Rugby World Cup typhoon? We’re from Scotland — we’ve had worse, says Reid
Officials say typhoon could bring high winds and heavy rain to southern Japan
Hamamatsu: World Rugby officials may be keeping an eye on Typhoon Hagibis as it develops south of Japan over the next few days but Scotland prop Gordon Reid appeared to not be bothered at all of being pelted by torrential rain at the weekend.
Officials said the typhoon was being tracked by the Japan Meteorological Agency and they projected that it could bring high winds and heavy rain to southern Japan on Saturday and Sunday, the final two days of pool play in the tournament.
Scotland are scheduled to face Japan in the final match of pool play at Yokohama on October 13 and depending on the result of their Pool A clash against Russia in Shizuoka on Wednesday, it could determine the final composition of the quarter-finals.
Reid, however, was not all concerned about the possibility of the typhoon striking at a time when they would need a bonus-point victory against Japan to advance to the quarter-finals.
“We’re from Scotland. Rain. Hail. It doesn’t matter. We’ve coped with a lot more,” he said in Hamamatsu on Monday.
“We’re from Ayrshire and Glasgow and Edinburgh, well they’re a bit posh in Edinburgh but ... rain, shine, snow, whatever, it doesn’t matter.” Hagibis, which Scotland coach Gregor Townsend said he initially thought was named ‘Haggis’, is the third typhoon to concern World Cup organisers.
They informed France and the United States of their “contingency options” for their Pool C match in Fukuoka last Wednesday if the game was affected by Typhoon Mitag, which ultimately passed by Japan.
Organisers also issued a warning about Tropical Storm Tapah, that threatened to upset the first weekend’s matches although it had little impact and all the games went ahead as planned.