'We're kind of like a fat, overweight, totally unfit rugby team...'
It’s a strange old world right now. When RugbyPass caught up with Nick Mullins on September 7 when he was high up in the BT Tower overlooking the kaleidoscopic London skyline, the enthusiastic patter was about the start of the new Gallagher Premiership season on BT Sport. On the grand horizon was the opening of the tenth live campaign of the tournament on the upstart broadcaster that first muscled in on the English live rugby TV rights scene back in 2013.
Just over 24 hours later, though, those best-laid plans had encountered an unexpected hitch. The death of Queen Elizabeth II had been announced and for a considerable chunk of time afterwards, it seemed that no ball would be played as scheduled that first weekend.
In the end, just the Friday night – including the live TV offering from Ashton Gate – was canned and the Saturday rescheduling of the match in Bristol resulted in a broadcasting blackout of the derby versus Bath due to the satellite trucks having already moved on elsewhere.
Mullins, though, wasn’t left at a loose end. Far from it. There was the Exeter-Leicester match at Sandy Park to cover as planned followed by a Sunday at Kingsholm for Gloucester against Wasps. Both live commentaries passed off sweetly, the sombre note struck for the Queen’s mourning morphing into a pair of matches you just couldn’t keep your eyes off.
The rolling with the punches, however, didn’t end there. Just days later, Mullins learned of the death of his old broadcast colleague and good friend Eddie Butler. “While the rest of us fumbled around in the dark to add anything worthwhile, Eddie made it all seem so simple. His genius was delivering effortless poetry and storytelling. We have all lost a unique voice,” he tweeted poignantly.
First time I’ve ever seen myself back. Struck by how often I switch from watching the game to the little screen in the commentary box. Remember Bill McLaren telling me he tried to talk mostly about the things people were seeing on their TV at home.
— Nick Mullins (@andNickMullins) June 22, 2022
Mullins does himself a disservice here. Just 13 weeks ago, the 56-year-old was hardly fumbling around in the dark when it came to him delivering his own effortless poetry, his gripping commentary on the denouement of the 2021/22 Premiership season from Twickenham. “It’s the greatest moment in Freddie Burns’ life” was his spontaneous spine-tingling description of the Leicester sub pulling the trigger and landing the epic title-clinching drop goal.
It’s no surprise to hear the commentator three months later describing it as the favourite moment of his considerable broadcasting career which began way back in the mid-1980s when he first joined the BBC, switching to BBC Radio Sport in 1991.
“I love the Freddie Burns moment at the end of the Premiership final last season because of where we were, the Leicester story, the most extraordinary Leicester story from where they had been a couple of seasons ago and Freddie is one of my favourite people in the entire world. So because my memory isn’t what it used to be, I will go for the most recent which happened to be that drop goal,” he told RugbyPass.
The eruption of crowd noise and Mullins’ appetite to allow it to be heard only added to the perfection of the live TV moment. “As a television commentator, if we are at Twickenham I like to give the 80,000 their time, their voice when we have seen something extraordinary. If I’m commentating on a wonderful piece of play or a big tackle or a fabulous try, I try not to talk over that moment of celebration.
“I remember when I was a football commentator in my early days at Radio Five one of the best bits of advice I ever got from the head of sport starting out was unless what you are about to say is going to be more arresting than the sound of 80,000 celebrating a goal, shut up. That has always stuck with me. It doesn’t matter what the size of the crowd might be or wherever we are, the noise of the crowd and its rise and fall is absolutely part of our sporting experience.”
Mullins was raised in Leicester but insists there was no hint of bias when he came to describing the Tigers’ recent big day versus Saracens at English Rugby HQ. Having an allegiance would only open a messy can of worms when it comes to giving voice to the roller coaster that is the Premiership season.
“I grew up in Leicester, grew up on the terraces in Welford Road, but I promise you – and I not just saying this because I have a PR person standing next to me – when you are a journalist you have no time for affiliations. You travel around and get to know players and coaches and when you get to know people as individuals, as humans at every club.
