“I cannot end with that match cancelled by the typhoon.”

Well, well, well. There was a buzz around the Springbok camp with the news that Japan had beaten Ireland 19-12 just before South Africa were due to kick-off against Namibia.

A powerful typhoon is bearing down on Japan’s ravaged north-eastern coast today, approaching a nuclear power plant crippled in the tsunami disaster and prompting calls for the evacuation of more than a million people.

England fly-half Jonny Wilkinson has been admitted to hospital in Japan suffering from an inflamed appendix.