Japan’s thrilling victory over Samoa in the World Cup last weekend drew in the host country’s biggest-ever, single-market television audience.
Japan recorded their third successive win of the tournament against Samoa, after they opened their campaign by beating Russia and then stunning Ireland in one of the upsets of the year.
According to World Rugby, the game against Samoa drew in a peak local audience of 46.1% on the NTV channel, which is believed to be the biggest of the year in Japan.
Records were also broken at the local fanzones on Saturday, with 150,000 people turning up to watch the win over the Pacific Islanders, eclipsing the 130,000 that watched the victory over Ireland.
A total of 700,000 fans have visited the fanzones in the country so far, putting it on track to beat the 770,000 total of the 2015 World Cup.
Photo: Getty Images
