Dublin: The Scottish Rugby Union has been found guilty of misconduct for inappropriate and ill-judged comments before their Rugby World Cup match with Japan and the arrival of Typhoon Hagibis.
An independent disputes committee chaired by English lawyer Christopher Quinlan gave a formal reprimand to the SRU on Thursday, told the union to write a meaningful apology to World Rugby and tournament organisers, and fined the union 70,000 pounds.
The winner of the Japan-Scotland pool game on October 13 in Yokohama was guaranteed the last quarter-final berth, but the match was at risk of being cancelled, like three others in the area, because the typhoon was the strongest in 60 years to approach Japan.
SRU chief executive Mark Dodson threatened legal action if the match was scrapped rather than postponed, criticised tournament organisers and World Rugby for not having contingency plans and for rigidly sticking to the regulation that a game be cancelled if it can’t be played on the scheduled day.
The typhoon killed more than 80 people but the match went ahead on schedule and was widely considered to be the best of the tournament, as Japan beat Scotland 28-21 to reach the quarter-finals for the first time.
