It must be something about this stadium which produces remarkable sport. There may no longer be a track, but the roar which greeted Kenya's comeback from 20-7 behind to an astonishing 28-20 win against Samoa lost little in comparison with the celebrations after England's relay successes here on Wednesday night.
Perhaps they were inspired by their steeplechasers. England's opening win against the Cook Islands in the first match of the tournament was deadly dull by comparison, although even that included an early warning that things would not go to script. The Cooks led 7-0 and 12-7 before England came back to win 24-12. It seemed a desperately unconvincing way to start but it could have been a good deal worse, as Samoa could quickly confirm.
It was not just the track that was missing last night. There was no Jonah Lomu, whose appearance on billboards at Manchester Airport and around the city promoting the Games for the last 12 months always seemed optimistic given the clash with the All Blacks' Tri-Nations commitments; no Jason Robinson, who like the rest of England's more recognisable names decided, understandably, that he needed a summer off; and not all that many spectators, with the stadium roughly half full when England kicked off against the Cooks.
It wasn't exactly how the stadium will look when, assuming things go well this season, Kevin Keegan's Manchester City kick off their 2003-4 Premiership campaign here next August. There was some decent defending for a start.
But the only track visible now is in the more modest warm-up area near the squash courts, where a lone blonde-haired sprinter was training as the holders and favourites, New Zealand's Lomu-less All Blacks, prepared for their opening game against Canada. "Meet back here at 4.30," said one dreadlocked Maori to another, a reminder that for all the slickness of rugby union's new world sevens circuit, some things about tournaments like this can never change, although the days of a pint between games have probably gone forever.
England have started taking sevens seriously, too, appointing the rugby league convert Joe Lydon as full-time coach and finishing third in last winter's world series boosted by a high-profile win in its Hong Kong showpiece. They took the field with the Cooks to Beethoven's Ninth, the composer's Commonwealth connections still to be determined, but could not have made a worse start.
After 44 seconds, England were penalised inside their own half, Koiato Koiato broke through some poor defence and sent Amosa Amosa over for the first try of the tournament. "Not surprising we're losing," somebody noted. "Their players are so good, they're all named twice."
The less exotic sounding Darren Robson, one of four players in the Cooks squad based in New Zealand, converted, and England were 7-0 behind.
They responded positively with the Bath wing Rob Thirlby cruising over from 50 metres, but Ben Gollings could not convert from wide out and home players and spectators alike were given another nasty shock when after a bemusing refereeing decision from the kick-off, Lance Fitzpatrick scored a second try for the Cooks.
But this time Robson could not convert and England were able to pull level by half-time with Gollings, from Harlequins, racing clear down the left and converting his own try with a much better drop-kick - penalties are the only place kicks to save time in this shortened form of the game.
England then took the lead for the first time soon after the two-minute break, with Lydon's fellow former leaguie Henry Paul making his first significant contribution to lay on a try for Josh Lewsey. But there were still some nervous moments, in which Paul had to make a crucial tackle near the England line, before a first glimpse of the team's Hong Kong form as the speedy Wasps wing Paul Sampson sent Lewsey over for his second.
Kenya, with most of their players from the Nondescripts club of Nairobi, then raised the roof before Fiji, including their Sevens legend Waisale Serevi, had some fun at Malaysia's expense, and Australia trounced Trinidad and Tobago.
If some of these early matches were more reminiscent of John Cleese pummelling Connie Booth in Monty Python than the "Olympic intensity" which England's captain Phil Greening spoke of this week, it could be misleading. With the exception of Wales's tough group, the real business starts today with the seeded teams in each pool playing each other - England versus Samoa, the All Blacks against Scotland and Fiji-Australia - to determine who plays who in the quarter finals.
Then the semis and final follow tomorrow - long guaranteed to be a 38,000 sell-out thanks to a big corporate push. There is even a danger, apparently, of sunshine.
· Fred Asselin the Canadian who was told to stay at home when he admitted taking a banned drug in a cure for toothache, eventually received clearance to play in the tournament, but was "severely reprimanded and warned as to his future conduct" by the International Rugby Board (IRB). The IRB had initially banned the player but the decision was changed on appeal. Asselin was on the bench as Canada took a shock 7-0 lead before losing 28-7 to New Zealand.
