In their infinite wisdom, World Rugby chose to schedule the World Cup in a country that is prone to typhoons at this time of year, and to make absolutely no contingency plans should a typhoon threaten.
In a development that appears to have taken the organisers completely by surprise, there is a typhoon headed in Japan’s direction, and two matches have been cancelled, with Japan v Scotland still in doubt.
France will miss out on the possibility of beating England to top their group, and Italy will miss out on a historic chance to beat the All-Blacks and progress to the quarter-finals for the first time.
All right, nobody thinks that Italy would have beaten New Zealand, but it’s a funny old game and a couple of red cards, or another sneaky peek at the rule-book, could have produced the upset of the century. Apparently we’ll never know.
As Parisse said:
“It is ridiculous that a decision of this nature has been made because it isn’t like the fans arrived yesterday. It is ridiculous that there was no plan B, because it isn’t news that typhoons hit Japan.
“Sure everyone might think that Italy versus New Zealand being cancelled counts for nothing because we’d have lost anyway, but we deserved to be respected as a team. We had the chance to play in a big stadium, against a great team.
“The alternative is plan B. When you organise a World Cup you should have one in place.”
Should the Japan v Scotland match be cancelled, all three teams in Pool A contention will have reason to feel aggrieved also: Scotland for obvious reasons, Japan because it is not the way you’d want to go through, and Ireland because they miss the chance to top the pool (that being in Scotland’s gift, rather than Ireland’s hands, of course).
Quite frankly, World Cup should be handed a red card for bringing the game into disrepute. Players and fans alike (and no doubt the sponsors too) are rightly furious.
These matches should be rescheduled in alternative locations.
Last weekend’s rugby
For a rundown on the state of play as of 07/10, please see Deebee’s excellent synopsis.
On the telly this week … or not
Friday 11th October
| Australia 27 – 8 Georgia | 11:15 | ITV4 |
| Cheetahs 40 – 16 Munster | 17:15 | Premier Sports 1 |
| Dragons 14 – 38 Connacht | 19:35 | Premier Sports 2 / TG4 / S4C |
| Leinster 40 – 14 Edinburgh | 19:35 | Premier Sports 1 |
| Gloucester 24 – 26 Bath | 19:45 | BT Sport 1 |
Saturday 12th October
| New Zealand v Italy | 05:45 | CANCELLED |
| England v France | 09:15 | CANCELLED |
| Ireland 47 – 5 Samoa | 11:45 | ITV |
| Kings 17 – 42 Ulster | 15:00 | Premier Sports 2 |
| Scarlets 54 – 10 Zebre | 15:00 | Freesports |
| Ospreys v Treviso | 19:35 | Premier Sports 2 |
| Glasgow v Cardiff | 19:35 | Premier Sports 1 |
Sunday 13th October
| Namibia v Canada | 04:15 | ITV |
| USA v Tonga | 06:45 | ITV |
| Wales v Uruguay | 09:10 | ITV / S4C |
| Japan v Scotland | 11:45 | ITV |
Tavis Knoyle enters the fray.
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No pobble required, Thomas the Tank did the trick with a bit of help from Gordon. Drags fail to concede in my absence. Poop poop!
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Tavis’ haircut is appalling. He looks like an extra from the Warriors. And not one of the good gangs.
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Too many noobs in our pack against a gnarly blue evil unit
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Haining and Crosbie have been good, Chimpster, Schoey too, but it’s a hard school, the RDS
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I assume this is the same Tavis Knoyle haircut that he’s always had.
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@Yos – you know they’re not coming back, I know they’re not coming back. But like Italy they deserve their chance. Did the Dragons lose? Not yet!!
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Hickey has been, and I say this as someone who has posted many times against berating players, a complete waste of money
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Our locks are getting schooled tho
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Deebee, they’re always going to suffer the touring problem as well. And in Pro 14 they have 2 (maybe 3) long tours, in the cold and rain. Tough for them. At least they got some home games to start this year.
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The fella is early on the trigger tonight
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Connacht BP try? TMO
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Hickie was a very good cricketer at school – like double hundreds good – and was offered a pro contract in NZ. Every time I see him I think it’s not too late to try the bat and ball.
