OT - Rugby Europe Championship Matches (some worth watching)

[MarleyWasp]

Moral of the story is that privacy settings exist for a reason...

[MarleyWasp]

Looks like Romania will face questions now. One of their players, Jason Tomane, an Australian of Samoan origin made his Romanian debut in November 2021, but his wife posted a picture of Szeged Synagogue in Hungary saying that they lived in Szeged for three months in 2019, which would make him ineligible unless he can prove extenuating circumstances.

Romanian statement:

FRR followed all the steps in the eligibility process of Jason Tomane

Following erroneous recent international media reports, the Romanian Rugby Union can clarify that all the necessary steps were correctly followed in relation to the eligibility of Jason Tomane.

According to Romanian legislation, in order to obtain a residence visa valid for our country, the applicant must apply from outside the country. As with all matters of eligibility, the case was considered by the World Rugby Regulations Committee, which noted and supported exceptional circumstances that resulted in the player being out of the country for longer than the permitted time, while circumstances entirely beyond the player's control extended the application process for the player's visa.

The Union is fully supportive of the procedures put in place by World Rugby to protect the integrity of the international game and it is unfortunate that media from Spain ran the story without checking the facts in advance.

In fairness, he switched clubs in mid-2019 which would necessitate the need for a new visa. His wife was studying in Szeged and it's a 22km drive to the Romanian border. I can see why it was deemed ok.