Day 26 at the Rugby World Cup: Scotland’s fate to be decided

Day 26 at the Rugby World Cup: Scotland’s fate to be decided

Scotland are waiting to find out if their Rugby World Cup campaign will be ended by Typhoon Hagibis, with their crunch Pool A clash against Japan in Yokohama threatened with cancellation.

Wales are among the teams in action in three other fixtures scheduled for Sunday, concluding their Pool D matches by playing Uruguay.

Meanwhile, Saturday saw Ireland secure a place in the quarter-finals with a bonus-point victory over Samoa, with England v France and New Zealand v Italy having been called off due to the typhoon.

Here, the PA news agency looks ahead to Sunday and wraps up Saturday’s action.

Game over for Scotland?

Gregor Townsend's Scotland could see their match against Japan called off due to Typhoon Hagibis (Adam Davy/PA).
Gregor Townsend’s Scotland could see their match against Japan called off due to Typhoon Hagibis (Adam Davy/PA).

Gregor Townsend’s men need to win the match against the hosts to qualify for the last eight – if it is cancelled, it will be declared a scoreless draw with two points per team, and the Scots will be out.

World Rugby has said it aims to make a decision on whether the contest can go ahead as early as possible, and reports have suggested there will be an inspection of Yokohama’s International Stadium at 6am Japan time on Sunday (10pm Saturday BST), with a decision due two hours later.

The governing body must make a final call on the matter no later than six hours before the 7.45pm (11.45am BST) kick-off time.

Wales look to make it four out of four

Wales have already made it through to the quarter-finals and will replace Australia in top spot in Pool D – to set up a match against France – with victory when the group concludes with the clash against Uruguay in Kumamoto.

A win will make it the first time since 1987 that they have gone unbeaten through a World Cup pool phase.

Having registered bonus-point victories over Georgia and Fiji either side of a 29-25 victory against Australia, they face a Uruguay side who claimed the four points they have to date by beating the Fijians 30-27 in their opener.

Also on Sunday, Namibia face Canada in Pool B and the United States take on Tonga in Pool C – all four teams have already been eliminated and are looking for their first win of the tournament.

Ireland advance

Ireland are confirmed as through from Pool A following their 47-5 defeat of the Samoans in Fukuoka – they will now play either New Zealand or South Africa.

Johnny Sexton scored two of his side’s seven tries and added four conversions in a match that saw Ireland centre Bundee Aki sent off in the first half for a high tackle on UJ Seuteni.

Aki – born in New Zealand to Samoan parents – could now receive a suspension to end his tournament, and Ireland boss Joe Schmidt said after the match: “It’s a really tough situation. Bundee is upright; you can see both his hands behind the shoulder blades of the player who is just starting to come up.

“And it’s all split-second stuff. So we live in hope, and we’ll see what the judiciary decide. But once it’s a red card you sense a loss of control over what happens next, no matter what you try to present. We know it’s a very hard line. I certainly feel for Bundee; he’s pretty devastated that any further participation in the tournament is now at risk.”

Stat attack

Ireland’s Bundee Aki was sent off in the 28th minute (Adam Davy/PA).
Ireland’s Bundee Aki was sent off in the 28th minute (Adam Davy/PA).

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