It's a tough job but somebody's got to do it. I think you should know that there is such a thing as the Twickenham Centenary Ambassadors committee, and I'm its chairman.

As such, I have to co-ordinate the input of some of the most famous figures in England's rugby history, and produce a consensus.

Dicky Jeeps was the scrum-half when England won a Grand Slam for the first time since the war, in 1957; Bill Beaumont captained England to the Grand Slam in 1980; Rob Andrew was outside-half when England achieved a clean sweep three times in the '90s; and World Cup winner Lawrence Dallaglio was a key figure in England's only Six Nations Grand Slam, in 2003.

We were gathered together because this season marks 100 years of rugby at Twickenham. The first match ever, between Harlequins and Richmond, was played in autumn 1909, while the first international, between England and Wales, took place on January 15, 1910.

A lot has happened in the game and at the stadium in the last 10 decades and the RFU are quite rightly in the mood for celebration. Mick Cleary, rugby correspondent of the Daily Telegraph, has written a book, there's a sell-out dinner at the stadium next week, and there will be lavish celebrations at this year's England-Wales match, on February 6, when both teams will turn out in special centenary kit.

Our role, to promote the initiative, is both a privilege and a delight. While today's players are encouraged to believe that they are only as good as their next game, we needed no encouragement to look back. The reporters asked the question, but none of us needed any prompting. Each of us could remember with almost uncanny accuracy the circumstances and, more particularly, the emotions of our first international for England at the great stadium.

My first international at Twickenham was coincidentally enough against England's opponents next week, Australia. I had already made my debut against the same opposition in the summer of 1975 – but this was something different.

Back in June, thousands of miles away from home, with a patched up team before a sparse crowd in bright sunshine, we weren't expected to win. In January, with wintry weather sweeping across Twickenham, we were desperate for revenge – and England supporters expected us to get it.

The tension had mounted inexorably: the police motorcycle escort from our hotel to the stadium; the red rose that each of us was given for blazer button-holes; the butterflies as we wandered out on to the pitch in our civvies; the wall of noise that greeted us as we stepped from the stillness of the England dressing-room and into the tunnel; the agony of trying to keep still during the national anthems while every fibre of our bodies was ready to explode into action – the memories still make the hairs rise at the back of my neck.

But that was nearly 34 years ago. The South Stand has come and gone twice since then as the pitch that even in the 1970s might just have been recognisable as the famous "cabbage patch" that Billy Williams acquired for the RFU for £5,500 in 1907, has been transformed into a magnificent state-of-the-art sporting venue.

And though rugby has similarly changed out of all recognition, we were relieved to discover that the ingredients of a great try remain the same.

Our shortlist of the greatest tries ever scored at Twickenham, of course, reflected recent successes – with Ben Cohen and Rory Underwood featuring heavily.

It also contained some scores – Prince Obolensky's effort against the All Blacks in 1936 and Andy Hancock's against Scotland in 1965 stick particularly in the memory – that were filmed in black-and-white.

They all make up the fabric of Twickenham's rich and colourful history, and all feature in the long-list of 100 Magic Moments, nominated by the RFU, the England Supporters' Clubs, England team manager Martin Johnson and RFU president John Owen.

While Johnson made a Dan Luger try in 2000 his magic moment of all time, and Owen plumped for the welcome afforded to Child Victims of Crime during an England-Ireland match in the same year, it's rumoured that most votes were cast for the famous streak by Erica Roe in 1982.

That, too, took place in a match between England and Australia at Twickenham. Next week's match has a lot to live up to.