Rugby World Cup 2019

[paul_e]

Fantastic performance and result for Japan. Scotland are in real trouble now in this group.

[Pete3206]

In trouble? They're as good as out.

[Axl Rose]

Some photos from today's game.

[paul_e]

In trouble? They're as good as out.

They need 2 bonus point wins, the first is possible but beating Japan heavily will be tough.

[Meanwood Villa]

Looks good Axl. Is world cup fever in full swing over there now Japan are doing well?

[Meanwood Villa]

Come on Tonga!

[Axl Rose]

Looks good Axl. Is world cup fever in full swing over there now Japan are doing well?

Yes, massively. A lot of bandwagon jumping, but that's fair enough. I suppose it's the same for all big sporting events. I've been here for 6 years now and can't remember meeting anyone who ever mentioned rugby, besides a few expats.

Baseball is still king, and football isn't far behind, but it's nice to see so many families enjoying the games, as usually you don't really see Tokyo families spending much time together. Too busy with work and all that.

Scrap what I said about baseball, actually. Work is king!

[UK Redsox]

Scotland's world cup could be ended by Typhoon Hagi(bi)s

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/rugby-union/49973347

[cdbearsfan]

Is monsoon season not roughly the same time every year? Doesn't seem to be very good planning.

[taylorsworkrate]

In fairness they have the option to relocate games. It would be embarrassing for Japan to have games called off, and embarrassment is not something Japanese culture particularly embraces!

[paul_e]

In fairness they have the option to relocate games. It would be embarrassing for Japan to have games called off, and embarrassment is not something Japanese culture particularly embraces!

the default is to mark it as a 0-0 draw but I suspect a 0-0 draw which was decisive in the final placings of a group would be something they'd like to avoid.

[taylorsworkrate]

One of World Rugby’s contingency plans is to move both matches to other venues in Japan to ensure they go ahead but that would cause havoc for more than 140,000 supporters across the weekend and prove a huge logistical headache for tournament organisers.

That's from the Guardian.

Yes relocating games would come with problems, but I guess would still be infinitely preferable to the embarrassment of a team being knocked out in such a way.

Even if just having it as a 0-0 draw would be in the Japanese teams interest, I can't see them going down this route. The Japanese don't cope well with shame.

[Axl Rose]

In fairness they have the option to relocate games. It would be embarrassing for Japan to have games called off, and embarrassment is not something Japanese culture particularly embraces!

Haha. Spot on, mate. The typhoon will end up being a little bit of rain and some wind, as it usually is. If there were games being played in Okinawa, then I could understand the issue.

They're going to have bigger problems with the Olympics being in the middle of summer. They're stubborn old sods once they've made a decision, so they'll just move the marathon to 5am or something like that, and say 'there you go, problem sorted!'

[cdbearsfan]

In fairness all the endurance races at the recent Athletics World Championships in Qatar were held in the middle of the night so there has already been a precedent set, there.

Anyway three early tries for Scotland, looking good for a bonus point win.

[paul_e]

In fairness all the endurance races at the recent Athletics World Championships in Qatar were held in the middle of the night so there has already been a precedent set, there.

Anyway three early tries for Scotland, looking good for a bonus point win.

5 points were always coming here, Russia are a very weak side (and are lucky to be there) and they were always going to knackered by this game. Japan are a much better side and 8 days of rest vs 4 days gives them a massive advantage. Lots of the Scotland team will be changed for Sunday but even still they'd have trained for a game today and a big chunk of this 23 will have to be involved.