Japan: World Rugby Chair expresses 'deepest sympathies' after deadly typhoon

W/S Press conference, Tokyo
SOT, Bill Beaumont, World Rugby Chairman: "On behalf of World Rugby, I'd like to express our deepest sympathies to all those who have lost [loved] ones and been affected by Typhoon Hagibis. It's certainly been an emotional, dramatic and challenging few days for everyone. From the difficult but necessary decision to cancel matches on safety grounds to getting weekend matches in the face of what the biggest and most powerful typhoon of the decade to hit these shores has taken a monumental effort by many dedicated people. We owe a huge debt of gratitude to our friends in the Japan 2019 Organising Committee, in the host cities, match venues and the brilliant staff of volunteers working in the most difficult circumstances to make Sunday's matches happen, for our teams and our remarkable fans who have shown such great understanding."
W/S Press conference *CUTAWAY*
SOT, Bill Beaumont, World Rugby Chairman: "We are deeply saddened to our friend in Kamaishi, and our thoughts are with them. We know that they were devastated not to be able to host their match, but their resilience and strength is an inspiration to us all. And we also applaud the spirit, in which the Canadian-Namibian teams assisted with the clean-up in Kamaishi just hours after learning that their match had been cancelled. That reflects the best of our game. In many ways, Japan's victory over Scotland was a victory for the people of Japan and rugby. It reflected the wonderful human warmth and spirit of family that has characterised this very special Rugby World Cup. The Japanese people are the heartbeat of the tournament and have welcomed the teams and fans with open arms."
W/S Press conference *CUTAWAY*
SOT, Alan Gilpin, World Rugby COO: "I think it's really important to say that whilst we had appropriate discussions with the number of unions involved in that decision-making process and impacted by the changes that might have occurred, no decisions were based on pressure from any particular unions. And it's also important to clarify that we did not have those discussions with Ireland."
W/S Press conference *CUTAWAY*
SOT, Brett Gosper, World Rugby CEO: "Some of the comments in and around were unhelpful and disappointing. But without dwelling on that, we were not influenced, as Alan's clearly articulated here, by conversations or comments, the conversations we had. But we made a call based on the volume of what was in front of us. And we are talking about typhoons. We were ready for typhoons. There is nothing exceptional about typhoons in this country. But this was an exceptional typhoon that we haven't had the likes of since the fifties."
W/S Press conference
SCRIPT
World Rugby Chairperson Bill Beaumont hailed the Japanese people's "strength and resilience" amid the worst typhoon in a decade as "an inspiration to us all," during a press conference called to address the chaos left in the storm's wake in Tokyo on Tuesday.
"On behalf of World Rugby I'd like to express our deepest sympathies to those who have lost ones and been affected by Typhoon Hagibis," said the former England captain. "It's certainly been an emotional, dramatic and challenging few days for everyone."
Beaumont went on to praise Namibian and Canadian players for their efforts in the clean-up effort just hours after they had learned their pool game had been cancelled due to the adverse conditions. "We also applaud the spirit, in which the Canadian-Namibian teams assisted with the clean-up in Kamaishi just hours after learning that their match had been cancelled. That reflects the best of our game," said Beaumont.
World Rugby CEO Brett Gosper described some of the comments from national unions around typhoon-related game cancellations and threats thereof as "unhelpful and "disappointing."
At least 69 people were killed by the typhoon, with some 14,000 homes left without running water and 376,000 without power, according to reports.
Mandatory credit: Rugby World Cup; No use permitted after: 03/11/2019