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Lot of Leinster kids here, too. Depressingly. No doubt we’ll get a slice of the (perfectly decent) castoffs.
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Eek. Turning into a bit of a doing
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Hickey. Hickie’s the old Leinster and Ireland wing.
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That Milne sounds a top, top lad.
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That was quite good. Bastards
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It’s a bloodbath now from our brave Leinstermen.
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No try. Knock on given. Leon Brown then penalised at the scrum. Connacht kick to the corner and knock on again.
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The entire Scotland pack is missing from Edinburgh, plus Kinghorn, Graham and Pyrgos
Unfortunately we know the full strength teams will not change this
The triumphalism from Ferris is a bit shite though, for a broadcaster and all
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Jimmy O’Brien played at Ravenhill last year and the fucker was like a rabbit. Very fast, ridiculous acceleration, feet no more than tickle the ground as he runs.
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Didn’t think we’d win, but this is worse than I was hoping
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Bath back on top, 24-24, conversion to come.
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Gorgeous try. Never heard of Jimmy O’Brien.
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Chimpie, it was exactly what I was expecting, I was hoping for a BP for getting within 7, but the reality is we are tens of millions and 20 years off the pace
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@tomp – neither had I until he was taking the piss out of my lads. Not sure what future he has. Every time Leinster put the kids out there’s some guy I’ve never heard of. Their squad is enormous.
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The organisation of Leinster is awesome, I always backed Cullen to be a good head coach but he has surpassed what I thought he’d bring to the table
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Drags scrum absolutely marmalised. The easiest pushover try I’ve seen since under 12s. TMO again. Knock on? If there is a knock on then it’s a penalty try.
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They’ve got David Hawkshaw coming along soon. He’s always looked very very classy.
Ringrose is still young, no? 24? 25?
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Drags spend a considerable amount of time demonstrating that scrums on their own line are not a strong point regardless of whose put-in it is. 7-31.
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Nice from Embra, unfortunately lost after good progress.
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Ringrose is 24. Henshaw is 26.
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Marmion try. Far too easy.
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Pathetic defence in midfield from the Drags. 7-38.
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The offside line seems subjective mind
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Well can’t really complain about that. Far too good for us
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Scuffle at the end after Warren is bundled into touch.
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Czechs beating England in the football about 3 kilometres from where I’m sitting. Good for them. Could be messy around town tonight.
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Try for Basham. The only member of the Drags pack who is pro level. He’s also the youngest.
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Chimpie, it wasn’t really a contest to be honest.
Who will Leinster beat in the final is the only question, oh and can they win the not Heine I suppose
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Spirited last few minutes from the Drags with by modern standards a reasonable effort at a fight and a nice consolation try in the corner. 14-38 final score.
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14-38 Connacht. Same old problems for the Drags. Dee, Hill, Wainwright and Moriarty will help but they’ll barely feature this season.
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Bath beat Glaws, Cherry and Whites scoreless for 60 minutes after a fast start in Henry Trinder’s Testimonial match.
Bath26-Glaws 24.
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Trinder really is a “what might have been” player, imo, Tim. I didn’t really pay attention to him until Matt Scott moved there. They didn’t often play together but when they did they looked a hideous pair to defend against
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Need something loud….
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BB, I hate to be a wet blanket, I like that but for me Pearl Jam is all about Vedder’s voice, he is a truly great rock vocalist.
The mix in that vid didn’t show him at his best
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shit, I wish I hadn’t said that, if someone likes a bit of music, by all means post it.
Sorry, BB
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Alexei Leonov deid. Here’s a ditti for him:
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“Alexei Arkhipovich Leonov was a Soviet/Russian cosmonaut, Air Force Major general, writer, and artist. On 18 March 1965, he became the first human to conduct a spacewalk, exiting the capsule during the Voskhod 2 mission for 12 minutes and 9 seconds of extravehicular activity”
Wow
and I’m not going to say one word about the Bowie-like song, because I like the song, but I’ve now said it – it’s totally derivative, but still a very good, so who cares, really?
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