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Jones suggests Scotland have only themselves to blame if Super Typhoon Hagibis knocks them out of RWC

England coach Eddie Jones preparing for his side's versus Argentina (Photo by Stu Forster/Getty Images)

Eddie Jones insists the blame is Scotland’s alone if they are knocked out of the World Cup by Super Typhoon Hagibis.

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The Scots will miss out on the quarter-finals if their match against hosts Japan in Yokohama on Sunday suffers the same fate as England’s clash with France and New Zealand’s game against Italy and is cancelled due to the approaching cyclone.

But Jones has limited sympathy for Gregor Townsend’s men given that all teams knew the potential for extreme weather events to intervene, highlighting the need to take them out of the equation.

England secured qualification with a game to spare, unlike Scotland who opened their campaign with a depressing defeat to Ireland. Jones said: “We have been talking about it all the time, about the possibility that this was going to happen.

“You know what’s going to happen. It’s typhoon season here and you’ve got to be prepared for it. We had an idea it could happen and therefore you have to accumulate points in your games to put yourself in the right position in case that happened.

(Continue reading below…)

“We just knew that there was the possibility of a game like this during the tournament so we just wanted to put ourselves in the best position we could.

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“This is supposed to be a big typhoon, so I don’t see any other option that the organisers had. That’s why we’re not concerned at all about the comings and goings of it, we think it’s the right decision.”

New Zealand boss Steve Hansen echoed Jones’ view. “We have to back World Rugby’s decision and if other teams miss out, it’s unfortunate, it’ll be disappointing,” Hansen said.

“If you want to be really ruthless, then it’s all about making sure you win the games on the way through because everyone knew this could be a possibility.”

– Press Association 

WATCH: The moment when it was officially confirmed that two of Saturday’s matches were cancelled 

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J
JW 1 hour ago
'Passionate reunion of France and New Zealand shows Fabien Galthie is wrong to rest his stars'

Where? I remember saying "unders"? The LNR was formed by the FFR, if I said that in a way that meant the 'pro' side of the game didn't have an equal representation/say as the 'amateur' side (FFR remit) that was not my intent.


But also, as it is the governing body, it also has more responsibility. As long as WR looks at FFR as the running body for rugby in France, that 'power' will remain. If the LNR refuses to govern their clubs use of players to enable a request by FFR (from WR) to ensure it's players are able to compete in International rugby takes place they will simply remove their participation. If the players complain to the France's body, either of their health and safety concerns (through playing too many 'minutes' etc) or that they are not allowed to be part in matches of national interest, my understanding is action can be taken against the LNR like it could be any other body/business. I see where you're coming from now re EPCR and the shake up they gave it, yes, that wasn't meant to be a separate statement to say that FFR can threaten them with EPCR expulsion by itself, simply that it would be a strong repercussion for those teams to be removed (no one would want them after the above).


You keep bringing up these other things I cannot understand why. Again, do you think if the LNR were not acting responsibly they would be able to get away with whatever they want (the attitude of these posters saying "they pay the players")? You may deem what theyre doing currently as being irresponsible but most do not. Countries like New Zealand have not even complained about it because they've never had it different, never got things like windfall TV contracts from France, so they can't complain because theyre not missing out on anything. Sure, if the French kept doing things like withholding million dollar game payments, or causing millions of dollars of devaluation in rights, they these things I'm outlining would be taking place. That's not the case currently however, no one here really cares what the French do. It's upto them to sort themselves out if they're not happy. Now, that said, if they did make it obvious to World Rugby that they were never going to send the French side away (like they possibly did stating their intent to exclude 20 targeted players) in July, well then they would simply be given XV fixtures against tier 2 sides during that window and the FFR would need to do things like the 50/50 revenue split to get big teams visiting in Nov.

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