England arrive in Japan for Rugby World Cup but Australia delayed by Typhoon Faxai
Written by News on 09/09/2019
Australia’s departure for the Rugby World Cup in Japan has been delayed by Typhoon Faxai, although England have arrived for the tournament without major disruption.
The Wallabies were due to arrive in Tokyo on Monday morning but have been delayed by 16 hours after their original flight was cancelled due to strong winds and heavy rain in the region.
Several railway and subway operators also suspended services as the typhoon made landfall at Chiba, a northern suburb of the Japanese capital.
Government spokesman Yoshihide Suga confirmed one person had been killed and dozens injured by the typhoon, which caused 900,000 power failures across the Tokyo metropolitan area.
England began their journey to Japan on Sunday night and arrived in Tokyo on Monday morning with only an hour delay at Narita International Airport, having missed the worst of the storm.
“We are excited to arrive in Japan, it is a great honour and privilege to represent England and we are looking forward to the tournament,” said head coach Eddie Jones upon arrival in Tokyo.
“This is a unique World Cup. It’s the first time in a tier-two nation so our ability to adapt quickly will be imperative.
“Every one of the 20 teams goes into the World Cup with the target of being at their best. We think we have prepared well so we have put ourselves in a good position.”
World Cup organisers have planned for the possibility of having to relocate teams from their bases or even to move matches to different venues because of Typhoon Faxai.
The stadiums for England’s first two games, against Tonga in Sapporo and the United States in Kobe, have roofs and Jones says the team will train indoors on artificial turf if necessary.
“It’s going to affect the World Cup, there’s no doubt about it,” Jones said after Friday’s 37-0 win over Italy. “You’ve just got to ride with it, be adaptable and work out how you can cope with the situation.
“Once the typhoon comes, you just can’t go outside. It’s basically a lock-down. It can vary between being very violent to quite mild.
“The issue is you can’t go outside but we’ve got ideas of what we do if a typhoon stopped us training outdoors. We’ll train on artificial turf indoors.”
England have two weeks to acclimatise to the conditions in Asia before they face Tonga in their opening match on September 22.
They will then face the United States on September 26 before playing Argentina in Tokyo on October 5, with their final group stage match against France in Yokohama on October 12.
(c) Sky Sports 2019: England arrive in Japan for Rugby World Cup but Australia delayed by Typhoon Faxai
