Organisers announced on Thursday morning that England’s pool C match against France on Saturday has been called off because of Typhoon Hagibis, as has the pool B clash between New Zealand and Italy.
A decision on whether Scotland’s pool A match against Japan, scheduled to take place on Sunday in the same stadium as England’s cancelled fixture, will be made on the morning of the match. The same goes for Samoa’s game against Ireland on the same day.
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It’s reported that tournament organisers have considered and rejected impractical plans to relocate the matches or delay them 24 hours.
England top pool
The two cancelled games will be deemed 0-0 draws with both teams receiving two points.
England and France had already qualified for the last eight and Eddie Jones’s side now go through as pool winners. For Italy, however, they are denied what would have been a very slim chance of beating the All Blacks to take their place in the quarter-finals.
Should the Scotland and Ireland matches be scrubbed then the Irish and Japan will progress to the knockout stage from pool A.
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Friday 11 October
Pool D: Australia vs. Georgia to be played as scheduled
Saturday 12 October
Pool A: Ireland vs. Samoa to be played as scheduled
Pool B: New Zealand vs. Italy - cancelled (result declared a 0-0 draw - two points each)
Pool C: England vs. France - cancelled (result declared a 0-0 draw - two points each)
Sunday 13 October
Matches will be played as scheduled and an assessment of venues will take place after the typhoon has passed
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Typhoon season
It is the first time in the history of the Rugby World Cup that a match has been cancelled, and it has plunged the tournament into an unprecedented crisis.
It also raises questions about the wisdom of staging the sport’s showpiece event in a country often tormented by typhoons at this time of year.
Japan has been a magnificent host but ultimately the Rugby World Cup is about rugby, and now thousands of fans who have paid significant amounts of money to travel halfway round the world will spend the weekend bunkered down in their hotel room as Japan is battered by 170mph winds.
Incredible tournament
Asked if he regretted staging the Rugby World Cup in Japan, tournament director Alain Gilpin told reporters: “What we have seen over the last three weeks absolutely in every respect vindicates the right decision to be here in Japan.
“It’s been an incredible tournament on and off the field and we always knew there were going to be risks. It is rare for a typhoon of this magnitude to cause this impact this late on the typhoon season.”
That’s unlikely to be of much comfort to out of pocket supporters or the Italian squad. Should Scotland be sent home at the expense of the hosts and their weather, the integrity of the tournament will not recover.
Whatever word one uses, there’s no doubt that the credibility of the World Cup is now in the balance.
The great fear is that this won’t be the last typhoon to strike. Typhoon Faxai hit Tokyo shortly before start of the World Cup and was the most powerful in 60 years, leaving one million homes without power and causing extensive damage.
More to come?
Ten days ago there were fears that France’s pool match with the USA in Fukuoka would be cancelled because of an approaching typhoon.
In the end it missed the city but with the typhoon season running until the end of the month who’s to say the knockout stages won’t be affected?
The ramifications for the tournament organisers are huge. The Times says that World Rugby “could lose at least £15m because it will be liable to pay ticket refunds to up to 144,000 fans”.
There will also be a significant financial impact on broadcasters, particularly in the UK and France which have paid for the rights and has sold advertising around a mouth-watering clash between the two old rivals.
Then there is the fact that England, France and New Zealand (and possibly other nations) will have a week off ahead of the quarter-finals.
Wales, for example, have just come through a physically shattering encounter with Fiji, and have to play Uruguay on Sunday, which like Australia vs. Georgia, isn’t affected by the weather.
Six or seven days later they will be action again, against England and France squads that are refreshed and raring to go.
On the other hand, the coaches of those two sides, and New Zealand, might argue that the enforced rest puts brake on the momentum that they’ve been building during the pool stage.
Reactions to the cancellations
World Rugby
“The decision to cancel matches has not been taken lightly and has been made in the best interests of public, team, tournament personnel and volunteer safety, based on expert advice and detailed weather information.”
John Mitchell, England defence coach
“I think people are making it bigger than what it actually is. It’s just weather.”
Martin Samuel, Daily Mail
“A tournament that began on 20 September, with 28 matches scheduled for October, was always courting trouble. The organisers cannot say they were not warned. They have, quite literally, reaped the whirlwind.”
New Zealand Herald
“Rugby World Cups have survived all manner of scandals… so strangely it is an act of God, a weather phenomenon beyond human control, that is threatening to damage the credibility of the tournament in a way the hunt for the fictitious Suzie and the mysterious potion she allegedly dropped in the All Blacks’ tea in 1995 never did.”
Paul Hayward, The Daily Telegraph
“Central to every calculation was the Japan-Scotland game, on which the integrity of the competition hinged. It should never have been valid to consider cancelling this match and condemning a team in pool A to a weather-related exit. Scotland and Japan were both entitled to the same level of justice.”
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