England’s World Cup hopefuls touched down in Japan on schedule after escaping the worst of the typhoon that had battered Tokyo overnight.
Ferocious winds of 105mph, heavy rain and large waves forced the cancellation of scores of flights and had prompted Australia to delay their arrival, but by the time Eddie Jones’ men landed the stormy weather had passed.
The 31-man squad was delayed disembarking from their British Airways plane by an hour due to a lack of transport resulting from the disruption caused by Typhoon Faxai, but were soon through customs.
The full World Cup squad were present as England head into Tokyo for one night before departing for a pre-tournament training camp in Miyazaki.
DESTINATION JAPAN 日本 The boys are on their way to Tokyo…#CarryThemHome pic.twitter.com/2gX2tXkAhk — England Rugby (@EnglandRugby) September 8, 2019
“We are excited to arrive in Japan, it is a great honour and privilege to represent England and we are looking forward to the tournament,” said Jones upon arrival at Narita International Airport.
“This is a unique World Cup. It’s the first time in a tier-two nation so our ability to adapt quickly will be imperative.
“Every one of the 20 teams goes into the World Cup with the target of being at their best. We think we have prepared well so we have put ourselves in a good position.”
England have built encouraging momentum heading into Japan 2019 after routing Ireland in record fashion, toppling Wales at Twickenham and thrashing Italy in Newcastle.
The only stain on the summer’s four Tests was a narrow defeat to Wales in Cardiff.
“We used our warm-up games effectively. We were able to experiment with selection and tactics and have developed a solid platform game,” Jones said.
“Our ability to adapt to different conditions, different teams and different referees has improved.”
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