Rugby World Cup: Talofa lava, Samoa (+ videos)

As Rotorua's Rugby World Cup campaign gets under way, Rugby New Zealand has a message for locals - don't regret not being part of the tournament as it's unlikely to be back.

Rotorua's Rugby World Cup campaign has well and truly begun with the city showing why it's renowned for manaakitanga.

At Te Papaiouru Marae, Ohinemutu, yesterday the Samoa team were officially welcomed with a rousing powhiri that brought the crowd to a standstill. It was a humbling experience for the squad, with many of them taking their own photos.

Samoa, who play their first game of the tournament at Rotorua International Stadium next Wednesday, are the only nation to receive the Te Arawa welcome.

As teams are welcomed to New Zealand, it seems Kiwis are getting excited about the event too with 3000 more tickets being sold for Rotorua's matches in the past week.

Rugby New Zealand 2011 chief executive Martin Snedden said 7300 tickets had been sold for tomorrow's clash between Fiji and Namibia, while 6900 tickets had been sold for next Wednesday's Samoa versus Namibia match.

However, Mr Snedden said he was pleased with the 17,600 tickets sold so far to the Ireland v Russia match on Sunday, September 25.

"Yes, we do need to sell some more for the first two games but I think Rotorua will provide a reasonable walk up crowd and ticket prices are very reasonable."

He said he hoped for at least 10,000 spectators for the first two games.

"I hope the people of the Bay of Plenty see what happens at the spectacular opening to the tournament at Eden Park and get out to the games."

His message is for Rotorua residents not to wake up the day after the Rugby World Cup final thinking you should have been part of the tournament - it may just be the last one we'll get to hold.

He said with the way rugby had been embraced by the rest of the world the chances that New Zealand would get to host another World Cup were "pretty slim".

Mr Snedden said most of the grandstand tickets had been sold for the Ireland v Russia match but there were plenty of general admission tickets available at $31 an adult and $15 a child.

About 500 people gathered at Te Papaiouru Marae to be part of yesterday's welcome. Sunset Primary School students escorted Manu Samoa on to the marae with drums, while students from Rotorua Primary School and Kaitao Middle School flanked the Te Arawa performers.

"It was an awesome experience for us," Manu Samoa captain Mahonri Schwalger said.

"Really impressive and very humbling to be welcomed in such a warm way. It was amazing." After the wero and karanga the Samoan team and management were welcomed into Tamatekapua for the formal proceedings, which involved the Samoan team singing a song of thanks and one of greetings.

Assistant coach Tom Coventry said as coach for Hawke's Bay he had been at many powhiri, and in Samoa they performed similar ceremonies but after yesterday's welcome, he said this was a very different experience.

"It's a bit more aggressive than in Samoa," he said.

As well as the powhiri Manu Samoa had a capping ceremony inside Tamatekapua where they were presented with their ceremonial caps from International Rugby Board chairman Bernard Lapasset.