Rugby World Cup 2019

[antlat Profile]

Very strong possibility that Namibia vs Canada will be cancelled.

Hopefully this is played as Namibia have a real chance of winning their first World Cup game

[thatrugbyguy Profile]

Yeah, just read the news. Terrible way to finish the tournament for all teams. Apparently someone from ITV said it's highly unlikely the Japan v Scotland match will go ahead.

[Thomas Profile]

The news telecast on BBC News shows evacuations taking place.

[Canadian_Rugger Profile]

Have you actually read what Townsend said? He said his understanding was that the game had to be played that day or cancelled. He then went on to say he felt the rules left it open to change the venue and ensure the game was played. He absolutely did not suggest the game should just be cancelled and called a draw, the way many Irish fans on twitter seem to be suggesting he did (Usually followed immediately by having another dig at the SRU for not voting for Ireland's 2023 RWC bid).

I think it's reasonable to assume he will have taken a much closer interest in what the rules say since the predicted path changed to hit Yokohama - and besides, everything I have seen from him this week is "we are assuming we are playing Japan on sunday evening". The complaints have been from Mark Dodson mostly, who has taken legal advice, and obviously feels they have a case - from what I have read, based on a force majeure clause in the tournament rules that allows for far greater flexibility in such circumstances.

Obviously the safety of everyone involved must be the primary concern, however World Rugby's decision to delay making a decision has forced many of the Scotland fans I know over there into changing their plans - to travel back to Tokyo/Yokohama earlier and brace themselves for what is to come, rather than staying elsewhere and travelling back for the game on sunday. Is that really the safest option here?

I've never been involved in a typhoon, hurricane of cyclone so I don't know that the best options are.

The best option is to stay inside. Avoid going anywhere near the water.

I was in Halifax Canada during Hurricane Juan and saw 40ft trees being literally ripped out of the ground and thrown down a street by the wind. They had another hurricane there a few months ago and it caused the collapse of a construction crane.







Hurricanes/Typhoons can cause massive amounts of damage.

I'm not upset they cancelled games as that makes sense but I am upset they didn't reschedule them. Teams with cancelled games should have played either earlier or later and the QFs pushed back to allow for rest.

[Thomas Profile]

From Rugby CANADA:

A decision on
Canada's ’s match v Namibia will be made on the morning of game day. As per @rugbyworldcup
"All fans with tickets for a cancelled match will receive a full refund for the face value of their match tickets.”

Big thanks for your continued support of our Canadian #RWC team

[Return_of_BG_97 Profile WebsiteYIM]

I understand how bad this typhoon is but this is absolute utter incompetence and WR should be ashamed.

For some of these nations these are the best chances they will get at very serious matches. For Namibia, they had a chance at a first win and now that's gone. Scotland, who had so many aspirations heading into the tourney (but peaked way too early in 2017) will be eliminated.

This is absolutely terrible. Was it really impossible to schedule this tournament outside of typhoon season?

Disgrace.

On the actual rugby - Samoa were absolutely shambolic this entire tournament. Sure, they are a great PI nation, but there performance makes it feel like they really didn't deserve to be in Japan.

Germany/Hong Kong would've played worse, sure, but they would have given a lot more fight and given those nations some spotlight. What a waste of a RWC spot.

[4N Profile]

Nice gesture by the Samoan union, I thought the red card was harsh myself.

https://www.sport24.co.za/Rugby/RugbyWo ... e-20191012

[Return_of_BG_97 Profile WebsiteYIM]

He's an ethnic Samoan himself, and yeah the call was very harsh, I can see why they'd appeal to the committee

[sk 88 Profile Website]

Namibia v Canada cancelled.

Massive shame, was Namibia's best chance for a win and possibly delayed Canada's reckoning.

[4N Profile]

Announcement on Japan vs Scotland in two hours apparently.

[LittleGuy Profile]

The one match I was looking forward to for Canada. Would have liked it either way, a win for my boys or a well earned win for Namibia would have been great to see, absolutely gutted. I have absolutely no idea why this couldn't be rescheduled mid week, this doesn't affect the QF's at all? So stupid.

After a good first few days, I really haven't enjoyed this RWC in the least. The time zone is terrible for me and I haven't been able to watch many games delayed without stumbling onto spoilers. Canada were an utter shit show on the pitch and their "winnable" game won't even be played even though it's the kind of thing that could be rescheduled easily. Plus other cancellations of what would have been good games. Also the T2 teams haven't made up any ground from 2015 and if anything their improvements in defence have been countered by declines in attack which has resulted in more boring games.

[Thomas Profile]

an absolute shambles of an organisation at present, A real shame, rules are meant to be amended they are not laws. a few days delay wont make a difference to the Quarterfinal, Namibia had a good chance in winning their first ever match. for both teams this was their biggest match of their careers why couldn't they wait 2 - 3 days. Whoever wrote the DR Plan for the RWC should be sacked.

this was match I was looking forward to watch.

My day job is in IT. If I had a disaster recovery plan that is shambolic and their is no business continuity I would have been kicked from the industry by now.

[LittleGuy Profile]

Can Canada host Namibia in B.C. in November and have that game "count" towards these standings? And also send off the retiring Canadian and Namibian players properly?

[Return_of_BG_97 Profile WebsiteYIM]

The thing is - World Rugby pretty much had an entire decade to think this out, and no one prepared for this possibility.

World Rugby ought to be ashamed of themselves. Scotland are about to go out without even having a chance to redeem themselves from their opening loss. This whole tournament should have been delayed.