“You don’t have time to have allegiances because whoever wins the match is not a priority. I just want to make sure that I don’t make some horrific cock-up or misidentify a player or say something ridiculous. I’m equally keen on player A to do well as I am player B. I just want the game to be a good one and the moment you start to introduce allegiances you make the job ten times harder than it is.”
Do you know the best thing about this? I can only see one bloke living this through his phone. Everybody else is doing it the old-fashioned way with their own eyes. Not life through a lens. https://t.co/qzGuvKwKzu
— Nick Mullins (@andNickMullins) June 19, 2022
That said, Mullins does like a good old match day outing with BT Sport at Welford Road. “There is a bit of the Welford Road DNA in my blood but I wouldn’t be alone in saying that Welford Road is one of the great grounds to go to because of the noise. The Stoop is a great place to go these days as well if you can get a ticket, which isn’t so easy to get hold of these days.
“They really put on a show around the match as much as anything, and the new Brentford Community Stadium, largely because there are about 500 pubs worth visiting within 50 feet,” he said, naming his three current favourite Premiership grounds to visit, a list onto which he adds Munster’s Thomond Park when it comes to his expanded horizons when covering the Heineken Champions Cup
Mullins is proud that BT Sport have become a voice of authority in the rugby broadcasting business. No one knew in 2013 how they might fare as the new kid on the block but their innovations have stood the test of time, something vindicated by how their gambits are now copied as new in football. “There are things that we introduced back then that we are now starting to see become commonplace in football coverage,” remarked Mullins, harking back to those innocent days nine years ago when BT Rugby came into being.
“Stuff like having the presentation team down on the touchline and not up in some corporate box three miles behind the pitch. Stuff like talking to players on the pitch before the match, stuff like doing post-match interviews with coaches and directors of rugby at our studio table on the touchline. We are seeing this happen in football now and all of a sudden football is saying, ‘Oh my god, this is fantastic’.
How it started. How it’s ending. Been a long season if you’re a pencil or rubber. Let us not speak of the sharpener. Didn’t make it to the end. The final, tomorrow @btsportrugby pic.twitter.com/Loc1Ou3yGo
— Nick Mullins (@andNickMullins) June 17, 2022
“We have got Erik ten Hag coming across and he is joining the guys on the touchline and they think they have just reinvented the wheel. We have almost made a rod for our own back in those early days because the production team who look after the rugby at Sunset+Vine – who introduced all the innovations in Channel 4’s cricket coverage all those years ago – have been looking after rugby.
“So they gave it the Sunset+Vine treatment back in 2013 and as much as we have tried to do things differently, it’s actually not that easy sometimes. Partly because we are aware that every time we bring in an innovation, our innovation is someone else’s annoyance and I understand that not everyone totally buys into us suddenly chatting with Rob Baxter 20 minutes into the game at Sandy Park.
“But genuinely we have had a presentation this morning [September 7] from the guys who are going to be looking after our statistics and graphics side of things and we are going to see stuff on screen this season that we have never done before. We are moving it up in terms of helping hopefully to understand what we all know is a complicated game in a way that even people as stupid as me will understand.
“It’s about bringing in new audiences, attracting them to things that perhaps they don’t see right now in other sports, being able to innovate because rugby is one of those sports that is genuinely forward-looking so hopefully the stuff we are doing now is the stuff that football might be saying in ten years’ time, ‘Hang on, look at this new thing we are doing’ when actually we all know that BT Sport and rugby were doing that ten years previously.”
Thank you for tolerating us through another season. Let’s get together again in September. pic.twitter.com/Nmwk4w2Z0c
— Nick Mullins (@andNickMullins) June 18, 2022
That said, there is no hubris from Mullins or BT Sport. They know how fickle the business there are in is and it was only in December 2020 that it was widely speculated that Premier Rugby were on the verge of jacking in its relationship with the broadcaster and jumping in with a different provider.
