Tokyo is in the eye of the storm and World Rugby aren’t too far away.
And this isn’t just any storm. Typhoon Hagibis will land on Tokyo and the surrounding areas on Saturday, and it’s expected to be the fiercest storm of the Japanese year.
Powerful winds, biblical and we mean biblical rains from dawn until dusk.
Imagine this for a second. Between eastern, western and northern Japan, they are expected to be hit with as much rainfall on Saturday, as Ireland generally receives in an entire year.
1000 mm of it. This is torrential. This is going to be destructive.
Imagine all of Ireland’s annual rainfall falling in a single day! After last years rain being bucketed down over the few days before. #RWC2019 #TyphoonSeason https://t.co/TlrkVuMvbh
— Steve Boucher (@endallgym) October 12, 2019
It’s already bucketing down on the nation that has five times the area of Ireland, and the impacts are to be seen all over already.
The Japanese team found out all about it on their way to training on Saturday morning, as their fixture with Scotland for Sunday becomes more doubtful by the second.
Check out the bizarre footage below, where the Japanese team had to wade through substantial amounts of water in order to make it from their dressing rooms to the pitch in International Stadium Yokohama. Listen at 1.35 where you can hear an official/player requesting for the power to be turned off.
This is dangerous stuff.
【日本代表】
本日、キャプテンズランを行いました🏃🏻♂️🏉☔️
皆さま、台風には万全の対策を🙏🏻#rugbyjp #OneTeam #BRAVEを届けよう #RWC2019 #JPNvSCO #RWC横浜 pic.twitter.com/xGUVfmS9p1— 日本ラグビーフットボール協会 (@JRFUMedia) October 12, 2019
Two of Saturday’s fixtures – France v England and New Zealand v Italy both fell by the wayside on Saturday with World Rugby coming under intense scrutiny.
This spelled the end of Italy’s World Cup – a sad way for legends like Parisse and Ghiraldini to bow out, after four years of preparation.
Their lack of a contingency plan has been ridiculed far and wide as these periods of extreme weather are somewhat of a norm over in Japan.
