Jacqui Hurley or Joe Molloy? Jerry Flannery or Rob Kearney? Is RTÉ or Virgin Media winning World Cup battles for viewers?

Last week, 74 people out of every 100 in this country were in front of their televisions watching Dave McIntyre and Alan Quinlan call the game at the Stade de France. Presumably, the other 26 were at the game.

TUSSLE FOR VIEWERS: Virgin Media head of sport Mick McCaffrey and, far right, his RTÉ counterpart Declan McBennett. Centre: Joe Molloy, Matt Williams, Shane Horgan. Inset: RTÉ’s Jerry Flannery, left, and Virgin pundit Rob Kearney.

THE only thing greener than the Irish takeover of Paris today will be the envious gills of Declan McBennett, RTÉ’s head of sport, watching rival broadcaster Virgin Media (VM) bank another viewership record for their exclusive coverage of the World Cup quarter-final against the All Blacks.

Virgin’s 1.19m viewers for last Saturday’s final pool game against Scotland was the highest viewership they’ve had since they debuted in our living rooms 25 years ago. Their head of sport, Mick McCaffrey, is “quietly optimistic” VM will breach that number tonight at 8pm.