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Written by RUGBYMag Staff
Sunday, 02 October 2011 21:42 |
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RWC Attendance Top 1 Millions |
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International -
Rugby World Cup
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Nearly 1.1 million fans have passed through the gates of Rugby World Cup 2011 stadia with all 40 Pool matches of Rugby's showcase event now completed, Tournament organizers announced today.
The official attendance stands at 1.07 million after the final eight matches of the Pool phase were completed over the weekend. Nearly a quarter of a million fans alone attended the weekend’s matches, which included four sellouts.
Rugby World Cup Limited (RWCL) Chairman Bernard Lapasset said that the strong attendance across all of the venues is testament to the way that New Zealanders across the country have backed the Tournament and all the participating teams.
“The way that New Zealanders the length and breadth of the country have embraced the Tournament has been absolutely incredible,” said Lapasset.
“The atmosphere around the venues and host cities with New Zealanders and travelling international fans combining to give such vocal, passionate and colourful support to all of the teams will be an enduring memory for everyone who has experienced Rugby World Cup 2011.”
“The scene is now set for four compelling quarter-finals.”
Martin Snedden, CEO of Tournament Organiser Rugby New Zealand 2011, echoed Lapasset’s delight.
“That’s an incredible turnout – equivalent to filling Eden Park around 18 times,” said Snedden.
“We are thrilled that so many fans in New Zealand have taken the chance to get a taste of the fun and excitement of RWC 2011 action. Games have been full of great colour and passion from fans both local and overseas and that has added a fantastic flavour to every match.”
“We promised a unique experience as our Stadium of Four Million fans warmly embraced the teams and their supporters and that’s exactly what happened.”
RNZ 2011 also announced that the momentum in ticket sales has continued with 1.34 million tickets now sold. This has pushed ticket revenue to NZ$262 million.
“This is an excellent place to be with eight major matches of the Tournament yet to be completed.”
Just NZ$6.5 million of sales are now needed to meet the Tournament end revenue target of NZ$268.5 million.
“I have no doubt we will reach our goal despite the major challenges we have faced, both with the tragic Christchurch earthquakes and the difficult economic climate,” said Snedden.
Tickets are still available for seven of the remaining eight matches and can be purchased online at www.rugbyworldcup.com/tickets and at selected Ticketek outlets.
“Now that the quarter-finalists have been confirmed, we expect strong interest ahead of the weekend’s four showdown matches,” said Shane Harmon, General Manager Marketing and Communications for RNZ 2011.
Ireland play Wales in the first quarter-final in Wellington on Saturday, followed by France against England at Eden Park. On Sunday, South Africa play Australia in Wellington and New Zealand take on Argentina in the last quarter-final at Eden Park.
There is good availability across most categories for the Auckland quarter-finals with around 16,000 tickets available for the England v France match and 10,000 for the New Zealand v Argentina match.
“This is where we expected to be as these matches were relocated from the much smaller Stadium Christchurch following the earthquakes and have only been on sale for about 12 weeks,” added Harmon.
Tickets are more limited for the Wellington quarter-finals with under 4,500 remaining for the first match and under 5,000 for the second.
“We are at the crunch point of the Tournament. It is do or die so these will be terrific matches and we urge fans to move fast as we fully expect to have near capacity or capacity crowds for all four quarter finals,” added Harmon.
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Written by RUGBYMag Staff
Sunday, 02 October 2011 18:57 |
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RWC Automatic Qualifiers Confirmed |
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International -
Rugby World Cup
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AUCKLAND, NZ - Automatic qualifiers for Rugby World Cup 2015 in England were confirmed after the completion of the pool phase of RWC 2011 on Sunday.
The automatic qualifers by region are:
Asia: None
Americas: Argentina (Runner-up Pool B)
Africa: South Africa (Winner Pool D)
Europe: England (Winner Pool B), France (Runner-up Pool A), Ireland (Winner Pool C), Italy (3rd in Pool C), Scotland (3rd in Pool B) and Wales (Runner-up Pool D)
Oceania: Australia (Runner-up Pool C), New Zealand (Winner Pool A), Samoa (3rd in Pool D) and Tonga (3rd in Pool A).
