England won its first Grand Slam in eight years with success over Ireland at the weekend and now hopes are high the sport will reap the commercial benefits.
Said Nick Keller of sports marketing company Benchmark Sport: "Its great news for rugby but also the sponsors that have invested in the sport that has always played second fiddle to football.
"Although football is still a long way ahead, with rugby’s high profile on the BBC and the World Cup coming up it is certainly closing the gap and this will surely push interest and change the profile of the type of sponsor rugby attracts.
"Rugby has traditionally appealed in the main to brands that include
financial services, utilities and banks but with the success of the national team and increase in popularity, consumer brands are certainly going to look for a piece of the action.
"The Royal Bank of Scotland have received some excellent value for their first year's investment in the Six Nations without having to work the investment to hard. I am sure with England looking like favourites for the World Cup in November interest from brands and agencies alike will be strong."
