Just a few yards away from the spot where Manu Tuilagi jumped off a ferry last week, English officials launched what they hope will be a more upbeat 2015 Rugby World Cup. Given England's party-animal reputation in New Zealand, it was probably sensible to opt for a low-key harbourside ceremony, with not even a double‑decker bus in sight.
Instead they made do with a sober-suited Paul Vaughan, chief executive of RWC2015, and a Q&A session involving Lawrence Dallaglio and Will Greenwood, hosted by a Kiwi comedian, James McOnie, who had been mugging up on the latest English headlines. "Will there be looting?" he asked excitedly, having already compared the good-humoured Vaughan to Alan Partridge. Behind the stage was a montage of iconic English images, ranging from the Angel of the North and Nelson's Column to a Mini Cooper and a Dalek. There must be serious doubt as to whether the latter is strictly English-qualified, particularly now Dr Who is made in Wales.
In every other respect, though, England intend to do things bigger, if not necessarily better, than New Zealand have done this time. Vaughan has set the bar high, with estimated ticket sales of 2.8m, double the projected figure at this tournament. Jonny Wilkinson and England's outstanding women's flanker Maggie Alphonsi will be joining Dallaglio and Greenwood as ambassadors, with Old Trafford, the Emirates Stadium and Wembley among the proposed venues for the games.
As with the current political situation at the Rugby Football Union, though, there remain major loose ends to be tidied up. There is not yet an agreed tournament start date, for example, with Argentina's entry into the Four Nations from next year having further congested the fixture list. The tournament could kick off in the first, second or third week of September which, in turn, could govern which grounds can be used. There are 12 proposed venues – St James' Park, Old Trafford, Anfield, Elland Road, Ricoh Arena, Welford Road, Kingsholm, Wembley, Twickenham, Emirates Stadium, St Mary's and Cardiff's Millennium Stadium – although that figure could drop to 10.
So far, too, there is no precise detail on the match scheduling, although Vaughan indicated the major nations would be playing in midweek. With average crowds of 58,000 needed at every match if targets are to be hit – the International Rugby Board demands an £80m guarantee from the host nation – a mountain of hard work lies ahead. "Tonight is the first step in a four-year journey to deliver what we believe will be the biggest-ever Rugby World Cup," said Vaughan, quoting statistics which suggest nine million people follow rugby in England.
He also hopes to attract substantial numbers of visitors from across Europe and the United States and spoke of his intention to encourage "pools of passion around the country", particularly in the north of England which has been virtually starved of Test rugby union since 1997.
"We've got to match the standards New Zealand have set," he said. "We can't just think about England, we've got to be even-handed across the whole tournament. We think we can make the numbers work which is why we've gone for the volume strategy." The pool draw will be conducted in late 2012.
Not surprisingly Vaughan was less keen to dwell on the vexed question of who will coach England or the calibre of the squad the host nation might put out. Dallaglio's view – "We've got a bit of work to do on our team" – mirrored the opinions of another England captain, Will Carling, earlier in the day who questioned the positions of Martin Johnson's coaching staff.
"I don't know if Johnno will put himself up again, whether he will actually even put his name in the hat. I personally think that even he would be hard-pushed to say the coaching team should stay," Carling said.
Carling was also critical of the players: "A lot of them, the way they behaved was an insult to the shirt," he added.
So far the RFU has still not received word as to whether Johnson wishes to extend his managerial tenure. Martyn Thomas, the RFU's acting chief executive, has phoned and left a message but, as yet , has not heard back. Johnson's contract runs until 31 December but Twickenham's mandarins would prefer him to declare his intentions within the next week.
