The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
Storm brews over typhoon threat plans
Scotland chief executive’s call met with angry response from World Rugby
A war of words has broken out between World Rugby and the Scottish Rugby Union after Murrayfield chief executive Mark Dodson urged the global governing body to see sense and push their win-or-bust showdown with Japan out of Super Typhoon Hagibis’ path of destruction.
Dodson made his call as he refused to rule out taking legal action to make sure the climax to Pool A at Yokohama’s International Stadium goes ahead tomorrow.
But that sparked an angry response from World Rugby, who said they were “disappointed” with Dodson’s comments after insisting the Scots were happy to sign up to the rules which prohibit pool matches being rescheduled before the tournament.
Dodson wants the game pushed back 24 hours, claiming World Rugby would be risking the “sporting integrity” of the competition if they stick to their decision that the game must be played tomorrow or not at all.
Head coach Gregor Townsend has largely re-instated the team that won against Samoa with one surprise in dropping squad captain Stuart McInally to the bench with Fraser Brown taking his place.
Tommy Seymour replaces groin-injury victim Sean Maitland.
Gregor Townsend laughed when he heard opposite number Jamie Joseph claiming Japan were more driven and seeking history while Scotland were just seeking to avoid embarrassment if tomorrow’s big Rugby World Cup clash is played in Yokohama.
An angry Joseph had been irked at suggestions the Japanese were seeking to avoid the clash to gain an easy access to the quarter-finals, although the Scots have never indicated any such thing and been effusive in praise of their hosts.
“I had a good laugh,” he said, having read Joseph’s comments. “You may know coaches sometimes use press conferences to put messages and to get a response.
“Sometimes you don’t get the response you expect.”
In the meantime, Townsend had one surprise in dropping squad captain Stuart McInally to the bench for the meeting with the Japanese, and restoring Greig Laidlaw. Otherwise he largely re-instated the team that won against Samoa, only with Tommy Seymour replacing groin-injury victim Sean Maitland.
Townsend’s decision is part tactical with Fraser Brown thought to be a slightly better fit for Japan’s all-action, high-tempo style, but reflects that McInally hasn’t really recovered from the 27-3 defeat to Ireland in the first game.
And Scotland have a ready-made replacement as skipper in “Mr Grieg” Laidlaw, Japan’s favourite Scotland player.
“I am very confident the captain we have picked will do an excellent job,” said Townsend. “Greig has captained Scotland more than any other player in our history.
“I’m also very confident in the leadership group that will support Greig and support Stuart if he has to captain the team at some point. Our leadership group have done a very good job on and off the field in the last few weeks.
“Yes, the captain’s role within a game is important. You speak to the referee and you maybe have the last word in huddles, but there’s a number of other leaders we want to see talking and leading the team at the weekend. They’ve done that really well in the last two games.”
Townsend isn’t invoking an “us against the world” mentality given the difficulties surrounding the typhoon and the possibility Scotland may be out of the competition without firing a shot.
“No, it’ll be a sense of us against 70,000 people. When you play Japan in the World Cup here, you are the away team, all the other games are neutral,” he said.
“We know we are going into an atmosphere that will be very passionate for the opposition and we have to play as well as we can to win that game.
“They will get energy from the crowd – we’ve got to take away that energy.”
Scotland have had extreme difficulty in away matches in recent times but Townsend said “the next game is always the acid test.
“We played two away games in the last two months, the first one in Nice did not go so well, the second in Georgia went better, and this third one needs to go even better.
“The way we approached the game in Georgia is how we planned it, take the crowd out of the game with a strong start. We will need clear heads among all the noise, and we need a huge effort.”
Scotland will heed the advice to stay indoors today, not having the customary captain’s run at the stadium but instead having a “walk-through” of moves and line-out drills in the ballroom of their hotel in Yokohama.
“Our normal pre-game team run is about priming players for the following day’s game, playing with energy, running through some plays, passing over the game plan to the players,” Townsend said. “We won’t be able to do that tomorrow, but we see the players leading in our meetings, and we’ll find a room in here we can walk or jog around in.”
“We just have to assure the players the game will go ahead and we will prepare for it. It’s likely we will be in the hotel all day tomorrow, but the players are focused on playing on Sunday evening.
“There’s nothing we can do differently with the players apart from assuring them they will play on Sunday night.”