[4N Profile]

an absolute shambles of an organisation at present, A real shame, rules are meant to be amended they are not laws. a few days delay wont make a difference to the Quarterfinal, Namibia had a good chance in winning their first ever match. for both teams this was their biggest match of their careers why couldn't they wait 2 - 3 days. Whoever wrote the DR Plan for the RWC should be sacked.

this was match I was looking forward to watch.

My day job is in IT. If I had a disaster recovery plan that is shambolic and their is no business continuity I would have been kicked from the industry by now.

Agree 100%. They have somehow managed to turn what looked a week ago to be a real positive for the sport into a negative.

[armchair_expert Profile]

https://www.svgeurope.org/blog/headline ... world-cup/

Kamaishi Recovery Memorial Stadium, is in a town badly hit by the Great East Japan Earthquake, and replaces a school that was wiped out by the tsunami. It is only reachable via one narrow road or a single-track railway that still operates a steam train.

https://www.rugbyworldcup.com/news/510716

Kamaishi is situated in a highly mountainous area, including mountains directly behind the main stand of the stadium. There have been landslides and flooding in the vicinity of the stadium and along access roads to the venue following torrential rain throughout the night.

So Kamaishi is a remote hard-to-reach place, the stadium site is prone to flooding during natural disasters.
The sentimental decision to include it in the list of RWC venues looks dubious.

[LittleGuy Profile]

https://www.svgeurope.org/blog/headlines/futuresport-2018-broadcast-coverage-preview-for-2019-rugby-world-cup/

Kamaishi Recovery Memorial Stadium, is in a town badly hit by the Great East Japan Earthquake, and replaces a school that was wiped out by the tsunami. It is only reachable via one narrow road or a single-track railway that still operates a steam train.

https://www.rugbyworldcup.com/news/510716

Kamaishi is situated in a highly mountainous area, including mountains directly behind the main stand of the stadium. There have been landslides and flooding in the vicinity of the stadium and along access roads to the venue following torrential rain throughout the night.

So Kamaishi is a remote hard-to-reach place, the stadium site is prone to flooding during natural disasters.
The sentimental decision to include it in the list of RWC venues looks dubious.

It did have the Fiji-Uruguay game already as well, so it was used and the sentimental moment had already been witnessed so moving this Canada-Namibia fixture seems like it was an even more obvious move.

[thatrugbyguy Profile]

Japan v Scotland game is going ahead.

[thatrugbyguy Profile]

It did have the Fiji-Uruguay game already as well, so it was used and the sentimental moment had already been witnessed so moving this Canada-Namibia fixture seems like it was an even more obvious move.

Yeah, even though it sucks for the region to have the second match cancelled, they did play host to one of the greatest world cup upsets of all time. So, that's something I suppose.

[LittleGuy Profile]

The thing is - World Rugby pretty much had an entire decade to think this out, and no one prepared for this possibility.

World Rugby ought to be ashamed of themselves. Scotland are about to go out without even having a chance to redeem themselves from their opening loss. This whole tournament should have been delayed.

This whole tournament has an aroma to it, even Canadian problems aside, we've had many matches ruined by red cards. Weird officiating for the T2 sides, a general lack of offence from the minnows that has resulted in boring games and the gap between the T1's and others has actually widened again.

I remember the RWC's from 1999-till now very well and have vague memories of 1995, and this by far has been my least favorite. I can't speak to 1991 and 1987 at all except for archived footage, they did(especially 87) look a little "small time" but didn't seem to have the issues this one has had.

At this point I'm just sort of hoping a Wales, Ireland or France win just to get a new winner and salvage something from this dreck.

[thatrugbyguy Profile]

My enjoyment has diminished simple because I've gotten increasingly frustrated at how much a red card has been diminished. We've had more red cards in one tournament than the last 5 tournaments combined and we're still not finished. WR is asking players to make tackles that are increasingly difficult to make. As the Samoan captain said last night to the ref 'What are we suppose to do?'. There has to be some responsibility on the part of the ball carrier, because at the moment a defender can bend over 90 degrees, make a tackle, and still be sent off because the ball carrier is themselves low in the tackle. It's an impossible task.

[dropkick Profile]

My enjoyment has diminished simple because I've gotten increasingly frustrated at how much a red card has been diminished. We've had more red cards in one tournament than the last 5 tournaments combined and we're still not finished. WR is asking players to make tackles that are increasingly difficult to make. As the Samoan captain said last night to the ref 'What are we suppose to do?'. There has to be some responsibility on the part of the ball carrier, because at the moment a defender can bend over 90 degrees, make a tackle, and still be sent off because the ball carrier is themselves low in the tackle. It's an impossible task.

I think they're deserved but maybe there's an argument for allowing a replacement after 20 or 30 minutes.


It's the same culprits getting the reds. Samoans top the list. Known for their love of big hits, in the past if you happen to dip and got pulverised by a mistimed Samoan tackle then that was tough luck for you. Now the Samoans are being punished for their wrecklessness.

Lavanini getting a red card isn't surprising either.

Quill, who is from not far from where I'm from, got a deserved red for a dirty hit on Farrell.

The Italian props made a very dangerous challenge which could have resulted in a serious injury. Tackling over the horizontal has been outlawed for years now so I've zero sympathy for them and they should have both seen reds.

The Canadian one was shoulder to head. Absolutely no need to do it.


Yes games are ruined but it's not world rugby's fault or the refs fault, it's the players.

[thatrugbyguy Profile]

The players are being asked in most instance to make tackles that are impossible. The fact we've had more red cards this tournament than the last 5 combined is absurd. The players haven't gotten dirtier in their play, they are being asked to do the impossible. If you can get a card despite the fact the have your body in the correct position then something is wrong with the law.

[thatrugbyguy Profile]

Los Teros hanging in there against Wales.

[thatrugbyguy Profile]

7-6 Wales at halftime!