Kerre Woodham: Cup triumph just the beginning

The tidings of great joy came a month early this year. News that New Zealand has won the rights to host the 2011 Rugby World Cup was largely unexpected and absolutely brilliant. Everything seemed to be against us - our size, our location, our unclean stadia, Nick Farr-Jones, the bookies - yet tradition and the All Blacks' mana won out.

Congratulations must go to Jock Hobbs and Chris Moller whose whistlestop tour around the rugby-playing world was a huge success. These two men are intelligent, passionate and persuasive - they were an excellent advance guard for the bid. Then, on the eve of the pitch, the reinforcements gathered.

Helen Clark made it with minutes to spare after her Qantas flight had to turn back to Auckland. Note that it was an Australian aircraft she was on, an Aussie aircraft that nearly caused her to miss that all-important meeting. If you had a suspicious mind, you could put that right up there with Suzy the waitress and the shooter on the grassy knoll.

The Prime Minister, with an open cheque book and a promise to underwrite the bid, undoubtedly bolstered New Zealand's chances, but those who were there say it was the big men, Colin Meads and Tana Umaga, who swayed it our way. Colin did a great job during the Lions Tour selling the concept of New Zealand as host for the 2011 Cup.

During the debates that preceded the Lions tests, he took to the stage and asked the Lions supporters whether they'd had a good time. Yes, they all roared. Would they go back and tell all their friends what a great time they'd had in New Zealand? Yes, came the roar. And then Colin told them to ask themselves whether they would have as good a time in Japan.

No doubt Syd Millar, the head of the IRB, took on board the rave reviews from the British and Irish fans, but Chris Moller believes it was Tana Umaga's speech from the heart that swayed the suits.

In these days of hard-headed number crunching and bean counting, it seems almost unbelievable that old-fashioned values like tradition and commitment can count for anything, but obviously the board members of rugby's governing body have liniment in their veins after all.

We owe a debt to the South Africans, too, who swung in behind New Zealand's bid when they were eliminated in the first round of voting, and really, how many Japanese mums are going to let their little boys take to the field just because the World Cup is being played in their backyard? In fact, how many Japanese would know or care that the Rugby World Cup was heading their way?

The New Zealand delegation has done all the hard work - and now it's up to the rest of us to make sure that the 2011 World Cup is a success on every level.

Realistically, we'll never have a chance of hosting a bigger-ticket event than this, so let's make sure the 60-odd thousand visitors here have a ball. Now we have to pay back the rugby gods.

And if that means having to go to pool games between Estonia and Japan in order to provide a great atmosphere, if that means billeting a rugby-mad family from Inverness, if that means we have to offer the lion's share of the tickets to the visitors, then so be it. I'll do my bit.