THE Rugby Football Union’s Annual Report and Accounts, recently published, show an exceptional year and the positive financial impact of hosting Rugby World Cup 2015.

The past year saw the highest turnover in the RFU’s history, and record investment in rugby, with profit for rugby investment of £102.3m topping £100m for the first time and up 37 per cent on the previous year.

Revenues almost doubled, with total revenue increasing by £199.2m, from £207.9m to £407.1m driven by £228.1m in year of the Rugby World Cup.

In what would ordinarily be a loss making season, the Union achieved a retained profit of £3.9m, compared to a loss of £6.7m in 2014/15, a move of almost £11m year on year.

The past four years’ actual rugby investment exceeded the ambitious target set by the RFU Strategic Plan by £28m.

In the past year, the RFU invested £89.8m into rugby, 17 per cent more than in the previous year, with £55.7m investment in professional rugby and £34.1m investment in rugby development.

The investment in professional rugby included all England related costs for Rugby World Cup 2015 as well as costs for the tour to Australia in June 2016.

This was the fifth consecutive year of increased investment in rugby development, and included spending on a range of participation growth initiatives and delivering a lasting World Cup legacy in the community game.

Investment in the game was facilitated by underlying revenue growth in broadcasting (up 39 per cent), sponsorship (up eight per cent), match day hospitality and non-match day conference and events (up three per cent), and travel revenues, with England Rugby Travel (the official travel operator for RWC 2015) seeing an eight fold revenue increase.