Now legal storm clouds gather
The Scottish Rugby Union will hit World Rugby with a multi-million pound claim for damages if tonight’s final World Cup pool-stage game against Japan is cancelled.
Both sides were laying the ground for a bitter legal dispute, with World Rugby saying it was “disappointed” Scotland had threatened action if Typhoon Hagibis does cause the cancellation of the winner-takes-all Pool A clash and claiming they had no basis on which to do so.
And, on a dramatic day as the worst typhoon for 61 years closed in on the Japanese mainland:
Mark Dodson, Scottish Rugby’s chief executive, insisted his side would not be “collateral damage” while saying the tournament’s integrity was at stake and his side would have been treated differently if they were the All Blacks.
World Rugby was forced to deny New Zealand had refused to postpone their now cancelled game with Italy to avoid a short turnaround before their quarter-final.
Conor O’Shea, the Italy coach, warned World Rugby it must not postpone or rearrange Scotland’s match with Japan after his own side’s game was cancelled.
Jamie Joseph, the Japan head coach, accused Scotland of being “motivated by avoiding embarrassment” and angrily claimed his side had been “undermined” by suggestions they wanted the game postponed.
But it is the looming threat of Scotland’s legal battle with World Rugby that will cause most consternation, with the SRU enlisting the services of Nick
De Marco QC, an eminent sports lawyer.
It is understood Scotland have considered an injunction against World
Rugby in the English courts to force it to move or reschedule the game, but with the window for doing so closing fast, it is thought unlikely they would pursue it. Instead, it is thought more likely that the SRU would launch a claim for damages if they were eliminated without playing the match, stating that World Rugby’s regulations allow it to move or reschedule the fixture under
the force majeure clause, which includes a “storm or tempest”, but it chose not to do so. Such a claim, it is understood, would be for a “significant” sum. This figure would not simply be for any loss of prize money for reaching the quarter-finals, but would be damages based on commercial and sponsorship revenue lost over the next four years by not being allowed a chance to make the knockout stages. That figure is likely to be several million pounds.
“We believe World Rugby has a duty to postpone this match or to reschedule it at another venue,” De Marco told The Telegraph yesterday. “Fundamentally, this comes down to fairness and to the integrity of the tournament. We are still hopeful the match can go ahead.” Dodson made plain his anger at a process he believes is weighted towards “economic powerhouses” of the game, such as the All Blacks.
“I think when you’re asking for someone to reconsider something as big as this – and we are trying to base the argument on the fact that there’s the sporting integrity around this – if you’re an economic powerhouse of the game, yes, I think it comes with more clout,” Dodson said. “And I think most people feel that if it was one of the economic powerhouse of the game, let’s just say New Zealand, perhaps more thought would be given to a flexible approach.”
He added: “This is a glorious, world-class sporting occasion. We don’t want to be the people that taint that. But we also don’t want to be the collateral damage of this. This is important to us a nation, and I think the rugby-following public around the globe believe the same way. And I think we’re being, if you like, driven down a tramline around scheduling flexibility that doesn’t need to be there. And that’s why we took the legal route.”
World Rugby hit back, claiming that, by signing the “terms of participation agreement”, the SRU’s legal challenge was
doomed to fail.