The Spanish national team will not play the Rugby World Cup in France 2023 due to the improper alignment of the South African pillar Gavin Van den Berg in Qualifying matches against the Netherlands and his place will be occupied by Romania, the Spanish Rugby Federation (Ferugby) reported yesterday. .
The independent judicial committee appointed by World Rugby to study the claim of the Romanian Rugby Federation (FRR) on the eligibility of Van den Berg, decided to sanction Spain with 25,000 pounds and deduct five points for each of the two matches in which This player was lined up, leaving him out of the World Cup.
In the European qualifier, Georgia was first with 44 points, followed by Spain with 29, both classified, Romania with 28 and Portugal with 26.
Van den Berg was used by Spain in the matches against the Netherlands, 52-7 away and 43-0 at home, and by suffering the discount of those 10 points Spain adds 19 units, qualifying Romania for the Cup and Portugal for the playoff .
The formal announcement from World Rugby is now awaited, which will establish that Romania will integrate Group B with South Africa, Ireland, Scotland and an Asia-Pacific playoff qualifier.
It has long been suspected that the South African did not meet the eligibility requirements (continuous time spent in Spain, fundamentally). Alcobendas, the club where Van den Berg plays, sent Ferugby unofficial documents without a stamp that would determine his legitimacy, given that the player did not have a passport and they had also falsified his entry visa to the country, reported Marca.
The Ferugby approved the false documents to include him in the selected team, motivating the Romanian claim and the WR found that this complaint was right, and now Romania inherits the position of Spain.