10 Oct 2019

World Rugby could cancel World Cup games

8:05 am on 10 October 2019

World Rugby will hold a media briefing this afternoon to update the situation of Typhoon Hagibis potentially disrupting the last weekend of pool play at the World Cup.

Super Typhoon Hagibis expected path

Photo: Google Maps

The typhoon is forecast to sweep through the Tokyo area where two games are scheduled for this weekend.

If the weather is too bad, World Rugby's options appear to be to either cancel the England-France and Japan-Scotland games or move them to another city.

A cancellation wouldn't affect Pool C as England and France had already qualified for the quarter-finals, although it would confirm England as top qualifiers.

However a cancellation of the Pool A game between Japan and Scotland would eliminate Scotland from play-off contention and confirm Japan and Ireland as the quarter-finalists.

The Daily Mail in Britain is reporting that the England-France game has already been cancelled and that it will be confirmed at 4pm today.

The All Blacks play Italy in Toyota City in their final Pool B game on Saturday.

Toyota City is 241km away from Tokyo and is not expected to feel the full brunt of the storm.