Rugby World Cup 2019

[KOB1987]

what a clusterfuck

 

[Tex]

We're all going to be eating our socks when the roof gets blown off a stadium or two

 

[Dan54]

A bit if a shocker really. Changes who might have topped a group. Gives some teams less games to play and a bigger rest period between games, less chance of injury, more recovery time, means a bucket load of tickets, tours etc.. all stuffed up. Pretty dramatic impact.

Yeah, but they could of tried to go ahead and watched players and fans get wiped out, I don't see how any other option could of been taken, much as I pissed that I really think the ABs needed the game to settle in their team etc for finals!!

 

[flat_eric]

Typhoons in Japan at this time of year aren't some rare occurrence.

Perhaps enough slack could have been built into the schedule to afford the rescheduling of games by a day or two?

Delaying the start of the tournament by a month would also have markedly increased the chances of avoiding such weather.

 

[KOB1987]

Yeah, but they could of tried to go ahead and watched players and fans get wiped out, I don't see how any other option could of been taken, much as I pissed that I really think the ABs needed the game to settle in their team etc for finals!!

Yeah, I thought the idea of just flying the teams to another city had merit but it looks like it's going to hit the whole country.

However, maybe they could have held the tournament not in the Typhoon season?

 

[molman]

Typhoons in Japan at this time of year aren't some rare occurrence.

Perhaps enough slack could have been built into the schedule to afford the rescheduling of games by a day or two?

Delaying the start of the tournament by a month would also have markedly increased the chances of avoiding such weather.

Yeah, I thought the idea of just flying the teams to another city had merit but it looks like it's going to hit the whole country.

However, maybe they could have held the tournament not in the Typhoon season?

I had similar thoughts. I wonder what the possibility/risk assessment was. Seemed to be enough that they had a published course of action in their tournament rules which to my mind means the risk was likely too high.

If NZ and ENG end up in the final I wonder if this could be seen as a factor. I'd be curious what the balance of playing an extra game in terms of time for a team to test itself vs. the attrition/injury element of playing an extra game is (too hard to quantify I guess but I'm sure the coaches would have a view). I'm sure Ireland wouldn't mind having a rest with all the injuries they're carrying... or even Wales to let Biggar get his head straight after all those knocks.

 

[Strewthcobber]

 

[RugbyReg]

 

[Strewthcobber]

Alan Gilpin, who is the tournament director, answered some questions in the press conference

Alan Gilpin is answering a question about why the cancelled matches couldn’t have been moved to stadia that were used in previous games and the reporter wonders if this is because some stadia have been de-rigged and no longer have any branding visible.
“It wasn’t a question of whether they’d been de-rigged, they just weren’t an option to us,” says Gilpin, who adds that given the size of the typhoon’s potential zone of impact, there were very few stadia that could be used safely.
He is now being asked if “in hindsight” they should have built more flexibility into the scedule.
“I don’t think so. The schedule for RWC is a complex beast - 40 pool matches in four weeks,” he says. “There is very little flexibility in the RWC match schedule, that’s why the tournament rules are as they are, we have some different opportunities in case of something similar in the knockout round.”

 

[Viking]

So 2 big killers for this RWC so far - cancelling of games and amount of cards and TMO influence on games.

Otherwise was building to be one the best RWC's. Love the Japanese involvement and attendance at games.

But i'm just so disappointed I don't get to see France V England - would have been a cracker.

 

[Braveheart81]

Yeah, I thought the idea of just flying the teams to another city had merit but it looks like it's going to hit the whole country.

However, maybe they could have held the tournament not in the Typhoon season?

The first point is definitely an issue with Japan being pretty small geographically. A natural disaster can cover a fair amount of the country, particularly when a lot of the venues are clustered together pretty close to Tokyo.

On the second, when should it have been held? Every RWC since professionalism has been held at roughly the same time (give or take a month).

This is already one of the later finishes so it's hard to see how they could have pushed it back much further.

 

[KOB1987]

The first point is definitely an issue with Japan being pretty small geographically. A natural disaster can cover a fair amount of the country, particularly when a lot of the venues are clustered together pretty close to Tokyo.

On the second, when should it have been held? Every RWC since professionalism has been held at roughly the same time (give or take a month).

This is already one of the later finishes so it's hard to see how they could have pushed it back much further.

Well if they just pushed it out a month it would be in the 4th most likely and one of the least likely months for a typhoon to hit landfall, instead of the 2nd most likely and 4th most likely months (according to Strewth's graph above). Southern hemisphere teams are just preparing to embark on their NH tours about now so I don't see the issue with the timing. I can't think of a logistical reason why it needs to be wrapped up in October.

