LONDON - England's march towards the World Cup final has pushed rugby into first place ahead of football for the first time in terms of web-based searches, according to a report published.
Online audience measurement firm Hitwise said there has been a six-fold rise in the number ofUK web searches for rugby since the World Cup got under way.
Hitwise does not publish actual numbers of hits but in the week to October 13, the day England played France, there were 10 per cent more searches for rugby than football. The company's measurement of online trends goes back two years.
First five-eighths Jonny Wilkinson is the most popular England player online and last week searches for the player were up 250 per cent on the previous week.
Wilkinson kicked England to a 14-9 victory in the semi-final against France, setting the team up for a place in the final against South Africa on Saturday.
Hitwise UK research director Robin Goad said female visitors to rugby sites over the past four weeks had risen to 44 per cent from 41 per cent with the terms, 'pictures', 'topless' and 'girlfriend' among the leading Wilkinson-related web searches.
But generally, despite a growth in rugby-related online searches, football remains the most popular sport in the UK, with more than eight times as many Web visits to football sites than rugby.
