Rugbyworldcup.com, the official website of Rugby World Cup 2015 in England, has launched today, underlining the commitment of the Tournament Organisers to deliver an innovative digital offering for Rugby’s showcase event.
The website will build on the success of the award-winning Rugby World Cup 2011 platform and will enable fans to engage with the Tournament through a variety of mediums as preparations build towards England’s hosting of the event.
Rugbyworldcup.com achieved record digital traffic during Rugby World Cup 2011 attracting:
• 17 million unique users to the website
• 3.5 million downloads of the official Tournament App
• 1.4 million Facebook page ‘likes’
• 4.5 million views of match action via the official YouTube page.
Fans can still relive Rugby World Cup 2011 through the re-launched site, including match highlights and full match replays, while the Facebook, YouTube, Flickr and Twitter social media pages have all been revamped.
"Rugby World Cup Limited is delighted to launch the first phase of the Rugby World Cup 2015 website," said Rugby World Cup Limited Chairman Bernard Lapasset.
"For millions of passionate fans worldwide, rugbyworldcup.com is the most comprehensive and compelling way to connect with the Tournament as planning and preparation advances to what promises to be the biggest Rugby World Cup to date."
With three million tickets set to be available for the global Rugby community, the new website will deliver the platform to promote the event, its objectives and engage with fans in the UK and from further afield wishing to attend one or more of the 48 matches, volunteer or keep up to date with the latest information, news and views.
Paul Vaughan, CEO of Rugby World Cup 2015 Tournament Organisers England Rugby 2015, welcomed the new website going live. “The geographical spread of the Rugby audience means that we have to find and use the quickest and best ways of communicating the Rugby World Cup 2015 message.”
“The Rugby World Cup website provides the cornerstone for all of our digital platforms. We have a fresh look and feel with a striking new Tournament script and we want to tell the world that England is ready to welcome them in 2015 with open arms.”
“Fans from all over the world will be able to keep abreast of everything as it unfolds, from the build up to the ticketing launch through to the final whistle of the RWC Final. The next three years will pass very quickly and what fans can do from day one is to register their interest through the website to get all the latest information.”
The launch of the new website kicks off a packed year of preparation for the Tournament Organisers as the countdown begins in earnest to hosting one of the world's biggest and most recognisable sporting event.
2012 will see key milestones achieved with the Tournament start date set, venues confirmed, ticketing strategy unveiled and the global qualification process kicking off.
The year will culminate in December with the RWC 2015 Pool Allocation Draw which will see the 12 automatic qualifiers from New Zealand 2011, seeded into four bands owing to their IRB World Ranking and drawn into four pools.
