After the anticipated impact of Typhoon Hagibis dominated the World Cup headlines, match action resumes on Friday when Australia play Georgia in Fukuroi.

England's showdown against France in Yokohama on Saturday has been cancelled, along with New Zealand's clash with Italy in Toyota City, while Scotland face a wait to see if their key Pool A clash against the hosts will go ahead.

Here, the PA news agency wraps up Thursday's key events in Japan and takes a look ahead to Friday's only fixture.

Safety first

Typhoon Hagibis has been described by the Japanese Meteorological Agency as "violent", with the capacity to cause widespread destruction around the Tokyo region.

The extreme weather front is the size of Japan and shows no sign of deviating in its path or decreasing in magnitude, on course to hit the mainland in the early hours of Saturday.

Given the circumstances – and having already seen the impact of Typhoon Faxai ahead of the start of the tournament – the governing body maintain safety had to be the priority given the very real danger posed by the Category 5 super typhoon.

"As you can imagine the decision has not been taken lightly," World Cup tournament director Alan Gilpin said.

New look Wallabies, again

Georgia coach Milton Haig knows they will be up against the odds in what is set to be his final match after eight years in charge.

The New Zealander, though, does not want to let sentiment get in the way as his squad aim to sign off with a World Cup upset.

"It's not about whether it's my last match or for even some of the players it's going to be their last match probably for the Georgian team," he said.

"That's a huge motivator for us to do whatever we can to maximise our effort and try to win this match against Australia."

Jones happy to go with the flow

Italy's Sergio Parisse bemoaned the "ridiculous" decision to cancel their match against New Zealand in Toyota.

Meanwhile, thousands of fans have seen their own best laid plans scuppered by the forces of Mother Nature.

England head coach Eddie Jones, however, is not about to let the Super Typhoon Hagibis saga dampen spirits in the camp.

Having seen the squad's arrival at Narita Airport disputed by the fall out from Typhoon Faxai, Jones will take things how they come.

"I think the Japanese have a saying: 'shogun-hi' – we can't control it," the former Brave Blossoms coach said as he prepared to take England off to Miyazaki for some warm weather training – and possibly the odd beer to help recharge the batteries.