The organizers of the Rugby World Cup in Japan announced on Thursday the cancellation of two matches that were going to be played this Saturday due to the impact of a violent typhoon approaching the country.
The canceled matches are those that would face New Zealand and Italy and that would play England and France. The matches between Australia and Georgia are held, as scheduled, on Friday, and the one that will face Ireland and Samoa on Saturday.
Typhoon Hagibis will touch the territory of Japan on Saturday, with the greatest impact expected for the night of that day. In addition to the games mentioned, another four will be played on Sunday, and the organizers will check on Sunday morning if their completion is confirmed.
Those dates are the last of the first phase, prior to the quarterfinals, which will be held on October 19 and 20.
In accordance with the rules of the World Rugby, in case of cancellation of a match each team receives two points.
The cancellation of these two meetings does not imply major changes to the teams involved. New Zealand was already qualified for the quarterfinals, as were England and France.
With the distribution of the points made from these changes in the programming, the "All Blacks" remain at the head of group B, with 16 points, and in second place is South Africa, with 15.
A New Zealand victory over Italy, the most likely result because the "All Blacks" are among the favorites of this tournament, would have given the New Zealanders two or three points, depending on the rehearsals, but in the second place the "Springboks", which have already played their four games.
In the case of the other group involved, the C, England is in the lead, with 17 points, while France remains in second place, with 15.
France, in case of a possible victory against England, would have been left with 17 or 18 points, and England would have had 15 or 16, depending on the scoreboard, which would have affected the first places of the group and, consequently, the next rival in quarterfinals of the two teams.
In the same group of France and England there is also Argentina, but he has already played the four games of this first phase and has been left with 11 points, without the possibility of moving to the quarterfinals, although qualifying directly for the next World Cup, in France, in four years.
In making this decision known at a press conference, tournament director Alan Gilpin said that the decision to cancel the two games had been "very difficult" and "had not been taken lightly," since it had adopted defending the interests of the public, the teams, the personnel involved and the volunteers.
All this to preserve the safety of the tournament and from a "detailed information of the weather conditions".
Regarding Sunday's matches, the atmospheric conditions will be analyzed to make a final decision six hours before the four scheduled matches. By then, the organizers hope that the typhoon has already passed through the Japanese territory or its impact is much less.
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