It started out as investigation of the Romanian referee, Vlad Iordachescu’s handling of the now infamous European qualifying match between Belgium and Spain, played in Brussels on 18th March.
Spain, who only lost one qualifier over the past year was down to play Belgium who had won only one match over the same period.
If Spain won, they were through to the Rugby World Cup but is they lost, then Romania would leap-frog into the Cup finals. With the Romanian referee, Belgium won, 18-10, kicking six penalty goals.
Before the match, the Spanish Rugby Federation (FER) had asked for a change of referees but Rugby Europe, chaired by a Romanian, Octavian Morariu, refused the request. When the game ended, the Spanish players chased the referee off the field. They would have man-handled him but was protected by Belgian players and officials.
There is sure to be an enquiry into this and at least six Spaniards could be cited.
The FER immediately contacted Rugby Europe after the game and asked for an investigation regarding the referee’s performance. Rugby Europe agreed and met on 23rd March and issued the following statement:-
“Rugby Europe referees’ selection committee met today in Poznan (Poland) to analyse the performance of the referees on the Belgium / Spain game, last game of the Rugby Europe Championship 2018 and Rugby World Cup 2019 qualifier.
“Committee’s members in attendance (Patrick Robin, Johan Meersman and Domenico Sironi) proceeded to the review of the game and compared their analysis with those of Rugby Europe and World Rugby supervisors.
“The assessment will be provided to Rugby Europe Board members and to World Rugby, in accordance with their request.
“A Conference Call involving Rugby Europe Board members will be held on Monday 26th of March in the evening, to keep them up to date.
“The current situation is a matter of regret for Rugby Europe, who would like to express its willingness to communicate in a transparent way, to avoid damaging allegations for the image and values of our sport, the teams and the refereeing.”
Apparently, ten referees were used to dissect the game and from a leaked report, just over 50 per cent agreed with Iordachescu’s decisions. Strangely, the decision to give Spain a penalty as it was about to score a try was not reviewed.
The full details have not yet been released but on 26th March, Rugby Europe said the results would be made on 29th March after consultation with World Rugby. On 29th March, Rugby Europe said it needed more time to gather more information. It has already said it regretted that the referee was not changed for the match.
It is no longer just about the refereeing of the match and the Spanish players behaviour afterwards but has spread into players’ eligibility for various national teams. Each nation is accusing others of fielding ineligible players The first was the Romanian, Sione Faka’osilia, who was outed because he had played Tonga Sevens.
(AAP Image/Ross Setford)
Next it was two Spanish players, Mathieu Belie and Bastien Fuster, who had played for France B and then there was retaliation as the Belgian prop, Victor Paquet, who had played for France U19 was named. Rugby Europe will have to look into all these queries.
To make matters worse, Russia’s no 8, Anton Rudoy played many times for Kazakhstan and may come under scrutiny. If all of these are found to be ineligible then, Romania, Spain, Russia and Belgium would be disqualified which means Germany would go directly to the Rugby World Cup finals and Portugal would contest the repecharges. I don’t think it will come to this.
There is already two precedents for disqualification. For the Rugby World Cup 2003, Russia was disqualified for fielding three South African nationals in the preliminary rounds. This year, Tahiti travelled to Raratonga to play Cook Islands in the Oceania Rugby World Cup qualifier and beat the locals, 13-9.
It was found that Tahiti fielded two players, Guillaume Brouqui and Andoni Jimenez, who were born in France and did not have Tahitian-born parents or grandparents nor lived there for 36 months as required. The result was then overturned and Cook Islands will play the next round, against Asia 1, in June and July.
All eyes are now turned to Rugby Europe to see how these dilemmas are handled and how much World Rugby will have an input in the proceedings and the end rulings.
Harry Kimble
Guest
World Rugby has set up an advisory committee to investigate all matters regarding the affair. I believe the Spain-Portugal play-off has been postponed until the decisions of this committee are released.
Harry Kimble
Guest
World Rugby has set up an advisory committee to investigate all matters regarding the affair. I believe the Spain-Portugal play-off has been postponed until the decisions of this committee are released.
Kirky
Roar Rookie
CUW ~ The Kiwis expect that type of rubbish because it happens with regular monotony, ~ as long ago as last Sunday when the Crusaders played the Lions, all Officials were South African, ~ unfair methinks but is grossly overlooked! It was worse pre the abolition of Arpartheid, as very few teams won against South African teams in that era, was never allowed!
Fred
Guest
I'd love to see Germany at the World Cup.
Mark
Guest
World Rugby needs to sack the entire Board of FER All teams with ineligible players should be disqualified Those players who accosted the Ref must be banned for periods of time
Dan Lungu
Guest
The correct penalty count is 18 against Spain and 8 against Belgium. The rest is black PR against Rugby Europe.
