There's a storm brewing in Japan and Ireland, although not directly, are set to feel its effects. Super Typhoon Hagibis is set to make landfall in Japan this weekend and, as a result, England's meeting with France and New Zealand's clash with Italy have both been cancelled. That means that New Zealand will finish top of Pool B with South Africa second. On an extraordinary morning in the history of the Rugby World Cup the organisers also announced that Scotland's showdown with Japan (scheduled for 11.45am Irish time on Sunday) is also in doubt but a decision will not be made until a minimum of six hours before kick-off. Were that game to be cancelled Ireland would finish second to Japan on head-to-head record and therefore face the All Blacks in the quarter-finals. However, Scotland are not going to let their chances go without a fight and they say that they believe plans must be in place to get the game played. You can read all of the details and fallout here and we will have more from a hastily-called Scottish press conference with Gregor Townsend which is currently ongoing.
Although overtaken somewhat by 'Super Typhoon Watch', the other main news this morning is Joe Schmidt's Ireland team announcement for Saturday's meeting with Samoa (not in danger of any typhoon because it's on the other side of the country in Fukuoka) which will see Conor Murray and Johnny Sexton equal the Irish halfback partnership record previously held by Ronan O'Gara and Peter Stringer. The pair will lineout together for the 55th time on Saturday and Gerry Thornley has all of the details from the team announcement which sees Schmidt make 11 changes. For Samoa, Tim Nanai-Williams has shaken off a concussive blow to be named in the starting team. Don't forget you can follow all of the build-up to Japan with columns, analysis, news, interviews, stats, fixtures and much more on our dedicated 2019 Rugby World Cup site.
Moving on to soccer and, while Matt Doherty may justifiably be frustrated that his international career has yielded only seven caps so far, he doesn't show it much and is prepared to wait his turn – a turn which may well come against Georgia on Saturday. "Sometimes it's the silences that say most in player interviews . . . Then again, this is Matt Doherty, so scratch that," writes Emmet Malone. This evening the Ireland under-21s face their toughest test yet under Stephen Kenny when they meet Italy in Tallaght Stadium in their Euro 2021 qualifier. "It won't be like the old days when Ireland teams sat back, played 4-5-1 and hit the ball long. We'll play the same way as always by trying to control the game," said defender Conor Masterson yesterday.
Finally, in our women in sport pages, Joanne O'Riordan is writing about the farcical Doha World Athletics Championships, Nicole Owens speaks to Paul Keane and Mary Hannigan chronicles a Brazilian women's team coming back from a 57-0 defeat.
