The nation’s mothers have spoken and the player whose dirty kit they most want to wash is that of Jonny Wilkinson. The survey by a soap powder manufacturer is hardly the most important detail to add to the 2007 World Cup, but it is probably the best demonstration of how the sport was transformed by a single kick.

When Wilkinson dropped his goal in Sydney to win the World Cup for England four years ago, rugby union leapt from the sports pages, into the living-rooms of millions, and turned into a sporting goldmine.

This evening, the gates open on the richest event in rugby history, an extravaganza during which more money will change hands than at the past two World Cups put together. Sponsors have been forming anxious queues almost since the moment the ball left Wilkinson’s boot in that most dramatic finale, spectators will be out in record numbers and advertisers are flocking to have their names on television screens for the next six weeks.

ITV has paid £30 million for the rights to broadcast the event — three times more than it paid for the 2003 tournament. But the beleaguered broadcaster bought into one of the biggest sporting events in British history, with England’s last-gasp victory over Australia turning into a huge earner. ITV is forecasting that this World Cup will produce its best advertising revenue figures in two years, with demand for slots around each match thought to be higher than for football’s 2006 World Cup. The channel has also signed up two French sponsors — energy company EDF and Peugeot.

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Ticket sales are at record levels, with more than two million sold, which is expected to reap income of more than £40 million for the organisers, while France will be inundated with more than 350,000 tourists.

Experts say that the sports tourists will spend more than £1 billion in hotels, shops, bars and restaurants — as well as the odd €30 (about £20) each on an official World Cup T-shirt and perhaps a further €18 on the official World Cup French beret for a touch of authentic ethnic atmosphere.

Betting shops are also predicting that punters in Britain will push as much as £100 million across their counters, with a spokesman for Coral, the bookmakers, saying: “Punters were never that interested in the past, but rugby is on the map this time.”

The big winner, though, will be rugby. The IRB predicts record profits of more than £90 million, which will mean record investment in the grass roots of the sport, already on a high.

The figures are staggering for a sport whose profile was once so low that housewives, now apparently ardent Wilkinson fans, would once have been hard-pressed to tell the difference between a fly half and a fly on the wall. But Nigel Phillips, the director of brandRapport, the sponsorship expert, said: “Rugby used to be a sport for specialists, with almost no broad appeal for ordinary sports fans who didn’t know the game.

“But the moment Jonny Wilkinson kicked his winning goal in 2003, rugby became a mainstream sport. Companies are desperate to be involved and prices have been ratcheted up in direct relation to its popularity. This will be the richest event in rugby’s history by some distance.”

The transformation is partly because of the tournament returning to the northern hemisphere and its massive population of fans. Screening times for live matches are perfect for broadcasters, while matches are within easy reach of the supporters, who can travel to France from all parts of Europe.

Dominic Curran, a director at Karen Earl Sponsorship, said: “The 2003 World Cup in Australia made it difficult for supporters from Europe. Viewers were also turned off by matches being shown at awkward times in the early morning.

“But France is perfect and coincides with the game never being more popular. There is huge interest in the home nations and France and that has triggered this rush among sponsors. There is always a worry that the home nations will not survive the group stages, but even then this tournament promises to be bigger in France than the 1998 football World Cup.”

£1bn

What France’s economy will make from the World Cup

£30m

What ITV has paid for TV rights

2m

Number of tickets sold before the start of the tournament

€30

Average price of a match ticket (about £20)