The Australia team’s departure for the Rugby World Cup has been delayed after meteorologists warned a typhoon featuring 130mph winds is due to hit the Japanese mainland.

The Wallabies were supposed to fly to Tokyo from Sydney after their victory against Samoa on Saturday before heading to Odawara for a week’s camp before their opening game, against Fiji on 21 September in Sapporo. But the imminent arrival of Typhoon Faxai has forced Michael Cheika’s side to delay those plans, with the Japanese Meteorological Society warning the storm could affect several more sides due to travel on Sunday, including England.

Typhoon #Faxai headed for a landfall in Japan soon. JMA forecast takes the center more or less near Tokyo. Exact track will determine impacts. JMA forecasts: https://t.co/gB2XsjgIyg pic.twitter.com/GPvVAf4Drm — Alex Lamers (@AlexJLamers) September 8, 2019

Australia will now travel on Monday, although the Japanese Meteorological Society has warned the typhoon could dump as much as 300 millimetres of rain in the next 24 hours and trains and flights in the Tokyo region have already been cancelled in anticipation. “Winds and rains could pick up suddenly, causing severe storms at sea, and there is a risk of record-breaking winds in the capital and other regions,” it said on its website.

Tournament organisers have been bracing themselves for weather disruption, as Japan averages around 30 typhoons and 1,500 earthquakes a year, but Faxai’s potential arrival so close to the start of the tournament underlines the threat posed. Organisers have planned for the possibility of having to relocate teams from their bases or even to move matches to different venues but, if a pool match is cancelled, tournament rules state that both teams will be awarded two points – in effect rendering the result a 0-0 draw.