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England’s heart breaking defeat to Samoa attracts fantastic TV audience

Yesterday, 40,489 fans were at the Emirates Stadium as England suffered Rugby League World Cup heart ache.

As in the 2013 World Cup, England were dumped out of the tournament at the semi-final stage of the tournament in London due to a late score.

This time the score came in the last play of the game as the game entered Golden Point extra time after a Herbie Farnworth try for England levelled matters at 26-all in the 79th minute.

But a forward pass in Golden Point gave Samoa the possession to kick the winning drop goal with Stephen Crichton proving the hero for his country.

A terrific game, a classic like Australia vs New Zealand, how many fans watched the game on TV?

Reportedly, the TV audience peaked at 2.4 million viewers with an average of 1.4 million.

This is tops the 0.9 million peak for Australia vs New Zealand and contributes further to the World Cup which with nearly 20 million accumulative viewers is the most watched Rugby League World Cup in history.

On this World Cup Chief Executive Jon Dutton said: “As the tournament builds towards the latter stages, we can really see how the momentum is building with increasing audiences reflected in the latest update on broadcast figures.

“The coverage so far across the BBC and wider broadcast partners has been fantastic, and I’m really pleased with how we’ve been able to showcase the sport to dedicated rugby league fans as well as new audiences around the globe.

“My hope is that it brings new fans to sport rugby league across all three formats, and a personal highlight for me has been the popularity of the wheelchair tournament. Those close to the sport already knew how gripping it can be, but having seen the reaction and the audience figures as the group games have progressed has been incredible, with yet more to come.”

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