Eddie’s boys will be chuffed with free pass

If I was an England player safely tucked away 700 miles from Yokohama, knowing my team had topped their World Cup group without lifting a finger, I would be chuffed to bits.

Players want to play, of course, but I think the majority of them will welcome the free pass.

If you look how tough their potential route to the final will be over three successive weekends, being given one off, where they can chill out and regroup, is massively advantageous.

You have to feel for the poor fans who have shelled out to go to Japan expecting to watch England play France, only to find themselves shut inside their hotels. But the big picture is of a major lift for England over this situation.

A World Cup is a phenomenally intense environment to be immersed in for almost two months. It is like nothing else a player experiences, so to be gifted a few days out of the pressure cooker is a result.

It is hard going week-toweek and this gives them a break – plus extra time which their likely opponents Australia will not have – to prepare for next weekend’s quarter-final.

If they had played France who knows what would have happened?

Owen Farrell could have nDgwdigthdagndginjury or cdogudlgd lost

but as it is head coach Eddie Jones knows he will have just about all his squad available and rested up. Down in Miyazaki, it will feel a world away from the danger zone.

It was a smart move from Eddie to fly the squad out.You do not want players’ minds being messed with by seeing cars overturned and roofs torn off.

Typhoons were always a potential factor when they awarded the event to Japan, but I still believe it was the correct call to take it to the Far East. Outside of the weather, it has been a successful World Cup with great rugby and stadia full for training, never mind matches.

It would be a pity remembered for the that did not happen.

It is a pretty much unprecedented situation. I remember Ireland had three matches postponed in the 2001 Six Nations, including our trip to Dublin, after the foot and mouth outbreak but they were all played that autumn instead. These if it is games cancelled games have gone for good.World Rugby should not rearrange them.

The regulations state cancelled games are 0-0 draws.You either have rules or don’t and if they are there you have to abide by them.

I don’t see today’s game would have made any difference to qualification positions – England would have beaten France to top the group anyway.

And I’m certain Italy would never have beaten the All Blacks.

Scotland will be panicking their game against Japan tomorrow does not go the same way.

Let’s hope they get on the field. That game should be a cracker to conclude the group stages of what will go down as an unforgettableWorld Cup.