Kumamoto (Japan) (AFP)
The French Rugby Federation (FFR) said, through the voice of its vice president Serge Simon, take "act" of the decision of World Rugby, Thursday, to cancel the match of World Cup England-France, scheduled Saturday in Yokohama, because of typhoon Hagibis.
"The French Federation takes note of the decision of World Rugby," Serge Simon told the press in Kumamoto, reading the statement issued a few minutes earlier by the FFR. In this one, the FFR "calls all its supporters to follow the instructions of the local authorities or the embassy of France and associates itself fully with their disappointment".
"The World Rugby institution has guaranteed to the Federation that all tickets issued will be refunded and that it will communicate with the people concerned as soon as possible," he added.
Serge Simon then refused to answer questions from the press in the lobby of the Nikko Hotel. He turned on his heels to join the rest of the delegation, left around 13:00 local (06:00 French) aboard two coaches for Oita, some 150 km further south of the island of Kyushu, the southernmost of the four major component Japan.
The staff of the hotel, where the Blues arrived on September 23, had deployed a banner "Thank you! Go Blues!" by way of goodbye.
The Blues will prepare on the spot from Thursday evening their quarter-final scheduled at Oita October 20 at 4:15 pm (09:15 French), most likely against Wales. With the cancellation of the meeting (two points for each team, draw 0-0), the XV of France finished in fact second in Pool C, behind England.
No more players than the coach Jacques Brunel or the members of the management wanted to express themselves on the cancellation of the meeting.
The typhoon Hagibis, announced as one of the most powerful of the last decades in the region, should touch this weekend a large part of Japan. He led World Rugby to cancel, in addition to England-France, New Zealand - Italy, scheduled for Saturday at Toyota (center).
© 2019 AFP