Rugby may be going through a bit of a spectator lull right now.
But just a few months ago the country could not get enough of Johnny Sexton, Sean O’Brien, or Paul O’Connell in the Millennium Stadium.
According to figures obtained by the Irish Times, Ireland’s World Cup win over France was the most watched TV sports event in this country last year with an estimated 1.2million people tuning in.
The match is the biggest ever live event to be screened on TV3, and the second highest viewing figure of 2015 was for Ireland’s loss to Argentina a week later, which had an estimated viewership of 1.1 million.
Four of Ireland’s five World Cup games make the top ten, with only the All-Ireland football final between Kerry and Dublin breaking into the upper reaches of the figures with an audience of 882,000, making it the most watched sports event on RTE in 2015, and third overall.
Ireland’s win over Germany in October gathered an audience of 663,000 which placed it in 16th place overall, with the play off win over Bosnia securing fifth place with an audience of 793,000 viewers tuning in to see Jonathan Walters inspired performance.
The All-Ireland hurling final between Galway and Kilkenny made it to ninth on the list, with an average audience of 742,000.
