Thousands of England fans have been left disappointed after the side’s final Rugby World Cup pool match was cancelled because of Typhoon Hagibis.
A near capacity crowd of 70,000 was expected at Saturday’s game against France, which was due to be played in Yokohama, about 20 miles south of Tokyo, but plans have changed as the storm is expected to make landfall in the area on Saturday.
Here are some of their stories…
Honeymoon plans disrupted
Karl Green and his wife Shannan had hoped to begin their honeymoon at the fixture in Yokohama, about 20 miles south of the capital.
The couple were in Heathrow waiting for their flight to Tokyo when they got the news that this would not be possible.
“We got married in May and planned our delayed honeymoon over a year ago so we could watch England in the World Cup,” said Karl, from Essex.
“We’ve spent £2,000 for four days in Japan and are extremely upset as it seems there hasn’t been any contingency plan, although we appreciate you couldn’t have predicted the weather and safety of fans is paramount.
“We are absolutely devastated.”
The 27-year-olds will fly on to New Zealand on Tuesday, but will not get the chance to see any live World Cup rugby before then.
Rebecca in Epsom: I’m terrified. I’m supposed to be flying tomorrow morning from Heathrow and land in Tokyo at 7am on Saturday, which means flying into the eye of the storm.
“The flight is in question, never mind the game, but there must be a contingency plan for the game. The flight is all set to go and I imagine they won’t do anything about the flight until I’m sat in the seat.”
Pete at Manchester Airport: “I have been planning for over 12 months and I have been looking forward to it.
“We have been watching the hurricane approach like a slow-motion car crash for the last two or three days. We were going to England v France and managed to get tickets for the Scotland game as well, and that was our contingency, so if that falls through as well, we will be spending a lot of
time in the hotel bar drowning our sorrows.”
Ollie Bunting has been in Japan for a week with two friends and had planned to watch the France match this weekend after seeing England v Argentina.
“We’re currently staying in Hakone and were originally meant to be here until Saturday morning before travelling to Yokohama for the match,” he said.
“In light of the weather this has had to change and we are now leaving tomorrow afternoon. Our flight out is meant to be at 2am on Sunday but it looks like this could be in serious jeopardy now.
