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France RWC has already surpassed Japan 2019 in multiple areas
Ahead of the knockout stages of this year’s Rugby World Cup, World Rugby and France 2023 have already announced some record-breaking milestones for the tournament.
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Tournament organisers have announced that attendance figures for Rugby World Cup 2023 are already outpacing the 2019 edition, with Rugby Village attendance surpassing the record set in Japan.
Some 1.16 million people have now visited the 10 official Rugby Villages the length and breadth of the host nation, surpassing the 1.13 million set at Rugby World Cup 2019.
With eight knock-out matches left to be played, France 2023 is poised to break the 1.5 million milestone, a figure that reflects enormous passion for the tournament.
Meanwhile, match attendance has reached 1.8 million, surpassing the 1.7 million total for Rugby World Cup 2019 in Japan.
Fans have descended on France from all corners of the world with the Netherlands and Germany among the top 10 nations in the ticket purchasing rankings, while fans from debutants Chile, 2007 returnees Portugal and 2019 hosts Japan have all added to the special atmosphere.
Record Rugby Village and stadia attendance builds on the wider success of the tournament with cumulative match attendance of almost two million and on target to set a new overall record.
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BROADCAST AND SOCIAL
Broadcast ratings in France also reflect the ‘rugby buzz’ sweeping the nation with a total cumulative audience of more than 164.5 million (more than the total French audience for RWC 2019) and matches involving the host nation rated the most viewed programmes of 2023 on TF1.
Meanwhile, the tournament is attracting a whole new generation of fans. Launched a week prior to the tournament, the official fantasy game is being played by more than 500,000 people.
These #RWC2023 Fantasy stars don’t deserve to be going home 😭
Have we missed anyone out from this Departing XV? pic.twitter.com/ruhdqaw5Qf
— Rugby World Cup (@rugbyworldcup) October 10, 2023
In addition, official social media accounts have attracted 1.8 million new followers with more than a third from Spanish-speaking nations and 400,000 from USA, highlighting the rapid growth in fans across the Americas in particular in recent years. More than 1.1 billion views of Rugby World Cup content have been achieved so far, thanks to collaboration between World Rugby and the teams.
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World Rugby Chairman Sir Bill Beaumont said: “We set out to make Rugby World Cup 2023 rugby’s greatest celebration of togetherness, the sport’s ultimate birthday party, and it is certainly capturing the imagination, attracting and exciting fans in record numbers.
“With a variety of fun activities, partner activations and live screening of all the matches, the Rugby World Cup 2023 Rugby Villages have become one of the major attractions of a special tournament. They are much more than a destination to watch matches, they are bringing together domestic and international fans in celebration of rugby, France and friendship.”
France 2023 Chairman Jacques Rivoal added: “We are pleased to see how successful France 2023’s Rugby Villages have been throughout the pool stage. As I travel across the country, I am met with joyful scenes of local and international rugby fans coming together to celebrate our sport.
“I want to thank the host cities and host metropolises that have worked tirelessly over the past months in making these 10 Rugby Villages a reality. It is a wonderful expression of the popular success that Rugby World Cup 2023 is here in France.”
The next round of matches is set to kick off on Saturday, 14 October, when Wales take on Argentina in Marseille.
Knockout
11 - 12
Final
6 - 44
SF1
15 - 16
SF2
17 - 29
QF1
24 - 28
QF2
30 - 24
QF3
28 - 29
QF4
Comments on RugbyPass
Think it was a great defensive performance by Northampton. They didn't have stage fright in the first half, the Nienaber defense smothered them. They limited Leinster to 15-3 in the first half. It could have been over by then. A great try from Leinster in the start of the second half looked to have sealed it. But Byrne missed another conversion. Northampton started trying little kicks behind the Leinster wingers. Leinster messed one and Smith brilliantly made the conversion. Leinster decided to tighten the game after Byrne missed a straight forward penalty. A few errors got NH into the 22 and they scored and converted with a few minutes left. Another brilliant steal from Lawes saw NH have a final attack which was turned over by Conan. A classic semi final. World record attendance of 82,300. Leinsters 3 week preparation warranted for this one.
