Record viewing figures for Women's Rugby World Cup

England scored 11 tries against the United States, who are ranked 10th in the world

England's crushing victory over the United States in the Women's Rugby World Cup opener on Friday drew in a peak audience of 2.4 million on BBC One and 600,000 on iPlayer.

The weekend saw 2.1 million streams overall for the tournament across BBC iPlayer and the BBC Sport website and app.

In total, 4.6 million viewers tuned in to the live coverage over the weekend.

Scotland and Wales faced each other with a peak audience of 1.2 million on BBC One, as the Scots secured a 38-8 win on Saturday.

Ireland's 42-14 victory over Japan, meanwhile, drew a peak audience of 534,000 on BBC Two.

During the opening week of the tournament (18 August to 25 August), 3.2 million unique visitors accessed World Cup content on the BBC Sport website and app, with 1.2 million engaging with the live text pages during the matches.

The opening weekend viewing figure surpassed the entire reach of the 2021 World Cup, which was played in 2022 and attracted 3.7 million viewers overall, including 1.8 million for the final.

The attendance record for the Women's Rugby World Cup was also broken on the opening night as 42,723 watched the Red Roses beat the American Eagles 69-7 in Sunderland.

"It's been a historical summer for women's sport and BBC Sport is proud to have been at the heart of it," said BBC Director of Sport Alex Kay-Jelski.

"These record-breaking figures for the opening weekend of the Rugby World Cup show the growing passion and interest of fans across the UK.

"With all four home nations competing on the world stage, we're bringing audiences every match, every moment, and the stories behind these inspiring female athletes. And with the tournament just getting started, there's much more to come."

Ruby Tui, a New Zealand international and BBC Sport pundit, added: "If you could buy shares in women's rugby, it would be your number one investment right now.

"It's such a buzz to be here in England to witness this phenomenal growth of our game. World records are being broken every weekend and I'm here for it."

BBC Sport is the exclusive broadcaster of the Rugby World Cup, with every match on BBC iPlayer and the BBC Sport website and app.

All home nations matches and knockout stage fixtures will be shown live on BBC One or BBC Two.