Sport

Ireland’s Rugby World Cup games biggest TV sports draw

Pool decider against France emerges as the most watched game – with 1.2m viewers

Rob Kearney scores Ireland’s first try against France as Robbie Henshaw looks on at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff. Photograph: Dan Sheridan/Inpho

Shane Costello
Wed Jan 6 2016 - 01:00

Newly released figures show big sporting events continue to attract Irish viewers to their television screens in record numbers.

The Rugby World Cup was the biggest sporting event of 2015 and this was reflected in the year's television viewing.

The top three positions are filled by matches involving the Irish rugby team at last year’s tournament, with four out of their five matches in the top 10. The only match not to make it was Ireland’s first match of the competition against Canada.

The most watched match of 2015 was Ireland's victory over France which secured the team top spot in Pool D. An average of 1.2 million people tuned in to watch the game unfold on TV3, making it also the most watched programme in TV3's 17-year history.

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Second place

The quarter-final defeat by Argentina was in second place with 1.1 million people watching

Ireland

again exit the tournament at the quarter-final stage. The audience figure for this match was hampered by its earlier kick-off. The French match started at 4pm, while the quarter-final started at 2pm.

TV3’s record-breaking figures over the course of the tournament were boosted by no other broadcaster showing the competition in Ireland, with many fans having no access to ITV’s coverage in Britain.

Outside of rugby, Dublin's victory over Kerry in the rain-soaked All-Ireland football final is in fourth place, with an average audience of 882,000 watching on RTÉ 2.

The previous year’s final which saw Kerry overcome Donegal, was third in the rankings in 2014 but had 51,000 less viewers than the most recent showpiece.

Brian Cody’s 11th All-Ireland success, as his Kilkenny side beat Galway, is only ninth on the list with an average audience of 742,000. The 2014 final, which was broadcast on RTÉ 1 due to a clash with the Republic of Ireland’s Euro 2016 qualifier against Georgia on RTÉ 2, was fourth on that year’s list and had 54,000 more viewers, with the replay attracting 615,000.

The most watched soccer match of 2015 is in fifth place. An average of 793,000 viewers saw Ireland’s playoff second-leg victory over Bosnia-Herzegovina. Ireland’s famous victory over Germany, with 663,000 viewers, just fails to make the list in 16th place.

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