Scotland Rugby Union (SRU) boss Mark Dodson has joined Italy captain Sergio Parisse in taking a swipe at the All Blacks, as their must-win World Cup match against Japan remains in doubt.
Parisse lashed out at World Rugby after its decision to cancel Saturday's match against the All Blacks due to Typhoon Hagibis, which ended Italy's slim chances of reaching the quarter-finals.
"If New Zealand needed four or five points against us, it would not have been cancelled," he said on Friday.
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Scotland are in the same boat as Italy. If their match against Japan in Yokohama is cancelled, they'll be denied a place in the quarter-finals. Dodson wants the game pushed back 24 hours, but that goes against the tournament rules - which the SRU agreed on prior to the tournament.
Dodson echoed Parisse, saying if it was New Zealand facing elimination, World Rugby would be lenient.
The All Blacks were reportedly offered the chance to play Italy on Monday but refused, but World Rugby denied this.
"If you are an economic powerhouse of the game, I think you come with more clout," Dodson stated.
"I think most people feel that if it was one of the economic powerhouses of the game like, as you say, New Zealand, perhaps more thought would have been given to a flexible approach."
Dodson says he's received legal advice which that tournament organisers do have the right under 'force majeure' measures to reschedule games, despite World Cup rules clearly stating pool matches may only go ahead on their original date.
The 1400km-wide Hagibis - which has been billed as Japan's biggest storm for more than 50 years - is due to strike the Tokyo-Yokohama region on Saturday.
"As it stands World Rugby are still maintaining the position that if the game can't take place on Sunday, there will be a cancellation," Dodson said.
"We engaged with World Rugby as soon as we knew this would be a possibility on Wednesday night.
"We took legal advice that challenged the view, and then we got a QC from a leading sports practice in London, Nick DeMarco, and he backed the fact there is flexibility in the schedule.
"The last thing we want to do is get tied up in legal matters. There is now a legal opinion that supports our view there is flexibility on the scheduling.
"We don't want to criticise World Rugby, they're running a first-class tournament, and I'm convinced they'll do everything they can to get this game played on Sunday, and the weather at the moment looks like it's slightly improving.
"But there's something that just doesn't feel right about not fulfilling the final game and Scotland, or anyone else in fact, exiting the competition."
"I really feel sorry for our Italian friends who are now finding themselves on the way home because they didn't have time to recalibrate and decide what they had to do next.
"What we're asking for is a common-sense approach that allows this game to be played in perfect safety 24 hours after the storm clears."
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