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Scottish Rugby release statement as bloodless typhoon elimination looms

Scotland re-group following opening loss to Ireland. (Photo by Hannah Peters/Getty Images)

Scottish Rugby have issued a statement in the wake of news that their crucial encounter with hosts Japan could be cancelled.

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England’s group decider against France on Saturday has been cancelled due to the approach of Super Typhoon Hagibis in one of the most extraordinary days in 32 years of World Cup history.

Each team will take two points from the abandoned Pool C showdown at International Stadium Yokohama and New Zealand’s encounter against Italy in Toyota City has shared the same fate.

Still under review, however, is the critical meeting between Scotland and Japan which is also being staged in Yokohama.

If that game does not go ahead, the Scots will be automatically eliminated while the tournament hosts reach the quarter-finals for the first time. The Scottish Rugby Union has released a statement demanding the match be played under contingency plans.

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A Scottish Rugby spokesman said in response: “We are in regular dialogue with World Rugby at all levels to work to ensure our fixture against Japan on Sunday can be played as planned. Public safety is the clear priority.

“With potential impact on our last Pool A fixture, Scottish Rugby fully expects contingency plans to be put in place to enable Scotland to contest for a place in the quarter-finals on the pitch, and will be flexible to accommodate this.”

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Hagibis has been described by the Japanese Metrological Agency as “violent” and has the capacity to cause widespread destruction around the Tokyo region.

Satellite images of the extreme weather event displayed at World Rugby’s press conference on Thursday reveal it is the size of Japan and shows no sign of deviating in its path or decreasing in magnitude.

It dwarfs Typhoon Faxai which brought Tokyo to a standstill for the day of England’s arrival in Japan, delaying their exit from Narita Airport by six hours and leaving a million homes without power, killing three people and injuring scores more.

World Cup tournament director Alan Gilpin stated that the governing body’s hand was forced by the danger posed by the Category 5 super typhoon, which is on course to hit mainland in the early hours of Saturday.

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“Based on this morning’s advice, Hagibis is predicted to be the biggest of 2019 and highly likely to cause disruption in the Yokohama, Tokyo and Toyota area, including public transport shutdown,” Gilpin said.

“As a result of this independent advice, we have taken the difficult and right decision in the affected areas.

“As you can imagine the decision has not been taken lightly and is in the best interest of safety as a priority.

“All fans will receive full refunds. We are continuing to review Sunday’s matches and making sure they are played as scheduled.

“Assessment will be made after the typhoon has passed. We are advising all fans in Toyota, Yokohama and Tokyo to stay inside on Saturday.

“We looked pretty exhaustively at all the options. Important to note is that where we are is in accordance with what we said we would do before the tournament.

“Moving teams round on this scale and being able to deliver safely the exit of 12 teams….we couldn’t guarantee contingency plans consistently. If we can’t do it for all, we can’t do it for any.”

The first cancellation of a game in nine instalments of the World Cup was preceded by feverish planning but attempts to move games to Oita – the setting for England’s quarter-final – proved logistically impossible.

Confusion even reigned in the hours immediately before official confirmation with World Rugby stating the games had not been cancelled even as Eddie Jones made frantic plans to take his squad out of Tokyo.

England are now heading to Miyazaki – the setting for their pre-tournament camp which is on the same island as Oita – knowing they and France had already qualified for the last eight.

“I think the Japanese have a saying – shogun-hi – we cant control it. It’s not something you can control. This is the situation,” Jones said.

“I think it’s a wonderful World Cup. You can’t help typhoons, we would all like to think we’ve got the power above and beyond what’s on the world at the moment, but we don’t and these things happen and you just ride with it.

“We are excited about the prospect of having great preparation for the quarter-final now.

“We’ve got some leeway over the next three days and so we are off to Miyazaki for a short pre-season camp and then we are off to Oita.

“Who would have thought we would have two relatively easy games, one tough game and then two weeks to prepare for a quarter-final. So someone is smiling on us – the typhoon gods maybe?”

– PA/additional reporting RugbyPass

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J
JW 55 minutes ago
Why England's defence of the realm has crumbled without Felix Jones

This piece is nothing more than the result of revisionist fancy of Northern Hemisphere rugby fans. Seeing what they want to see, helped but some surprisingly good results and a desire to get excited about doing something well.


I went back through the 6N highlights and sure enough in every English win I remembered seeing these exact holes on the inside, that are supposedly the fallout out of a Felix Jones system breaking down in the hands of some replacement. Every time the commentators mentioned England being targeted up the seam/around the ruck or whatever. Each game had a try scored on the inside of the blitz, no doubt it was a theme throughout all of their games. Will Jordan specifically says that Holland had design that move to target space he saw during their home series win.


Well I'm here to tell you they were the same holes in a Felix Jones system being built as well. This woe is now sentiment has got to stop. The game is on a high, these games have been fantastic! It is Englands attack that has seen their stocks increase this year, and no doubt that is what SB told him was the teams priority. Or it's simply science, with Englands elite players having worked towards a new player welfare and management system, as part of new partnership with the ERU, that's dictating what the players can and can't put their bodies through.


The only bit of truth in this article is that Felix is not there to work on fixing his defence. England threw away another good chance of winning in the weekend when they froze all enterprise under pressure when no longer playing attacking footy for the second half. That mindset helped (or not helped if you like) of course by all this knee jerk, red brained criticism.

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LONG READ Why England's defence of the realm has crumbled without Felix Jones Why England's defence of the realm has crumbled without Felix Jones
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