It is being reported that England's World Cup group decider against France in Yokohama on Saturday has been cancelled due to the approach of Super Typhoon Hagibis.

The 170mph storm was around 900 miles south of Tokyo on Wednesday, and is expected to make landfall in southern Japan by Saturday.

Various outlets have reported that the game has been called off, with official confirmation coming on Thursday.

World Rugby explored the option of staging the game in Oita, where Eddie Jones' men are due to face the Wallabies, but the logistics proved impossible.

Instead, the match is to be abandoned without a ball being kicked for the first time in 32 years of World Cup history.

With all games cancelled due to weather problems registered as scoreless draws it means England will progress as Pool C winners into the quarter-finals, where they almost certainly will face Australia.

Ireland's Pool A game against Samoa on Saturday and Wales' Pool D clash with Uruguay on Sunday are on the other side of Japan - in Fukuoka and Kumamoto, respectively - so most likely out of the storm's main path.

Hagibis has escalated from a tropical storm into a Category 5 super typhoon, with winds reaching 180mph in one of the most dramatic intensifications of any tropical cyclone since records began.

It is many times the dimensions of Typhoon Faxai, which brought Tokyo to a standstill for the day of England's arrival for the World Cup, delaying their exit from Narita Airport by six hours, killing three people and leaving a million homes without power.

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