WORLD RUGBY HAS referred the Scottish Rugby Union to an independent disputes committee for their comments when Scotland’s World Cup clash against Japan was in threat of being cancelled.
The Scots’ meeting with the hosts, which they lost when it did go ahead, had been in doubt due to Typhoon Hagibis hitting Japan last Saturday, a day before the scheduled meeting at International Stadium Yokohama.
The SRU had been livid at the prospect of Scotland being knocked out of the World Cup without having the chance to play Japan, with the union’s chief executive, Mark Dodson, going as far as to threaten legal action against World Rugby.
The sport’s governing body expressed its disappointment at the Scottish comments before Sunday’s game, which eventually went ahead after a major fix-up operation ensured the stadium in Yokohama was playable.
Scotland were beaten 28-21 by Japan when the fixture went ahead and World Rugby has now added to the Scottish pain by referring the SRU to a disputes committee.
“We are very careful that people behave appropriately and we have referred to an independent disputes committee the comments by the Scottish Rugby Union and it would be inappropriate to comment further,” said RWC2019 tournament director, Alan Gilpin at a media briefing in Tokyo today.
That the game went ahead only hours after a typhoon had passed through Yokohama was a real achievement for World Rugby and local authorities.
“Putting any match on is complex and to put it on in these circumstances is remarkable,” said Gilpin.
“There are members of the venue staff who slept in the venue to make sure they could start assessing the impact. There were people working whose houses had been destroyed that day.”