World Rugby chief executive Alan Gilpin. (File image). Photo: AFP / Yuichi Yamazaki
World Rugby has to be more relevant and accessible to more fans if the game is going to grow more positively around the globe, the body's chief executive has told the media at the weekly press update in Paris on Wednesday.
Alan Gilpin stated that through their investment more teams are showing that they can challenge the top nations at the Rugby World Cup and the need to build competitiveness in the global game is something they are committed.
"We have seen some incredible performances, not just from the likes of Ireland, South Africa, France but also from what we call the performance unions, those that are outside the Six Nations and Rugby Championship, despite Covid and the impact that had for, in many cases, two years on teams' preparations," Gilpin said.
"We have to remind ourselves that some of these teams didn't play international rugby for two years. They have done an incredible job and have done themselves, their families, their nations and their fans proud.
"We are seeing positive impacts from that work and if we are going to be a truly global game, we have got to be more relevant and more accessible to more fans around the world.
"What we are committed to do is build the competitiveness internationally of the men's and women's game. We want more teams able to qualify for future Rugby World Cups and we want more teams able to be competitive in Rugby World Cup and, ultimately, more teams capable of winning Rugby World Cups."
Gilpin said teams from the emerging nations must be repaid so that they continue to grow, with a lot being done already for the Pacific, central Africa and South America, with over $126 million invested with those unions.
"We as a game, therefore, have a responsibility to repay them those players and teams involved in the emerging nations," he said.
"World Rugby has invested a huge amount in the last five years and more in the performances you are seeing from some of those teams.
"We have invested more than £42million ($126M) in performance programmes, supporting fixtures and building franchises like the Fijian Drua, Moana Pasifika, the Black Lions and Penarol in Uruguay.
"Nothing grows rugby globally like a Rugby World Cup, and like a successful Rugby World Cup."
Gilpin said the tournament so far has been exciting, now at the halfway mark.
"We are already seeing an incredible tournament shaping up. It's crazy to think, in matches at least, we are halfway through Rugby World Cup 2023," he said.
"It's crazy too think one venue, Nice, has already finished its hosting and it's also crazy to think that Namibia will play their final match in this year's tournament.
"Time is flying which must mean we are having a good time. We have seen some incredible atmospheres at matches.
"For those of you who were in the Stade de France last Saturday [for South Africa v Ireland], and I felt it was a real privilege to be there, I don't think in many, many years of Rugby World Cups, and in many other rugby matches, I've seen an atmosphere like it given that the host nation weren't playing."
Statistics shows support is high
RWC 2023 tournament director Michel Poussau said with 24 games out of 48 having been played, the event was already becoming the best and the biggest Rugby World Cup ever.
"We have had more than one million fans in our nine venues. In terms of TV audiences, the numbers keep growing. We have had more than 100 million viewers in France, which is more than the whole of Rugby World Cup 2019.
"We are attracting more and more new fans to rugby with more than 1.1 million new followers on various social platforms which is amazing. That has generated more than 600 million views of our official content. These numbers are amazing and very important for us as it's in line with our ambition to always try to grow the game.
"Looking ahead we have got some more amazing rugby ahead off us with eight more games this week. We will have history in the making with a game between two South American teams for the first time when Chile plays Argentina in Nantes on Saturday, a definite milestone for rugby in South America and the game overall.
"We talked three weeks ago at the opening media conference about this tournament marking the birthday party for rugby's 200th birthday. It's really important at this moment in time that we take the step-changes that are needed to take the game forward for the next 200 years and create a sustainable future for those teams that are looking to break through."
Attendance and viewing numbers go high
France 2023 chairman Jacques Rivoal said the event has already passed 1 million fans in the stadiums.
"These are full, and not just for the big games," he said.
There were 33,000 for Georgia-Portugal in Toulouse, 25,000 for Italy-Uruguay in Nice and Tonga-Scotland attracted over 31,000 as well.
The fan zones have also been a success, with more than 770,000 fans attending.
"In the official stores, we have seen a rush on France team shirts. In two weeks, we have sold more of them than the number of Japan shirts sold in the whole tournament in 2019. The megastores have also seen an explosion in sales, 30 per cent up on initial objectives in Paris and Marseille," he said.
On television, in France an audience of 11.5 million for France-Uruguay was recorded, which is 60 percent more than the best audience during the Six Nations - or a 52.7 percent share of the audience.
There were 10.7 million for the France-Namibia game, or a 47.6 percent audience share.
There were also 4 million French viewers for Ireland-Tonga and England-Japan, while the biggest hit [outside of a France match] was more than 6.74 million for South Africa-Ireland.
"We are also beating records abroad. Japan has beaten its record audience from 2019. In Germany, which is not recognised as a rugby country, they had 3.5 million watching the opening match, which is more than the whole tournament in 2019," Rivoal said.
The attendances at match venues and viewers on television numbers are expected to rise again in the next two weeks, leading to the critical quarterfinal stages for the top eight teams.
Among the fans at the different stadiums have been a strong Pacific contingent backing the Pacific teams of Fiji, Samoa and Tonga.
That includes those who have flown in from Fiji, Samoa, Tonga, New Zealand and Australia plus those in the different diasporas around the United States of America, Canada and Europe.
The Pacific teams have also attracted a lot of support from local French fans who have taken to back them especially since a lot of players play for local clubsides in France.