Melburnian
Roar Pro
You have to wonder about these sorts of statements don't you? just over 50 per cent agreed. At breakdown situations there are often two or three offences, sometimes from both side that the referee can ping so consensus isn't 100%, but the panel is saying Mr Iordachescu got a little more than 50% right? Then there is the question of material impact. A wrong penalty call favouring Spain in mid-field might be inconsequential whereas one penalizing Spain incorrectly in the red zone is much more of a problem. The balance of the decisions need to be looked at. The penalty count was reported at the time as 28 against Span and 8 against Belgium which is pretty one sided. For what its worth I did watch the recording of the game and the standard was pretty awful so plenty of chance for penalties to be awarded, but the imbalance in the penalty count does seem high.
cuw
Guest
isnt it so funny that SANZAAAAAR can eff up the very small / basic things so badly ? as i said in another post NZ and AU played a match with a full aussy ref team. NZ and SA played with a full saffa ref team. how easy it will be to swap the two ?? then u take out any talk of home town reffing / bias. or i just wonder - do they like the contentious decisions ? which makes fans and reporters and experts et al to get involved in heated discussions - thus thinking it is interest in the game? like the saying - any publicity is good publicity !!
cuw
Guest
looks unlikely - with Germany the one without any blemish as of now. the use of ineligible players has become a big issue. but one has to wonder how it went so far? i mean a couple of years back i remember David Smith was chosen into the France squad - and quickly released becoz he had played some rugger for another country ( maybe NZ 7s ) . i also remember one FIJI 7S guy (forget his name ) who was called into Ben ryan's squad and then released - coz he had played in some 7S tournament for Sri Lanka. the point is it was quickly noted and acted upon. 2nd tier maybe - but how can they keep on playing ineligible guys for so long??? doesn't anyone check these things - after all these are qualifiers for world cup, ffs !!!
Akari
Roar Rookie
Messi indeed and smells dodgy re the appointment of the Romanian referee and officials to this game. Sadly the SH is not immune from such referee appointment shenanigans. There after-all have been numerous calls on Roar to SANZAAR and it's Referees Boss, Lyndon Bray (why is he still there???), to ensure impartial referees and assistants are appointed to crucial super rugby games and those calls have been ignored by SANZAAR. So, unless we can get SANZAAR and Bray to lift the fairness standards for referee and AR/TMO appointments in super rugby, it's IMO rather paradoxical for us to point the finger at Rugby Europe and it's chair from Romania, Octavian Morariulets, and accuse them of the same failings that we can't yet fix in our own part of the rugby world. Belgium won a game sanctioned by the appropriate rugby authority in Europe and end of story as far as I am concerned. The ineligible players are another matter of course.
Harry Jones
Expert
Hopefully there is a Romantic ending ...
cuw
Guest
how world rugby handles this case is the thing to look at . will it be like ICC - who have been criticized or like CA , who also have been criticized. the interesting thing is : " Apparently, ten referees were used to dissect the game and from a leaked report, just over 50 per cent agreed with Iordachescu’s decisions. Strangely, the decision to give Spain a penalty as it was about to score a try was not reviewed. " one has to wonder who those refs are? for eg: does it include the top test refs? or even the refs manager - who comes out with statements regarding certain decisions? are they trying to cover a bigger hole - just like CA tried and then seems to have backfired.
cuw
Guest
they tried - but the problem was when they were inside 5m line , they got penalized or when the other team was penalized there was no advantage and game was stopped. there was one Spain lineout that was called crooked - if that is the standard , then 95% of lineouts in super rugger and test rugger ( or any level of rugger ) will be crooked . the funny thing was the opposition did not even contest !!!
cuw
Guest
" It may be a reason the Spanish players erupted after the loss. However it can in no way excuse them or be used in mitigation of any penalty against them. " actually there are clips that show the Spanish players getting aggressive during the match. i think the issue was that the ref really gave some bizarre decisions. the worst reffing performance i saw between top teams was when Lions played Crusaders in south africa. the ref of the day was Strawberry. on that day the normally respectful Kieran read got angry - HULK angry. and that was the first i saw him so angry . but being test players they managed to reign in the anger and still win despite a totally biased reffing performance.
Johnno
Guest
Octavian Morariu the chairman is Romanian to, so may of been conflicted when making his decision on the refs pre- match with regards to Spain's request..
Shop
Guest
Spain could have handled the situation better but they were definitely stitched up. As comments above say, world Rugby need to take full control of these games.
The Sheriff
Guest
Cheating in Rugby? Who would have thought?
TahTragic
Guest
Rowan, you obviously did not watch the game. It was appalling refereeing by anyone’s standards.
Mzilikazi
Guest
Interesting piece,, Harry. What a shambles. "If Spain won, they were through to the Rugby World Cup but is they lost, then Romania would leap-frog into the Cup finals." So, a big stakes game....for Spain and Romania. "Before the match, the Spanish Rugby Federation (FER) had asked for a change of referees but Rugby Europe, chaired by a Romanian, Octavian Morariu, refused the request." Seems a sensible thing for the Spanish to do. I would have thought Octavian M might have been better to have stepped aside for this one...but no....and what a surprise, the request was turned down. "With the Romanian referee, Belgium won, 18-10, kicking six penalty goals." Well now, didn't that turn out well for Romania ! Chances of Rugby Europe doing anything about this situation....I would judge a long way from zero. Any truth in the rumour that one S. Blatter is lurking in the dark depths as a consultant to Rugby Europe/Romania ? Just thought was worth asking the question !
Rowan bi
Guest
Spain choked. End of.