In the end, they stuck by BT Sport and will do so until 2024 when the rights are next scheduled to go to market. For Mullins, the tension two winters ago was a sharp reminder that nothing lasts forever in professional sport. “It is something that all of us as journalists/broadcasters have become accustomed to over the last decade or so,” he admitted.
“The world that we aspired to move into when we were teenagers isn’t the world we live in now, we know that. We know that journalists and newspapers, radio and television have changed and we live in a world of shifting sands, particularly in the world of sports contracts. I worked at the BBC for what felt like 500 years and felt I had a job for life and one of the first things you realise when you move into the freelance world is that life works in two, three maybe four-year cycles if you are very lucky.
“It is disruptive and you have moments where you think, ‘Crikey, how am I going to pay the mortgage next year if BT Sport don’t renew?’ But it is just the nature of not my job but of the world we all live in now whatever job you do. What I would say is if it sounds on the telly at the weekend that we all get on and we all enjoy each other’s company at BT, that is because we do.
Consider your Saturday and Sunday SORTED! ?
We've a repeat of last season's semi-final between Harlequins and Saracens ?
? On Sunday, Worcester Warriors welcome Exeter Chiefs to Sixways before #RugbyTonight.#GallagherPrem
— Rugby on BT Sport (@btsportrugby) September 16, 2022
“We are kind of like a fat, overweight, totally unfit rugby team at the start of our pre-season. We are not going to go and play rugby but we are hopefully going to talk about it in a way that if you are listening to us at home you’d be happy enough to join in with us if you were next to us in the stands. I’m pleased we are going to get the chance to do that again and I’m pleased that all the people who brilliantly produce the thing at Sunset+Vine have got some security as well.”
- BT Sport is the home of Gallagher Premiership Rugby. The new season continues with Harlequins versus Saracens at 2.30pm on BT Sport 3 on Saturday, September 17. Visit www.bt.com/sport/rugby-union
Comments on RugbyPass
I certainly don’t miss drinking beers at 8am in the morning watching rugby games being played in NZ.
1 Go to commentsThis looks like a damage limitation exercise for Wales, keeping back some of their more effective players for the last 20/25 minutes to try and counter England’s fresh legs so the Red Roses don’t rack up a big score.
1 Go to commentsVery unlikely the Bulls will beat Leinster in Dublin. It would be different in Pretoria.
1 Go to commentsI think it is a dangerous path to go down to ban a player for the same period that a player they injured takes to recover. Players would be afraid to tackle anyone. I once tackled my best friend at school in a practice match and sprained his ankle. I paid for it by having to play fly-half instead of full-back for the rest of that season’s fixtures.
5 Go to commentsJust such a genuine good bloke…and probably the best all round player in his generation. Good guys do come first sometimes and he handled the W.Cup loss with great attitude.
2 Go to commentsWord in France is that he’s on the radar of a few Top14 clubs.
2 Go to commentsGet blocking Travis, this guy has styles and he’s gonna make a swift impact…!
1 Go to commentsWhat remorse? She claimed that her dangerous tackle wasn’t worthy of a red! She should be compensating the injured player for loss of earnings at the minimum. Her ban should include the recovery time of the injured player as well as the paltry 3 match ban.
5 Go to commentsArdie is a legend. Finished and klaar. Two things: “Yeah, yeah, I have had a few conversations with Razor just around feedback on my game and what I am doing well, what I need to improve on or work-ons. It’s kind of been minimal, mate, but it’s all that I need over here in terms of how to be better, how to get better and what I am doing well.” I hope he’s downplaying it - and that it’s not that “minimal”. The amount of communication and behind the scenes preparation the Bok coaches put into players - Rassie and co would be all over Ardie and being clear on what is expected of him. This stands out for me as something teams should really be looking at in terms of the boks success from a coaching point of view. And was surprised by the comment - “minimal”. In terms of the “debate” around Ireland and South Africa. Nice one Ardie. Indeed. There’s no debate.
