Impending typhoon could create cup chaos

JAPANESE weather forecasters warn that a large and violent typhoon may cross wide areas from western to northern Japan over the weekend.

The Japanese Meteorological Agency says Typhoon Hagibis could come very close to western and eastern Japan before moving toward northern Japan on Saturday and Sunday.

It is now considered a supertyphoon with winds up to 210kmh.

But it could be at least a day before the agency will know exactly where, when and in what force the typhoon could hit.

It could have a very disruptive impact on the Rugby World Cup.

If the typhoon strikes it could cause problems for two crucial games: Ireland plays Samoa in Fukuoka and Japan meets Scotland in Yokohama.

The Irish need a bonus point win to guarantee their place in the quarterfinals, so if that game gets called off they may not make it into the knock out stages.

The typhoon could have quite an effect on pool A, which was broken wide open when Japan beat Ireland, one of the tournament favourites.

Another match, Wales v Uruguay, is less important, as Wales has already qualified.

If those games are called off they are recorded as scoreless draws. Each team gets two points, but naturally they cannot score bonus points for scoring four or more tries.

The Irish are desperate for the game not to be called off; they want the extra points to guarantee a knockout place.

World Rugby says it has a contingency plan. It could potentially push the Saturday games to the next day or even move the games to other venues.

But everyone is taking a waitandsee approach. Locals, who are experienced in these weather conditions, say that typhoons can shift direction, peter out or lose force.

And what about the All Blacks, who play Italy in Toyota City on Saturday?

They say they are monitoring the situation and updating plans as the typhoon develops.

If the game was to be washed out, they would get two points for a scoreless draw and that would guarantee them top spot in pool B on 16 points.

South Africa got maximum points from the game against Canada it won 667 on Tuesday night. But if the All Blacks game does get washed out, they will still qualify top of their pool.

The big issue is time off between games.

If the All Blacks don’t get a game, that will be two weeks between their previous match against Namibia and the quarterfinal. That is something they would like to avoid.

The typhoon could also cause chaos for fans.

Even much smaller typhoons can bring down power lines and fell trees on to railway lines and organisers do not want public transport disrupted

If a big typhoon does hit, it could be a logistical nightmare as there is simply no other way of moving such vast numbers of people around. — RNZ