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By Tom English
BBC Scotland
On Monday morning we awakened to a typhoon heading round the Western Pacific Ocean bound for Japans news. The agency called in and it Typhoon Hagibis our innocence and since it was believed it might damage Irelands prospects of making the World Cup quarter-finals and increase Scotlands chances, it had been nicknamed Hurricane Haggis.
Scots laughed then. Nobody had been laughing on Saturday as this thing began to growl its way in Yokohama, the place (ideally ) for Scotlands massive battle with Japan to decide that goes through and who goes out.
Before Hagibis made landfall on Saturday at Shizouka Prefecture in local time, one person was dead in Chiba, three were still missing after a landslide in Gunma, 211,600 homes were without electricity and evacuation orders were issued to millions of households.
Planes were grounded, trains stopped , roofs were torn off buildings, record rain was recorded amid flooding. In its center, winds gusting at 234kmph and have been measured at 162kmph. All day news presenters stood depicting what they believed was the full scale of this horror. You didnt need to be aware of the language to get their messages gravity.
About 6.20pm an earthquake having a magnitude of 5.7 hit offshore in Katsuura at Chiba. Where the Scotland staff are staying, Over 60 miles off the tremor was felt in Yokohama. Scotlands beginning hooker, fraser Brown, tweeted that a movie of his resort corridor moving and creaking from side to side.
On the 20th floor of this Vista hotel, as guests ate supper, the building swayed gently. Japan has such an astounding history of disasters which its individuals are caked in these minutes. Food was brought by the team like nothing had occurred. To them, this was normal and that there was nothing to be worried about. To the tourists, it was eerie.
Sunday will bring the sun back into Yokohama – but can we have a match? The word is that World Cup organisers will have a site inspection around 6am (22:00 BST) and can announce a decision between 8am and 10am. Thats not a deadline. Technicallythey can wait till six hours before kick-off – 1.45pm local (05:45 BST) – to make their telephone.
This was what Scottish Rugby thought they were likely to perform. Its understood that they only realised evening when they see it on Friday, a decision may come hours. Theyre at the things they say is a scarcity of communication and information from World Rugby livid.
Relations between both bodies could be worse. If the game doesnt take place there is going to be outcry in the SRU. This row operate and will run. On its face the SRU might be limited in their choices but one thing is for certain – in the event of a doomsday situation theyre not ready to move.
Without needing to be a hostage to fortune there had been signs late on Saturday at Yokohama that Hagibis, thankfully, was not going to wreak the terrible havoc predicted and that loss of life and damage to infrastructure wouldnt be anywhere near the realms of the horrors of Kanto and Izu typhoon of 1958, a disaster that killed 1,200 individuals and one that Hagibis was said to equal.
What does it mean to the saga of all Scotlands denouement? It is still too early to state. Nobody was when Hagibis was violent and when the rain fell, therefore no one knows what damage exists . Flooding is a significant worry.
The organisers might call off it on security grounds, they might allow it to proceed behind closed doors or, in the event the harm isnt significant, the full show might proceed in front of a potential audience. Nobody knows. Everybody is imagining until the team of inspectors do their work.
Japan and scotland continue to prepare as they must, as if the match is a certainty. Even without also the war of words between Scottish Rugby and World Rugby with Jamie Joseph throwing his barbs too and Hagibis hubbub, that was a Evaluation that captivated the sport. Now its an affair for anybody who has ever picked up a soccer ball.
The tv audience in Japan is going to be enormous, in or around, if we receive a match. The hosts will be the team with the aid of a lot of the world, past Scotland and Ireland that have a vested interest in them losing. The tournament has been electrified by japan. Their brilliantly has been the highlight up to now.
Keep in mind that Scotland need to take more points from the match than Japan – and Scotland are not in the business of winning and going into the garden of stellar teams, never mind winning by such a margin. Discounting the victory over Italy at the neutral venue of Singapore, at Townsends time they have have only managed three away wins against Tier One counties – that is what Japan realistically are currently – and just one of these, Argentina at 2018, was by the margin of victory thatll cut down it on Sunday.
They can win as long they have a bonus point. That is difficult to see, yet.
Joseph complained the other day that his boys are disrespected in areas. It is hard to know if he intended it or when he said it in the expectation that his players thought that it adding more fuel. Its not accurate, however. Theres been nothing but admiration for this Japan side.
Theyre a side that can play at pace while preserving precision, a group of ambition and work-rate and ability. Theirs is a chaotic new rugby. Fitness levels are sky high. They have not lacked for mental resilience. Japan established that rate could be just as powerful as electricity in todays game. Irelands grunt wasnt any fit for their own energy.
Led by the glorious Michael Leitch, they are an fine side, hewn in Super Rugby in their Sunwolves experiences. That it would go down as possibly their most significant single triumph in two decades, if Scotland were to triumph with that magic margin of eight factors.
Scotland routed Russia and Samoa. Sub-standard opposition, for sure, but Gregor Townsends team had. Have they found something in youth? Sunday will inform. Darcy Graham is a irrepressible personality. Fearless. Magnus Bradbury is constructing on his promise. Just what is being shown a belligerent player by jamie Ritchie. Blade Thomson is currently living up to the hype, however this is their Test now. That is the place where they swim or float.
Yes, we couch everything in the knowledge that it was Russia and Samoa, but the attitude was a thousand times greater than it had been against Ireland. With Scotland you feel that obtaining the ideal mindset is half the battle. Theyve had it lately matches and should they have it in Yokohama afterward a classic might ensue.
They believe theyre prepared have flopped and while acknowledging that theyve been down this road many times before. That is an off game and we all know like when playing the stadium using the stress of another team on what Scotland are generally. Nostradamus would have given up predicting what this team went to provide from one week to the next, although at their best they could do so.
If they get to travel to the stadium then they will travel in expect to play with a superb team, but a staff maybe burdened by expectation. The one wish is that the sport is played by having to take it off, and that their own credibility isnt further undermined by the governing body of the game. The world would like to see this one. The expectancy, as well as the stakes, are as high as the maximum skyscraper in Yokohama.
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