Wynne Gray: Pure rugby theatre at England's hallowed ground

Chris Ashton of England goes over to score a try during the QBE International match between England and New Zealand in 2012. Photo / Getty Images

Twickenham. Many of us have been there to breathe in the atmosphere and then watch as the English hosts try to repel the All Black invaders.

You have to be early to beat the gentry who set up picnic camp in the West car park but a saunter through those gatherings is an eye-opening peep into their idea of a curtain-raiser.

Give yourself plenty of time before the mid-afternoon kickoff and you can visit the Rugby Museum, Rugby Store and circumnavigate the ground and its triple-tiered vantage points.

If you've left your trip a little late there will be a serious squash on the trains then a congested 15-minute walk with touts, hawkers and vendors garnishing the roads as you get closer to the 82,000 capacity ground.

As you get through the ticket booths, the vast Twickenham stands beckon you to rugby's centre stage as the numerous food and drink stalls tease your taste buds and wallet.

There will be a significant Kiwi presence at the ground with a coating of diplomats, trade and commerce officials backed by many young men and women, usually on their OE, who don their black garb and support trimmings for a day at the footy.

Two years ago, the All Blacks-England duel was actually the curtain-raiser to the strange scheduling sight of the nations' women doing early evening battle under lights as most of the crowd headed for the exits.

That spoke a great deal about the care and upkeep the staff put into their ground and its televisual appeal to global audiences.

Beware any transgressions if you attend the teams' last hit-outs at Twickenham the day before a test. Testing out the in-goal area can bring some coruscating rebuke from the groundsmen as this reporter has discovered. This is the altar of English rugby and a ground where the hosts are trying to forge a decent unbeaten run before they host the World Cup. The atmosphere is always stirring.

The crowd will be in full patriotic throttle with surges of God Save The Queen, Land of Hope and Glory and Swing Low Sweet Chariot circulating the arena. The noise will escalate around kickoff but dissipate if the All Blacks score first or take an early grip on the match. Some of the hubbub escapes because several of the grandstands slope back more than other newer arenas in Europe.

The bulk of the crowd has come to sing and support England to victory and begin the chariot ride to the eighth World Cup. They will give referee Nigel Owens plenty of advice about his decisions and jeer the All Black visitors about any perceived illegalities. It is interactive theatre which is up a few notches from most of the test match audiences in New Zealand.

However, if the result goes to the All Blacks the crowd, rather than certain sections of the fourth estate, will applaud what they've seen before singing and debating their way back to the rail stations then their local watering holes.