Friday night saw the opening ceremony of the 5th Rugby World Cup.

81,000 Union fans saw the largest theatrical spectacular since the Olympics... oh, and some football game between Australia and Argentina.

The comparisons to the Olympics have dogged the RWC ceremony committee even before the planning began. There were however quite a few differences. At the Olympics, the Show was the main event, at the RWC what came after was more important. The budget of the Olympics was also more than 10 times larger.

However, the 1700 performers, a few professionals but mostly amateurs certainly put on a show. Earth, fire, water and Air (well a choir anyway) was the theme, but the high light for me was ROCKY, some 700-plus Sydney-area high school children, forming a giant rugby player scoring a try.

This is what impresses me the most. 700 plus children, with teachers, practiced for months in advance to choreograph a 4-minute segment of an hour-long ceremony.

Then, volunteers at the stadium had to walk them to their places safely and then walk them out again, all for the experience and a t-shirt.

Those organising the event, and the l500 volunteers helping, did not actually get to see the game, as it takes a lot of time and effort to get the logistics right. But, we all taped the opening ceremony and after soaking up the atmosphere of the Stadium Australia rugby zone, a lot of very tired helpers went home, and could finally rest their tired feet.

Mardo Gray for 2K Plus International Sports Media