1 Go to commentsJust came back from the game and the atmosphere was amazing. Players stayed afterwards for more than a hour to sign stuff and take photos with fans. Great day out.
5 Go to commentsA great game. The Sharks without Etsebeth are a shadow of the team compared to when he plays. The limitations of Some of the expensive Sharks players are being exposed. Credit to Clermont for some exhilaration play at times.
5 Go to comments100% Mr Owens. But who would want to be a referee.? It must be the most difficult job on earth.
1 Go to commentsStarts to be overdone and oversold this systematic SA narrative…which nevertheless has the merit in this case to recognise blatant refereeing mistakes in their favor
5 Go to commentsNice article. Shades of Steinbeck. They can win the final if they take the game seriously; but only if they take it seriously.
5 Go to commentsWhat a sad way to end a glittering career. Somebody should tell him to delete his social media accounts and face the consequences of what he's done. Then he should slip away quietly into obscurity. This isn't likely to happen, something tells me he'll be back in The Sun / Daily Mail sooner rather than later.
3 Go to commentsguys its fine! he understands why he did what he did and has taken accountability for it; why should he have to be accountable to a court? after all he did was abuse people in person - its not as if he was engaging in _online_ abuse!
3 Go to commentsChiefs flanker Kaylum Boshier yellow-carded for collapsing the scrum as it rolled towards the line. It was a maul….
1 Go to commentsyou know, i’m a leinster fan so I want Northampton to lose and it is gonna be tuff with Cortney lawes, Alex michell and the other guys🏉 lets go leinster🏉
1 Go to commentsWelcome to the Pro ranks. Those hard teams of old do hit the sole better though. its a dog fight at the top.
6 Go to commentsCan someone fill me in please, I've read a number of Ben Smith articles now and it seems he's got something again South Africa? Surely, this game was over and done with 7 months ago. Can't we have something a bit more interesting and relevant, or is this the calibre of journalist on this site?
237 Go to commentsNot sure what the Welsh are moaning about. They’ve had far more players off England, than England have had off Wales. Guys like Josh Hathaway and Kane James will play for Wales in the end. And they’ll be fsr better players for having played in the Gallagher Premiership, than they ever would have been had they stayed mired in the shambles that is Welsh rugby.
4 Go to commentsThis is all being blown totally out of proportion. First of all, since half the Irish team isn’t Irish - it’s very likely that none of the Irish players said that at all and, thus, we’re not being arrogant. Second, since half the Irish team is Kiwi - it’s very likely the Kiwi players were predicting a NZ SA World Cup final. Which they got spot on. Good on them!
163 Go to commentsAha. An Irishman with logic! Follow the flow: - Ireland peaks with a >80% win record between 2020 and 2023. And then… - crashes out of another QF at the WC; - Beat a poor French Team; - Beat 6N wooden spoonists Italy; - Play shite against eventual wooden spoonists Wales; - Lose against the most boring, “the worst English team ever” , a team widely regarded as unable to attack; - scrape through against Scotland. This article, No - Trimble, is on the money! Except for one glaring statement: _The Springboks have a few aces in the hole in this debate being the reigning world champions and official world number ones_ There is no debate, boys and girls. There it is. In black and white. “Reigning World Champions and OFFICIAL world number ones”. Come July, the overrated Andy Farrell and this overhyped team are going to enter into a world of hurt.
90 Go to commentsI’d like to know what homoerotic events Daniel enjoyed at 8th man. I clearly missed out!
20 Go to commentsThis article is missing some detail, like some actual context or info about what led to him abusing the ref.
2 Go to comments*They used to say that football is a gentleman sport watched by hooligans and rugby is a hooligan sport watched by gentlemen. How times have changed.*
3 Go to commentsexcept ot wasnt late wasnt late at all so dont know why you all saying its late he commits early and its your fault fir not paying attention
30 Go to commentsNot sure the Bulls need another average utility back in their ranks. Chamberlain has been ok for the Sharks but is by no means an X-Factor player. Bulls bought several utility backs which they barely use. A typical example would be Henry Immelman who plays mostly Fullback. The Bulls however have rarely played him this year and he has played wing or centre. Bulls want to build depth but seems like they have too many surplus players
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