Rotorua can be extra proud of opening spectacle

Last night's opening ceremony of the Rugby World Cup was something the whole of New Zealand could be proud of and it showed off the best our country has to offer.

For 30 minutes the ceremony told the story of New Zealand and its unique place in the Pacific and represented the coming together of countries from around the world in New Zealand in pursuit of rugby's greatest prize, the Web Ellis Cup.

The ceremony was a spectacle, which I will always remember and it made made me proud to be a Kiwi.

It brought back memories of the opening ceremony of the 1990 Commonwealth Games in Auckland - back then the opening was talked about as being ground-breaking. Last night's show managed to do that and more.

Rotorua can also take extra pride in the event, with our national kapa haka champions, Te Mataarae i o Rehu, getting a chance to show the world what great exponents of our cultural art they are. In my opinion they stole the show.

It was amazing to see how modern and traditional can be brought together as one. No better example of this was when Precious Clarke did the karanga (call) at the beginning of the show and how it appeared her voice travelled in a burst of light across the field to form a koru (spiral pattern) or when our Maori warriors jumped into the air and appeared to crack open the earth on landing.

The lighting display was amazing and the fireworks breathtaking. My favourite part of the show would have to be the spine-tingling haka Kapa o Pango performed by Te Mataarae it still gives me goose-bumps thinking about it.

I spoke to Rugby New Zealand 2011 chief executive Martin Snedden about the ceremony. He said he was proud of what Rugby World Cup opening ceremony creator and Australian David Atkins had achieved.

He said the result had dispelled the original negativity when it was announced an Australian would be in charge of creating an opening ceremony with a Kiwi flavour.

Now all we need is for the All Blacks to make the final on October 23 and for Richie McCaw to lift the Webb Ellis Trophy.