Rugby World Cup 2019: Eddie Jones shows little sympathy for Scotland in wake of typhoon chaos

Scotland will be eliminated from the competition in Japan if their match on Sunday is abandoned

Eddie Jones and Steve Hansen united in showing little sympathy for Scotland if Super Typhoon Hagibis knocks them out of the Rugby World Cup, with the England and New Zealand coaches insistent that they are only in such a position because they lost their opening match.

Scotland will be eliminated from the competition in Japan if their Sunday encounter in Yokohama is abandoned, with the fixture uncertain to go ahead due to the trail of destruction that Hagibis is expected to leave. 160mph winds and heavy rain will arrive in the early hours of Saturday, which led to England’s game with France and New Zealand’s encounter against Italy both cancelled.

The Scottish Rugby Union issued a strong statement on Thursday that they expect World Rugby to do everything possible for the match to go ahead – despite the governing body suggesting otherwise – but the Scots were given short shrift by their World Cup rivals.

“We just knew that there was the possibility of a game like this during the tournament so we just wanted to put ourselves in the best position we could,” said England head coach Jones.

"It's not something you can control. This is the situation. I think it's a wonderful World Cup. You can't help typhoons, we would all like to think we've got the power above and beyond what's on the world at the moment, but we don't and these things happen and you just ride with it."

Scotland were beaten 27-3 in their World Cup opener, a defeat that leaves them exposed to an early exit unless they can beat Japan if the match goes ahead. If it doesn’t and both teams are awarded two points via a scoreless draw, Scotland cannot qualify for the quarter-finals.

Hansen though admitted that while he feels for Scotland and Italy – who were in a similar situation albeit needing to record their first ever victory over the All Blacks – the way to avoid such cruel luck is by winning all of your matches.

"If you want to be really ruthless, then it's all about making sure you win the games on the way through because everyone knew this could be a possibility,” the New Zealand head coach said. “That's pretty hard-nosed, though, because I know if we were in their situation, we'd be disappointed not to have the opportunity to get there.

"So yes, there's a lot of sympathy for them. But the right decisions are being made, because it's all about safety.

"It's always a risk at this time of year with the typhoons, but this is when we play the Rugby World Cup. If you play it earlier, you run the risk of people dying on the footy field because it'll be 40 degrees. If you play it later, then that's when we are finished for Christmas so you'd have Santa Claus giving us the World Cup."

World Rugby are expected to make a final decision on Scotland’s match on Sunday morning, when the worst of the typhoon is expected to have passed through the Konto area.

England though did not hang around in Tokyo to find out how bad the worst typhoon of the year will be, with the squad immediately leaving their team hotel and hot-footing it to Miyazaki, where they held their pre-World Cup training camp on the southern island of Kyushu.

Part of the reasoning for England’s swift exit – on top of avoiding the biggest typhoon in 60 years to hit Japan – is to be near Oita where they play their quarter-final next weekend, but the other part lies on Jones’s own experience of what typhoons can do.

“I’ve probably been here for about 30 typhoons and some of them are just like a big thunderstorm,” Jones said. “But I can remember driving once in one of the first typhoons, and you know those convenience stores everywhere, the 7/11s, the 7/11 sign flew off and just landed in front of the car, so there’s a reason why when typhoons come everything shuts down. It can be particularly dangerous and this one’s supposed to be a big typhoon, so I don’t see any other option that the organisers had. That’s why we’re not concerned at all about the comings and goings of it, we think it’s the right decision.

Typhoon Hagibis has caused chaos (AFP via Getty Images) (Getty)

“At one stage I was looking pretty dodgy if it had kept coming. It was in Tokyo, September 1996. Driving to the ceremony for the first game of the season, I can remember it clearly.”

With England’s final pool game cancelled, they risk going into the quarter-final clash likely against Australia off the back of a 14-day break and undercooked for what will be their biggest match in Japan so far.

But Jones intends on running a full-speed training session in Miyazaki on Wednesday to ensure his players hit the ground running next weekend.

"We’ll have a game simulation but we do that every Wednesday if we're not playing, or on the Saturday,” he added. “So there's nothing different for us.

"It's the only preparation we’ve got, so it's the best preparation. It is a great opportunity for us to regenerate, refocus, put a bit more petrol in the tank, so we're really happy with it.

"Joe Marler, Jack Nowell and Billy Vunipola are still on rehab, so they are still coming back. They are expected to be running fully, at least two of them, by Saturday."