Rugby is one of the world’s fastest-growing sports, with millions of people watching it globally. Some of the contributions to the sport are the female commentators who have consistently provided audiences and fans with in-depth analysis and coverage of major events and tournaments in rugby.
Sara Orchard
A distinguished sports commentator for the BBC, Sara is a popular voice for rugby fans, covering events like the Six Nations clashes and the Women’s Rugby World Cup.
She is also working for BBC Radio 5 Live, covering rugby events.
Layla Arrison
She is the first female English rugby commentator in South Africa, and she made her debut at the Singapore Sevens for SuperSport. Her recent works include the July Test match against Portugal and the 2024 Rugby Championship match, along with match build-ups on Springbok Test matches.
She was also part of the international commentating team at the Singapore Sevens Tournament.
Maggie Alphonsi
She is currently working as a commentator for ITV, England Rugby TV, BT Sport, Sky Sports, and BBC. She also works during live rugby matches for media outlets such as Stella Magazine, BBC’s Children in Need, and The One Show.
Maggie became the first-ever former female player signed by ITV to commentate on men’s international rugby for the 2015 Rugby World Cup. She is also the first female to become a columnist for The Telegraph.
Claire Thomas
A renowned rugby broadcaster, Claire started her career as an intern working for several publishing houses. Her first job role came with Sky Sports as a digital broadcast journalist. Since then she has been covering rugby events and tournaments for networks like ITV, BBC Five Live, and TNT Sports.
She travels around the world to cover prestigious tournaments. She was recently in Rome to cover the Six Nations.
Danielle Waterman
The 36-year-old and former Red Roses player made her commentary debut in 2020 for ITV for the men’s Six Nations. With that she became the first female rugby commentator on the men’s game, with over 4 million viewers gained. But the coverage gathered some controversy over social media, leading to issues of a woman covering a men’s game.
But after three months she returned back to the commentary box along with support received from South African former player Bryan Habana. She has also been working as a commentator for Channel 4 on England games.
She covered England’s glory against France to win the Women’s Six Nations grand slam match in April 2025.
