Spain calling for match v Belgium to be replayed.

Lar · Post by **Lar** » March 21st, 2018, 3:12 pm

https://www.irishtimes.com/sport/rugby/ ... -1.3434802

I think this has been alluded to elsewhere. Does seem strange that a Romanian referee was chosen for this match when Romania stood to benefit hugely from a Spanish loss. Although I suppose it is no different from Jerome Garces being chosen to referee a game between England and Ireland where if Ireland lose France would automatically be Six Nations champions. Might depend on when the nomination of referee was made. If it was made ages before the permutations were known then it doesn't seem so odd (the 6N match referees are all decided pre-tournament I think).

Is there a precedent for a match to be replayed in such circumstances? I can't recall one amongst tier 1 nations or at first class professional club rugby level in Europe. World Rugby may have made a rod for their backs with the last minute change to Owens for our game last week-end though.

Relevance to us: If Spain are allowed replay their game and win then I believe they play us in Japan instead of Romania.

simonokeeffe · Post by **simonokeeffe** » March 26th, 2018, 10:07 pm

Turns out a Tongan playing for Romania played for Tonga 7s so was ineligible

We might get a bye at this rate

neill_m · Post by **neill_m** » March 27th, 2018, 9:25 am

Some doubt over a Belgian player as well now. Claimed to be eligible on the basis of a Belgian granny, being investigated. Both Belgium and Romania could be kicked out at this rate. Russia could yet be in playoff v Portugal to play Samoa etc.

Announcement re what happens with the Belgium Spain game on Thursday apparently.

Dave Cahill · Post by **Dave Cahill** » March 27th, 2018, 9:58 am

Remember how the official assessment of the Ireland RWC2023 bid criticised the IRFU for not engaging more with Rugby Europe and its competitions?

Lolz

cormac · Post by **cormac** » March 27th, 2018, 1:55 pm

Did Wales and Scotland ever receive a punishment for fielding ineligible players?

Dave Cahill · Post by **Dave Cahill** » March 27th, 2018, 3:11 pm

cormac wrote:Did Wales and Scotland ever receive a punishment for fielding ineligible players?

Not really. The only nation who actually lost out were England who were denied a Grand Slam by a Welsh team containing Howarth and Sinkinson - but they weren't interested in pushing things so the two countries were warned as to their future behaviour and had to pay the costs of the IRB investigation.

The IRB were unable, under their own regulations, to punish any individuals involved, either players or officials, particularly one official who was said to have masterminded the whole farrago - so Tyrone Howe went to Australia instead of Denis Hickie and Joey Carbery is the bestest ever.

neiliog93 · Post by **neiliog93** » March 27th, 2018, 4:26 pm

If both Belgium and Romania get the boot, Spain and Germany qualify automatically for the world cup. Portugal skip the first round of the play-off and go directly to face Samoa.

Germany's first team have essentially gone on strike due to the withdrawal of German rugby's main sponsor and a dispute over payments (they lost 69-14 to Belgium and 84-10 to Spain). If that doesn't get resolved and they end up in the world cup it could be very, very ugly!

Lar · Post by **Lar** » March 27th, 2018, 4:38 pm

neiliog93 wrote:If both Belgium and Romania get the boot, Spain and Germany qualify automatically for the world cup. Portugal skip the first round of the play-off and go directly to face Samoa.

Germany's first team have essentially gone on strike due to the withdrawal of German rugby's main sponsor and a dispute over payments (they lost 69-14 to Belgium and 84-10 to Spain). If that doesn't get resolved and they end up in the world cup it could be very, very ugly!

Surely that cannot happen. If Romania get the boot I can see Spain being advanced and qualifying for the RWC. But if Belgium get booted out they qualified for nothing so no one qualifies in their stead. The advancement of Spain to second will advance the fourth placed team (Russia I think) to third and they will play off v Portugal for the privilege of playing Samoa for a place at the RWC.

neill_m · Post by **neill_m** » March 27th, 2018, 5:07 pm

So there is now a claim that Spain may have fielded an ineligible player. Played for France 20s, but unknown if it was a “capturing” game.

LeRouxIsPHat · Post by **LeRouxIsPHat** » March 27th, 2018, 8:31 pm

I was worried about this when it first came out but all these accusations are hilarious

The teams involved should be looking to sign some Dublin alickadoo who's well versed in reporting other teams using ringers

neiliog93 · Post by **neiliog93** » March 27th, 2018, 9:05 pm

Lar wrote:
neiliog93 wrote:If both Belgium and Romania get the boot, Spain and Germany qualify automatically for the world cup. Portugal skip the first round of the play-off and go directly to face Samoa.

