Rugby World Cup kicks off in green and pleasant land

Rugby’s uncanny knack to organise a singalong brought a boozy, knees up atmosphere to Twickenham.

With 82,000 fans breaking into 'Sweet Caroline' and 2003 World Cup winner - the I-couldn't-care-less-that-I'm-tuneless - Will Greenwood, leading them on, the Rugby World Cup Opening ceremony had all the oval ball ingredients.

The Royal Marines, the storied history, the Rugby School Choir and a royal Prince Harry of Wales pumping out cheesy one liners - “a game founded on a code of values on and off the pitch.”

The greats of the game in Augustin Pichot, Michael Lynagh, John Hayes, Jaques Burger, Sean Fitzpatrick, Pat Lam, Martin Johnson and Chester Williams waved from the Giants Causeway like paving that radiated out from an enormous rugby ball, the centre piece in the 'breaking new ground' theme. And of course the crowd joined in at every invitation.

The brief 20 minute ceremony might not have been David Beckham racing up the Thames in a cigar boat and the Queen didn't parachute from a helicopter into the stadium a she did in Danny Boyle's 2012 creation for the London Olympics.

But a potential 450 million people around the world with television access would have gotten a flavour of something smaller than the Olympic Games, something with just as rich a history and with just as much pride in where the game came from and where it is now positioned.

If the truth be told the really electrifying show began at 6.10pm, almost an hour before the official ceremony started, when the England team bus deliberately drew up short of the changing rooms at the back of the West Stand.

A crowd of several thousand had gathered and one by one the England squad stepped off the bus and walked the 50 metres through a narrow gap of bodies.

It was of the coliseum, almost frightening in its intensity and a departure now for rugby teams who want to thrive on feeding off the energy of the crowd.

“We’re ready. Game on,” screamed Prince Harry to the approval of the fans. Soon after two giant tomb stones rose from the earth, England’s Union Jack projected on to one and the Fijian flag on the other.

It was all maybe as it should have been, as we should have expected, the game of rugby reaffirming its place, knowing its strengths, knowing where it belongs in the world, all of them things of great value, all of them done in an exceedingly English way.