Have England’s chances improved because of the unscheduled lay-off ?
days here, three days there, rather than five all in one go. They cannot be flogged in training every day. In the Six Nations, of course, players are used to going a fortnight between games. But that is in the middle of a hefty season. They go and see their family. Here, they are cooped up with one another – and have been for months.
You cannot blame World Rugby for the decision, that is for sure. Public safety has to come first and there was no way it could play those games with the forecast as it is.
What I do question, however, is why it could not have rescheduled the games. It has known ever since this World Cup was awarded to Japan that it was going to be held in the middle of typhoon season.
I think it is terribly sad that Italy, particularly, have not been given the chance to play the All Blacks when qualification was still in their own hands. You have to ask, had New Zealand needed the points, would the game have been played?
As a Scot, naturally, I am hoping that Sunday’s match goes ahead. Sadly, I think if there is any doubt, they are not going to play the game. Two points would be enough to put Japan through, which would be seen as a boost for the tournament, even if 72,000 fans were left disappointed.
Purely from a neutral’s perspective, though, I think every fan must be hoping that it goes ahead. It has all the makings of the game of the tournament. Pool A generally has been the most interesting and this game would be the perfect climax. Assuming Ireland get that bonus-point win tomorrow, of course. It is a straight shoot-out for the second spot.
There is not much you can do about the weather, though. In the old days, we might just have ploughed on. I remember playing at Eden Park during Scotland’s 1975 tour of New Zealand.
The rain was so heavy it was not just standing water or puddles on the pitch, it was six inches deep in places. The referee warned us that he would have to stop the game if the scrums or mauls collapsed as he could not risk players drowning.
As I recall, we could not delay the game as the Scottish Rugby Union had booked flights for the next morning and they were too expensive to change. It was ridiculous. We lost 24-0 and returned to the dressing room to find it flooded and our shoes floating about. The safety of players and spectators is paramount these days, and rightly so.
But the shock waves are going to endure long after the storm has passed.
England do not want to warm up again, they want to be coming to boil. They need games
England will have to win six games to be world champions rather than seven and are virtually guaranteed to avoid Wales in next week’s quarterfinals. No wonder Eddie Jones talked of the “typhoon gods” being on his side.
From the 43rd floor of England’s Tokyo hotel yesterday morning, the sky was calm and the horizon undisturbed. But Typhoon Hagibis was heading our way and it swiftly dawned on England that extreme weather had handed them a freebie.
The gains? More time for Billy Vunipola’s ankle to recover. A weekend off for Owen Farrell, who was smashed in the head twice in 10 days against United States and Argentina. No risk of further injuries against France in Le Crunch. England, France and New Zealand have been handed a major advantage. And by avoiding the possibility of defeat tomorrow, England have earned themselves a crack at the (slightly) weaker of Pool D’s top teams – Australia.
The losses? England’s form has been mixed in three group games and now they are propelled into a knockout match without the fiery preparation France would give them – even in a so-called dead rubber. Jones will have less information on which to base his quarter-final team selection and some fringe players, such as Mark Wilson, will be deprived of opportunities.
But, on balance, England have lucked-in. Jones talked of having “beef and a few beers on Saturday night” in Miyazaki. As disruptions go, this hardly registers. Luxury in Tokyo or luxury in the far south? Only the fans wandering around Japan’s capital with “disappointed faces” (Jones’s description) could be anguished by the prospects of England’s workload being reduced by one-seventh.
If England raise their level against Australia and power through the later stages, they will find an asterisk attached to any World Cup triumph. The same would be true for New Zealand and France. England’s 2003 title was earned through blood and thunder, right up to Jonny Wilkinson’s extra-time dropped goal. This one would feature a 14-day “holiday”. Jones will have to use that time productively to bring them to peak readiness for a quarter-final. But a typhoon has not harmed their chances at this now distorted World Cup.