Typhoon Hagibis continues to wreak havoc on Japan and the Rugby World Cup with Scotland versus Japan still under threat.
The game in Yokohama may be cancelled due to conditions with an inspection of the stadium set to occur at 22:00 BST on Saturday. Two Saturday games have already been cancelled with up to 80 centimetres of rain expected.
International Stadium Yokohama just after 17:00 today.#RWC2019 https://t.co/SSaHzSqDE8
— Oliver Trenchard (@OliverTrenchard) October 12, 2019
Japanese players had to wade through a large amount of water during their captain's run to get from the dressing room to the field. The issue is further complicated by the fact that per the BBC, Scottish Rugby believes it has a legal case should the game be cancelled.
【日本代表】
本日、キャプテンズランを行いました??♂️?☔️
皆さま、台風には万全の対策を??#rugbyjp #OneTeam #BRAVEを届けよう #RWC2019 #JPNvSCO #RWC横浜 pic.twitter.com/xGUVfmS9p1— 日本ラグビーフットボール協会 (@JRFUMedia) October 12, 2019
Earlier today, World Rugby Head of Communications Dominic Rumbles took to social media to clarify the scale of the situation after criticism over their reported contingency plan.
As the typhoon begins to make itself known, worth noting that it has a 1,400km diameter, is 4x larger than Faxai & will generate 1m of rainfall...even with a backup venue for every venue (which there is), it would have been impossible to operate a fair contingency plan safely
— dominic rumbles (@dominicrumbles) October 11, 2019
The storm has resulted in evacuation orders for more than 1.6 million people while a man was pronounced dead after he was found in an overturned lorry. There is also widespread transport chaos with over 1,000 domestic flights cancelled.
