Well, after 15 years of calling rugby, it finally happened on Saturday night.
My voice went on air. I mean, gone. There had been near misses previously.
An unfortunate run-in with some chain smoking French cameramen at the 2018 under-20 world champs had a severe knock-on effect a week later at the London Sevens.
Watch the 2026 Super Rugby Pacific season with every match streaming live and on demand on the home of rugby, Stan Sport
Sean Maloney rides Teddy Wilson home. Stan
That afternoon, while trying to call Semi Radradra, I was reduced to hoarsely punching out “Go get ’em Semi” before my producer yanked me.
There was a rough satay stick that caused a bout of food poisoning in the comm box at Suncorp Stadium for the Brisbane Tens. That came up violent and I was forced to walk.
More recently, I’ve seen voice gremlins get to Wide World of Sports colleague Nick McArdle while hosting Sports Sunday and I know Tony Johnson of Sky NZ had to bail pre kickoff in an All Blacks Test last year.
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Sean Maloney and Andrew Swain on the tools. Instagram
But to lose it 20 minutes into a Super Rugby Pacific game? Absolutely shithouse. Fortunately, good mate Andrew Swain – who I shared a ride home from Canberra with the night before – was sat in the producing chair and made a seamless transition to the headset.
The whole episode was almost too much for expert ex-Wallaby Cam Shepherd who turned ghost white when he thought he was going to have to make the jump across to the play-by play-chair.
Swainy, who’s balancing his Olympic Games curling dream with commentary and production, will go again this weekend for the Queensland Reds vs Western Force game in Brisbane.
THE HBF PARK CURSE
There is no doubting the fight of the Force, nor the quality of their squad and staff.
What is a real drama at the moment for the men in Perth though, is scoring points at HBF Park. In their last five games at the ground they have scored 14, 24, 17, 14 and 17 points.
On Saturday, there was a noticeable frustration from the ‘Sea of Blue’ supporter base.
There have been other low performance curses broken in sporting teams across the globe via some non-traditional methods.
The Boston Red Sox famously brought in a witch doctor to lift the ‘Curse of the Bambino’ before winning the 2004 World Series.
I’m not sure if there are any available before the Force’s next HBF hitout but it might be worth asking around.
Sid Harvey of the Waratahs in action during the round seven Super Rugby match. Getty
THE ICE COLD ‘NARRABRI KID’
Waratahs fullback Sid Harvey was hot off the tee and ice cold through his veins as he kicked the Waratahs to a massive win on Friday night vs the Brumbies.
To give the upset relevance, the Waratahs had lost 17 of their previous 19 matches against the men from Canberra.
To give Harvey’s performance relevance, he was just 12 the last time the Tahs won at the venue.
Sidney Harvey of Australia celebrates his try. Getty
A proud Narrabrian – which I’m assuming is the right term for those from the beautiful town 520km north-west of Sydney, Harvey grew up dreaming of being a Tah and then delivered a perfect night from the tee to earn them what could prove a season-defining victory.
The 20-year-old is also a hugely talented cricketer.
He would join Harry Wilson and former sevens teammate Aden Ekanayake as first picked in any hypothetical Aussie rugby XI.
REDS SWEPT AWAY IN WELLINGTON
While the Waratahs ended a long-standing drought in Canberra, over in New Zealand’s capital, the Reds were looking for their first win at the Cake Tin in 28 long years.
At 24-14 down at oranges there was some hope for Queensland, however a bumbling second half saw the home team run in 28 unanswered points to do it easy.
One upside for the Reds was the return of Tom Lynagh who had been unsighted in 2026.
Tom Lynagh of the Reds reacts at the final whistle in Wellington. Getty
The Wallabies fly half – who’s seen off a few HIA issues in the last couple of seasons along with a couple of injuries – was steady coming on off the bench.
Here’s hoping he can continue to work his way back to regular, issue free rugby.
The Canes’ big win sees them move into tournament favouritism ahead of the Chiefs.
WINNING WALLAROOS
The Aussie women got their Test season off to an excellent start, seeing off Fiji 33-15 in Canberra on Friday. Interim coach Sam Needs debuted six players, including exciting sevens prospect Piper Simons, who had never played a game of XV-a-side previously.
As expected, the Fijians kept the scoreline tight before Aussie speedsters Desi Miller and Maya Stewart iced the result for the Wallaroos.
Stewart, who made her sevens world series debut in Singapore this year, is already the all-time leading try-scorer for the Wallarooos and looks set for a big 2026 if her performance last week is anything to go by.
Maya Stewart of the Wallaroos is tackled. Getty
‘GOOG’ GOLD
Stan Sport caller Justin Harrison has dropped a few beauties into commentary recently.
His best yet was in reference to the Brumbies’ Rob Valetini who was back to his hard-running best in Canberra.
”He’s terrifying. He’s the sort of bloke who visits you in your dreams but you still wake up injured,” ‘Goog’ quipped.
Rob Valetini of the Brumbies makes a break. Getty
ROYALS DOWN WHITES
In a break from tradition, the Canberra Royals took on the Queanbeyan Whites at their joint golf day last week where the Royals finished on top.
Led by Brumbies star Andy Muirhead, the Royals came away comfortable winners on the picturesque and tricky layout. Muirhead was joined by teammate Hudson Creighton and former Wallaby Sam Norton-Knight for the first clash of many between the clubs.
Each of the three hit a decent ball. The day was led by pro Jake Nagle who was in the same playing group as ex-Wallaby Rod Kafer last year when the former fly half landed a hole in one at Federal. “Was never missing,” Nagle told me.