Germany's first team have essentially gone on strike due to the withdrawal of German rugby's main sponsor and a dispute over payments (they lost 69-14 to Belgium and 84-10 to Spain). If that doesn't get resolved and they end up in the world cup it could be very, very ugly!
Surely that cannot happen. If Romania get the boot I can see Spain being advanced and qualifying for the RWC. But if Belgium get booted out they qualified for nothing so no one qualifies in their stead. The advancement of Spain to second will advance the fourth placed team (Russia I think) to third and they will play off v Portugal for the privilege of playing Samoa for a place at the RWC.

Yes, true. In any case, the Spanish reaction was obviously a disgrace and unacceptable but the ref. was definitely biased. There's a 16-minute video on Youtube going through it. It was a farce.

blockhead · Post by **blockhead** » March 27th, 2018, 9:57 pm

The boss of Rugby Europe is Romanian, so I hear.
No way Spain will be let back in but Romania could be kicked out.

neill_m · Post by **neill_m** » March 29th, 2018, 11:35 am

The Rugby Europe meeting to discuss the Belgium Spain game etc has been put back till next week to gather more information.

Ruckedtobits · Post by **Ruckedtobits** » March 29th, 2018, 6:10 pm

neill_m wrote:The Rugby Europe meeting to discuss the Belgium Spain game etc has been put back till next week to gather more information.

World Rugby should step in now and order a replay and suspension of Rugby Europe, which, chaired by a Romanian, is utterly conflicted in sorting this out.

neill_m · Post by **neill_m** » April 5th, 2018, 4:36 pm

Ben Coles‏ @bencoles_

World Rugby wanted Belgium-Spain to be replayed. Player eligibility issues however have meant an independent review has been set up to go through all the potential cases. Separate judicial panel handling Spain's conduct at the final whistle.

neill_m · Post by **neill_m** » April 17th, 2018, 7:40 pm

5 Spanish players banned by Rugby Europe for their actions after the final whistle v Belgium.

Bans range from 14-43 weeks. Source Murray Kinsella.

blockhead · Post by **blockhead** » April 18th, 2018, 6:56 am

neill_m wrote:5 Spanish players banned by Rugby Europe for their actions after the final whistle v Belgium.

Bans range from 14-43 weeks. Source Murray Kinsella.

Five Spain players have been suspended by Rugby Europe after they angrily confronted referee Vlad Iordachescu following their controversial Rugby World Cup qualifier defeat against Belgium.

Scrum-half Sébastien Rouet has received the largest ban, for physical abuse of a match official and verbal abuse, set at 43 weeks. Another scrum-half, Guillaume Rouet, has received a 36-week ban also for physical abuse of a match official and verbal abuse.

The remaining three players - flankers Pierre Barthere and Lucas Guillaume along with fly-half Mathieu Belie - have all been suspended for 14 weeks for threatening actions/words towards a match official.

The suspensions were handed out by an independent committee chaired by Prof Lorne Crerar (Scotland), assisted by Jean-Claude Legendre (France) and Aliaksandr Danilevich (Belarus).

Spain were one win away from qualifying as 'Europe 1' for next year's Rugby World Cup, ahead of Romania, going into their final game of the Rugby Europe competition against Belgium.

Protesting The fixture was controversially officiated by Iordachescu, a Romanian, with Spain's players protesting against the number of penalties given against them after losing 18-10 to the Belgians.

On April 5, World Rugby ruled out a replay of the fixture, instead ordering an emergency review into a series of allegations that teams had selected ineligible players throughout the Rugby Europe competition, which doubles as the European qualification process for the Rugby World Cup. The outcome of that review is still to be confirmed.

Spain are due to face Portugal for the right to face Samoa over a two-legged play-off starting on June 9 to qualify as the fifth side in Pool A at next year's World Cup, alongside Ireland, Scotland, hosts Japan and also Romania.

Should Spain reach that play-off against Samoa, all five of the suspended players would be unavailable

Scott · Post by **Scott** » May 4th, 2018, 3:27 pm

http://www.americasrugbynews.com/2018/0 ... qualified/

Bit of a farce all round

paddyor · Post by **paddyor** » May 9th, 2018, 2:58 pm

So if that article is right we'll have Russia in our group in the RWC.

Apparently the reason for the Romanians fielding the Tongan was google translate type error. The Tongans sent a letter saying he wasn't "captured", nothing about elligibility, the Romanians misunderstood.

suisse · Post by **suisse** » May 9th, 2018, 3:54 pm

The RWC comes across as a bag of shite in that article due to recent events. The article bypasses Asia. I'm going to see Korea v HK on Saturday. They're playing in some obscure Asian Tri-Nations RWC qualifier. Malaysia are the third Musketeer. From what I gather, the winner plays the Cook Islands to advance as some reprechage and after that, who the f%~k knows.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/2018_As ... ampionship

It isn't looking good for Malaysia

Babbling 'brook

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