Typhoon and earthquake alert for rugby showpiece

DANGER of typhoons, earthquakes and floods will make the Japan Rugby World Cup in 2019 the most challenging tournament to stage yet, according to the organisers. The country was hit by its most powerful storm in 25 years this month — Typhoon Jebi — which killed at least 10 people near Osaka. Japan has, on average, 480 earthquakes a year and two weeks ago a 6.7 magnitude tremor caused a landslide near Sapporo, where England start their World Cup campaign against Tonga next year. A minimum of nine people were killed and 150 injured. With exactly a year to go until the tournament starts, World Rugby are preparing for the worst. The governing body said they are unlikely to move the dates of the tournament itself but admitted they may need to move teams from damaged facilities and reschedule matches. ‘It’s a real hot topic for us right now,’ said tournament director Alan Gilpin. ‘Teams will arrive at this time next year. ‘We are planning what happens if a team hotel is lost, if a training venue or match venues are lost. And where do you relocate matches to, what are the timeframes, how does that affect transport, moving teams around? ‘Kumamoto, Fukuoka and Oita (the latter could host a potential England v Wales quarter-final) are three venues that could be affected by one set of typhoons coming through the south. ‘But you’ve still got nine other venues that would probably be unaffected. ‘Relocation of matches really is the key. The more likely scenario is compressing that period that’s less populated with games after the pool phase. If necessary teams can play in four or five-day rest periods in that part of the tournament. It’s not ideal — that’s not what teams want to do to be at their best.’ Meanwhile, Gilpin confirmed Sportsmail’s story from April, that players will be ordered to cover up tattoos in public so they are not mistaken for Yakuza — Japanese mafia men. Players will wear long-sleeved vests in public gyms and swimming pools. ‘We will make people aware, around the facilities players will use in Japan, that people with tattoos in a Rugby World Cup context are not part of the Yakuza,’ Gilpin said.