England's final Rugby World Cup pool match against France was cancelled due to safety concerns regarding Typhoon Hagibis.
The biggest typhoon of the year is set to wreak havoc on Tokyo and surrounding areas, forcing World Rugby to make a decision about the safety of players, fans and staff.
The cancelled matches go down on record as a 0-0 draw, meaning England progress as winners of Pool C, with France two points behind in second place, to set up an Ashes quarter-final, with Wales topping Pool D to play the French.
France will have two-weeks rest ahead of the last-eight fixture, with Wales getting half that.
Eddie Jones and his England team will leave Tokyo for Miyazaki, the base for their pre-tournament training camp.
Alan Gilpin - tournament director - said that he and his team looked "exhaustively" at possible venue changes or match rearrangements, before ulitmately deciding that that was unfeasible on both logistical and safety grounds.
All fans with tickets to cancelled matches are entitled to a full refund.
The typhoon will bring with it winds in excess of 120mph and 300-500mm of rain.
This is not unusual for Tokyo, with Typhoon Faxai hitting the capital in early September, with winds of 130mph, it left nearly one million people without power.
Gilpin has also been quoted saying there are "no regrets" within World Rugby about bringing the tournament to Japan in typhoon season.
Scotland were eliminated from the tournament after losing their final pool match to Japan 28-21.
The Scots had two wins, one loss and three bonus points before their clash with the hosts, knowing they would need four more points than their opponents to progress.
The match was rearranged from Sunday to Monday, with Scottish Rugby arguing they had a legal case if the match hadn't gone ahead.
Scotland were beating 27-3 in their tournament opener against Ireland, but bounced back impressively with consecutive bonus point wins without conceding points against Samoa and Russia.
Ireland qualified with Japan from Pool A with a bonus point win over Samoa in their final pool match.
The hosts will play South Africa in the quarter-finals, while Ireland drew defending champions New Zealand.
Draw
Quarter-Finals
England v Australia (19 October, Oita)
New Zealand v Ireland (19 October, Chofu)
 |
| Photo from BBC Sport |
The cancelled matches go down on record as a 0-0 draw, meaning England progress as winners of Pool C, with France two points behind in second place, to set up an Ashes quarter-final, with Wales topping Pool D to play the French.
France will have two-weeks rest ahead of the last-eight fixture, with Wales getting half that.
Eddie Jones and his England team will leave Tokyo for Miyazaki, the base for their pre-tournament training camp.
Alan Gilpin - tournament director - said that he and his team looked "exhaustively" at possible venue changes or match rearrangements, before ulitmately deciding that that was unfeasible on both logistical and safety grounds.
All fans with tickets to cancelled matches are entitled to a full refund.
The typhoon will bring with it winds in excess of 120mph and 300-500mm of rain.
This is not unusual for Tokyo, with Typhoon Faxai hitting the capital in early September, with winds of 130mph, it left nearly one million people without power.
Gilpin has also been quoted saying there are "no regrets" within World Rugby about bringing the tournament to Japan in typhoon season.
Scotland were eliminated from the tournament after losing their final pool match to Japan 28-21.
The Scots had two wins, one loss and three bonus points before their clash with the hosts, knowing they would need four more points than their opponents to progress.
The match was rearranged from Sunday to Monday, with Scottish Rugby arguing they had a legal case if the match hadn't gone ahead.
Scotland were beating 27-3 in their tournament opener against Ireland, but bounced back impressively with consecutive bonus point wins without conceding points against Samoa and Russia.
Ireland qualified with Japan from Pool A with a bonus point win over Samoa in their final pool match.
The hosts will play South Africa in the quarter-finals, while Ireland drew defending champions New Zealand.
Draw
Quarter-Finals
England v Australia (19 October, Oita)
New Zealand v Ireland (19 October, Chofu)
=
v
Wales v France (20 October, Oita)
Japan v South Africa (20 October, Chofu)
Wales v France (20 October, Oita)
Japan v South Africa (20 October, Chofu)
=
v
Never miss a post - enter your email address in the box on the right!
Never miss a post - enter your email address in the box on the right!
No comments:
Post a Comment