Typhoon: Fans hunker down
All Blacks v Italy game falls victim to typhoon, NZ fans left stranded
New Zealand rugby fans will be forced to hunker down in their Japanese hotels this weekend as a massive typhoon that forced the cancellation of the All Blacks-Italy World Cup clash smashes into the country.
Organisers yesterday made the unprecedented decision to call off two Rugby World Cup matches as Typhoon Hagibis bore down on the country with winds close to 200kmh.
The typhoon is set to hit a swathe of Japan from Osaka to Tokyo, leading to the cancellation of Yokohama’s England-France and Toyota’s All Blacks-Italy game tomorrow.
Thousands of disappointed fans booked to travel to Toyota City, 240km west of Tokyo, will have their plans thrown into disarray while others are in the typhoon’s firing line.
Ross Jamieson, director of BCD Travel, said most All Blacks fans were due to arrive in Japan after the typhoon passes for the World Cup quarter-finals.
However, his agency still had a sizeable number of fans heading to Toyota for Saturday’s now-cancelled All Black-Italy clash and F1’s Japanese Grand Prix, also scheduled for the weekend.
Some were rebooking, but with accommodation short nationwide, many were set to weather the storm in Toyota.
“They will just need to hunker down during that 12-hour period and then they carry on with their travels as normal,” Jamieson said.
Jamieson expected World Rugby to refund tickets to the cancelled game but was waiting for confirmation.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade said 638 New Zealanders were registered as being in Japan, but was unsure how many would be in the typhoon’s firing line.
TAB confirmed all bets made on the cancelled clash would be refunded, while TVNZ and Spark Sport have announced they will screen a special 90-minute show, called RWC 2019 The Story So Far in place of the All Blacks game.
Expert meteorologist on East Asia, Robert Speta, told Newstalk ZB the typhoon had “explosively” developed from a small storm to cover a massive area with winds close to 200km/h.
“All the way from Osaka up to Tokyo will get hit on Saturday,” he said.
He said western Japan generally
had infrastructure better able to deal with typhoons.
“But the closer you get to Tokyo, whenever you get those winds gusting over 100km/h, it definitely causes some major issues.”
That could include downed powerlines, flying debris and disrupted flights and services.
“It is one reason why they likely did cancel these games. It is not so much that the weather itself would disrupt the play, it is more so for the spectators as they head out after the match, they will have to travel through these rough conditions.”
Speta said major train lines in Tokyo and other cities shut down at the approach of typhoons. “So even if people are at the hotel they will have no way to get to the games.”
The New Zealand Government’s Safe Travel website said Typhoon
Hagibis was forecast to make landfall as a Category 2 or 3 typhoon on Saturday, bringing heavy rain, flash flooding, and destructive winds which might reach speeds of more than 178km/h.
New Zealanders were advised to seek suitable shelter and not venture outside or near the sea during the typhoon.
Jamieson said while the cancelled game was a huge disappointment for fans, most were on longer tourist trips and were likely to continue taking in the sights and sounds before catching an upcoming quarter-final match.
“I don’t know of anyone that has flown over for just that Italy game with that being their whole focus,” he said.
Furious Scotland are on a collision course with World Rugby as insiders warned that the integrity of the World Cup is at stake if their match against Japan is cancelled.
Their final pool A match against the hosts will go ahead on Sunday in Yokohama as Japan braces itself for Typhoon Hagibis, which is due to hit Tokyo tomorrow. An inspection will take place six hours before kick-off to determine whether the match can go ahead. After the World Rugby confirmed that there were no further contingency plans in place, a cancellation would result in the match being declared a 0-0 draw which would almost certainly eliminate Gregor Townsend’s side from the tournament.
“We are in regular dialogue with World Rugby at all levels to work to ensure our fixture against Japan on Sunday can be played as planned,” a Scottish Rugby spokesman said. “Public safety is the clear priority.
“With potential impact on our last Pool A fixture, Scottish Rugby fully expects contingency plans to be put in place to enable Scotland to contest for a place in the quarter-finals on the pitch, and will be flexible to accommodate this.”
This statement seemed to directly contradict tournament director Alan Gilpin who speaking at a press conference earlier pointedly said that there were no contingency plans in place for Scotland v Japan having already cancelled the England v France and Italy v New Zealand matches tomorrow. Italy could technically have qualified for the knockout stages with a bonus-point victory.
“We looked pretty exhaustively at all the options,” Gilpin said. “It is important to note that where we are is in accordance with what we said we would do before the tournament. Doing that on this scale, so many teams to move around, and to be able to deliver safely the exit of 12 teams, we couldn’t guarantee contingency plans consistently. If we can't do it for all, we can’t do it for any.
“We have looked again at the potential to apply some consistency to our contingency plan across all the games and we treat all the matches fairly. Italy are in the same position as Scotland are in. It is a huge match and we would be loving to play that game. But we won’t treat that match any different.”
Privately, Scottish officials are convinced that World Rugby would be in breach of their own regulations if they cancelled the match. They have warned that the integrity of the tournament is at stake. Although regulation 5 states that matches can be cancelled, it also states that there is an “overriding imperative should be for the match to be played”. The regulation also states that match can be delayed or postponed.
There are provisions under clause 8.4.1 around a “force majeure” event which includes a “storm or tempest” if a match cannot be staged. Terms and conditions around World Cup tickets state that matches can be rescheduled due to storms.
Scotland are still hoping that the game will be played on October 13 or at least pushed back 24 hours to Yokohama or an alternative venue.