Six Nations Delivers Record Figures
Following the weekend’s climax to the rugby action, BBC Sport has revealed the Six Nations 2011 Championship has delivered record audience viewing figures – with an average of 4.6m viewers watching live coverage during the tournament.
The figure is the best live match average since the Six Nations began in 2000, beating the previous best of 4.4m, set during the 2009 competition.
This year’s championship also saw peaks of 9.6m for England v France, 8.2m for Wales v England, and 8.0m for England v Scotland – as well as an average audience share of 27%.
Philip Bernie, head of BBC TV Sport said: ‘We’re delighted that record numbers of viewers have come to watch our live coverage of this wonderful championship, which is clearly enjoyed by such large numbers of BBC viewers across all four home nations’.
England were crowned Six Nations champions on Saturday but were denied the coveted Grand Slam title after Ireland ran rampant against a sloppy English back line to win 24-8.
Meanwhile Italy again picked up the wooden spoon, despite a historic victory over France earlier in the competition, following defeat to Scotland in the bottom-of-the-league decider on Saturday.
All Six teams will have areas to improve on as they work towards the 2011 Rugby World Cup in New Zealand, later this year.
Ireland’s win almost moved them above England and France in the IRB World Rankings to fourth – less than four points behind South Africa in third.
