Australian Rugby has relaunched the rugby.com.au website as a Rugby news hub to fuel the conversations of Rugby fans globally.
Rugby.com.au has the content fans want: exclusive behind-the-scenes stories and photos, the latest match statistics, and commentary from some of Rugby’s most high-profile characters, including former Wallabies coach John Connolly, Women’s Sevens star Shannon Parry, and former Wallabies Stirling Mortlock AM, Phil Waugh, Owen Finegan, Dave Lyons, Clyde Rathbone, James Holbeck, Morgan Turinui and Stephen Hoiles.
The website relaunch heralds the beginning of a revolutionary new digital approach for Australian Rugby.
The dedicated contributors, journalists and videographers will chase leads and follow stories that Australian Rugby fans want to hear, while corporate releases and Rugby’s ‘housekeeping’ information is now housed on aru.com.au.
The new rugby.com.au has been developed in partnership with leading professional services company Accenture, through its digital and web design agency, Accenture Interactive.
ARU Head of Digital Adam Freier, said: “On rugby.com.au, we want to show Rugby from all sides.”
“We’ll be able to offer access to players – past and present – so fans can connect with their Rugby idols.
“We’ll also be able to give our women’s and junior representative teams a voice, and put them and Rugby clubs across Australia on a platform to engage with new legions of Rugby fans.”
ARU COO, Rob Clarke said, “Rugby fans are increasingly digitally literate, so it’s important for us to invest in digital channels to remain relevant.”
“Last year we renewed our focus on digital engagement and we saw terrific growth. Website traffic grew by 52% over 2014 levels, the Wallabies Facebook following grew by 74% over 2014, Twitter grew by 74% and Instagram followers increased from 35k to 122k.
“During last year’s World Cup, the hashtag #RWC2015 was used twice a second during the event, and over five million times in total. Australian Rugby’s digital channels were tuned into 90 million times during the tournament.”
Accenture Australia Digital Lead, David Maunsell said, “Direct digital media engagement is emerging as one of the key strategies sports codes and brands are adopting to grow their business both on and off the field. Accenture is delighted to work with the ARU to make the fan experience richer, more interactive and entertaining by placing the fan at the centre of the sporting experience.”
With two distinct, but complementary websites that each has a clear purpose, Australian Rugby will be better positioned to achieve its strategic aims of igniting passion in the game (through the news and fan-focused rugby.com.au) and achieving administrative excellence (through aru.com.au).
