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An exuberant 80,000 crowd, a global TV audience, fireworks, a parade of sporting heroes and a spoof film starring a member of the Royal Family… Sound familiar?

There were so many happy echoes of London 2012 last night as the capital kicked off the world's third biggest sporting event – the Rugby World Cup – in the country which invented this sport.

But anyone expecting Twickenham Stadium to lay on a reprise of Danny Boyle's Olympic curtain-raiser, with its £27million homage to the industrial revolution and the NHS, was out of luck.

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Show time: The 2015 Rugby World Cup's opening ceremony at Twickenham Stadium in London last night

This was a short, unapologetic celebration of Victorian values and the sporting ethos of Tom Brown's Schooldays – on a tiny fraction of the budget.

Besides, this crowd had actually turned up to see a proper rugby match – last night's England v Fiji opening fixture. The result was 35-11 to England.

Instead of Sir Kenneth Branagh and Sir Paul McCartney, we were entertained by the band of Her Majesty's Royal Marines, the choir of Rugby School and Twickenham's resident mezzo soprano, Laura Wright.

Following the example of the Queen, who wowed the world by apparently leaping from a chopper with James Bond to open the Olympics, it fell to Prince Harry to do the honours last night. 

Like his grandmother, he had a cameo role in the opening video, playing a 19th century groundsman at Rugby School, along with ex-England star Jonny Wilkinson.

The scene, in which the duo are caught by surprise as the game of rugby is born in 1823, was filmed at Rugby School back in June, long before Prince Harry had started growing his new beard. 

A celebration of Victorian values: Anyone expecting the stadium (above) to lay on a reprise of Danny Boyle's Olympic curtain-raiser, with its £27million homage to the industrial revolution and the NHS, was out of luck

Speech: Last night, Prince Harry welcomed the world in his capacity as Honorary President of England 2015, saying: 'I can think of no other sport where the success of the team is shouldered so equally by everyone'

Last night, sporting the result on the royal chin, the 31-year-old prince welcomed the world in his capacity as Honorary President of England 2015.

'I can think of no other sport where the success of the team is shouldered so equally by everyone,' he told a crowd including the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, the Prime Minister and assorted celebs including Simon Cowell and rugby-loving TV cook Mary Berry.

Reminiscing about great World Cup moments, not least Wilkinson's Cup-winning drop kick in 2003 (cue: huge cheers), the prince went on: 'Rugby has changed dramatically in my lifetime.

'But it remains a game founded on a code of values; values which are as important today, both on and off the field of play, as they have ever been.

'It's up to every one of us to raise the roof on each match in this unforgettable journey. The players have earned it, the nations deserve it and the fans expect it. We're ready… Game on!' 

I'm on to something! Rugby School pupil Edward Anthony, 14, re-enacts Webb Ellis's genius in a short video

Double act: Jonny Wilkinson and a clean-shaven Harry play groundsmen in the film about rugby's invention

After much brisk business in the Twickenham beer tents, it certainly was.

It was perhaps just as well that one name on the guest list had failed to show. 

Jeremy Corbyn had been invited in his capacity as Leader of the Opposition but pleaded a prior constituency engagement. 

Whether or not there had been a genuine clash with an anti-austerity bean feast in Islington we were not to know.

But a man uncomfortable with singing the national anthem in St Paul's Cathedral would not have enjoyed listening to 80,000 revellers bellowing God Save The Queen and I Vow To Thee My Country, not to mention all the usual 'Swing Low, Sweet Chariot' stuff and thunderous applause for £33,000-a-year Rugby School.

Royal sceptic: Harry delivers the punch line, telling Jonny's character that the sport 'will never catch on'

The revered Twickenham pitch was dominated by a monstrous rugby ball surrounded by giant chunks of grass on hydraulic lifts. 

Shades of that rural idyll which opened the London 2012 show – minus the dancing yokels and livestock. 

By way of a warm-up, the crowd had been roused to shrieking point with an orchestrated karaoke singalong of Neil Diamond's Sweet Caroline. 

That had them dancing from the cheap seats to the VIP box.

The ceremony proper opened with a film recreating that famous day when Rugby schoolboy William Webb Ellis 'took the ball in his arms and ran with it'. Though an actor played the head boy, it fell to a genuine Rugby schoolboy, 14-year-old Edward Anthony, to play the part of Webb Ellis.

Performance: Twickenham's resident mezzo soprano, Laura Wright, wowed onlookers at the ceremony

A shocked 19th century crowd looked on as Webb Ellis went charging off clutching the ball, heading out of the school past the two baffled groundsmen.

'What's he doing?' asked Jonny Wilkinson. 

'Don't worry, Jonny. It'll never catch on,' replied Prince Harry, to genuine roars of laughter across the stadium – particularly in the Royal Box.

Theirs were not the only familiar faces, either. Others enjoying a cameo role included ex-England skipper Billy Beaumont and former coach Sir Clive Woodward. From there, the video gave way to reality back in the stadium and a show billed as 'Breaking New Ground'. 

It would seem that even no-nonsense rugby is not allowed an opening ceremony these days without a lofty theme and a few theatricals.

Injecting a more contemporary note, London rap artist George 'The Poet' Mpanga serenaded the crowd as a parade of 'giants' were lifted up – a living legend from each competing nation. The loudest cheers of the night greeted England's World Cup winning captain, Martin Johnson.

Actors and schoolchildren then paraded around the giant ball which, inevitably, opened up to reveal an inner truth. The 'exploding egg' device has been a trusty favourite in sporting ceremonies of modern times. In this case, thankfully, we were spared a prolonged acrobatic ballet exploring the meaning of life. This egg contained nothing more mysterious than the World Cup.

Young Edward Anthony clambered up a human pyramid to retrieve it. What a night for him and his family. Come Monday morning, double maths is going to seem very dull.

Finally, Prince Harry walked on with Bernard Lapasset, chairman of World Rugby, for the speeches of welcome.

There followed a peculiar sequence involving teams of rugby players hauling giant monolithic stone faces out of the ground. Anyone familiar with the hilarious Stonehenge sequence in the rock comedy, Spinal Tap, will have been biting their lip.

What a night: Young Edward (centre, in white) clambered up a human pyramid to retrieve the Webb Ellis Cup

Overall, though, this was a stylish, witty and polished prelude. 

Organisers put the international television audience at more than 400million. 

They may not have been watching in Beijing and Moscow but rugby commands a vast following in many of the 83 nations who entered this competition. More than 2.3million tickets have been sold. 

And, unlike the £9.3billion Olympics, the World Cup has been organised on a budget of £200million without a penny of public money.

If Prince Harry had been nervous, he was hardly showing it. But then he wasn't the most nervous man at Twickenham last night. That misfortune fell to Keith Kent, custodian of the Twickenham turf.

Back in 2012, organisers had a week to remove the clutter from the opening ceremony and get the Olympic stadium ready for the first race. Last night, Mr Kent had 20 minutes.