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 |
Ovally Balls 
legendary game: faultless first half from Japan then Scotland pulled themselves together and realised they had to earn it and made a good effort to just fall short.
Probably a brilliant result for rugby.
Thanks to both teams.
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Scotland made 190 tackles in that game, Gray made 25, Ritchie 24
We missed 33
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@Deebee -it’ll all be very cuddly, much more so than if you’d had to play the Irish.
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So I reckon that’s the international end for Laidlaw, Barclay, Horne The Elder (who shouldn’t have been there in the first place), maybe Wilson, possibly Nel (I’m not sure how old he is, can perhaps go on for a bit longer)? And Toonie needs to have a serious rethink about tactics and personnel too.
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BB, just had a look Nd Nell is 33, 34 next April
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Ipads are crap to type on
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Another 6N for a few of them? Or chuck in the kids and rebuild around Finn, Hogg, Ritchie etc.
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“A very special show with extended highlights of wales against Uruguay”.
Right you are.
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Well done to whoever traded off a bad Wal-Uru for a good Sco-Jap
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Looks like a Wales NZ final to me.
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On that display, it’s hard to understand why the 4 Nations is just that, a 4 nations tournament.
At the moment, Japan could certainly win vs Argentina and Australia, and in a few years vs the big boys.
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Forgot Seymour – he hasn’t been good for about a year, apart from a (very) brief spell at the end of last season.
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TomP, I’m not sure we need extra power up front. Where Mostert is peerless in SA as a lock is his defensive work rate. Think we’ll need that early in the match more than (another) brute.
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30 minute loop of Hallam Amos’ victory dive.
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@Dova – everyone wants to see the ultimate battle of Good against Evil and that’s a good effort, but Japan vs England would surely trump it.
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@BB – don’t really know what happened to Seymour, he always seemed to put in a good performance and sometimes didn’t seem to get the ball enough. The last year he’s been nowhere near his old form.
Don’t think Hogg ever really looked to be on his game in the World Cup which would be more of a concern all round. Too much on Russell’s shoulders in the end.
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The missed tackle count for each game seems incredibly high.
Gary Gold disputed the stats in a press conference.
Apparently they are not only counting ‘tackles attempted but not completed’, but also tackles that could have been made when a line break is made. So someone goes through a gap between two players, two missed tackles are recorded.
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Flair, 4 is enough with all the travel involved. Uruguay in for Argentina and Japan for Australia.
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Deebee, there are too many games in the 4 N.
Do it the 6N way, only one leg. Make rugby a bit more rare but with more teams involved.
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@Flair – would have to get the Australians to give up their addiction to paying NZ all the time. You’d think that would be easy, but for some reason they seem to like it.
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“On that display, it’s hard to understand why the 4 Nations is just that, a 4 nations tournament.”
Japan have only been within 30 v Aus, SA and NZ once. A big once but still.
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Don’t know what to do with myself now. Rest of the day will be a big let-down!
Suppose I could start prepping the dinner.
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Commiserations Scotland. Will have to watch that later.
Mrs Craig’s is undefeated after 3 matches. Mr Craigs is unvictorious after 2…
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Deebee, agree about Mostert’s defensive qualities. The more power the better against Japan I think and de Jager’s no slouch close in on defence. It’s an interesting call for Rassie. See also Marx over the ball v Bongi’s basics.
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Look on the bright side Scotland fans. England are still the only host nation not to qualify from the group stages.
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No easy games at this level
Tier 2 squash players are improving
My preparation was affected by Hagibis
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At least Mr Craigs’ next match can be cancelled without too much controversy.
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Some clarification of the correct apostrophising of Craigs/Craig’s/Craigs’ would be welcome.
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Flair, I would be happy with that. Still ditch Australia though.
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@Deebee – I can’t understand why any of the other teams signed up to a format in which even if you beat the All Blacks you then have to put up with losing to them a week or two later.
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Cmw. You got it right. Apparently there are other acceptable uses, but they’re wrong. You got it spot on.
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Cmw. Yes indeed. Once you’ve beaten them you should never play them again. This rule has many upsides
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@Dova – I don’t think it has to be never. For example this year SA got a draw away in NZ. If they only played them once next year that would be at home and maybe they could win that which (if there hadn’t been a World Cup) would mean they could go about three years between defeats to them. How are NZ to convince anyone they’re the best in the world during that time, especially if they also lose a November game to a NH team who then refuse to play them again in the same period?
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Mrs Craig’s is the possession of a Craig. Mr Craigs is legion.
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Watching a replay of the match now (sort of). Scottish scrum struggling in the 1st half. Great 3rd try from Japan! Missed the 2nd. Again!
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Sounds more to me that Mrs Craigs would be in possession of a Mr Craig were they to meet on the squash court.
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CMW I can see your logic, but with a bit of luck we could be unbeaten in four against the Darkness. Or could have prior to the match a few weeks ago. Think we’re closing the gap on them, as are others.
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CMW – every word true.
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@Deebee – I understand the temptation, but it will all end in tears. It’s like the Blair government not introducing PR after their third win because they thought they would just carry on beating the Tories forever with the same system. And now we have Brexit etc.
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I wouldn’t be surprised if Japan beat SA again. I also don’t think that Scotland should get rid of Toonie just yet. Give him 2 more years at the helm.
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@Craigs – I think it would be a fairly big surprise if The Cuddly Boks don’t get to the final to represent the ‘Good’ side of the draw. Now you may well ask what they’re doing on that side at all, but look at the four teams on the ‘Evil’ side!
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Craig’s, we duffed Japan 41-7 in Japan in the final warm up match before the tournament started. I know, I know, it was a friendly so pretty meaningless, but we have been pretty mean on defence so far and should batter them up front. Not taking anything for granted, mind.
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By the way, made a Swedish Flame last night – bloody good fun!
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@Deebee – that last response to Craigs is really not very cuddly.
Perhaps: “We have been pretty fair on defence so far and should cuddle them up front”?
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Tempura batter. Light and fluffy.
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Still can’t get OMD out of my head after Enzo’s classic Enola Gray chirp.
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@Deebee – it’s never ever gonna fade away I’m afraid.
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Just looked up enola gay so I could finally get the joke.
Not as funny when you need to research a joke.
Totally my bad though.
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In hindsight, the QF is Japan’s to lose. They duffed a very physical side in Irealnd and ran an enterprising Scotland ragged for 55 minutes. They’ve got it in the bag. I’m just proud that the Boks were able to make the knock outs.
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Too late now Deebs, South Africa are revealed as bad guys masquerading as good. Had me fooled for a while there I have to admit.
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