The Vodacom United Rugby Championship derbies drew in over 117,000 fans over the Christmas weekend as a new record attendance was set for the festive fixtures.

The figure of 117,448 for round 10 is also the second-highest attendance in a single round in the league’s history.

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It falls just short of the overall highest total of 121,177 set in Round 21 of 2018 which included a single attendance of 62,338 for the Judgement Day games in Wales – highlighting the impressive achievement of this weekend with eight stand alone fixtures.

The two local derbies held in Cape Town and Durban last weekend drew in a recorded total of 55 000 fans.

As far as South African teams go, the DHL Stormers currently lead the way in terms of total attendance for 2022-23 with a recorded 71 341 fans going to Cape Town Stadium up until round 10, which is third overall after Irish sides Leinster and Munster.

The Vodacom Bulls (38 821) and Sharks (37 378) are closely matched, while the Lions are 11th overall with a recorded 27 635 fans.

“We are thrilled for all of our clubs who hosted such fantastic crowds over the Christmas weekend after a couple of years of disruption,” said the league’s CEO Martin Anayi.  “All of them are working hard to deliver great fan experiences off the pitch and offer an attractive style of rugby on it.

“The Vodacom URC drew record-breaking TV audiences in year one, now fans have the confidence to return to stadiums and to attract 117,000 in one weekend speaks to the incredible efforts of our clubs.

“To see 55,000 attend two games in South Africa where they have never played at this time of year before is especially pleasing as the Vodacom URC continues to capture the imagination.”

Similar crowds are expected again over the New Year’s weekend in round 11 with home games taking place in Belfast, Cape Town, Cardiff, Dublin, Durban, Edinburgh, Llanelli and Parma.

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