Rugby World Cup nets Maori Television record audience

The England/Argentina Rugby World Cup bout smashed records for Maori TV. Photo / Getty

More New Zealanders than ever before tuned into Maori Television during coverage of the weekend's Rugby World Cup action.

Maori TV said Saturday's live coverage of the England v Argentina game - called by Te Arahi Maipi, Gavin Hastings and former All Black Kees Meeuws - set a new record for the channel, and was the most watched Rugby World Cup 2011 game on any channel that day.

The average audience of 402,260 viewers was three times as large as the predicted viewership for the game.

Maori Television followed it up on Sunday night with its second largest audience ever of 353,840 viewers for the live clash between South Africa and Wales, called by Maipi, Hastings and veteran sports broadcaster Keith Quinn.

Both results eclipse Maori Television's previous highest viewership, which was recorded for the David Tua v Friday Ahununya boxing match in March 2010 (310,410 average audience).

Scottish rugby legend Gavin Hastings called three games for Maori Television over the opening weekend and says to be part of such a successful launch was "fantastic".

"I'm proud to be playing my part. We're trying to make it a bit different, more conversational and fun and the feedback so far is great. For me it's a more relaxed style and I like this approach."