Wynne Gray: It's time to grab the ball and run with it

This is a chance for NZ to show we appreciate many nations. Photo / Richard Robinson

Forget the All Blacks - enjoy the whole show, writes Wynne Gray

No one can alter the records which show New Zealand as the major host for the first Rugby World Cup with some help from our buddies across the Ditch.

So it was a gold medal on that count and the same coloured reward 29 days later when the All Blacks overcame France.

Six tournaments later the Webb Ellis Cup tally remains the same for the All Blacks, though New Zealand is about to host the event again, this time on its own.

There was a low-level entry to that first tournament 24 years ago. Like next week's tournament, it began on a Friday with preparations only moving up a notch three weeks before kickoff when the Auckland Rugby Union was asked to organise the opening ceremony. Chief executive Lew Pryme brought his showbiz talents into action for the hour-long opening festivities before referee Bob Fordham signalled the start of the All Blacks-Italy match.

There was no doubt about the result, but there was general anxiety about how the tournament and the All Blacks would be received after the divisive Cavaliers tour the year before. The opening match was televised live around the globe but there was low-level crowd support and promotion.

Japanese firm KDD bailed out organisers with a $3 million deal to be the major sponsors, the most expensive seat at the final was $44 and when the figures were collated, they showed 600,000 spectators had attended the games.

Fiji's attendance for the opening event was in doubt because of a coup until the intervention of former international Lieutenant-Colonel Sitiveni Rabuka allowed them to be the 16th and last side to take their place.

Since that initial World Cup, there have been five others staged in the UK, Europe, South Africa and Australia.

The last tournament should have been an extravaganza throughout France but political necessities meant it was a fragmented mess with matches siphoned off to Scotland and Wales.

Without doubt the best World Cup was in South Africa in 1995 where the one-country theme meant a unity of interest, format and concentration. The weather helped, too - though France would dispute that after their water-logged semifinal in Durban. But the global acceptance of the Rainbow Nation, the political undercurrents to the event, Jonah Lomu, the emergence of professionalism and the dramatic extra-time final in the stunning atmosphere at Ellis Park left extraordinary memories.

Now the Land of the Long White Cloud hosts the seventh tournament with many inhabitants hoping it will not be known as the nation of broad glowering faces after the late-October conclusion. This is a chance for New Zealand to show we appreciate many nations instead of fixating on the All Blacks.

Sporting partisanship is a strong thread in any global competition, part of the allure and interest - but not to the complete exclusion of others or when it becomes boorishly myopic.

We will get to see a variety of teams, styles and ability. There will be stars in those sides we have not seen before and games like Russia v USA or Georgia v Romania may have more round-robin appeal than the All Blacks against Canada.

There will be stars among sides of lesser qualities who will make you wonder what impact they would have made in sides of higher calibre.

There will be some colossal tension with one from Scotland, Argentina and England (in Pool B), Australia, Ireland and Italy (in pool C) and two from South Africa, Wales, Samoa and Fiji (in pool D) will be heading out before the quarter-finals.

Only the All Blacks and France in Pool A seem certain of qualifying from their group for the final eight. Then it's all on. Night rugby, perhaps wet conditions, a dodgy refereeing decision, injuries; an amalgam of issues can determine results.

We are on the cusp of seven weeks of action where nothing can erase New Zealand's host status, but all inhabitants are responsible for the final report card on the nation.