Andy Farrell believes World Rugby are as keen as Ireland to see Saturday’s final Pool A clash with Samoa completed, despite the threat of Typhoon Hagibis.
World Rugby is monitoring the new typhoon that could hit Japan on Saturday and stop Ireland’s World Cup campaign in its tracks. Typhoon Hagibis has formed in the Western Pacific Ocean off the south coast of Japan, with forecasts suggesting it could hit the island of Kyushu this weekend.
Ireland face Samoa in the Kyushu city of Fukuoka on Saturday, where Joe Schmidt’s men need a bonus-point victory to seal a place in the quarter-finals. But defence coach Farrell confirmed World Rugby had been in touch and that there are contingency plans in place to ensure the match goes ahead, which could even include moving venue.
“The boys haven’t even spoken about it – we just go from day to day, get on with our preparations,” said Farrell. “World Rugby has been in touch with us and they are as keen as we are to get this game played. I believe there’s a contingency plan in place. We just get on with our day job and best prepare every single day and we’ll see what comes with that. The weather forecast changes all the time anyway. So we won’t probably know until 48 hours out from the game.”
Any games cancelled at the World Cup due to weather problems are registered as scoreless draws. That scenario would allow Scotland the chance to leapfrog Ireland into second place, should Gregor Townsend’s menbeat both Russia on Wednesday and hosts Japan on Sunday.
Previous predictions of typhoons hitting Japan and disrupting the tournament have so far proved wide of the mark. Typhoon Mitag had threatened France’s clash with the USA in Fukuoka last week, but the match was completed without issue.
World Rugby is monitoring the situation and will issue further updates as the situation develops. “It is still too early to determine what, if any, impact there will be on match or training activities,” said a World Rugby spokesman.
Wales complete their Pool D programme by tackling Uruguay next Sunday in Kumamoto, which is less than 70 miles from Fukuoka, though if Warren Gatland’s team have beaten Fiji in Oita on Wednesday, they will already be through to the quarter-finals.
Asked about the possibility of adverse weather later this week, the Wales head coach: “There is nothing you can do about that. I don’t want to waste any negative energy on something that I can’t change. We’ve had some updates in the past from World Rugby about potential weather stuff and we will deal with that when it comes. We won’t be thinking about that. If things change, we will deal with it at the time.”
Meanwhile, Gregor Townsend has made 14 changes to his Scotland line-up for Wednesday’s crucial clash with Russia in Shizuoka.
Edinburgh wing Darcy Graham is the only man to keep his place from last week’s 34-0 hammering of Samoa as Townsend looks to keep his top stars fresh for Sunday’s decisive final Pool A showdown with Japan.
With the Scots needing to take all five points on offer against the Bears before beating the hosts at the weekend, while also ensuring the Brave Blossoms do not outscore them on the bonus point front, Townsend has decided to take no chances by asking too many of his players to turn out twice in the space of four days.
On Tuesday, South Africa face Canada in Kobe and are expected to win comfortably. It is no surprise, therefore, that head coach, Rassie Erasmus, has made 13 changes from the team that beat Italy 49-3 on Friday. One player who has kept his place is captain Siya Kolisi who, having recovered from a knee injury that threatened to rule him out of the tournament altogether, is keen to get more minutes in his legs as the Springboks look to seal a quarter-final place from Pool B.
“Physically I feel good, but I want to get more minutes,” he said. “The form is getting better and better. I put a lot of pressure on myself, and I’m always looking for work on the field and to try and do more. I just think it is better for me to keep on playing.”
