The Rugby Europe Championship Is A Mess. But It’s Also Really Funny

There has been a bit of a buzz going around lately about the Belgium- Spain match. It was even mentioned on the GAGR Podcast, which probably means it’s had more mentions than the Western Force so far this year.

As someone interested in the possibilities of world rugby (as opposed to possibilities of World Rugby, the governing body), I picked this news up pretty quickly.

I was thinking about writing something about the initial issue – which is still going on, but isn’t the only issue now. Now, the Belgium-Spain match has grown into something potentially really, really funny

Belgium and Spain, as well as Romania, Georgia, Russia and Germany play in the Rugby Europe (RE) run Rugby Europe Championship (REC). And basically because Romania has been a bit dodgy, half the comp may get disqualified.

The REC This Year

This year, like 9 of the past 11 years (sort of, they keep changing the format), was won by Georgia. The top two teams go to the World Cup. The REC is below the Six Nations; there’s no promotion between the Six Nations and the REC, but there is promotion and relegation between the REC and its lower divisions.

This is how the final table of the 2018 comp turned out:

The two most important bits of info are that Georgia and Romania came first, so are off to Japan. Also, Germany is the bottom spot which means they have to play Portugal (in the top spot of the Rugby Europe Trophy, the 3rd division) to stay in the REC. Oh, and Germany had 30 players on strike this year which might explain its position.

What Set This Off

Romania and Spain had 3 wins each coming into the last round of the REC. That meant 2nd spot – a trip to Japan – was on the line.  Romania had a bigger points difference than Spain, but to be sure of a World Cup berth both teams had to win in the last round.

As it turned out, Romania was away to Georgia – the hardest fixture to win in the REC – while Spain was off to 5th-placed Belgium.

Romania lost, by the way. If you’re still struggling, that sets up the scene for Spain to take their World Cup destiny into their own hands.

The Game

Not being a rugby hipster, I haven’t watched and can’t be bothered to watch any of the REC games (you can, if ya wanna).

Just looking at the scores shows that Spain should have been regarded as heavy favourites:

All that talk was thrown out the door as Belgium ending up beating Spain 18-10 – meaning Romania was going to the World Cup.

Yeah Ok, So What’s The Point?

Well, the referee was Vlad Iordachescu. He’s from Romania.

Iordachescu was appointed by RE. Which country is the chairman of RE from? Romania.

Who went through to the World Cup because Spain lost? Romania.

Belgium got their 18 points through 6 penalty kicks. Which is normal, especially in South Africa and Europe, where they love that sort of thing. What’s a bit unnormal, is that Belgium received something around 3 times the about of penalties than Spain. The reports vary, but Belgium was penalised 4-8 times, whereas Spain was penalised 21-28 times.

There was also no TMO available for the game. Chill.

Unsurprisingly, but regrettably, the Spanish players went a bit bananas at the end of the game.

The Spain captain later apologised for his players’ behaviour, but not before the Romanian Rugby Federation Alin Petrache president called the Spaniards ‘hooligans’ and unworthy of ‘elite rugby’, and Clive Woodward (who called for the game to be replayed) as a “retiree who does nothing”.

Then What Happened

Questions were immediately, if not during the game, asked about the integrity of the referee. A Youtube user, Scottish Cannon, made a referee review. It’s not the best bit of investigative work, but it has picked up some traction (160k views) and is condenses all the best bits.

Reports then filtered through that the Spanish Rugby Federation (FER) had asked before the game to have the Romanian referees replaced; after the game, FER asked for the game to be replayed.

RE, possibly taking after the ARU, is taking time over the decision. It has delayed the final decision twice, with another meeting scheduled for this coming Thursday.

World Rugby has also sort of got involved:

Statement: While World Rugby does not appoint match officials for the Rugby Europe Championship, it is in contact with Rugby Europe to understand the context of events relating to the Belgium v Spain match in Brussels on Sunday, which doubled as an important RWC 2019 qualifier.

— World Rugby (@WorldRugby) March 19, 2018

This was almost 2 weeks ago, and there’s still nothing towards a resolution. Spain coming 3rd meant they had to go play a few other teams to qualify for the World Cup via the repechage playoff. Questions of meddling was as far as this issue was going to go. But, like politics, bad blood usually means something – anything – is brought up. And what was brought up?

Ineligible Players Everywhere

Last week, World Rugby threw Tahiti out of World Cup qualifying for having two ineligible players in their team. Tahiti, formerly known as French Polynesia, had said that two French-born players were right as rain to play for them.Turns out they weren’t, with World Rugby quite sternly stating “[it is] beyond dispute that Tahiti and France are separate member unions of World Rugby”.

Reports started emerging that Romania’s Tongan-born back Sione Faka’osilea. who had played in all of Romania’s REC games, was actually ineligible. Faka’osilea played for the Tonga 7s team, at the Gold Coast 7s, binding him to Tonga in all aspects.

Russia has apparently officially asked World Rugby/RE to review the situation. If Romania has any results overturned – Romania beat Russia 10-30 – this could mean Russia being bumped up from 4th to 3rd and a chance at the repechage (check out this simple graph to see how they can make it).

On top of that, Belgium is also facing allegations of fielding ineligible players, according to Americas Rugby News.

And on top of that, there are also reports that Spain may have also given a shirt to an ineligible player. So the very funny scenario, that couldn’t be fair off, is that Romania, Spain, and Belgium fall away to give Russia and Germany a shot at the World Cup. Quick reminder – Germany conceded an average of 11 tries per game!

So what now?

RE is currently working at Pulver pace, slowly deliberating on their decision with regards to the Romanian ref thing. There’s been two weeks and two inconclusive meetings since the match, which took place of 19 March. The next meeting is set for Thursday.

Some – like GAGR friend Tim Cocker of the Eggchasers – think Spain did themselves in, and the ref didn’t do a hatchet job. So there’s a real possibility that Spain might just have had a bad day. 

Spain were very poor. Belgium had a good day. Referee was very poor. Romanian President of Rugby Europe. Romanian referee and officials. Romania qualify for World Cup. It looks bad even if there’s nothing fishy. Easily avoided too! — Tim Cocker (@cocker) March 18, 2018

On top of that, is the concern of the experience of referees from tier 2 countries (basically nations outside the Six Nations and Rugby Championship):

Outside of the 6N, aside from Iordachescu only couple of other European refs involved in top 20 level int’l rugby. Alhambra Nievas (Spain) – touchjudge for some November int’ls. Shota Tevzadze (Georgia) – done some Nations Cup games. Curiously neither are often at any REC games.

— Tier 2 Rugby (@T2Rugby) March 21, 2018

Seriously though, as funny as this could be, hopefully World Rugby nips any wrong doing in the bud.  World Rugby seems to be one of the few well run international sporting bodies.

However, earlier this year, France somehow won the bid for the 2023 World Cup. That hinted at how easily world rugby/World Rugby could turn into a FIFA/ICC-type deal.

If the investigation into how a Romanian ref got put onto this game ends up with the worst possible findings, that would seriously put a dent in the good vibes coming world rugby’s way. And if World Rugby don’t act in the right matter, then those good vibes will be even more scarce.

I/We are not ignoring the views of so many fans who are unhappy with events around the Spain v Belgium https://t.co/oPvpVxd5mI World Rugby we are working carefully to get clarity and ensure the right outcome for rugby. — agustin pichot (@AP9_) March 27, 2018

But in times like this, all you can do is laugh.