Ireland and South Africa the big URC drawcards
SPOTLIGHT: The United Rugby Championship resumes this week – after two weeks of Champions Cup and Challenge Cup action – with a focus on the rising attendance figures.
The Champions Cup not quite reaching the URC bar – with Bordeaux (26,400) having the biggest single attendance.
The top five stadium attendances in the Champions Cup and Challenge Cup all sit at around 20,000 or just below.
The biggest URC crowd this season was the Round Six Irish derby in Dublin – 49,246 spectators watching Leinster tackle Munster.
Loftus Versfeld sits in second spot – 24,515 people watched the Bulls overpower the Sharks in Round Seven.
The URC has seen a steady rise as the campaign progressed, with the last three rounds having produced the highest combined totals.
Last season, the 53 matches over the opening seven weeks drew a combined attendance of 409,941 at an average of 7,735.
This year, all 56 scheduled games have been played and they have attracted 439,204 fans with an improved average of 7,843.
Round Six was the high point, with a whopping 98,451 through the turnstiles, aided significantly by a season-best 49,246 at Lansdowne Road for the meeting of Leinster and Munster.
There were also impressive tallies in Round Five (72,391) and Round Seven (74,828), amid a notable upward curve from the first four weeks.
By comparison, the highest combined figure for a full round of eight matches in the opening seven weeks last season was 70,829.
Looking at individual fixtures so far this term, there have been 12 games that have drawn crowds of over 10,000.
Ten of those have come in Ireland and two in South Africa.
The top ten attendances this season:
1. 49,246 (Leinster v Munster, Round Six)
2. 24,515 (Bulls v Sharks, Round Seven)
3. 15,664 (Leinster v Scarlets, Round Five)
4. 15,045 (Munster v DHL Stormers, Round Five)
5. 14,960 (Ulster v Munster, Round Four)
6. 14,434 (Leinster v Edinburgh Rugby, Round Three)
7. 12,659 (Sharks v Dragons, Round Six)
8. 12,403 (Ulster v Edinburgh Rugby, Round Seven)
9. 11,471 (Ulster v Emirates Lions, Round Five)
10. 11,239 (Munster v Sharks, Round One)