 

[Braveheart81]

Well if they just pushed it out a month it would be in the 4th most likely and one of the least likely months for a typhoon to hit landfall, instead of the 2nd most likely and 4th most likely months (according to Strewth's graph above). Southern hemisphere teams are just preparing to embark on their NH tours about now so I don't see the issue with the timing. I can't think of a logistical reason why it needs to be wrapped up in October.

I guess the point being that we're already 3 weeks into the tournament so theoretically we're outside of the biggest threat time for typhoons. The next point would be how often is there a typhoon this strong so late in the season?

We normally do have end of year tours running right until late November, early December but that is after pretty constant rugby. How much would it have affected teams if we'd had another month before the tournament started? I'd guess that World Rugby has a pretty much locked timetable now days with very little wiggle room and no consideration given for specific weather risks etc.

This sucks and is pretty regrettable but I can't really see a different decision being made even in hindsight.

 

[Dan54]

Really are we going to complain at WR (World Rugby) because the biggest Typhoon to hit Earth this year is coming in and they should of not scheduled the WC for now?? I would be more impressed if all you wise sages had said earlier in year this is risky time to have it , FFS some of you fellas are determined to lose any vestige of credibility you thought you had!! I surprised you didn't kick uo a stink because WR (World Rugby) should of known their would of been an earthquake in Christchurch before 2011 , so they should never of allowed matches to be scheduled there and had to be moved!!

 

[KOB1987]

I guess the point being that we're already 3 weeks into the tournament so theoretically we're outside of the biggest threat time for typhoons. The next point would be how often is there a typhoon this strong so late in the season?

We normally do have end of year tours running right until late November, early December but that is after pretty constant rugby. How much would it have affected teams if we'd had another month before the tournament started? I'd guess that World Rugby has a pretty much locked timetable now days with very little wiggle room and no consideration given for specific weather risks etc.

This sucks and is pretty regrettable but I can't really see a different decision being made even in hindsight.

I think the pertinent point is that later would work super for SH teams (just another round of TRC), but not so great for NH teams. And the powers wouldn't cop that.

 

[KOB1987]

Really are we going to complain at WR (World Rugby) because the biggest Typhoon to hit Earth this year is coming in and they should of not scheduled the WC for now?? I would be more impressed if all you wise sages had said earlier in year this is risky time to have it , FFS some of you fellas are determined to lose any vestige of credibility you thought you had!! I surprised you didn't kick uo a stink because WR (World Rugby) should of known their would of been an earthquake in Christchurch before 2011 , so they should never of allowed matches to be scheduled there and had to be moved!!

 

[Dan54]

I repeat KOB ,I would be more impressed if you were posting this in July/August.

 

[molman]

Really are we going to complain at WR (World Rugby) because the biggest Typhoon to hit Earth this year is coming in and they should of not scheduled the WC for now?? I would be more impressed if all you wise sages had said earlier in year this is risky time to have it , FFS some of you fellas are determined to lose any vestige of credibility you thought you had!! I surprised you didn't kick uo a stink because WR (World Rugby) should of known their would of been an earthquake in Christchurch before 2011 , so they should never of allowed matches to be scheduled there and had to be moved!!

It wasn't our place to necessarily know the level of risk that was involved earlier this year, that was WR (World Rugby)'s job as the event organisers who would have likely done a thorough risk assessment, just the same as you would take into consideration the risks in Christchurch should you host an event there. Can you predict everything - no, but there seems to be some reasonable trends with regards to these typhoons and timing.

I don't think it is unreasonable in light of what has occurred to be asking some questions around the timing of the event and how reasonable the contingency plans really were. Obviously some of the questioning of Alan Gilpin is to probe the extent of what steps were taken. Some of the lines of questioning seem to indicate some scepticism around there being no possible solutions. It'd be hard to say without all the facts.

 

[Dan54]

But molman, as you say it's hard to say without all the facts, but it sure ain't stopping people on here!!

 

[molman]

But molman, as you say it's hard to say without all the facts, but it sure ain't stopping people on here!!

You're on a forum full of speculation and debate and you sound surprised at the end of the day I think a lot of us are just disappointed we wont get to see games like England vs. France.

My only consolation in all this is I don't feel like these cancellations really change anything in a standings sense... it would have been good to see a bit more of England before we (the Wallabies) likely play them.