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Written by RUGBYMag Staff
Sunday, 02 October 2011 20:38 |
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Pool Play Contest Final Standings |
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RUGBYmag Premier -
Profiles and Interviews
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Our first crack at a RWC pool play game is complete, and we hope it provided a bit of a rooting interest where otherwise it may have been lacking. For clarity, the final rules called for contestants to be awarded 5 bonus points for picking the actual try or points leader per pool. 3 points were given if a contestant picked the top points or try scorer out of players selected. The true top try and points scorers selected, thus scoring 5 bonus points: England's Chris Ashton (tries), Australia's Adam Ashley-Cooper (tries) and New Zealand's Israel Dagg (tries), Ireland's Ronan O'Gara (points) and South Africa's Morne Steyn (points). The guys who led out of those selected, thus scoring 3 bonus points: Samoa's Alesana Tuilagi (tries), England's Johnny Wilkinson (points) and France's Dmitri Yachvili (points). The points accrued by team selections are the same as shown in the standings
T1 Brownj12 69 NZ, Arg, Sco, Fiji, Tonga Ashton, Steyn T1 Patrickeclifton 69 AUS, Arg, Italy, Fiji, Tonga O'Gara, Steyn, Tuilagi, Yachvili
T1 Kevin Messner 69 NZ, Wales, Sco, Can. Tonga O'Gara
4 Brent Zipoy 68 NZ, Wales, Samoa, Can, Tonga Steyn, Wilkinson
T5 Givesometakesome 67 NZ, Arg, Samoa, Can, Tonga Ashton, Tuilagi
T5 Wufoo 67 NZ, Wales, Samoa, Fiji, Tonga Steyn, Wilkinson
T5 Blues Prop 67 NZ, Wales, Samoa, Fiji, Tonga Steyn, Wilkinson
8 BC Rugby 66 NZ, Ire, Samoa, Fiji, Russia Ashton, Steyn, Wilkinson
9 Linda 65 NZ, France, Sco, Can, Tonga Steyn, Wilkinson
T10 Superstar 64 NZ, Arg, Samoa, Can, Tonga Ashley-Cooper
T10 Blake Stevens 64 Aus, France, Italy, Can, Tonga Ashton, Steyn, Tuilagi
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Written by Alex Goff
Sunday, 02 October 2011 18:55 |
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Details Emerging on Pan-Am 7s |
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International -
Olympics
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Details on the Rugby 7s competition at the Pan-Am Games are becoming apparent.
The USA men’s national 7s team is competing in the Pan-Am Games October 29-30 in Guadalajara, Mexico. RUGBYMag.com will be on-site to report on the entire tournament. The team will reside in the Athletes Village, and will participate in the Closing Ceremonies October 30 at Omnilife Stadium.
The Rugby 7s competition will be held at Tlaquepaque Stadium, which is in Tlaquepaque, a suburb of Guadalajara. The stadium is the first specially-built rugby stadium in Mexico.
Eight teams will play in two pools of four. The eight teams are: USA, Canada, Argentina, Brazil, Mexico, Uruguay, Chile, and Guyana. All except Brazil have played in at least one IRB World Series tournament.
Most of the teams are currently on their way to warmup matches in New Zealand, Australia, and South Africa. The USA had listed a trip to the Central Coast 7s in Australia as a warmup, but the program does not have the budget for the trip.
The teams will play three pool games on October 29. That will seed the teams 1 through 4 in each pool, and all eight teams will play in the knockout stages, starting with the quarterfinals, on Sunday, October 30.
It is not confirmed what the pools are, but reports are that the USA will be in a pool with Guyana, Uruguay and Mexico, while Canada, Argentina, Chile and Brazil occupy Pool B.
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