App of the Day: Rugby World Cup 2011 App (iOS, Android, WP7)

It’s Friday 16th of September 2011, which means one thing for Rugby fans across the globe: The second weekend of matches in the 2011 Rugby World Cup are about to start in New Zealand.

With so many games going on involving 20 teams in four groups, rugby fans need to know what’s going on all the time – the player news, the lineups, the scores and most importantly, who’s top of the group. With that in mind, the Official Rugby World Cup 2011 App has been designed for iPhone, Android and Windows Phone.

The app is free on all platforms and is perfect for rugby fans – it really gives you everything you could possibly want to know in one place. Along the bottom of the app you’ll find tabs for News, Tournament Info, Match Centre, Video and a Fan Zone.

The News tab will bring you the latest stories from New Zealand, including team lineups, player interviews, match reviews and plenty more. With views from the players ahead of games and commentators’ expectations available to read before the weekend, you really get a feel of being involved in the tournament.

The Tournament tab will give you all the information you need on the games themselves – who is doing well and who isn’t. You can view all 20 teams in the ‘teams’ tab, and by tapping on a particular team you can view their statistics so far in the tournament, team sheet, previous results, future fixtures and even detailed player profiles including pictures.

Elsewhere in the Tournament tab you can view standings for each of the four Pools, allowing you to see who is top of the group. Next to the ‘Pools’ is the ‘Knock Outs’ option, where you can view fixtures and results for the Quarters, Semis and Final.

Match Centre gives you a view of the upcoming games in chronological order, with the very next game sitting at the top. Tap on a game and you can view each team’s stats and pools standings, world ranking, as well as view final squad information and view live text commentary while the match is going on. Previous results and future fixtures can also be viewed by tapping their respective tabs.

If you’ve missed a game then don’t worry, you can view match highlights on the go by entering the ‘Video’ tab. Here you’ll find good quality 5 minute highlight videos for previous matches, as well as a daily RWC show which mixes in highlights, features and more.

Finally you have the Fan Zone where fans can view information and stats on all 12 stadiums used throughout the tournament, purchase match tickets, vote for match of the day awards and see what you can do if you’re lucky enough to be in New Zealand for the World Cup.

Our editor is a Rugby fanatic and after introducing him to this app he hasn’t been able to stop checking up on it. If you’re a rugby fan then download it now for free from the Apple App Store, Android Market or Windows Phone Marketplace.

Let us know what you think via the comments system below or by Twitter.