Once every four years, the world turns its attention to what is often referred to as the third largest sporting event on the planet.

Sadly, however, what has been a stellar Rugby World Cup up to this point now threatens to derail, with Typhoon Hagibis bearing down on Japan.

As it stands, two of Saturday’s matches have already been cancelled, denying France the chance to oust England for top spot in Pool C, and eliminating Italy from the World Cup altogether.

If you want to know how the Italians feel about that (and rightly so), ask captain Sergio Parisse.

For further proof of World Rugby dropping the ball, consider that the Italian team only received word of the cancellation one minute before they were due to announce their starting XV for the match against the All Blacks.

Much of the talk now surrounds the Scotland versus Japan match, and whether or not that will be able to go ahead. With tournament director Alan Gilpin having made the call to cancel two matches already, he’s backed himself into a corner.

If the tournament makes alternative arrangements for the match to go ahead, then Italy can be rightly outraged. If the match is cancelled, Scotland is readying their legal team to take action.

The Telegraph reports:

…Scottish rugby chiefs have notified World Rugby of their intention to take legal action to ensure that the governing body of rugby’s World Cup does “whatever it takes” to ensure that Scotland’s final pool game against Japan is played.

The Scots’ legal advice is that under tournament rules there is flexibility to adjust the tournament schedule in cases of force majeure, and that the arrival of Typhoon Hagibis clearly qualifies as such.

At a series of lengthy and bad-tempered meetings, which lasted for most of Thursday and ended late into the evening, Scottish Rugby’s chief executive Mark Dodson – who was described by one insider as being “in a state of apoplexy” – and chief operating officer Dominic McKay were fighting to ensure that their final pool game goes ahead.

The Scots are asking for the match to be pushed back by 24 hours, to Monday evening local time, stressing that the typhoon will have passed by at that time.

Whilst there may be some logic in that, or logic in playing the match at an altogether different venue, the marker has been laid down. If you want to know who to blame, along with tournament directors and a terrible ‘contingency plan’, check this out:

In a development that seems sure to cloud the rest of the tournament and have ramifications way into the future, insiders claim that the match between the All Blacks and Italy could have been postponed until Monday, but that the All Blacks were not willing to consider a turnaround of just five days between their final pool game and their quarter-final, which is due to be played on Saturday 19th October.

That refusal by the All Blacks means Galpin was forced to cancel the match, setting a precedent that now seems likely to forever mark the 2019 World Cup as a logistical failure of the highest order.

World Rugby, for what it’s worth, has rubbished those claims, with this from RugbyPass:

“Categorically untrue,” the World Rugby spokesperson said. “Monday was not on the cards. We have to treat all teams/matches fairly, not the few, and that was central to our contingency plans process relating to a dynamic and complex adverse weather situation.

“We looked at a whole range of prepared contingencies for the weekend’s matches. However, as outlined yesterday, it was impossible to provide a consistent and fair approach to all teams across the tournament that could guarantee safety, venue integrity or transport networks owing to the sheer scale of a super typhoon with a dimeter of 1,400km. This is a fundamental. It would have been grossly irresponsible to endanger public or tournament safety.”

That hasn’t stopped former English hooker Brian Moore from saying the following in this Twitter thread:

Back to Scotland, and how things are likely to get very ugly, very quickly:

Describing the situation as “shambolic” and “embarrassing”, a senior spokesman for Scottish Rugby said that World Rugby’s handling of the affair has been disgracefully poor, and that unless it comes to its sense and adheres to its own tournament regulations, the Union will have no choice but to take immediate legal action.

“We’re willing to do whatever it takes to get this game [between Scotland and Japan] on,” said the spokesman. “There are 10,000 Scotland supporters here to see their team play, and for the integrity of the sport and this tournament, we’ve got to find a way to deliver on our undertaking to stage this game.

“World Rugby said three or four months ago that they had contingency plans in place to address any problems or challenges that might occur, and we took them at their word. We now expect them to deploy those contingency plans and ensure this match goes ahead. The fans, players and everyone who loves rugby will demand nothing less. The whole situation is almost beyond belief.”

Yeah, it really is.

If World Rugby had a contingency plan, and it was thrown out of the window because the All Blacks refused to budge, that points to a complete and utter failure on so many levels.

Surely the sport’s governing body should have had a set of rules in play, dealing with match cancellations and postponements, that was signed off by every rugby union participating at the tournament well in advance?

That way, no one team can refuse to adhere to the plans, thereby consigning all future matches to suffer a cancellation.

Utter incompetence, and there’s another massive downside to the potential of Japan advancing on the basis of a cancelled match.

At this stage, the host nation is riding a wave of positivity, beating Ireland on their way to a record of three wins from three. Yank the chance to beat Scotland fairly and squarely from the equation, and the team loses a great deal of neutral support and moves forward with a black mark hanging over their name.

It isn’t fair on Scotland, it isn’t fair on Japan, and it isn’t fair on those who look to the Rugby World Cup as a means to grow the reputation of the game around the globe.

Whilst the decision on that game will only be taken on Sunday morning, as things stand, some have cast their minds forward in asking what will happen if one of the knockout stage matches is called off.

Rather ironically, that could end up hurting the All Blacks, as the New Zealand Herald reports:

In news that will surely infuriate New Zealand rugby fans, in the event of a typhoon hitting during the knockout stages at the Rugby World Cup, the All Blacks could be on their way home via a points countback – leaving them in a similar fate to the Black Caps at the Cricket World Cup…

Now, if the All Blacks and England get through their respective quarter-finals, they are set to meet in a semifinal, at which point the unlikely scenario could come into play.

With both the All Blacks and England’s last pool games called off due to Typhoon Hagibis, it leaves England on 17 points and the All Blacks on 16.

If the weather was to play a part in the Rugby World Cup semifinal, England would be declared the winner on the basis of having more points then the All Blacks after pool play.

Well, if it’s true that the All Blacks refused to have their match against Italy moved, my sympathy is very limited.

In the event that a match is called off at half-time, or at any point in the second half, the team who is leading will be declared the winner. If the scores are tied, the team with the most tries advances.

If extra-time is required to separate the teams, two 10-minute halves will be played. Should the scores still be even, a sudden-death period of 10 minutes will be played, where the first team to score a point wins, with a kicking competition to follow if required.

Sure, none of that will ever happen, but given what we saw in the Cricket World Cup, it never hurts to be sure.

[sources:telegraph&nzherald&rugbypass]