The IRFU says claims it was "vehemently opposed" to any rearrangement of Scotland's game against Japan are "scurrilous" and "untrue".

An article in the Sunday Times claims the Irish union, along with New Zealand's governing body would have been against World Rugby changing the venue or time of the final Pool A game between the hosts and Scotland.

Scotland need to win the game to be in with any chance of getting to the quarter-finals. The match will go ahead following a pitch inspection in Yokohoma in the early hours of this morning.

The IRFU released a statement in response to the article, which reads in full as:

"The statement by Stephen Jones in today’s edition of The Sunday Times (October 14, 2019) referring to The Irish Rugby Football Union (IRFU) being ‘vehemently opposed’ to any rearrangement of the Scotland V Japan Rugby World Cup fixture is completely false and the inference within the article that the IRFU made representations to World Rugby on the matter is totally without foundation. The Irish Rugby Football Union calls on Stephen Jones to immediately withdraw this scurrilous and untrue allegation."

Three games were called off at the Rugby World Cup, due to the threat of Typhoo Hagibis which hit Japanese shores over the weekend bringing wind speeds of over 200 kilometres per hour. It had been described as the worst storm in the country for over 50 years.

New Zealand's game against Italy was called off earlier this week, which caused anger among the Azzurri as it had been due to be Sergio Parisse's final game for his country. England and France was also canceled - leaving both teams a two-week gap before their last-eight ties. And, in the early hours of this morning, World Rugby made the decision to call-off Namibia versus Canada due to an evacuation order in Kamaishi

New Zealand will face Ireland next Saturday morning at 11.15am Irish time in Tokyo if Japan beat Scotland.

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