Rugby World Cup 2019

[Braveheart81]

So Australia's pool at the 2019 RWC features four of the five teams from 2015.

The only change is Georgia instead of England.

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[jimmydubs]

So Australia's pool at the 2019 RWC features four of the five teams from 2015.

The only change is Georgia instead of England.

Sent from my SM-G930F using Tapatalk

Only a minor to change to that flag even.

 

[Rebels3]

Uruguay is a better opponent for us than Canada. They will at least supply some level of physicality in the forwards and technicality at set piece. I'd much rather the guys get that then what Canada is offering atm.

 

[Omar Comin']

Spain beat Romania 22-10 last night to put themselves in the box seat to qualify as Europe 1. All they have to do now is beat Germany and Belgium, and potentially they'll need to beat 1 with a bonus point. But given other results so far this year that should be pretty much a given.

Assuming they qualify they'll play Japan in the opening game of the tournament!

 

[KevinO]

My picks for remaining teams in pools in red

Those pics are not going to well

 

[Jets]

Spain beat Romania 22-10 last night to put themselves in the box seat to qualify as Europe 1. All they have to do now is beat Germany and Belgium, and potentially they'll need to beat 1 with a bonus point. But given other results so far this year that should be pretty much a given.

Assuming they qualify they'll play Japan in the opening game of the tournament!

Given the debacle that is German Rugby at the moment they should make it through.

 

[Nath]

Anyone do any good in the ticket ballot?

 

[waiopehu oldboy]

Belgium have upset Spain allowing Romania to qualify:

https://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/rugby...ee-after-rugby-world-cup-qualification-defeat

TLDR: Spanish not happy that the ref & AR's were Romanian, some push & shove post-match.

 

[Omar Comin']

Belgium have upset Spain allowing Romania to qualify:

https://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/rugby...ee-after-rugby-world-cup-qualification-defeat

TLDR: Spanish not happy that the ref & AR's were Romanian, some push & shove post-match.

The penalty count was 24-4 against Spain.

Saw the match. Spain were undoubtedly poor under the pressure, but the refereeing was a disgrace and I'm sure it got in their heads. It's ludicrous that World Rugby would allow a Romanian to referee this match under the circumstances. I'm sure the appointment was made well in advance but it should have been changed last week when the circumstances were known.

It seemed like pretty much anytime a Belgian defender got a hand on the ball for a split second, usually not supporting their body weight or not releasing the tackled player, Spain were penalised. Other way round and either the ref would let the ball come out for Belgium or he'd find a way to penalise the Spanish defender. High tackles from Belgium were not penalised, no card for a clearly intentional knock on etc.

There's no excusing the way some of the Spanish players acted after the final whistle, and I think 1 of them might have put his hands on the ref as well, which should result in a lengthy ban if true. But the refereeing seemed pretty dodgy and certainly had a big impact on the result.

 

[zer0]

I haven't seen the match but having 3/4 of the officials being Romanian is odd, to say the least. I've also read of a lot of oddities surrounding the refusal to change officials and a few other things. The one bright side seems to be that the Spanish will be appealing to Rugby Europe.

A translation:

"On February 19 and after the victory of Spain against Romania, the FER contacted the President of the Refereeing Commission of Rugby Europe (RE), Patrick Roben, to request the modification of the designation of the three Romanian referees for the Belgium - Spain match, which was crucial for the World Cup qualification. Romania needed the defeat of Spain to go to the Rugby World Cup. Evidently a Romanian referee was not the most suitable designation for this match.

The answer was that the designations were made several weeks in advance, that the referee is part of the RE panel and that therefore they could not modify the designations. However, the match Commissioner was changed, at the end, it was Michel Arpaillange (France). (Note: he is Head of operations and competitions at Rugby Europe)

Both the Chairman of the Referees Commission of RE and the Match Commissioner of the match warned the referee that his performance would be analysed carefully and that they expected from him a totally neutral refereeing.

The FER will submit a protest to Rugby Europe (RE) with a copy to World Rugby so that the RE Referees Commission will review the video of the match in case the performance had been deliberately partial to favour the interests of Romania and if so, take action in consequence.

The FER also regrets the reaction of some players who did not contain their mood at the end of the match."

I think World Rugby should definitely also get involved. Not only because it concerns the RWC, but also because there seems to be some dodgyness surrounding Rugby Europe.

