RWC issues misconduct charges against Scottish Rugby Union

Rugby World Cup has confirmed that it has issued misconduct charges against the Scottish Rugby Union (SRU) in relation to recent comments made about Typhoon Hagibis and its potential impact on the Rugby World Cup 2019 Pool A match between Japan versus Scotland.

SRU chief executive Mark Dodson launched an attack on World Rugby before their last Pool A match when Tyhoon Hagibis threatened to see the match cancelled following the cancellation of both the All Blacks and England pool matches.

Dodson criticised World Rugby's "rigidity" and hinted at legal action.

"My view is that we're not going to let Scotland be the collateral damage for a decision that was taken in haste," Dodson told the BBC.

"I think there's alternative [venues] around Japan.

"The point to me, we are talking about now is not whether the game will take place on Sunday, that will be a purely meteorological issue.

"The issue will be if it can't take place then we're really, really pressing the point that we need to have to get this game delayed 24 hours later."

Dodson pushed for a postponement and claimed more effort would have been put in to ensuring the game went ahead if it involved New Zealand.

He said Scotland rugby executives had been talking with World Rugby bosses for "three or four days" but the game's governing body had stuck to its line that the match was either going to be played or cancelled.  

"The first is and most important is that we look after the safety of the general public," Dodson said. "The second thing is for World Rugby to just simply state that the game has to be cancelled goes against the whole sporting integrity of the tournament.

"We have been preparing for this tournament now for four years, the guys have had over 100 days in camp, we've played games already and the fourth game in this particular case is pivotal.

"We've had consistent dialogue since the last three or four days around this with senior people at World Rugby, but World Rugby seem to be determined to stick to its plan that the match is either played on Sunday or indeed it is cancelled, and to have it cancelled and have our ability to progress from this group put at peril, we believe is absolutely unacceptable."

The game went ahead and Scotland lost 28-21 to exit at the group stage.

At a press conference in Tokyo on Tuesday tournament director Alan Gilpin confirmed that the matter was now being handled by its disciplinary committee, adding "under tournament rules we're careful that people behave appropriately".

World Cup rules state that "where a pool match cannot be commenced on the day in which it is scheduled, it shall not be postponed to the following day and shall be considered as cancelled. In such situations, the result shall be allocated two points each and no score registered".