RTÉ Sport secure rights to screen Rugby World Cup 2011

RTÉ Sport has secured the free-to-air television broadcast rights for the Rugby World Cup 2011 in New Zealand.

The announcement is another major boost for rugby fans in Ireland, following the appointment of Setanta Sports as Primary Rights Holder.

RTÉ Sport will broadcast 13 key matches live, including all of Ireland’s pool matches, the final, the Bronze final, both semi-finals, all four quarter-finals and the opening match. All 13 matches will also be simulcast and available for catch-up on RTÉ.ie.

Rugby World Cup 2011, the seventh edition of rugby’s showcase event, kicks off in New Zealand on 9 September and will feature the top 20 teams in the world competing across 48 tournament matches. The final will be played on 23 October at Auckland's iconic Eden Park. It is expected that the tournament will be broadcast to four billion fans worldwide.

The tournament is one of the largest international sporting events in the world, surpassed in scale only by the FIFA World Cup, the Summer Olympics, and the Tour de France.

The 2007 tournament had a cumulative world television audience of 4.2 billion for the 48 matches, with an average attendance of 47,150 per match, and a total attandance at all matches of 2,263,223.