OT - Rugby Europe Championship Matches (some worth watching)

[Steve from Cov]

Thanks for asking Ross. I was on holiday for a while at the beginning of the month and returned feeling ill. I presumed it was Covid but LFTs were all negative. Ended up being rushed into A&E with a suspected abscess in my inner ear/brain area. Fortunately it turned out to be just a nasty ear infection, but the antibiotics and painkillers knocked me out for over a week and made me endlessly text friends about monorails (an improvement on the last time I was given these painkillers!). Thankfully recovered now.

I've had a look through Spain's squads for each match and regardless of who it is, if they do end up forefiting every match that player is involved in it'll be Romania qualifying automatically and Portugal in the playoffs.

Yes - glad to hear you are ok and mended.

[MarleyWasp]

Thanks Steve.

So potentially a large number of born and bred Spanish rugby players who have a long held ambition to represent their country at the World Cup are going to be denied that opportunity for a second time due to the incompetency of their administrators.

It appears that way.

The aspect of this that I am really struggling to comprehend is that having been caught out last time, albeit by what World Rugby conceded was a dubious quirk in the eligibility laws, you'd have thought that they would check, double check and triple check every single non-Spanish born players, yet a quick scan of the player's Facebook page makes it pretty clear he spent a lot of 2019 and 2020 in South Africa. Apparently there were questions raised over the eligibility of another South African born player for exactly this in 2020 too.

[MarleyWasp]

I'm now hearing reports that two Romanian internationals, on born in Australia and the other born in New Zealand may also have fallen foul of the 60 days max out of the country criteria. No official investigation yet.

The investigation into the Spanish player was triggered by a protest from the Romanians, who apparently had been trying to persuade Portugal to protest. Portugal refused, but shared the Romanian's concerns whilst having suspicions about the Romanian antipodeans.

[Neils]

It really is too murky and they really need to get hold of this type of situation as an organisation. It devalues what we watch.

[MarleyWasp]

Agreed. I've never been keen on the residency law and it does seem to be a big problem to Police.

By my reckoning if the matches in which the 3 players took part are overturned, Portugal would qualify automatically and the Netherlands would reach the playoffs with their record showing five wins - 4 matches overturned and the match that Russia forfeited. In reality the Netherlands lost every match they played.

[DGP Wasp]

...the penalty would be the results of the matches he took part in being overturned and declared 28-0 wins for the opposition with a try bonus point awarded.

The table finished

Georgia - 44
Spain - 29
Romania - 28
Portugal - 26
Russia - 10
Netherlands - 4

So... Based on the earlier suggestion that the "Spanish" player only played in their 2 BP wins against the Netherlands, Spain drop to 19 and NL 14.  Depending on the outcome with Romania and which games were impacted, then Romania could drop to below NL, enough for NL to nick the European playoff spot behind Portugal (with Russia disqualified), having accrued a potential 24 points as follows:

Cancelled match vs Russia - 4 points
2 defaulted matches vs Spain - 10 points
2 defaulted matches vs Romania - 10 points
And an actual playing record of played 9, lost 9, points for 98, points against 464.

[MarleyWasp]

...the penalty would be the results of the matches he took part in being overturned and declared 28-0 wins for the opposition with a try bonus point awarded.

The table finished

Georgia - 44
Spain - 29
Romania - 28
Portugal - 26
Russia - 10
Netherlands - 4

So... Based on the earlier suggestion that the "Spanish" player only played in their 2 BP wins against the Netherlands, Spain drop to 19 and NL 14.  Depending on the outcome with Romania and which games were impacted, then Romania could drop to below NL, enough for NL to nick the European playoff spot behind Portugal (with Russia disqualified), having accrued a potential 24 points as follows:

Cancelled match vs Russia - 4 points
2 defaulted matches vs Spain - 10 points
2 defaulted matches vs Romania - 10 points
And an actual playing record of played 9, lost 9, points for 98, points against 464.

That's pretty much the state of play.

By my calculations:

All 3 players ineligible:
Georgia - 45
Portugal - 31
Netherlands - 24
Spain - 19
Russia - 15
Romania - 9

If one of the two Romanians are found to be ineligible, then it depends on which one. One didn't play the final match against the Netherlands, which would see Spain make the playoffs instead.

[DGP Wasp]

They may as well just stick the names in a hat!

[MarleyWasp]

I think Spain and Romania may just well be doing that and hoping for the best!

[MarleyWasp]

Hearing Spain's Disqualification should be confirmed this week, although I expect they may well appeal. It appears the player and his club knew he wasn't eligible, but falsified documents which the Union didn't double check and sent to World Rugby. The player is likely to get a ban and the club will be relegated as a result.

[MarleyWasp]

Turns out no final decision has been made yet; the World Rugby panel meet on Thursday. That said, it appears that Spain are accepting that the player isn't eligible and whilst they were essentially the victims of a con, they failed to carry out due diligence and are expected a 10 point deducting which will demote them to fourth.

Crucially the likely penalty is a 5 point deduction per match with no additional points to the opposition. This means that the Netherlands won't gain additional points. That has an impact if one or both of Romania's antipodeans are also ineligible (as of yet, no official investigation has been launched) as Romania would drop 25-30 points, putting Spain into the Playoffs.

[MarleyWasp]

The Spanish Union have confirmed they are being deducted 10 points and fined 25,000 Euros. They claim the player presented a fake passport. Suspect they will appeal but given they could have prevented this by spending 10 minutes checking the player's Facebook page, I can't see how they will be successful, even if the player did con his way into the national team.

[MarleyWasp]

Full decision is here: https://resources.world.rugby/worldrugby/document/2022/05/05/64dc014d-aef9-4562-8932-6c27b2fde8ea/220505-Committee-Decision-Reg-8-breach-FER-GVDB-FINAL.pdf

In summary it was actually the third time Spain had been caught capping players they shouldn't have in four years, however the last player was able to prove extenuating circumstances as to why he spent longer abroad. The Spanish Union were given clear instructions of what they needed to do to avoid further punishment, but totally ignored them.

They're appealing the guilty verdict and the sanction, but I really don't see how they can win either appeal.

[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.

[Neils]

Ah the joys of social media.