Rugby rocks the world
19 Oct 2011
It seems the entire rugby world is watching New Zealand at the moment – at least on World Cup weekends.
RWC 2011 confirmed the viewership figures of the semi-final play-offs and the greatest numbers were a 73% audience share in France.
Les Bleus may have played the worst rugby at this tournament, but the French public interest in their performance was at a record high.
Among the records broken included:
*Record New Zealand television audience watch New Zealand defeat Australia
* Biggest Australian television audience since RWC 2003
*73 per cent audience share in France as Les Bleus book Final place
*Highest audience of RWC 2011 in UK sees France beat Wales
In New Zealand a record 1.97 million cumulative television audience tuned in to the host nation’s 20-6 semi-final victory over Australia via TV One, SKY, TV3 and Maori Television, not including the significant number who would have watched the compelling action in public venues across the country or online on demand.
Australians also tuned into the match in record numbers. A massive nationwide television audience of 3.23 million people watched the match – smashing the all-time Pay TV viewership record for Fox Sports and topping the free-to-air ratings on Channel Nine.
No Rugby match since the Rugby World Cup Final in 2003 has delivered an audience of the same magnitude in Australia. The tournament decider in Sydney eight years ago was watched by more than 4 million Australians. Channel Nine’s free-to-air broadcast attracted 2.5 million viewers.
It was a similar picture in France where TF1 attracted an audience of 9.5 million for the semi-final between France and Wales despite the 10:00 kick-off time. The average audience for the match, which saw France secure their first place in a Final since 1999 was equal to a viewing share of 73 per cent.
In the United Kingdom, ITV registered its highest audience of RWC 2011 with an average of 5.9 million viewers watching France’s 9-8 victory over Wales. The last 15 minutes of the match netted a peak audience of 6.6 million – a 58 per cent share.
163 Comments
Pages: « 1 2 3 [4] Show All
19 Oct 2011, 11:29 am
@>^..^< katman(katman)-150: Hehehe. Dont know which is more muddled or fcked up – RFU or SARU.
19 Oct 2011, 11:42 am
France coach Lievremont a Yorkshire lad?
DUNCAN JOHNSTONE IN AUCKLAND
Last updated 05:00 19/10/2011
It takes an Englishman to see some logic among all the French madness.
Dave Ellis is that man.
The Yorkshireman is Marc Lievremont’s defence coach. He’s on his third World Cup campaign with France after holding down the same job with Bernard Laporte in 2003 and 2007.
As Kiwis try to decipher some of Lievremont’s whacky outbursts in his ongoing battles with his players ahead of Sunday’s title match with the All Blacks, Ellis insists the head coach is as serious as he is honest.
“Some of the things he said, I would never say. Never,” Ellis said of Lièvremont’s tirade against his partying players after their shoddy semifinal win over Wales.
“But he tells it as it is. I think part of him must come from Yorkshire. He got stuck into the players because that’s how he felt. And when you ask him a question about it, he tells you how he feels.”
And Ellis was quick to point out the sense of France playing Morgan Para at No 10. That was Lievremont’s genius, converting the halfback to push out a position when France hit an early injury crisis.
Lievremont copped a ton of criticism for the shuffle and has received little praise as Parra has guided the team to the final.
“Everybody criticised Marc about Morgan Parra playing at 10. But you’ve got to take your hat off to him. It was a hell of a choice,” Ellis said.
He was happy to put his hand up for Parra, a player he has worked hard with in the miserly French defensive line.
Ellis pointed out that Parra had made 14 tackles against Wales. That was third only to loose forwards Thierry Dusautoir and Julien Bonnaire on a night when the Welsh threw everything at the French, requiring them to make 184 tackles.
To their credit they only missed eight and conceded one soft try to Welsh halfback Mike Phillips.
“It’s my third World Cup and I wanted to make it my best,” Ellis said of this tournament.
“I just wanted to give 100 per cent concentration to the job in hand. I was determined that we were going to go further than we did in the last two, and we have. I put every single minute into it.”
Not that his work has finished. He knows the All Blacks will target his area more than any team has – because they already have.
The All Blacks ran in five tries in their 37-17 pool win over France. That was more than half the tries France conceded in pool play and they have only given up three in winning their two knockout matches.
Ad Feedback With their attack spluttering, defence has been a major ingredient in getting them into their third final.
