UK eyes £150m rugby world cup boost

Britain’s embattled leisure and retail sectors can look forward to a £150 million-plus boost from the Rugby World Cup, economists today forecast.

On the eve of the tournament kicking off in New Zealand, the Centre for Economics and Business Research (CEBR) also predicted “minimal disruption” to productivity.

The only weekday matches featuring home nations are Scotland versus Georgia next Wednesday, while Wales face Namibia on Monday, 26 September. Both games will get under way around breakfast time in the UK.

The CEBR noted that England were fourth favourites to win the competition, with the bookies’ odds implying that the team would progress to the semi- finals, before exiting to Australia on Saturday, 15 October.

It said that if all teams performed to “market expectations”, then the other home nations would also progress through the group phase.

“Under this scenario, home nations would feature in 21 games in total and we take this into account in our consumption forecasts”, the CEBR added.

Economists said the main boost to the economy would come through an increase in consumer spending, with fans watching the matches live in pubs and restaurants and also buying items such as replica shirts.