Tew dismisses reports of All Blacks influence as ‘nonsense’
Steve Tew says reports alleging New Zealand Rugby used its influence to ensure the All Blacks’ World Cup pool game against Italy wasn’t postponed or moved to another city are ‘‘complete and utter nonsense’’.
Before Typhoon Hagibis made landfall in Japan last weekend, World Rugby and the Japan 2019 organising committee cancelled the pool game between the All Blacks and Italy in Toyota on Saturday, as well as the fixture between France and England in Yokohama on the same day, for safety reasons.
The games were declared scoreless draws, with each team awarded two competition points.
While the All Blacks, England and France still advanced through to the quarterfinals, Italy was angry and disappointed to have missed the cut.
Several northern media outlets have since said NZ Rugby had a heavy hand in the decision, stating it was unenthusiastic about delaying the All Blacks game or moving it to Oita, which was unaffected by the typhoon, on the southern island of Kyushu.
Although World Rugby stated the tournament rules prevented the games being played at a later date, and said NZ Rugby played no part in the decision-making, the allegations have continued.
‘‘It [the allegation] is complete
and utter nonsense,’’ Tew said. ‘‘The decisions around the game were made by World Rugby’s management crew, working with the World Rugby board which I sit on.
‘‘We are talking about an event that has killed dozens of people, and destroyed hundreds of millions of dollars of property.
‘‘Any conversation like that, frankly, is way out of order and inappropriate in my view,’’ he said.
British rugby writer Stephen Jones earned the wrath of the Irish Rugby Union after writing that Ireland were opposed to Scotland’s game against Japan going ahead in Yokohama on Sunday.
The match was in doubt until the morning of the game, with organisers waiting until the typhoon had passed before deciding whether it could proceed.
Jones said Ireland, who would have finished at the top of pool A if the Scotland-Japan game was scrapped, as well as NZ Rugby were ‘‘vehemently opposed’’ to any rearrangement of the match schedule.
Japan sent Scotland tumbling out of the tournament with a memorable 28-21 win.
The Irish Rugby Football Union has since taken the rare step of asking Jones to ‘‘immediately withdraw this scurrilous and untrue allegation’’.