Last weekend the 2015 Rugby World Cup came to a spectacular conclusion with a well-deserved New Zealand team claiming a record third tournament victory. Underlined by emotion, huge surprises and engrossing rugby, the eighth chapter of the Rugby World Cup wasn’t only riveting on the field, but off it too. With @RugbyWorldCup headlining the tournament on social media, it was the account to watch, overflowing with content you wouldn’t see anywhere else.
Analysis of the first Social Rugby World Cup
Ladies and gentlemen, your #RWC2015 Champions #NZL pic.twitter.com/3YLZUH6FN2
— Rugby World Cup (@rugbyworldcup) October 31, 2015
In partnership with Twitter, several hashflag emojis were rolled-out. Like the Football World Cup in Brasil in 2014, all countries taking part had their flag on Twitter. The hashtag #RWC2015 was also accompanied by a emoji, one new per week.
And here's the full set of #RWC2015 emojis you'll be needing for the next six weeks pic.twitter.com/e0PCyif6sS
— Rugby World Cup (@rugbyworldcup) September 16, 2015
And when the tournament actually got going, the focus thoroughly moved to the statistics and the characters on the field
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR? #RWCFinal referee @Nigelrefowens wants the players to be centre stage at Twickenham pic.twitter.com/KJQf4i0F6c
— Rugby World Cup (@rugbyworldcup) October 29, 2015
LET'S GET READY TO RUMBLE: Two seismic forces will meet today, only one will progress to the final #RWC2015 #RSAvNZL pic.twitter.com/cHmfZTiK9W
— Rugby World Cup (@rugbyworldcup) October 24, 2015
The man of the match celebration in partnership with Master Card. At least England’s Mike Brown had something to smile about.
He made the most metres (172) and scored 2 tries! Here's your @MasterCardUK man of the match @mikebrown_15! #ENGvFJI pic.twitter.com/PeiRxG7AS9
— Rugby World Cup (@rugbyworldcup) September 18, 2015
And their introduction of GIFs to announce the team lineups pre match:
BACK IN BLACK #NZL name an unchanged 23-man squad for the #RWCFinal against #AUS on Saturday #RWC2015 pic.twitter.com/TlKUWzA1b5
— Rugby World Cup (@rugbyworldcup) October 30, 2015
But the official Tournament handle showed that it wasn’t all about hard-hitting facts, providing us with a few laughs along the way:
When you realise there's more #RWC2015 semi-final action to come. 👊 pic.twitter.com/py4eORcwfQ
— Rugby World Cup (@rugbyworldcup) October 25, 2015
The new star of #RWC2015, may we introduce Marty McFly-Half… #BackToTheFuture pic.twitter.com/rl43hvKpQO
— Rugby World Cup (@rugbyworldcup) October 21, 2015
For @RugbyWorldCup, the tournament didn’t finish on 31st October either.
Thanks to the hashtag #RWC2015Moments, the organisation continues to remember great memories from the event.
FAN-TASTIC: loud, passionate and always dressed for the occasion. Tremendous work all 👏 #RWC2015Moments pic.twitter.com/qdgNLIv8cK
— Rugby World Cup (@rugbyworldcup) November 2, 2015
As the official Twitter account, they were also able to give us a look at exclusive content using their Vine account catching some great behind-the-scenes moments:
https://vine.co/v/exW56mMtIhp
https://vine.co/v/e2h9HUXdJYI
https://vine.co/v/e3eX9vFP0TA
We all became quite attached to the Rugby World Cup over the last few months – so until Japan, we’ll leave you with one final memory
#RWC2015Moments… when @Springboks' Victor Matfield reminded @DavidHasselhoff how it is done!!! https://t.co/UAkO9pUitD
— Rugby World Cup (@rugbyworldcup) November 2, 2015
To all you #RWC2015 fans, THANK YOU! pic.twitter.com/N0hidMBj6W
— Rugby World Cup (@rugbyworldcup) October 31, 2015