Six Nations Viewing figures: There should be smiling faces at IRFU headquarters in Lansdowne Road over the RTÉ audience figures for last weekend's Ireland v England match in the Six Nations Championship which peaked at 738,000. The mark, although lower than the figures for the hurling and football finals last year, was close to the average number who watched those finals on the network in September.
The rugby audience, according to RTÉ head of sport Glen Killane, was "an amazing figure" which makes rugby "the fastest growing sport in terms of television viewership that we have".
"People tune in to watch when the team is being successful," said Killane. "The figure for the weekend was extraordinary, because rugby is very much third in its audience gathering capabilities, quite a distant third.
"But it is important to understand that this figure is not to the detriment of GAA. The GAA figures for last year compared to 2003 are higher for both finals. Rugby and GAA are also not in direct competition and GAA is not suffering."
The average audience for the 2004 All-Ireland hurling final between Cork and Kilkenny was 705,000, and for the football involving Kerry and Mayo 744,000; but they had peak figures of 887,000 and 889,000 respectively, with the football representing a massive 76 per cent audience share.
Last weekend's rugby average of 551,000 is significantly lower, but still RTÉ are delighted that the Six Nations figure represented a 54.8 per cent share of the audience, a huge gain for the sport. The 738,000 figure, which peaked for the fraught final 15 minutes of the match as England camped on the Irish line, represented a 64.2 per cent audience share.
The popularity of the national rugby team of course reflects the fact that Eddie O'Sullivan's side are ranked fourth in the world, while Munster and Leinster are among the top teams in Europe and are regularly expected to win their matches in the Celtic League and European Cup.
"Rugby is growing and people are interested in the success. The fact that the games are available to them is also a factor," said Killane. "The audience now for rugby is broader than those people who went to rugby-playing schools or who once played at club level. With Ireland ranked at four, there are not many sides who can beat them and that produces a feelgood factor."
The BBC's coverage of the match peaked at 6.2 million and averaged 5.6 million, which is a normal level for a Six Nations match in which England are involved. Unsurprisingly, the English team attracts more viewers than either Scotland or Wales.
As with the RTÉ figures, audience size is also determined by the time of day.
"Football is the nation's most popular sport but the Six Nations is very consistent," said a BBC spokesman. "In comparison, if you take the Euro 2004 match between Portugal and England, there were over 23 million people watching. In sports events it does often peak at the conclusion (of a match), and the end of last weekend's rugby match is when the audience figures peaked to the 6.2 million."
Either way, it is positive for rugby, and a home game against France next and a possible winner-takes-all finale against Wales in Cardiff promise even greater interest.
