IT MAY NOT HAVE been the spectacle everyone had hoped for but Sunday’s Rugby World Cup clash between Ireland and Italy was the most-watched programme on Irish television this year.

An average audience of 956,600 watched TV3′s coverage of yesterday’s Pool D encounter at London’s Olympic Stadium, which represents a 70% of the market share.

It was the station’s highest ever ratings in it’s 17 year history.

And as the match reached its climax, audience figures peaked at 1.18 million while 1.59 million tuned in at some point during the coverage.

Joe Schmidt’s side assured themselves of a place in the quarter-finals with a hard-earned 16-9 win.

It overtakes last month’s All-Ireland football final between Dublin and Kerry which saw an average audience of 875,300 watch the RTÉ broadcast from Croke Park.

The World Cup is proving to be a real hit among Irish viewers with England’s defeat to Australia on Saturday reaching 1.12 million viewers as the hosts crashed out of the tournament.

TV3′s decision to outbid the state broadcaster for the exclusive rights appears to be paying dividends as its coverage has reached 3.06 million viewers already.

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