Poetry had centre stage for a few moments at the opening ceremony at the Rugby World Cup at Twickenham on Friday night.  One of the UK’s leading spoken performers, George the Poet strode on to the pitch to tell the crowd: “We have earned a place in history.” Observing that “one side’s domination will be the pride of a nation”, he went on: “It’s a time of elation, a time of destiny, respect, integrity, a special kind of beauty.” And he concluded with these lines: “It will be remembered, we came together as one.”

The opening ceremony began with a film of how the game began on the playing fields of Rugby school, and featured Prince Harry appearing as a gardener before he later delivered a speech at the live ceremony.

And the result? England beat Fiji 35-11, and with four tries, registered the maximum five points from their first game.