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As a sports reporter you have to take the rough with the smooth

The flight back from Scotland vs England was certainly rough, thanks to Storm Ciara, writes Jack de Menezes

Tuesday 11 February 2020 01:08 GMT
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England’s Ellis Genge celebrates scoring a try against Scotland
England’s Ellis Genge celebrates scoring a try against Scotland

It has been a unique few months for reporting on rugby union and weather. As sport journalists, the opportunity to add an extra layer of drama in the build-up to a grand event is something we relish, be it the common strands of historic results, pre-match trash talk or an argument about a stadium roof.

But twice in the space of four months the weather has become the big story, and not for good reasons. In October last year, I was fortunate enough that the England squad took drastic action at the Rugby World Cup to avoid Typhoon Hagibis by flying 550 miles south to Miyazaki. That resulted in a hastily booked ticket to follow them and avoid the worst of the deadly cyclone.

Dozens of people were killed as Hagibis struck the Kanto region, where a number of colleagues and fellow writers remained to experience something they had never seen before.

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