Pearce, Travelling Commentator
It was Matthew Pearce of South Africa. And if you tune in again this weekend when the Sunwolves play the Bulls in a 'home' match in Singapore, the voice you will hear will again be that of Matthew Pearce. And it will happen again when the Stormers play there in May.
This follows a request by Japanese organisers to Supersport who chose Pearce for the job which he does so well. And it all sounds so exciting and romantic, a job to make us envious.
The actual process may not be quite as much fun, like the empty hours at a World Cup.
Singapore is over five thousand kilometres from Tokyo, over six hours' flying, a temperature that can differ by as much as 20 degrees. A strange home match. But it was chosen to attract the thousands of expat Japanese, Australians, New Zealanders and South Africans in Singapore to the splendid National Stadium. If you watched the Sunwolves in Tokyo and then in Singapore you would have noticed the difference in crowd reaction from the politeness of Tokyo where there was no booing to the aggression of Singapore where there was.
But back to the commentator.
When Pearce went to Singapore the first time, he was 46 hours in transit and then 36 hours in Singapore. When he arrived he took a taxi to the ground, for it is important to become familiar with the ground and its facilities. They were wonderful.
The magnificent stadium has a roof. When the roof is closed, a cooling system goes into work at the seats which is said to reduce the heat by between four and five degrees. As it was 30 on the day of the Cheetahs match, it was a blessing.
After inspecting the stadium, Pearce prepared for the match – players' names, pronunciations and information all have to be noted and mastered to be used when appropriate. This was a part of what makes a commentator special, as it did for the meticulous Bill McClaren.
Then there was the match and the long trek home. All he saw of Singapore was the stadium and his hotel and what he could see out of a taxi window, not that Singapore is a tourist venue.
This time Pearce sets out from his home in Cape Town on Maundy Thursday and arrives in Singapore at 14.30 on Friday. It should be easier this time as he will not need to go to the stadium and he has commentated this year on matches involving both the Sunwolves and the Bulls, which means that he has much of the information he should have.
The use of Pearce in Singapore may be for just this year, but it is a feather in his cap that he was chosen for the job – the voice of South African rugby.
