(Bloomberg) -- Rugby World Cup organizers decided to go ahead with three out of four games scheduled for Sunday, including a closely watched contest between Japan and Scotland, as powerful Typhoon Hagibis ripped across Japan.

The match between Canada and Namibia was called off amid safety concerns following torrential rains that caused flooding and landslides around the venue in northern Japan. In addition to the Japan-Scotland game, matches pitting the U.S. against Tonga and Wales versus Uruguay will proceed, organizers said.

The decision to proceed with the Japan-Scotland game is significant. A cancellation would have allowed Japan to automatically progress to the quarter-finals for the first time at the expense of Scotland.

“After carefully reviewing various possibilities, the committee has decided to hold the match, provided that some services won’t be offered to spectators,” organizers said in a statement on the Rugby World Cup website.

A canceled match is considered a scoreless draw. Two games -- England against France, and New Zealand versus Italy -- were called off Saturday as the typhoon approached.

The large and violent Typhoon Hagibis slammed Japan on Saturday night. The storm swept across the central and eastern parts of the country, including Tokyo, leaving at least four people dead and hundreds of thousands without power. Japan is regularly hit with typhoons from July to October.

The Rugby World Cup wasn’t the only sporting event affected by the storm. The Formula 1 Grand Prix in Suzuka was scheduled to take place on Sunday after Saturday’s events were canceled.

--With assistance from Chikafumi Hodo.

To contact the reporter on this story: Jeff Sutherland in Tokyo at jsutherlan13@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Shamim Adam at sadam2@bloomberg.net, Virginia Van Natta, Siraj Datoo

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