24-point margin the closest game in opening fixtures
‘Watch and wait. The arm wrestles will come’
Women’s Rugby World Cup organisers have insisted that the high number of mismatches so far will not dampen the tournament’s momentum after hailing an “electric” first week.
More than 85,000 spectators watched the opening eight group games, with England’s 69-7 thrashing of the United States attracting a peak TV audience of 2.4m. Meanwhile France’s 24-0 win over Italy also broke records with 3.2m watching on TF1 in France.
But the difference in standards was also evident with the average margin of victory in the first round of matches being 47 points. There were no close matches either, with France’s comfortable win over Italy proving to be the tightest game.
