Rugby League World Cup organisers remain confident this year’s event will be the best-attended in history and have defended the pricing strategy that has come under scrutiny during the opening week of the competition.
Almost 100,000 supporters have attended the first seven games of the tournament. While there have been some successes, including more than 43,000 at St James’ Park to watch England defeat Samoa, other group games – including the 5,400 that watched New Zealand face Lebanon – have attracted gates that have left organisers openly disappointed.
