By Richard Cowley, Date: 28/10/13
The doubleheader at Cardiff has been a masterstroke by 2013 Rugby League World Cup organisers with an impressive opening ceremony and two great games of rugby league.
Over 45,000 people attended the match which was a record for the opening game of a Rugby League World Cup. The UK media have so far been kind to the Rugby League World Cup with some great reviews of the opener.
But what the Rugby League organisers would really be pleased with is the national exposure the double header gave rugby league in general.
The Rugby League World Cup opened with an excellent set of audience figures. The highest audience of the afternoon saw 2.4m people tune into the action on BBC ONE. The opening game which saw Australia beat England averaged a strong audience of 1.8m.
These are really strong figures for rugby league in a country that is dominated by Football.
As a comparison the 2013 Challenge Cup Final achieved a peak audience of 1.5m.
It is a great start for the World Cup which is already winning hearts and minds of people from around the globe.
When the World Cup Final eventually comes around Rugby League World Cup organisers will be hoping that England are one of the teams walking out at Old Trafford. To do this they will more than likely need to overcome a red hot New Zealand team in the Semi-Finals.
