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 |
Yos – I hope we’re really ruthless. Absolute bastardary is the only way forwards.
Kick him a high ball with a Lawes and Itoje chase will give him nightmares for years.
I think the plan is to run support lines of Kerevi. I’m not an expert, certainly not an international level coach, but that seems to be the plan.
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@SunbeamTim, nah, Bender is fine but doesn’t fit the plan Hansen and the crew have hatched to seal the Threepeat. Feel sorry for him as I feel he hasn’t been well-served by inside backs failing to draw defenders before shovelling the pill on to him. Yeah, Laumape, I’m looking at you.
I’m keeping the faith and hoping for the best.
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What happened to Haylett-Petty? Not even on the bench .
Is he injured or suspended?
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England look very strong, although I’m surprised by the omission of Ford and Kruis. I guess it shows the depth but I thought they’d both start ahead of Lawes and Slade.
Still nailed on for the final vs NZ. Oh… the SF. Can’t wait for that game.
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Good analysis of Ireland’s QF.
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Hodge is the long range kicker, isn’t he?
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Petaia is no Hallam Amos.
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Picking Kurtley Beale really surprises me. I wonder if Cheika has a plan at all, and justs hope something happens to England.
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Iks…………………………pity
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What happened to Haylett-Petty? Not even on the bench .
Is he injured or suspended?
Don’t think he’s injured, he’s just been Cheik-mated.
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yuk!
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Have we done the Green Machine yet?
Ireland: 15 Rob Kearney, 14 Keith Earls, 13 Garry Ringrose, 12 Robbie Henshaw, 11 Jacob Stockdale, 10 Johnny Sexton, 9 Conor Murray, 8 CJ Stander, 7 Josh van der Flier, 6 Peter O’Mahony, 5 James Ryan, 4 Iain Henderson, 3 Tadhg Furlong, 2 Rory Best (captain), 1 Cian Healy.
Replacements: 16 Niall Scannell, 17 Dave Kilcoyne, 18 Andrew Porter, 19 Tadhg Beirne, 20 Rhys Ruddock, 21 Luke McGrath, 22 Joey Carbery, 23 Jordan Larmour.
Ireland’s loose trio will be key to stifling the ABs and slowing their ball – or even turning them over. The AB scrum could be in for a torrid afternoon against that Irish front row. The Kiwi front row is very average, but behind that, they’ve got the best lock pairing around and a loose trio that is streetwise, explosive and very capable with ball in hand. If Ireland are going to win it, they desperately need to get the upper hand up front and squeeze the life out of the ABs. Murray and Sexton need to turn back the clock too, which they haven’t done thus far in Japan. Stockdale and Earls will have their hands full on defence too.
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Honourable mention for Murray and Sexton, they now surpass Peter Stringer and Lions Great Ronan O’Gara as the most capped half-back pairing for Ireland at 56.
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“Ireland not appealing”
I think we’ve had enough of that.
That is a strong Green Machine, POM hasn’t been at his stellar best, if he can hit his straps Ireland could be celebrating at full time. Against any other side I’d back that team to win, however…
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Pretty strong Irish side there. Back row not firing, but Ruddock and Beirne on the bench, if Schimdt has the balls to put them on early, if needed, and Lamour as a fine replacement for anyone 11-15, they are in with a shout.
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Fucking hippies
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Hmmm, that didn’t work.
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Fucking hippies
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-50079716
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@craigs
That was the topic of choice on the school run this morning. If you’re at Canning Town at 7am in the morning you are a) likely not to be a city banker b) highly possibly on the way to work in a low paid job on an hourly rate and c) using public transport.
If you are faced by some unsympathetic climate change protestor stopping you getting to work and reducing your take home pay you are highly likely to give that protestor a lesson in direct action.
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OT – yeah. The ignorance is amazing. They apparently tried to shut down the DLR which is basically an electronic toy train. A lot of the people who work in canary wharf are bankers. But a lot are also low paid service industry types.
I really liked the guy throwing his coffee at the wanker on top of the train though. Not sure what the protesters thought would happen tbh.
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@craigs
I used to change trains at Canning Town around that time every morning years back – you don’t get many suits on the platform, put it that way.
Did you notice the protestor kicks the commuter in the head before anyone lays a finger on him? Non-violent protest, apparently.
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Really don’t know what to make of the ‘Green machine’. They’ve been pretty average this year and so many of their key players haven’t hit their straps, but part of me thinks that they might have one last hurrah in them.
Or they might lose by 40.
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The big question is: will Ireland come out like an angry Canning Town commuter or an Extinction Rebellion protester?
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part of me thinks that they might have one last hurrah in them
Hopefully this is the case.
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Decent rugby tackle from the commuter on the ExR fella. Took him low, swept the legs, landed him safely. Textbook.
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Testing testing, too too, wan too
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Nope, still having to log in for each comment
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It’s Ireland in a quarter final. Are we seriously questioning what’s going to happen?
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Scotland are out. All I have left is cheap scattergun snark.
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This is not the best of news: https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/brexit/dup-held-series-of-meetings-with-loyalists-to-discuss-eu-exit-specifics-38595153.html
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Richie Mo’unga showing his respect to ex-coach ROG:
‘Ronan O’Gara has been awesome. He’s still very hard to understand, so I take very little from our conversations, but he’s very determined, very driven, and that gives me a little insight into what the Irish are like.’
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‘Barnier appeared sceptical of Johnson’s assurances that he would be able to achieve what May had failed to secure on three previous occasions in parliament.’
Can’t imagine why.
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@chimpie
Nice spin by whoever wrote that. Very different to what someone on the Guardian wrote earlier:
“Barnier says, when Boris Johnson spoke to Jean-Claude Juncker this morning, he presumes Johnson had faith in his ability to get a majority. He has said he has confidence in his ability to win the vote.”
I have no idea if Barnier has confidence in Johnson to get it through the HoC. This is a reminder that journalists won’t give me a better idea either.
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Anyhoo, looking forward to a few days of fun’n’votes in the HoC.
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Tiling may take precedence over world cup watching at the weekend. This is truly the shaft of all shafts.
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What time do they start with the HoC malarkey on Saturday? Hopefully JRM is a massive rugby fan and will want to watch both quarter finals before the secondary fund starts.
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I’m getting my brother to do some tiling for me next weekend. He also gets to watch the rugby at my house.
It’s whatever is the opposite of shaft of all shafts.
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*fun, of course
Although I am sure JRM has secondary, tertiary, and quaternary funds
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“Hopefully JRM is a massive rugby fan”
JRM’s the sort of chap who takes the piss out of Wykehamists so a game “invented” by Rugbeans is going to be a little infra dig. A bet he’s an Eton Fives bob. Or bare-knuckle boxing.
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Or bare-knuckle boxing.
Would pay to see this.
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Shift of all shifts?
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Hoping to see Big Ron Kearney put in the shift of all shifts this weekend.
And if it doesn’t work out for him, then he can always do chimpie’s tiles.
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I’m sure he’d be a safe pair of hands but would worry about his speed.
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Tiling? Pfffft.
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Ah there we go, good old Firefox.
Boo! to Edge – Microshaft of all Microshafts
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Can’t see JRM being into bare knuckle boxing, bull-baiting or cock fighting perhaps, the old country pursuits
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Chimpie, lets get back to that tiling thing. Have a feeling this could turn into one of those”Can’t find any beer to drink” episodes. Surely you should at least watch the Japan -Boks game, as you lost to them you are now a Brave Blossoms supporter by default.
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Perhaps a spot of serf-whipping.
I’m sure he’d delegate though.
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