Popular.

The 2023 Rugby World Cup was an edition like no other, with interest in our wonderful sport at an all-time high across the globe.

Fans turned up in record numbers to stadiums across France with millions tuning in at home to watch what was one of the most entertaining Rugby World Cups in history.

The popularity of individual players has risen massively too with social media absolutely buzzing. Olytico have released an excellent breakdown to see which players were most popular and we’ve taken a look.

As the tournament progressed and the games went on, players swapped places depending on what was going on, with France skipper Antoine Dupont leading the way for much of the early stages.

But he had to settle for third place in the end with victorious Springboks skipper Siya Kolisi taking top spot by the time the whistle was blown in the final with an incredible 150,000 mentions.

Here’s the Top 10:

1. Siya Kolisi
2. Handre Pollard
3. Antoine Dupont
4. Cheslin Kolbe
5. Faf de Klerk
6. Bongi Mbonambi
7. Makazole Mapimpi
8. Eben Etzebeth
9. Mannie Libbok
10. Johnny Sexton

With South African players absolutely dominating the player top 10, it should come as no surprise they top the country charts too, generating more than a million mentions – more than double that of France in second place.

Finalists New Zealand came in third with England and Ireland not far behind.

An exciting time for rugby judging by some of those numbers. Truly a sport on the up.