Rugby World Cup Ltd announce new records

Rugby World Cup 2015 organisers England Rugby 2015 and Rugby World Cup Limited today announced record-breaking engagement at the halfway point of the pool stage, as total match attendance approaches the one million mark.

Rugby World Cup 2015 is on track to be the biggest Rugby World Cup to date, and total match attendance figure to date has reached 972,921, helped by two record-breaking attendances at Wembley Stadium - 89,267 fans attended the Ireland v Romania match there, surpassing the previous weekend's record-breaking Rugby World Cup crowd of 89,019 for New Zealand v Argentina.

The most competitive tournament to date, it is not just the top teams that are attracting the attention. Playing in front of packed stadia, teams including USA, Georgia, Japan and Namibia have received strong support with Romania playing in front of 140,000 fans across just two pool matches.

The official fanzones throughout England and in Cardiff have seen fans keen to soak up the match atmosphere and feel part of the international event, with 378,000 visitors to date passing through the doors since opening. Brighton's Madeira Drive set the standard during Japan's electrifying 34-32 Pool B win over South Africa which saw 20,000 fans visit the fanzone to enjoy the action. The Cardiff Arms Park fanzone atmosphere was electric as Welsh fans relished their team's 28-25 defeat of host nation England. Leicester, Manchester, Milton Keynes and Newcastle will all be opening up their fanzones to fans in the coming weeks as Rugby World Cup 2015 comes to their area.

Rugby World Cup Limited has confirmed the tournament has attracted some of the highest broadcast audience figures around the globe, including in Japan, the host nation for Rugby World Cup 2019. The 20 million audience there for Japan v Scotland represents the second-highest ever national TV audience in Rugby World Cup history, behind the 20.7 million viewership for the Rugby World Cup 2007 France v England semi-final. 

In the UK, a peak audience of 9.4 million UK viewers tuned in to host broadcaster ITV's coverage of the Rugby World Cup 2015 opening ceremony and kick-off match between Fiji and England on 18 September. The England v Wales match was watched by an average of 10.4 million viewers, the largest rugby audience in the UK since the 2007 final.