2 Go to commentsThere’s a bit of depth there but realistically Australian players have a long way to go to now catch up. The game is moving on fast and Australia are falling behind. Australian sides still don’t priories the breakdown like they should, it’s a non-negotiable if you want to compete on the international stage. That goes for forwards and backs. The Australian team could have a back row that could make a difference but the problem is they don’t have a tight five that can do the business. Tupou is limited in defence, overweight and unfit and the locks are a long way from international standard. Frost is soft and Salakai-Loto is too small so that means they need a Valentini at 8 who has to do the hard graft so limits the effectiveness of the backrow. Schmidt really needs to get a hard working, tough tight 5 if he wants to get this team firing.
3 Go to commentsSorry Morgan you must have been the “go to for a quote” ex player this week. Its rnd 6 and there is plenty of time to cement a starting 15 and finishing 8 so I have no such concerns.
2 Go to commentsGreat read. I wish you had done this article on the ROAR.
2 Go to commentsThe current AB coaching team is basically the Crusaders so it smacks of wanting their familiar leaders around. This is not a good look for the future of the ABs or the younger players in Super working their way up the player ladder. Razor is touted as innovative, forward looking but his early moves look like insecurity and insular, provincial thinking. He is the AB's coach not the Golden Oldies.
10 Go to commentsSimple reason for wanting him back. Robertson wants him as captain. Otherwise he wouldn’t be bothering chasing him. Not enough reason to come back just to mentor.
10 Go to commentsI had not considered this topic like this at all, brilliant read. I had been looking at his record at the Waratahs and thought it odd the Crusaders appointed him, then couple that with all that experience and talent departing and boom. They’ve got some great talent developing though, and in all honesty I don’t think anyone would be over confident taking them on in a playoff match, no matter how poor the first half of their season was. I think they can pull a game out of their ass when it counts.
2 Go to commentsNot a bad list but not Porecki and not Donaldson. Not because they are Tahs, or Ex Tahs, they are just not good enough. Edmed should be ahead. Far more potential. Wilson should be 8 and Valentini 6. Wilson needs to be told by his father and his coach, stop bloody running in to brick wall defence. You’re not playing under the genius Thorn any more. He’s a fantastic angle runner. The young new 8 from the Brumbies looks really good too. The Lonegrans are just too small for international rugby as is Paisami, as is Hamish Stewart at 12. Both great at Super Rugby level. Stewart could have been a great 10 if not for Brad Thorn. Uru should be there and so should Tupou. Tupou just needs good Australian coaching which he hasn’t been getting. I don’t think Schmidt will excite him.
3 Go to commentsIf he wants to come back then he should. He will be a major asset to the younger locks and could easily be played as an impact player off the bench coming on in the last 30. He is fit, strong and capable and has all the experience to make up for any loss in physical prowess. He could also be brought back with a view to coaching within the structures one day. Duane Vermeulen played until he was 37 or 38. He is now a roaming coach within the South African coaching structures. He was valuable in the last world cup and has been a major influence on Jasper Wiese and other young players which has helped and accelerated their development and growth. Whitelock could do the exact same thing for NZ
10 Go to commentsBrett Excellent words… finally someone (other than DC) has noted that Hanigan is very hard and very good at doing what Backrow should do… his performance via the Drua sauna was quite daunting for those on the other side… very high tackle count… carries with good end result… constant threat to make a good 20-25 meters with those long legs… providing his mass effectively to crunching the Drua pack… Finally he is returning to quality form… way to much injury time over the last 2 years… smart-strong-competent in his skills… caught every lineout throw aimed at him and delivered clean pass to whoever was down below… and he worked hard for the whole 80 minutes… Ned has to be in the top 5 for backrow honors… He knows what is required as he has been there before…
20 Go to commentsI think Sam Whitelock should not touch a return with a bargepole. He went out on a high, playing in the RWC Final. He would be coming back into a team that will be weaker than last years, and might even be struggling to win games, especially against the Boks. Stay in France, enjoy another year with Pau, playing alongside his brother.
10 Go to commentsRyan Coxon has been very impressive considering he was signed by WF as injury cover whilst Uru has been a standout for QR, surprised neither of those mentioned
3 Go to comments