Ellis acknowledges there might be another factor in the French making the final. He happily admits that they do indeed have a guardian angel with them this time, a point emphasised by Lievremont.
“We didn’t have much luck in 2003 or 2007. We’ve had a bit of luck this time around. So you just take it.”
Ellis has learned to ride the roller-coaster that is French rugby. It certainly makes for a dramatic existence.
“With the French, they have ups and downs but they can always pull one out of the bag.
“They can have a shocker but then the following week they can come out and raise the standards and beat the best in the world.
“I think that’s the worrying factor for the other teams, knowing that while France are in the competition, that could happen to anybody.”
Ellis’ contract finishes after the final. He’d love to get a job with the embattled English team and he’s open to offers.
“You never know where the next challenge is and I’m quite excited about where it may come from. I deliberately cut my ties with London Irish earlier in the year so I could start afresh.”
- Stuff
19 Oct 2011, 11:48 am
@Slartibartfast(Slartibartfast)-7: Apologies for being so late in the action, but from what i read, you’re right but you’re neglecting to take into account the free to air broadcast. If this is a hobby of yours, you probably have better access to information but my take was the report as published was correct.
19 Oct 2011, 12:01 pm
Well living here in Oz..those figures must be pretty close to right…I was even hearing Aussie female collegues going on about the Wallabies game at work…and how the kiwi players are hot……and every bar i went to in the city was full of them watching the game…after the game at work they could’nt help to tell me…”I hope th Ab’s win”…which I found a bit strange…I’m used to getting a hard time usually….
19 Oct 2011, 13:28 pm
@Great White Shark(Predawn)-136:
Really??
Is that the way it happened?
As we can all see you absolutly have no clue at all.
I suggest sticking to rugby.
19 Oct 2011, 13:32 pm
@toby(toby)-154: Here it is I hope the French win as the Kiwis are cheats… Funny world we live in lol
19 Oct 2011, 13:33 pm
Me personally I don’t give a toss as long as Bryce never referee’s again in his life.
19 Oct 2011, 13:39 pm
@Airwell(Airwell)-157:
hmmm after post 156 i think you do give a toss.
19 Oct 2011, 18:36 pm
@Hurricane(Hurricane)-158: I really do not the AB and French Rugby team have done nothing wrong so either way I do not care who wins.
19 Oct 2011, 22:57 pm
So logically speaking, why dont the rest of the world get set up with their PVR’s and watch the game at a more convenient time?
This is a WORLD CUP not a tournament to make everyone living 4 hours either side of GMT happy.
We have MySky here, with around half the pop using it, and as a motor racing fan, if the Monaco Grand Prix is on at 3am my time, I record it and watch it the next morning with my croissants, OJ, and espresso.
Seems the only people pissed off about things are some saffas – why is this, still grumpy you got rolled in the quarter?
19 Oct 2011, 22:58 pm
@Airwell(Airwell)-156: Why are we cheats? Where does this come from? F’n hell, watch the games again, and if that doesnt work I suggest you follow another sport, as rugby is clearly too articulate for you.
20 Oct 2011, 04:14 am
@Brads(Brads)-113: Brads, you seem to have an interest and a more accurate assessment than some of the naysayers in the financial side of RWC 2011. You may be interested in the NZ Reserve Bank estimate of the spend by the 85 to 95 000 foreign supporters at RWC 2011: an astounding $700m. Sort of puts the other figures in perspective and should shut up those of my countrymen who for some bizarre reason want to see RWC 2011 being perceived as a failure. Ask anyone who has actually attended the games and visited NZ during RWC 2011 what the experience was like and don’t worry about ill-informed comments of those who never left their sad lounges. In the words of one of my Saffer friends now back home in SA – he was “moerse” [slang for extremely] impressed by the people, the country and the RWC experience.
21 Oct 2011, 08:31 am
@airwell,
Get over it. You lost. If you had been ranked at 1 or 2 instead of 3, maybe you would have faced the AB’s instead of Australia. Or did all the referees you ever faced cheat you out of rankings too?
We in NZ like the Haka – get used to it and stop whining.
Agree the ref for SA vs Oz was not the best. You STILL should have won.
Pages: « 1 2 3 [4] Show All
Have your say
You must be logged in to post a comment.