The CEO of World Rugby Brett Gosper has revealed that yesterday’s Women’s Rugby World Cup semi-finals drew record numbers in terms of TV audience.
The tournament, which is being held in Ireland, has drawn great crowds at games but has now backed that up with people watching at home.
A peak of 3.4m people watched in France as Les Bleus took on England in their clash last night, with the Red Roses coming out 20-3 winners in a brutal encounter.
It was a game billed as ‘Le Crunch’, and it certainly lived up to expectations as the wet Belfast weather combined with immense defensive performances from both sides.
New domestic TV audience record for Women’s rugby as 3.02 million – peak of 3.4 million viewed Semi Final #ENGvFRA on @France2tv #WRWC2017
— Brett Gosper (@brettgosper) August 23, 2017
These figures are comparable to an AFL or NRL Grand Final audience in Australia.
In Tuesday’s other semi-final, Portia Woodman scored four tries in New Zealand’s 45-12 demolition of the United States.
The Red Roses will bid to be crowned back-to-back world champions in Saturday’s final against New Zealand in Belfast.
Englan captain Sarah Hunter said: “It’s fantastic that we’ve come and done the job that we wanted to do.
READ MORE:
-
Six girlfriends who are as successful as their rugby partners
-
One player each Aviva Premiership team should sign…
-
Wasps at 150: Ranking their 10 best players of All-time
-
Six badass rugby girls you need to follow on Instagram
“Our defence won that game. France came at us and they’ve given us the greatest test we’ve had so far in this tournament.
“We knew we had the mindset. Both defences stood up and the tackle count shows that but we had a white wall and there was no way they were getting across our try line tonight.
“One try and France would have been back in the game but we pride ourselves on our defence and Megan Jones made a fantastic tackle.”