Prince Harry has starring role at Rugby World Cup launch

Prince Harry has emulated the Queen by making a cameo appearance in the opening of a major sporting event - starring in the launch of the Rugby World Cup.

Harry, who is a passionate fan of the sport, joined a cast of famous rugby faces in a short film recreating the moment when William Webb Ellis invented rugby.

The legendary schoolboy is said to have picked up a ball and run with it in 1823 creating a game that would go on to become a global sport.

The Twickenham crowd of around 82,000 cheered as the short video was played before the opening game of the tournament - hosts England against Fiji.

In the footage the teenager, clutching the ball, runs out of the grounds of Rugby School passing two workmen - the prince and Jonny Wilkinson, England's 2003 Rugby World Cup winning hero.

Harry, wearing a white shirt, braces and trousers, looks up from digging with a spade and when Wilkinson asks "what's he doing?" the prince replies "don't worry Jonny, that will never take off" as he watches the teenager disappear into the distance.

His grandmother the Queen stole the show at the opening ceremony for the London 2012 Olympics when she starred alongside James Bond, played by Daniel Craig, and appeared to skydive into the main stadium.

The Rugby World Cup is expected to be watched by a huge global audience over the next six weeks.

Harry, who is the honorary president of England Rugby 2015, the organising committee staging the tournament, was joined at Twickenham by the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and Prime Minister David Cameron.