 

[Rebels3]

externally it does not look great, iv also read that Rugby Europe is currently run by a Romanian.

 

[Omar Comin']

I assume when these referee assessments are done after test matches the referees are given some kind of accuracy score. I wonder what score would be needed for World Rugby to decide they had to replay the match?

The problem with rugby is that at many breakdowns you can find a reason to penalise one or both teams and there's a fair bit of scope for interpretation. I think to avoid scandal it will be possible to justify enough of the decisions. But it really doesn't pass the smell test and the situation would have been avoided with just a tiny bit of common sense.

 

[zer0]

Yep. A Romanian appointed three Romanian's to officiate a match where Romania stands to benefit entirely from a Spanish loss.

God I love the Roman(ian)s.

 

[Derpus]

The penalty count was 24-4 against Spain.

Yeesh

 

[Braveheart81]

Someone has compiled a video of the penalties.

I haven't watched all of it but a few certainly look dodgy, but most look like terrible discipline from Spain.

Other articles have suggested the penalty count was 18-8, not 24-4.

 

[Derpus]

Which is still a penalty every 4 minutes (roughly). But also, they asked for different refs and were told no?

I know we are usually told to suspect incompetence rather than anything more malicious, but this one just screams brown paper bags.

 

[Omar Comin']

Someone has compiled a video of the penalties.

I haven't watched all of it but a few certainly look dodgy, but most look like terrible discipline from Spain.

Other articles have suggested the penalty count was 18-8, not 24-4.

I've seen 18-8, 24/25-4 and 28-8. They should probably clarify that as while all are very one-sided 18-8 isn't quite as insane.


What do you think of the last one? Spain had got within 5 points near the end of the game and were then penalised for not releasing the ball after being tackled, which gave Belgium the final penalty to get 8 points clear. But in my mind the Spanish guy is nowhere close to being held effectively in the tackle, he basically bounces through it and should be entitled to keep going. And it happens right in front of the referees face.

But look, it may be possible that a completely neutral referee would have made the exact same calls. And there's plenty of matches where one team gets refereed out of a game or gets a bunch of bad decisions. The problem is that this ref was Romanian, when Romania were the country to benefit from Spain losing. And there was a hell of a lot on the line. So even if he was making every conscious effort to be objective, the outcome and the penalty count creates a massive integrity issue for Rugby Europe, and ultimately World Rugby. Will be interesting to see what unfolds. Augustin Pichot said on twitter that he got off a plane and had 200 messages about it.

 

[Rebels3]

My fav was when the Spanish guy broke the line only to be called back for a penalty.

 

[Braveheart81]

What do you think of the last one? Spain had got within 5 points near the end of the game and were then penalised for not releasing the ball after being tackled, which gave Belgium the final penalty to get 8 points clear. But in my mind the Spanish guy is nowhere close to being held effectively in the tackle, he basically bounces through it and should be entitled to keep going. And it happens right in front of the referees face.

I don't know. I think he has to release. It could have gone either way, but from this screenshot he has been brought to ground and there is still a hand on him. I don't think he clearly has a right to get up and keep going.

But look, it may be possible that a completely neutral referee would have made the exact same calls. And there's plenty of matches where one team gets refereed out of a game or gets a bunch of bad decisions. The problem is that this ref was Romanian, when Romania were the country to benefit from Spain losing. And there was a hell of a lot on the line. So even if he was making every conscious effort to be objective, the outcome and the penalty count creates a massive integrity issue for Rugby Europe, and ultimately World Rugby. Will be interesting to see what unfolds. Augustin Pichot said on twitter that he got off a plane and had 200 messages about it.

I agree. It looks really bad and there was a lot on the line. I think the fact that we're talking about an amateur referee creates a greater risk. If this match was determining a tier 1 team qualifying and the referee was from a country affected by the result but was a vastly experienced professional I don't think a) you'd see nearly as many dubious calls and b) they'd have been able to handle the situation far better without being called into question.

 

[daz]

WR (World Rugby) replaced an AR for a 6N match only days before the game, when that AR attended English training.

If that was enough to convince WR (World Rugby) of potential bias, I’m struggling to understand how an almost full ref squad of Romanians can be permitted to officiate an international game, where such a clear potential for bias exists.

Surely better to avoid that potential backlash, regardless of how professional and unbiased WR (World Rugby) would claim their refs are.