Rugby World Cup: Pringles sales up 150% at Waitrose

Sales at Waitrose were still down 0.3 per cent on the year

An advert for Pringles showing football-loving men avoid their ‘killjoy’ girlfriends by pretending their mobile phones are losing signal

Pringles are among the winners at the Rugby World Cup. Sales of the savoury snack have leapt 150 per cent at Waitrose as sports fans take to the sofa for the tournament, the supermarket said.

Shoppers also upped their supply of beer for the first of the tournament's games, with sales up 16 per cent in the week to September 19.

Not wanting to miss out on any impressive play, fans also bought up “lounge-friendly food”, like frozen party snacks and pizzas, sales of which jumped 55% and 45 per cent, respectively.

Indian ready meals also leapt off the shelves, Waitrose said.

The surge wasn't enough to lift the upmarket grocer's total sales, however, which were down 0.3 per cent against tough comparatives from a year earlier.

John Lewis, which is part of the same group, had better figures to report, with sales up 6 per cent as shoppers stocked up on cold weather gear for the coming winter.

Cashmere was a top performer, as was new season womens fashion, up 19 per cent year-on-year.

The Rugby World Cup also played its part for the department store, which said merchandise related to the content had brought in “impressive sales”.

Group sales were up 2.1 per cent overall.