Mark Pougatch, Jonny Wilkinson, Sir Clive Woodward and Lawrence Dallaglio are preparing to go live on ITV. Photo: Jeremy Wilson
Looking like a lawyer ready to take on his case, Sir Clive Woodward arrived at ITV studios in Ealing during England's debacle in Chile, clutching a large black folder full of handwritten notes.
Two decades have passed since Woodward led England into world war. Cup glory and while rugby talk will always come third in the game (his favorite is 'at a distance') and then in coaching, there are still the nerves and adrenaline of being broadcast live to several million homes.
A team of more than 100 people can take care of everything in 10 hours of coverage, from high-tech graphics and lighting to fast video editing and encyclopedic statistical research, but once the cameras roll, anchor Mark Pugach and his team of experts are left physically alone. .
“Let's get started guys… good luck,” is the last message from the gallery, a nearby multi-screen center, as the clock counts down the last ten seconds.
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A center with several screens where the gallery team communicates with Pugach and experts. Photo: Jeremy Wilson «There's a lot to explain»
With pulpits before them, Woodward, Johnny Wilkinson and Lawrence Dalaglio were compared to candidates in election debates. However, unlike politicians, the mantra is not to gloss over any complicated details, but to flesh them out.
And if you have any doubts, remember that the World Cup is only held once every four year and that many people will be attending a rugby match for the first time. This is one of the reasons why former referee JP Doyle is always on hand to debunk the complexities of rugby's rule book.
“There will be rugby stalwarts who sometimes say, 'Don't explain it, we know.' it's already,' but we want it to be inclusive, we don't want to alienate viewers who might tune in for five minutes and have never watched a game in their lives,” says Phil Heslop, ITV's lead program editor.
“Ultimately we want to grow the game and encourage people to watch and play it. We always say, «Don't worry about explaining it because you might alienate a couple of viewers who already know it.» There will be millions more who will not.” Four or five million people might turn out for a game against England (the peak figure was almost six million). How many of them are avid rugby players? Probably around half a million.”
Dallaglio, a former England captain who regularly appears as a pundit for more specialized Premier League rugby audiences, believes there is a need to find a “balance.” «I'd like to think you can immerse the viewer in the hearts and minds of the players,» he says.
“Obviously this is a very technical issue, so unfortunately there is a lot of explaining involved sometimes. You have to balance the explanation so as not to upset the seasoned rugby fan. But for a tournament like this where a lot of people are going to play maybe one or two rugby matches a year, you're trying to explain. I think sometimes less is more. The soundtrack of any rugby match is the noise in the stadium and as a pundit or commentator you shouldn't talk about it. We don't always get it right… [but] we try. Your job is to improve the audience's experience.»
«It's a little sad to talk about what you did before.»
With England finally finding their fluency, Saturday's coverage can focus solely on rugby and the decisions that now await England manager Steve Borthwick. Yet even a routine win over Chile is a roller coaster behind the scenes, with teams of editors working feverishly to prepare clips and Heslop constantly discussing talking points and unseen ideas with Pugatch, Woodward, Wilkinson and Dallaglio.
< p>The Most The big problem comes when big news breaks — as happened last Thursday when France's Antoine Dupont broke his cheek — and the best-laid plans were to rush into discussions about what it might mean for the tournament.
When the unexpected happens, as with the Euro 2021 final which was so marred by turmoil, ITV is fortunate to have a presenter in Pugach with the journalistic instinct to change course and ask the right questions.
Three Worlds England Cup-winning experts also agree that it is important not to dwell too much on what they collectively achieved 20 years ago. “Talking about what you did is actually a little sad… although sometimes you have to mention it since you ask,” Dallaglio grins.
Wilkinson tries to talk only about what he actually knows — and, fortunately, there are quite a lot of them — and is especially interested in how emotions shape a match. “I approach this with great diligence,” he says. “I’ve worked my whole life to talk about what I talk about. It must be genuine. I am interested in performance, what is needed for a performance — team spirit, cohesion and the whole psychological side. The statistical side is interesting to me, but I have always been on the side of the human factor.”
Wilkinson in makeup before going live Photo: Jeremy Wilson “I’m watching now and I’m grateful that I’m not. I'm playing'
All the experts will travel to France after the quarter-finals, when ITV's virtual 24-hour operation will be physically moved across the English Channel for the final three weeks. This will mean traveling by truck to Marseille and Paris, from where Heslop and his gallery team will interact with presenters and experts who are either pitchside or in studios inside the stadium. «In the really big games you have to be there,» says Heslop.
With Jill Douglas and Gabrielle Clarke leading the team on the field in France, the group stage will still feature an inside look. this gigantic green studio in West London, which thanks to the wonders of technology and the alignment of points on the roof, gives the audience the atmosphere of a Parisian evening.
It is quite possible that fans stopped Woodward several times, wondering what he was doing at home in Berkshire, when he had just covered the match in Marseille.
Thanks to the wonders of technology, it seems to home viewers that the report is coming straight from Paris. Photo: Jeremy Wilson
On Saturday, after a half-hour deconstruction of England's 71-0 win, there will be a 15-minute break in the ITV evening news before live cameras begin showing Ireland's victory over South Africa again. And when they left the studio, there was a wonderful moment when Woodward, Wilkinson and Dallaglio swapped places with Brian O'Driscoll, Sam Warburton and Rory Best. More than 500 national team players shook hands and paused to briefly consider what might happen next.
“Rugby is a pretty low-key sport: you’re only enemies for 80 minutes and the rest of the time you’re friends,” Dallaglio said, before noting how “pumped up” O’Driscoll and Best seemed. So does all this make him miss the world? «When you play, it's the best thing in the world… but I couldn't play another game at all,» Dallaglio says. “I watch it now and I’m grateful I’m not playing.”
Woodward still likes to pick the brains of former players. «We all support our teams, but you also want their teams to play well,» he says, facing Warburton, O'Driscoll and Best, before admitting the former Wales captain got him thinking he calls the «brains trust» of the Ireland coaching team.
There is also very palpable optimism about England right now. Woodward believes Borthwick should start with his best team against Samoa in the final group game, and in his opinion this most definitely means Owen Farrell will remain in the half in place of George Ford.
“Do statement—say, “This is my strongest team,” he says. “I love Owen Farrell — I think he's a modern Jonny Wilkinson. I'm surprised how much negativity there is around him. He's an absolutely brilliant player. Personally, I'd stay with him and consider bringing in Ford. I think England have arrived for the World Cup.»
ITV Rugby World Cup coverage
ITV's live coverage of the Rugby World Cup continues on Wednesday with Uruguay v Namibia at 4pm, plus games including including New Zealand — Italy (Friday). , Scotland v Romania (Saturday) and South Africa v Tonga (Sunday) on ITV1
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