Wynne Gray: TV camera crews praying for the light

Rugby broadcasts are among features being studied as part of a World Cup warm-up. Photo / Getty Images

Let there be light. Enough, anyway, to make global television watchers happy and those at the Garden of Eden tonight able to pick out the action in the corners of the field.

There has been some anxiety at Sky this week after staff went through a midweek test run that uncovered a few glitches. Like other arms of the media, the World Cup host broadcasters have been having dress-rehearsals this season for that tournament.

Some issues have been uncovered in New Plymouth, Dunedin (if Carisbrook is needed as a stopgap stadium again) and Hamilton in pre-emptive shakedowns organised by the New Zealand Rugby Union.

Television crews are confident all will be sweetness and light this evening in Auckland but there will be a few worry beads around the troops.

Staff have been looking in envy at the amount of lux - techo term - which has flooded World Cup soccer arenas in South Africa.

Restrictions are in place at Eden Park on the amount of light allowed to flood the arena, although Sky believe those levels will be raised a shade for next year's global tournament. They hope so. Throughout their match programmes, Sky are a world-class operation and at least the equal of any other global rugby production, from their technical and specialist staff to their panel of analysts.

They felt hampered during the Super 14 because of the restrictions construction at Eden Park imposed on their broadcasts. Lighting has become an even greater issue with the advent of high-definition television, which picks out the smallest of details.

With night rugby now a part of the landscape - its acceptance is another issue - those millions watching on television throughout New Zealand, around the globe and others who have been fortunate enough to get a ticket to the games, should be able to get the best view.

If that means more lux, that should have been accepted. It all adds to the package demanded from spectators, such as the before and after parties at Eden Park or the dinners and celebrity events which are sideshows to ease the suburban traffic and spectator flows.

Curtainraisers are outmoded apparently for test matches, so the grounds need other entertainment packages to entice crowds early and to let them disappear sedately once the action is complete. It all adds up to extended packages of light and noise.