observations of Donal O'Grady, embellished a stirring contest.

The quality of hurling might not have always appealed to the purists but there could be no doubting the tension manifest in a last-minute goal that salvaged a share of the spoils.

RTÉ's studio discussion largely avoided the trite, especially when Pete Finnerty and Anthony Daly were given free rein.

Sky television could take a leaf from RTÉ's post-match analysis, where criticism, when warranted, does not damage the product but actually enhances the coverage, providing a perfect marriage for two of the senses: sight and hearing.

As this weekend showed, it's possible to exercise one or both and still enjoy the spectacle.